Deep Sea Embers

Duncan, who left the captain's cabin, didn't go anywhere else. Instead, he turned around and grabbed the handle of the "Door of the Homeless" again, and then pushed it inward——

Zhou Ming returned to his bedroom.

Looking around, the familiar scenery came into view, everything in the room was exactly the same as when he left last time, and it seemed that he hadn't returned here for a long time.

Slowly crossing the entrance, stepping on the mottled and worn floor, Zhou Ming first came to the closed window as usual. He checked the traces on the window sill and confirmed the state of the window lock—even though he knew it in his heart. It was meaningless to do it, but he still completed all the inspections carefully, and solemnly picked up the diary hanging by the window, and wrote today's inspection results in the blank part of the book:

The doors and windows remained unchanged, and the room was never opened during his absence.

After leaving this new record, he exhaled lightly, and then slowly came to the desk.

On the desk, some small green sparks are crackling and jumping, and the gradually spreading flame is outlining the outline of an object little by little, and the whole outlining process is nearing completion.

It was a ship, a modern-looking steam-powered mechanical ship with a beautiful white hull and tall funnels.

Zhou Ming watched this scene calmly, with no surprise on his face.

A "model" of the White Oak appeared in this room, but...why? Why is it suddenly here? What has changed on this ship?

Zhou Ming raised his head and looked at the shelf not far away. On the shelf, the "models" of the Lost Homelander and Plante were still lying quietly between the grids.

The "items" completely burned by the fire of the spirit body and completely controlled by oneself will appear on the desk of this single apartment in the form of an accurate model. And the White Oak...

Zhou Ming recalled his first encounter with that ship.

The White Oak was indeed burned once by his own spirit fire, and even the entire ship was "swallowed" by the Lost Country, but maybe at that time he was not proficient in controlling the fire of the spirit body, After the "burning" at that time, the White Oak did not become a "collection" on his desk, but only left a mark, and this state has continued until now.

Zhou Ming sat down in front of the desk, quietly watching the green sparks jumping on the table and completely outlining the last outline of the White Oak, with a thoughtful expression.

He can be sure that he has not paid attention to the movement of the White Oak during this period of time, nor has he actively "triggered" the flame mark on that ship, so this change is not caused by himself - it is the White Oak, Obviously something happened to that ship, which caused the imprint on the ship to be activated, and even directly "activated" until the entire ship became one of the "collections" here.

Zhou Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, trying again to locate the White Oak and perceive its current state.

After a while, he opened his eyes with a serious look on his face.

Even in this dormitory, he still couldn't confirm exactly where the White Oak was, and his vague perception was only roughly pointing in the direction of the Frost City-state in the world opposite the door, but when trying to confirm the status of the White Oak, , he got a somewhat weird feedback.

He actually felt that the whole ship was wrapped in sea water.

On the desk, the jumping of the green sparks stopped, and the precise model of the White Oak lay quietly in front of Zhou Ming, every detail was lifelike.

After a little hesitation, Zhou Ming held out the model of the White Oak and put it in front of his eyes for careful observation.

But he didn't see any inconsistencies.

After fiddling with it for a while, Zhou Ming shook his head and realized that he couldn't confirm the status of the ship here—he had to go to Frost to confirm the situation.

He got up from the desk, holding the white oak horn in his hand, and was about to put this new "collection" on the shelf first, but just walked a few steps, he suddenly stopped beside a mirror.

He looked at the mirror, in the mirror, what he was holding in his hands was not the White Oak, but a strange ship, shrouded in thick black fog and large shadows!

The outline of that ship was vaguely similar to that of the White Oak, as if it was a ship of the same origin, but the overall appearance was an unreal texture like a phantom, and there were traces of damage and destruction everywhere on the ship. As if sleeping on the bottom of the sea for many years——Zhou Ming stared at the ship in the mirror, then lowered his head after a while, and saw that his hand was indeed just a model of the White Oak.

After a short moment of astonishment and thought, Zhou Ming suddenly put the model of the White Oak aside. He walked quickly to the shelf, brought the models of the Lost Country and the City-State of the Pratt, and tested them one by one in front of the mirror. .

