Deep Sea Embers

The sudden sound of the black wooden sculpture made Duncan instantly stunned - he did not expect that on this strange and strange ship, which was like a mysterious illusion, the strange goat head in front of him would suddenly "come to life", and his eyes were subconsciously fixed on it. Seeing the slowly moving "wooden sculpture", he couldn't help but feel wary in his heart, and then he realized one thing:

The other party seems to be unable to "see" himself.

Because at this moment, he was only "peeping" into the depths of the huge vine with the help of the connection established by the spiritual flame. Only his own thoughts were transmitted here. He did not really map his power here, and naturally he did not condense it here. Out of body.

So the "goat head" on the table should have just sensed the breath - and now, it is starting to look for the location of the breath.

The unsettling black wood carving rotates slowly, and there are bursts of slight creaking sounds from the wooden base. In this dead silent ship, in this dead captain's cabin, the creaking sounds become more and more weird. The pair of obsidian pairs The carved black eyeball swept from the direction of Duncan's perspective several times. After a long time, it finally stopped and made a confused voice: "Who is there..."

Its voice was slow and low, like talking in a dream.

Duncan immediately noticed something was wrong from the other party's reaction - the "goat head" seemed to have sensed something, but it didn't recognize the aura of the "captain"? !

After a moment of solemnity and reflection, Duncan made a plan.

The connection established by the flame was instantly strengthened, and power was transmitted here through the flame. Duncan began to "tilt" his will towards this strange space filled with darkness and dense fog, and quickly condensed his own form here.

He wanted to figure out what was going on with the Homeless ship sailing in the fog and the strange "goat head" in front of him.

On the Homeless Ship sailing in darkness and dense fog, green flames appeared all over the deck. In the dimly lit captain's room, a spiritual fire suddenly appeared in mid-air and crackled. The sound expanded rapidly, and then a tall figure was quickly outlined.

Almost instantly, Duncan's connection with this strange dark space strengthened, but at the same moment, he felt that this space filled with thick fog and the "Homeless Ship" under his feet seemed to be stimulated by some kind of... , everything around him suddenly became illusory and blurred, and a belated sense of rejection surged from all directions. It seemed that the dark mist was resisting his flames, or... this strange place itself was rapidly disintegrating.

Duncan was unexpected by this sudden feeling of repulsion - this was the first time he felt such active repulsion when using spiritual fire to detect strange things!

He had used spiritual fire to explore many things in the past, including Alice's coffin, the brass clockwork key, and various otherworldly items seized from cultists, but those things had never shown such a reaction.

Could it be that this strange space and the huge "vine" that appeared in the city-state are still alive, and that there is a powerful "consciousness" behind it?

Astonishing speculations surged in his heart, but now was obviously not the time to get to the bottom of it. Duncan didn't know how long he could be "connected" with this place, so he could only try to maintain his stability while walking towards the goat next to the navigation table. head.

The black wooden sculpture seemed to wake up from a dream. It suddenly raised its head and its eyes fell on Duncan. In its eyes, the green flames and the tall figure suddenly appeared, like a bright light suddenly breaking in. A peaceful and dark dream, in which it was awakened from the dream, it looked at the uninvited guest in front of it in astonishment, and made a confused voice: "Who are you?"

"It seems you don't know me." Because he had noticed some clues just now, Duncan was not surprised at the moment. He just tried his best to maintain his connection with this place while quickly sensing the information about the "Lost Home" and the information in front of him. In this "goat-headed" case, "I'm Duncan Abnomar—what's your name?"

"Duncan...ah, I always feel a little familiar..." The goat-headed state did not seem to be completely awake. Its voice sounded like it was falling into sleep from time to time, and it did not directly answer Duncan's questions, "But I don't remember...why? Here... why are we here..."

Duncan frowned.

He has already felt that this dark space filled with fog is gradually showing signs of falling apart. A strong sense of rejection is trying to expel his flames from here, and the "goat head" in front of him seems to be in a state of half-dream and half-awake, unable to answer at all. his problem.

After thinking for a moment, he took another step forward and pointed to the chart next to the goat's head.

"Where did the Lost Home sail?"

After a second or two, the goat head slowly reacted. It slowly turned its neck, and its eyes fell on the "navigation" chart showing the forest scenery. It took a long time before it made an unclear sound. Voice: "...Oh, great, it turns out they are still here..."

