Chapter 224

Chapter 224: The Captain Never Left

The figure in the mirror had really left. He did nothing extra; just as he said at the start, he had only come over to “take a look at the situation.”

Vanna stared warily at the mirror for a long time before she finally confirmed this and truly relaxed.

Then she fell into a brief spell of self-reflection and uneasy suspicion.

The suspicion came from an Inquisitor’s professional habits. It was hard for her to truly trust a “person” like Captain Duncan, who carried a century of terrifying legends and was tied to Subspace. Even if he did seem rational and friendly, and had indeed protected the city-state of Pland, it was still hard. The self-reflection had a simpler cause—

She realized that during her talks with Captain Duncan, her vigilance had gradually weakened.

This was a weakness she should not have shown. She had never thought something like this would happen to her.

In the end, it was because she had fallen into wavering and self-doubt. She had lost the purity of her faith, and that had opened holes in her mind.

Vanna examined herself for a long time. In the end, she let out a soft sigh.

No matter what, the city had survived safely. She would report tonight’s events to Bishop Valentine, including… her own wavering.

The young Inquisitor’s sigh faded into the darkness together with the extinguished light.

…

On the second floor of the antique shop in the Lower City, Duncan pulled back his gaze from Pland’s great Cathedral. Looking at the night view of the city-state, with lights in countless homes near and far, a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

He did not know what had happened to Vanna, but one thing was clear. The young Inquisitor’s mental state had just gone through a brief yet dangerous shake. That wavering had even touched his senses directly, forcing him to project himself into the Mortal Realm to see what was happening to Vanna.

Thinking back now, the aura he had felt on Vanna then was faintly familiar. It hid deep in her spiritual world, wrapped around her. If he tried to tell it apart carefully, it felt a bit like…

…like that strange feeling he had when he stood in the hold of the Vanished and, through the cracks, watched the chaotic lights and shadows outside the hull.

It was Subspace.

And judging from the question Vanna had suddenly asked him at the end, her trouble was probably really related to Subspace.

Duncan tapped the windowsill with his fingers without thinking, guessing at the truth.

Before leaving, he had reinforced the mark he left on her. That power should be able to help her resist any coming corruption when needed. But the key question was this: why would a high-ranking Saint like Vanna suddenly show a trace of Subspace on her?

Duncan’s thoughts spread out. He suddenly connected this to some other clues—or rather, to some “knowledge.” Under certain conditions, the souls of Believers in the Four Gods were more easily corrupted by Subspace than Mortals. After they were corrupted, their souls could even directly generate a rift linking the Mortal Realm to Subspace. In that small Cathedral in the Sixth District, the first invasion had started from the Shadows of that Nun’s soul…

Would something similar appear on Vanna? If so, what lay behind this strange, counterintuitive phenomenon?

After a moment of thought, Duncan let out a breath and turned away from the window.

In any case, he should pay more attention in the future to this special “Node” that was Vanna. Right now Vanna still did not trust him, this “ghost captain,” so of course she would not take the initiative to tell him all her secrets. That meant he had to put in more effort on his side.

On the way back to his bedroom, Duncan heard the giggling voices of two young girls coming from the nearby room. It was Nina and Shirley.

Even though they had already returned from the Vanished to the city-state, they still seemed excited, especially Nina.

That child did not seem to have any psychological Shadows left by the eerie, frightening ghost ship, nor any uneasiness about the future. She was as cheerful as always, maybe even… a bit more cheerful.

Was it the influence of the Sun’s fragment? Or was it because she herself had a strong ability to accept new things?

Duncan grew thoughtful. He suddenly felt as if he had discovered some unexpected “talents” in Nina.

The veil of night hung low, and the cold, pale radiance of the World’s Wound lit up the wide deck of the Vanished.

Light footsteps broke the silence on the ghost ship under the night. A figure in a gorgeous long dress, silver hair draped over her shoulders, walked up to the helm at the stern.

Alice lifted her head and looked at the captain holding the wheel himself. The glow reflected in her light violet eyes, making them shine: “Captain! Where are we going next?”

