Chapter 7.

Chapter 7: Mannequin
The blazing green flames were fading, and the surrounding sea was beginning to calm down.

After confirming from the goat head that the “Lost Country” has left the dangerous sea, and can navigate on its own, Duncan took his hand off the black helm wheel, and he was now looking down, and what was reflected in his eyes was the body that had regained its flesh and blood, as well as the deck of the Lost Country that was restored to its original state after the green flames had been extinguished.

But there was a feeling in the underworld–that many things were different.

He could feel that the moment he gripped the Lost Country’s steering wheel, something had changed, that the green flames had connected him to this ship, and even connected him to this sea, and even now that the flames had receded, he could still feel this invisible connection, and feel every detail of the great ship beneath his feet.

Duncan slowly closed his eyes, he heard if anything a murmur coming from the deep dim corridors within the Lost Country, a murmur that carried an inexplicable sense of intimacy, he saw that the lamp in the captain’s cabin had been lit at some point, and a ghastly white light pulsed from the glass shade, he heard the sound of the waves lapping at the hull of the ship, and it was as if there was a deep gaze hidden underneath the waves, but when he attempted to find the source of that gaze, the latter hid itself as if it were conscious ……

Duncan opened his eyes, he exhaled softly and the gauzy, ethereal sails of the Lost Country’s masts puffed up, he walked towards the staircase leading to the deck and the ropes beside the staircase wriggled and receded to either side.

It dawned on him – after choosing to take over the wheel, he was the ship’s true captain.

“Captain, we’re surfacing from the edge of the Spirit World, and will be returning to the real world soon,” Goathead’s voice came from beside him, but this time it was not through the brass tubes used for communication on the ship, but directly in Duncan’s head, and it seemed a lot more serious, and a lot less raucous, when it came to business. “We were lucky, we only ‘wobbled’ at the bottom of the Spirit World at the deepest point, and were barely affected by the depth of the Profound.”

The real world, the spirit world waters, the ethereal depths, and what seemed to be a deeper subspace …… Duncan’s mind drifted to these odd words that appeared to him one after the other, knowing that they were pointing to the realities of this bizarre world, but he still didn’t know what they really meant.

However, listening to the voice of the goat head when he called himself “Captain”, Duncan always felt that the tone of the other party had some subtle changes, and he even suspected that at this moment, even if he said “Zhou Ming” as his identity, the goat head would still obey his own orders – this was exactly what happened to him when he was in the middle of his own life. He even suspected that even if he had revealed the identity of “Zhou Ming”, the goat head would still obey his orders – this was exactly the change that had occurred after he had taken charge of the steering wheel and successfully recovered from the “Green Fire”.

However, after a little hesitation, he still didn’t make any attempts in this regard, nor did he ask the goat-head about the Spirit World, the Profound and the Subspace.

If it was a few days ago, he was indeed in a state of anxiety and uneasiness, and at that time, he desperately wanted to figure out his situation, but now he didn’t seem to be in a hurry anymore.

In this world, there were other “people”, other ships, societies with order, and other civilizations, which was enough to make him expect a lot from the future, and even create some “plans” that were still quite vague at the moment.

In his thoughts, Duncan recalled the details of his encounter with the ship that had suddenly appeared out of the fog, the striking chimneys of the ship, and the machinery that had appeared directly in his mind when it had crossed paths with the Lost Country.

“That was a mechanically-powered ship …… while the Lost Country looked like a sail battleship from a previous era ……” Duncan muttered to himself, “but that But it’s not exactly a mechanical ship ……”

Certain compartments of unknown significance existed on that ship, compartments that were arranged as if they were some sort of ritual site, and many strange patterns and symbols could be seen on the ship’s keel, like decoration, but more than necessary for decoration.

“Goathead,” Duncan suddenly spoke up, not knowing what the goathead’s name was, he subconsciously said what he had called it right out of his head, “when we ‘crossed paths’ with that ship just now, the man who looked like the captain of the ship of the ship was yelling at me, what did he say?”

The goat head seemed to be unconcerned about the captain’s name for himself, it readily accepted and quickly replied, “The wind and waves were too strong, I didn’t hear it.”

