Chapter 189: Chapter 193 “Captain
Subspace could contaminate everything beyond itself, including reality and ti itself, yet this didn’t seem to be a problem for Holoss.
In a sense, the ship had already beco a part of subspace—indeed, its hull was still navigating through subspace at that mont.
You cannot drive a person with zero sanity into madness, nor can you contaminate the Holoss, which had been thoroughly transford by subspace.
Listening to the goat head’s words, Duncan Ebnomal showed a contemplative expression, but he didn’t ponder for long because the goat head’s voice ca from the navigation desk again, “Captain, you’ve started taking an interest in matters within the civilized boundary—you used to be focused solely on voyaging beyond the frontier. Does sothing in the City-State hold special aning for you?”
Voyaging beyond the frontier?
Duncan’s heart stirred slightly, but his facial expression remained unchanged, as he casually replied, “Just a simple interest, no need for a reason.”
...
“Ah, okay, you’re the captain, what you say goes,” responded the goat head imdiately, followed by two seconds of silence, as if hesitating or contemplating sothing, before it finally spoke in a low voice, “Well then, just in case, I’d like to ask you a question.”
Duncan raised his eyebrows.
He heard the hoarse, deep voice emanating from within the wood carving, “Your na?”
“Duncan Ebnomal,” Duncan replied impassively, his fingertips lightly crossed over each other, but this ti, after uttering his na, he suddenly laughed and quickly asked back, “I’m rather curious, what would happen if I gave a different na?”
It was the first ti he’d asked this question, and it was also his boldest “transgression” to date—was it the life he’d led on this ship, the many encounters with the goat head, and the increasing understanding of his own powers and traits that had finally led him to take this step?
The mutual probing and observation had established a fundantal tacit understanding, Duncan’s counter-question revealing a fact both parties were aware of but left unspoken, and after this question, the goat head fell into a prolonged silence. Only after a full minute did the captain’s quarters reverberate with its low, hoarse voice again, “Then, please spare the jokes, Captain. Holoss still needs you at the helm.”
Duncan laughed.
As he had suspected, if the goat head had been “Captain Duncan’s” right-hand man for the past century, then it probably knew the Ghost Captain even better than the captain knew himself. Considering all the strange and transcendent entities in this world, how could an extrely knowledgeable “first mate” not notice a change in the captain, not consider the possible scenarios?
Even the most cautious disguise has its flaws, and the fact that nobody had ntioned it ant that these flaws were obvious and necessary to so extent.
Holoss needed a captain, and that captain’s na was “Duncan Ebnomal.” It didn’t matter what lay behind that na or whether the captain himself was real; all that mattered was having soone qualified at the helm.
Duncan was just curious about why it had to be him, and whether his own “Self-Will” was an unexpected developnt, because from what he knew about ghost ships, if a cursed vessel needed to “grab” people to be captains, then those chosen should be under the curse’s control, yet he was clearly unfettered.
But he didn’t voice these thoughts, as the goat head’s deanor subtly reminded him:
So things, everyone knows them; no need to state them too plainly.
Until all the secrets behind Holoss were unraveled, this topic could co to a close.
“Still needing your loyal first mate at your service, and Holoss still needing its great captain personally at the helm, what do you think?” ca the goat head’s voice from the side, sounding sowhat hopeful, even eager.
Duncan turned his head, gazing at the Obsidian-carved eyeballs of the other.
“Of course,” he said with a smile.
He then stood up and headed for the door of the captain’s quarters, “I’m going to step out for a mont; keep an eye on the ship.”
The goat head returned to its usual obsequious manner, its tone pleasant, “Of course, your loyal subordinate will wait here for your return, wish you a good…”
Duncan had already pushed the door open and left the room, blocking the rest of the goat head’s words behind it.
