The Doll

The fierce green flames were gradually dying down, and the surrounding sea was beginning to calm.

After confirming with Goat Head that the Lost would be able to navigate on its own once it had left the danger zone, Duncan took his hand off the dark helm. He lowered his head and saw his flesh-and-blood body, as well as the deck of the Lost, which had returned to its previous state after the green flames were extinguished.

However, he had a feeling that many things had changed.

He could feel that, at the moment he took the helm of the Lost, something had changed. The green flames had connected him to the ship and even to the sea itself. Even though the flames had now receded, he could still feel this intangible connection, and he could feel every detail of the ship beneath his feet.

Duncan closed his eyes and heard a faint murmur coming from the dark corridors of the Lost. The murmur had a strange familiarity to it. He saw the lanterns in the captain's cabin, which had been lit at some point, casting a pale light through their glass shades. He heard the sound of the waves hitting the hull, and he felt as if there were deep, watchful eyes beneath the waves. But whenever he tried to locate the source of those eyes, they seemed to hide themselves as if they were conscious beings.

Duncan opened his eyes and exhaled. The ethereal sail on the mast of the Lost billowed as he walked towards the stairs that led to the deck. The ropes by the stairs moved aside as if they were alive.

He realized that he had become the real captain of the ship when he chose to take the helm of the Lost.

"Captain, we're floating on the edge of the spirit realm, and we'll soon return to the real world," Goat Head's voice sounded next to him. However, this time, it did not come through the copper pipe used for communication on the ship. It appeared directly in Duncan's mind. When talking about important matters, Goat Head sounded more serious and less chatty. "We were lucky. We only shook a little when we reached the deepest part of the spirit realm, and we were hardly affected by the deep darkness."

The real world, the spirit realm, the deep dark sea, and the seemingly deeper subspace... These strange words came to Duncan's mind one after another. He knew that they referred to the true state of this mysterious world, but he still did not fully understand their meaning.

However, as he heard Goat Head calling him "Captain," he felt that the voice had subtly changed. He even suspected that even if he revealed his identity as "Zhou Ming," Goat Head would still obey his commands. This was the change that had occurred after he had taken the helm of the Lost and successfully recovered from the "green flames."

However, after hesitating for a moment, he did not try to test this theory or ask Goat Head about the spirit realm, the deep darkness, or subspace.

A few days ago, he had been anxious and uneasy, and he had urgently wanted to understand his situation. But now, he did not seem to be in a hurry.

In this world, there were other "people," other ships, organized societies, and other civilizations. This was enough to make him have many expectations for the future and even some vague "plans."

Lost in thought, Duncan remembered the details of the encounter with the ship that suddenly appeared from the fog. He remembered the conspicuous smokestack on the ship, and the mechanical structures that appeared directly in his mind when the Lost and the other ship intersected.

"That was a mechanical ship... but the Lost looks like a sailing warship from another era..." Duncan muttered to himself,

There were some cabins on the ship with inexplicable meanings, and the layout inside the cabins seemed like some sort of sacrificial scene. Many strange patterns and symbols could be seen on the keel of the ship, which seemed like decorations but went beyond the necessity of decoration.

"Goat Head," Duncan suddenly spoke up, not knowing what the goat head's name was, he instinctively blurted out the name he had in his mind, "When we 'intersected' with that ship just now, the person who looked like the captain was shouting at me. What did he say?"

Goat Head seemed indifferent to the captain's name for himself, accepting it readily and quickly answering, "The wind and waves were too strong. I couldn't hear clearly."

"You didn't hear clearly either?" Duncan frowned, "I just had a feeling that his expression was tragic, like he was preparing to die with me. What he was shouting should have been something quite important."

"Wishing to die with you is a normal human reaction, especially for sailors at sea. It's nothing to be surprised about. And their yelling before a praying mantis tries to stop a carriage is not worth your attention..."

Goat Head's response seemed quite natural, but Duncan nearly stumbled as he walked up the stairs to the deck, surprised and shaking his mouth, "Wishing to die with me is a normal human reaction?"

As soon as he said that, he felt a bit uneasy because it seemed to expose a flaw in his identity as the "captain" and revealed that he didn't know enough about "himself." Perhaps this was due to the excessive consumption of energy from the green fire just now, or maybe it was because the feeling of being fused with the Lost Home had weakened his vigilance. Regardless, it made Duncan nervous in an instant, but Goat Head seemed to be completely unaware of it.

"They fear you, it's normal," Goat Head's tone even sounded a bit proud, "Anyone who sails on the boundless sea should fear you, just like they fear the old gods and the shadows in the subspace. Speaking of shadows, do you know a distinguished engineer...or maybe it was an agriculturalist or a gourmet who once said..."

Duncan sensibly did not continue the topic, because he was worried that he would not be able to round it off if it continued (of course, the more important reason was that he really didn't want to deal with Goat Head because the more someone responded to him, the more noisy he would become, increasing exponentially), and the next second, his attention was diverted by another thing on the deck.

"...What is this thing?" Duncan stood at the edge of the deck, staring in amazement at the thing at the door of the captain's room.

It was a wooden box that was as long as a person. The workmanship looked very exquisite, and the unknown dark wood was pieced together tightly and neatly, reinforced with metal that looked like gold, and the edges of the box could be seen with intricate engravings, like words, and like deliberately distorted pictographic symbols- this box was definitely not something from the Lost Home! Duncan didn't see it when he left the captain's room earlier!

After a moment of silence, the voice of Goat Head sounded: "... I don't know, but it should be a loot..."

"Dibs?!" Duncan didn't react at first, walking around the box twice. "This thing looks like a coffin, but it's much more exquisite than an ordinary one... Wait, loot, you mean this thing was 'acquired' from that ship earlier?!"

"A successful capture, Captain," Goat Head's tone was serious, with a hint of compliment in the middle, "You always return with a full load on every voyage, which is normal performance."

Duncan instinctively opened his mouth, thinking he didn't plan to take anything from the other ship, what kind of "loot" and "full load" was this?

But then he thought again, afraid that saying so would not fit his "captain" image. More importantly, the mechanical ship had already disappeared into the deep sea fog at this point. Thinking about the white-bearded captain staring at him earlier, eyes bloodshot as if ready to die with him, he thought that he wouldn't be able to return it, and could only keep all of this to himself.

He stood in front of the gorgeously decorated wooden box, noticing that the lid seemed to have already been loosened, looking like it could be easily opened.

After hesitating for a moment, he put his hand on the lid of the box - at least, he wanted to figure out what the "spiritual realm speeding ship" had brought onto his ship.

His body was even stronger than he had imagined, and the lid wasn't as heavy as he thought it would be. He almost just used a little force, and the black box cover lifted up a slit, and then he completely opened it.

Duncan looked inside the box, stunned.

"A person?"

Lying quietly in the wooden box was a beautiful young woman - her silver-white long hair spread like mercury inside the box, her exquisite face flawless, with a hint of nobility and aloofness. She was wearing a gorgeous purple-black court dress, her hands folded in front of her as if she were in a long sleep.

Perfectly like a doll.

"No, this is really a doll!"

Upon careful observation, Duncan suddenly noticed the non-human joint structure of the figure.