Deep Sea Embers

The Lost Home was big, remarkably big--for a sail-powered ship, its size seemed to Duncan almost more than necessary.

Such a large scale means larger warehouses, more artillery, stronger structures, and a more stable posture in the face of wind and waves-all of which mean that it is sufficient to face the most difficult long-distance voyage challenges.

But at present Duncan has no plans for the so-called long voyage. This surprisingly large ghost ship brings him only a sense of loneliness, so if there is an extra "crew" who can talk on the ship, it is by no means a bad thing.

Anyway, there are some unused "guest rooms" on this big ship.

The sound of footsteps broke the silence in the corridor. Duncan took the gothic doll down the wooden stairs and came to the cabin on the lower deck of the aft deck. This place is located directly below the captain's cabin. Judging from the structure, it should be considered a big ship. Compared with the dark, gloomy and eerie areas on the lower floors, the "high-end residential area" here is more or less bright and tidy.

Duncan stopped in front of a crew cabin, and then casually pushed open the half-hidden wooden door.

Inside was a poorly furnished single room.

There are several single cabins like this on the ship, but they have been unused for a long time, and there is no sign of anyone ever using them.

After initially exploring the upper floors of the Lost Home, Duncan noticed the existence of these empty rooms, but he didn't think much about it at the time, but now he has personally taken charge of the ghost ship, knowing the secret that the ship can sail alone, A doubt arises spontaneously.

Since this ship doesn't need a crew at all... Who are these crew cabins on the ship for?

The single rooms in the upper cabin are obviously reserved for upper-level seafarers such as the chief mate, second mate, and bosun, and there are bunk cabins for general crew in the lower area. In addition, there is also a dining room for multiple people on the ship. Unlike the chess and card room——different from those sails and cables that do not need to be controlled manually, the existence of these facilities is prepared for "people".

But the ship doesn't need a crew at all.

Duncan frowned slightly. He had already realized that this ghost ship that was sailing alone at sea now...should have had a crew at some point in its history.

At least from the beginning of the ship's construction, it was designed with reasonable crew facilities for the use of seafarers.

So what happened to make the ship what it is today? Where did the original crew members on this ship go? Is the real "Captain Duncan" the owner of this ship from beginning to end? What does that weird goat head know?

"Captain?" A suspicious voice suddenly came from behind.

Duncan's thinking was interrupted instantly, and he was shocked at the same time. Then he realized that it was the voice made by the puppet lady—he even forgot the existence of Alice for a moment.

In the past few days, Duncan had gotten used to the fact that he was the only living person on this ship, and he was used to the noisy goat's head voice, but suddenly there was Alice, and he was not used to it.

"My name is Duncan, you can call me Captain Duncan—of course, it is your freedom to call me Captain directly," Duncan quickly straightened his expression, and then turned to look at the lady doll following behind him, "This After the empty room is yours, go in and have a look."

"Ah, yes!" Alice nodded, first glanced over Duncan's shoulder to see the situation in the room, then turned around and grabbed the wooden box that was always floating behind her, and put it He carried it on his shoulder and walked into the room carefully.

Seeing Alice's "coffin" that was always inseparable, Duncan couldn't help the urge to tremble at the corners of his mouth. He watched the lady doll carefully place the "coffin" next to the bed, and then inspected the inside of the coffin very carefully. It was covered with velvet lining, and then I began to look around the furnishings in the room, and finally couldn't help but say: "You have to carry this box with you all the time, don't you?"

"Yeah," said Alice logically, "where else should I put it?"

"This box used to be your seal. I thought you would care about it." Duncan frowned. "It seems that you can't do without it."

"It's those people who sealed me, and it's not the fault of the box." Alice sat on the box and patted the lid of the wooden box while talking, "Would you like to come in and sit down together?"

Duncan shook his head: "No, how do you feel about this room?"

"Ah, very good." Alice looked very happy. She looked around the simple furnishings in the room, but it seemed that she was in a gorgeous palace. "Is that a wardrobe? I don't have any replacement clothes, should I use it?" up...but it would be nice to have a cabinet. oh, and a table to put things on in the future, but i don't seem to have anything to put on it either...maybe use it for my hair? it would be handy for combing my hair ..."

"Just as long as you're satisfied," watching a gothic doll sitting on a coffin and planning his life is a very strange sight, especially there are some suspicious contents in the plan, but Duncan's face slowly reveals a trace of Smiling, he took half a step back, his expression returning to normal, "You can rest here for a while to get used to the environment here.

"Except for the stairs leading to the lower floor, you can move freely on this floor and the deck floor. The structure here is not complicated, and you should be able to grasp the location of all the rooms quickly.

"I'm in the captain's cabin, you can find me over there if you have anything to do—if I'm not there, there is a talking goat's head on the nautical table, he is my first mate."

Alice was still listening and nodding, but her eyes widened when she heard the last two sentences: "Goat's head?! That dark wood carving?!"

"Looks like you've noticed it."

"I noticed it...but you said it can talk?! And it's your first mate?" Alice looked surprised, "I thought it was just...it's incredible!"

"...you are a doll that can talk and walk," Duncan looked at Alice blankly, "do you still think a talking goat's head is inconceivable?"

Alice froze for a moment, looked down at her hands, and muttered as if she had just realized it: "Ah...it seems to be the same?"

Duncan shook his head, turned and left: "That's it, you can rest here, and find me if you need anything."

Alice's voice came from behind him: "Yes, Captain."

After leaving, Duncan didn't go anywhere else, but went straight back to his captain's cabin. He sat down at the large nautical table, and the carved wooden goat's head on the table immediately moved, creaking and shaking his head. Turning to Duncan:

"Ah! the captain is back! It looks like you've settled the lady—you see, as I say, a mild and harmless lady who will do no harm to your voyage, I can also chat with you to amuse yourself. I see that you have decided to keep her on board. Do you plan to arrange something for her to do? The Lost Land does not need people very much. The deck will clean the deck, the guns will scrub the guns, and the water tanks will Maintaining the water tank... Maybe she can manage the galley? You seem to have been dissatisfied with the food on board... Ah, speaking of food, it seems that we need to replenish some ingredients first. The bacon and hard cheese in the warehouse may be a bit Stale, and though a rough sailor cannot fault the food at sea, the great Captain Duncan must..."

Duncan felt that his brain was about to boil, and he was convinced of one thing again at this moment: with this noisy goat head, he really needs a "normal conversation partner" like Alice!

"Shut up," he gave the goat head a hard look, and continued after the latter shut up, "You were very honest when Alice was around just now, I thought you had finally learned to keep quiet."

"The captain can't interrupt when interviewing new crew members. This is the rule at sea, even if I am your loyal first mate, second mate, bosun and..."

Duncan didn't wait for the goat's head to finish speaking (in fact, if he didn't interrupt, the goat's head wouldn't be able to finish at all): "Pay attention to the movement of that puppet these days."

"Ah... ah? Are you going to stare at that lady? Are you worried about her? Oh, yes, the necessary caution is the captain's..."

"She has a lot of secrets, and she didn't tell them all. Maybe it's because she really doesn't know it, or maybe... she's deliberately concealing it for some purpose. Anyway, she's a 'cursed doll' after all, And it has the title of 'Anomaly 099'," Duncan said lightly, "The people on that ship used a lot of seals to prevent Alice from leaving the wooden box, but now the sealed doll is swaggering on my ship. Event, I need to spend a little time to confirm that Alice is really a harmless puppet...even if it's just harmless on the Lost Homelander."

(Mom!)