"You see the shadow of the Lost Country!?" Duncan made no secret of his surprise.

"Yes," Lucrecia said with a glance at Duncan and a subtle nod, "after three days of being lost in the fog, I saw a very, very much like the silhouette of the Lost Country passing through the fog in the distance, and where it passed, the fog seemed to briefly thin and reveal what it was like in the normal sea, I ...... After a long hesitation, but with no other choice, I mustered up the courage to sail towards the silhouette, but it suddenly disappeared just as the Bright Star approached...... Then, I returned to the normal sea. ”

After Lucrecia finished speaking, she looked at Duncan with a somewhat strange look for several seconds before adding, "That was 1862, and you have been in subspace for sixty-two years. ”

Duncan was silent for a moment, and while quietly turning to look at the sea in the distance to hide the change in his eyes, he said calmly, "I don't remember this. ”

"I know," Lucrecia nodded, "so I've been wondering if what I saw at the time was really the Lost Country, or if it was just a hallucination from exhaustion, or if it was ...... That's also some kind of 'special phenomenon' at the border.

"That was the first and only time I crossed the limit of 'six nautical miles,' and I haven't been that deep since then, and I've never seen anything like it again."

Duncan was silent, his thoughts fluctuating.

From Lucrecia's narration, he finally realized for the first time how strange and dangerous the boundless fog called the "frontier of civilization" and "eternal veil" was, but he also had countless conjectures and ...... about the strange phenomena that appeared in that fog Curious.

Obviously, entering that fog is a huge risk, even a seasoned frontier scholar and great explorer like Lucrecia can almost get lost in that veil forever if well prepared, and even in the relatively "safe" six-nautical-mile calm zone, all kinds of strange and dangerous "entities" and phenomena can kill explorers at any time.

But those strange and dangerous "entities" just aroused Duncan's concern.

It is suspected that the "black shadow" left after the crash of the New Hope is only one of them, and in that fog six nautical miles of the border, how many "residues" like the New Hope are there? Are they all the final "core residues" of the worlds after their annihilation? And what kind of mechanism has allowed these residues to remain until now? These "entities" surround the entire Infinite Sea in the mist, but what about beyond this "ring"? What's left there?

Vaguely, Duncan had a hunch that these strange "hollow" "entities" in Lucrecia's perception might help him understand the crisis at the bottom of the world, and even help him find a "way out" to solve the "bottom pollution" of all things......

Duncan ended his musings at the gaze from beside him, and he looked up to see Lucrecia standing by and looking at him quietly, with a hint of concern in her complicated gaze.

“…… You're going there again, aren't you? ”

Lucretia asked in a whisper.

“…… The ship is heading for the border," Duncan patted the handrail beside him, "Those Annihilationists have a hideout in the border fog, and I'll fix that no matter what." ”

"I don't mean this time - the cultists aren't going to hide in the depths, and destroying their lair may be a matter of little effort for you, I mean after that," Lucretia looked into Duncan's eyes, "and after you get rid of this lair, your attention will be on that fog, will it?" You will investigate the 'entities' and 'visions' that I have described to you, and even ...... Investigate six nautical miles away. ”

Her gaze brought a little pressure, and for the first time Duncan felt that the "sea witch" was a little overwhelmed by the gaze of the "sea witch", but after a moment of silence, he nodded: "If the situation requires it, I will go." ”

Lucrecia pursed her lips.

But she didn't persuade or block, but after a long silence, she suddenly said, "Take me with you this time, my experience can help you." ”

Duncan was a little surprised, he looked at the "witch", and after a few seconds he whispered: "...... What if the end of the fog was subspace? ”

"Then I'll need your experience."

Duncan didn't speak for a while, he turned around and looked at the sea in the distance in silence, and after a long while, he exhaled slightly: "Let's talk about it later, I do have this idea, but I don't want to enter the depths of the fog now—at least, before that, I need to deal with the cultist's lair hidden on the border, and make contact with the Church of the Four Gods." ”

Lucrecia nodded slightly.

At this moment, the sound of footsteps and the strange clashing of metal came from not far away, interrupting the communication between the two.

Duncan looked up in the direction from which the voice came, and saw Alice happily walking towards this direction - Miss Doll was holding a large wooden box in one hand, and a large pile of kitchen knives, spatulas and iron spoons that had been scavenged out of nowhere in the other, and she had strung the pile together with wire, and walked over happily and flamboyantly as if she had returned with a trophy, making a tinkling noise all the way on the deck.

