The Sun

A doll, so exquisite and lifelike that Duncan almost couldn't distinguish it at first glance, lay quietly in the luxurious wooden box, like a lady sleeping in a coffin, waiting for someone to wake her up.

Duncan really felt like she would wake up in the next second.

But it was just an illusion, the doll lay silently in the box, completely unresponsive to the surrounding environment.

Duncan cautiously observed this strange "thing" for a long time: the doll itself was not unusual, but its appearance, which was too close to that of a real person, and the coffin-like wooden box made him instinctively feel a sense of danger. Coupled with the inexplicable appearance of this box on the Lost Town, it was no wonder that he felt wary.

After observing for a long time, Duncan finally confirmed that the gorgeous gothic doll in the box would not suddenly jump up and surprise him, which made him breathe a little easier. He then frowned and asked Goat Head, "What do you think is going on?"

"This should be an important cargo escorted by the previous ship," Goat Head immediately replied, although it had previously stated that it did not know the strange wooden box that suddenly appeared on the deck, its experience on the sea was obviously richer than that of Duncan, the fake captain. "There are symbols pointing to the gods on the outside of the box, and there are anchor pins around the box used to fix the chains. This may indicate that it was in some kind of sealed state. Transporting sealed objects on the boundless sea is an extremely risky thing, and that ship seems to have some background."

"A seal?" Duncan's eyelids jumped subconsciously, and then he looked at the lid of the box that he had completely opened. The lid was broken when it came to the Lost Town, so he was able to push it open easily. Although he didn't understand anything about seals, he believed that the seal on this thing had definitely been invalidated. "So this thing is dangerous?"

"It's dangerous for those fragile ordinary people, but I don't think it poses any threat to you - this kind of 'abnormality' that can be sealed up by special techniques cannot resist the power of Captain Duncan."

Duncan remained silent, his expression serious, but his mind was in turmoil.

Goat Head's compliment sounded quite pleasing - if he really was the "Captain Duncan," he might have believed it, but he was not, so he was now very anxious. Because Goat Head's words clearly identified the doll lying in the coffin as a "dangerous item"! It's just that it's not a threat to the real captain!

Although he now had the title of Captain Duncan, and even occupied the other person's body and wielded some power, "Zhou Ming" had a good sense of himself - he did not believe that this would make him become the same as the "real Captain Duncan."

He still knew too little about this world, this ship, and even his own body.

In addition, he also keenly noticed a new strange vocabulary in Goat Head's words - "abnormality."

Being unusual is abnormal, which sounds like a very ordinary word, but Goat Head's emphasis on it made him vaguely aware that this word seemed to have a special meaning here.

Perhaps, in this world, the term "abnormality" not only refers to the layer of meaning of "beyond the ordinary," but also specifically refers to a certain type of thing? For example... a doll lying in a coffin.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a suitable reason to ask this kind of thing, which should be "common sense."

After a moment of contemplation, Duncan realized the importance of gathering intelligence and accumulating knowledge. With a furrowed brow, he finally glanced at the doll as if he had made a decision: "I should throw it back into the sea."

As he spoke, he hesitated slightly, especially when looking at the doll, this hesitating emotion became particularly evident.

Of course, it wasn't because "the doll was beautiful" or any simple reason like that. It was because she looked too much like a living person sleeping in a coffin. When he thought about throwing her into the sea, Duncan even felt like he was throwing a living person overboard.

However, this hesitation ultimately strengthened his decision.

Because he already knew that there were many strange and bizarre things in this world - even though he had only encountered the Lost Ship so far, he had already seen a talking goat head, a mast that could hoist itself, a never-dying ship light, and the strange and dangerous sea, the terrifying spirit realm, and endless sea fog...

And just now, he had collided with a mechanical ship transporting sealed objects on this strange sea, and the object being transported on that ship had mysteriously ended up on the deck of the Lost Ship.

As a rational and cautious person, he couldn't keep such a thing that was likely to contain strange and dangerous power just because the doll looked pretty.

Regrettable as it was, Duncan ultimately firmly covered the lid of the "coffin". Because he was still uneasy, he found nails and a hammer from the cabin and carefully nailed the coffin shut once more.

Finally, he pushed the "coffin" containing the doll to the edge of the deck.

The voice of the goat head rang in his ears: "You can dispose of your spoils as you please, but I will still respectfully and humbly suggest that you don't need to be so cautious. The Lost Ship has not added any spoils for a long time..."

"Shut up." Duncan cut off the goat's balabala with a simple gesture.

The goat head fell silent, and Duncan kicked the "coffin" hard, kicking it directly into the sea.

The heavy wooden box fell straight down the edge of the deck, plunged into the now-normal-colored sea, made a muffled sound, and then floated up from the water, gradually drifting towards the stern of the Lost Ship.

Duncan watched the box drift away with the waves until it was completely blocked by the stern of the ship before he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he looked up at the distance and saw that the mist on the sea had completely dissipated, and the blue sea was slowly undulating around the Lost Ship.

The ship had completely left the "spirit realm" and returned to the real dimension.

There was no trace of the mechanical ship that had briefly crossed paths with the Lost Ship on the nearby sea surface.

Duncan frowned slightly and estimated the time and speed of the two ships passing each other.

According to the current situation on the sea, the ship should not have disappeared from visual range so quickly.

"Is it because of this eerie sea? Or is it related to the so-called 'spiritual navigation'?" Duncan wondered to himself, but his attention was quickly drawn to something else—

He saw a line of golden light suddenly appear in the deep, never-dissipating clouds above the sea.

Bright golden sunlight gradually filled the sky, and the thick curtain of clouds seemed to be gradually dissipated by an invisible hand. The sea, which had been dark and gloomy for who knows how long, was gradually illuminated by the sunlight. Duncan stood at the bow of the Lost Town and stared at the scene where the clouds dissipated. In that moment, he suddenly felt a strange feeling.

Ever since he learned about the existence of "this side" many days ago, ever since he first explored this strange ship, the non-dispersing clouds had always shrouded the entire ocean, making him almost believe that this world had no sunlight and was perpetually overcast.

He had been separated from sunlight for too long. Even in the single apartment across the "door," where Zhou Ming lived, the thick fog outside the window had already obscured the sun.

But now, the boundless sea had cleared up.

After a long absence from sunlight, he finally felt the feeling of seeing the light of day again in the world of "this side."

Duncan subconsciously took a deep breath, opened his arms towards the direction of the sunlight, and the thick clouds seemed to echo and quickly dissipate and fade away. In the most dazzling moment of the sunlight, the huge sphere enveloped by countless distorted golden streams of light entered Duncan's eyes.

All of Duncan's expressions froze at the moment when he opened his arms to welcome the sunlight.

He stared at the sky with wide eyes, the sunlight was very dazzling, but not as dazzling as he was used to. He could see the thing hanging in the sky clearly, its shell resembling a sphere with countless intricate patterns. He could see the brilliant light flowing out around it, and the two concentric circular structures slowly revolving around the central sphere in the background of the interweaving light streams.

Duncan squinted, vaguely distinguishing that the two circles seemed to be connected by countless intricate and complex symbols, as if some supreme power had etched eternal constraints in the sky, imprisoning the "sun" in the sky.

Duncan could not embrace the sunlight he had been longing for.

There was simply no sunlight in this world.

"What is that?" He said softly, his voice low and cold.

"Of course, that's the sun, Captain," the goat-headed voice remained as calm as ever.