Real life is different from weird stories, and the biggest difference is that you have to think about a lot of real and trivial details in real life-

Do moving cursed dolls need to do joint maintenance? Will Alice's frequent disassembly of joints cause her to suddenly fall apart when she walks in the future? Did the bacon and cheese on the ghost ship expire?

Do superheroes who socialize during the day and fight with evil forces at night sleep - do evil forces who fight with superheroes usually go to the supermarket to buy things?

The story never tells you this, the people in the story are always white like snow coming and going like the wind, and the cursed puppets in the story only need to suddenly emerge from the horns to scare people, just like the ghost captain in the story never worries about the problem of only a century-old salted jerky and hard cheese on the ship.

In reality, the cursed puppet was scratched all over after soaking in the seawater, and had to temporarily think about what to do with the salt particles in the joints when taking a bath......

Standing outside the cabin, Duncan sighed, realizing more clearly that it seemed that it would take more than determination to survive on this ship for a long time.

He also had to think about a whole bunch of practical issues, especially after the crew was increased.

The ghost ship is actually not too rich in living materials, which Duncan is very clear about.

The ship had an unlimited supply of fresh water, but only fresh water, and the food stored in the pantry was not automatically replenished after consumption, and the only things to eat there were salted jerky and hard cheese, although they showed no signs of decay due to the special nature of the Lost Country, Duncan still reasonably suspected that they had been stored for at least a century.

On top of that, there were no change of clothes for Alice's size on board (though the cursed doll didn't mention the need for that), and there was nothing to use for recreation—not even a pair of chess or a pair of poker.

The vast expanse of the sea is boundless, but it is difficult for the Lost Country to get real supplies from this vast sea, and the ship does not seem to have a reliable "home port" to stop and repair, let alone communicate with the civilized city-states on land.

The goathead didn't seem to be concerned about this at all, but Duncan was thinking about it at the moment—he had to find a way to improve the Lost Land's current lack of supplies.

Further, he was also thinking about how to establish contact with the "city-states" on land.

Drifting blindly on the sea forever is an extremely inefficient means of exploration, and information about this world must be obtained from land, which is Duncan's deepest experience after "walking in the spirit world".

Putting that aside, even for the sake of his own physical and mental health, he had to try to get in touch with the "city-states" on land and the civilized society of this world - otherwise he was really worried that he would really become a twisted, gloomy, and withdrawn ghost captain after a long drift.

Thinking of this, Duncan turned his head slightly and looked at the pigeon Aye, who was honestly squatting on his shoulder to comb his feathers.

His gaze fell primarily on the brass compass on Ae's chest.

The pigeon tilted his head and looked at his "master", and said coldly: "Open the base!" Spread the fungus blanket! Hey, you don't know how to operate? ”

Duncan was a little silent for a moment, the pigeon was nervous most of the time, but the words that occasionally popped out were so appropriate that one could not help but wonder if it was wise and foolish.

At present, it seems that spiritual walking is the only viable means of "getting to" the land city-states.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the method and the fact that there had been mysterious accidents like "Say" since the last time it was used, Duncan knew that he would soon be embarking on his next spiritual walk—not only to gather intel on land, but also to validate and master a useful ability as soon as possible.

Just as important as walking in the spirit realm is the "special ability" of the pigeon Ay to bring back a ceremonial knife from a distant land.

If it can bring back a knife, will it be able to bring back more? What are the rules and restrictions on what this bird carries? Can this process be controlled by humans?

After thinking for a moment, Duncan decided to ask the pigeon directly, "Do you know how you got that knife back?" ”

The pigeon thought for a moment and said in a deep tone: "You need more crystal ore." ”

Duncan: "......"

He decided to give up communication with this pigeon for the time being, and it would be more reliable to try this thing himself when he performed the next spiritual walk.

……

In the cabin, Alice finally stumbled through how to use the water pipe, and roughly figured out how to wash the bath.

On a ghost ship with limited conditions, she can only take a cold shower, but for a doll, this is not a problem at all.

But before jumping into the bathtub, Alice decided to first greet the entire cabin.

She patted the great barrel and struck the pillar that supported the cabin, kicked the floor with her toes, and stood on tiptoe to pull the ropes and hooks that dangled from the roof.

"Hello, my name is Alice," she greeted the cold thing as she had greeted Mr. Goathead, "and I'm going to live on this ship from now on." ”

There was nothing in the cabin to respond to her greeting, but Alice didn't care in the slightest.

Goathead said that the Lost Country is alive, and a lot of things on this ship are alive.

Although none of them seem to have the true "intelligence" of a goathead, or even the ability to communicate, this does not prevent Alice from treating the entire Lost Country as a "neighbor" who needs to be greeted.

The Lost Country is a living object, and so is she.

Convinced that her greeting was polite and proper, Alice's mood became more cheerful, and then she shed her splendid dress and climbed awkwardly into the oak barrel that was already filled with water.

The first step is to take off the head and rinse it off – the joints on the neck aren't very strong anyway.

Miss Doll thinks that her plan is very reasonable.

……

The city-state of Perand finally ended the hustle and bustle of the day in the middle of the night, and under the pale light of the night sky, this prosperous "pearl of the sea" gradually fell into a peaceful sleep.

But in the quiet darkness, the night watchman watched the city after sleeping.

On the "Great Bell Tower", the tallest building in the city-state of Plande, a tall young lady with long gray hair and an unusually tall figure is standing in front of the window overlooking the city.

The lady was beautiful, but with a striking scar that crossed her left eye, she was taller than the average man, and she was dressed in silver-gray light armor and battle dress, she was clearly well-trained, her limbs were full of muscles and well-proportioned, and within reach of her was a great sword that radiated a faint silver glow—the hilt of the great sword was engraved with runes symbolizing the waves, and the blade of the sword also had a shimmer of light floating like water waves.

Behind the lady, the sound of machinery running is constantly heard - the movement of the Great Clock Tower is running smoothly under the power of a steam engine, and the intricate structure of gears and connecting rods runs through the roof and floor, driving the four dials on the upper floors and the mimic planetarium hidden in the depths of the building.

Judging by the sound, this large and sophisticated machine is in perfect working order, and no evil forces have invaded the sacred steam core.

But Inquisitor Vana still had a faint uneasiness in her heart, a bad premonition that something was about to happen or had already happened, and that she was doomed to be powerless.

Footsteps came from the direction of the staircase, and the gray-haired woman in front of the window turned to see a priest in the robes of a sea priest walking up from the staircase, the priest carrying a copper incense burner, and the clean smoke slowly wrapping around him.

The priest went to the movement column in the center of the room, removed the old incense burner that had hung on the column railing, and replaced it with a new one, observing the smoke escaping from the incense burner and making sure that it floated around the moving gears and connecting rods without hindrance, before whispering the name of the Storm Goddess, and turning to look at the gray-haired lady standing in front of the window.

"Good night, Your Excellency Inquisitor—are you keeping vigil yourself?"

"I've always had bad premonitions, and it's been the last few days – especially tonight."

"Bad premonitions? What is it? The priest raised his head, his deep eyes filled with concern, "The goddess has sent an omen to you?" ”

"Not that clear message," the young female inquisitor shook her head, "I just have a vague feeling...... Something is close to the city. ”