Under Duncan's gaze, Anomaly 132-"Lock" sensibly opened on its own and broke free from the clasp, jumping out of the way on the other side of the table.

Duncan opened the large, dark wooden box, took out the carved wooden goat's head, and placed it on the nautical table.

The "first mate" on the edge of the table turned his head and looked fixedly at the wooden carved goat's head that "looked" exactly like himself, and two pairs of obsidian-carved eyes looked at each other, and after a long time, it let out an elongated exclamation: "Wow-oh-"

Duncan raised his eyebrows: "Just sigh at this?" ”

"It's so shocking, I just think of this at once," the goat's head twisted around on the base, as if trying to see its 'other head' from a different angle, and it craned its neck for a long time, muttering as it watched, "I felt it vaguely when you got back to the ship, and you're sure to take this when you go to that ship." I'm not surprised that the Dream Skull has been brought back, but the feeling after seeing it with my own eyes is still incredible, there really is a ...... exactly like me."

It stopped abruptly when it said this, and seemed to be a little puzzled: "Why is it still motionless?" ”

"You ask me?" Duncan looked strange, "This is your own head." ”

"But I don't know it well," Goathead's tone was very reasonable, "I didn't even know I had a vertebrae before this trip to Breeze......

Duncan was speechless: "......"

The awkward and eerie atmosphere lasted for a few seconds, and the goat's head finally moved again, stretching its neck in the direction of the "Dream Skull": "Will you bring it closer?" ”

"So?" Duncan took the lifeless "Dream Skull" to the goat's head and observed curiously, "Do you feel anything?" ”

“…… Why don't you get closer? ”

Duncan moved a little closer, then a little closer, and finally he simply pressed the "dream skull" directly against the head of the goat's head, so that the two woodcarved goats were head-to-head: "Okay, this is close enough—do you feel anything?" ”

"Take it away, take it away...... It's close enough," the goathead yelled as he twisted his neck, and when Duncan put the "Dream Skull" back on the table, it exhaled very humanly and muttered, "Still I don't feel anything...... There is no way to establish any 'communication' with this head, or to perceive any thoughts or memories of this head, and it has no response to me......"

It paused for a moment of serious thought and shook its head, "It feels like it's an empty shell, and it doesn't have anything to do with me except for 'existence' and 'homologous'. ”

Listening to the goat's description, Duncan frowned deeply.

"This situation is a bit unexpected," he said with a frown, "after all, this is another fragment of Saxoka, even if it is a more serious part, it should be somewhat special, and the 'sacrifice' ritual of the cultists before has also proved that this 'dream skull' is 'active'...... Why didn't there be any movement at all after coming into contact with you? ”

"I don't know, but at least I'm sure this head is absolutely real—I do feel its 'presence', it's subtle, and I don't know how to explain it to you......" Goathead said, followed by some speculation, "Maybe it's the wrong way to contact it?" Or...... Was it the sacrificial ritual that the cultists messed up and broke this head? After all, those bastards have been using elven blood to stimulate the 'Dream Skull'......"

Duncan's expression was serious, his eyes thoughtful, and he glanced at the goat's head again: "Those cultists are bastards - but don't you think it's weird when you talk about your other head being 'broken'?" ”

"It's weird, but I can't find the right word," the goat's tone was quite helpless, "Who made me really in this state now, dead and sparse ......"

Duncan: "......"

He found that after the end of the Light Wind Harbor incident, his first mate has more or less changed, and the most significant point is that his heart is as wide as a heart attack......

Duncan shook his head, tossing aside the strange emotion that had popped up in his mind, and then patted the lifeless "Dream Skull" with his hand.

"In any case, the current state of this 'Dream Skull' must not be right, maybe it is really because of the 'operation' of those cultists that it has changed in some way, or maybe we haven't found the right way to activate it, or ...... It's something that's 'missing', and I'll leave it here for now, and it's up to you to see how it changes, don't you think? ”

"It's all up to you," said the goathead at once, "and I'm curious as to what this head is all about, and I'll be able to study it here when I have time." ”

Duncan nodded slightly: "Very good." ”

Then he lifted his gaze and looked out the window.

