Deep Sea Embers

Duncan felt that his thoughts were spreading in the ship, and his perceptions spread like a spider web. Every part of the ship seemed to have become his own body structure - smoother and clearer than the last time. This ship was sailing in a dream. The ghost ship on the edge was revealing all its secrets to him without reservation.

His spirit began to sink all the way, from the towering stern deck, to the cabin below the deck, to the mezzanine where gunpowder and shells were stored, to the warehouse where the anchor cable was stored, the water tank... from every wall to every pillar. , from every rope, to every lantern...

The entire ship gradually turned into a detailed "projection" and appeared in his mind.

Duncan compared the structure that came to mind with the one in his memory, hoping to find any discrepancies. Maybe it was a beam that was not in the structural design, or maybe it was a cabin that had never appeared in the real dimension. , perhaps it is a mezzanine that no one has ever discovered - that is the dislocation in the fusion of the consciousness of the Lost Home and the Goat Head.

This was originally just a thought that suddenly appeared in his mind. Duncan just realized that this ship was not Goat Head's own dream, and realized that the "memory" of the Lost Home may also play a role in it, so he wanted to find the latter. Evidence of existence, but as his perception continued to spread on the ship, the idea of ​​"giving it a try" became more and more firm, as if there was an invisible voice guiding and telling him——

There is really something hidden in the depths of this ship. The Lost Home really wants to tell him some secrets. In a place that cannot be seen from the real dimension, the Lost Home still "remembers" some things that happened in Asia. Things in space.

And this hidden memory points to one of the core secrets in this intricate dream——

The origin of the Goat's Head, and the connection between this dream ship and Silantis.

Is it your own intuition? Or is the Lost Home really whispering to itself?

A hazy thought appeared in Duncan's mind, but he did not dwell on this issue. He paid attention to his work and looked for possible clues.

This is not easy, because even if it is the ship he is most familiar with, Duncan dare not say that he can clearly remember the location of every item on the entire Lost Home. He hopes more that his "intuition" can find the location on this ship. It plays a role in the process and can help you find a certain violation.

But he didn't expect that this didn't require any intuitive assistance at all - the violation was more obvious and abrupt than he imagined.

Three decks below, he noticed a large..."perception gap."

Duncan frowned immediately. While holding the steering wheel in his hand tightly, he looked down at the place he "saw" in his perception: directly below him.

Bottom of the boat?

Duncan suddenly thought of something, and then he hesitated and let go of his hand on the steering wheel.

His connection with the "rudder" was broken.

But the perception transmitted to him by the entire ship has not been interrupted. He can still feel that the ship is connected with him - the ship is still sailing quickly in the boundless darkness and fog, and outside the ship's side In the dark space, those huge structures that look like plant roots and branches still exist, and they are constantly passing by.

Sirantes' "Streamer" is also there, and is still hovering around the bridge.

Looking at this scene, Duncan had a slight realization: It seemed that as long as the connection was established, the connection would not be broken until the end of this dream.

Because he used his reflection to dream, he is now a part of this dream - the various actions he takes here will no longer be regarded as "foreign invasion", nor will they be affected by the dream's own repair power. To be easily expelled or erased.

After confirming this, Duncan breathed a sigh of relief, and then quickly left the bridge, but before going deep into the cabin, he turned back on the stern deck and returned to the captain's cabin.

Near the door of the captain's cabin, he saw the simple lantern hanging quietly on the wall.

Going to the lower structure of the Lost Home required carrying a lantern - although he didn't know whether this code was still required to be followed on this "Dream Ship", he decided to proceed with caution.

Agatha's figure appeared in the nearby mirror. She looked at Duncan with some curiosity: "Captain, what do you want to do?"

"Go to the bilge," Duncan said quickly, while looking back in the direction of the navigation table - the goat head was still there quietly, seemingly unresponsive, "There's something under the boat."

Agatha was startled when she heard this, and her expression immediately became serious.

"Talking as we go," Duncan added immediately, "don't discuss it here."

With that said, he had already picked up the simple brass lantern, opened the door and walked out of the room.

He walked quickly across the mist-filled and empty deck. The "fire" had already ignited the lantern, causing the flame to emit a green light. The lingering mist receded slightly in the light, and then closed behind him. ——In the light and shadow outlined by the light, an additional shadow was also moving quickly beside him, almost overlapping with his shadow.

