The sea is calm, the breeze is pleasant, the waves are gentle, the sun is not very strong, if you don't know what kind of horror lies under the deep sea, it can even be said to be a pleasant beauty.

It was as if the horrible nightmare of the city-state being dragged into the apocalypse not so long ago had never happened.

On the high platform at the stern of the Lost Country, the dark steering wheel is automatically rotating at an angle without control, and the sails not far away are slowly adjusting their attitude.

Nina sat on the deck at the edge of the platform, her upper body on the edge of the guardrail, her legs dangling gently outside, while Duncan sat on a large barrel beside her.

“…… It's a strange feeling, I know you're my Uncle Duncan, I know you're someone you can rely on and trust, but at the same time, another 'fact' is so clear......"

She seemed to be talking to herself, and her voice was very soft and slow.

"I have an uncle, he is an ordinary person, he used to be a very good person, honest and diligent, but then he became ...... It wasn't so good anymore, he got sick, started drinking, gambling money, was grumpy, and it got worse every day, and at that time, I even felt like it was a terrible thing to go home......

"But all of a sudden, my uncle got better again, like in a dream, his body got better, his temper got better, and the atmosphere in the house seemed to go back to the old days...... Not even in the past it was so good, and in fact since then...... I've often wondered if you could be my uncle forever. ”

Duncan frowned slightly.

"You were aware of it then?"

"Vaguely...... But I'm not sure, and there's one thing I don't understand," Nina turned her head and tilted her face slightly, "If it's really the kind of 'evil spirit' that the book says about has taken over my home, then why would the evil spirit be so kind to me?" ”

Duncan looked into Nina's eyes, and after a moment, he burst out laughing.

"I'm much more powerful than evil spirits."

"Now you can see that you're much friendlier than the evil spirits," Nina laughed as well, resting her head on the guardrail next to her, lazily, "You're Uncle Duncan, aren't you?" ”

"Yes, and it can always be."

"That's nice...... I'm much more relieved," Nina exhaled softly, and then she was silent for a moment before hesitatingly speaking, "My other uncle...... Was he calm when he left? ”

Duncan reminisced about the night he stepped into the city-state of Poland in the truest sense of the word.

An irretrievable cultist, swallowing his last breath in the cold, damp sewers, his shadowy brethren plotting to throw the corpse into the dark depths, and his muddy mind has nothing but vicious resentment and fanatical worship of the Dark Sun's twisted fanaticism.

But there is still a little bit of humanity left, and I remember a relative who depends on each other.

Just for that little bit of humanity.

"He walked peacefully, and must have rested in peace now," Duncan said softly, "and he didn't have much to worry about at the end, and you were in it." ”

"That's fine," Nina sighed softly, as if she had let go of the last bit of burden, she stretched hard, and lay straight back on the deck, the translucent spirit sail of the Lost Country reflected in her pupils, "A lot has really happened lately, especially today...... Can you tell me about it? Things you haven't told me yet, about the ship, about yours, and ...... About me. ”

Duncan got up from the barrel, came to Nina's side, and slowly lay down: "That's a long time, uncle, but I'm a man with a lot of stories......"

……

"All in all, Captain Duncan is so good......"

On the wide deck of the Lost Country, Alice was gleefully telling the "visitors" about the captain's great deeds, which she had been talking about for a long time, and at least two-thirds of them had been heard from the goat's head, and these stories had been first added to the goat's head, and now by the doll's lady, all of which had been twisted into an appearance incomprehensible to man—not to mention that Duncan himself would have been frightened if he heard it. Even if Alice was asked to repeat it on the spot, she couldn't guarantee that she was right.

But it's such nonsense, Shirley and Morris, who were on the other side, listened very carefully, and even the dog on the side put down the newspaper and listened attentively.

They didn't find anything unreasonable about Alice's messy story at all—even if Alice insisted that the Lost had two long legs underneath it, and that she had to run so fast by running all the way on the seabed.

The subspace boss, the lost country, the number one natural disaster in the boundless sea - the outrageous is reliable, the more unreasonable the better.

The "Ms. Alice" in front of her, who has a place on the Lost Land, is the confidant who follows Mr. Duncan and even dares to pinch Mr. Duncan's cheek in the antique shop, and she must be right.

