Chapter 46: The Night of Banishment of the Waves

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On the second floor of the lighthouse.
A brand-new pine bathtub had been added to the bathroom floor.
The tub was uniquely shaped, seamlessly crafted from top to bottom as if a massive tree trunk had been hollowed out. Its surface was smooth and delicate, without a single splinter, possessing a warm, leather-like texture that exuded a pleasant fragrance when hot water was poured into it.
Lin Bo was quite satisfied with this new piece of furniture.
A hurricane had allowed him to newly learn many True Name runes.
The most numerous were various types of rocks and trees: bricks, granite, cobblestones, sandstone, and so on; pines, firs, oaks, and various shrubs; as well as small streams swollen by converging rainwater. He had once sat cross-legged in waist-deep rapids, probing the True Name of water.
Now, he used the Art of Pyrokinesis to heat and purify rainwater, immersing his body to banish the chill while relaxing his nerves.
He wanted to take a short nap, but frequent meditation kept his body and mind active, and searching his mind yielded not a shred of sleepiness.
Therefore, the Night Watchman got up, chanted the True Name to make the moisture leave his surface, and gathered the dirty water from the basin into a sphere, turning it into a flying waterfall that soared out of the window and plummeted outside the perimeter wall.
With a slight dampness still lingering on his body, he chanted the True Name of the skin and vibrated gently with the Art of Pyrokinesis, shaking off fine water mist until his entire body was completely dry.
In severe weather, daylight vanished earlier than the setting of the sun, and the lighthouse also needed to be turned on when darkness descended upon the earth and the ocean. Lin Bo had purchased a sufficient amount of whale oil in advance precisely to meet the electricity consumption of extended working hours.
At night, it was still time for hard work. He sat upright by the desk, and in his field of vision, aside from a book spread open in his hand, there was also a suspended iron pellet.
If he were completely immersed in his studies, the arcane control would be interrupted, and the iron pellet would drop with a sound.
This was his method of training his mental strength. Reading and understanding the knowledge in books was already a task requiring immense concentration, and Lin Bo further manipulated the iron pellet with the Art of Kinesis, placing himself in a dilemma.
Lin Bo had purchased a set of materials for the "Mind-Binding and Will-Executing Technique" on the Aether-Net player trading platform, taking the pacification of the state of mind as the key to develop unconscious potential.
He attempted to make maintaining the art of kinesis an instinct that required no conscious thought, so that he could keep the iron pellet suspended without falling while concentrating on his studies.
Thud!
Not knowing how much time had passed, the sound of the iron pellet dropping onto the desk startled him from the pages of the book. Lin Bo rubbed his temples; consuming spell power while simultaneously studying and thinking was mentally exhausting.
The pelting wind and rain were still raging. Lin Bo walked over to the window and looked at the pitch-black courtyard. Even though this was the highest point of the cape, the accumulated water was almost submerging the base of the lighthouse.
He had passed by Stone Pagoda Town during the day, and the flood-discharge ditches and waterways were already swollen. With such heavy rain falling again tonight, a major flood was very likely. The residences in the low-lying areas of the town would most likely be submerged.
Even though hurricanes struck every year and coastal residents made all possible defensive preparations, disaster still struck without warning. No hurricane ever departed quietly; it always claimed a few mortal lives.
Lin Bo drank a vial of whale oil potion, went to the third floor to check the generator set, and inspected the automatic-winding motor he had assembled just last week—a machine he had developed himself that regularly wound the rotating device.
Everything was normal. The Night Watchman set his mind at ease. He decided to abandon his post temporarily, but before leaving, he instructed Iron Guard One to look after the house. Of course, he spoke in Cenin, which the robot could not understand. It was merely to convey the necessary sense of ritual; someone always had to guard the home.
Lin Bo walked over to the door, looked at the soaked trench coat on the coat rack, and hesitated over whether to take a new one, but thinking that he would soon be drenched to the bone anyway, he casually threw the wet garment over his shoulders, donned the Facade of the Mage, picked up a whale oil lamp, and hurried away.
Iron Guard One walked to the window on the third floor, waving goodbye to the tiny heat source speeding away in its infrared field of vision.
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The flood-discharge waterways of Stone Pagoda Town were overflowing, and the surface water level was rising continuously.
Almost every household had a lamp lit.
Under the gloomy blue light of the whale oil lamps, yellow, soup-like muddy water rushed into homes through door gaps. Adults held basins and children lifted cups, desperately bailing the accumulated water out through the windows, while the elderly used chisels to ram tattered rags and old clothes into door gaps for reinforcement.
They shouted, "Hurry up!" and "Step aside!" The harsh howling of the wind and rain outside still did not cease, soaking the human cries until they were blurred and indistinct.
Such an experience was the childhood impression of many coastal residents; every time a hurricane struck, households were thrown into frantic chaos.
