Captain – Chapter 527 – Heaven

Beyond the exit was not the endpoint.

Cool raindrops struck her face as Roy caught her breath, gazing around in mild bewilderment.

After leaving the interior of the great waterfall, what greeted the girl was not solid ground, but still more stairs—though they were no longer made of that mystical ice.

In fact, she couldn’t even be certain whether those stairs were real objects at all.

Because their texture and form were identical to the ghost bridge that had guided them, semi-transparent like crystal with ethereal light flowing within.

Of course, with such a wondrous path, the full moon could not be absent.

The magnificent blue moon still hung high in the sky, standing gracefully amidst the rushing, churning black cloud vortex like an otherworldly lotus blooming on a battlefield.

A mirage-like moon, a ghostly celestial stairway.

This scene was so dreamlike that even the normally urgent girl couldn’t help but pause, gazing up in wonder. But while admiring this extraordinary sight, as if suddenly discovering something sinister, her pupils dilated slightly.

“Clank, clank…”

The sound of swaying chains that had already grown distant rang in Roy’s ears once more, becoming increasingly clear. And not only that—she could even see with her own eyes…

Their true form.

They were deep blue chains reflecting the cold gleam of metal, thick as a man’s embrace, one connected to another, extending from the ghost bridge and disappearing into the gently flowing surface of the waterfall, connecting to some unknown place beneath.

With her exceptional eyesight, Roy could see that flowing wave patterns were inscribed on those chains, and when the chains swayed in the wind, these patterns actually began to flow and undulate as if they truly existed rather than being mere engravings.

Though she knew these chains falling from heaven were meant to bind that evil spirit, watching this scene, the girl felt no oppression or melancholy, only tranquil peace—as if viewing an art exhibition.

Rеaⅾ оո KаtRеаdiոɡСаfе

This feeling was very strange.

Gently shaking her head, as the girl came back to her senses, she developed intense wariness.

Because that calm did not come from her heart, but was more like the warmth she had felt when approaching the Satin—a deliberate psychological manipulation.

To make her lower her guard, even forget the danger.

The one waiting there… is it really you?

Gazing at the ghostly stairway extending deep into the black clouds, Roy took a deep breath, dispelling her last doubts, then once again calmly walked toward the heavens.

In her original speculation, after leaving the exit, she should arrive at the endpoint—that so-called heaven might be a city on the water built here.

But the result showed this was not the case.

That heaven was not situated at the waterfall, but at the… distant end of the firmament above the waterfall, perhaps just as depicted in holy scriptures—a wondrous sky city.

But regardless of whether what was hidden behind that black mist was a beautiful dream of the present world, a vain lie, or a deadly trap, she had no reason to stop here.

Just as she had once thought, there was no retreat—she could only continue forward.

Walk to the very end.

The higher she climbed, the colder it became.

But strangely, with no obstacles present, there was none of the wind that natural encyclopedias predicted could carry a person away—not even a breeze.

Reαⅾ oո KαtRеαԁіnɡСаfе

Everything was trending toward tranquility, with a sense of sanctity arising naturally.

No, it wasn’t like a pilgrimage, not like that merciless celestial stairway set by the devil leading to the mountain peak, but like walking toward… the origin of all life.

Like returning to a mother’s embrace.

Finally, after ascending for an unknown duration, the captain stood before that mass of black clouds, close enough to touch. She stood still for a while, unable to resist looking back.

But the path behind had been shrouded in thick fog, no longer visible.

After once again firming her resolve that “there was no retreat,” the girl did not immediately enter the black mist, but curiously gazed at the magnificent blue moon that seemed close at hand.

From this distance and angle, that moon was not real.

It was not like a true moon in the sky, but more like a reflection cast on the sea surface, undulating with the water flow, ready to shatter at any moment from a great wave.

Beautiful, yet utterly illusory.

Fake.

After confirming that the moon was not real—not even qualifying as an ordinary star—the captain chuckled and shook her head, no longer hesitating as she plunged headfirst into the black mist.

The black mist was nothing special, just slightly damp and cool, obscuring nearly all vision.

However, Roy had already experienced similar situations, so she felt no panic or unease. Moreover, that ghostly stairway still glowed with ethereal radiance.

This was the only thing visible to her in the fog.

Rеаd оո КαtReαdiոɡСаfе

But perhaps because it had lost the moon’s illumination, as she ascended, the ghostly stairway gradually dimmed until only its outline was faintly visible.

After some more time passed, even the outline became indiscernible.

Roy could only rely on feeling to continue through the black mist, never knowing when she might lose her footing and fall from such a height like a broken-winged angel.

Plummeting straight into hell.

Fortunately, this possibility did not come to pass.

Just when the captain had become somewhat numb from the black mist that had long surrounded her and the deathly silence that infinitely amplified her sense of isolation, finally a faint light shone into her somewhat scattered eyes, growing ever brighter.

So this fog too had an end.

Blinking hard to adjust to the light, the girl felt everything before her suddenly open up. The black mist receded, becoming like a stage backdrop of sea below.

As for overhead, there was azure sky, and…

Soft, boundless white clouds showing a pale golden hue under the sunlight’s reflection.

Looking at that nearby, substantial sea of clouds, after brief amazement, the girl fell into great bewilderment, because her intuition told her that the invisible steps she now stood on marked the end of the ghostly stairway.

So how should she proceed next, and where was the heaven that dead man had spoken of?

Could it really be just a useless path?

The girl’s confusion did not last long.

Reaⅾ οn KαtReadiոgCafe

Because just as she gazed at that sea of clouds in absorbed thought, she noticed a point of light suddenly flash at the edge of her vision, then approach her.

Looking more carefully, Roy suddenly understood.

It was likewise a stairway, originating from the peak of the sea of clouds, appearing in pure white symbolizing purity, with gentle pale golden radiance flowing around it like silk.

It really did look like Jacob’s ladder from mythology.

Except there were no angels climbing up and down.

Watching that stairway that seemed slow but actually extended to her feet in just a few breaths, Roy shrugged and thought, then quickly ascended the steps.

Compared to the ice stairs in the great waterfall and the hidden steps in the black mist, this path was truly very short, so much so that the captain reached the end after only a few minutes of walking.

She reached the true endpoint.

Just like a dream.

This was Roy’s only thought after completing the celestial stairway.

The stairs behind her dispersed silently as the girl stood on clouds, staring in a daze at buildings that would only appear in historical illustrations—ancient, elegant, nearly artistic in style—broad roads paved with flawless white stone, and those…

People made of pale golden radiance, like souls.

This was heaven.