The blazing green flames were gradually fading away, and the surrounding sea surface was beginning to calm down.
After confirming from Goat-Head that the "Lost Homeland" had left the dangerous waters and could sail on its own, Duncan took his hands off the dark steering wheel. He was now lowering his head, and what caught his eyes was his body that had been restored to flesh and blood, and the deck of the "Lost Homeland" that had returned to its original state after the green fire went out.
But somehow, he had a feeling that many things were different.
He could feel that something had changed the moment he grasped the wheel of the Lost Homeland. The green flame connected him to the ship, and even to the sea. Even though the flame had subsided, he could still feel this invisible connection, and every detail of the ship under his feet.
Duncan slowly closed his eyes. He heard a faint murmur coming from the deep and dim corridor of the Lost Homeland. The murmur was filled with an inexplicable sense of intimacy. He saw that the lantern in the captain's room had been lit at some point, and a pale light was dancing in the glass lampshade. He heard the sound of waves hitting the hull, and there seemed to be a deep gaze hidden under the waves. But when he tried to find the source of that gaze, the latter seemed to be consciously hiding its existence...
Duncan opened his eyes and exhaled gently. The spiritual sail on the mast of the Lost Homeland, which was like gauze and mist, began to flutter. He walked towards the stairs leading to the deck, and the ropes beside the stairs began to wriggle back to both sides.
He understood - after choosing to take over the steering wheel, he was the true captain of the ship.
"Captain, we are rising from the edge of the spirit world and will soon return to the real world," the goat-headed voice came from the side, but this time it did not come through the copper tube used for communication on the ship, but appeared directly in Duncan's mind. When talking about business, it seemed much more serious and not so noisy. "We are lucky. At the deepest point, we only 'wobbled' at the bottom of the spirit world for a while, and were hardly affected by the depth of the abyss."
The real world, the spiritual world, the deep sea, and the subspace that seemed to be even deeper... Duncan's mind was filled with these strange words that appeared one after another in front of him. He knew that these words were pointing to the real situation of this strange world, but he still didn't know what the real meaning of these words was.
However, when Duncan heard the Goat-Head calling him "Captain", he always felt that there were some subtle changes in the other party's tone. He even suspected that even if he said "Zhou Ming" at this moment, the Goat-Head would still obey his orders - this was the change that occurred after he took the helm and successfully recovered from the "green fire".
But after a little hesitation, he did not make any rash attempt in this regard, nor did he ask Goat Head about the spiritual world, the abyss and the subspace.
If it was a few days ago, he was indeed in a state of anxiety and uneasiness, and he was eager to figure out his situation at that time, but now he seemed to be in no hurry.
In this world, there are other "people", other ships, orderly societies, and other civilizations. This is enough for him to have many hopes for the future out of thin air, and even some "plans" that are still quite vague at present.
In his wandering thoughts, Duncan recalled the details of his encounter with the ship that suddenly emerged from the thick fog, the conspicuous chimney on the ship, and the mechanical structures that appeared directly in his mind when it passed by the Lost Homeland.
"That's a mechanically powered ship... and the Lost Homeland looks like a sailing warship from the last era..." Duncan muttered to himself, "But it's not completely a mechanical ship..."
There were some cabins of unknown meaning on the ship, which were arranged as if they were some kind of sacrificial scene. Many strange patterns and symbols could be seen on the keel of the ship, which looked like decorations but were more than necessary decorations.
"Goat Head," Duncan suddenly said. He didn't know the name of the Goat Head, so he subconsciously said the name in his mind. "When we 'intersected' with the ship just now, the man who looked like the captain yelled at me. What did he say?"
The goat-head seemed not to care at all that the captain addressed him. He accepted it readily and quickly replied, "The wind and waves were too strong, so I couldn't hear clearly."
"You didn't hear it clearly either?" Duncan frowned. "... I felt that his expression was so tragic, as if he was ready to die with me. What he shouted must be something very important."
"Wanting to die with you is a normal human reaction, especially for sailors at sea. It is not worth making a fuss about. And their roars before the ant trying to shake the tree do not need your attention..."
The goat-headed man's reply seemed very natural. Duncan, who was walking up the stairs to the deck, almost stumbled. He trembled in astonishment: "Wanting to die with me is a normal human reaction?"
As soon as he finished saying this, he felt something was wrong, because it seemed to expose the loopholes in his identity as the "captain" and that he did not know enough about "his own" situation. Perhaps it was because the green fire just now consumed too much energy, or it could be that the feeling of being one with the Lost Homeland weakened his vigilance. In any case, it made Duncan a little nervous for a moment - but the goat-head seemed not to notice at all.
"It's normal for them to fear you," the goat-headed man said with a bit of pride, "Anyone who sails on the vast sea should fear you, just like they fear the old gods and the shadows in the warp. Speaking of shadows, you know what an outstanding engineer... maybe an agriculturist or gourmet once said..."
Duncan wisely did not continue the topic, because he was worried that he would not be able to explain it to others if the topic continued (of course, the more important reason was that he really did not want to pay attention to the goat-headed man, because as long as someone responded to the other party, the level of his noise would increase exponentially), and the next second, his attention was diverted by another thing on the deck.
"… What the hell is this?" Duncan stood on the edge of the deck, staring at the thing at the door of the captain's room in amazement.
It was a wooden box that was more than a person's length long. It looked very well made. The unknown dark wood was tightly pieced together, and then riveted and reinforced with gold-like metal. Complex patterns could be seen engraved on the edge of the box, which looked like words or deliberately distorted hieroglyphs. This box was definitely not something on the Lost Homeland! Duncan hadn't seen it when he left the captain's room before!
The goat-headed man was silent for a moment before speaking: "... I don't know it, but it should be a trophy..."
"Loot?!" Duncan didn't react for a moment. He walked around the box twice. "Why does this thing look like a coffin, but it's much more exquisite than an ordinary coffin... Wait, loot, you mean this thing was 'taken' from that ship just now?!"
"It's a successful hunt, Captain," the goat-headed man said in a serious tone, with a compliment in his voice. "You always return with a full load on every voyage. This is normal."
Duncan opened his mouth subconsciously, thinking that he had no intention of taking anything off the ship, so how could this be considered a hunt or a "full load"
But on second thought, he was afraid that what he said would not be in line with his image as a "captain". More importantly, the mechanical ship had already disappeared in the depths of the sea fog. Thinking of the white-bearded captain staring at him with bloodshot eyes as if he wanted to die together with him, he thought that there was no way to send this thing back, so he could only suppress all the words in his stomach.
He stood in front of the ornate wooden box that looked like a coffin, and noticed that the lid seemed loose and looked like it could be opened with just one hand.
After hesitating for a moment, he put his hand on the lid of the wooden box - at least, he wanted to figure out what he had brought onto the boat during his "spiritual boating" just now.
His body was stronger than he had imagined, and the lid was not as heavy as he had imagined. He only exerted a little force and the dark-looking lid appeared a crack, and then was completely opened by him.
Duncan looked inside the box, stunned.
"one person?"
In the wooden box, a beautiful young woman was lying quietly - her long silver-white hair was spread inside the box like mercury, her face was exquisite and flawless, and she had a kind of noble and transcendent demeanor. She was wearing a gorgeous purple-black court dress, her hands folded in front of her, as if she was in a long sleep.
As perfect as a doll.
"No, this is really a puppet!"
While observing carefully, Duncan suddenly noticed the other party's inhuman joint structure.