Weili and her husband Jorun sat on the bed, the world at their feet reduced to a watery domain. The accumulated water surged in endlessly, rising steadily, and while they were powerless to stop it, they could only hold their lamps and watch helplessly as the Styx of the Death God surged toward them.
A tin wine glass floating on the water was scooped up by the old woman beside the bed.
"Cough, cough. Why are you still bothering with that?" The old schoolteacher coughed from the cold. Even if they were not submerged, they were very likely to die of hypothermia.
Weili placed the wine glass in the bedside niche. "When the hurricane passes and the neighbors come here to clear away our corpses, I don't want this place to be in absolute chaos. At least, look, there is still a proper wine glass placed here."
"I love your sense of humor, Weili," the old schoolteacher chuckled.
"Well, now is the time to pray to the Five Gods."
"May the Benevolent Mother protect..." "May the Elder shelter..."
Whoosh—
Amidst the noisy sound of rain outside the window, there emerged a heavy, low, and strange sound, resembling ocean waves. For a moment, the two elderly residents thought the sea had rushed ashore, yet the water level inside the house began to drop at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"The Five Gods have manifested a miracle!" Jorun exclaimed at the bizarre phenomenon before his eyes.
Weili caught a glimpse of the light shining through the window, turned her head to look, and a pitch-black three-eyed skull mask suddenly came into view, appearing outside the window at unknown moments.
Suspecting it to be the Death God, she felt completely calm and serene, and was even able to gracefully bow and pay her respects to this skeletal face.
Jorun saw it too, and trembling, he murmured: "Elder, shelter us who walk upon the edge and the night, let terror not harm..."
The three-eyed skull nodded in acknowledgment to them, then turned its face away and strolled past the window. The brilliant light in its hand illuminated the towering, surging waves of water behind it, which resembled a pack of giant yellow hounds following in the footsteps of that figure as he receded into the distance.
"He is gone," Weili said.
"What on earth was that?" The old schoolteacher could not stop coughing.
His wife patted his spine, letting out a casual and lingering sigh: "I think it must be the miracle itself."
Within the range illuminated by the lamp, Lin Bo reined in the accumulated water, turning it into roaring waves that rolled along the streets, sparing those residential houses on the verge of being submerged.
When the accumulated water in the low-lying streets was gathered and carried away to the outskirts to be dumped, the heavy rain continued relentlessly. Lin Bo was powerless to widen the flood-discharge river channels, nor could he stop the hurricane. Since he could not achieve a once-and-for-all solution, he could only run around putting out fires.
Overlooking the town from the air, he observed the disaster situation of the residences and rescued those families in imminent danger.
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Chanting the True Name, he reshaped the crumbling doors and windows, using flowing iron pellets to seal the gaps in the brick walls, blocking the accumulated water from invading again as much as possible.
Houses inhabited solely by the elderly often faced the most severe conditions, as they were unable to drain the accumulated water in time.
Lin Bo would then completely seal off their doorways, leaving only a ventilation gap in the window.
The town mayor was covered in sweat, bailing out water with his wife and children. With such a massive hurricane causing disasters on land, the situation at sea must be even more desolate, and he sighed for Viscount Pearl.
Why did he not heed the Night Watchman's warning? May the Elder protect him, and protect his own family through this disaster.
Suddenly, a beam of light penetrated the window, and the accumulated water inside the house spontaneously receded from the door gaps.
He stared blankly toward the window.
"Oh, Elder... what on earth is that?"
His wife and children hugged each other in terror, while the mayor stood tremblingly in front of them, shielding them.
The skull mask shook its head slightly, turned, and disappeared without a trace.
The family looked at the slightly damp ground, a wondrous feeling welling up in everyone's hearts.
"It's a person, Dad," the mayor's young son whispered.
"I know... No, that's a miracle. A miracle that saved us," the mayor suddenly corrected himself, a strong sense of déjà vu filling his heart. When was the last time he had experienced such a wondrous sensation?
Tonight, many townspeople, terrified and restless amidst the natural disaster and flood, all saw the skeletal face stepping on the waves outside their windows. Wherever his gaze passed, the floods receded, house doors and windows flowed like water, bricks and stones resonated like musical instruments, and many long-neglected holes were repaired.
After dawn, the rain stopped and the wind died down, the world feeling as fresh and relieved as if it had escaped a catastrophe. The residents of Stone Pagoda Town stepped out of their homes to visit one another, confirming from each other's lips that the strange and wondrous sights witnessed last night were by no means a dream.
Despite such a catastrophic emergency, not a single person had died. The elderly poked their heads out of windows, uttering gasps of amazement at the sturdy houses along the street.
The three-eyed skull holding a lamp outside the window was on everyone's lips in the town.
People called him the Miracle Walker.
Though the hurricane had not yet passed, the air of despair had been driven away.
Once daylight broke, the lighthouse was extinguished.
The Night Watchman sat by the warm fireplace on the first floor, wrapped in a blanket, his head lowered in peaceful slumber.
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