“You didn’t hear it either?” Duncan frowned, “…… It always seemed like he had a sad look on his face at the time like he was ready to die with me, and what he was shouting should have been something pretty important as well.”

“Wanting to die with you belongs to the normal reaction of human beings, especially the normal reaction of sailors at sea, and is not worth making a fuss about, and their roar before overrating a tree is even less of a need for you to labor to pay attention to ……”

The goathead’s reply seemed extraordinarily matter of fact, Duncan, who was walking up the stairs to the deck, nearly wobbled on his feet as he quivered in shock, “Trying to die with me is a normal human reaction?” Just as he said this, he felt something was wrong, because it was as if it was exposing the loopholes in his identity as “Captain”, exposing his lack of understanding of his “own” situation, which might be due to the over-exertion of energy from the green fire just now, or the feeling of being one with the Lost Country, which had weakened his vigilance. It could be that the green fire had overdrawn his energy, or that the feeling of being one with the Lost Country had weakened his vigilance, either way, it made Duncan a little nervous for a moment – but it was as if the goat-head hadn’t noticed at all.

“It’s only natural that they fear you,” the goathead’s tone actually seemed to take a bit of pride in the situation, “Anyone who sails the infinite seas should fear you as much as they fear those gods of old and the shadows of subspace, and speaking of shadows, do you know of a brilliant engineer …… or perhaps an agriculturist or a gourmet once said ……”

Duncan sensibly didn’t take up the subject, as he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to round it up if it continued (more importantly, of course, because he really didn’t want to bother with the goat-head, whose raucousness rose geometrically as soon as the other man responded) and in the next moment he was distracted by something else on the deck.

“…… What the hell is this?” Duncan stood at the edge of the deck, staring in dismay at something in the doorway of the captain’s cabin.

It was a wooden box that was more than a man’s length, and it looked very well made, the unknown gloomy wood was put together tightly, and riveted and reinforced with a metal that seemed like gold, and the edges of its box could be seen inscribed with a complex pattern that looked like writing, or hieroglyphic symbols after deliberate distortion – the box was by no means something from the Lost Country! Duncan hadn’t seen it before when he left the captain’s cabin!

Goathead’s voice was silent for a moment before it then sounded, “…… don’t recognize it, but it’s supposed to be loot ……”

“Trophy?!” Duncan didn’t react for a moment, he walked around the box twice, “This thing looks like a coffin, but it’s much more exquisite than a normal coffin …… Wait, trophy, do you mean this thing was ‘gotten’ from the ship just now? ‘ over?”

“A successful hunt, Captain,” Goathead said in a rather serious tone, interspersed with what seemed to be complimentary tones, “Your every voyage is always fully loaded, it’s normal play.”

Duncan subconsciously opened his mouth, thinking that he didn’t intend to get anything off the other ship, so what kind of hunting and “returning fully loaded” is this?
But on second thought, he was afraid to say this is not in line with his own “captain” image, more importantly, that mechanical ship has now disappeared in the depths of the sea fog, associated with the white-bearded captain just now glaring at his eyes as if he wanted to go down together like the state, he thought that this thing should not be able to send it back, so he could only put all the words back into his stomach. He thought that there should be no way to send this thing back, so he could only press all the words back into his stomach.

He stood in front of the gorgeous wooden box that looked like a coffin, and noticed that the lid of this thing seemed to have loosened, and it looked like it could be opened with one hand.

After hesitating for a while, he placed his hand on the lid of the wooden box – at least, he had to find out what he had just brought on board with his “Spirit World Brio Ship”.

His body was stronger than he had imagined, and the lid was not as heavy as he had imagined. With just a little bit of force, the dark and heavy-looking lid of the crate rose up a crack, and then he lifted it off completely.

Duncan looked inside the box, dumbfounded.

“A man?”

In the wooden box, there was a beautiful young woman lying quietly – long silver-white hair like mercury spread inside the box, her appearance was exquisite and flawless, but also vaguely with some kind of noble and transcendent temperament, she was dressed in a gorgeous purple and black court dress, with her hands folded in front of her body, as if she was falling into a long slumber.

Perfect as if a doll.

“No, this is really a doll!”

In his careful observation, Duncan suddenly noticed the other party’s inhuman joint structure.

(End of chapter)