Chapter 68: New Connections

Chapter 68 A New Connection
Goathead was a dangerous fellow, that much Duncan had known from the beginning – it was dangerous not only because it was an anomaly of unknown origin, but also because it had served the true Captain Duncan and to this day still acted and thought according to the rules of the old days.

From the goathead’s point of view, the city-states of the land are meaningless, the mortals of the city-states are foolish and ridiculous, the fleet of weak city-states is food, and plundering and killing them …… is the natural “daily routine” of the Lost Country.

Duncan didn’t know how long it would take him to adjust the goathead’s habits of thought, but he knew that the process would have to be subtle – the safest way to change his own and the Lost Country’s style of doing things would be to use some valid reasons.

He took one last look at Goathead, who was quietly standing by on the sailing table, to make sure the other man had taken over the Lost Country’s sail and rudder systems before he pushed his way into his own sleeping quarters.

This afternoon, Nina would return to the antique store, and until then, he’d have Aye the Dove complete more testing programs.

The door leading to the captain’s chambers closed, and the goat’s head gazed silently in the direction of the door in the dimness, silent for an unknown length of time until it confirmed that the captain’s consciousness had departed on a spirit walk, and only then did it mutter softly as if speaking to itself, “It really hasn’t been affected by subspace …… “

In the dimness, the carved wooden goat’s head creaked and turned as if it were looking around the room, and as if its gaze penetrated the room and was looking around the entire ship.

“The Lost Country Ship, the Lost Country Ship …… What horrible thing did you fish up back then ……”

……

Duncan had returned to that familiar dark space, and he felt his will stretching between countless lines of starlight and shimmering light, and at either end of the stretching trajectory were the Lost Country ship, and the antique stores located within the city-state of Prand.

It seemed that as the time of this “dual-line connection” lengthened, this feeling also became clearer and clearer, and now he didn’t even need to deliberately focus his energy to perceive the situation on the other side of the antique store – he could also remotely control the body inside the store to carry out some simple daily activities. simple daily activities.

This is obviously a good thing, an antique store owner who spends more than half of his time in the store “sleeping” is obviously suspicious, and even if that body just gets up and moves around, standing at the door for a minute or two, it can dispel a lot of unwanted stares.

Duncan did not immediately “transfer” his main consciousness to the city of Prand, but stopped in the dark space, he carefully perceived the changes in the space, and then looked back to his side.

In the vast darkness, in the form of a bone pigeon, Ai is hovering silently, the ghostly body in flight constantly sprinkled with stars and green fire, and in the center of the area where Ai is hovering, there are some blurred shadows.

Among those shadows were the sun amulet previously brought to the Lost Country ship, a short ancient and old dagger, a piece of cheese, a rounded cannonball, and a hard salted dried fish.

These were the “test items” he had prepared before his departure, used to further test Ai’s ability to carry the items and the changes in the process of carrying them.

The short dagger was found in the cabin of the ship, probably belonged to a sailor at one time, and was an “ordinary item” without a mind; the cheese was from the kitchen, and had the property of not spoiling; the cannonballs were from the ammo store; and the dried salted fish was one of the harvests from the last fishing trip, which had been dried in the past two days – actually, it hadn’t been dried very well yet. -It’s not quite tanned, but it’s already hard.

Duncan looked at Aey, who was hovering around these vapors, and nodded slightly, “So that’s how you carry your items every time.”

Aey flapped his wings and let out a hoarse, shrill cry, “Hold on to your seat, hold on to your seat!”

Duncan laughed a little and then focused his mind, preparing for the projection of his primary consciousness.

But just in the moment of concentration, he suddenly saw a strange shimmering light floating at the end of the stream of light that was distantly pointing towards the city-state of Prand!

Duncan immediately stopped and looked in amazement at that piece of light that was flickering up amidst the countless dim star points – that light seemed to have been there originally, and it was only in the moment of his concentration that it turned from darkness to brightness, and as if it had been suddenly noticed, it began to emanate a definite sense of presence.

What was that thing?
Duncan tried to lean toward the shimmering light in confusion, and with a mere thought he had crossed the vast darkness as the shimmering light expanded rapidly before his eyes and transformed into a stream of light that flowed and undulated before him.

