A cool sea breeze suddenly blew across the deck, causing Captain Lawrence, who had just walked outside, to rub his arms subconsciously - but he didn't know whether the feeling of goose bumps was due to the cool sea breeze or because of what the young inquisitor told him.
Anomaly 099, the puppet coffin, not only has the ability to move and escape after losing control, but also can continuously expand its range of influence, and continuously test the humanoid targets within the range, and perform unconditional decapitation. Only saints can resist this almost causal decapitation effect...
During the past half month's voyage, he and his crew had been dealing with this dangerous anomaly day and night - despite the fact that apart from the final encounter with the Lost Homeland, there had been no danger during the entire escort trip, but thinking back on it now, he still felt a little scared.
But it's just a fear.
He is a member of the Explorers' Society and a senior ocean explorer. His job is to deal with the boundless ocean. Unlike those fishermen who only operate in safe offshore areas, he has spent most of his sailing career dealing with various anomalies and even strange phenomena.
When undertaking an unusual transport mission, the authorities or the church will inform in advance of the dangers of the transport process. This part is often the shortest in the entire commission contract, usually with only one sentence: This mission is fatally dangerous and the specific details cannot be disclosed.
Every captain who makes a living between city-states knows what he is facing, and more than half of the captains suffer from the entanglement of this deadly career in their later years - dealing with the vast sea all year round, anomalies and visions will always leave something in your destiny.
Many of his colleagues of similar age had already retired, either suffering from recurring nightmares, or suffering from mental problems due to various degrees of curses, or being left with physical disabilities during long voyages... or worse.
The captains and sailors on ocean-going ships have incomes that are far beyond the imagination of the city-state residents, but they also have "occupational diseases" that are far more serious than any other profession.
Captain Lawrence felt that he was not a very noble person. He did this job mainly to make money. Of course, he also had a passion for exploring the sea when he was young, but like most people, the passion of youth is difficult to accompany throughout life, and now... he felt that it was time for this passion to burn out.
Find a time to retire while you are still mentally sound and while the boundless sea has not yet entangled your fate.
Lawrence sighed slightly, turned around and walked slowly towards the captain's room.
The priests had not yet finished searching and questioning the entire ship. Before that, he could not leave the White Oak. After that, he would be transferred to the church with everyone else for quarantine observation and a series of mental evaluations.
His eyes swept around him, scanning the familiar ship facilities.
This is a very good ship and very new. I have only been in charge of it for five years. To use a common saying among captains on the vast ocean, "the honeymoon period between the captain and the ship has not yet passed." To be honest, I am a little reluctant to retire.
But it is better to retreat now than to die on some future voyage or spend the rest of your life in a mental hospital.
…
In the old Duncan Antique Shop in the lower city of the city-state, the middle-aged man lying on the bed on the second floor slowly opened his eyes, and the slightly old and moldy ceiling was reflected in Duncan's field of vision.
"Huh..."
Duncan exhaled lightly, feeling the sensations from this body quickly becoming clearer and more stable, feeling his way of controlling this body change from remote control to direct mastery. After two or three seconds, he used his arms to prop himself up.
Ai Yin the pigeon fluttered over, rubbed his beak at the head of his bed, and yelled: "Dear, welcome home, do you want to eat first, take a shower, or..."
Duncan was just about to stretch when this pigeon's words almost made him cramp. He slapped Ai Yin on the head and said, "Why do you have all these words?!"
Ai Yin was obviously not an ordinary person. He acted as if nothing had happened after being slapped by Duncan. He walked briskly to the side and continued to yell, "I got hit right on the nose with a punch. Blood gushed out. My nose was crooked, like a sauce shop..."
Duncan simply put this brain-dead bird aside and ignored it. He got up from the bed and looked at the table not far away.
On the table, there were various test subjects that he had prepared on the Lost Homeland:
A sun amulet, a dagger, cheese, cannonballs, and a salt fish.
Everything was complete, and even with so many messy and unrelated things put together, Ai Yin didn't lose anything.
This pigeon is actually more reliable than I thought.
