Deep Sea Embers

The captain's words were like the cold night wind, passing through the darker and darker stairs, Alice folded her arms subconsciously, and followed Duncan even closer, and as she went down, she finally saw what the captain said " What does the light is black" mean.

There were indeed lights in the lower cabin—at least in terms of structure and layout, the cabin she saw also had the same support columns as the one above, and on the support columns were hung oil lamps that would not go out, and those oil lamps were burning, but Instead, the burning flame made the area near the oil lamp appear darker than that in the distance.

Yes, the closer to the oil lamp, the dimmer the light, the oil lamp itself is almost shrouded in a shadow, and only a few outlines can be seen vaguely, while the farther away from the oil lamp, the light gradually increases—— In the corner of the cabin, the brightness is even close to that of the upper cabin.

From the stairs, it felt very dark down here, precisely because there are two lights hanging on both sides of the stairs below—from the visual effect, it seems that these lights are actively releasing darkness, neutralizing and annihilating the cabin Nakamoto is as bright as it is.

Alice stared at the overall dark cabin, and it took a long time before she muttered: "This...is this reasonable, this..."

"You are an unreasonable puppet telling me to talk about rationality here?" Duncan glanced at Alice who was visibly nervous, "Under the sea level of the boundless sea, the rationality of things is the most unreasonable place."

When he said this, his expression was quite indifferent, as if this evil situation was something he was used to, but in fact, his reaction in his heart was exactly the same as Alice's - even the undead pigeon on his shoulder suddenly flapped its wings Said the voice of the heart: "Is it like a word? Is it like a word..."

Duncan ignored the noise of the pigeons on his shoulders, but carefully observed the cabin he had never set foot in before, and at the same time adjusted the angle of the lantern in his hand, trying to understand the environment here through the changes of light and shadow.

Below the waterline on the Lost Home... the lights in the cabin are "inverted".

The lamps seem not to emit light, but to absorb the original light in the space, as if... some kind of "world mirror image".

However, the light from the spirit body released by the lantern in Duncan's hand follows the normal lighting law: the surrounding area of ​​the lantern is very bright, and the farther away it gets darker.

Is there any rationale behind this? Is this just the influence of the Boundless Sea, or is it mixed with the characteristics of the Lost Homeland itself? Is the "bright environment" in the cabin itself real? If those "light-absorbing" oil lamps were extinguished, would this be a bright place?

For a moment, this bold idea really popped up in Duncan's mind, he was really thinking about what would happen when the oil lamp on this floor was turned off, but in the next moment, he forcibly grabbed the obvious Bad thoughts.

He couldn't turn off the lights here—even if it seemed that these lights were causing the entire cabin to go dark, there must be a reason for them to be lit here!

It suddenly occurred to him that in the Puland city-state, the information he had received was that "burning flames can disperse strange dangers" - in this statement, it was the "flame" itself that had the effect, not the light emitted by the flames , does this mean that under certain circumstances, the light and darkness in this world will appear "reversed", and under this reversed condition, the only thing worthy of belief is the "flame" itself?

Does this also indirectly explain why the light emitted by the "electric lamp" has no exorcism effect-because it is just light, which lacks the element of "flame".

"Captain?" Alice's voice suddenly came from the side, and Miss Doll's voice was nervous and concerned, "Is there anything unusual here?"

"Nothing unusual." Duncan replied calmly with his expression unchanged, while walking forward slowly.

The "light-absorbing" oil lamps were burning quietly on the support posts on both sides, and there were some scattered ropes piled up around the posts. When Duncan walked among them, the oil lamps hanging on the posts cracked slightly. With a sound, the rope on the ground slowly wriggled and retreated, making way for the captain.

For some reason, a sentence suddenly appeared in Duncan's mind:

Light and shadow are illusions brought about by the deep sea. Under the sea level that is no longer credible, only the flame itself is still loyally guarding the wealth of the Lost Home.

He looked at the quietly burning lights and nodded slightly, as if to express his approval and gratitude.

So in the next second, all the oil lamps in the entire cabin became vigorous with a degree visible to the naked eye, and flames shot up under the glass lampshades one by one.

