Duncan knew from the beginning that Goat Head was a dangerous guy. Its danger was not only that it was an anomaly with unknown background, but also that it had been loyal to the real Captain Duncan and was still acting and thinking according to the old rules.
From Goat-Head's perspective, the city-states on land are meaningless, the mortals in the city-states are ignorant and ridiculous, the weak city-state fleets are food, and plundering and killing them... is the natural "daily routine" of the Lost Hometown.
Duncan didn't know how long it would take him to adjust the thinking habits of this goat-headed man, but he knew that this process had to be gradual - using some reasonable reasons to change his own and the Lost Hometown's style of doing things was the safest way.
He took one last look at Goat Head who was quietly waiting at the navigation table, confirmed that he had taken over the sail and rudder systems of the Lost Homeland, and then pushed the door and walked into his bedroom.
Nina will return to the antique shop this afternoon, but before that, he will have the pigeon Ai Yin complete more testing projects.
The door to the captain's bedroom closed. In the dim light, the goat head stared at the direction of the door quietly. It remained silent for an unknown period of time until it confirmed that the captain's consciousness had set out to walk in the spirit world. Then it murmured softly as if talking to itself: "It really hasn't been affected by the subspace..."
In the dim light, the wooden goat head creaked and turned, as if it was looking around the room, or as if its eyes were penetrating the room and looking around the entire ship.
"Lost Homeland, Lost Homeland... What kind of horrible thing did you fish up back then..."
…
Duncan has returned to the familiar dark space. He feels his will extending among countless starlight and faint light lines. The two ends of the extended trajectory are the Lost Homeland and the antique shop in the Pland city-state.
It seemed that as the duration of this "dual-line connection" prolonged, this feeling became clearer and clearer. Now he didn't even need to concentrate deliberately to sense the situation in the antique shop—he could also remotely control the body in the shop to carry out some simple daily activities.
This is obviously a good thing. An antique shop owner who spends more than half of his time "sleeping" in the shop is obviously suspicious. Even if that body just gets up and moves around, standing at the door for a minute or two, it can dispel a lot of unnecessary attention.
Duncan did not immediately "transmit" his main consciousness to the Pland city-state, but stopped in the dark space. He carefully sensed the changes in the space, and then looked back to his side.
In the boundless darkness, Ai Yin, in the form of a bone pigeon, was circling silently. His ghostly body continuously sprinkled dots of green firelight while flying. In the center of the area where Ai Yin was circling were some vague shadows.
Among those shadows were the sun amulet that had been brought aboard the Lost Homeland, an ancient and old dagger, a piece of cheese, a round cannonball, and a hard salted fish.
These were the "test items" he had prepared before he set out, to further test Ai Yin's ability to carry items and the changes that occurred during the carrying process.
The dagger was found in the cabin. It might have once belonged to a sailor. It was an "ordinary item" without thoughts. The cheese was taken from the kitchen and had the property of not being able to spoil. The shells came from the ammunition depot. The salted fish was one of the catches from the last fishing trip and it had just been dried in the past two days - in fact, it had not been dried thoroughly, but it was already hard.
Duncan looked at Ai Yin circling around these shadows and nodded slightly: "So this is how you carry your belongings every time."
Ai Yin flapped his wings and uttered a hoarse, sharp cry: "Hold on tight, hold on tight!"
Duncan smiled, then concentrated his mind and prepared to project his main consciousness.
But at the moment when he was concentrating, he suddenly saw a strange glimmer emerging at the end of the light stream pointing far away towards the city-state of Plande!
Duncan stopped immediately, looking in amazement at the light that flickered among the countless dim stars - the light seemed to have been there originally, but it turned from dim to bright the moment he focused his attention, as if it was suddenly noticed and began to exude a clear sense of existence.
What it is
In doubt, Duncan tried to move towards the faint light, and with just a thought, he had crossed the boundless darkness. The faint light quickly expanded in front of his eyes and turned into a stream of light flowing and undulating in front of him.