"Them?" Duncan asked immediately, "They are..."

However, a sudden violent shaking and a low whistling sound that seemed to suddenly roll through the entire space interrupted the second half of his sentence.

The rejection of him here has reached its peak. Every inch of time and space seems to be resisting the spread of the spiritual fire. There is a slight crackling sound in the air, and the flames seem to be burning the invisible barrier. The various perceptions transmitted by the flame suddenly seemed blurry and slow.

Duncan lowered his head and saw that his condensed projection incarnation was becoming increasingly blurry, and his connection with this place seemed to be cut off.

He knew that he could forcibly gather more powerful power and use spiritual fire to forcibly maintain this connection - but after realizing that the huge vine was most likely "alive" and even conscious, he didn't know that he Should this be done?

At this moment, the goat head on the navigation table seemed to finally notice something strange about Duncan.

Its eyes fell on the flickering firelight, and after a moment's delay, it mumbled vaguely: "Ah, you scared her..."

Duncan was stunned when he heard this, and immediately raised his head: "Who are you scaring?"

"Silantes..." The goat head seemed to be falling into that sleepy state again, its voice became slower and slower, "Silantes doesn't know you, your presence... scared her."

Silantis...the "World Tree" in the ancient elven legends? !

Corresponding information and a lot of conjectures instantly appeared in Duncan's mind. However, just when he wanted to ask more questions, he was interrupted by a trance in which his perception was quickly peeled off and the whole world was quickly moving away. Then, everything in front of him quickly turned into darkness. The captain's cabin, navigation table, and charts all disappeared in the darkness. Only the goat's head's ethereal voice, like talking to himself, came faintly in the darkness:

"Ah, it's time—she's going to wake up."

The next second, the feeling of being grounded again suddenly woke Duncan up. He took a breath subconsciously, and then opened his eyes.

Alice's face was only ten centimeters away from him.

Duncan was startled by this silly doll and quickly stepped back. Alice suddenly showed a bright smile and followed closely while shouting: "Captain! Captain! It's almost dawn! Everything seems to be back to normal outside. La!"

Duncan was about to say something to Alice, but he couldn't help but was stunned when he heard the other party's words. Then, he noticed the changes around him.

The dense forests that filled the entire block have disappeared. The huge flora that once blended in with the surrounding high-rise buildings has now disappeared without a trace. The street facilities that once twisted and mutated and became part of the forest have really returned to their original appearance.

On both sides of the road, the soft light emitted by the gas street lamps is illuminating the surroundings. Over the block, the "sunshine" diffused from the distant coast passes over the city like a curtain. In the gaps of the sunlight, the outline of the world's creation has gradually appeared dim. At the end of the sky, a little morning glow before Vision 001 rose seemed to be spreading among the clouds.

Duncan blinked and subconsciously looked towards the ramp deep in the block.

He still remembered that a huge vine once spread from the slope, and his flames penetrated deep into the vine.

There is nothing there.

Just like the state of the entire neighborhood - everything is back to normal.

As the morning sun gradually rises, as the night ends and day falls, the large-scale strange phenomenon... is like a waking dream, dissipating in the morning light.

Duncan felt as if he was standing on the border of a bizarre dream. The misaligned reality and the remaining memories in his mind made everything in front of him appear unreal.

But this trance only lasted for a moment. He soon woke up and looked back in the direction of Crown Street for the first time.

His perception spread over there, and those familiar "imprints" appeared in his "vision".

Nina, Shirley, Maurice...

Their breath returned to the real world.

The puppet's head in Alice's arms suddenly moved, and the maid puppet's mouth opened and closed, making Lucretia's voice: "Dad, we seem to..."

"I know you are all back and the neighborhood has returned to normal."

Duncan said quickly, and in the corner of his eye, he could already see sparse figures appearing on the street - they were local residents who went out for activities after dawn.

They are sweeping the streets, chatting in front of the door, rushing to work, talking about yesterday's news and today's weather.

No one seems to know what happened last night - even just a few hours ago, all the people moving in the neighborhood literally disappeared into the night.

Now, they are back too.

The gradually reviving and lively street scene in front of us seems to be gradually taking on an indescribable sense of weirdness.