Deep Sea Embers

The raging green flames are gradually fading, and the surrounding sea has also begun to calm down.

After confirming from the goat's head that the "Lost Country" had left the dangerous sea area and was able to sail on its own, Duncan took his hand off the dark steering wheel. He was lowering his head at the moment, and what caught in his eyes was, It is the body that has been restored to flesh and blood, and the deck of the Lost Homeland that has been restored to its original state after the green fire is extinguished.

But in the dark, he had a feeling—many things were different.

He could feel that something changed the moment he held the steering wheel of the Lost Home, and the green flame connected him with the ship, and even connected him with the sea , even though the flames have receded now, he can still feel this invisible connection, feel every detail of the big ship under his feet.

Duncan slowly closed his eyes. He heard faint murmurs coming from the deep and dark corridors of the Lost Home. There was an inexplicable sense of intimacy in the murmurs. He saw the lantern in the captain's cabin and didn't know when It was already lit, and there was pale light dancing in the glass lampshade. He heard the sound of waves hitting the hull, and it seemed that there was a deep gaze hidden under the waves, but when he tried to find the source of the gaze, he found Those who hide their own existence as if consciously...

Duncan opened his eyes, and he exhaled lightly, and the veil-like mist-like spirit sail on the mast of the Lost Home began to stir. He walked towards the stairs leading to the deck, and the ropes beside the stairs squirmed Withdrew to both sides.

He understood—after he chose to take over the steering wheel, he was the real captain of the ship.

"Captain, we are rising from the edge of the spirit world, and we will return to the real world soon," the voice of the goat's head came from the side, but this time it did not pass through the copper pipe used for communication on the ship, but appeared directly in Duncan's mouth. In my mind, when talking about business, it seemed a lot more serious, but not so noisy, "We were lucky, and we only 'swayed' at the bottom of the spirit world at the deepest point, and were hardly affected by the deep .”

The real world, the sea area of ​​the spirit world, the deep sea, and the subspace that seems to be deeper... Duncan had these strange words that appeared in front of him one after another in Duncan's mind. He knew that these words pointed to the real situation of this strange world. But he still doesn't know what the words really mean.

However, listening to the voice of the goat's head calling himself "Captain", Duncan always vaguely felt that the other party's tone had undergone some subtle changes. He even suspected that even if he said the identity of "Zhou Ming" at this moment, the goat The head will still obey his orders-this is exactly the change that occurred after he took the helm and successfully recovered from the "green fire".

But after hesitating for a while, he still didn't try rashly, and he didn't ask the goat head about the spirit world, the deep and subspace.

If it was a few days ago, he really fell into anxiety and anxiety. At that time, he was eager to figure out his situation, but now he doesn't seem to be in a hurry.

In this world, there are other "people", there are other ships, there is an orderly society, and there are other civilizations. This is enough for him to have many hopes for the future out of thin air, and even some "plans" that are still quite vague at present.

In his wild thoughts, Duncan recalled the details of the encounter with the ship that suddenly emerged from the thick fog, recalled the striking funnel on the ship, and the machinery that immediately appeared in his mind when it intersected with the Lost Country. structure.

"That's a mechanically powered ship... and the Lost Homeland looks like a sailing warship from the last era..." Duncan said to himself, "but it's not exactly a mechanical ship..."

There are some cabins with unknown meanings on that ship. The cabins are arranged like some kind of sacrificial scene. Many strange patterns and symbols can be seen on the keel of the hull, which seem to be decorations, but they are more than necessary for decoration. .

"Goat's head," Duncan said suddenly. He didn't know the name of the goat's head, so he subconsciously said the name in his mind. The captain's man yelled at me, what did he say?"

The goat's head didn't seem to care about the captain's address to itself, it readily accepted and quickly replied: "The wind and waves are too strong, I didn't hear clearly."

"You didn't hear clearly?" Duncan frowned, "... I always feel that his expression was tragic at that time, as if he was about to die with me, and what he shouted should be quite important."

"Wanting to die with you belongs to the normal reaction of human beings, especially the normal reaction of sailors at sea. It is not worth making a fuss about, and their roar before the gnats shake the tree does not require you to pay attention..."

The goat's head's reply seemed quite natural, but Duncan, who was walking up the stairs to the deck, almost shook his feet. He shook the corners of his mouth in astonishment: "Is it a normal human reaction to want to die with me?"

As soon as he finished saying this, he felt a little inappropriate, because it seemed to expose the loopholes in his identity as the "captain", and revealed that he did not understand the situation of "himself". , or it may be that the feeling of being integrated with the Lost Homeland weakened his vigilance. In any case, this made Duncan a little nervous for a moment-but the goat's head didn't seem to notice it at all.

"It's normal for them to be afraid of you," the tone of the goat head seemed to be a little proud, "Anyone who sails on the boundless sea should be afraid of you, just like they are afraid of those old gods and shadows in the subspace, Speaking of shadows, you know a brilliant engineer...maybe an agriculturist or gourmand once said a word..."

Duncan sensibly did not take up this topic, because he was very worried that he would not be able to get on with this topic if he continued (of course, the more important reason was that he really didn't want to talk to that goat head, because as long as the other party responded, the level of noise would be reduced. rising exponentially), and the next second, he was distracted by another thing on the deck.

"...What the hell is this?" Duncan stood on the edge of the deck, looking at the things at the door of the captain's cabin in amazement.

It was a wooden box that was as long as a person, and the workmanship looked very good. The unknown gloomy wood was tightly pieced together, riveted and reinforced with gold-like metal, and the inscription on the edge of the box can be seen The complex pattern, like words, and hieroglyphs after deliberately distorted - this box is definitely not something on the Lost Home! Duncan hadn't seen it before when he left the captain's cabin!

The voice of the goat's head was silent for a moment and then sounded: "... I don't know it, but it should be a trophy..."

"The trophy?!" Duncan didn't react immediately, he walked around the box twice, "This thing looks like a coffin, but it's much more beautiful than ordinary coffins... Wait, the trophy, You mean this thing was 'get' from that ship just now?!"

"A successful hunt, Captain," the goat's head said in a rather serious tone, with some flattering tone mixed in, "every time you sail, you always return with a full load. This is a normal performance."

Duncan subconsciously opened his mouth, thinking that he didn't intend to get things off other people's boats. What kind of hunting and "returning with a full load" is this?

But after thinking about it, he was afraid that what he said would not conform to his "captain" image. More importantly, the mechanical ship had disappeared in the depths of the sea fog at this moment. In the state of wanting to split, as if they were going to die together, he thought that there was no way to send this thing back, so he could only press all the words back into his stomach.

Standing in front of the gorgeous wooden box that looked like a coffin, he noticed that the lid of this thing seemed to be loose, and it looked like it could be opened with a single touch.

After hesitating for a while, he put his hand on the lid of the wooden box—at least, he wanted to figure out what he had put on board during the "spiritual sailing" just now.

His body was stronger than he had imagined, and the lid was not as heavy as he had imagined. He almost only exerted a little force, and the dark-looking box lid lifted a crack, and then it was taken by him. It was completely lifted.

Duncan looked inside the box, dumbfounded.

"one person?"

In the wooden box, lay a beautiful young woman quietly——silver-white long hair was spread like mercury inside the box, her appearance was exquisite and flawless, and there was some kind of noble and aloof demeanor faintly. She was dressed in a suit She was dressed in a gorgeous purple-black court dress, with her hands folded in front of her body, as if she was falling into a long deep sleep.

Perfect as a doll.

"No, this is really a doll!"

During careful observation, Duncan suddenly noticed the other party's inhuman joint structure.