Chapter 64 Return to Hong Kong

Chapter 64 – Returning to the Harbor
Duncan gazed longingly at the huge scar in the sky that gave off a dull glow, as if trying to distinguish certain details he had seen before from those chaotic flowing mists of light, in order to confirm the astonishing conjecture in his own mind-

Was the scene presented outside the bottom of the Lost Country ship the Creation of the World?
If the outside of the ship’s bottom was subspace, then was the World Creation also part of subspace? Or was there at least some connection?
But in the end, he was unable to discern any clues, and the guesses in his mind could only be guesses.

That scar was too far away, even if he took out the monocular, it was impossible to see more details, and only from the visible part of the view, it and the Lost Country ship’s bottom of the external scene is only a little bit of plausible “close”, rather than saying that the two are similar, but it is more like his own nerves are too tense after exploring the bottom of the bilge, so that everything he looks at is suspicious. The two are more like each other than similar, it is more like one’s nerves are too tense after exploring the bottom of the hatch, so much so that one is suspicious of everything.

Duncan on the deck of the sea breeze for a long time, while thinking and slowly restore the mood of calm, he is also paying attention to the goat’s head side of the movement, and found that his “first mate” seems to have calmed down, at the moment is seriously control of the Lost Country.

But Duncan still keenly felt that there is a vague sense of tension is pervading the ship – this sense of tension seems to have no source, and infiltrated the entire “living” ghost ship, the towering masts, staggered sails, stacked on the deck of the cable The towering masts, the interlaced sails, the cables piled up on the deck ……, all silent in the darkness, seemed to carry a nervous, oppressive whisper, discussing the matter of “the door”.

This is the first time Duncan directly from the mind to perceive this “ship” mood changes.

It seemed that after returning from the bilge, his connection with the ship had deepened.

The entire ship was now watching the captain, watching for anything unusual after he had peered through the door.

As the evening breeze blew in his face, Duncan took a deep breath and slowly made his way in the direction of the captain’s cabin, his fingers gently tapping on the handrail beside the side of the ship as if he were talking to himself, “Relax, this is going to be uneventful.”

This time, he finally felt the change more clearly: the tension that had filled the ship slowly subsided, the cables were no longer taut, the sails were angled up, and the slight creaking from below decks petered out.

The ship seemed to confirm at last that the captain was still the captain.

Duncan, for his part, returned to the door of the captain’s cabin, but instead of pulling the door in as he normally would have done, he took hold of the doorknob after a moment’s hesitation, and with a slight push, pushed the door inward.

The door opened and inside was a surging black mist.

Duncan took a step towards that black mist, while Aey, the pigeon that had been resting on his shoulder, suddenly flapped its wings and fluttered to the mast not far away, yelling as it flew, “The road ahead is cut off, the road ahead is cut off!”

Duncan gave the suddenly runaway pigeon a somewhat curious look, but took a step forward anyway.

He returned to his familiar bachelor pad.

Zhou Ming lowered his head and confirmed his body at this moment: familiar hands, familiar shirt, familiar pants, not as strong as Captain Duncan, but a more ordinary human.

He raised his head again and looked around the room.

Everything was exactly as he had left it, not even the dust had changed much.

Zhou Ming thoughtfully observed the furnishings in the room, then suddenly turned back to look at the door – he looked at the door to the room of the bachelor apartment, recalling the door he had seen in the bilge of the Lost Country ship, recalling the position and angle of the doorway.

He stood in the corresponding position, first assuming that there was a person on the opposite side of the door, and then looking in the direction opposite the door.

From the position of the doorway, he could indeed see into the center of the room, and could see the somewhat disheveled desk, which was set up with a computer and other miscellaneous items – and it was at that desk that he usually worked, reading and writing, or grading his students’ assignments and papers.

Zhou Ming slowly opened the door a crack, little by little, and put his eyes on the crack.

At this moment, he felt his heart thumping – even though reason told him that this was an illogical thought, he still couldn’t help but wonder …… if an eye would suddenly appear across the doorway? Would a ghostly captain with a somber, serious expression suddenly appear? Would …… a pirate sword suddenly stab in?