Agatha's voice came from the shadow: "The bilge you are talking about...is the area you usually don't let me get close to?"

"Yes," Duncan nodded. He opened the door to the lower cabin and quickly walked down the steps with a lantern in hand. "In the real dimension, the bilge of the Lost Home is connected to the subspace - there is A fragmented area, where every crack is a reflection of the subspace. It is dangerous for anyone to approach there without my company."

"...It's already very dangerous just listening to your description." Agatha's shadow seemed to tremble. Although her expression couldn't be seen, the shadow obviously became lighter, which seemed to indicate that she was a little nervous. "Look Your reaction, it seems that the situation in the bilge has changed on this 'dream ship'?"

"There is a structure there that I have never seen before," Duncan said quickly. He walked through the stairs below the deck, passed through the empty and dark warehouse, and went deeper layer by layer. "Not far in front of here, the broken The area is at the bottom of the last staircase..."

After passing through the dimly lit corridors and stairs with strange atmosphere and even reversed light and shadow at the fastest speed, the shadows of Duncan and Agatha suddenly stopped.

They came to the end of the last staircase, and the door connecting the broken area of ​​the bilge was standing quietly in Duncan's field of vision.

Agatha's shadow "creeped" along the stairs to Duncan, and then got up little by little along the wall. Judging from the silhouette, she seemed to be looking at the door in front of her cautiously and nervously.

"I can't feel anything on the other side of the door," she said in a low voice. "Even at such a close distance, I can't feel it... It's as if the other side of the door is a pure 'empty'."

Duncan glanced at Agatha, then looked down at the lantern in his hand.

The glow from the lantern softly illuminated the surroundings, but when it fell on the door in front, it seemed to be absorbed by something, leaving only half the brightness.

He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and pushed open the door.

In the real world, the space behind this door is the broken cabin at the bottom of the Lost Home - its structure floating in the warp.

But here, what caught Duncan's eyes at first was boundless darkness.

He almost thought he was going to slip and fall into this boundless darkness.

Duncan subconsciously felt that his nerves were a little tense. The contrast between this vast darkness and the scene in the cabin before was too strong, which caught him off guard, but soon he saw that there were other things in the darkness.

His eyes gradually adapted and he saw clearly the huge things emerging in the darkness:

First, there is an extremely huge continuous structure, as wide as a road floating in nothingness, with its two ends showing a slightly raised shape. Then what becomes clear are the many "branches" connected to both sides of this continuous structure. They were neatly arranged in the darkness, stretching all the way to the end of the field of vision, like...ribs.

Duncan was standing in the middle of this large, continuous structure. He saw that except for the "trunk" under his feet and the rib-like twigs around the trunk, there was no outer wall of the cabin visible here - not even There are no broken outer walls. Between the "ribs", there is complete darkness and nothingness, and strands of mist are surging in the darkness, lingering in this vast space.

Duncan knew what it was.

At the same time, Agatha's shadow also "creeped" out of the door and landed next to Duncan's shadow. She looked at the incredible scene in front of her in astonishment. After a moment, she suddenly realized: "Wait a minute. Wait, this thing is..."

"The keel of the Lost Home." Duncan nodded slightly and spoke in a deep voice.

"Keel... Yes, the Lost Home is a sailing ship built a century ago. Of course it has a keel..." Agatha hesitated, her tone was a little weird, "But it looks like..."

Duncan ignored Agatha, his attention almost entirely drawn to the amazing structure that curved and extended in the darkness.

This is the first time he has seen the keel of the Lost Home - because according to the shipbuilding regulations of this world, under normal circumstances a completed sail warship will not expose the keel in the visible area of ​​​​the cabin, and the Lost Home The "bottom compartment" where the keel could originally be seen has been broken and is floating in the subspace, making it impossible to distinguish the structure of the keel.

He had never thought about what the keel of this ship would look like.

Now he knows.

He reached the "road" floating in the darkness, walked along it, and stopped at the first "link."

The light from the lantern illuminated the huge bulge, the connecting structure, and further away, the next "link", and more "links".

This segmented "connection structure" certainly does not meet the construction requirements of a sailing ship's keel. For ordinary old-era sailing ships, the keel must be a complete piece of wood so that it can withstand the wind and waves at sea.

But Duncan believes that the keel with many "connecting structures" at the bottom of the Lost Home is definitely stronger than any keel in the world.

Because it is the spine of an ancient god.