167: Chapter 167 Black Shore Arrives at Port

The first eerie roll call drifted out from the resettlement point in the Linhai Port Area, the syllables blurred and obscure; no one could hear a complete name.

The middle-aged woman stood stiffly beside the lowered Guardian Lamp, her soul seemingly hooked and dragged away by an invisible sea thread. She did not go mad and rush out the door, nor did she struggle or flee, but simply murmured a fragmented nickname in place, over and over again. At first, it was just a low mutter, but by the end, her tone completely shattered, turning into a suppressed, broken sob, permeated with bone-chilling cold.

Xu Minglan arrived upon hearing the news, immediately raising her hand to signal, leading all the children in the vicinity away from the cordon to prevent any involvement.

She knelt before the woman, her gaze steady and resolute, not snatching the wrinkled old photo clutched in the woman's hand, but firmly locking onto her unfocused eyes.

"Look at me."

"Tell me, what is your name?"

The woman's eyes were hollow, staring blankly for a long time, her throat opening and closing repeatedly, yet she could not utter a complete sentence.

"I... my name is—"

The voice cut off abruptly, as if her memory had been invisibly severed and sealed.

Xu Minglan immediately picked up a pen to write, neatly inscribing the woman's real name on a white sheet of paper, whispering it syllable by syllable to guide her to repeat it.

Lin Zhao tacitly moved the Guardian Lamp half a step closer. The firelight was pressed extremely low and steady, the warm light just barely covering the paper, illuminating every stroke, giving the darkness no gap to exploit.

The woman followed along until the third repetition, when she suddenly clutched her head tightly, overwhelming grief sweeping through her body, causing her to tremble and struggle to breathe.

"It is calling me... the thing in the sea is calling me to go over."

"I know." Xu Minglan's tone was firm, every word breaking through the bewitchment in the light and shadow, "But just because it calls you, it does not mean you must answer, and it certainly does not mean you must go."

Before the echoes of this sentence had faded, a dull, heavy roar suddenly came from the deep sea outside the port.

Dull, blunt, shaking the sea surface.

Like a suspended black mountain crashing into the boundless Black Sea.

Everyone looked up subconsciously, their gazes locked firmly onto the outer shipping channel.

That boundless Black Shore lurking outside Linhai had finally moved.

It was no longer a vague, slender line in the distant fog.

The thick fog across the sky was forcibly torn apart on both sides by an invisible force, and a desolate, colorless reef beach, dead silent, slowly emerged. On the reef beach, broken and crooked beacon poles stood alone, the lights at their tops extinguished, with only black birds soaked through standing silently upon them, their crow feathers dripping water, dead silent and terrifying.

A scene defying common sense suddenly appeared in the world—the pitch-black seawater flowed upwards against the current along the reef beach, climbing layer upon layer toward the low-altitude sky, pressing the clouds covering Linhai down so tightly that the entire city could not catch its breath.

"It has docked."

Tide's voice, cold to the point of freezing, pierced through the walkie-talkie and fell into everyone's ears.

On the outer sea, Deputy Captain He Yuan had long since driven the qingsuo no. 2 through the defense line and sailed out of the port area.

"Deputy Captain He! Return to port immediately!" Tide urged urgently, her voice tense, "The outer shipping channel has completely fallen; you cannot enter!"

Deputy Captain He Yuan at the bow did not look back.

The qingsuo no. 2 approached the silently hovering old cargo ship at full speed. A string of black buoys dragged behind the ship was being slowly rolled toward the inner port entrance by the surging Tide.

Everyone knew the consequences—once the buoys entered the port, the Black Shore would use the obsession with the names on them to forcibly mark the entire Linhai Port Area as its legitimate docking berth.

"I will go tow it out." Deputy Captain He Yuan's voice came through the communicator, steady and resolute.

"Absolutely do not turn on the lights!" Tide's voice was tight, full of anxiety.

"Understood."

The qingsuo no. 2 extinguished all lighting, leaving only the dull roar of the engine pressed to its lowest, breaking through the heavy black fog. The crew quickly secured the heavy tow cable tightly to the stern of the cargo ship. The moment the hulls moved close, the sea surface below suddenly tore open, and a straight, pitch-black thin line bloomed out of thin air, spanning between the two ships, hiding murderous intent.

At the end of the pier, the fire patterns on Zhao Ye's palms burned with stinging pain, the sensation growing increasingly intense.

"I am going to provide support."

Shen Qinghe reached out and grabbed him tightly, her face as pale as paper: "If you rush in now, your body's fire Qi is at its strongest; the Black Shore will instantly lock onto you, remembering you as the brightest living coordinate in this land."

