The sunlight was bright. If that glowing object hanging high in the sky was truly the sun, then its "sunlight" was indeed very bright.
Duncan didn't know how long he had been staring at the sky. It wasn't until his eyes felt sore and uncomfortable that he finally pulled his gaze away from the clouds. However, the image of that "sun" was still deeply etched in his mind. Even with his eyes closed, he could clearly recall its appearance—a faintly glowing sphere, streams of light twisting and dispersing around it, and the concentric rings quietly orbiting around it.
The sun wasn't like this; it shouldn't look like this. In the world he was familiar with, even under the sky of a different planet, stars hanging in the sky never looked like this.
But now he had to accept the reality.
He was in a foreign land, a place much farther away than he had imagined.
Even the sun had transformed into something he couldn't comprehend.
Duncan instinctively turned back to look at the door in front of the captain's cabin.
If he pushed the door open, he could return to the room he had lived in for many years, back to his apartment.
But outside that room, thick fog had already shrouded the entire world. His familiar "hometown," in a sense, had been reduced to that last thirty-square-meter space.
What looked like a "home" that he could return to by simply pushing open the door was, in fact, just another lonely ship sailing on the vast ocean.
After a long silence, the voice of the goat-headed figure suddenly reached Duncan's ears: "Captain, where are we headed next? Do you have any sailing plans?"
Sailing plans? How could Duncan have such a thing? Although he wanted to immediately come up with a complete plan to explore this world and finalize the next journey, he didn't even have a proper sea chart, let alone any knowledge of the lands or powers in this world, or whether this endless ocean had an end.
He had only just figured out how to steer this ship, the Lost Homeland.
But he still fell into thought and, after a few minutes, spoke up in his mind: "Where did that ship that collided with the Lost Homeland come from?"
"Do you want to go to those city-states?" The goat-headed figure sounded a bit surprised, then quickly advised, "I suggest you stay away from the shipping routes controlled by those city-states... at least for now. Even though you are the great Captain Duncan, the current state of the Lost Homeland is... not what it used to be, and the naval guards and the church's troops from those city-states will do everything they can to resist your... attack."
Duncan was momentarily speechless. He suddenly wanted to know what the "Captain Duncan" he was replacing had done in the past to earn such hatred, as if just showing his face in the world could instantly summon a 25-person raid...
Moreover, from what the goat-headed figure implied, Duncan realized that the Lost Homeland and his current role as "captain" were not as good as they were usually praised to be—perhaps the ghost captain and his ship were actually too afraid to return to the civilized world’s ports?
It was just another way of saying they were exiled on a journey to the world's end!
Duncan felt a bit troubled. He urgently needed to find a way to understand this world. He had to figure out how to connect with this world's "civilized society," whether it was to survive here for a long time or to unravel the mystery and return to his familiar "hometown." He couldn't continue to drift aimlessly on this endless ocean, but the problem was—
This world's "civilized society" didn't seem to think the same way.
To the locals, "Captain Duncan" was just a world boss wandering outside the main city, someone who would definitely need a 25-person raid if he ever appeared within sight...
Duncan sighed—if only there was a book on this "Lost Homeland," he wouldn't be so passive. His only source of information here was that mysterious goat-headed figure, but he didn't dare to reveal too much about himself in front of it.
But then again... how could such a large ship not have a single book?
The long, lonely journey at sea was an extreme pressure environment for those living on the ocean. People needed some way to relieve that pressure. Ordinary sailors might not have time to read for leisure, but a proper "Captain Duncan"... couldn't possibly be illiterate, right?
You have to know, being a "captain" is a skilled job that requires a high level of knowledge. Even the roughest pirates need someone who can read charts, understand the stars, and calculate routes.
With doubts in his mind, Duncan casually asked, trying to sound as if he was just bringing it up: "Books? Are there really no books on this ship?"
The goat-headed figure answered without hesitation: "Reading at sea can be a dangerous thing. Those deep and mysterious beings in the abyss and subspace are always waiting for a mortal's mind to show a crack, and the only safe reading materials are the 'classics' issued by the church. They are safe, but reading them is so dull that it’s worse than scrubbing the deck... Aren't you usually uninterested in church stuff?"
Duncan raised an eyebrow.
How could reading a book at sea be dangerous? And only the church's "classics" could be read safely? What kind of strange issues did this endless ocean have?