The whole cabin is getting darker...

Duncan: "..."

He suddenly regretted boasting too early, and he should have waited until he was ready to return to these oil lamps.

Alice followed. The puppet carefully observed the surrounding situation. She saw large wooden barrels and some crates piled up in the corner of the cabin, as well as some closed rooms and corridors leading to nowhere. She whispered He muttered: "This seems to be a warehouse too... Could this have been a cargo ship?"

"If it's a cargo ship, the cargo won't be placed in such a deep place - there is a concept called handling costs," Duncan shook his head, and said casually, "These are ocean-going supplies for the Lost Home itself during its long-term voyage. Consumed."

Alice blinked: "Ocean-sea supplies?"

Duncan didn't say a word, but stepped forward to check some of the goods closest to him.

Some of the wooden barrels are filled with some kind of fat, dark brown and viscous in texture, but not too strong. It may be some kind of fuel, but it has obviously been piled up here for a long time—Duncan even suspects that these fuels were changed in the Lost Homeland. The "inventory" before becoming a ghost ship, they may have been used for lighting and exorcism, but after this ship became a ghost ship, many things in the cargo hold were useless like this.

In another part of the barrel, Duncan saw something familiar.

Cheese that is older than him, bacon that can crack mountains.

Duncan silently resealed the lid.

On this floor, material reserves are piled up in most places. Although a considerable part of them seems to be useless on today's ghost ships, it is enough to prove his previous judgment on the Lost Homeland:

This ship, at least initially built for some kind of ocean-going expedition, is capable of carrying a large amount of supplies, and there are tight security measures between the various supply holds to prevent the spread of fire or the loss of insects and rats. supplies.

Reminiscent of the large number of artillery and large ammunition depots on the upper deck of this ship, he can almost guess what kind of ambitious exploration dream this ship once carried at the beginning—that is the most distant route and the most dangerous. The voyage of the voyage has to face the most dangerous environment and the most dangerous enemies, and such a voyage of exploration requires a whole ship of loyal and excellent sailors and a steadfast captain to complete.

But now, this exploration plan that may have existed has disappeared with the wind, and the ambitious Lost Homeland has become the most terrifying natural disaster on the vast sea, and the sailors have disappeared. Only a ghost captain, still in control This ghost ship that lost its target.

He and Alice continued to walk forward and entered a corridor after crossing several independent warehouses. If the structure of this floor corresponds to the upper floor, then the stairs leading to the lower floor should be in the depths of the corridor.

"I feel... more and more gloomy..." Miss Doll crossed her arms, looked around cautiously and whispered, "Did you hear the wind? Why is there wind in the cabin?"

"I heard it, don't be nervous, it's normal," Duncan said casually, and then glanced at the doll again, "Why are you so timid? At least you have the name Abnormal 099, don't you?"

As he spoke, he also thought of the information he had received from Nina before—in this world, there are many lists of "abnormalities" and "anomalies" that are open to the public, and these lists help people avoid Dangers that may be encountered in daily life or timely identification of signs of certain anomalies out of control, but this list is not complete, and only the part of anomalies and anomalies that are "closer to the general public due to controlled threats or special nature" are open to the public However, the anomalies and visions that ordinary people have no chance to encounter in their lives are obviously not among them.

He tried to find out about abnormality 099 from Nina, but the girl never saw this number in the textbook.

This shows that Alice, the "cursed doll", either has a special secret that has been blocked by the authorities and the church, or...she is so dangerous that she has always been strictly isolated from civilized society. Therefore, there will be no interaction with ordinary people at all.

No matter what the reason is, it is enough to make this lady doll look a little more mysterious in Duncan's eyes.

But this mysterious puppet just shrank its neck after hearing Duncan's words, with a nervous expression on its face: "It doesn't mean that you can grow up if you have a number and courage. I am abnormal 099, and I am not courageous 099..."

Duncan sighed, thinking that the thing in front of him might not be the most embarrassing anomaly in the world, and it's thanks to the sailors who escorted her before that they were so nervous...