Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 67 “New Contact”

The goat head was a dangerous fellow, and Duncan knew it from the beginning—not only because it was an unknown anomaly but because it had been loyal to the real Captain Duncan and still plays and thinks according to the rules of old times to this day.

From the perspective of the goat head, the city-states on land are meaningless, the mortals in the city-states are stupid and ridiculous, the weak city-state fleets are all food, and plundering and hunting them… was the natural “everyday” objective of the Vanished.

Duncan didn’t know how long it would take him to adjust the goat head’s habits, but he knew the process had to be subtle — and it was the safest way to change himself and the ship.

He took one last look at the goat head that was quietly waiting at the sailing table. Upon confirming that the other party had taken over the sails and rudder system of the Vanished, he then pushed the door into his bedroom.

This afternoon, Nina would return to the antique shop, and before that, he had to let Ai the dove complete his test projects.

Once the door to the captain’s chamber was closed, the goat head quietly watched the direction of the departing captain. Only after an unknown amount of time did the wood statue sigh before softly muttering to itself: “He really didn’t get affected by subspace…. Oh Vanished, Oh Vanished, what did you fish up back then….”

……

Duncan had returned to the familiar dark tunnel with the shimmering strips of starlight. On one end was the Vanished’s connection, the other the antique shop inside Pland. From how it looks, he no longer had to actively control his mind to be connected to both sides after practicing for so long. Even now, the man could remotely control the body inside the shop for simple daily activities.

This was obviously a good thing. An antique shop owner who spends more than half the time “sleeping” in the store would obviously be suspicious. Even if merely standing at the doorway for a minute or two would dispel a lot of unnecessary attention.

Instead of immediately “teleporting” his main consciousness to the city-state of Pland, Duncan held out in the dark tunnel and carefully perceived the changes in the space before eventually shifting his sight to the side.

In the vast darkness, Ai had transformed into her undead bony form that was sprinkling with green fire in her flight. However, he’s more focused on the vague shadows hovering around the area of the bird.

Among the shadows were the Sun Talisman previously brought to the Vanished, a quaint and old short dagger, a piece of cheese, a round cannonball, and a hard salted, dried fish.

These are “test items” that he prepared before he set out to further test Ai’s ability of carrying items and the changes that might occur during the process.

The short dagger was found in the cabin, once probably belonged to some sailor – it was a mindless ordinary item. The cheese was taken from the galley and had the property of not perishing, and the shells came from the ammunition depot, while the dried salted fish was one of the harvests from the last fishing venture. Actually, the fish hadn’t been fully dried yet but was nevertheless hard as a rock after two days of bathing in the sun.

Duncan stared at Ai, who was hovering around these shadows, and nodded slightly in approval: “So this is how you carry the items.”

Ai flapped her wings and let out a light, sharp cry: “Sit firmly, sit firmly!”

Duncan smiled and gathered his spirit, ready to project the main consciousness forward.

But at the moment of concentration, he suddenly saw a strange glimmer appear at the end of the stream that was pointing towards the city-state of Pland.

Duncan immediately stopped, looking in amazement at the light that flickered among the countless dim stars—the light seemed to be there, only to turn from dim to bright at the moment of his concentration. It’s as if the star could sense his presence and answered his call.

What is that thing?

Duncan tried to lean towards the glimmer in doubt, and with just a thought, he had already crossed the vast darkness and shot towards the light. Only then did he understand this “connection”. It was similar to his body on the Vanished and antique shop.

This is…… another spare shell to be chosen?

Duncan couldn’t help but have such a conjecture in his mind, but he quickly shook his head to dismiss the idea – the shimmering star in front of him was far superior in scale to those points of light representing the “body”. Such a large light… It was not so much a shell to be chosen but rather a huge object that has established a connection with oneself.

Without hesitation, he made up his mind and stretched out his hand to cautiously touch that star…

In the next second, a huge and unfamiliar “perception” suddenly flooded into his mind – he couldn’t see the things around him, but the sense of the sea breeze blowing against his body was quite evident. There was also the sound of people talking all around, but the noise was so muddled that he couldn’t discern who was talking or what topic they discussing. It’s similar to someone eavesdropping through a thick drapery.

Duncan had a vague awareness he must be perceiving through some sort of behemoth structure; otherwise, he wouldn’t be having so much trouble making out the words. However, there’s also the possibility of an outside force interfering with his connection. Regardless of what the answer was, the ghost captain caught enough of the words that it was a tense and solemn atmosphere on the other side. Eventually, he finally managed to make out one name that repeatedly came up – the White Oak.

Taking his hand back from the light stream, Duncan watched the star that’s showing a shadow of a ship in the tear with a look of surprise.

The White Oak… The name seemed a little familiar, but I can’t quite remember when I heard it.

Duncan thought hard to recall the name. Finally, through much effort and rummaging, he understood it must be the same ship that had collided with the Vanished from before.

Immediately afterward, he also remembered the newspaper he had bought in the city-state of Pland. At that time, a section of the paper had mentioned the incident about that ocean-going ship being missing for several days but would soon make port….

For a while, Duncan didn’t know what to make of this and fell into a daze because this was the White Oak, the ship responsible for escorting Anomaly 099.

The old captain who had tried to talk to me seems to have finally reached Pland, and apparently the ship has made a connection with me.

Could it be that the connection was established after the original “spirit world ship collision” accident? Because the flames of the Vanished at that time extended to the White Oak?

Duncan had a faint conjecture in his mind, speculating on the various attributes of his ghost flame while also wondering if his connection to the steamship could be of any use.

After drifting aboard Vanished for so long, he valued every connection between himself and the civilized world.

Now it seems that although the White Oak has docked, it was still in a certain state of blockade and surveillance. As for those nervous people humming around to make so much noise, they should be the “professionals” of the city-state who specialize in dealing with extraordinary visions.

Clearly, a ship that had been lost at sea was dangerous for the people of the city-state, and the experience of close contact with the Vanished may also be a major pending matter.

Duncan had enough awareness to know the sort of reputation his ghost ship held.

After thinking about it for a while, Duncan cautiously stepped back and did not continue to touch the light in front of him.

As the number one boss on the Boundless Sea, he did not intend to deal with the city-state’s protectors without knowing the details of the “power users” in their roster. Also, keeping the White Oak as an anchor for future use was better than exposing it now and being destroyed.

At that time, maybe he could finally talk to the old captain calmly instead of that messy brief encounter smothered by the wind.

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