Deep Sea Embers

The Brilliant Star slowly adjusted an angle next to the coast, and the paddle wheel devices on both sides of the ship made a low moan. It began to accelerate gradually, and slowly drove into the boundless mist, getting faster and faster. , getting further and further away, and finally completely disappeared from Duncan's gaze.

Duncan stood on the bow of the Lost Home for a long time, staring in the direction where the silhouette disappeared deep in the thick fog. Until he could no longer see it, he still looked in that direction for a long time. Then he looked back and saw the A gothic doll wearing a gorgeous dark purple dress was standing next to her.

The puppet was also looking into the distance, and almost at the same time he withdrew his gaze from the distance.

The chubby white pigeon landed on Alice's shoulder, tilting its head and looking intently at its master with a pair of mung bean eyes. The ship was now quiet, and there were no more beatings from Shirley and Nina. There is no more noise, no more Maurice who always looks at the sea or bows his head in meditation, no more Vanna who always sits on the barrel carving talismans, and no more Agatha who always disappears in strange places - one by one. On such a wide and empty deck, only the captain and the puppet stood together.

And the abstract and greedy fat pigeon.

"They're all gone," Alice whispered after a long time.

Duncan couldn't tell at the first moment whether this was an emotion expressed by Miss Doll or a statement of fact that he had just reacted to.

When everyone left, she was the only one who stayed without thinking about anything. With a natural and logical attitude, Duncan never gave her any instructions, and she didn't ask anything, as if from the beginning She knew that she had to stay, and even took "staying on the Lost Home" as a matter of course - this made Duncan a little curious.

"When everyone else left, you didn't ask me if you could stay." He looked into Miss Doll's eyes, "Have you never thought about this at all?"

She answered so simply, and apart from this answer, there seemed to be no other reason in her mind - or in other words, she didn't think this matter needed any reason.

Duncan looked at her firmly and suddenly laughed. Then he shook his head and pointed around: "Look, it seems to be the same as it was at the beginning."

Alice looked around curiously and quickly reacted: "Yes, you and I are the only ones left on this ship again, as well as the pigeons and the first mate."

Ai Yi, who was standing on the doll's shoulders, tilted her head and suddenly flapped her wings vigorously while making a noisy and sharp female voice: "Initializing settings, initializing settings!"

Duncan took a deep look at the pigeon that represented one of the fragments of his hometown, and whispered thoughtfully: "Yes, the settings are being initialized. It's time to perform the next step."

As he spoke, he turned around and waved to Alice without looking back: "Let's go, Alice. It's time to fulfill the agreement with Gemona."

"Aye! Good captain!" "Aye, aye, captain!"

The mist floats slowly around, like a thin but endless layer of curtains, gradually closing on the scale of the entire world. The hazy shadow in the direction of the ship's stern changes from clear to blurry, and finally gradually and completely disappears into the depths of the endless mist. The Brilliant Star is about to reach the boundary of this "archipelago sea area". From this position, the Lost Homeship that was left next to the "Temple Island" can no longer be seen at all.

Lucretia and others stood on the highest deck of the Brilliant Star. No one was willing to look away until no familiar outline could be seen in the fog.

"At the beginning, I thought I would be 'cursed and trapped on that ship for the rest of my life,'" Shirley muttered softly. "At that time, I was scared to death."

Next to a guardrail not far away, a clothesline was tied between the guardrail and the flagpole. The wet little doll Nelu was hanging on the clothesline, and the rope passed between her two sleeves. , letting her sway on the rope. This little guy with an incomplete mind seemed to be able to feel the change in the atmosphere. She looked at the silent others with some uneasiness, and then looked at her mistress with a hint of worry.

He whispered: "The hostess is unhappy?"

Lucretia looked back at the little puppet swinging on the rope, with a gentle smile on her face: "No, just thinking."

"Think!" Nilu said immediately, but she didn't know whether she was asking or habitually repeating the last two syllables of others' words.

Lucretia didn't care about this, and just said to herself: "Yes, think, think about what to do next, you will also think like this in the future, and your mind will grow. Like your sister - you all have my carefully crafted heart."

Nilu was dazed on the rope for a moment, then suddenly started shaking happily: "My heart!"

At this moment, the sailor broke the silence: "We are close to the boundary of the physical sea area - Ms. Lucretia. If we go further, we will fall into the chaotic time flow. It is time to enter the next stage of the voyage."