Only then did he realize that there was an imperceptible "connection" between the flowing and undulating light and himself - just like the connection between his original body on the Lost Hometown and the spare body in the antique shop.
Is this... another backup body to be selected
Duncan couldn't help but have such a guess in his mind, but he quickly shook his head - the faint light flowing in front of him was much larger than those light spots representing the "body". Such a large piece of light... rather than representing a body to be chosen, it would be better to say that it was some kind of huge object that had established a connection with himself.
After hesitating for a while, he made up his mind, stretched out his hand and cautiously touched the light...
The next second, a huge and unfamiliar "perception" suddenly flooded into his mind - he could not see the things around him clearly, but he could feel the sea breeze blowing on his body, the waves slowly rising and falling around him, he felt that there were many people walking around him, and even walking on his body, he heard people talking from all directions, but all the sounds were mixed together, and as if separated by a thick curtain, he could not hear clearly.
He vaguely realized that he was perceiving the environment through the perspective of a huge monster, but this monster was not suitable for his spirit to descend directly upon it, or there was some kind of power protecting this thing, blocking the intrusion of his power, so all his perceptions appeared to be delayed and blocked.
This huge creature seems to be resting on the sea near the land, and many people are gathering there.
There was a tense and serious atmosphere among the crowd. They seemed to be dealing with some dangerous factors solemnly, and everyone's conversation was low and concise.
Duncan tried hard to concentrate, trying to hear what these voices were talking about as if they were separated by thick curtains.
He tried for a long time before he finally heard a word that was mentioned repeatedly among the buzzing and rumbling sounds - White Oak.
Duncan took back the hand that was touching the light stream and looked at the floating light in front of him with some surprise.
A faint light floated in the darkness, vaguely revealing the silhouette of a ship.
White Oak... This name seems familiar, but I can't remember when I heard it.
Duncan thought hard and recalled, and finally some superficial impressions came out from the depths of his memory. He recalled the ship he collided with in the spiritual world when he first took the helm, and recalled that when the Lost Homeland passed through the other ship, he seemed to have seen its name on the side of the ship... That ship seemed to be called the White Oak.
Then, he remembered the newspaper he bought in Plande City-State. There was an inconspicuous section in the newspaper that seemed to mention this matter, saying that the ocean-going ship White Oak, which had been missing for several days, would dock in the near future...
Duncan stared blankly at the faint light floating in front of him.
This is the White Oak, the White Oak that was responsible for escorting Anomaly 099.
It seems that the old captain who had tried to speak to him and his crew have finally arrived at the city-state of Plande safely - this is something to be happy about.
Apparently, he had established a connection with the ship.
Could it be that the connection was established after the "spiritual collision" accident, because the fire of the Lost Homeland spread to the White Oak
Duncan had vague guesses in his mind, and he used them to speculate on the various properties of his spiritual flame. At the same time, he was also thinking about whether the connection between him and this steamship could be of any use.
After drifting on the Lost Homeland for so long, he attached great importance to every connection between himself and the civilized world.
It now seems that although the White Oak has docked, it is still in a state of blockade and surveillance. Those nervous people should be the "professionals" of the city-state who specialize in dealing with extraordinary phenomena.
Obviously, for the people in the city-state, a ship that has been lost at sea is dangerous, and the other party’s experience of negative distance contact with the Lost Homeland may also be a major issue to be examined.
Duncan is still somewhat aware of his own and the Lost Homeland's notoriety.
After thinking it over, Duncan cautiously stepped back and did not continue to touch the light mist in front of him.
As the number one boss on the vast sea, he had no intention of dealing with the protectors of the city-state, and without knowing the details of those "extraordinary experts", he also did not want to expose the fact that the White Oak had established contact with "Captain Duncan".
He did not want the connection between him and the steamship to be discovered and eliminated - anyway, the connection had been established and was as solid as an anchor cable under the sea. He could wait patiently, and the surveillance of the White Oak would be lifted one day.
By then, maybe he could still talk to the old captain calmly.
Find out what the old captain was shouting to me when the wind and waves were too strong.