Zhao Ye stared intently at the churning Black Sea, his eyes filled with anxiety and determination: "Then what about Deputy Captain He Yuan?"

"First, nail down the shoreline and cut off its foothold Foundation."

Shen Qinghe pressed her palm against the fragment of the Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell. The ringing in her ears from the second chime had not yet faded, and her head felt dizzy. But the moment the Black Shore truly approached and took root, she still captured that trace of the most core eerie rule.

"It is not a natural coastline at all." She concluded in a deep voice.

"It is borrowing the old map of the port area to forcibly take root. Whoever's cognition, whoever's obsession acknowledges this place as its berth, it can follow that recognition and step ashore."

The Space Venerable had already spread the general layout map of the entire port area on the ground, his fingertips swiftly gliding over the dense navigation lines, berth numbers, and yard boundaries, his speech rapid and precise.

"East Embankment Pier 7! This is an abandoned berth on the old blueprint, long since completely demolished and non-existent in reality."

He suddenly looked up, his eyes grave: "What the Black Shore is biting onto now is this obsolete coordinate. It wants to forcibly restore a non-existent berth and take root in reality."

Bai Ya's crow shadows poured out from his body, sweeping out along the residual dark fire under the pier's lamp shades, probing low and close to the edge of the churning Black Sea. In an instant, his expression changed drastically.

"The use of the buoys is not just for roll call and soul-hooking."

"Deep in the stern of the ship, there hides a core shore marker."

In the shadows at the deepest part of the cargo ship's stern, a black iron cylinder, far larger than an ordinary buoy, was quietly hidden. The cylinder was smooth with no markings or numbers, save for a long, sharp knife-carved scar running the length of its body, like a coastline that had been forcibly severed and forcibly replicated, exuding cold aggression.

"Tow it away." Bai Ya shouted the report immediately, "As long as we pull out this shore marker, the Black Shore will completely lose its landing point."

At this moment, the qingsuo no. 2 had already hooked the tow cable, which was pulled taut.

Deputy Captain He Yuan cursed softly in the communication, with a hint of helplessness and decisiveness: "Should have said so earlier."

The next second, the ship suddenly accelerated to full speed.

The heavy tow cable was pulled to its limit, nearly snapping, dragging the cargo ship to slowly turn its hull. The string of black buoys collided violently during the pull, the sound eerie, as if someone in the dark was clapping continuously, fragmented and sinister.

The countless wet black crows standing on the reef Black Shore suddenly looked up at the same time, their pitch-black eyes staring fixedly ahead, filled with malice.

Above the firmament, the long-accumulated Black Sea overturned with a roar.

The entire pitch-black seawater fell from the sky, slamming fiercely toward the ship on the sea surface.

The qingsuo no. 2 was struck hard by the massive force, the bow suddenly rearing high, the crew on the deck all tumbling to the ground in chaos. Deputy Captain He Yuan gripped the steering wheel tightly, his posture as steady as a rock, his back slamming hard against the seat back, a sweetness in his throat as a mouthful of bloody gore surged up instantly.

"Deputy Captain He! Cut the cable and abandon the tow!" The crew roared, trying to dissuade him.

Deputy Captain He Yuan looked up toward the shore.

His gaze passed through layers of black fog and black Tide, seeing the resettlement point with its restrained lights, the hospital on all-night duty, the residential buildings that had not been fully evacuated, seeing the living people and vitality of the entire Linhai city.

He gritted his teeth and switched to the public communication channel, his voice abnormally steady, showing not a hint of pain.

"Tide."

"I am here." Tide's response came instantly.

"Remember this clearly." Deputy Captain He Yuan chuckled, his smile open and heroic, "The qingsuo no. 2 is not out of control, nor did it have an accident."

"I chose this."

As the words fell, he pushed the throttle to the end, sprinting at full speed.

The qingsuo no. 2 dragged the bulky cargo ship, dragged that deadly shore marker, and forcibly pulled this landed darkness away from the port entrance.

The moment the bow was about to collide with the core of the black Tide, Zhao Ye finally stepped forward and acted.

The power of the Suppression Domain spread out with a roar at the edge of the pier. Within eight yards, the Black Sea climbing against the current suddenly stalled, and the Black Shore reef beach pressing forward was also suppressed by an invisible giant force.

Zhao Ye's feet cracked the hard floor tiles, and fine beads of blood dripped continuously from between his fingers, hitting the ground without a sound.

"Now! Hold it for a moment!" He roared in a deep voice.

Shen Qinghe held up the fragment of the Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell.

