In a sense, the sky without stars or moon but with a scar had a greater impact on Duncan than the "sun" imprisoned by the rune ring.
Because no matter how abnormal the sun is, it only shines on the world under Duncan's feet. In Duncan's cognition as an earthling, the so-called "sun" is nothing more than one of billions of celestial bodies.
All the distorted visions are confined to the sunlight. In the sky outside the sunlight, there are stars that contain infinite possibilities. Although for a creature trapped in gravity, the sunlight is equivalent to the entire world, at least in this way Duncan can understand and accept the scale of this vision.
However, at this moment in the night sky, Duncan did not see any celestial bodies that could be called "stars", no stars, no moon, no distant galaxies.
There was only a torn scar, covering the sky with some kind of light and shadow that he could not understand, and a pale light mist continuously emanated outwards.
The entire boundless sea was shrouded in the pale snow-like night.
Beyond the sun lies the distant nothingness and greater visions.
Duncan said nothing, but just stared at the sky, countless questions and guesses circling in his mind.
Where are the other planets? Have they never existed? Or is the world beneath my feet a celestial body located in the vacuum of space, so far away from the other stars that the night sky here is dark and starless? What is that pale scar across the sky? Is it a tear in space? A celestial structure that can be touched? Or is it just an illusion, floating above this treacherous sea
"captain?"
Finally, a voice woke Duncan from his silence. Alice, the puppet, looked at the ghost captain who suddenly stopped a little nervously. She saw that his face suddenly became more gloomy and serious than before, which frightened her: "Are you okay? Is the sky going to change? Is there a big storm? I heard the sailors outside the box say this..."
“… nothing.”
Duncan said softly, then suddenly withdrew his gaze from the sky and looked at Alice calmly, as if answering, and as if speaking to himself, he repeated: "Nothing."
"Then we..."
Duncan walked forward, his expression calm as if nothing had happened: "Come on, I'll take you to the cabin - you can also wash up there later if you need to."
The world once again showed its weirdness to foreigners, and this weirdness seemed far from over.
Duncan has realized that he doesn't know how many astonishing visions are waiting for him in the future. If he makes a fuss every time, he may only be able to make a fuss for the rest of his life.
If there is any experience he has accumulated from his life on Earth over the past few decades, this is the one that is most useful today:
If a problem does exist, then find a way to solve it. The problem will not disappear on its own just because of your denial, just as the bizarre sky in front of you will not turn into a starry sky just because of your doubts.
There must be a reason why the world presents this way. Since everything can exist here, it is an irrefutable fact. No matter how absurd or weird the phenomenon is, it exists in objective facts. If you cannot understand it for a while, that is your problem, not the world's problem.
As the current captain of the Lost Homeland, Duncan feels that he may have a long time to slowly understand this world.
Alice didn't know why the captain was silent all the way. She only knew that the atmosphere around Duncan suddenly became a little depressing, but after arriving at the target cabin, this depressing feeling suddenly disappeared.
Duncan brought Miss Doll to the place where they could take a bath. This was the bathroom prepared for the upper-class sailors. For a classical sailing ship, this kind of bathroom was considered a kind of "luxury" facility. Under normal circumstances, this kind of facility was definitely not prepared for ordinary sailors.
In ancient times, sailing ships only had very harsh living conditions when sailing on the ocean. Limited fresh water, rotten food, poor medical care and psychological problems caused by long-term voyages plagued every explorer who challenged the ocean. On Earth, many of these problems were not fully solved even in the early industrial age.
As far as Duncan knows, the early sailing ocean-going ships on Earth did not even have toilets for ordinary crew members. The personal problems of ordinary sailors were usually solved on the grating plates facing the sea (the wind direction had to be paid attention to in this process). Bathing was even more difficult - using spare sails as bathtubs and washing the body with sea water was the solution for many unsophisticated sailors, and more seafarers in the sailing era simply chose not to take a bath for weeks or even months.
After all, compared with scurvy, plague, and mass hysteria caused by tremendous mental stress, a little bit of hygiene problem is the least important.
But I don’t know if it’s ironic or not, but on a ghost ship that everyone fears, these terrible survival problems are solved.
The fresh water tank on the Lost Homeland will replenish itself, the food stored in the warehouse shows no signs of spoilage, the ghost captain will not get sick, and Alice's cervical spine problems are not caused by sailing.
Aside from the frequent spikes in blood pressure I experienced when dealing with the goat-head, the ship was actually quite livable…
"The pipe next to the bathtub leads to the fresh water tank. Just get some water from it. The plug of the bathtub is hanging over there. Don't lose it. The conditions are limited at the moment. There is no hot water on board, but you shouldn't mind this."
Duncan introduced the facilities in the cabin to Alice. These unremarkable experiences were the results of his exploration over the past few days.
"Just washing my body is enough. Salt water in my joints is really uncomfortable," Alice was not picky at all. She looked at the various things in the cabin with a little curiosity and excitement. She nodded while listening to Duncan's introduction and said, "I'm just a doll. I don't have any requirements for hot baths."
Duncan nodded, but then his expression became a little strange. He glanced at Alice and said hesitantly, "Come to think of it, do you know how to take a bath? Do you have this kind of...'life experience'?"
Alice was stunned for a moment, then she thought and said seriously: "It should be... okay? Just take the joints apart and rinse them, then put them back together..."
Duncan: “… ?”
He looked at Alice, and Alice looked at him innocently.
"Have you ever thought about how to put everything back together after you take it apart?" Duncan knew that his casual question was a good reminder. The puppet in front of him, who had never left the box, really had no experience in this area. "I can't help you."
Alice: “…I think so.”
"And I strongly advise you not to disassemble your joints frequently," Duncan reminded him earnestly, "even if your body structure allows it."
Alice was a little confused: "Why?"
"If you take too many pieces apart, they'll fall apart," Duncan finally said helplessly. He had never imagined that being on a ship with a cursed doll would involve so many "detail issues". This had never been mentioned in novels, movies or TV series. "I don't want you to suddenly fall apart in front of me while walking on the deck one day. No one on the ship knows how to maintain the joints of a doll."
He paused for a moment and added, "Your cervical spine problem is already serious enough."
Alice imagined the scene and immediately shrank her neck: "Ah, okay, okay, I understand... I figured out what to do..."
"That would be better," Duncan said, looking at the puppet with little life experience with some concern, and then he turned around and left, "I still have a lot of things to do - don't make too much trouble."
"Okay, Captain. Thank you, Captain," Alice said happily, but just as Duncan was about to leave the cabin, she suddenly spoke again, "Oh, by the way, Captain..."
Duncan paused and tilted his head slightly: "Anything else?"
"Captain... I suddenly feel like you're not that scary," Alice looked at Duncan's back and carefully considered her words. "That goat-head said you're the scariest captain on the vast ocean, the most unpredictable disaster on all routes, but..."
"but what?"
"But I think you seem to be easy to talk to, and a bit like a concerned parent..."
Duncan didn't look back. He was silent for two seconds and then suddenly asked, "Where did you get the concept of family from... Do you have a family?"
Alice hesitated for a moment and shook her head slowly: "It seems not."
"Then don't talk about parents. Just stay on the ship and I will arrange your life on the ship."
"Oh, all right Captain."