Alice stopped at the door of the captain's cabin.
Miss Doll raised her head and looked at the dark oak door in front of her. She noticed a line of words written in beautiful cursive letters on the door frame: The Door of the Lost Homelanders.
There was nothing strange about seeing such a line of words on the door frame of the captain's room of the Lost Homeland, but Alice still frowned subconsciously - she was not curious about the door, but why she knew "words".
She had no memory of learning words. In fact, she had no memory of "learning" at all, nor did she remember having accumulated any experience of being outside and talking to people. Yet this knowledge existed naturally in her mind.
She could understand the letters on the door frame of the captain's room, and the purpose of the various furnishings in the room, which were things that she could not learn just by lying in a wooden box and listening to people talking outside - so where did this knowledge come from
Alice had never thought about this question before today, but for some reason, after talking with that "Captain Duncan", the concept of "curiosity" suddenly emerged in the puppet's mind, which should have always been functioning calmly.
She thought about it carefully and realized that the change seemed to have occurred after Duncan asked about the origin of the name "Alice"... At that moment, she began to question some things that she took for granted in her mind, and began to try to recall the origin of her name, and then something in her mind loosened.
Alice didn't know whether this looseness was good or bad, but she didn't like this confused feeling, so she quickly shook her head, threw the doubts in her heart aside, adjusted her mentality at the door of the captain's room, then put her hand on the handle of the oak door and pushed it forward with a little force.
The door didn't move.
Alice was stunned for a moment, then tried pushing it again, but she felt that the wooden door seemed to be made of steel and was unshakable.
Then, just as she was about to try again, a voice suddenly came from the captain's room - the voice was hoarse and low, as if it came from a piece of rotten wood: "The door opens outward, ma'am."
This was not Captain Duncan's voice. Alice was startled, but she reacted quickly, and hurriedly said "Oh" before pulling the door open - this time, the door opened very easily.
It was only at this moment that she recalled that when the captain brought her here before, he seemed to have opened the door outwards.
It seems that the "life knowledge" that appeared out of thin air in her mind is just knowledge after all. She, who has been sleeping in a wooden box for many years, still lacks real survival experience. Alice reflected on this for a while, then carefully poked her head to look into the captain's room.
The captain's room was empty. The eye-catching navigation table was quietly under the light. A thin mist covered the surface of the nautical chart on the table. The dark wooden goat head was turning its gaze from the edge of the table, and a pair of eyes carved out of obsidian were staring at him empty-headedly.
"Please come in, ma'am. The captain is busy. You can wait for him here for a while," the goat-headed man spoke, more politely than Alice had imagined. "Also, try to avoid such probing behavior. This will make some overly sensitive guys on the Lost Homeland feel that they are hated, and it will be troublesome to appease them - and it will also be a problem if your head falls off again. I don't have hands, so I can't help you pick it up..."
It really speaks! This wood carving is really speaking!
Although Captain Duncan had said before that the goat head on the navigation table could speak, Alice was still stunned to hear a wooden butcher talking to her so many things. She took a moment to react before answering consciously, "Ah, okay, but my head is not that easy to fall off, and when I installed it last time, I specially... Wait, you said that some people on the Lost Homeland were sensitive... Could there be another on this ship..."
Alice realized the information revealed in the goat head's words belatedly. She immediately looked around with surprise and nervousness. At this moment, she seemed to feel that the captain's room and even everything on the Lost Homeland were shaking in the dimness, becoming "strange things" like the strange goat head. The goat head's voice immediately came into her ears: "Is this strange? It takes a lot of manpower to make such a huge ship run. Do you think the great Captain Duncan will wash the deck himself?"
What the goat-head said actually made sense. Although Alice's newly awakened and not very smart mind felt that something was wrong, she thought for a long time and could only nod: "That's true... So there are many people like you on the Lost Homeland..."
"The captain has only one loyal deputy, and the rest are a bunch of not-so-smart guys. You don't have to think about communicating with them—they have no interest in communicating with people," Goat Head interrupted Alice before she finished speaking. "But considering that you are a newcomer on the ship, it is normal that you don't understand many principles and rules. As Captain Duncan's most loyal first mate, second mate, and..., I need to tell you some common sense that you must know to survive on this ship. After all, the captain will not condescend to explain such things to newcomers... Madam, are you ready?"
Alice listened in a daze. She had forgotten the original purpose of coming to the captain's room. She only felt that the goat-headed man in front of her would talk a lot every time he opened his mouth. After three or two times, the rhythm of the conversation was completely out of her control, especially when the other party suddenly popped out a long list of titles just now. She felt her whole head was buzzing. At this time, when the other party finished speaking, she could only nod subconsciously: "Ah, ah, okay... okay?"
"Very good. Next are a few rules that the Lost Home crew must know. This will help the newcomers adapt to the environment faster and fully accept the protection of the Lost Home and the great Captain Duncan on the dangerous and vast sea..."
The goat-headed man was obviously very satisfied with Alice's answer. He shook his wooden head as he spoke, with a tone of obvious pride -
“First, Captain Duncan is the absolute master of the Lost Homeland. Captain Duncan is always right. Even if reality conflicts with Captain Duncan’s words, Captain Duncan’s judgment shall prevail.
“Secondly, any crew member can only move around in the areas allowed by Captain Duncan. They are not allowed to set foot in any area that Captain Duncan has not ordered to be opened, because those areas do not exist.
“Third, if you enter an unauthorized area and you are lucky enough to survive temporarily, you must stay where you are and wait for Captain Duncan to bring you back, or wait for death in peace. You are absolutely not allowed to return without permission, because you are not returning to the Lost Homeland.
“Fourth, the Lost Homeland is always sailing on the correct course. Do not question the captain’s sailing plan. If you find that the scenery around the Lost Homeland is different from what you expected, or that the Lost Homeland has fallen into a deeper sea, then this is part of the normal sailing plan.
"Fifth, the captain will occasionally leave the ship, but he will definitely return. During the captain's absence, the Lost Homeland will continue to sail normally, but all crew members are not allowed to approach the bridge at the stern - the rudder system will lack a sense of security when the captain is away, and the cables at the stern will strangle any reckless person who shows signs of 'usurping the throne'.
“Sixth, on the Lost Homeland, there are only six basic rules for crew members.
"Seventh, the door of the captain's room opens outwards."
Goathead seemed to have popularized "common sense" to the new crew members more than once. He spoke these rules very fluently and naturally, but Alice immediately noticed something wrong when she heard the last two: "Wait, Mr. Goathead, you just said in the sixth rule..."
"Sixth, on the Lost Homeland, there are only six basic rules for the crew." Goat Head answered immediately, and he did not hesitate when mentioning these basic rules.
Alice wondered for a moment if there was something wrong with her or with the "first mate" in front of her: "But you mentioned the seventh point just now..."
"Seventh, the door of the captain's room opens outwards." Goat Head answered very naturally.
Alice stared blankly at the dark goat head sculpture on the table. After doubting her ears, she began to doubt her brain. But soon she realized that she didn't have a brain, so she confirmed it again: "Aren't these two... contradictory?"
"There is no contradiction."
Listening to the goat-head's firm answer and looking into his empty, dark eyes, Alice opened her mouth, but suddenly swallowed back all her questions.
(Oh my god!)