"It's a lost country...... "Maurice applauded, he had studied all his life, and only realized how short-sighted his knowledge was when he came to Alice, "I have seen many articles on this ship in books, and those who write books can write an entire book by sitting in their rooms and relying on their imaginations, but now it seems that more than ninety percent of them are really outrageous......"

As soon as the old gentleman finished speaking, a majestic voice suddenly came from the side: "I strongly discourage you from taking Alice's words seriously—she is far more outrageous than those books that are made up. ”

The moment this voice sounded, Ah Dog suddenly rushed behind Shirley, and Morris hurriedly got up and looked at the tall figure who was walking down the stairs not far away: "Ah, Duncan...... Captain, are you done? ”

Duncan nodded, and strode down the stairs, followed by a petite figure descending the stairs behind him.

"Nina!" As soon as Shirley saw the figure, she jumped up and happily stepped forward, "It's okay! You're back! ”

With this act of getting up to greet her, the black chain on Shirley's arm instantly straightened, and Ah Dog, who was burying his head and pretending not to exist, was suddenly dragged forward by the chain and crawled forward, jumping and shouting: "Hey, slow down, slow down...... Wo X, are you still dragging me...... Oh my god, I'm ......."

"Shirley," Nina said with a big smile on her face, stepped forward and grabbed Shirley's arm, shook it twice, and then bent down to look at the dog who had just hit her head on the stairs, and reached out to pat the latter's bony head: "And Mr. Dog, I'm back." ”

Morris also stepped forward to greet his students, and then turned his head to look at Alice next to him: "Miss Alice, what did you just say...... That's all made up? ”

"I didn't make it up! That's what Mr. Goathead said! Alice's eyes widened immediately, "It says it's been on the Lost for a century, and it knows better than anyone else about this ship!" ”

Morris looked confused: "Goat's head? ”

"My first mate—you won't like to deal with it." Duncan said casually, and then looked around at the few people standing in front of him at the moment.

Maurice, Shirley, Dog - unplanned boarders, long-lost visitors on the Lost Land.

The situation in the city-state of Plain was urgent, although Duncan already had a plan to use the special properties of the Lost Land to strip away the historical pollution, but just in case, he still urgently teleported the "guests" who had taken refuge in the antique shop to this ship, but now that the affairs on the city-state's side have subsided, it is necessary to think about the future.

At the very least, old Mr. Morris still has relatives in the city-state, and he probably doesn't want to stay on this ghost ship forever.

After a moment's thought, he withdrew his gaze.

"I think you already know where you are, and you already know who I am—as you can see, this is the Lost Land, and I'm the captain of this ship, and there's been at least half of the horror legends of the Infinite Seas in the last century...... It's almost all about me.

"I don't comment on the veracity or exaggeration of these legends, but one thing is true as the legend says: it will be difficult for you to sever your connection to the ship once you board the Lost Land, and in a sense, after Aye's teleportation and the 'spiritualization' of the Lost Land, you are already part of the ship's crew.

"Unfortunately, this process is both irreversible and inevitable."

Duncan gets straight to the point about this fact - and that's what he's learned in recent times about the Lost Country and his own power.

Encountering the Lost, encountering the Spectral Flame, will inevitably establish a connection with Duncan, even if he is unaware of it—the earliest example being the White Oak and the most recent being Vanna.

Morris and Shirley reacted more calmly than Duncan had imagined, except for Dog hanging his head and muttering something that no one could understand.

It seems that they have thought of this situation for a long time and have a certain psychological preparation.

Duncan paused for a deliberate second or three seconds before suddenly laughing and shaking his head.

"But there's one thing different from the legend," he said, his tone relaxed, "this ship isn't just a one-way ticket, and I'm the captain...... As you can see, it's not like the legend says, it's a wild, runaway scourge.

"You boarded the ship because of the urgency of the situation, so I don't restrict your freedom."

This time, Shirley and Morris finally widened their eyes slightly, especially the latter, the old gentleman was still struggling with how he could return to the city-state a moment ago, and how he could exchange the qualification to return to the world from the hands of a subspace shadow, but he didn't expect this matter to be so simple, and he was suddenly surprised: "That is to say...... Can we go back? ”

"Of course," Duncan smiled, "Prand's crisis is over, you are free to come and go, but ......"

Morriston tensed up again.

"But let's eat and go," Duncan said casually, "it's my way of hospitality—the food on the Lost Country is simple, but there are some special features, especially seafood, which are good things that you can't touch in the city-state......"

(End of chapter)