Chapter 215

Chapter 215: The Well-Behaved Sun

“Do you think… what is the situation in Pland now?”

After staying silent for a long time, Shirley finally could not hold back. She looked up at the old scholar in front of her, then at Miss Alice, who seemed very familiar with Mr. Duncan, and asked the question hesitantly.

“…I don’t know. But I think Mr. Duncan has probably already acted and solved the problem – even though I cannot imagine how he did it,” Morris said, rubbing his forehead while he thought. “More than that, right now I’m more concerned about this place…”

He lifted his head and looked around. His gaze fell on the spirit form sails above them, swelling and moving with no wind. His expression grew a bit strange.

“This ship makes me think of that legend. The one about the Vanished…”

“That’s right,” as soon as Morris finished speaking, Alice’s voice came from the side. She had a proud smile on her face. “This is the Vanished. Welcome aboard.”

Morris froze mid-rub and stared in shock. “This really is the Vanished?! Then Mr. Duncan’s identity…”

“He’s the captain, of course. Old gentleman, you are really slow,” Shirley on the opposite side curled her lips. After being nervous for so long, she finally felt a bit happy because she knew something others did not, which made her relax a little. “He’s even called Duncan and you still didn’t figure it out?”

“You knew about this long ago?” Morris looked at the girl in front of him in disbelief. “I thought this was your first time on this ship, just like me…”

“It is my first time here – but it’s not my first time seeing Captain Duncan’s true form,” Shirley said proudly, straightening her back. “A-Gou and I have known Captain Duncan for a long time… anyway, longer than you!”

Morris did not really catch the second half of what she said. The moment he heard her mention “the captain’s true form”, he felt a twitch in his forehead. His face turned odd as he muttered, “…If possible, I would rather not know what a ‘true form’ is…”

Shirley blinked. “Huh? Old gentleman, what did you say?”

“Nothing… There are some things we should not talk about too often. It’s good for our physical and mental health.”

“Tch, say it or don’t say it. You people who do research always like being so mysterious,” Shirley muttered, curling her lips. But she did not stay quiet even for two seconds. She could not help looking toward the far end of the big ship’s deck. “Do you think… Nina is all right? She suddenly vanished in front of us, but Mr. Duncan said she only left for a little while…”

Alice’s gentle, confident voice sounded beside her, trying to comfort the worried Shirley: “Don’t worry. She will be fine.”

Shirley looked up. She was not familiar with Alice, but she knew this anomalous, beautiful and mysterious lady had been following “Captain Duncan” from an even earlier time. She must know some inside story others did not. So Shirley asked curiously: “Why do you say that? Do you know what is happening with Nina…”

“Because the captain said so,” Alice answered with a smile. “He said we don’t need to worry.”

The rest of Shirley’s words stuck in her throat.

For some reason, she suddenly felt that this especially beautiful lady in front of her seemed… not very smart…

…

At the same time, on the aft deck of the Vanished, Duncan was looking at the bright arc of flame floating in mid-air in front of him.

Now he could be one hundred percent sure that, at least in form, this arc of flame was a solar prominence. It kept repeating the process of surging out and falling back. It felt… as if someone had cut this solar prominence directly from a Sun, not only taking its existence but also taking its repeating state within a certain slice of time.

Now this “cut-out” solar prominence floated quietly on the Vanished. It even looked only as tall as a person.

But that did not mean it was truly this “small and harmless”.

Duncan could feel the amazing energy inside it. Even though he could sense only a small part, the destructive heat and the terrifying power of a star were still enough to choke him. This feeling was even stronger than the moment when he had used the Golden Mask to glimpse the Creeping Sun Wheel. It made him even more certain that this stream of flame really did come from the Sun.

It came from a real Sun – one that went beyond what those Suntists could understand, a Sun that had already mutated and broken apart in some ancient age.

This solar prominence only looked small and harmless now because it was still under control.

Duncan could not understand it. In the knowledge system he had, there was no way to explain why a part of the Sun would become like this, nor could he guess what had happened to the real star that this solar prominence had once belonged to.

Just as he could not understand this world either. He could not understand what kind of Great Annihilation could have created this strange and dangerous “Deep Sea era” they now lived in.

But in the end, he shook his head.

These things were not important for now.

