This gate leads to the Lost Hometown.
The letters on the door frame are cast in brass, and look as if they have been through a century. Under the illumination of the spiritual fire lanterns and the chaotic dim light that permeates the entire cabin, every line on the letters seems to be coated with a layer of solidified time, exuding an ancient and mysterious flavor.
Duncan stared at the line of letters for several seconds, then turned away expressionlessly.
Alice's voice suddenly came from the side: "Hey? Captain, are we leaving now? Don't we need to check this door? Even if we don't open it..."
"There's nothing more to see. This is the end of the cabin," Duncan said casually.
But just then, a slight knocking sound suddenly came, which made him stop.
Duncan turned around and looked at Alice who was behind him. Alice looked around nervously for a while, and finally turned to look at the dark wooden door: "The sound seems to come from behind this door..."
Duncan stopped where he was, staring seriously at the wooden door from which there was a sudden knock. He waited patiently for several seconds, and suddenly heard two more knocks - the knocks were faint and vague, as if there was an extremely thick curtain between them, as if the door was wrapped in an invisible thing, but it was definitely not an illusion.
After a brief but intense deliberation, he finally returned to the door, and Alice followed him over, nervously paying attention to what might happen next.
Duncan held the lantern in one hand and the sword in the other, carefully observing the dark wooden door in front of him. At this moment, he suddenly realized that the door was not completely closed - on the side of the door, he could see a gap of about one centimeter.
The door was ajar, as if someone had left in a hurry and forgotten to close it, or as if some "thing" inside had deliberately left a crack in the door to attract the blind visitor.
Duncan picked up the lantern and shone it carefully inside, observing the situation on the other side of the door through the crack in the door - but his other hand had already placed his sword against the crack in the door, ready to stab any "thing" that came out from inside.
However, he never expected what he would see.
Opposite the crack in the door is a room.
It was a small room that looked like it had been there for quite some time. The wallpaper on the wall was dull and wrinkled, and the slightly messy furnishings seemed to have not been tidied up for a long time. Facing the door, one could see a single bed, and next to the bed was a table with a computer, books, and a small ornament on it.
A tall and thin figure was writing quickly at a desk. He was wearing a white shirt bought from an ordinary street stall, his hair was messy and unkempt, and he looked a little thin as he obviously didn't exercise much.
Duncan's gaze pierced through the crack in the door, staring at everything familiar "over there", at that room, at the figure writing furiously at the desk. And that figure seemed to suddenly sense something, he stopped writing, looked up abruptly, stood up and ran to the door.
The figure ran over and stared outside through the crack in the door, staring at Duncan.
Duncan was staring at him too, at the familiar face—it was his own face!
After staring at each other for a few seconds, the figure opposite the door suddenly became excited. He began to push the door hard, as if he wanted to get out, but the door did not move at all, as if it was cast into space. So he began to try to break the door lock and pry open the door with tools. He slammed the motionless door hard, as if he was trying every way to escape, but to no avail.
The person inside the door finally gave up this futile attempt. He patted hard on the crack of the door and shouted something through the door - but only some vague noises could be heard from outside the door, and not a single word could be heard clearly.
Duncan looked at all this in shock and confusion. Looking at the "self" trapped in the room, he knew what the person inside the door wanted to do—his eyes slowly fell on the door handle next to him.
The door handle was within reach.
From here, the door might be opened very easily.
However, he just looked at the handle and did not take any further action.
The man trapped in the room seemed to be frustrated. He finally shouted towards the door, but when he found that his voice could not be heard outside the door at all, he ran back to the desk, bent down and quickly wrote something on a piece of paper, then ran back quickly and showed the paper to Duncan.
Through the crack in the door, Duncan saw a string of scribbled words on the paper: "Help me! I'm trapped in this room! Neither the window nor the door can be opened!"
Duncan suddenly laughed.
His smile fell through the gap into the eyes of "Zhou Ming" who was trapped in the room. The latter finally slowly opened his eyes, as if he was stunned, and as if he was gradually getting angry because of the mockery.
The next second, the pirate sword in Duncan's hand suddenly stretched forward, passed through the narrow gap in the door, and directly pierced into the body of "Zhou Ming" on the opposite side of the door.
