The "coffin" is back again.
On the stern deck of the Homeless, Duncan stared expressionlessly at the gorgeous wooden box lying quietly in front of him. Drops of water from the edge of the box fell at his feet, confirming that his previous memory of throwing the wooden box into the sea was not false, and confirming that this thing was indeed floating in the sea not long ago.
Such a strange situation was enough to send chills down one's spine, but for some reason, Duncan felt calmer than he had imagined.
Perhaps it was because he was on this extremely strange ghost ship, or perhaps it was because he had just experienced a thrilling "ghost drift" and ship collision not long ago, or perhaps it was because he had been dealing with an equally strange goat-head for several days, Duncan seemed to have become immune to the bizarre supernatural phenomena in this world.
In fact, as early as the last time he threw this "cursed doll" into the sea, he had vaguely guessed that things would not end so easily.
He lowered his head and found, as expected, that the iron nails and the circle of chains that had been nailed around the coffin had disappeared. Then he bent down and used the pirate sword in his hand to pry open the lid of the "coffin" again.
The gorgeous Gothic doll still lay quietly in the center of the red velvet lining, with its hands folded, looking peaceful and elegant.
But this time Duncan clearly noticed that the hem of the other person's skirt seemed to be wet by sea water - and a slight fishy smell came from the inside of the coffin lid.
So far, this strange doll does not seem to have any other unusual or dangerous behavior except for coming back time and time again. However, the mere fact of "going back and forth" is already a standard attribute of a "cursed item."
Duncan stared at the doll expressionlessly for a while, then suddenly broke the silence with a half-smile: "I suddenly want to satisfy my curiosity..."
After he finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the cabin entrance not far away, leaving the doll on the deck with confidence.
- Although personally, he was very wary of the puppet and did not want to keep it by his side, but based on his understanding of the Lost Hometown and the goat-headed girl, he knew that it would not be a big problem to temporarily put the puppet on the deck. Even if she suddenly attacked and hurt people, the many "living creatures" on the ship were enough to deal with it.
And he has to do some "preparatory work" during this time.
Duncan crossed the stern deck, opened the wooden door leading to the lower deck, walked up the wooden stairs that were who knows how many years old, and came to the cabin under the deck with ease. This is the "upper cabin" in the cabin, where the cannons are placed - old-style muzzle-loading cannons lie quietly on both sides of the cabin, moldy and blackened wooden boards cover the shooting ports next to them, and black gunpowder barrels and solid iron ball-like shells are piled between the gun positions, looking as if they have been accumulated for a century.
Duncan's eyes swept over these things that looked quite old at first glance, and suddenly something came to his mind -
He didn't see any other "person" on the ship besides himself, so who was operating these cannons
Could it be that just like the Lost Hometown itself, these cannons will be able to load and fire by themselves
What about the fresh water tanks on the ship? Are they replenishing themselves? What about the damaged parts? Are they repairing themselves? Or... is there really a concept of "damage" on this ship
Questions popped up in my mind one after another, but I couldn't think of how to explain them.
Duncan knew very well that he knew too little about this ship. Although he had explored it to some extent in the past few days, he only had a general understanding of its upper structure. The deeper areas were far more bizarre and frightening than the upper ones. In addition, he had always hoped to leave his "bachelor apartment" and return to the normal world on Earth, and had not focused his main energy on the Lost Homeland, which resulted in a lack of motivation for his actions "here".
But now, he suddenly became more curious about this ship, or rather... had a greater sense of "control".
This was his ship, and he deserved to know the Lost Homeland.
This may also be the change that occurred after taking hold of the steering wheel.
Duncan shook his head, put the subsequent exploration plan in mind for the time being, and then came to the place where the shells were piled...
A moment later, Duncan returned to the stern deck holding several cast iron shells. Just as he thought, the cursed doll in the coffin was still lying obediently in the wooden box.
"Did she make any movement just now?"