"Captain!" The simple puppet came to Duncan like this, and raised the large string of "treasures" strung with iron wire in his hand and shook in mid-air, "Look! I've got my own loot! ”

Duncan didn't react from the serious topic with Lucrecia just now, and this elated and honest beauty interrupted all his thoughts, and he looked at the string of things in Alice's hand in a daze for a long time before finally reacting: "...... You ransacked the kitchen? ”

"Yes, yes," Alice nodded slightly, and said with a smug face, "The goat head said that after capturing the enemy ship, you must loot the treasure house as soon as possible, and get enough loot before the ship sinks, I just followed those toy soldiers to drill a lot of places in the ship, and finally found the ship's galley......"

Speaking of this, she recalled it again, and said with emotion: "This ship is really not good, the things on the ship are not very smart, and the things in the kitchen when I collect the loot do not resist, I am ready to fight with this kitchen knife......"

Lucrecia listened dumbfounded to the puppet's chatter, and Duncan next to her finally couldn't help but speak after a moment of silence: "...... Alice. ”

"Huh?"

"Not everyone needs to fight with kitchen supplies when cooking......"

"I know, the galley in the city-state doesn't beat people, but isn't this on a ship?"

“…… Not all ships have barrels, mops and pots and pans that can beat people. ”

Alice's eyes widened in surprise.

Two seconds later, the puppet exclaimed, "Is it so amazing?" ”

Duncan: "......"

And at this moment, Lucretia noticed the strange wooden box that Alice was holding in her other hand: "What is this?" Also your booty? ”

"Yes," Alice suddenly reacted, nodding her head again and again, "I found it in a strange cabin, there is such a wooden box in such a large room, and there are several chains around the box - I pulled most of the chains off, but the lock on the box is very strange, I can't open it with any force, I don't know what's inside, even the box is brought over......"

As she spoke, she handed the large wooden box in her hand to Duncan: "Take a look? ”

Halfway through Alice's story, Duncan had a strange instinct in his heart, and he took the heavy wooden box with a dark surface covered with many intricate patterns, and his eyes swept over the lock, only to see that it was just an unremarkable-looking iron lock, as if the most lame thief could open it with a wire—but it was such a lock that blocked the powerful doll.

Duncan knew Alice's strength, she could wield a coffin board out of the sea to row a coffin out of the speed of an assault boat, or she could use her strength to break the chains used to hold the wooden box - Duncan could even imagine Alice running into the cabin and pulling the chains with brute force, but she couldn't do anything about the last broken iron lock on the box.

The child is not smart, but the child has great strength (×)

The child has great strength, but unfortunately he is not smart (√)

It seems that this box should be what I am looking for.

"Anomaly 132-Lock," Lucrecia leaned closer, quickly discerning what was going on with the iron lock that Alice couldn't open with brute force, "it requires a special 'key' to open, and the key is a secret phrase that only the person who locks it knows." It becomes indestructible when locked, and it makes the container it locks into, even if it's just a papier-mâché box. This anomaly is one of the few harmless anomalies, and although it is not well numbered, it has a special purpose and can be used to assist in sealing some dangerous items, and in 1876, it was stolen from a transshipment ship during a pirate attack...... I didn't expect it to fall into the hands of this group of cultists. ”

After telling the information about this lock, Lucretia thought for a moment and said uncertainly: "The cultist who last performed the 'lock' operation is dead, and the secret key has been lost, but I can try to solve the mystery of this lock by other means, although it is 'indestructible', I heard that it has a loophole......"

A soft "click" suddenly came, interrupting the "witch's" words.

Lucrecia looked at the wooden box in Duncan's hand in dismay.

The lock had opened on its own.

"It doesn't seem to want you to try it," Duncan said to Lucrecia, smiling, "or maybe it knows that if you try it doesn't work, then it's time for me to 'try' it myself." ”

Lucrecia was stunned: "...... Reasonable, my mind is limited. ”

Duncan shook his head with a smile, then placed the large wooden box on the floor, removed the padlock that had been opened, and carefully opened the lid.

A pitch-black carved wooden goat's head lies quietly in a box.

(End of chapter)