It seemed he had grasped a bit more knowledge about this world, but with that came new questions. Duncan had to force those new questions down in his heart. He walked to the edge of the ship, gazing at the endless sea and sky ahead.
That golden "sun" cast down brilliant rays, creating ripples on the sea that looked like scattered gold flakes—if not for the sun's bizarre appearance, it would indeed be a beautiful sight.
"I want to hear your advice," Duncan said cautiously after some thought. "I'm getting a bit tired of this aimless sailing. Perhaps..."
Before he could finish, a strange "feeling" suddenly surged from his heart. It came from the connection between him and the Lost Homeland, as if some "foreign object" had suddenly touched the ship. Then he heard a "thud" from the direction of the ship's stern, as if something heavy had crashed onto the deck.
Duncan frowned, quickly drawing his already-loaded flintlock pistol with one hand and his longsword with the other. He then ran swiftly toward the source of the sound.
After a moment, he arrived at the stern deck, and what lay quietly on the deck left him dumbfounded.
It was that luxurious wooden box that looked like a coffin.
It was that strange doll.
A chilling sensation surged through Duncan's heart as he stared intently at the still-wet box, as if it might suddenly open by itself at any moment. Then he noticed that the nails around the lid of the box had vanished.
Those were the nails he had secured before throwing the box into the sea, meant to be incredibly sturdy.
After standing guard next to the box for several minutes, Duncan finally made up his mind. He gripped the flintlock tightly in one hand and used the longsword to probe into the gap of the box's lid, then forcefully pried it open.
The ornate lid creaked open, revealing the lifeless Gothic doll lying quietly within, surrounded by red velvet lining, as if it were a sleeping princess.
Duncan stared at the doll for several seconds and spoke in a serious tone (he believed he showed enough authority at that moment): "If you are alive, then get up and talk to me."
He repeated this twice, but the doll remained motionless.
Duncan looked at her with a serious expression and finally said lightly, "Very well, then I can only send you back."
With that, he unhesitatingly closed the lid again and took tools to nail a crisscross of coffin nails on the box. After finishing, he found a chain and used the hooks on the box to secure the lid tightly.
After doing all this, Duncan stood up, satisfied, and nodded slightly at the tightly bound "coffin": "This time, you shouldn't be able to rise again."
With that, he kicked the box back into the sea without hesitation.
Watching the box fall into the water and drift away with the waves, Duncan let out a slight sigh of relief and turned to leave the stern.
But halfway there, he suddenly turned back to look at the direction where the box had drifted away.
The wooden box was still floating on the surface of the sea.
Duncan nodded, turned to continue walking, then suddenly looked back again.
The box was still on the surface, and it had drifted far away.
"Maybe I should put a cannonball or something inside to make it sink..."
Duncan muttered to himself before finally turning around and slowly walking toward the captain's cabin.
"You were a bit harsh on that lady," the goat-headed voice echoed in his mind.
"Shut up—are you calling a cursed doll a 'lady'?"
"Well, it does seem like a cursed doll... But what curse on this boundless sea could be worse than the Lost Homeland and the great Captain Duncan? Captain, that lady is actually quite gentle and harmless..."
Duncan: "..."
Why did this goat-headed figure sound so proud when talking about the curse and infamy of the Lost Homeland and Captain Duncan?
Perhaps sensing Duncan's displeasure in the silence, the goat-headed figure quickly changed the subject: "Captain, you mentioned wanting to hear my advice. Specifically..."
"Let's talk about it later. I need to rest for a while—driving the Lost Homeland through the spirit world earlier drained my energy. Please stay quiet for now."
"Yes, Captain."
The goat-headed figure quieted down, and Duncan returned to the captain's cabin. He approached the navigation table and casually glanced over the sea chart.
In the next moment, his gaze suddenly froze.
The sea chart seemed to show a subtle change—the grayish-white patches that had covered the entire paper, writhing as if alive, appeared to have dissipated a little. The sea around the Lost Homeland was becoming clearer!
Could this thing be updating the information about the surrounding sea in real time as the Lost Homeland sailed?
Duncan quickly moved to the navigation table, focusing intently on the subtle changes on the sea chart.
But his concentrated state was soon interrupted.
Deep within his mind, the Lost Homeland signaled again that it had "made contact with a foreign object," and right after that, Duncan heard a "thud" from the deck behind the captain's cabin.
(End of Chapter)