Deep Sea Embers

The "coffin" is back.

On the stern deck of the Lost Home, Duncan looked at the gorgeous wooden box lying quietly in front of him with an expressionless face. The water drops on the edge of the wooden box fell drop by drop at his feet, confirming that he had thrown the wooden box away. The memory of entering the sea is definitely not false, confirming that this thing was indeed floating in the sea not long ago.

Such a weird situation is enough to make people feel chilly, but for some reason, Duncan is feeling calmer than he imagined.

Maybe it’s because I’m on this extremely weird ghost ship, maybe it’s because I just experienced a thrilling “spiritual drift” and ship collision not long ago, or maybe it’s because I had a fight with an equally weird goat’s head. After several days of interaction, Duncan seems to have become somewhat immune to the bizarre and supernatural phenomena in this world.

In fact, as early as the last time he threw this "cursed doll" into the sea, he vaguely guessed that things would not end so easily.

He lowered his head and found, as expected, that the nails and chains around the coffin had disappeared. Then he bent down and used the pirate sword in his hand to pry open the lid of the "coffin" again. .

The gorgeous Gothic doll still lies quietly in the center of the red velvet lining, with hands folded in tranquility and elegance.

But this time Duncan clearly noticed that the corners of the other party's skirt seemed to be wetted by sea water - a slight sea smell came from the inside of the coffin lid.

So far, this weird doll doesn't seem to have any other unusual or dangerous behavior except for coming back again and again. However, just the fact of "going away and coming back" is already considered a standard attribute of a "cursed object".

Duncan looked at the doll expressionlessly for a while, then suddenly broke the silence with a half-smile: "I suddenly want to satisfy my curiosity..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and walked towards the entrance of the cabin not far away, leaving the puppet on the deck with confidence.

——Although personally, he was wary of the doll and did not want to leave him by his side, but based on his understanding of the Lost Home and the goat head, he knew to put the doll on the deck for the time being. There won't be any big problems on board. Even if she breaks out and hurts someone, the many "living creatures" on this ship can still handle it.

And he has to do some "preparatory work" during this time.

Duncan passed through the stern deck, opened the wooden door leading to the lower deck, stepped on the old wooden stairs, and came to the cabin below the deck with ease. This is the "upper cabin" in the cabin, where the artillery is placed. Place - Old-style front-loaded artillery lies quietly on both sides of the cabin, with moldy black wooden boards covering the shooting ports next to them. Black powder barrels and solid iron ball-like cannonballs are piled among the gun emplacements. The space looks as if it has been piled up for a century.

Duncan's eyes swept over these things that seemed to have a sense of age at a glance, and something suddenly came to his mind -

On this ship, he didn't see a second "human" figure besides himself, so who was controlling these artillery pieces?

Could it be that, just like the Homeless Ship itself, these artillery pieces can be loaded and fired by themselves?

What about the fresh water tank on the ship? Are you replenishing it yourself? What about the damage? Also repair it yourself? In other words...does this ship really have the concept of "damage"?

Questions popped up in my mind one by one, but I couldn't think of an explanation.

Duncan knew very well that he still knew too little about the ship. Although he had explored it to a certain extent in the past few days, he only had a general understanding of its superstructure and those deeper structures. The area was far weirder and more fearful than the upper level. In addition, he had always hoped to leave his "bachelor apartment" and return to the normal world on earth, and did not focus on the Lost Home. This resulted in him not having much motivation to act "here".

But now, he suddenly had a greater curiosity about the ship, or... a greater "awareness of control."

This was his ship, and he deserved to get to know the Lost Home.

This may also be the change that occurs after holding the steering wheel.

Duncan shook his head and put the follow-up exploration plan in his mind for the time being, and then came to the place where the cannonballs were stacked...

After a while, Duncan returned to the stern deck with several cast-iron cannonballs in his arms. Just as he thought - the cursed doll in the coffin was still lying honestly in the wooden box.

"Did she make any movement just now?"