The latter was pierced by the sword and opened his mouth as if to scream. Indistinctly, a series of hoarse and noisy noises seemed to reach Duncan's ears, but Duncan was not moved at all. He just gripped the hilt of the sword more forcefully and stabbed forward, approaching the door and whispered:
“You don’t have to write Chinese if you can’t.”
Ai, the pigeon that had been silent all the way, suddenly flapped its wings and uttered a hoarse voice: "This is an illusion. What are you hiding?"
The next second, the figure opposite the door suddenly began to melt like a wax figure and quickly dissipated in the distorted light and shadow. The room that looked so real and so familiar also quickly lost its disguise, revealing its true face in Duncan's eyes: a dim, old cabin, empty, sealed in time and solidified ruin.
The sword in his hand felt empty, as if it had pierced only air from the very beginning.
Just a cabin across from this "extra door"
Duncan observed the situation on the other side of the door in surprise, but no matter how he looked at it this time, it seemed to be just an ordinary cabin.
But... is that cabin really "real"
Duncan slowly retracted the sword that was poking through the crack in the door, breathed a sigh of relief, and took a half step back.
The strange thing he just encountered was still deeply imprinted in his mind. He didn't know whether it was a simple illusion or something else, but one thing was certain... This door was definitely weird and dangerous beyond his imagination.
If the illusion reflected on the other side of the door was based on his own distorted memory and cognition, then it meant that the danger on the other side of the door had exceeded the power of "Captain Duncan" himself. If it was not an illusion generated based on his own cognition and memory, but a set "fabricated" by something... the situation would be even worse.
Because no one in this world should know what that room looks like, and no one should know the existence of the individual "Zhou Ming".
But the "thing" on the other side of the door knows.
He took a deep breath.
My caution just now was correct. No matter what, I cannot open this door.
At the same time, he felt a little scared - because there was really a moment just now, when he was looking at the door handle, this thought came into his mind: to open the door and let "himself" out.
"Captain..." Alice's voice suddenly came, waking Duncan from his thoughts. He looked up at the puppet and saw its concerned and frightened expression. "Captain, are you okay? What's in that door? Why do you look so serious..."
Duncan shook his head. "Nothing. Behind this door is not where you should be looking. We have already reached the bottom of the cabin. We can go back now."
As he spoke, he reached out and tried to push the door to see if he could close it.
The gap in the door is really disturbing.
But the door did not move at all - even though he had exerted great strength, the door still seemed to be firmly integrated into the space.
Like the boarded-up windows in his bachelor pad.
Duncan withdrew his hand thoughtfully—the door wouldn't close, but he wouldn't try to open it any further.
"Ah? Oh... Oh, okay!" Alice didn't care about the captain's attempt to close the door. She was stunned for a moment, but soon reacted with a happy expression on her face, "Then let's go back quickly. To be honest, this place is quite weird. I'm a little nervous again..."
Duncan hummed noncommittally, took Alice and turned to walk towards the "last door" that led to the stairs.
This place was so weird that even he didn't want to stay there any longer.
After this, no further unusual events occurred.
They successfully passed through the shattered bottom of the ship, through the cargo hold with inverted lights, through the dark stairs and corridors, and returned to the cabin above the waterline.
The moment she returned to the normal cabin, Alice felt her whole body suddenly relaxed, as if some previously imperceptible shadow that had been entangled with her had been dispelled. She saw that the lights around her had returned to their original state, and the cabin was no longer gloomy and depressing. As for Captain Duncan next to her...
The captain looked no different from before. He didn't seem to feel depressed before, nor did he feel extra relaxed now. The environment deep inside the Lost Homeland had no effect on him.
But when he came back, the captain was obviously very silent and seemed to be worried about something.
"Captain, are you tired?" Alice asked cautiously, "Do you want me to make you something to eat? You didn't even have a good dinner..."
Duncan stopped thinking and looked at the puppet beside him.
On the doll lady's face, there was an expression of genuine concern - just like Nina's.
He suddenly relaxed, and the haze in his heart seemed to fade away quietly.
"Don't drop anything weird into the pot this time."
"My head isn't some weird thing!"
"Especially your head."
"… oh."