The door closed behind him, blocking the goat's head's empty gaze.
But Duncan could still clearly sense the Lost Homeland, and every subtle change on this ghost ship - in that empathy that was like an extension of a limb, he "saw" the series of sails of the Lost Homeland finely adjusting their angles in the sea breeze, and the black steering wheel on the stern control console was turning slightly, allowing the Lost Homeland to further stabilize in the waves.
As he expected, Goathead temporarily took over the helm and began to conscientiously perform his duties as first mate - but Duncan could still take over the ship personally at any time.
Compared to when he was directly at the helm, the Lost Homeland was somewhat weaker in terms of flexibility and speed, but Duncan's main goal now was to further dispel the fog on the nautical chart. There was no clear goal or route, so he didn't care about this impact.
After confirming that there was no movement of the goat head and that the Gothic doll below the deck was staying in the room obediently, Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the not-so-big room.
This is his private bedroom as the captain, and also the most comfortable and exquisite room on the Lost Homeland. In addition to a soft bed, there is a large classical wardrobe and a shelf with many strange and bizarre items against the wall opposite the door of the room. Opposite the bed is a dark brown desk, but there are no books on the desk, only a few furnishings and writing and drawing tools.
Next to the desk was a window that overlooked the sea in the distance. There were also several hooks on the wall next to the window—the pirate sword that Duncan was carrying now and the flintlock had been hanging on these hooks before.
Duncan came to the desk, put the sword and flintlock in a convenient place, opened the desk drawer, and checked the gunpowder and lead bullets in the wooden box.
A small brass compass was placed next to the lead bullets and gunpowder bags. Duncan picked up the compass and saw that the needle under the glass shell was still spinning randomly, as if it was being pulled by an invisible chaotic force field. A line of tiny words was engraved on the bottom of the compass -
"We are all displaced people."
Duncan casually picked up the compass in his hand and played with it, watching the needle on it spinning around like a drunk.
He had checked the things here many times before. He discovered this room during his initial exploration, and the things here, including the message, must have been left by the real Captain Duncan.
After reviewing the information he had currently in his mind, Duncan let out a breath, casually placed the compass on the table, and raised his right hand to gently rub his fingertips.
A small green flame ignited at his fingertips. Under the reflection of the flame, half of Duncan's palm immediately took on a transparent and illusory texture like a spirit - but under conscious control, the flame did not spread everywhere like before, but hovered above his fingers like a candle flame.
After the flame stabilized, Duncan used his other hand to get close to the flame and feel it. Then he took a feather pen from the side and touched the flame with the end of the pen.
There was no heat felt and the quill was not ignited. Only a dark green color spread across the pen, making the quill glow faintly.
Duncan did not "feel" any feedback from the quill, which was completely different from when he used flames to touch the nautical chart and the rudder.
Duncan silently noted the new experience in his heart—this "spiritual fire" had no temperature and would not ignite things, and it was very likely that it would only be related to the "abnormal" things on the Lost Homeland, and would not have any feedback on ordinary things.
So if it is an "abnormal" thing coming from outside the Lost Homeland... will this flame react
Duncan was in deep thought, and for a moment, the image of a Gothic doll suddenly emerged in his mind—Alice. It seemed that she was the "anomaly" from outside the Lost Homeland
Will she be affected by this spiritual fire
But he just thought about it for a moment and then threw this irrelevant idea aside.
Because even though Alice is not human, even though she is the cursed "Anomaly 099", she is also an independent individual who can speak and walk and has her own thoughts, and now she is also a "crew member" of the Lost Homeland. Duncan has subconsciously regarded her as a "human".
He couldn't accept using living people to test his flame - after all, he wasn't sure what far-reaching effects this flame would have on the affected "anomaly" and whether it would be harmful.
Duncan then conducted several more tests, examining the properties of the flames while trying to determine whether there were any extraordinary attributes behind the various things in the dormitory.
Finally, his eyes finally fell on the small brass compass with the "message" on it.
The brass compass lay quietly on the table, and the needle under the glass shell was spinning randomly, but I don’t know if it was an illusion. When Duncan maintained the fire and cast his "unfriendly" eyes on the needle, the needle seemed to suddenly freeze for a moment.
Then continue to walk around as if nothing happened.
Duncan: “…”
This thing definitely reacted to his gaze just now!
Originally, he was a little afraid of the compass. After all, there were words left by the "real Captain Duncan" on it. He was worried whether the dead ghost captain had left some kind of power or "trap" on this personal item to prevent thieves, so he had never tested the compass with fire. But after seeing the reaction of the compass, he suddenly made up his mind.
Duncan reached out and picked up the compass. He felt the cool touch on his fingertips. After glancing at the needle that was still spinning wildly, he put the thing directly into his right hand, which was used to maintain the spiritual fire, and slowly clenched it.
The dark green flame instantly flowed like burning grease, spreading between his fingers, and a faint flame quickly ignited on the surface of the compass. Countless phantoms seemed to rise and fall and disappear in the flames, and the next moment, the needle that was originally spinning randomly suddenly stopped and pointed straight to a certain direction on the vast ocean.
Duncan's heart moved. At that moment, he clearly felt the "feedback" from the compass and confirmed that this was indeed an "abnormal item" that could be controlled by the spiritual fire. But before he could carefully perceive the details in the feedback, a sudden "gravity" suddenly appeared and attacked him!
Duncan only felt his body shaking for a moment, and the next second his eyes blurred. The furnishings in the captain's bedroom had turned into nothingness at some point, and the surrounding walls and roof also collapsed and dissipated like snowflakes in the blink of an eye. In the scattered light and shadows, boundless darkness filled his vision.
Duncan stood in the center of the darkness in astonishment, with alarm bells ringing in his heart. His first reaction was to reach out for the musket and sword beside him, but the next second he found that the only thing left beside him was the brass compass - it was still tightly held in his hand.
Duncan blinked, and in his sight, countless thin strands of light suddenly spread around the brass compass.
These rays of light spread and intertwined in the darkness, expanding infinitely like a woven web, and between the interweaving of the lights, countless points of light emerged. Some of these lights were scattered, while others gathered like rivers. Against the background of the interwoven network of lights, they were as brilliant as a galaxy of stars.
Duncan looked at the strange scene in front of him with some confusion. He was very alert and a little uneasy, but for some reason, he did not feel any sense of crisis, even...
In this dim light network and star points, he felt a long-lost sense of security and comfort.
The next second, a strange feeling suddenly came over him, and Duncan's eyes were involuntarily attracted by a cluster of starlight in the interweaving light network. He looked at the cluster of starlight, only to feel that the starlight was shaky, as if it was about to fall into darkness completely.
He subconsciously reached out toward the starlight.
A huge pulling force came at this moment - Duncan felt as if his soul was flying, and he involuntarily rushed towards the starlight that was about to fall into darkness. The dense light network woven by the compass quickly retreated in his sight, and the galaxy formed by the surrounding starlight suddenly began to rotate and creep!
While flying at a rapid speed, he subconsciously looked at his right hand which was tightly holding the compass, only to find that the compass had disappeared at some point. At the same time, just before it was about to touch the dim starlight, he saw a shadow suddenly condense in the darkness out of the corner of his eye.
The shadow appeared naturally as if it had always been with him, and fell rapidly towards the dim light along with him.
Duncan could only vaguely make out that the shadow seemed to be a bird spreading its wings and flying, but before he could see the details, everything went dark before his eyes.
The heavy touch from the real world came from the limbs, along with the stench of rotting limbs and the harsh sound of heavy iron chains dragging on the ground.
(Oh my god!)