Duncan walked forward and checked every item on the table. After confirming that everything was complete and undamaged, he couldn't help but look back at the pigeon pacing on the bed, and a little approval emerged in his heart for the bird.
Then he saw Ai Yin pacing at the head of the bed, and by this time he had memorized the part where "When Lu Da looked, he saw Zheng Tu lying on the ground"...
Duncan: “…”
He hid his approval in his heart, then sat down at the table and began to check the "goods" one by one.
First up was the Sun Amulet. It hadn't changed at all - as a supernatural object that had been completely transformed and controlled by the spiritual fire, a gentle power still flowed quietly within it, and two consecutive trips into the spiritual world didn't seem to affect the nature of the object.
The dagger that did not possess extraordinary properties did not seem to have changed much. Apart from its old style, its blade was still sharp and its scabbard was well maintained.
Duncan's eyes fell on the piece of cheese brought out from the Lost Country's kitchen.
There was nothing wrong with the cheese. It was still in an inedible state. It did not rot quickly or disappear out of thin air after leaving the Lost Homeland as Duncan had imagined.
He looked at the cannonball again—it lay quietly on the table, unresponsive to the captain's gaze.
Duncan pushed the shell and tapped on its cast-iron casing.
The extraordinary properties faded from the shells.
On the Homeless, even the shells are "active". Of course, this does not mean that each shell has an independent "thinking", but that the entire ammunition system of the ship is controlled by a unified "consciousness". As a "sub-unit" of this consciousness, the shells on the Homeless will even immediately adjust their positions and accept "inspection" when being watched by the captain.
According to Duncan's observations over a period of time, the military force of the Lost Homeland should be controlled by two "consciousnesses", one is the ammunition system, and the other is the dozens of artillery pieces under the deck. These two consciousnesses should be responsible for loading and firing during combat, and control every "member" within their respective systems.
The shell in front of him had obviously lost the control of its superior consciousness after leaving the Lost Hometown, and turned into an ordinary lump of iron.
Duncan thought about it.
If this shell is brought back, will it become part of the ammunition depot again? Will the Lost Homeland still "recognize" this "sub-unit" that has returned
His thoughts extended to another topic - the ammunition on the Lost Homeland was limited, and the shells fired would not come back (the eight shells used to support Alice's cargo ship had not come back either), so... could the ammunition on the ship be replenished? How did the newly replenished ammunition become a "sub-unit" of the Lost Homeland
Let's extend this idea a little further: Can the Lost Homeland upgrade its artillery system? More advanced cannons, more advanced shells, can these things be used on that ship
The Lost Homeland is a ghost ship, which means it is difficult to resupply and... "improve" it as easily as an ordinary ship. The things moved onto the ship are just "foreign objects". If they cannot successfully become part of the Lost Homeland, then these foreign objects will not be able to have the convenient feature of "self-operation" like other facilities on the ship.
But if there was a way to make these things part of the Lost Homeland... that ghost ship might be able to exert greater power.
At the same time have better living conditions.
Duncan couldn't help but think a lot about this.
The more he came into contact with the modern Plande city-state, the more he felt that the Lost Homeland a century ago was not as glamorous and perfect as its reputation suggested.
That ship might have strange and terrifying power, but it didn't even have any electric lights or French fries. Its weapon system was still the old muzzle-loading cannon, and it was hard to say how powerful it was. And without French fries, although the spirit sails were useful, it would obviously be nice to have a steam engine as a backup power, but there wasn't even a boiler on the ship to heat hot water.
And no fries.
Duncan silently glanced at the pigeon that had jumped onto the windowsill and was staring outside in a daze.
The pigeon turned around and blinked at him: "Let's go to the dock to get some French fries?"
"Shut up and don't mention French fries." Duncan rejected the pigeon with a subtle mood, and then focused his attention on the last item.
Salted fish is a pure natural food made from delicious gifts caught from the deep sea. It tastes pretty good and is one of the “items outside the Lost Hometown”.
After experiencing the journey through the spirit world, this salted fish seems to have not changed much.
Make soup for Nina in the evening.