"Not at all," the goat-headed man's voice came immediately. It seemed to have been holding back for too long, and it spoke in a crackling voice. "This lady is as quiet as she looks. You should trust my judgment. She is gentle and harmless to you. Since she has returned to the ship again and again, it may mean that there is some connection between her and her coffin and the Lost Homeland. A great gardener once..."
"Shut up."
"oh."
Duncan stared at the puppet in the coffin expressionlessly.
It was unknown whether she was really unable to move or was still pretending to be asleep - Duncan didn't care anyway.
He wanted to satisfy his curiosity.
The cast iron shells, which were like solid iron balls, were extremely heavy. When executing traitors on the ship, tying one of these shells was enough to kill even the most experienced sailors.
Duncan placed four in the coffin—then returned to the cabin and brought in four more.
The eight shells almost filled up all the remaining space in the wooden box. The gorgeous and elegant Gothic doll was now surrounded by a circle of shells, and it looked... full of martial virtue.
Elegant is not that elegant, but weird is really weird.
Duncan sealed the lid of the coffin again, and then pushed the wooden box to the edge of the deck with great effort. Even with his current physical strength, it was not easy to complete this operation.
Finally, he kicked the coffin into the sea.
There was a heavy sound of falling into the water, and the gorgeous wooden box went straight into the water and sank.
Duncan still stood quietly at the edge of the deck, staring at the place where the wooden box fell into the water, without moving for a long time.
The voice of the goat head entered his mind: "Captain, do you regret it? If you regret abandoning this trophy, the Lost Homeland can try to use the anchor to fish out the box. Although this is not the correct way to use the anchor, the anchor said it can try..."
"Shut up."
"But I see you've been standing on the edge of the deck for a long time..."
"Shut up."
"oh."
Duncan exhaled softly.
He couldn't admit that his toes hurt in front of the lackey Goat Head.
So he lay on the deck in pain for several minutes, trying his best to maintain the seriousness of a dignified captain. In the end, he even doubted whether he looked like a man waiting for his wife. Then he finally recovered and slowly returned to the upper cabin below the deck.
After waiting quietly for a few minutes, Duncan estimated that the time was about right, so he suddenly walked to the stern area of the upper cabin, opened the observation window between the two rear guns, and focused on the movements on the sea.
The goat-headed man remained silent for a short while before he could not help but asked, "Captain, what are you doing..."
Duncan stared at the sea intently and replied without looking up: "I'm curious about how the 'cursed doll' came back."
"Uh... because she's a cursed doll?"
"... I appreciate your attitude of not seeking to understand too much, but I think that even if it is a cursed doll, there must be some process for her to return to the ship. She wants to pretend to be 'dead', but she returns to the ship again and again. I think there must be a reason in between, and the other party must have the ability to communicate... But now she refuses to communicate, so I can only find a way to grasp her behavior pattern and force communication with that thing."
After listening to Duncan's explanation, Goat Head was silent for two seconds, and suddenly asked tentatively: "Captain, you seem to be... in a good mood all of a sudden? Ah, this is really a good sign! You haven't been in a good mood since you woke up last time, and it seems that you have lost interest in many things. Your loyal first mate, second mate, and..."
"Shut up."
"oh."
After Goat Head calmed down, Duncan was still concentrating on paying attention to the movements on the sea. In his sight, the sea surface towards the stern was calm.
The "coffin" seemed to have really sunk into the deep sea and never appeared again.
But with the experience of the previous two times, Duncan was extra patient this time. He silently calculated the time, silently waited, silently observed, and let time flow.
He himself seemed not to notice that he was actively expecting the puppet to reappear.
Then, a small black shadow really appeared in his field of vision.
During one of the ups and downs of the waves, the black shadow rushed into Duncan's sight. It was an exquisite wooden box, breaking through the sea surface like a lone boat in the wind and waves, and the beautiful Gothic doll was standing in the wooden box, holding her gorgeous coffin lid in an imposing posture, paddling left and right to rush forward in the wind and waves.
A Gothic figure standing in a coffin, waving the coffin lid and riding the waves.
It's not so elegant, but it's really weirder than eight cannonballs.
Duncan was shocked.
(Oh my god!)