Crew Code

Alice stopped in front of the captain's cabin door.

Miss Doll lifted her head, gazing at the heavy, pitch-black oak door before her, and noticed a line of words inscribed on the doorframe in elegant cursive: Gate of the Lost.

It was hardly surprising to see such a phrase on the doorframe of the Lost Homeland's captain's cabin, but Alice still furrowed her brow instinctively—not out of curiosity about the door itself, but because she wondered why she could recognize "writing."

She had no memory of learning to read. In fact, she had no memory of "learning" anything at all, nor did she recall ever accumulating experience moving about or conversing with others somewhere. Yet this knowledge existed naturally in her mind.

She could understand the letters on the captain's cabin doorframe, and she could grasp the purpose of the various furnishings in the room—things that couldn't possibly be learned just by lying in a wooden crate and listening to people talk outside. So where did this knowledge come from?

Before today, Alice had never considered this question. But for some reason, after speaking with that "Captain Duncan," the concept of "curiosity" had suddenly sprouted in the doll's mind, which should have run in eternal, placid stillness.

She thought back carefully. The change seemed to have occurred after Duncan asked about the origin of the name "Alice"... In that moment, she had questioned some things in her mind that she had always taken for granted, and began trying to recall where her name came from. Then, something in her mind had loosened.

Alice didn't know if this loosening was good or bad, but she disliked this feeling of confusion. So she quickly shook her head, cast aside the doubt in her heart, adjusted her mindset at the captain's cabin door, and then placed her hand on the oak door's handle, pushing forward with a little force.

The door didn't budge.

Alice froze for a moment, then tried pushing again, but it felt as if the wooden door had been cast from solid iron—utterly immovable.

Just as she was about to try once more, a voice suddenly came from inside the captain's cabin—hoarse and low, as if issuing from a piece of rotting wood: "The door opens outward, lady."

It wasn't Captain Duncan's voice. Alice was startled, but she quickly recovered, hurriedly said "Oh," and pulled the door outward this time—it opened with ease.

Only then did she recall that when the captain had brought her here earlier, he had indeed pulled the door open outward.

It seemed the "life knowledge" that had appeared out of nowhere in her mind was just knowledge after all. Having slept in a wooden crate for so long, she was still sorely lacking in real survival experience—Alice reflected on this briefly, then cautiously poked her head into the captain's cabin.

The cabin was empty. The conspicuous Navigation Table sat quietly under the lamplight, a thin mist drifting over the surface of the chart on it. The dark, carved wooden Goat Head turned its gaze from the edge of the table, its eyes, carved from Obsidian, staring hollowly at her.

"Please come in, lady. The captain is busy; you may wait for him here," the Goat Head spoke, more politely than Alice had expected. "Also, try to avoid such peeking behavior. It might make some overly sensitive entities aboard the Lost Homeland feel disliked, and calming them down would be troublesome—and if your head happens to fall off again, that's another problem. I have no hands to help you pick it up..."

It really talks! This wooden carving really talks!

Although Captain Duncan had mentioned earlier that the Goat Head on the Navigation Table could speak, suddenly hearing a wooden carving rattle off so much still caught Alice off guard. She paused for a moment before replying, "Ah, okay. But my head isn't actually that easy to knock off, and last time I had it installed I specifically... Wait, you said some overly sensitive entities on the Lost Homeland... Does that mean there are more on this ship..."

Alice belatedly realized the implication in the Goat Head's words. She looked around with surprise and unease, and in that moment, it felt as if every item in the captain's cabin—even the entire Lost Homeland—was swaying in the dim light, turning into "strange things" like that eerie Goat Head. The Goat Head's voice then reached her ears: "Is that so strange? Running a ship this large requires quite a few hands. Did you think the great Captain Duncan would personally scrub the deck?"

What the Goat Head said actually made some sense. Alice's newly awakened, still sluggish mind felt something was off about this, but after thinking it over, she could only nod: "That's true... So there are many like you on the Lost Homeland..."

"The captain has only one loyal deputy. The rest are a bunch of dim-witted fellows. You don't need to bother communicating with them—they have no interest in talking to people either," the Goat Head interrupted before Alice could finish. "But considering you're new to the ship and unfamiliar with many rules and customs, as Captain Duncan's most loyal First Mate and Second Mate and... I need to tell you some basic knowledge essential for survival on this vessel. After all, the captain won't stoop to explaining such things to a newcomer... Lady, are you ready?"

Alice listened in a daze. She had already forgotten her original purpose for coming to the captain's cabin. She felt that every time this Goat Head opened its mouth, it spewed a torrent of words, and after just a few exchanges, the rhythm of the conversation was completely out of her hands. Especially when it suddenly rattled off a long string of titles, her head felt like it was buzzing. By the time it finished, she could only nod instinctively: "Ah, ah, okay... okay?"

"Excellent. Next are the few rules every crew member of the Lost Homeland must know. These will help a newcomer adapt to the environment faster and fully receive the protection of the Lost Homeland and the great Captain Duncan on the dangerous Boundless Sea..."

The Goat Head was clearly satisfied with Alice's response. It shook its wooden head as it spoke, its tone dripping with obvious pride—

"First, Captain Duncan is the absolute master of the Lost Homeland. Captain Duncan is always right. Even if reality conflicts with Captain Duncan's words, Captain Duncan's judgment shall prevail.

"Second, any crew member may only move within areas permitted by Captain Duncan. Areas not opened by Captain Duncan's order must never be set foot in, because those areas do not exist.

"Third, if you step into an unauthorized area and happen to survive temporarily, you must stay put and wait for Captain Duncan to retrieve you, or calmly await death—you are absolutely forbidden to return on your own, because what you return to is not the Lost Homeland.

"Fourth, the Lost Homeland always sails on the correct course. Do not question the captain's navigation plan. If you find the scenery around the Lost Homeland different from what you expected, or find that the Lost Homeland has entered a 'deeper' sea, this is part of the normal navigation plan.

"Fifth, the captain occasionally leaves the ship, but he will always return. During the captain's absence, the Lost Homeland will continue normal navigation, but all crew members must not approach the helm station at the stern—the steering system will feel insecure when the captain is away, and the stern ropes will strangle any reckless fool who shows signs of 'usurpation.'

"Sixth, aboard the Lost Homeland, there are exactly six basic crew rules.

"Seventh, the captain's cabin door opens outward."

The Goat Head seemed to have recited these "basics" to new crew members more than once. It spoke them fluently and naturally, but Alice immediately sensed something wrong when she heard the last two: "Wait, Mr. Goat Head, you just said the sixth rule..."

"Sixth, aboard the Lost Homeland, there are exactly six basic crew rules," the Goat Head replied at once, wasting no words when it came to these fundamentals.

Alice was momentarily unsure whether the problem was with her or with this "First Mate" before her: "But you also mentioned a seventh..."

"Seventh, the captain's cabin door opens outward," the Goat Head answered very naturally.

Alice stared blankly at the dark, carved wooden Goat Head on the table. After doubting her ears, she began to doubt her mind—but then she realized she didn't have a mind, so she confirmed again: "Don't those two... contradict each other?"

"No contradiction at all."

Hearing the Goat Head's firm reply and looking into its hollow, pitch-black eyes, Alice opened her mouth, but suddenly swallowed all her questions.

(Mommy!)