To be honest, Duncan suddenly realized that when the pigeon on his shoulder started talking, even if he had nerves thicker than a beam, it was hard for him to walk calmly. At that moment, he wished he could be a normal pirate captain with a parrot on his shoulder—at least a monkey would do!
But he had already pushed open the door to the navigation room, and there was no turning back now.
Inside the room with the navigation table, the Goat Head was cheerfully chattering about the twelfth legend of fish stew. The sound of the captain's cabin door opening finally interrupted this noisy fellow. The Goat Head's dark wooden head immediately turned toward Duncan, its tone rising with excitement: “Ah, Captain! You’re finally out—I've got to tell you, Miss Alice is truly a wonderful conversationalist. I haven't enjoyed chatting with someone this much in years, you know…”
Duncan ignored the Goat Head's loud rambling and quickly looked at the victim across from the navigation table. There sat the headless doll, perfectly upright in the chair, holding its own head while pressing its ears tightly.
Even so, Alice's gaze was still vacant, as if she had just attended a very boring math class, and she didn't even react when Duncan walked up to her.
Duncan: “…”
“She pulled her own head off,” the Goat Head explained before Duncan could say anything, “though I don’t know why she did that…”
The Goat Head's endless chatter was so powerful that it could force a cursed doll to pull off its own head to combat the noise?!
While Duncan was shocked, the excited Goat Head finally noticed the strange creature Duncan had brought with him. Its wooden head turned slightly, and its dark eyes suddenly focused on the pigeon on Duncan's shoulder: “Hmm? Captain, what’s this on your shoulder…”
“It’s called Ai Yi, and it’s my pet now,” Duncan said briefly, trying to use as few words as possible to avoid any potential misunderstandings while also watching the Goat Head's reaction.
“Your pet?” The Goat Head seemed taken aback for a moment, then it appeared to be imagining something on its own. “Ah, the Lost Country did sense that you temporarily left the ship… Did you go for a spirit world walk? Is this your trophy from that journey?”
Spirit world walk?
A term Duncan had never heard before suddenly popped up in his mind. He thought of the brass compass in the captain's cabin, the writings left by the real Captain Duncan, and the strange experience of his soul traveling far away. He vaguely connected the dots and, after feeling he was close to the truth, nodded calmly: “Just needed to clear my mind a bit.”
As soon as Duncan finished speaking, the Goat Head immediately started to flatter him: “Ah! Truly worthy of the great Captain Duncan, even a simple spirit world walk can yield trophies—this is a pigeon, right? To become your pet, it must be extraordinary! You even hung your compass on it? Does this mean… ah, of course, your judgment is always correct. But what’s special about this pigeon? Could it be…”
Duncan sensed a subtle implication in the Goat Head's flattery. He realized that the Goat Head clearly recognized the brass compass hanging on Ai Yi's chest, and that compass was evidently very important to the real Captain Duncan—important enough that it shouldn't just be casually placed on a newly appeared “pet.”
But even if he sensed something was off, he felt helpless because the compass was now “bound” to the pigeon, and according to the feedback from the spirit fire, it seemed like the pigeon was the true essence of the compass at that moment!
Duncan quickly thought things through, but he maintained an expressionless face. Just then, Ai Yi, who had been sitting quietly on his shoulder, suddenly let out a loud coo and flapped its wings, flying right in front of the Goat Head.
The Goat Head's dark eyes instantly focused on the pigeon, which tilted its head seriously and pecked at the Goat Head's face: “Need to recharge Q coins?”
Duncan: “…”
“A sentient anomaly?!” The Goat Head was clearly stunned, but then it quickly reacted, sounding very surprised, “This pigeon can actually talk?!”
Duncan gently reminded him from the side: “You can talk too.”
Ai Yi took a few steps on the table, muttering to itself as it walked: “Is it right? Is it right? Is it right…”
Seeing this, Duncan rubbed his fingertips, and with a flicker of green flames, the walking pigeon vanished into thin air and reappeared on his shoulder in the next moment.
“Yes, it’s a sentient anomaly, and I control it directly,” Duncan nodded at the Goat Head. “Any other questions?”
The Goat Head quickly replied, “Ah… of course not, of course not! There are absolutely no problems—everything is under the great Captain Duncan’s control.”
Duncan stopped paying attention to the Goat Head and quickly ended that topic, turning his focus back to Alice, who was still dazedly holding her head. Perhaps the earlier experience had made his nerves stronger, or maybe he had just gotten used to it after seeing it a few times, but now he looked at Alice holding her head and found it wasn’t too creepy; instead, he thought it was a bit… cute.
He reached out and patted the doll’s shoulder: “Wake up, wake up.”
Alice jolted, as if waking from a long nightmare. Then the head she was holding opened and closed its mouth, making sounds: “Ship… ship… ship…”
Duncan: “Put your head back on first.”
Alice finally reacted and hurriedly placed her head back in position. With a click, her joints closed, and her voice became smooth again: “Ah, Captain, you’re back? It seems something happened… Did Mr. Goat Head finish talking?”
The Goat Head on the table immediately chimed in: “No, we were just discussing some legends about fish stew. We can continue that next time…”
Duncan cut him off sharply: “Shut up.”
“Oh.”
Alice noticeably flinched when the Goat Head spoke, and the normally composed cursed doll displayed a horrified expression. Even though the Goat Head obediently closed its mouth at the captain's command, she still glanced nervously at the navigation table.
Duncan suspected that for quite a while, this doll would avoid stepping into the captain's cabin.
Thinking of this, he finally asked curiously, “You came to find me for something?”
“I…” Alice looked a bit dazed, as if she had forgotten her original purpose for visiting the captain’s cabin after talking to the Goat Head. But a few seconds later, she finally responded, “Oh right, I just wanted to ask if there’s a place to take a bath on the ship? My wooden box got wet with seawater, and now my joints feel a bit… uncomfortable.”
As she spoke, the expression on the doll's face was clearly a bit awkward, but actually, Duncan should feel more awkward—after all, he was the one who had thrown her box overboard.
And he had done it multiple times.
A moment of embarrassment flashed through his mind, but Duncan maintained a neutral expression and said flatly: “Is that all?”
Alice sat stiffly in the chair: “Just… just for that.”
“For many ocean-going ships, fresh water is a very precious resource, and taking a bath is a luxury that requires restraint,” Duncan began seriously, but then he suddenly smiled, “However, you’re lucky. The Lost Country is not an ordinary ship; fresh water is not a problem here. Follow me, there’s a bathing area in the cabin below the mid-deck, but we need to pass through the upper deck first.”
Alice immediately stood up—she really didn’t want to stay in the place with the Goat Head for even a second longer.
Before leaving the room, Duncan turned back to glance at the Goat Head: “You keep steering.”
After giving his instructions, he opened the captain's cabin door and led Alice onto the deck.
At this moment, the night had fallen.
The vast sea was under a clear night sky.
After several days of cloudy weather, it was the first time Duncan stood under the clear night sky of this world.
He suddenly stopped, tilted his head back, and stared motionlessly at the night sky.
The night sky was pitch black and starless, with no celestial bodies in sight.
The only thing visible was a faint grayish-white “crack” that seemed to tear through the entire sky. This crack stretched across the horizon, its edges resembling torn flesh with delicate fissures extending outward. A dim grayish-white glow slowly seeped from the crack, like blood spreading in a deep pool of water.
This “pale scar” across the sky illuminated the entire vast sea, brighter than the moonlight Duncan remembered by more than twice.
(End of Chapter)