After leaving the border curtain and embarking on this long "journey to the end of the world", the crew of the Lost and the Bright Star have gradually formed a new and tacit connection, sometimes the people on the two ships will visit each other, sometimes they will communicate with each other, and in most cases, Ay is a bridge between the two ships - and these connections and the "everyday" based on the connection seem to be quietly becoming a kind of anchor to maintain the "humanity" of everyone on board.

Because they are far away from the civilized world, away from people and society, they need to communicate with each other—when the fog at the end of the world covers everything, it is especially important to be able to confirm each other's existence in the fog.

Nina and Shirley, who had gathered in the dining room, ran away almost in the blink of an eye, all with their knives, forks and rice bowls (Shirley still unswervingly brought her big rice bowl) and a happy good mood, and the scene soon fell silent, and finally only Duncan was left sitting at the table, looking at the remaining sticky bubbling "soup" and a pile of charred and suspected food on the table with a helpless smile.

After a while, he shook his head and couldn't help muttering, "I don't know how Morris solved the problem of eating when he was young...... Is it difficult to rely on the hard resistance of the digestive system? ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Agatha's figure suddenly reflected on a shiny soup spoon on the edge of the table: "I've heard him say this - one-third of the time he gnaws dry food, one-third finds what he gnaws, and the remaining one-third transforms himself into a casting form and drinks engine oil to gnaw boiling gold, and the flesh part is given to the gods......"

Duncan: "...... It's like something he can do. ”

Agatha shrugged: "Actually, I can understand all of this, but the old man said that he was trapped in a dark chasm for several weeks at the most extreme time, and when he came out, he felt that the taste of the dead bird was not bad - this credibility has to be a question mark in my heart." ”

Before Agatha could finish speaking, the question mark in her heart had shifted to Duncan's head, who listened dumbfounded, and couldn't help but say, "Gnawing on the Devil alive?!" No...... Does that thing have meat? ”

Agatha stretched out her hand and walked from the back of the spoon to the dinner knife next to her: "Who knows?" The last time he drank to tell me, and you know, the old man who drank usually only had one last stop to tell about his adventures. ”

The corners of Duncan's mouth twitched, and he decided not to dwell on the topic anymore.

He looked up at the porthole not far away—through the open window, he could see that the uniform gray-white background was still stretching infinitely beyond the Lost Country, as if the whole world had melted into the boundless gray.

"What are you thinking?" Agatha's slightly magnetic voice came from the side, and her figure was reflected in a hanging lantern shade next to her, and her face was a little blurred in the faltering firelight.

“…… We've been away for a long time," Duncan was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly whispered, "Do you still miss Frost now?" ”

"Yes," said Agatha without hesitation, looking at Duncan with only honesty in her eyes, "I will not hide my true thoughts from you—nor can I ignore the weight of memories and feelings that have accumulated in my heart over the past few decades, even if they are only a fake...... I still remember the frosty days, sometimes waking up from a trance, and I even thought I was still in that cathedral, waiting to meet Bishop Ivan. ”

She paused at this point, then exhaled softly, and looked Duncan into the eyes.

"You have other plans for us, don't you?"

Duncan looked at the "gatekeeper" reflected in the lights with some surprise: "...... Why? ”

"I can sense that you have a plan, that you are 'touring' along the borders of this world, and that everywhere the Lost Ship goes, there is some kind of ...... "I don't know what it is, it's beyond my comprehension, but in the world of reflections, I can clearly see what remains in the wake of the Lost Land, from the node of the Goddess of Storm, to the node of the God of Wisdom, to the current route......

"You are somehow 'wrapping' the whole world, and in those 'imprints' that surround the world, I smell ...... The breath of the end.

"You're going to have to do something big, and this 'parade' along the end of the world is just the first step in that, and when you're done setting up at the border, that's when the plan finally starts, and I can feel it...... You don't seem to intend for us to follow you to the end. ”

Duncan quieted down, silently staring into Agatha's eyes.