Only then did he see that there was a faintly discernible “link” between this undulating stream of light and himself – just like the connection between his own body on the Lost Country and the spare body in the antique store.

Is this …… another spare body to be selected?

The thought crossed Duncan’s mind, but he quickly shook his head – the shimmering light flowing in front of him was far larger in scale than the points of light representing the “bodies”, and such a large patch of light… …rather than representing a body to be chosen, it was more like a massive object that had established a connection with itself.

In hesitation, he made up his mind and reached out his hand to cautiously touch the glow ……

In the next second, a huge and unfamiliar “perception” suddenly flooded into his mind – he couldn’t see the things around him clearly, but he felt the sea breeze blowing on his body, felt the waves slowly undulating around him, and felt that there were many people walking around him, and even on his body. even walking on his torso, and he heard the sound of people’s conversations coming from all directions, but all the voices were mixed together, and as if they were separated by thick curtains, they were completely inaudible. He vaguely realized that he was perceiving his environment through the perspective of a behemoth, but this behemoth was not suitable for the direct descent of his spirit, or there was some kind of power protecting this thing and blocking the intrusion of his power, so all of his perceptions appeared to be stunted and obscured.

The behemoth seemed to be resting on the surface of the sea close to land, where many people were gathering.

There was an air of tension and seriousness that filled the crowd; they seemed to be solemnly disposing of some element of danger, and the conversation of each was low and terse.

Duncan strained his concentration to hear what things these voices, which seemed to be separated by thick curtains, were conversing about.

It took him a long time of effort before he finally heard a word that was mentioned over and over again in the midst of these buzzing, rumbling, overlapping and mingled voices – the White Oak.

Duncan took back the hand that had been touching the stream of light, and stared with some dismay at the shimmering light that floated before him.

The shimmering light floated in the darkness, faintly presenting the silhouette of a ship.

The name White Oak …… seemed somewhat familiar, but could not recall at all when he had heard it before.

Duncan tried to think and recall, and finally some rough impressions tumbled in the depths of his memory; he recalled the ship that he had run into in his spirit world state when he first took the helm, and recalled that when the Lost Country had pierced through with the other side, he had seemed to have seen its name on one side of the ship’s side of the ship……. That ship, it seemed, was called the White Oak .

Immediately after that, he remembered the newspaper he had bought in the city state of Prand, when an inconspicuous panel in the newspaper seemed to mention this matter as well, saying that the White Oak, an ocean-going ship that had been lost for several days, would be coming to port in the near future ……

Duncan froze, staring at the shimmering light floating before him.

This was the White Oak, the White Oak that had been responsible for escorting Anomaly 099.

The old captain and his crew, who had tried to shout to himself, appeared to have finally arrived in the city-state of Prand without incident – something to be quite happy about.

Apparently, one had established contact with this ship.

Could it be that the connection was established after the “Spirit World Collision” accident? Was it because the flames from the Lost Country had spread to the White Oak?

Duncan’s mind vaguely came up with conjectures and speculated on the properties of his own spiritual flame, and at the same time, he also pondered whether the connection between himself and the steamer could be of any use.

After drifting on the Lost Country for so long, he valued every ounce of connection between himself and the civilized world.

It seemed that although the White Oak had docked, it was still under some kind of blockade, surveillance, and those nervous people were the city-state’s “professionals” who specialized in dealing with transcendental visions.

Obviously, to the people of the city-state, a ship that had been lost at sea was dangerous, and the other party’s experience with the Lost Country at a negative distance might also be a major matter to be scrutinized.

Duncan was now somewhat self-conscious of his and the Lost Country’s reputation.

After some thought, Duncan cautiously stepped back, not continuing to touch the mist of light in front of him.

As the number one boss in the boundless sea, he did not intend to deal with the protectors of the city-state, and he did not want to expose the fact that the White Oak had already established contact with “Captain Duncan” without knowing the background of those “transcendental experts”.

He didn’t want his connection to the steamer to be discovered and removed – it was already established and as secure as an anchor cable under the sea, and he could wait patiently for the White Oak’s surveillance to be lifted one day.

When that time came, perhaps he would be able to talk to the old captain in peace.

Inquire what that old captain was really shouting to himself when the wind and waves were too great.

(End of chapter)