Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Not Enough Everyday Common Sense

In some ways, this sky with no stars or moon, only a single wound, shocked Duncan even more than that Sun trapped in rune rings.

Because no matter how much of an Anomaly the Sun was, it only shone on the world beneath his feet. In Duncan’s understanding as a person from Earth, the so-called “Sun” was just one star among billions.

All the twisted Visions were limited to the space under the sunlight. Beyond that sunlight, the sky could still hold countless stars full of possibility. For a being bound by gravity, the world under the sunlight was basically the entire world. Even so, Duncan could at least understand and accept the scale of such Visions.

Yet in the night sky before him, Duncan did not see any object that could be called a “star”. There were no stars, no Moon, no distant river of starlight.

There was only that torn wound, covering the heavens in a way he could not understand, sending out pale mist-like light.

The whole Boundless Sea lay under this snowy, pale night.

Beyond the Sun lay distant nothingness and even greater Visions.

Duncan did not say anything. He only stared at the sky, while countless questions and guesses circled in his mind.

Where were the other planets? Had they never existed? Or was the world under his feet a lone body in the empty vacuum of the universe, so far from all other stars that its night sky was pitch-black and starless? What was that Pale Scar stretching across the heavens? A torn rift in space? A solid, touchable structure hanging in the sky? Or simply an illusion, floating above the dangerous Boundless Sea?

“Captain?”

At last, a voice pulled Duncan out of his silence. Alice the doll watched the ghost captain, who had suddenly stopped walking, with some nervousness. She saw his face grow even darker and more serious than before, and it scared her: “Are you all right, sir? Is the sky about to change? A huge storm? I once heard the seafarers outside my crate talk about that…”

“…Nothing.”

Duncan spoke softly. Then he suddenly lowered his gaze from the sky and looked at Alice with a calm face. It sounded like an answer, and also like he was talking to himself as he repeated: “There is nothing.”

“Then we…”

Duncan walked forward again, his expression as calm as if nothing had happened: “Come on. I will take you to the cabin. You can wash there in the future too, if you need to wash.”

Once again, this world showed its strange, twisted side to the outsider, and this strangeness seemed to have no end.

Duncan already knew that he did not know how many shocking Visions were waiting for him in the future. If he got worked up every time, then his whole life would be nothing but getting worked up.

If his decades of life on Earth had given him any useful experience, then there was one lesson that helped him most now:

If a problem really existed, then find a way to solve it. A problem would not vanish just because you denied it, just as this bizarre sky would not turn into a starry one because he questioned it.

There had to be a reason for the world to look like this. Since all things could exist here, that made their existence a fact that could not be argued away. No matter how absurd or strange, they were still objective reality. If he could not understand it for the moment, that was his problem, not the world’s.

As the current captain of the Vanished, Duncan felt he would probably have a long time to slowly get to know this world.

Alice did not know why the captain stayed silent along the way. She only knew that the air around Duncan suddenly grew heavy. Yet after they reached the target cabin, that heavy feeling faded at once.

Duncan brought the doll Miss to the place where she could bathe. It was a bathroom prepared for the higher ranking seafarers. For a classical sailing ship, such a bathroom was a kind of “luxury” facility. Normally, it would never be for common sailors.

In ancient times, life on sailing ships during long ocean voyages had been very harsh. Limited fresh water, rotten food, terrible medical care, and the mental pressure of long journeys troubled every explorer who dared to challenge the sea. On Earth, many of these problems were not fully solved even by the early industrial age.

From what Duncan knew, early sailing Ocean-Going Vessels on Earth did not even have toilets prepared for regular crew members. Ordinary sailors usually handled their personal needs on grating boards hanging over the sea, which also meant they had to watch the wind direction. Bathing was an even harder problem. Using spare sails as bathtubs and washing with seawater was how many easygoing sailors solved it. Many seafarers in the age of sail simply chose not to bathe for weeks or even months.

After all, compared to scurvy, the plague, and mass hysteria born from crushing mental pressure, a bit of hygiene trouble was the least of their worries.

Yet, ironically, on this ghost ship that everyone feared, those harsh living problems were solved.

The freshwater tank on the Vanished refilled itself. The food stored in the hold showed no sign of rotting. The ghost captain could not get sick, and Alice’s neck problems were not caused by life at sea.

Aside from the frequent spikes in blood pressure when dealing with Goathead, this ship was actually quite livable.

“The pipe next to the tub leads to the freshwater tank. You can draw water straight from it. The plug for the tub hangs over there, do not lose it. For now the conditions are limited, so the ship does not supply hot water, but I do not think that will bother you,” Duncan said as he introduced the facilities in the cabin. These simple bits of knowledge were the result of his own exploration over the past few days.

“Just being able to rinse my body is enough. Having salt water in the joints really does not feel good,” Alice was not picky at all. She looked around the cabin with curiosity and excitement while listening to Duncan. She nodded as she spoke: “I am only a doll. I do not care much about hot baths.”

Duncan nodded, then his expression turned a little odd. He glanced at Alice and spoke with some hesitation: “By the way, do you know how to take a bath? Do you have this kind of… everyday experience?”

Alice really froze for a moment. Then, thinking carefully, she answered very seriously: “I think… it should be fine? I just need to take my joints apart and rinse them, then put them back on after washing…”

Duncan: “…?”

He looked at Alice. Alice looked back at him with an innocent face.

“Have you thought about how you are going to put them back on after you take them all apart?” Duncan realized that his casual question had hit the mark. This doll who had never left her crate really had no experience in this area. “I cannot help you with that.”

Alice: “…That is true, I guess.”

“And I strongly suggest that you do not take your joints apart too often,” Duncan added with some feeling. “Even if your body structure allows it.”

Alice looked confused: “Why?”

“If you take them apart too often, they will start to fall off,” Duncan said at last, unable to keep the helpless tone from his voice. He had never imagined that living on a ship with a cursed Doll would come with this many ‘little details’. No novel, film, or drama had ever covered that. “I do not want you suddenly falling to pieces in front of me while walking on the deck one day. There is no one on this ship who knows how to maintain a doll’s joints.”

He paused, then added: “Your neck problem is already bad enough.”

Alice pictured that scene and immediately shrank her neck: “Ah, all right, all right, I understand… I know what to do now…”

“You had better,” Duncan said. He looked again at this doll whose life experience was not very complete, still a bit worried. Then he turned to leave. “I have many other things to do. Try not to cause too much trouble.”

“Yes, Captain. Thank you, Captain,” Alice said happily. But just as Duncan was about to step out of the cabin, she suddenly spoke again: “Ah, right, Captain…”

Duncan stopped and turned his head a little: “What is it?”

“Captain… I suddenly feel like you are not that scary,” Alice looked at his back and chose her words carefully. “Goathead said you are the most terrifying captain on the Boundless Sea, the most unpredictable disaster on all the route, but…”

“But what?”

“But you seem pretty easy to talk to. You even feel a bit like a worried parent…”

Duncan did not turn around. After two seconds of silence, he suddenly asked: “Where did you get the idea of a family… Do you have a family?”

Alice hesitated at once, then slowly shook her head: “I do not think so.”

“Then do not talk about parents. Just stay on the ship and behave. I will make the arrangements for your life on this ship.”

“Oh. Yes, Captain.”