“We don’t have a destination for now. We’ll just leave the busy route between the city-states,” Duncan lowered his head to glance at the doll. “You look to be in a good mood.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Alice nodded happily. No matter how elegant and noble she looked, the eager way she nodded made her seem a bit silly. “The ship was so lively today! It’s the first time I realized that just having a lot of people together can be so fun…”

“It’s not always ‘fun’ when you bring people together—but that might be hard for you to understand right now,” Duncan said offhand. “Also, control how hard you nod. You scared them half to death today when your head fell off.”

“Oh, oh…” Alice hurriedly held her head with both hands, then suddenly looked a little worried. “Then they… won’t stop coming because of that, right?”

“That worry is unnecessary.”

Alice answered with another “oh,” then stayed quiet for less than two seconds before asking again: “Then… can I still go to the city-state to play in the future? This time I went there, I didn’t even get to really see the world before all that… messy stuff happened. It made me feel dizzy.”

Duncan’s gaze swept across the sea, then returned to Alice. “Of course you can. Tomorrow I can have AI send you to the antique shop—I still need you to help over there in the store.”

“Really?” Alice’s eyes clearly lit up. She seemed surprised. “I thought… we wouldn’t go back to the city-state much anymore. After all… it felt like you had finished what you needed to do over there.”

Duncan did not answer right away. He stayed silent on purpose for a few seconds before suddenly asking: “Do you think I only pay attention to Pland because I have some task I must do there?”

Alice froze for a moment, then slowly scratched her head. “I… don’t know.”

Duncan smiled and shook his head, gently letting go of the wheel.

Soft creaks came from all over the Vanished. The spirit form sails on the mast furled in a little. The ship shifted into the “cruising state” under Goathead’s control.

“We only solved the trouble caused by a group of cultists,” Duncan stepped down from the helm and walked toward the captain’s cabin, speaking casually to Alice as he went. “As for Pland… I think that city-state has a connection with me.”

The captain walked away. Alice stayed where she was, puzzling over his words for a while. Then she looked in the direction he had gone. “…As expected of the captain. So deep…”

Duncan came to the door of the captain’s cabin. He looked up and saw the words “The Lost Ones” carved on the doorframe, reflecting the dim radiance from the World’s Wound.

He drew in a slow breath to steady his mind, then put his hand on the doorknob.

He gently pushed it open.

Hazy, twisted mist appeared before his eyes. Duncan stepped forward and felt the familiar instant of weightlessness and slight dizziness. That sense of dislocation, as if he were crossing endless time and space yet also arriving at his destination in a single moment, flashed by. Then everything around him grew quiet.

The never-ending wind and waves of the Boundless Sea and the faint creaking of the Vanished faded away. The salty sea breeze quietly vanished. A familiar smell filled the air, from the room he had lived in for many years.

Zhou Ming opened his eyes and looked at the unchanging scene in his studio apartment.

As always, the first thing he did after coming back here was check the general state of the room. He checked whether anything had changed while he was gone, whether there was any sign that the thick fog outside the window had thinned, and whether the strings and bits of paper he had left on the window and windowsill had been moved.

Even though he knew it was pointless, he still treated this series of “checks” as a task he had to complete.

After he finished all of that, the second thing he did was walk to his desk.

Zhou Ming lowered his head and calmly looked at the thing on his desk.

A city-state of Pland, like a scaled-down model, sat quietly on the desktop.

It was exquisite and faithful. Every tiny detail was vividly reproduced. It might even match every paving stone and every lamppost of the real Pland.

In other words, this was the real Pland shown in his apartment in some kind of “projection” form.

Its appearance here was exactly what he had expected.

The fine flames that had once leaped and burned on the desk had finished the last carving of this “collection piece.” Now this perfect masterpiece stood before its master.

Zhou Ming let out a soft breath, slowly sat down by the desk, and studied the delicate “model.”

Compared to the “model” of the Vanished, this “city-state” was clearly much larger, but it certainly wasn’t a simple scaled-up version. Its size seemed just right to fit into a single compartment on the shelf, as if it had been made exactly for that spot.

And in this lifelike city model, he could not see any trace of residents.

It seemed that the “people” living in the city-state could not form projections here.

Zhou Ming grew thoughtful and, after pondering and studying the model of Pland again and again for a long time, finally let out a light breath. He picked up the large “collection piece” with both hands and carefully placed it on the nearby shelf.

After he set it in place, he stepped back two paces and quietly admired his new collection.

The Vanished had already sailed far away from Pland, but the captain… had never left his loyal city-state.