The sea calmed down.
Alice saw the tentacle fall onto the deck, and some flesh and blood fragments containing powerful power also fell at the captain's feet. Life quickly faded from these flesh and blood, and at the same time, some huge creature lurking under the sea around the Lost Homeland also began to dive faster and faster - at the cost of a tentacle, it quickly left the sea area where the Lost Homeland was, and it even looked like it was fleeing in panic.
As this huge shadow dived back into the deep sea, the sea returned to calm at an astonishing speed, and the dark clouds in the sky completely dissipated.
… Maybe it’s not a cloud at all.
Alice looked up at the sky. She still remembered what the dark cloud looked like. She recalled the outline of the cloud as it dissipated, and finally vaguely matched it with the shadow under the water around the ship.
The thick cloud in the sky seemed like a shadow, a shadow cast by some huge monster in the sea.
The crackling sound of burning flames coming from the edge of the deck interrupted Alice's distraction. She quickly looked in the direction of the captain, only to see that the captain had returned to his usual appearance. The tall man had a happy smile on his face. He had noticed Alice standing not far away, so he waved his hand to signal the puppet lady to come over.
Seeing Alice approaching him, Duncan kicked the big fish on the deck and said in a slightly raised tone: "Look, I caught a big fish!"
“Big… big fish?” Alice’s expression was a little dull as she looked at the mass at Duncan’s feet. Among the twisted and swirling flesh, countless eyes with blood and flesh torn apart were still half-opened and half-closed, staring at the sky, and the jagged fangs and sharp teeth were shining with a cold metallic light between the eyeballs.
As Duncan kicked, half of the eyes on the broken tentacle suddenly blinked, but then closed completely.
"Yes, it's a big fish," Duncan said happily. "You see, it took me a lot of effort to get this thing out."
Even though it was just a doll, Alice still felt as if a "muscle" in the corner of her eye twitched at that moment. She opened her mouth to speak, but didn't know where to start to correct the topic.
She looked at the "fish" at Duncan's feet.
An ugly big fish was lying there - black in color, with a bumpy skin, strange gray-white patterns near its fins, bone spurs extending from its head, and a pair of lifeless fish eyes meeting her gaze.
There were also many "small fish" scattered on the surrounding decks.
Alice suddenly lost all expression and speech. She stared at the scene in front of her with wide eyes, looking at the "fish" lying on the deck, looking at these things that were not "fish" a second ago.
Miss Doll, who lacked life experience, did not understand what "doubting life" meant, but at this moment, she suddenly began to doubt everything. She even wondered if she was "dreaming" - where had that tentacle and those pieces of flesh and blood gone
Perhaps it was because her momentary sluggishness was too obvious that Duncan immediately noticed something was wrong with Alice. He raised his eyebrows and looked at the puppet: "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"
"I..." Alice opened her mouth, but just as she was about to correct something, the rules that Goat Head had told her suddenly popped into her mind.
On the Homeless, Captain Duncan is the absolute authority and his words are absolute "facts" - if the real world contradicts Captain Duncan's words, then the captain's judgment shall prevail.
"No problem!" Alice reacted suddenly and said quickly. Then, as if to cover up the overly nervous tone, she quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Captain, the storm just now was really scary..."
"Storm? You mean the waves?" Duncan looked at Miss Doll in confusion. "Those waves were indeed big, but they are far from being a storm... But then again, you haven't seen a real storm either."
Alice: “…You are right.”
Captain Duncan called the storm that covered almost the entire sea "waves", so it was a wave; Captain Duncan thought the things he caught on the boat were "fish", so these things were fish.
"... I feel like you're a little nervous. Are you really okay?" Duncan still noticed something was wrong in Alice's tone. He looked at his "crew member number one" with some concern. "Are you seasick? Do you get seasick?"
"I'm fine, it's just that the boat was shaking a bit..." Alice looked at the captain in front of her with concern, but she didn't know whether to feel relieved or more afraid, so she could only change the subject abruptly, "By the way, what are you going to do with these... 'fish'?"
"Is there any need to ask?" Duncan laughed, "Of course I eat!"
Alice's expression froze for a moment: "... Eat?"
"What else? Don't you find that the food supplies on the Lost Homeland are too monotonous?" Duncan was in a good mood. "I plan to split the big one into two, stew some and roast some, and salt the smaller ones to make dried fish..."
He happily talked about his next plan, but although he sounded confident, he was actually not sure whether he could succeed - his cooking skills were only average, and he had no experience in handling such a huge sea fish. Moreover, he only had some theoretical knowledge of how to dry fish and had no practical experience at all.
But how do you know if you don’t try
The only problem... is not to get an upset stomach.
Duncan still retained some rationality in the joy of the great harvest. He looked at the big fish at his feet cautiously, wondering whether this gift from nature might be poisonous.
The safest way is to find an unlucky person to try it first.
He first thought of the goat head in the captain's room, then instantly ruled out this option, and then took a look at the cursed doll opposite - this doll was also not feasible.
Alice has no stomach at all.
Finally, he looked at the pigeon on his shoulder.
The pigeon also tilted its head and looked at him.
Aiyi doesn't look like a normal creature, but if we have to find a living creature with flesh and blood on the ship, it seems that the only one left is this pigeon...
A moment later, Duncan left the deck with his "harvest" - lunch time was approaching, and he was eager to improve the food on the Lost Homeland.
Alice stood there in a daze for a while, then came to the door of the captain's room.
She had not originally intended to look for Goat Head. Ever since she had witnessed the nagging ability of this "first mate" last time, she had even developed a deep sense of awe for the entire captain's room.
If possible, she didn't want to step into the captain's room on her own initiative.
But what happened today was so strange that she felt it necessary to consult the experienced Mr. Goat Head to see if this was a normal phenomenon on the Lost Homeland.
She did not violate the crew rules, she was just asking about the situation, which should not be taboo.
After hesitating for more than ten seconds, Alice finally plucked up the courage and pushed open the door of the captain's room.
The next second, she was surprised to see that the goat's head had already turned towards the door and was staring at this side - it seemed to have been waiting for her to come over.
"What happened outside?" Goat Head spoke in a very rare and concise manner.
Alice sensed something was wrong from the other party's abnormal behavior. She quickly turned around, closed the door, came to the navigation table, and told the other party everything she had seen.
After she finished speaking, the goat head fell into an extremely abnormal silence—it didn't say a word for a full minute.
The wooden carved sheep's head could not make any expression, but Alice could clearly sense that... things seemed to be a little beyond the judgment of the "first mate".
Alice suddenly became nervous, and she leaned forward subconsciously: "Isn't this a normal thing that happens on the Lost Homeland? Could it be that the captain really..."
"Everything is fine on the Lost Homeland," the goat-head finally woke up from silence. It answered quickly, as if it wanted to plug some loophole as soon as possible and interrupted Alice's words, "Listen, everything is fine on the Lost Homeland, and it will always be fine. The great Captain Duncan is the same as always!"
"Well... I'm just looking at your reaction..."
"Things are a little beyond my expectations - but this is due to my lack of imagination and cognition." The goat-headed man spoke quickly and fluently. It seemed to be recovering from its shock little by little to its normal state. Then, its mood obviously began to rise, and even its tone became passionate and excited. "Yes, the great Captain Duncan - he should be greater and more powerful! There is nothing abnormal, Miss Alice, listen, everything is normal on the Lost Homeland! Let the captain do what he thinks is right, and don't continue to discuss this topic... You just need to remember this fact from today:
"There is fish in the kitchen of the Lost Homeland. Fish is a delicious ingredient."