Duncan took a slow breath and forced his mind to focus again. Then he carefully reached out his right hand toward the solar prominence.

A deadly heat appeared in his senses, but in the next second that heat faded like an illusion. He saw a wisp of ghostly green flame jumping at his fingertip. Inside the solar prominence, thin threads of green fire were also quietly moving, as if in resonance.

Not long ago, this bit of pre-planted corruption had ended and torn apart the birth of that Black Sun above Pland, and it had also preserved Nina’s “humanity”.

“Nina, try again,” Duncan said. “Remember how that moment of transformation felt and let yourself ‘come back’. We were very close to success just now.”

The stream of flame jumped a few times in the air. Then its surface bulged. Golden fire rose and wrapped around itself. In a short time, a figure slowly formed within the dancing light. The vague figure looked like a young maiden, but her features were still blurry.

She lowered her head, as if curiously looking at her own body. But in the next second, the newly gathered flames burst apart again, and she turned back into a surging stream of fire.

“Don’t lose heart. We will try again,” Duncan said. He was not impatient at all. He simply continued his mental guidance gently. “I will hold you up. Since you can recover to this level, it means this way is workable…”

The arc of flame swelled again. The golden fire inside crackled. Then Nina’s figure appeared from within the flames once more.

Duncan watched, a little tense. They had tried this many times already, but each attempt had failed halfway. According to the information from the spirit flame he had planted in the fragment of the Sun, this process should indeed be controllable. But clearly, this huge and unfamiliar power was not so easy to master.

The golden flames crackled. Duncan was already prepared for another failure.

But in the very next breath, the firelight and the arc of flame in front of him vanished at once.

A familiar figure jumped out from the last flicker of flame.

A gentle sea breeze blew across the deck, damp and cold. The tips of Nina’s hair lifted slightly in the wind. Bright sunlight slanted through the clouds and then through her wind-tossed hair. Between the drifting strands, the sunlight leaped and danced like tiny flames.

In the next instant, those sunlight flames dancing in her hair faded like illusions.

Nina smiled. She looked at the Uncle Duncan in front of her, who looked completely different from the one in her memory and yet was unmistakably the same: “Uncle, I’m back!”

Only then did Duncan finally let out a soft breath. As he did, the entire Vanished reacted with him. The ship seemed to have been tense this whole time, with all its ropes, masts, and sails pulled tight. Now crackling sounds rose from all directions, mixed with whooshing and clacking from under the deck.

It was as if the whole ship was cheering, celebrating together with its captain.

“Quiet,” Duncan said over his shoulder. The whole ship fell silent at once. Then he turned back and looked at Nina with some curiosity. “You can still recognize me?”

“Of course. You are Uncle Duncan,” Nina said as if it was obvious. Then she scratched her cheek – it was her habit when she was trying to hide her awkwardness and confusion. “But… I don’t even know how I knew. I just felt it was you. When I was floating in the sky before and you called me down, I also recognized you right away…”

She stopped, hesitating. She looked Duncan up and down, narrowing her eyes a little, as if she wanted to pick out some tiny details on this uncle in front of her.

He did not look like him at all. He was almost nothing like the Uncle Duncan from the antique shop.

But a clear knowing still appeared in her mind.

It felt as if she was not recognizing him with her eyes, but by directly “reading the facts”.

Nina did not know how to explain the feeling. She could only keep grinning foolishly until Duncan stepped closer and, just like always, rubbed her hair.

“That’s fine too,” Duncan said with a small sigh. “I was worrying about how to explain this ship to you, and my other appearance.”

Nina tried to dodge the hand pressing on her head. This Uncle Duncan was much taller and bigger than the one in her memory. His palm was broader and rougher too. The callused fingers brushed across her forehead and made her feel ticklish.

After a while, when he finally pulled his hand back, she suddenly lifted her head and stared straight into Duncan’s eyes.

“I actually have two ‘uncles’… right?”

She suddenly spoke.

Duncan did not look away. Although the question had come suddenly, he was not very surprised.

It was as if he had known long ago that this moment would come sooner or later.

If there was any power in this world that could resist “Captain Duncan’s” might, then “the Sun” – no matter which Sun – was an expected choice.

He quietly met Nina’s gaze.

“You noticed?”

“…Mm.”