Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 224 “The Captain Never Left”

The figure in the mirror really left without doing anything extraneous as he said at the beginning – he just came to check on the situation.

Vanna stared at the mirror with a vigilant face for a while longer before finally letting herself deflate. Then immediately afterward, she fell into a short period of self-reflection and paranoia.

The paranoia was due to her professional habit as the inquisitor – it’s tough for her to trust a “person” who has been carrying out a century-long string of horror legends. As for self-reflection, that’s even simpler. Unlike her usual sharp demeanor regarding the supernatural, she had gradually weakened her vigilance in communication with the infamous ghost captain. This was an undeserved sign of weakness; she didn’t like it since it shouldn’t be happening to her.

At the end of it, Vanna could only give herself a slap to get out of this slump.

In any case, the city has survived, and she would inform Bishop Valentine about the events of this evening’s interaction by tomorrow morning. Also, the part about her own wavering faith…

The young inquisitor sighed, fading into the darkness after extinguishing the light in her bedroom.

……

On the second floor of the antique shop in the lower city, Duncan withdrew his gaze towards the main cathedral and instead shifted it toward the city’s night scene.

He didn’t know what had happened to Vanna, but it was clear that the young inquisitor’s mental state had just experienced a brief and dangerous shakeup. This unstableness even directly alerted his awareness, forcing him to make a projection directly into the real world to see what was happening.

Looking back at things now, the aura he felt on Vanna before was faintly familiar – the aura had been hidden in the depths of her spirit. If he would describe it, the sensation would be like the bottom of the Vanished… the area where he confronted the weird, chaotic light show and that creepy door. Again, it’s the sensation of engaging subspace.

Then there’s the question Vanna asked him at the end of the conversation, so it’s very possible she’s being harassed by something related to subspace.

Duncan’s fingers unconsciously tapped the windowsill, guessing the truth with the clues he concluded.

Unlike before, he had strengthened his imprint on the other party. This force should be able to help the lady resist the erosion that might arise, but the crux of the question was, why did a hint of subspace suddenly appear on Vanna, a high-level saint?

Duncan’s thoughts began to wander, and he suddenly recalled another detail or “knowledge” he had learned a while back. Under certain circumstances, the souls of believers in the four gods are more likely to be eroded by subspace than mortals, and their souls will even directly generate a rift connecting the real dimension to subspace. For example, the chapel on the sixth block was a perfect example, where the presiding nun became a catalyst for the evil creatures within the void.

Could something similar happen to Vanna? If so, what is behind this counter-intuitive phenomenon?

After a minute of contemplation, Duncan exhaled and turned away from the window. In any case, he should pay more attention to this special “node” in the future. Currently, Vanna still lacks trust in him, meaning she wouldn’t take the initiative to tell him any of her secrets.

Along the way back to his own bedroom, Duncan unexpectedly heard the giggling voices of two young girls coming from the next room over – Nina and Shirley.

Despite returning to the city-state from the Vanished, they seemed rather excited, especially Nina.

The child didn’t seem to have suffered any psychological trauma by visiting the eerie ghost ship, nor did she have any apprehension about the future. In fact, Nina was as cheerful as ever to the point it’s disturbing.

Is it the influence of sun fragment? Or is it because she has a strong receptive personality?

Duncan mused, discovering some unexpected “talent” of Nina’s.

……

As night fell, the cold, pale glow of the rift that was the World’s Creation hanging overhead eventually blanketed the Vanished’s deck.

“Captain! Where are we going next?” Alice, in her rush, came barging up to the bridge.

“There is no destination for now, so let’s leave the busy route between the city-states,” Duncan glanced down at the doll staring at him with those glowing purple eyes, “You seem to be in a good mood?”

“Yes, yes!” Alice nodded chirpily. No matter how elegant and noble her appearance was, it’s all been destroyed when she’s nodding cheerfully like right now. “The ship is so lively today! For the first time, I finally know what it’s like to spend time with so many people!”

“It’s not always ‘fun’ to bring people together, you know? But it’s probably a little harder for you to understand my meaning,” Duncan said casually, “plus, keep your nodding under control. You freaked the daylights out of them when your head popped off.”

“Oooh~” Alice hurriedly held her head, then got a little worried, “Then they… Won’t you stop coming because of this, right?”

“Not that I’m aware of. Don’t worry about it.”

Alice hummed a nod and then remained quiet for a few seconds before asking again, “So… will I be able to go to the city-state in the future? I didn’t even get to see the world properly this time. Things got so messy and dizzying…”

Duncan’s gaze swept over the sea before shifting it back to Alice: “Of course, tomorrow I can ask Ai to send you to the antique shop. I still need your help at the store.”

“Really?” Alice’s eyes visibly lit up with surprise, “I thought… we won’t return to the city-state for a while… you are finished with the business over there, right?”

Duncan did not answer the other party immediately; instead, he kept his mouth shut briefly before replying: “So you think I only went over to Pland because I have business there?”

Alice blinks in confusion, scratching the back of her head: “I… I don’t know.”

Duncan shook his head with a faint smile before letting go of the steering wheel.

There was a slight creak from the Vanished due to this action, and the mast’s sails tightened a little, signaling the ship had gone into a “cruising state” where Goathead took over.

“We’re just solving the trouble made by a bunch of cultists,” Duncan said casually to Alice as he stepped down from the helm and walked toward the captain’s room, “As for Pland… I believe that city-state is fated for me.”

“… As expected of being the captain, his words are so profound…” Alice mutters alone in the rear after being left behind.

Eventually, Duncan arrived back at the door of the captain’s compartment, where the words “Door of the Lost” were inscribed on the frame as always. Inhaling deeply, he calmed his spirit and pushed it open with a huff.

A hazy and distorted mist appeared promptly in front, devouring Duncan’s existence as he fell into an empty, weightless space. Then, in the next instant, he was through, back in the familiar and quiet environment of the other world.

Zhou Ming opened his eyes and surveyed his bachelor apartment.

As usual, the first thing he did when he returned was to confirm the general situation of the entire room. Everything was as he left it. Whether it was the dense fog outside the window or the string of scraps he left around the windowsills had ever been moved.

Despite knowing there was no point in doing so, he treated this series of “confirmations” as some task that had to be done.

After Zhou Ming was done, the second thing he did was to come to his desk, where he found a miniature sculpture with an appearance similar to Pland sitting quietly in place.

Exquisite and restored, every detail was vivid to the eye. In fact, he’s pretty sure every floor tile of every street had been perfectly replicated on this model. Or, to put it another way, this was the “projection” of the real Pland presented in another form within his bachelor apartment.

It’s here, as expected…

Zhou Ming exhaled softly, sat down at the table, and examined his newfound exquisite “toy”.

Compared to the “model” of the Vanished, the size of this “city-state” was obviously much more extensive but also obviously not scaled in equal proportions. From the initial assessment, it seems to fit into a separate shelf compartment as if it were specially tailored for that spot.

And, of course, no shadow of any inhabitants exists in this vivid city-state model.

It looks like the “people” living in the city-state are omitted…

Zhou Ming wondered, repeatedly examining the model before picking it up entirely and bringing it over to the shelf with both hands. Once done with putting it away, he took two steps back and silently admired his new collection.

The Vanished has moved away from Pland, but the captain never left his precious city-state.