None of them changed much in the mirror.

Only the White Oak showed a strange "another look" in the mirror.

Zhou Ming once again brought the model of the White Oak to the mirror, and thoughtfully looked at the black shadow of the ship in the mirror.

It looked like a "reflection" of the White Oak in another dimension.

While thinking, he slowly reached out to the phantom in the mirror.

He only touched the cold and hard mirror surface.

...

Driving the boat alone, Lawrence watched as the towering hull of the Black Oak gradually enlarged in his field of vision, and the dense fog that seemed to be filled with shadows gradually enveloped his surroundings. A lantern hanging on the bow of the boat was struggling to Dispelling the surrounding darkness, but can only outline a hazy route for him.

He turned his head and saw that the White Oak had turned into a blurry phantom in the mist——the two ships were so close when he stood on the bridge of the White Oak and looked at it, but at this moment I feel that there seems to be a gap between the two. The gap is not a barrier of physical distance, but some kind of... a barrier between reality and reality.

And now he is gradually crossing this barrier.

His mood calmed down, the surroundings became more and more strange, and the environment became darker, but his mood became more and more calm, as if all the roads were clear, and fate had shown him all the choices—he was going to the Black Oak On board, no matter what is waiting for you there.

But he was the only one who seemed to calm down—there was another passenger in the boat who didn't seem so calm.

"Just let me go back! Put a rope on me, and you can hang me on the mast!" Anomaly 077 yelled, this ugly mummy has been chattering since just now, "As long as I can go back to sleep , I will listen to you...even if you let me convert to the Goddess of Storms...the God of Death is also fine! I don't want to keep my eyes open anymore!"

Lawrence finally turned his head and responded to the mummy for the first time since departure: "Can you still convert to God?"

The mummy was stunned for a moment, then nodded immediately: "As long as you let me go back to sleep, I can convert to any god in my sleep!"

Lawrence thought for a while, and thought of a popular joke among sailors, with a smile on his face: "Then you try to convert to the God of Wisdom?"

Anomaly 077 froze for a moment, then moved slightly after an unknown period of time, and squeezed out a few words from his withered throat: "I can try plane geometry first..."

"Even the God of Wisdom dares to try. It seems that you are really in a hurry." Lawrence shook his head, and couldn't help being curious, "But why are you so afraid? I read the information that you are out of control." The kind of abnormality you tend to, but now you are desperately trying to go back to sleep?"

Anomaly 077 didn't answer, just curled up in a corner on the boat, staring nervously at the green flame that was quietly burning on Lawrence's body.

Lawrence looked down at his still unrestored body, and raised his head: "Because of the flame? Or because of the symbolic power behind the flame?"

Abnormality 077 muffled: "Don't you understand this very well?"

"I didn't expect that even an 'anomaly' like you would know the prestige of the Lost Homeland," Lawrence said with some emotion, "I saw a description of you in the data, saying that you have a mind after losing control, and you can talk to people. But I didn't expect your mind to reach this level... If you are not a mummy, I almost think you are a human being."

Anomaly 077 lowered his head, as if he had resigned himself to his fate, but never spoke again.

Lawrence didn't care about the "sailor's" reaction. He now had countless mysteries to think about. A strange out-of-control anomaly that deviated from the data records was insignificant compared to those mysteries.

So many unknowns, so many secrets.

How many years have you felt this way?

It seems that after saying goodbye to the Black Oak, the adventurer Lawrence has disappeared into this world, and the unknown and the distant place have become words in his memory until now——

The moment he saw the Black Oak again, the adventurer Lawrence once again woke up from the heart of an old captain.

He raised his head and saw that the towering hull of the Black Oak was less than a few meters away from the boat. He steered the boat to approach slowly. At the familiar place in his memory, he stopped, picked up the oars and beat the hull.

A rope ladder was thrown from above and landed on the prow of the boat.

Lawrence turned his head and looked at Anomaly 077 who was huddled in the corner.

"Aboard, sailor."

Anomaly 077 stood up reluctantly, lowered his head: "Yes, Captain."