He posted up, his eyes looking out.

Outside there was only a rolling and surging black fog, as always.

Zhou Ming suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, but for some reason, there was a bit of a bizarre sense of loss in his heart – a feeling of anticipation falling short, and as if he had lost some kind of joy.

He shook his head vigorously, shaking this somewhat bizarre state of mind to the back of his mind, and then slowly made his way to the desk – the things that he had left in the room before he left were all still in their original places, including the scraps of paper filled with haphazard scribbles, as well as the organized diary, and the computer screen that was still lit up even after the power had been cut off.

Nothing seemed to have changed. Zhou Ming exhaled, but suddenly, his expression froze.

There was a change!
His gaze was dead set on a corner of the desk, and in that inconspicuous corner, there was now a small thing that had suddenly appeared – it was an exquisite and incomparable arrangement, a lifelike model of a …… Lost Country ship.

Zhou Ming such as a lightning strike, the whole half a minute are frozen sitting on the chair did not move, he is one million percent sure that his desk originally did not have this furnishings …… Especially, this furnishings or the “model” of the Lost Country!
After a long time, he suddenly blinked, reached out and carefully took the “model” that had appeared on the desk at some point in time and placed it in front of his eyes to scrutinize it carefully.

This exquisite “ghost ship” is only more than half a foot long, the weight in the hand and a common model is not much difference, at the same time it is so detailed, Zhou Ming carefully observed half a day, he can even see from the deck of each rope, each bucket… …

Compared to the real Lost Country, the only difference between this ship might only be the size.

Suddenly, Zhou Ming seemed to have thought of something, he brought the ship to his eyes, and with his fingers, he carefully “snapped” open the door to the captain’s cabin at the stern of the ship, and his eyes looked through the small door to the interior, searching carefully inside.

There was no goat’s head visible on the miniature nautical table.

Likewise, Alice was nowhere to be seen on board.

Zhou Ming’s heart was filled with some weirdness, he didn’t know why he thought that “Alice” would appear on this miniature version of the Lost Country ship, which was obviously an overly outrageous thought.

Perhaps the appearance of the ship itself was too outrageous?

Zhou Ming held the tiny Lost Country and pondered for a long, long time.

He didn’t know how this ship had appeared on his desk, but it was clear that the connection between his blocked-off bachelor pad and the “world across the door” was deeper than he had imagined.

The change may have occurred after he took the helm, or after he peered through the doorway into subspace.

He leaned back against the backrest of the seat and let his mind slowly settle.

He realized that he could still “feel” what was going on across the door, he could feel the Lost Country, he could feel the Goathead, he could even feel the city-state of Prand, which was some distance away, and he could feel the other “shell” in the antique store. …… “shell”.

In this way, I do not know how long to contemplate, Zhou Ming suddenly woke up like blinking, he looked at the ghost ship that was still held in his hands, and then looked to the end of the room an empty shelf.

That shelf had been purchased for several years, but until the vision came, he hadn’t found the opportunity to fill it up, and at the moment there were only a few decorative crystal bottles on it that he had been duped into purchasing online, and the rest of the compartments were all empty.

Zhou Ming held the Lost Country and carefully placed this delicate “model” on the shelf.

After placing it on the shelf, he took two steps back and carefully scrutinized his “achievement”, seemingly very satisfied with the place he chose.

How it came to be here is still a mystery, but at least …… he was able to decorate his hut again during his days of being trapped.

……

A loud and melodious siren broke the calm of the sea, and Vanna, who had arrived at the harbor early, immediately walked to the edge of the lookout and peered out over the docks.

The entire harbor had been emptied by the early dispatch, and the once-busy main harbor of Prand was now empty, with the ordinary stevedores and handlers missing from the docks, and replaced by heavily armed vigilante forces, as well as church-affiliated guards.

Twelve steam walkers blocked all roads leading to the dock area.

And on the sea outside the harbor, between the slightly undulating waves, a beautiful steam-mechanized ship was slowly approaching.

The White Oak.

(End of chapter)