No magnificent bell sound rang across the world.

But the invisible bell rhyme spread out with a roar, and the obsolete number of East Embankment Pier 7 on the old blueprint suddenly lit up glaringly, only to be fiercely nailed down and sealed by her with the power of the second chime.

"This is the human port area."

"It is not your berth."

"You have no right to dock here."

The air vibrated violently, and the encroaching Black Shore was forcibly pushed back half an inch, stalling in the black fog.

But the qingsuo no. 2 never returned.

The torn black Tide suddenly closed, and the black water covering the sky poured down, completely swallowing the stern and engulfing the entire ship.

In the communication channel, there was first a burst of harsh static, and finally, only the residual sounds of the crew anxiously shouting Deputy Captain He Yuan's name remained.

A moment later, there was complete silence, with no further response.

The cargo ship was ultimately successfully dragged away from the main shipping channel, and that core shore marker was forcibly dragged into the deep outer sea, temporarily stripping it from the Linhai territory.

The transport fleet in the city simultaneously retreated urgently to avoid the aftermath of the black Tide.

On the outer ring road, an ambulance transporting patients was almost overturned by the backflowing black water. At the critical moment, the Tyrannosaurus King drove a heavy trailer to block the position, forcibly pushing the ambulance into a narrow alley to stabilize the vehicle, the front of the trailer facing the impact of the black water, roaring and battered by the waves.

Inside the ambulance, Jiaoyue leaned over and pressed firmly on the patient who was suffering from hypothermia and unconsciousness, her face even paler and colder than the patient's. She had no time to call for help or request support, only continuously and calmly reporting the patient's respiratory frequency and vital signs, allowing Tang Zhiwei at the dispatch center to accurately grasp the remaining rescue time in the vehicle.

On the other end of the road, Lin Zhao stood alone at the front line of the lights. He pressed the light of the Guardian Lamp firmly onto the road surface, the low, warm light casting an invisible boundary. The overflowing black water surged up several times, and the moment it was about to swallow the light, it was forced to deviate and retreat by this cluster of human sparks.

His legs were numb and sore, having long since stood to his limit, but he had not retreated half a step, nor yielded an inch.

By the car window, a child clutched the glass, looking timidly at the Black Sea pouring across the sky, and asked in a small voice.

"Big brother, is the seawater going to rush into the city? Is the darkness coming?"

Lin Zhao gazed at the ink-colored Black Sea churning against the current, his voice steady, every word resolute.

"It cannot get in."

"Why?"

"Because we are guarding the door."

After saying this, his own heartbeat went violently out of control, his palms full of cold sweat, and the shock and tragedy in his heart surged endlessly.

But the child beside him believed it completely and instantly calmed down.

In the distant outer sea, just as the qingsuo no. 2 forcibly dragged away the shore marker, everyone in Linhai guarding the lights clearly saw that overbearing Black Shore tremble violently.

It was not defeated by force or shattered by power, but rather, by human flesh and blood, by perseverance and choice, it was forcibly torn away from its foothold in the reality territory.

In the walkie-talkie, Tide called out that name over and over again.

"He Yuan."

"Deputy Captain He."

Three calls, and they sank like stones in the sea, with no response.

The fourth time, she ultimately could not call out.

She used her pen to write the last lost coordinate of the qingsuo no. 2 neatly at the very top of the duty whiteboard, the handwriting steady and powerful. Then she continued to calmly broadcast the real-time Tide levels and sea condition data, every number and every report precise and steady, without a single error.

But the collaborator recording the data beside her saw clearly that the fingertips holding her pen could not control their slight trembling.

The Black Shore did not completely dissipate or retreat to the deep sea.

It hovered silently in the thick fog for a few seconds, after which a long, narrow, pitch-black gap suddenly split open on its surface.

A wooden trestle bridge, soaked through and covered with sea rust, slowly extended from the desolate reef beach, inch by inch reaching toward the Linhai pier, landing steadily on the reality coastline.

At the end of the trestle, a human figure stood slowly.

Wearing a washed-out, dark blue old station uniform, dripping with water, holding a pitch-black, patternless umbrella, the figure walked lightly and steadily onto the land of the Linhai pier.

He did not glance at Zhao Ye before him, nor did he fear Shen Qinghe, who held the fragment of the Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell in her palm.

He slowly looked up, passing over everyone's defense lines and lights, and gazed at the entire Linhai city, which was hiding its lights and guarding itself.

The sea of fog was quiet, and the world was heavy.

A flat, cold voice, devoid of any emotion, drifted across the entire port area.

"Who lit the lamp here?"