"Not at all," the goat-headed voice came immediately. It seemed to have been holding it in for too long, and it crackled as soon as it opened. "This lady is as quiet as she looks. You should trust my judgment. She is to you It is gentle and harmless. Since she returned to the ship again and again, it may mean that there is some connection between her, her coffin and the Lost Home. A great gardener once..."

"Shut up."

"oh."

Duncan stared blankly at the doll in the coffin.

He didn't know if she was really unable to move, or if she was still pretending to be asleep - anyway, Duncan didn't care about it.

He wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

The cast-iron cannonballs, which are like solid iron balls, are extremely heavy. When executing traitors on the ship, strapping one such cannonball is enough to kill even the most experienced sailor.

Duncan placed four in the coffins - then returned to the cabin and moved the other four.

Eight cannonballs filled almost all the remaining space in the wooden box. The gorgeous and elegant Gothic doll was now surrounded by a circle of cannonballs. It looked...very full of martial virtue.

Elegance is not so elegant anymore, evil is really evil.

Duncan sealed the lid of the coffin again, and then pushed the wooden box to the edge of the deck with considerable effort. Even with his current physical strength, it was not easy to complete this operation.

Finally, he flew up and kicked the coffin into the sea.

There was a heavy sound of falling into the water, and the gorgeous wooden box plunged straight into the water and sank.

Duncan still stood quietly on the edge of the deck, staring at the place where the wooden box fell into the water, and did not move for a long time.

The goat-headed voice came into his mind: "Captain, have you regretted it? If you regret throwing away this loot, the Homeless Ship can try to use the anchor to fish out the box again, although it does not belong to the anchor. Correct usage, but Anchor said it could be tried..."

"Shut up."

"But I see you have been standing at the edge of the deck for a long time..."

"Shut up."

"oh."

Duncan exhaled softly.

In front of the dog-legged goat-head, he could never admit that his toes hurt.

So he was in pain for several minutes on the edge of the deck, trying hard to maintain the seriousness that a majestic captain should have. In the end, he was a little bit doubtful that he looked like a stone. He slowly returned to the upper cabin below the deck.

After waiting quietly for a few more minutes, and guessing that the time was almost up, Duncan suddenly walked to the stern area of ​​the upper cabin, opened the observation window between the two stern cannons, and paid close attention to the movements on the sea.

The goat-head was quiet for a short time, and then he couldn't help it anymore: "Captain, what are you..."

While staring at the sea with all his concentration, Duncan replied without raising his head: "I'm very curious about how the 'cursed doll' came back."

"Um...because she's a cursed doll?"

"...I appreciate your attitude of not asking for explanations, but I think that even if it is a cursed doll, there must be some process for her to return to the ship. She wants to pretend that she is 'dead', but she returns to the ship again and again, I think there must be a reason, and the other party must have the ability to communicate... But now that she refuses to communicate, I can only find a way to catch her behavior and forcefully establish communication with that guy. "

Listening to Duncan's explanation, the goat head was silent for two seconds, and suddenly asked tentatively: "Captain, you seem... to have suddenly become more interested? Ah, this is really a good sign! Since you woke up last time, your My mood has never been very good, and I seem to have lost interest in many things. Your loyal first mate and second mate..."

"Shut up."

"oh."

After the goat head calmed down, Duncan was still paying close attention to the movements on the sea, and in his sight, there was only calm in the sea towards the stern of the ship.

The "coffin" seemed to have really sunk into the deep sea and never appeared again.

But with the experience of the first two times, Duncan was extra patient this time. He silently counted the time, waited silently, observed silently, and allowed time to flow.

He didn't seem to notice that he was actively expecting the doll to reappear.

Then, a small black shadow really appeared in his field of vision.

During the ups and downs of the waves, the black shadow rushed into Duncan's eyes. It was a beautiful wooden box, breaking through the sea like a lonely boat in the wind and waves, and the beautiful Gothic doll was standing in the wooden box. , holding her gorgeous coffin lid in an imposing posture, and rushing forward in the wind and waves, rowing desperately from left to right.

A gothic doll standing in a coffin and waving the coffin lid to ride the wind and waves.

Elegance is not so elegant anymore, the evil is really more evil than eight cannonballs.

Duncan was shocked.

(Oh my god!)