Duncan stared at the huge scar in the sky that was emitting a dim glow for a long time, as if he wanted to distinguish some details he had seen before from the chaotic light mist to confirm the amazing conjecture in his mind -
Is the scene outside the bottom of the Lost Homeland the creation of the world
If the outside of the ship is the Warp, then is the Creation of the World also part of the Warp? Or at least there is a certain connection
But in the end he was unable to see any clues, and the guesses in his mind were just guesses.
The scar was too far away. Even with a monocular telescope, it was impossible to see more details. Judging from the visible part at present, it was only a little bit "close" to the scene outside the bottom of the Lost Homeland. Rather than saying that the two were similar, it was better to say that my nerves were too tense after exploring the bottom of the cabin, so I was suspicious of everything I saw.
Duncan spent a long time on the deck enjoying the sea breeze, thinking and slowly calming himself down. He was also paying attention to what was happening on Goat Head, and discovered that his "first mate" seemed to have calmed down as well, and was now seriously controlling the Lost Homeland.
But Duncan still keenly felt that there was a vague sense of tension spreading throughout the ship - this tension seemed to have no source, and permeated the entire "living" ghost ship, the towering masts, the interlaced sails, the ropes piled on the deck... these silent things in the darkness seemed to have emitted tense and suppressed whispers, discussing the matter of "that door".
This was the first time Duncan had sensed the emotional changes of the "ship" directly in his mind.
It seemed that after returning from the bilge, his connection to the ship had deepened.
Now, the entire ship was paying attention to the captain, watching to see if he had any unusual behavior after peeking at the other side of the door.
The evening breeze blew in his face. Duncan took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the captain's room. His fingers tapped lightly on the handrail beside the ship's side, and he said as if talking to himself: "Relax, this matter is nothing special."
This time, he finally felt the changes more clearly: the tension that filled the entire ship slowly subsided, the ropes were no longer tight, the sails were hoisted, and the slight creaking sound coming from below the deck gradually subsided.
The ship seemed to have finally confirmed that the captain was still the captain.
Duncan returned to the door of the captain's room, but he did not open the door as usual. Instead, after a slight hesitation, he grasped the door handle, exerted a little force, and pushed the door inward.
The door opened, revealing a surging black fog.
Duncan walked towards the black fog, and Ai, the pigeon that had been perched on his shoulder, suddenly flapped its wings and flew to a mast not far away, shouting as it flew: "The road ahead is blocked, the road ahead is blocked!"
Duncan looked at the pigeon that suddenly ran away with some curiosity, but still took a step forward.
He returned to his familiar bachelor apartment.
Zhou Ming lowered his head and checked his body at this moment: familiar hands, familiar shirt, familiar trousers. He was not as strong as Captain Duncan, but just an ordinary human being.
He raised his head again and looked at the situation in the room.
Everything was exactly the same as when he left, not even the dust had increased.
Zhou Ming observed the furnishings in the room thoughtfully, and then suddenly turned back to look at the door - he looked at the door of the bachelor apartment, recalling the door he saw in the bottom cabin of the Lost Hometown, and recalling the position and angle of the gap in the door.
He stood in the corresponding position, first assuming that there was a person opposite the door, and then looked in the direction opposite to the door.
From the crack in the door, you can indeed see the center of the room, and the somewhat messy desk with a computer and other sundries on it - he usually works at that desk, reading, writing, or correcting students' homework and test papers.
Zhou Ming slowly opened the door a crack, and little by little, put his eyes close to the crack.
At this moment, he felt his heart pounding - even though his mind told him that this was an illogical thought, he still couldn't help but wonder... Would an eye suddenly appear on the other side of the door? Would a ghost captain with a gloomy and serious expression suddenly appear? Would... a pirate sword suddenly pierce in
He stuck closer, his eyes looking outside.
There was only a rolling black fog outside, just like always.
Zhou Ming suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, but for some reason, he felt a strange sense of loss in his heart - a feeling that his expectations had been dashed, and as if he had lost some fun.
He shook his head vigorously to get rid of this strange mentality, and then slowly walked to the desk - the things he left in the room before leaving were still there, including the scraps of paper covered with scribblings, the organized diary, and the computer screen that was still on even after the power was cut off.
Nothing seems to have changed.
Zhou Ming exhaled, but suddenly, his expression froze.
Change!
His eyes were fixed on a corner of the desk. In that inconspicuous corner, there was now a small object - an incomparably exquisite decoration, a lifelike model, a ship... the Lost Homeland.
Zhou Ming was struck by lightning, and sat in his chair in a daze for half a minute without moving. He was 100% sure that this decoration did not originally exist on his desk... Especially, this decoration was a "model" of the Lost Hometown!
After a long time, he suddenly blinked his eyes, reached out and carefully took the "model" that appeared on the desk at some point, and looked at it carefully in front of his eyes.
This lifelike "ghost ship" is only half a foot long, and the weight in the hand is not much different from an ordinary model. At the same time, it is so detailed that Zhou Ming carefully observed it for a long time. He could even see every rope and every bucket on the deck...
Compared to the real Homelander, the only difference between this ship and the real Homelander is perhaps its size.
Suddenly, Zhou Ming seemed to have thought of something. He brought the ship in front of him and carefully "knocked" open the door of the captain's room at the stern with his fingers. He looked inside through the small door and searched carefully.
There is no goat head on the miniature nautical table.
Likewise, Alice is not visible on the ship.
Zhou Ming felt a little strange in his heart. He didn't know why he thought that "Alice" would appear on this miniature version of the Lost Homeland. This was obviously an outrageous idea.
Perhaps the appearance of this ship itself is too outrageous
Zhou Ming held the small Lost Hometown Book in his hands and pondered for a long time.
He didn't know how the ship appeared on his desk, but it was obvious that the connection between his sealed-off bachelor apartment and the "world on the other side of the door" was deeper than he thought.
The change may have occurred after he "took the helm", or it may have occurred after he peeked into the subspace through the crack in the door.
He leaned back in his chair and let his mind calm down.
He found that he could still "feel" what was happening on the other side of the door. He could feel the Lost Homeland, the Goat Head, and even... he could feel the city-state of Plande, which was who knows how far away, and the other... "body" in the antique shop.
Zhou Ming didn't know how long he had been thinking like this before he suddenly blinked as if waking up. He looked at the ghost ship still in his hands, and then looked at an empty shelf at the end of the room.
The shelf had been bought several years ago, but until the vision came, he had never found a chance to fill it up. At this moment, there were only a few decorative crystal bottles on it that he had been deceived into buying online, and the rest of the grids were all empty.
Zhou Ming held the Lost Hometown in his hands and carefully placed this exquisite "model" on the shelf.
After placing it, he took two steps back and carefully looked at his "achievements", seeming to be very satisfied with the place he chose.
How this thing got here was still a mystery, but at least... he could decorate his cabin again while he was trapped.
…
A loud and melodious whistle broke the calm on the sea. Vanna, who had arrived at the port early, immediately walked to the edge of the observation deck and looked at the situation on the dock.
The entire port had been cleared in advance. The once busy Plande main port was now deserted. The ordinary stevedores and handover personnel were gone from the docks. Instead, there were fully armed and ready sheriff's troops and guards from the church.
Twelve steam walkers block all roads leading to the dock area.
And on the sea outside the harbor, among the gently rising and falling waves, a beautiful steam-powered ship was slowly approaching.
White Oak.