"The gatekeeper's eyes can see many things that are invisible to ordinary people, and after becoming a reflection, I began to see more...... Think of it as a snoop on fate," Agatha chuckled softly, and shook her head slowly, "I was awakened in the darkness by a nightmare, and when I woke up I saw the ship sailing in the midst of an endless void, and the ship was empty, with you at the stern at the helm—I talked to you, called your name, asked where the others were, and you could not see me, nor hear me, and then I vaguely guessed...... It doesn't seem like there's a place left for us on your next journey. ”

After a pause, Agatha continued, "And now, you're suddenly asking me if I still miss Frost...... I was even more convinced of my judgment. ”

Listening to the other party's words, Duncan didn't speak for a long time, he just thought quietly, and it took a long time to break the silence: "Indeed, as you said, the Lost Country is on a 'tour' around the world, and after this tour is over...... I'm going to do something enough to restart this 'world', and until then, you need to leave. ”

Agatha didn't speak, just watched quietly—she knew the captain wasn't done yet.

"It's not an expulsion," Duncan continued, after a moment of silence, "you are my crew, always have been, and I've always had you in place on my journey, except that you have other tasks while I take my final step. ”

"Can you tell me what exactly you're going to do?" Agatha asked softly.

“…… The first step is to destroy the world," Duncan said calmly after a long period of thought, "and in the process, you will be my 'anchor' and bear witness for me, because at that stage I may no longer be able to observe everything with my own eyes......"

Agatha listened quietly to the captain's plan, and did not speak for a long time, until it was a long time after Duncan had finished speaking, and she hesitated to break her silence: "No wonder you took the Bright Star with you, instead of having Miss Lucrecia go directly aboard the Lost Land......"

"There's got to be a ship to get back," Duncan said, "and Lucy is a very smart girl, and she must have been aware of what I was going to do." ”

"She may realize, but you have to tell the others the whole story of the plan yourself," Agatha looked at her captain earnestly, "You can always trust us. ”

"I trust you, but it took me a long time to get a rough idea of what this plan was going to be," Duncan calmly met the Gatekeeper Lady's gaze, "In fact, it wasn't until I left Grimna's realm that I figured out the underlying order of this world, and determined that the 'shutdown' of the entire sanctuary must be carried out in order to solve the troubles left by the Great Annihilation - and until then, bringing the Bright Star with me was just a cautious 'backup plan'. ”

Listening to Duncan's explanation, Agatha exhaled softly, and then suddenly showed a hint of a smile: "Then I will be much more relieved." ”

She jumped from the glass shade of the lantern, her figure jumping between the glittering cups and plates on the dining table, and finally stopped in Duncan's water glass.

"If you have a careful arrangement, then we can carry out it with confidence and boldness, and the captain's orders are better than no orders at all times."

Duncan smiled and glanced down at Agatha's reflection in the cup, and tapped the water glass, causing the janitor lady inside to shatter into pieces.

"That's right, now I have an order."

Agatha's figure appeared on the porcelain plate next to her: "Please command." ”

"Call the sailor over and tell him to tidy up this place," Duncan waved as he got up, "that guy hasn't even shown his face since he wasn't at the helm, and he really thinks he won't have to do anything after getting a permanent ticket to the Lost Country." ”

There was a smile in Agatha's voice: "Yes, Captain! ”

Duncan nodded, turned and left the restaurant.

He was going to return to his captain's room and get some sleep before reaching the next "node", and before that, he could stop by the bridge to see how Miss Doll was doing—although Alice was theoretically an "empty shell" tied to the steering wheel, and everything was left to her as the "Pilot III" instinct except for pretending to drive the ship, it was not reassuring to leave that Hanhan on the bridge for a long time.

With this thought in mind, Duncan walked unhurriedly towards the aft deck, but just as he was about to step up the stairs to the bridge, he suddenly stopped.

Bang bang bang.

The sound of a knock on a window suddenly came to my ears.

Duncan was stunned for a moment, subconsciously looking for the direction from which the sound came from, but the next second he realized that there were no windows around him at all—the sound of banging on the glass windows was still ringing continuously, but it seemed to sound directly in his head.

Duncan frowned, then finally reacted.

That voice came directly from my own "cognition"!

He suddenly looked up and saw that not far in front of him was the "Gate of the Lost" that was standing quietly......

(End of chapter)