In the captain's cabin of the Lost Homeland, Duncan slowly opened his eyes, having been sitting with his arms crossed in front of the window, resting. He glanced around the familiar room, checked on his body, and let out a small sigh of relief.
Now, he had transferred his main consciousness back to the Lost Homeland, leaving his body in the antique shop in Prand City. He was awkwardly controlling that body to tidy up the first floor of the shop and hang the "Closed for Rest" sign on the door.
Duncan stood up slowly from his chair in the captain's cabin, moving his limbs while looking over at the desk nearby. He saw his pigeon, Ai Yi, strolling along the edge of the desk. The sun mask he had received earlier lay quietly on the table, its golden surface shimmering with a magical light in the warm glow of the setting sun, as if there were ethereal flames flowing through its golden patterns.
Outside the antique shop, Duncan had hung up the wooden sign for the evening rest and turned to greet a neighbor who was just coming home. He wore a faint smile as he chatted with this "old neighbor" about the weather and the recent state of business.
Duncan's expression was a bit stiff, and his speech was slightly slow, but the neighbor didn’t suspect anything. After all, it was surprising enough to see a former drunkard and gambler trying to live seriously. A little slowness in reaction didn’t matter; how sharp could someone’s mind be after being ruined by alcohol?
Back in the captain's cabin, Duncan smiled slightly. After completing a social attempt with his "remote interaction shell," he casually picked up the sun mask from the table.
There were still many things to deal with in Prand City, but not everything could be done in a day. Especially at night, when the city had strict curfews. It was best for his human body to stay in the shop at night to avoid drawing attention—after dusk, the time was better spent with the "real body" of the Lost Homeland.
He planned to take this opportunity to study the mask he had obtained from that sun priest.
The mask felt cold to the touch, seeming to be made of pure metal, and it was quite heavy.
As he looked at the golden object in his hand, Duncan's thoughts suddenly became lively. He first wondered if it was made of pure gold—if it was, after studying it, he could melt it down and possibly sell it for a good amount of money...
Although he currently had no financial pressure in the city, money was always welcome in human society. You never know when it might come in handy.
Those sun cultists had all sorts of valuable things on them. They could be used to gather information, report for bounties, or obtain extraordinary items that were connected to him. If he had any surplus extraordinary items that he didn’t need, it would be perfectly normal to process and sell them...
This was called diversified development—sustainable resource gathering.
After thinking for a moment, Duncan suddenly stroked his chin and remarked, “Those sun cultists are full of treasures…”
Just then, Ai Yi, who had been wandering, stopped and tilted her head to look at Duncan, squawking sharply, “Be a person, be a person!”
“You, a bird, have no right to say that to me,” Duncan shot a glare at the pigeon. He then rubbed his fingers together, ready to summon the spirit fire to "clean" the mask inside and out before conducting a deeper "test" after gaining control.
A flicker of green flame ignited at his fingertips, and just as he was about to direct the fire into the mask, he suddenly heard a faint voice, as if whispering deep within his heart:
“…it might instead connect them to the Lost Homeland…”
Duncan's movement halted abruptly.
He looked at the pigeon beside him, “Did you hear any voices?”
The pigeon thought for a moment, flapping her wings and singing off-key, “Hear~ the sound of the sea crying~ lamenting who has been hurt~”
“Stop, stop, stop… I shouldn’t have asked you!” Duncan quickly held the pigeon down, thinking that communicating with this bird was like dealing with quantum states—nothing made sense. After holding the pigeon down, he focused his mind, trying to trace back to the brief "sensation" that had appeared in his heart when he heard that whisper.
He was sure he hadn’t imagined it! He was certain he had heard a voice—a young, calm female voice!
At the same time, he vaguely sensed a "connection." This connection was much weaker than the one he had with his "remote shell," but it definitely existed!
Duncan set aside thoughts of the golden mask and looked again at the spirit fire quietly burning at his fingertips.
That faint connection seemed to be based on the fire's burning.
He gently closed his eyes, sensing the "direction" the flame was giving him. In the ensuing darkness, he seemed to see a faint light appearing before him.
That faint light was vaguely like a "window," and it seemed like there was a figure moving within it, but he couldn’t see clearly or hear what was happening on the other side.
Even so, Duncan sensed the flame's guidance—he opened his eyes and searched in the direction where the faint light had appeared in the darkness, suddenly spotting a mirror hanging next to the door.
It was just an ordinary oval mirror with a dark wooden frame, nothing extraordinary, just like many that ordinary families had.
But Duncan felt that his flame needed a medium to strengthen this suddenly established weak connection—remembering the blurry image he had seen in the dark and the vague direction he sensed, the mirror might be just right.
Mirrors hold a significant place in many mystical rituals; they are seen as symbols of "insight" and can extend one's mental perception to observe truths that are otherwise unseen and unknown.
Duncan approached the mirror and casually touched the flame to its surface.
The green spirit fire rippled like flowing water across the glass, and a faintly green-lit passageway was quickly established. In the next moment, the faint light window he had seen in the darkness appeared clearly on the mirror!
Curious, he leaned closer.
In the gently rippling light, he saw a brightly lit room, where an exceptionally tall woman stood near the window, reading something by the light of the day. She seemed completely unaware that someone was peering through the glass beside her, observing the scene inside the room.
Vanna scanned the documents, confirming each word and sentence.
This was an announcement drafted by the bishops of various city-states, personally reviewed and approved by His Holiness the Pope at the Storm Cathedral. The discussion process for the announcement was completed remotely in a state of spiritual resonance, monitored and protected by the goddess to ensure that the text would not be disturbed by any anomalies during its drafting.
This extremely special announcement document had only one purpose: to inform every voyager sailing on the boundless sea that an upper-level anomaly had escaped the control of the civilized world.
This was very necessary.
An anomaly out of control on the boundless sea would not disappear from the eyes of the world forever. Although the deep sea devours everything, it never swallows the "anomalies" that fall into it. Those anomalies often wander at the edges of the civilized world in more bizarre and elusive ways, threatening the safety of voyagers like wolves prowling around a pasture. Almost every year, sailors on voyages lose their lives due to encounters with out-of-control anomalies.
As the guardians and sealers of these anomalies, every church should inform all captains who might encounter them when an anomaly under their jurisdiction goes out of control—no one thinks this will damage the church's "face," because it is the church's responsibility and duty.
Timely notification of such situations might save a ship from a future encounter with an anomaly or give a chance to re-seal or contain an out-of-control anomaly.
Under normal circumstances, such announcements would be issued to port authorities within twenty-four hours of an out-of-control event, but this announcement regarding "Anomaly 099" was a bit delayed.
This was because this out-of-control event involved not only Anomaly 099—the Doll Spirit Coffin—but also Anomaly 005—the Lost Homeland.
The Pope and the bishops had to carefully consider the contents of the document to ensure that the information was disclosed accurately while avoiding drawing the attention of the ghost captain of the Lost Homeland when people read the document.
Vanna's expression was serious as she read the document word by word, confirming whether the text conformed to the sacred and intangible structure of the prayers and whether it could avoid the gaze of that ghost captain.
Meanwhile, beside her, on the window glass, Duncan was peering intently at the contents of the document through a gap in the light and shadow that neither she nor the regional bishops could perceive.
The ghost captain was deeply shocked.jpg.
(End of Chapter)