Pigeon?

The snow-white pigeon stood blankly on the table, Duncan's long-sought brass compass hanging from its neck, while the familiar obsidian dagger lay at its feet.

Duncan stared at the pigeon with a dazed expression, and the pigeon stared back at him with a dazed expression.

It wasn't easy to discern an expression on a bird's face, but for some reason, Duncan felt he could understand this pigeon's expression. Not only could he understand its expression, but he could even see a glimmer of "wisdom" in its slightly reddened eyes—the bird's two beady eyes stared straight ahead. When Duncan shifted his gaze, one of its eyes clearly turned its attention to him, but the other eye seemed to remain fixed on the ceiling of the captain's cabin, its gaze wandering aimlessly.

"A... pigeon?"

After a few seconds of reaction, Duncan's lips twitched, and he muttered subconsciously.

Why a pigeon? Why did a pigeon suddenly appear? Why was his brass compass still hanging on this pigeon? How did that dagger get here?

Or, to sum it all up in one sentence: On this abnormal ship, could anything normal ever happen?!

As Duncan was filled with questions and mumbling to himself, the pigeon, which had been stunned for a long time, finally seemed to "wake up." It nodded its head, took two steps on the table, approached Duncan, stretched its neck forcefully, and let out a loud "coo."

"..." Duncan stared at the bird speechlessly. For some reason, classic images of pirate captains from his memory suddenly flashed through his mind. He then looked down at his captain's uniform. "It's true that a bird accompanying the captain is standard, but shouldn't it normally be a parrot... What's with the pigeon?"

Hearing Duncan's words, the pigeon immediately nodded as if it were serious and spoke in a strangely stiff, female voice: "Teleportation complete!"

All of Duncan's internal and external mumbling immediately stopped. He nearly choked on his saliva, his eyes wide as he stared at the white pigeon before him, his expression utterly bewildered.

He recalled his feelings the first time he stepped onto this ship and saw a talking goat head in the captain's cabin.

But it wasn't his first day on the Lost Homeland, and he was already accustomed to the anomalies of this world. So, the pigeon speaking only surprised him for a moment. The next second, his expression turned serious, and a faint green Spirit Body Fire began to emanate from one of his hands as he warily watched the pigeon before him. "Where are you from?"

The pigeon tilted its head, one eye staring directly at Duncan, the other drifting towards the ceiling. "Address error, please recheck the address or contact the system administrator."

Duncan: "...?"

More than the momentary blankness on his face, a much larger wave of emotion surged within him!

What this pigeon was saying... didn't match the "art style" of this world. These weren't words that the Goat Head, Alice, or any of those black-robed cultists would utter. Instead, they were terms more familiar to him as "Zhou Ming," a person from Earth!

However, the pigeon seemed completely oblivious to the changes in Duncan's gaze and expression. It simply pecked at its own wing, then shook the brass compass hanging on its chest, and then began to stroll leisurely across the table.

After pacing a few steps, it ran to the obsidian dagger and nudged it a few times towards Duncan with its claw, speaking in that same strangely stiff female voice: "Take this solar axe and embrace the glory of battle!"

Duncan suddenly stood up from his desk, his chair scraping harshly against the floor. He stared intently at the pigeon, which still looked innocent and composed, while an extremely bizarre yet comical emotion filled his mind.

This pigeon could not possibly have been on the Lost Homeland originally, nor could it possibly exist in this world!

The words it spoke were only understandable to "Zhou Ming"!

Perhaps because the sound of the chair scraping the floor was too loud, it could even be heard in the chart room. Duncan suddenly heard the Goat Head's voice in his mind: "Captain? Are you alright?"

Duncan continued to stare intently at the pigeon on the table. He knew the Goat Head wouldn't dare to directly spy on the captain's cabin, so he replied in a low voice with his usual calmness, "I'm fine."

"Miss Alice is here to see you, would you like to..."

"You entertain her first."

"Yes, Captain."

Duncan let out a breath and glanced back at the door leading to the chart room.

The Goat Head's barrage of chatter towards Alice was still ongoing. The doll had already tried to get up and leave several times but was stopped. Duncan felt he should go out and rescue that unfortunate doll, but now... he had more important matters to confirm.

He'd make Alice endure a little longer.

Duncan sat back down at his desk, preparing to try and communicate normally with the pigeon before him. It was then that he suddenly noticed something he hadn't paid attention to earlier—

A faint "thread of fire" extended from the Spirit Body Fire flickering between his right fingers. This flame stream was as thin as a strand of hair, dissipating into the air after extending about ten centimeters from its end.

And on the strange pigeon, a wisp of dark green flame was also entwined, hidden in the gaps of the feathers beneath its wings. The other end also extended into the air, disappearing unseen in mid-air.

Duncan frowned, raised his right hand, and with a thought, the flame flickered, and the pigeon on the table instantly disappeared.

The next second, the pigeon appeared on his shoulder. It lowered its head and pecked at Duncan's hair, letting out a loud sound: "Coo!"

Duncan flicked his finger again, and the pigeon on his shoulder reappeared on the table.

The brass compass hung on the pigeon's chest, its shiny casing reflecting the green light of the flames.

Duncan's brow furrowed. "...Related to this brass compass?"

He had already confirmed that he and the pigeon had a certain connection, a connection even tighter than his connection to the Lost Homeland. This might also explain why the pigeon "knew" things that only he knew, "knowledge" from Earth. He just couldn't be sure why the pigeon had appeared.

After thinking it over, he could only place his suspicion on that strange brass compass.

From the moment he started testing his Spirit Body Fire, all the anomalies began with this brass compass. Whether it was the soul-traveling experience before, the mental projection onto a corpse, or the compass disappearing and reappearing on the pigeon's chest... the source of everything seemed to be this thing.

Duncan stared at the pigeon for a while and reached out towards the compass.

He wanted to take it off and study it carefully.

The pigeon neither dodged nor blocked, but Duncan's fingers failed to touch the surface of the brass compass—his fingers passed right through, touching the soft downy feathers on the pigeon's chest.

It was like passing through an illusion.

The pigeon hopped twice on the spot, seemingly tickled by Duncan's action, and opened its mouth, squawking: "Today is KFC's Crazy Thursday, send me 50..."

Duncan's eyelids twitched. He tested it twice more, unwilling to believe it, and finally confirmed that it was impossible to remove the brass compass from the pigeon—this thing had clearly undergone some kind of metamorphosis, becoming an illusion bound to the pigeon, impossible to remove or touch.

Or perhaps... the pigeon was now the true form of the brass compass?

Many speculations, which even he didn't know whether to believe, flashed through Duncan's mind. The only thing he could be sure of was that the appearance of this pigeon was inextricably linked to his experience of "soul travel" using the brass compass, and this experience might have also changed the form of the brass compass.

This might be the inherent nature of the brass compass itself, its inherent attribute as some kind of "anomaly," or perhaps its "usage cost." As for why the pigeon was so unusual... it wasn't because of the compass, but because of "Zhou Ming," the Earthling.

Whether this could be proven or disproven was still unknown, unless Duncan could find the instruction manuals for the various anomalies aboard the Lost Homeland.

As for now, he had to figure out how to house this... anomalous pigeon.

After a moment's thought, he decided to name the pigeon first.

"I need to give you a name," he said, tapping the table lightly with his finger and speaking earnestly to the pigeon before him. "I assume you can understand me, right?"

The pigeon tilted its head, its two beady eyes drifting around to look at Duncan. "A-yi?"

(Oh my god!)