The pigeon tilted its head, probably realizing that Duncan didn’t hear it clearly. It quickly repeated itself, this time even louder: “Ai Yi!”
Duncan finally understood what the bird meant: “You’re saying your name is Ai Yi?”
The pigeon proudly nodded and walked back and forth on the desk: “Coo!”
Duncan couldn’t help but rub his forehead. Talking to this bird felt weirder than talking to a goat head, mainly because of the pigeon’s strange way of communicating: “Do you know how you were born? Or, how did you end up here?”
The pigeon thought for a moment, its eyes drifting in different directions: “Oh no, the page is gone. Maybe try refreshing?”
Duncan: “…”
He realized he couldn’t understand what this bird was thinking at all. He wasn’t even sure if the random things it said were related to their current conversation.
But he was sure that the bird was thinking, and it was seriously trying to communicate with him. It just had its own idea of what “communication” meant.
Duncan talked a bit more with the pigeon, who called itself “Ai Yi.” Their conversation stayed on separate tracks, with each of them saying their own things. If it was related, he couldn’t see where the connection was; if it was unrelated, the pigeon still answered every question… occasionally, it even seemed to answer Duncan’s questions.
In the end, there wasn’t much progress. Duncan could only frown and mutter, “What a strange thing…”
He felt it would take a long time to establish normal communication with this bird. This process might even be harder than getting used to the goat head’s noise.
Meanwhile, the pigeon squatted on the desk in front of him, blinking its little eyes innocently and occasionally mumbling about wanting V to give it 50.
Duncan ignored the bird’s mumbling and curled his fingers to gently rub them together, watching the green flame dance at his fingertips. At least he was sure of one thing—the brass compass, even though it had merged with the pigeon in front of him, was still an “anomalous item” that he could control.
The green spirit fire rose up, and almost at the same time, green flames flickered between Ai Yi’s feathers. The brass compass hanging on its chest popped open with a “bang.” Under the transparent glass shell, a slightly ethereal needle began to stabilize, guided by Duncan’s will, while the dial filled with mysterious symbols gradually became engulfed in flames.
Ai Yi showed no reaction throughout, just naturally basking in the spirit fire, as if waiting for Duncan’s command.
Before the brass compass was fully activated, Duncan chose to extinguish the flames.
During the testing process, Duncan silently summarized in his mind:
“The compass still works… it just has a strange ‘medium’ now. I can’t be sure what role this pigeon plays, maybe it’s some kind of help…
“I still don’t know the details of this compass. It’s best not to attempt a second ‘shuttle’ until I’m prepared… Next time I test, I need to pay close attention to any changes in the compass and the pigeon.
“There’s a connection between the pigeon and me. When the spirit fire is activated, this connection becomes more apparent, and I can even control where the pigeon appears to a certain extent… but control only goes this far…
“Ai Yi clearly has its own will and will act according to its own thoughts. The commands I give it might not always be followed, which is different from the other ‘items’ on the Lost Homeland.
“It can talk, has some thinking ability, and can make independent judgments… Compared to ordinary anomalies, this pigeon seems closer to the goat head…”
After summarizing what he knew, Duncan’s gaze finally landed on the small obsidian knife.
The knife’s blade looked like a twisted, dried-up finger, reflecting a dark shine.
This was the item held by the black-robed priest who wore a golden sun mask and presided over the evil sacrificial ceremony in the sewer gathering place. From its use, it should be a “ritual tool.”
Duncan reached out with his mind to the gathering place, which seemed to be underground in “Prand City.” When he returned, he thought the process would be entirely mental or spiritual, but now this ritual knife was right in front of him.
After a moment of thought, Duncan picked up the small knife.
The cold, hard touch was real; this was a tangible object.
He released some spirit fire, letting the flames wrap around the knife. From the hollow feedback, it was clear that the extraordinary power once contained in this ritual knife had completely dissipated.
Just as he had judged at the sacrificial site, this item was not a true “anomaly” but rather an extension of some extraordinary power or a temporary item artificially “infused” with power.
Duncan wasn’t sure what kind of system these “anomalies” had in this world, but he guessed this knife wasn’t particularly rare. At least… it looked mass-produced.
“Is this something you brought back?” He looked at Ai Yi resting on the desk, raising the obsidian knife in his hand. “And it’s meant for me?”
The pigeon stared at Duncan with its red eyes, completely still, showing no reaction to the question.
Duncan: “…?”
He asked again, but the pigeon remained motionless, as if it had suddenly turned into a lifeless statue.
The sudden change made Duncan frown, but just as he was about to use the spirit fire to stimulate Ai Yi to see if he could wake it up, the bird suddenly came back to life. It hopped in place and shouted, “Take this solar-powered battle axe, take this solar-powered battle axe, take this…”
“Okay, okay, I get it. You don’t have to repeat every question I just asked,” Duncan quickly waved his hand, trying to calm the pigeon down while organizing his words. “So, do you know how you brought this knife over? Or can you carry ‘physical objects’ when you shuttle, is that right?”
The pigeon pondered for a moment, then pecked at Duncan’s finger: “Full discount for the whole venue, free shipping on every item.”
Duncan: “I… I’ll just pretend I understood that.”
He sighed, feeling that he had reached the limit of communication with this bird.
Then he stood up from the desk and looked toward the chart room.
The goat head and Alice were still outside, their friendly chatter continuing.
Miss Doll hadn’t made a sound for a long time, and the goat head had just started explaining the seventeenth way to make seaweed stew.
Duncan felt he needed to rescue his only (and surprisingly normal-looking) crew member.
On the other hand, he had been in his room for too long, and with all the strange noises he had made, he felt it was necessary to show his face and reassure the goat head.
But before leaving, he hesitated and glanced at Ai Yi, who was running around on the desk.
Should he take this pigeon outside too? How would he explain that?
Duncan hesitated for just two seconds before decisively grabbing the pigeon and placing it on his shoulder.
He would be on the Lost Homeland for a long time, and this pigeon would definitely follow him for the foreseeable future. He didn’t know what its habits were yet, but as a thinking and communicative “anomaly,” it would be hard to hide it like a lifeless object.
Adding another “passenger” on the ship was something that couldn’t be hidden. If he tried to conceal it now, it would be a huge blow to the image of “Captain Duncan” once it was revealed later.
So it was better to take the pigeon out openly and say it was his new “trophy”—he didn’t need to explain anything to the goat head; the captain didn’t have to explain to the first mate.
The first mate would fill in the blanks himself.
As for the strange things the pigeon sometimes said (which would definitely be incomprehensible to the locals in this world)… there was no need to explain that either.
Let the goat head and Alice figure it out themselves.
With the fat pigeon on his shoulder, Duncan stood up, straightened his appearance, and calmly walked toward the chart room.
The pigeon puffed out its chest proudly, shouting as if announcing, “Authentic good herbal tea, authentic good voice, welcome to watch…”
(End of Chapter)