Lucretia nodded slightly and looked to the side.

In the slowly flowing mist, a hazy female figure was standing there and nodded to Lucretia.

"Then it's up to you and the sailors, Lady Agatha."

‘You’re welcome, it’s all the captain’s orders. "Agatha's slightly ethereal voice came from the air, and then her phantom gradually dissipated in the mist.

Then, a strange and low roar suddenly sounded from the depths of the Brilliant Star and from under everyone's feet - it was as if some huge beast was awakening deep in the bilge and rising from the sea, roaring and vibrating. Gradually covering the entire ship, the "reflection of the Lost Home" that was taken away by Agatha also appeared in this physical dimension!

The huge phantom arrived. It reversed itself from the kingdom of shadows, quickly rose from the surrounding mirror-like calm sea, and quickly merged with the Brilliant Star with its unstoppable momentum.

Shirley's eyes widened as she watched the surrounding decks begin to burn. The false green flames swallowed up all parts of the ship inch by inch. The tall chimneys turned into dark masts, and the steam and smoke floating in the air turned into The sails of the spirit body were made, and the wooden deck extended in her field of vision. At the end of the deck stood the towering bridge and the dark steering wheel. For a moment, she even felt that she was back on the Lost Home again.

But this illusion only lasted for a moment. A phantom was a phantom after all. At a very close distance, she quickly distinguished many details that should be on the Brilliant Star from the shadow.

But this level of "projection fusion" is enough for Anomaly 077 to perform his duties as the helmsman of the "Lost Home".

The crumpled man solemnly arranged his sailor uniform, nodded to Lucretia, and then walked towards the towering stern bridge not far away in the phantom flames. He walked along Walking up the projected steps to the high platform, holding the dark steering wheel - the hollow whistling and echoing seemed to come from the depths of this phantom, and finally turned into cheers for returning home.

"Go back!" The sailor turned the steering wheel in his hand hard and shouted in his signature broken gong voice, "Let's go home!"

There seemed to be a faint whistling sound coming from the distant edge of the sea. Duncan, who was walking among the ruins of the "Pilgrimage Road", stopped and said,

He looked back at the direction where the hallucination came from.

Alice, who was walking next to him, also stopped and cast a curious look: "What's the matter?"

Duncan turned back and whispered: "They returned and everything went well."

"Really? That's great," Alice laughed happily, "I don't know what's going on with Plande." Plande is fine now. "

Duncan said slowly, sensing the distant and vague "signal" that came across time and space.

He could still sense the situation of Purender, the "incarnation" that stayed in the antique shop, and was still executing the instructions he had conveyed in the past, but he could already clearly feel that this connection was becoming more and more intense. Unstable.

This is not affected by the environment, nor does it have anything to do with the "distant distance" of the "end of the world". It is inevitable as time goes by, as "Zhou Ming" continues to grow and awaken as part of the "inverse singularity" changes that have occurred.

The fragile shelter cannot bear the direct observation of the "inverse singularity". A gaze beyond the boundless sea will annihilate the boundless sea even if it only lasts 0002 seconds.

This is why he must let Nina, Morris and others return to the Infinite Sea to act as his "eyes clear"

"——

Because he himself will soon lose his ability to observe the boundless sea.

After a moment of perception, Duncan began to carefully control the contact between himself and those distant incarnations. He felt the degree of "awakening" in his own essence, which once again weakened the activity of the incarnation - now, he had closed the incarnation's The sense of taste and taste cover the perception of cold, warmth and pain, as well as all those fragile and complex "human" feelings.

These feelings were once very important to him. Those feelings of cold and warmth, sensitivity to pain, and precious sleepiness and sleep have long helped him maintain his cognitive baseline as a "human being." But now, he has no choice but to Don't close them one by one, so as to accommodate the eight major elements, so as to extend the time limit for observing the boundless sea.

He wanted to hold on at least until Nina got home safely. "Captain?"

A worried voice came from the side. Duncan turned his head and saw the puppet looking worriedly, grabbing his sleeve and shaking it carefully.

"Are you okay?" Alice said worriedly, "You don't look very good."

The expression on Duncan's face slowly softened.

Even without relying on the "information" conveyed by those incarnations, he is able to maintain the human part of him.

"It doesn't matter," he whispered, "Let's go, they have already set off, and we still have a long way to go."