Real life is different from fantasy stories. The biggest difference is that when you live in reality, you have to consider a lot of real and trivial details.
Does the moving cursed doll need joint care? Will Alice's frequent disassembly of joints cause her to suddenly fall apart when she walks in the future? Have the bacon and cheese on the ghost ship expired
Do superheroes who socialize during the day and fight evil forces at night get any sleep? Do the evil forces who have finished fighting with superheroes usually go to the supermarket to buy things
Stories never tell you these things. The people in the stories are always dressed in white as snow and come and go as fast as the wind. The cursed dolls in the stories only need to suddenly pop out from corners to scare people, just like the ghost captain in the story has never worried about the problem of having only bacon and hard cheese that have expired for a century on the ship.
In reality, the cursed dolls feel itchy all over after soaking in sea water, and even when taking a bath, they have to think about how to deal with the salt grains in their joints...
Standing outside the cabin, Duncan sighed, realizing more clearly that to survive on this ship for a long time seemed to require more than just determination.
He also had to consider a lot of practical issues, especially those after the crew was increased.
There weren't actually a lot of daily necessities on the ghost ship, and Duncan was well aware of that.
The ship had an unlimited supply of fresh water, but that was only fresh water. The food stored in the food warehouse would not be automatically replenished after consumption, and the only edible things there were bacon and hard cheese. Although due to the special nature of the Lost Homeland, they showed no signs of decay, but Duncan still reasonably suspected that they had been stored for at least a century.
In addition, there were no replacement clothes suitable for Alice's body type on the ship (although the cursed doll did not mention the need in this regard), and there was nothing to entertain herself with - not even a set of chess or a deck of poker.
The Infinite Ocean is vast and boundless, but it is difficult for the Lost Homeland to obtain real supplies from this vast ocean. The ship does not seem to have a reliable "home port" to stop for repairs, nor does it have any channels to exchange what it needs with civilized city-states on land.
Goat Head seemed to have not cared about this issue at all, but Duncan was now thinking seriously about it - he wanted to find a way to improve the current shortage of supplies on the Lost Homeland.
Furthermore, he was also considering how to establish connections with the "city-states" on land.
Drifting blindly on the sea forever is an extremely inefficient means of exploration. Information about this world must be obtained from land. This is Duncan's deepest experience after "walking in the spirit world".
Putting this aside, even for the sake of his own physical and mental health, he must try to get in touch with more of the "city-states" on land and the civilized society of this world - otherwise he is really worried that after a long drift, he will really become a twisted, gloomy, and lonely ghost captain.
Thinking of this, Duncan turned his head slightly and looked at Ai, the pigeon who was squatting on his shoulder and combing its feathers.
His eyes were mainly on the brass compass on Ai's chest.
The pigeon tilted its head to look at its "master" and suddenly said, "Open a base! Spread the fungal mat! Do you know how to operate it?"
Duncan was silent for a moment. This pigeon was nervous most of the time, but the words it occasionally said were so just right, so just right that people couldn't help but suspect that it was wise in disguise.
At present, walking in the spirit world seems to be the only feasible means of "traveling" to the land city-states.
Although this method seemed to have too many uncertainties, and mysterious accidents like "Aiyi" occurred after the last use, Duncan knew that he would soon make his next spiritual journey - not only to collect intelligence on land, but also to verify and master a very useful ability as soon as possible.
Just as important as the spirit world walk is the "special ability" of the pigeon Ai, who brought back a ceremonial knife from a distant land.
If it can bring back a knife, can it bring back more? What are the rules and limits of what the bird can carry? Can this process be controlled by humans
After thinking for a moment, Duncan decided to ask the pigeon directly: "Do you know how you brought the knife back?"
The pigeon thought for a moment and said in a deep tone: "You need more crystal ore."
Duncan: “…”
He decided to give up communicating with the pigeon for the time being. It would be more reliable to try it himself next time he walks into the spirit world.
…
Inside the cabin, Alice finally figured out how to use the water pipe, and roughly figured out how to take a bath.
On the ghost ship with limited conditions, she could only take a cold shower, but for a puppet, this was not a problem at all.
But before jumping into the tub, Alice decided to greet everything in the cabin first.
She patted the huge oak barrel and knocked on the pillars supporting the cabin. She kicked the floor with her toes and stood on tiptoe to pull at the ropes and hooks hanging from the roof.
"Hello, my name is Alice," she greeted these cold things happily, just like she greeted the goat-headed man before, "I will live on this ship from now on."
Nothing in the cabin responded to her greeting, but Alice paid no attention.
Goat Head said that the Lost Homeland is alive, and many things on this ship are alive.
Although they don't seem to have real "intelligence" like the Goat Head, and don't even have the ability to communicate, this doesn't prevent Alice from treating the entire Lost Homeland as a "neighbor" who needs to be greeted.
The Lost Homeland was a living object, and so was she.
Alice felt even happier now that she had greeted him politely and appropriately, and then she took off her gorgeous dress and climbed a little clumsily into the oak barrel that was already full of water.
The first step is to take off your head and rinse it—the joints on the neck are not very strong anyway.
Miss Doll thinks her plan is very reasonable.
…
Late at night, the city-state of Plande finally ended a whole day of hustle and bustle. Under the pale light of the night sky, this prosperous "Pearl of the Sea" gradually fell into a peaceful sleep.
But in the quiet darkness, there are watchmen watching over the sleeping city.
On the "Big Clock Tower", the tallest building in the Pland city-state, a young lady with long gray hair and an unusually tall and straight figure was standing at the window overlooking the city.
This lady had beautiful facial features, but a striking scar across her left eye was intimidating. She was taller than the average man, and wore silver-grey light armor and a battle skirt. She was obviously well-trained, with well-muscled limbs and well-proportioned lines. Next to her, within reach, was a giant sword emitting a faint silver glow. The hilt of the giant sword was engraved with runes symbolizing ocean waves, and there was also a faint light floating on the blade like water waves.
Behind the lady, the sound of mechanical operation continued to be heard - the movement of the clock tower was running smoothly driven by the steam engine. The complex and precise gear and connecting rod structure ran through the roof and floor, driving the four dials upstairs and the simulated planetarium hidden deep in the building to keep running.
Judging from the sounds, this huge and sophisticated machine was running perfectly fine, and no evil forces had invaded the sacred steam core.
But Inquisitor Vanna still felt vaguely uneasy in her heart, a bad premonition that something was about to happen or had already happened, and that she was destined to be powerless to do anything about it, which made her very irritated.
Footsteps came from the direction of the stairs. The gray-haired woman in front of the window turned around and saw a priest in a sea priest robe walking up from the stairs. The priest was holding a copper incense burner in his hand, and clean smoke was slowly lingering around him.
The priest came to the movement column in the center of the room, took down the old incense burner that was originally hanging on the column guardrail, and replaced it with a new one. He observed the smoke escaping from the incense burner, and confirmed that the smoke floated around the running gears and connecting rods without hindrance. Then he whispered the name of the Storm Goddess and turned to look at the gray-haired lady standing in front of the window.
"Good night, Your Excellency the Inquisitor—are you keeping watch in person again?"
"I've had a bad feeling for the last few days - especially tonight."
"A bad premonition? What kind of premonition?" The priest raised his head, his deep eyes filled with worry. "Did the goddess give you a sign?"
“It’s not such a clear message,” the young female Inquisitor shook her head. “I just vaguely feel that… something is approaching this city.”