Bird

Alice did not understand much about the affairs of this world.

But at the very least, she had heard countless hushed conversations tinged with fear and tension from inside her wooden crate. From the sailors and guards whose nerves were stretched taut by their duty of escorting anomalies, she had formed the most basic understanding of certain "extraordinary things."

If something clearly defied common sense yet undeniably existed, then one should first strictly follow the established safety rules. Only after maintaining a safe distance should one consider studying and analyzing it. That was the way to survive.

Alice did not truly feel that she was "Anomaly 099." Nor did she know what she could do, or what she had done, to make humans fear and guard against her so intensely. She did not know how a sentient "anomaly" was supposed to think in order to be "normal"—at this moment, she was merely thinking like a human.

Since Goat Head said the Crew Code had six rules and only six rules, then there were six rules. Since Goat Head had mentioned a seventh rule, then she would remember that seventh rule.

But she still could not help asking, "Just now, I tried pushing the Captain's Cabin door, and it really did open outward—why would something so obvious need to be specially emphasized in the rules?"

The wooden Goat Head silently watched Alice's eyes. After a full two seconds, he finally spoke with unprecedented brevity: "Sometimes, it can open inward."

"Then..."

"If you see the door opening inward, never go inside. On the entire Lost Homeland, only the captain is qualified to do that."

This was the first time since earlier that Goat Head had spoken with such severity, even carrying a hint of intimidation. He had not been this serious even when introducing the Crew Code.

Alice was startled by his unusually solemn tone.

But immediately afterward, Goat Head's tone became cheerful again. As though the grave subject had never come up, he happily said, "All right, the necessary introduction for a new crew member has concluded. Now, let's talk about something else... Ah, right, miss, what did you come to the Captain's Cabin for? If you don't know how to use the ship's facilities, there's absolutely no need to trouble the great Captain Duncan. But if you wanted someone to chat with, then you've come to the right place. I am exceptionally good at finding topics and know countless glorious tales concerning this ship... You're not interested in glorious tales? Then I can introduce you to the most famous dishes of the Boundless Sea. I know a little something about cooking too..."

The moment Goat Head opened his mouth, he got into the swing of things. Alice tried several times to interrupt him, but never found an opportunity. By the time she realized things had gone terribly wrong, it was already too late.

Anomaly 099, Miss Doll Alice, had today encountered the second greatest horror aboard the Lost Homeland, aside from Captain Duncan.

At the same time, in the bedroom separated from them by only one wall, Duncan was quietly listening to the sounds coming from the Chart Room.

He had just awakened, his soul returning to the Lost Homeland from a distant shell. He had not heard the beginning of Goat Head and Alice's conversation, but he had heard those "Crew Code" rules, as well as their discussion about the Captain's Cabin door opening outward.

Important intelligence. An unexpected gain.

Duncan had not yet had time to process the information he had gathered from those cultists when he unexpectedly overheard Goat Head and Alice's conversation. Whether it was those strange and eerie "Crew Code" rules or the information Goat Head had revealed at the end, all of it was extremely important to him.

Sure enough, Goat Head knew when he pushed open the Captain's Cabin door inward and returned to "the other side." To him, that action meant returning to his studio apartment, but to the Lost Homeland on this side, it seemed to mean that "the captain had temporarily departed."

Goat Head had no doubts about this and regarded it as something Captain Duncan himself would naturally do.

So... the original "real Captain Duncan" of this ship had also pushed open the Captain's Cabin door and gone to some mysterious "world"? And this had happened more than once—so often that it had not only become a matter of course in Goat Head's eyes, but had even become part of the Lost Homeland's Crew Code?

This was good news for Duncan. It meant that when he returned to "the other side" in the future, he would not need to worry too much. Even if more new crew members came aboard, he could openly use this method to vanish before everyone's eyes, without worrying that anyone would imitate him, follow him, and discover his "secret."

But from another perspective, Duncan could not help but feel concerned—this had to do with the "six plus one" Crew Code rules Goat Head had deliberately mentioned.

What exactly did these Crew Code rules signify? What were these rules, which sounded absurd, dangerous, and even contradictory, based on? Some of their provisions seemed intended to emphasize the captain's authority, but the truth was clearly more than that. Those strict behavioral restrictions seemed more like a way to let the people aboard survive amid lurking dangers, allowing the crew to evade unseen hazards through certain established rules.

Duncan frowned slightly as he considered his true place within those rules—from their contents, he, the "captain," seemed to be the only individual with the greatest freedom and initiative. He did not need to fear the ship's "unseen risks"; indeed, he himself was the one who determined the boundaries of many dangers. But... all of this rested on the premise that he was the "real Captain Duncan."

That was precisely the most worrying part.

But then he suddenly recalled his explorations aboard the Lost Homeland over this period, and the fact that he had wandered freely through its cabins.

Goat Head had never reminded him of anything related to the Crew Code. He treated him as the real Captain Duncan, and Duncan had never encountered any "strange dangers" while moving about the ship. Nor could there possibly be a second "captain" who would emerge to impose restrictions on his movements.

From this point of view, the dangers Goat Head had mentioned in the Crew Code truly seemed to be nothing he needed to worry about.

Duncan let out a soft breath and continued listening closely to the sounds from the Chart Room.

Half a minute later, he hated that he could not turn off his ears.

The trash-talking doll and the noisy Goat Head had begun conversing. The latter clearly held an overwhelming advantage, his rattling stream of nonsense surging through the Chart Room like the wind and waves of the Boundless Sea. Even Duncan, hiding in the bedroom and observing in secret, could not take it anymore.

He felt he needed to hurry out and rescue that poor Miss Doll. Alice's lack of social experience clearly made her no match for Goat Head. But after a moment's hesitation, Duncan stopped himself.

He had just completed a marvelous "soul journey." There was still much information to organize and experience to summarize. He needed to figure out what exactly had happened to him, and whether the process was controllable—at present, this ability to project his consciousness far away would be his most useful means of gathering intelligence on land.

Normally, he would have needed to worry that burying himself in his room to study his new ability for too long might draw Goat Head's unnecessary attention. But now, Alice was outside to keep that noisy fellow occupied... it could not have been better.

Silently apologizing to Miss Doll, Duncan lowered his gaze to his right hand. The next second, his expression froze.

The Brass Compass, slightly larger than a pocket watch, had vanished at some point.

Yet he clearly remembered that he had still been gripping the compass tightly not long ago!

Duncan's gaze instantly sharpened, for he realized that he had not noticed the change in his hand at all. This kind of lapse and carelessness had appeared for the first time since he came aboard this strange and eerie ghost ship.

The next second, he loosely clenched his right hand. A cluster of faint green flame silently appeared between his fingers, and he rose from behind the desk, intending to use the connection between Spectral Flame and supernatural objects to check the entire bedroom for any traces of anomalies.

But at the instant he stood, Duncan abruptly stopped. Some subtle connection surfaced in the depths of his heart. He instinctively looked toward the direction from which it came, only to see several illusory feathers drifting down from the air at the edge of his vision.

Duncan looked in surprise toward where the feathers were falling and saw a phantom rapidly materializing before him. In merely two or three seconds, it condensed into a snow-white...

Pigeon.

The missing compass hung from the pigeon's chest, while a familiar Obsidian Dagger lay quietly beside its feet.