The gathering bell rang, its urgent sound mixed with the hurried footsteps of the sailors. Lawrence stayed in the bridge with the second mate and the still-breathless priest.
The old captain looked out at the sea. The White Oak was still deep in the spirit world, surrounded by thick fog, and the water was as dark as ink. But the storm had calmed down, and the terrifying Lost Homeland had vanished. It felt as if the previous chaos and collapsing reality had been brought by that ghost ship, and now, with its departure, all disasters had also left the White Oak.
Lawrence thought about the terrifying legends surrounding the Lost Homeland and Captain Duncan Abnomar, as well as the fleet swallowed by the reality border over a century ago. Ships had sunk into the deep sea after encounters with the Lost Homeland. Suddenly, he felt that it wasn’t impossible.
But anyway, the Lost Homeland was gone now, and the surrounding waters had temporarily returned to calm. Even though they were still in dangerous depths, at least he and his crew had a chance to breathe.
Next, Lawrence had to find out what the Lost Homeland had taken from the White Oak—or what it had left behind.
And he needed to figure it out quickly.
He couldn’t take any risks. He didn’t dare to let the ship surface to the real world because some things brought from the spirit world could cause terrible contamination in reality. But if they stayed too long in the spirit world, he and his crew would also suffer irreversible effects.
Hearing the noisy sounds from the deck, Lawrence suddenly lifted his head from his thoughts. He looked at the priest, who was sitting in front of the incense burner, his face a bit better now, and asked seriously, “Mr. Ron, how stable are we right now?”
The priest coughed a couple of times, then took out a beautifully crafted small compass from his pocket. The surface was engraved with various ocean symbols and sacred signs. With a snap, he opened the metal lid, and the compass needle began to spin rapidly before finally settling in a certain direction.
“We are staying at the surface of the spirit world, slightly closer to the real world. The influence from the deep is… very weak,” the priest said, looking at the compass needle, his expression suddenly confused. “Strange… We are completely stable here. Even without the holy artifact, there’s almost no sinking… cough, cough…”
“Maybe the bump from the Lost Homeland actually pushed us onto a safe course,” Lawrence said with a wry smile, trying to lighten the mood with a bad joke. “I’ve heard there are subtle balance points in the spirit world that can keep things from the real world from being pulled deeper…”
“Captain, that joke is too cold,” the priest replied, coughing again.
Although he had recovered somewhat, he still didn’t look well.
“Cough, cough, anyway, what happened today must be reported to the church… The appearance of the Lost Homeland is definitely not a small matter. Over the past few decades, there have always been reports about encounters with the Lost Homeland, but they were later confirmed to be just the crew’s ramblings or group hallucinations caused by uncontrolled phenomena. But today, we actually witnessed it… By the goddess, you’d better prepare yourself mentally for not being able to set sail again soon after returning to Pland.”
“I understand—neither the church nor the city authorities would allow a ship that just encountered a phenomenon disaster to return to the sea. It’s for everyone’s safety. And I have more than just the church to report to; there’s the city, the explorers’ association… sigh, and my terrifying wife…” Captain Lawrence pressed his forehead, sighed deeply, and waved his hand. “Let’s not talk about that. You need to rest now. Until we return to port, this ship needs the goddess’s blessing.”
The priest nodded gently, and soon after, the first mate returned to the bridge.
“There are neither fewer nor more people on board,” the first mate reported immediately without waiting for the captain to ask. “I personally checked the sailors gathered on deck and went to the boiler room to check on the mechanics left there. They could all accurately recite the names of the deities they believe in. They are definitely alive.”
“No one is missing?” Lawrence’s eyes widened. This should have been good news, but he couldn’t believe the first mate’s report. “What about the holy beacon?”
“The artifact is normal,” the first mate nodded immediately. “The navigator is preparing incense and essential oils, waiting for your order to restart the artifact.”
Lawrence listened with uncertainty, muttering softly again, “...Did it really let this ship go?”
“Luck is on our side, Captain,” the first mate shrugged. “We didn’t lose anything. Maybe that terrifying ghost captain just happened to pass by, or even just accidentally bumped into us.”
“Do you really believe that?” Lawrence shot a glare at his first mate. “If luck really favored us, we wouldn’t have encountered…”
Just as he was speaking, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from outside. Someone burst through the bridge door, a sweaty sailor appeared before Lawrence, his tall figure filled with fear.
“Captain! The anomaly 099 is missing!!”
The bridge fell silent instantly, everyone exchanged glances. However, for some reason, Lawrence felt a strange sense of relief amidst the shock—
Great! After the encounter with the Lost Homeland, something was finally wrong on the ship. That felt right!
But he quickly controlled his expression and walked toward the door, urgently instructing the first mate to take the helm and telling the sailor to lead the way.
The hurried footsteps echoed in the corridors of the White Oak. Soon, Lawrence followed the sailor to the deepest part of the steamship.
A special cabin appeared before him.
The door of this cabin was covered with dense mystical symbols, and the heavy black door seemed to be made from a solid piece of black iron. The mysterious symbols extended from the door frame into the corridor, vaguely forming some kind of closed cage to bind whatever was stored inside the cabin.
Lawrence glanced at the door, confirming that neither the door nor the surrounding symbols showed any signs of damage. He then looked up—above was the “holy artifact room” where the holy beacon was placed. That beacon was crucial for ensuring the ship was not affected by the “deep” and also served as a second layer of insurance for the sealed room. Even in a closed state, it should be able to ensure the barrier of the sealed room remained intact.
But despite both layers of protection being intact, the thing inside the sealed room, the most crucial cargo the White Oak was escorting on this journey, anomaly 099—the doll coffin—had disappeared.
Lawrence took a deep breath and approached the sealed room’s door, pushing it open with force.
Inside the sealed room, the lights were bright. The gas lamps hanging from four pillars illuminated the center of the room almost without any shadows. However, the “cargo” that should have been there had vanished, leaving only a few tangled chains and some gray-white ashes scattered on the floor.
The sailor’s voice came from behind Lawrence: “According to the sealing requirements of anomaly 099, this room has always maintained light, and every two hours, a crew member is supposed to come in to reinforce the chains around the ‘coffin’ and sprinkle ashes on the floor. But when that… ghost ship appeared, due to the chaos, the sailor on duty didn’t enter the room in time. He was about seven minutes late, and when he arrived, he found anomaly 099 was gone…”
“Being just seven minutes late wouldn’t cause that thing to go out of control. At most, the seal would weaken and show some movement. The worst-case scenario would be just a coffin running around in this room—these layers of seals and the holy beacon’s confinement are not just for show,” Lawrence frowned and shook his head. “The current situation is that it has disappeared… the cargo has left this ship, and that has nothing to do with that sailor.”
The sailor looked a bit nervous. “So what you mean is…”
“It must be the Lost Homeland,” Lawrence said in a deep voice. “That ‘captain’ took anomaly 099…”
He paused for a moment and sighed softly. “Perhaps we should feel fortunate. The Lost Homeland only takes what it wants. That captain was after anomaly 099, not our lives.”
The sailor looked at his captain’s expression, then at the empty sealed room, hesitating for a long time before asking, “Then… how do we report such an important loss to the city authorities…”
Lawrence looked at the sailor and firmly patted his shoulder.
“The Lost Homeland belongs to natural disasters. We have maritime insurance.”
“...Does the insurance cover this?”
“If they don’t, we’ll have the explorers’ association issue a new bounty for the Lost Homeland…”
“Captain, are you a bit anxious…”
“Shut up.”
(End of Chapter)