A third of the setting sun had already sunk below sea level - before you knew it, dusk was approaching, and the remnants of the golden-red glow of Vision 001 were filling the vast sea, while in the other direction, the golden sunlight emitted by the "glowing geometry" near the Breezehaven became more brilliant with the arrival of dusk, and the silhouette of the distant city-state was a little hazy between the staggered sunlight.

How long can such a peaceful sunset last?

For some reason, the thought suddenly crossed Duncan's mind, but then he exhaled softly and put the distractions aside.

"I'm going to go back to my room for a rest, and when Lucrecia is done with her business, I'll go to the city with her again—take care of the Lost in the meantime."

"Yes, Captain."

Duncan nodded, got up and walked to the bedroom door deep in the captain's room, but suddenly he stopped again, and looked at the goat's head on the table with some curiosity: "You said you want to 'study' this dream skull, how are you going to study it?" You don't even have hands. ”

"That's a good question," the goat head pondered, and after a moment he looked up confidently, "Anyway, try to talk to it first, maybe this head is making those cultists autistic, and I might be able to untie it after enlightening it......"

Duncan immediately had little hope for the goat's head "study".

But he didn't say anything, just left the goat's head with a "come on" look, waved his hand, turned around and walked into the bedroom.

With a thud, the dark wooden door slammed shut.

In the empty captain's room, only the two carved wooden goat heads on the table were silent.

The silence lasted for an unknown amount of time, and the goat's head finally turned its head and looked at the motionless "Dream Skull".

“…… Have you ever heard of the eighteen cuisines of the Infinite Sea? ”

……

After only a few minutes of a brief nap, Duncan was suddenly awakened by a buzzing noise coming from nowhere.

He quickly got up from his bed, but by now there was silence inside and outside the cabin.

In the dimly lit bedroom, only a lantern on the table was emitting a light that seemed to be a little lacking, and it was dark outside the window not far away, as if night had fallen for a long time, and it was quiet outside the door, and there was no sound in the direction of the corridor and deck.

Duncan sat on the edge of the bed in the dark, a sense of depression rising from nowhere, and he remembered what had happened before he went back to his room to rest, and then he noticed something wrong with his environment.

It was too quiet—not even the sound of the waves crashing against the hull, and the "night" outside the window was too dim to see the afterglow of the glowing geometry near the Breeze, nor the cold glow of the Creation of the World shining on the sea.

Duncan frowned, suddenly sensing something, and quickly left the bed and came to the window by the desk.

In the dimness of the boundless void, a chaotic and dim streamer slipped silently from the far distance outside the window, and in the space where the streamer briefly illuminated, some large and deformed shadow slowly emerged at the end of the field of vision, rolling silently.

Subspace!

Duncan's heart fluttered, and he instantly realized what had happened.

After such a long time, he "wandered" into subspace again!?

He still remembered the first time he entered the subspace, and remembered that it was also after one of his "naps", and he remembered that he thought it was a strange "dream" - it was the only time he had entered this forbidden "time and space" before the world, and it was so long after that that he had almost forgotten about it.

Now, the same thing is happening again.

Duncan frowned, silently raising his vigilance, first summoning a ball of flame, hiding it in his hands, and then cautiously walking to the door.

He doesn't think of it as a "sleepwalk" anymore.

Because he knows that he can't dream - although he doesn't know what the reason behind this is, the "dream" doesn't seem to belong to him.

He went to the bedroom door, listened intently for a moment, and then slowly pushed the door open.

Outside, the dimly dead captain's quarters, the dilapidated Lost Ship appeared in his field of vision, as it had been last time, everywhere showing the dilapidated appearance of a century of desertion, the empty shelves leaning crookedly against the corners, the defaced oval mirrors hanging from the mottled and cracked walls, the floor piled up with dark and suspicious shadows, and the only intact nautical table was alone in the center of the room, the mysterious nautical chart emitting a faint light on the table.

A black carved wooden goat's head sat quietly on the table, slowly raising its head and resting on Duncan.

(End of chapter)