Duncan took Alice back to the upper deck of the Lost Homeland—the cold Wound of the World still hung high in the night.
Duncan thought he had been exploring the ship for a very long time, and even suspected that a whole night had passed, but now looking at the deep night, it seemed that he had only been down there for a few hours.
But the strange and unusual situations he had seen in just these few hours were enough to leave a deep impression on him.
He still remembered the cabin with inverted light and shadow, and the door at the bottom of the cabin... especially that door, what was behind it
The lantern in Duncan's hand had gone out, and he and the puppet slowly walked towards the captain's room. Neither of them spoke much - the puppet seemed to have started practicing cooking in his head, while Duncan's attention was focused on the surrounding deck buildings.
He compared it with his memory and confirmed that the dim and dilapidated cabin opposite the door was indeed part of the Lost Homeland. The styles of the two were exactly the same, and there was a vague continuity in the architectural structure.
And now when he recalled it, he always felt that there seemed to be something else hidden in the darkness in the deepest part of that dilapidated cabin.
That was the unknown "Hidden Snow Area" of the Lost Hometown - a hidden snow area that even Captain Duncan could not perceive or detect.
Does the goat head know that door? Does it know what is behind it
Should I ask it myself
They arrived at the captain's room, but Duncan's thoughts were still in turmoil. He took Alice and went in, and saw Goat Head still quietly on the navigation table, with his empty black eyes turning towards the door following the sound.
Duncan turned around to hang up the lantern, and then he heard Alice greeting Goat Head with a little excitement: "Mr. Goat Head! The captain and I went to the bottom of the cabin! The bottom of this ship is really amazing! The bottom cabin is actually torn into pieces - and there is also a very strange door!"
Duncan immediately stopped worrying about how to start a related topic with Goat-Head - he almost forgot that he was carrying a curious puppet who knew nothing. Didn't Alice's chatter open up the situation
He tried hard not to laugh out loud, pretending to be calm as he packed up his things while listening to the conversation between the two "crew members". He heard the voice of Goat Head, with a tone that said nothing unexpected: "I knew you would be surprised! Miss Alice, now you realize what a great ship the Lost Homeland is, right? It can sail in different dimensions at the same time while ensuring safety!"
Duncan listened and suddenly something moved his heart.
The situation was just as he had guessed. The reason why there was such a strange scene outside the crack on the bottom of the ship was because it no longer belonged to the time and space where the Boundless Sea was!
At the same time, he was also thinking quickly in his mind: Alice, who was full of curiosity, was very interested in the strange scene on the lower deck of the Lost Homeland. She seemed to be afraid to ask too many questions to him, the "captain", so she would rather ask the talkative Goat Head. But if he kept standing here and eavesdropping, he would appear strange and suspicious, and the Goat Head might even turn the topic to himself - what if it said to Alice, "You go ask the captain", he would not be able to respond...
Thinking of this, he immediately made a plan. He adjusted his facial expression, restored his usual seriousness, and said calmly, "You guys can chat here. I'm going to take a walk outside. Goathead, Alice is already a member of the ship. As for the things about this ship, as long as it's not too secret, just tell her."
Alice smiled happily when she heard this, and Goat Head immediately agreed: "Of course, Captain, your loyalty is always enthusiastic towards new members..."
Duncan pushed the door open and left the captain's room.
But the next second after leaving the captain's room, he concentrated again, relying on the close connection between himself and the Lost Homeland, and paid close attention to the movements in the captain's room.
After concentrating his mind on one thing, the vague perception turned into clear and real-time monitoring. Everything in the captain's room was reflected in Duncan's mind with incredible clarity. He "saw" Alice simply move a stool and sit opposite the goat's head, excitedly recounting her experience of exploring the lower deck of the Lost Homeland and the bizarre scenes in the cabin.
She seemed to have completely forgotten about making the captain a midnight snack - but Duncan didn't care at all.
He appreciated the puppet's help at critical moments even more.
Under the cover of night, Ai suddenly flapped his wings and flew to a nearby mast, as if to stand guard. Duncan walked slowly forward as if he was patrolling the deck normally, and in his mind, he could clearly hear the conversation in the captain's room.
Alice had already talked to Goat-Head about the strange door. The doll lady said nervously, "... That door looks a bit scary. The captain wouldn't let me get close to it..."
"Of course you can't get close. Not only you, but even I can't touch that door. Don't give me that look. I know I don't have hands or feet. The 'touch' I mentioned is in another sense... contact, control, understanding, peek, do you understand? That door is untouchable in this sense... If you touch it, you're done, understand?"
Alice seemed to be startled by the Goat-Head's particularly serious tone. She hesitated for a second or two before speaking: "Then... what is that door?"
Duncan, who was walking on the deck, suddenly concentrated his attention, but he heard that Goat Head suddenly fell silent. After a long time, he spoke in a deep voice, but did not answer any questions directly: "You did not touch the door, right?"
“I didn’t touch it!” Alice answered hastily, but then hesitated for a moment before continuing uncertainly, “But…but the Captain leaned over and looked through the crack in the door, and poked at something on the other side with his sword…”
As Alice finished her words, Duncan suddenly felt the whole ship shake, and then all the mainsails and side sails made low whimpering sounds in the wind, and all the masts and ropes creaked - and all of these things were now taken over by Goat Head!
He looked up at the shaking masts and cables in surprise, as if he could sense the momentary panic of the controllers behind them. In his mind, he heard the exclamation from the captain's room. It was the voice of the goat head: "What did you say?! You said the crack in the door? The door was open a crack?"
“Yes… yes…” Alice seemed to be frightened. “The door was ajar. There was a gap, probably… probably only as wide as a finger…”
"The captain glanced at the other side of the door? And then? He stabbed with his sword... Did he change at that time? Did he seem hesitant or dazed when he took you away?"
"No," Alice answered immediately, "the Captain just looked very serious, and then he brought me back very quickly. He seemed to be thinking about something on the way, but he was not absent-minded at all - ah, he was also discussing cooking with me. I'm going to the kitchen in a while..."
"Forget about the kitchen! Do you know what's behind that door?"
"Ah... what's behind that door?" Alice's tone was a little confused and scared. She had never seen Goat Head look so serious and anxious before - this look gave her the feeling that the ship was about to sink.
The goat-headed creature's tone suddenly became very low, and it slowly said: "Behind that door is the subspace."
Duncan, who was walking on the deck, stopped.
Behind that door is the subspace
He was stunned, and the huge waves in his heart almost interfered with the monitoring of the captain's room. Then, he thought of another thing -
The shattered cabin bottom, the dim, chaotic light and shadow turbulence outside the cracks in the cabin bottom - the Lost Homeland was sailing in different dimensions at the same time. The space outside its cabin bottom was obviously different from the real world, and there was a door in the cabin bottom, and the other side of the door was the subspace...
Could it be that the lower half of the Lost Homeland is actually sailing in the warp? !
And according to Goat Head, this navigation status seems to be unstable? Not only does the cabin need to be constantly soothed by the captain, but the door should also be tightly closed in theory, but now there is a gap in it... What does this mean? Does it mean that there is a problem with the "sealing" of the cabin? Or is something in the subspace trying to enter the Lost Homeland
He recalled that he had tried to close the door before leaving the cabin, but no matter how hard he tried, the door remained open a crack without moving - as if it had merged into the space and was solid.
He didn't think much about it at the time, but when he recalled it now, a strange idea involuntarily came to his mind.
Maybe... when I tried to close the door, something on the other side of the door was blocking it, preventing me from closing the passage...