He stood on the aft deck, exhaling softly, a strange relief rising within him. The morning sun was spreading over the sea, lending the whole deck a warm and comforting atmosphere, while the door leading to the captain’s quarters stood quietly in front of Duncan, the letters “The Door of The Displaced” glistening in the sunlight.
He pressed the handle and gently pushed forward.
Inside the captain’s quarters, the goat head sensed that the captain had temporarily left Holoss.
It was silent, everything in the room was silent, even the entire ship was silent, but after a few minutes, a low creaking sound suddenly erged from beneath the floorboards, followed by so of the room’s furnishings beginning to sway slightly, producing various faint noises.
The voice of the goat’s head broke the silence, muttering to itself, “Geez… not angry, right… should not be angry… I an, really not angry…”
The various tiny sounds in the room beca more pronounced.
“I know, I know… it’s not that I want to keep asking for nas every now and then! It’s for navigation safety! Just in case we fall back into Subspace, at least we’d be prepared… Stop fussing, stop fussing, I’m already all over the place… How about next ti you ask! If not, then keep it down… You know I’m the only one on board with a mouth…
“That doll? Are you guys crazy? She doesn’t know the situation… Wait, when did you get on such good terms with her? Aren’t you always fighting… Feeling guilty for bullying her too much? Can it really be like this?
“Alright, alright, everyone scatter, focus on the journey, the captain might return at any ti, he might ask about the progress of our voyage… Anchor, can’t you learn to swim? Providing so power when you swing, I’ve seen those steamships’ propellers… Alright then, forget I said anything… Or maybe you two lifeboats could jump in and ss around? Okay, okay, forget I said that too…”
The sounds in the captain’s quarters gradually subsided.
The goat’s head sighed silently and continued to steer the massive Ghost Ship towards the direction of Plunder City-State.
On the sea chart shrouded in mist, the twinkling light where the City-State was located drew nearer by a bit.
…
Zhou Ming pushed open the door to his single apartnt and stepped into the world he was familiar with.
Outside the window, the mist was still enveloping everything, and the world he knew was still confined to this small area.
Inside the room, everything remained as it was when he left, the bedcovers were sowhat ssy, the book on the nightstand was still open, and the computer screen in the corner flickered faintly, with the “Network Disconnected” prompt popping up again and again in the bottom right corner.
Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and strolled over to the shelving unit at the end of the room.
The model ship Holoss still lay quietly in its compartnt, exactly where he had last placed it.
Duncan picked up the intricately detailed Ghost Ship “model,” then opened the door to the captain’s quarters and peeked inside.
The navigation desk was still empty, the figure of the goat’s head was not to be seen.
Duncan pondered for a mont before returning Holoss to its original spot, then turned and walked over to the desk, preparing to sit down and rest, and organize the intelligence he knew and collect his thoughts in this familiar and quiet environnt.
But all of a sudden, his gaze was drawn to sothing on the desk.
To be precise, not sothing, but a rather strange… phenonon.
He saw very, very tiny flas continuously leaping on the empty desk top, like sparks chaining together, and under the outline of these faint and eerie green flas, there were vague outlines appearing and disappearing in the air.
It was as if sothing was taking shape on the desktop, yet the coalescence was too slow, getting stuck in an almost-ford state.
Duncan sat down in front of the desk, quietly watching those dancing flas and the outlines faintly appearing amidst the fire, the eerie green light reflecting off his face, lending his slightly gaunt features a solemn air.
He recognized that the outlines traced by the flickering flas were places he was familiar with—those were so of the streets of Plunder!
He could even make out so details of the City-State’s coastline.
The fire was burning, and Duncan rembered that he had commanded those flas to persistently chase and hunt down those “things” with black umbrellas.
Now it had nearly spread to every corner of the City-State.
The prey… is everywhere!?
Duncan’s brow furrowed bit by bit, thoughtfully tracking and distinguishing the paths of those spreading flas, searching for the patterns in their congregation, and the directions they might converge on next, like a hunter tracking the scent of his prey.
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