Deep Sea Embers

A rotating flame door suddenly expanded on the deck, and then the owner of the Lost Fleet stepped out of the door.

Tall, majestic, wrapped in spiritual fire, with eyes like torches, its existence itself seems to embody the fear in the boundless sea, and wherever its gaze goes, it seems to trigger all the flames in the world.

And behind the tall figure, an elegant woman wearing a dark purple dress, long silver hair reaching her waist, beautiful appearance but slightly pale complexion came out. She followed closely behind Captain Duncan, with a mysterious and elegant temperament. Elegant, like a follower.

Lawrence felt his heart pounding, and his nerves were tense to the extreme. He saw Duncan walking towards him, and with every step closer to him, the unquenchable spiritual flame on his body became more and more powerful - - It wasn't until the other party stopped on the deck that he lowered his head and said, "Captain."

"Your ship is pretty good." Duncan said casually, and then raised his head and looked around at this expedition ship that he had met once before, and then this fate has been entangled to this day. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a sense of novelty in his heart. The feeling - because strictly speaking, this was the first time that his body left the Lost Home and came to another ship.

Before setting foot on the White Oak, he was worried about whether there would be any unforeseen changes after leaving the Homeless Ship. After all, using his "incarnation" to walk in the city-state and leaving the ship were completely different concepts, but now It seems that...at least when the "Homeless Fleet" is operating internally, there will be no problems with the Homeless Fleet due to his departure.

Lawrence had a strange feeling in his heart. He couldn't tell whether Captain Duncan's words just now were considered a compliment or not. He could only continue to lower his head in embarrassment: "Well, I hope you like it..."

"Don't be so nervous, it's not the first time we've met," Duncan laughed. Lawrence's reaction was what he expected, and he had seen this reaction many times. "Relax, just treat yourself as if you were meeting an explorer on a regular basis." Ordinary senior of the association.”

As he spoke, his eyes swept across Lawrence's uniform, and he saw the emblem of the Explorers Association on the other's collar.

Duncan nodded slightly and added: "Many years ago, I was an explorer - but unfortunately the original badge was lost in subspace."

Lawrence was stunned, and raised his head hesitantly. His tense nerves relaxed slightly, and his sluggish thinking began to work again - he suddenly realized that this terrible "subspace shadow" was really telling the truth. Formerly… Duncan Abnormar was indeed a member of the Society of Explorers, and even one of the most famous explorers of his time.

And strictly speaking, the Explorers Association has not even "removed" the ghost captain yet - because no one thought that a subspace shadow needed to be deregistered...

Duncan didn't pay attention to Lawrence's reaction and the confusion in his expression. After confirming that the other party had relaxed a little, he casually chatted with the other party in a chatty tone: "Did everything go well when you came here?"

"Uh... it went well," Lawrence answered honestly, trying his best to make his reaction appear as normal as possible, "We set off from Frost East Port and passed through the blockade set up by the Sea Fog Fleet in the outer sea. They gave us directions. road……"

"Well, I told Tirian that the Sea Mist Fleet will not cause you any trouble," Duncan nodded, then raised his head and glanced at the flagpole next to him, "Is Anomaly 077 hanging on it?"

"Yes, it is."

"What mistake did he make? Why is he hanging on the flagpole?"

Lawrence: "..."

After hesitating for several seconds, he twitched his lips and said, "He took the initiative to hang there - he wanted to use this method to return himself to the sealed state, but it seemed to be very unsuccessful."

"...Why are all the humanoid 'abnormalities' I see so strange?" Duncan muttered, turning his head to look at Alice who was following behind him and looking elegant and dignified, but was actually wandering in the world, and then pointed. The mummy hanging in the air said, "Come down."

As soon as he finished speaking, the mummy that was pretending to be dead a second ago immediately shook its body, fell to the deck with a "bang", and then rolled and crawled in front of Duncan, trembling all over as if it were the first time he was powered on. Like Frankenstein: "The captain of the ship... and the sailors report to... you!"

Duncan frowned: "Are you stuttering?"

"I...I am a sailor..."

Duncan was actually happy when he saw the other party's reaction. He didn't expect that one of the top 100 intelligent anomalies would actually be afraid of himself, Captain Duncan. Then, he turned his head in confusion and looked at the man who was following him. A glance at Alice behind her.

They are all top 100 anomalies, and they all have the same thinking ability as humans... Why doesn't this doll know how to be afraid? She was nervous for a while on the Lost Home, and then quickly adapted to the environment. Now she can even play with the pots and pans on the ship.

Alice noticed the captain's gaze and immediately responded with an almost sincere smile.

Duncan: "..."

He suddenly felt that Alice might not adapt quickly, but simply react slowly. He guessed that after being afraid for a while at the beginning, she forgot about her fear...

At the same time, Alice also noticed the shivering mummy standing opposite. She thought hard and seemed to finally recall what the captain told her before departure, so she smiled on her face and took the initiative to fight with him. Greeting: "Hello, my name is Alice. I heard that you are also abnormal?"

The mummy was slightly startled, looking up and down with some confusion at the "elegant lady" in front of him who was no different from an ordinary human being, but seemed to have a sense of inconsistency in his movements: "You too?"

"Yes!" Alice said happily, "My number is 099."

The sailor scratched his head in embarrassment. This was probably the first time he had dealt with another out-of-control anomaly in this way: "Um... I am 077."

Alice thought for a while and looked proud: "Then I have a higher number than you!"

Duncan finally couldn't help hearing this: "The abnormal number is from the front row to the back - 077 is in front of you."

Alice reacted for a moment and miraculously responded: "Ah...that means he is better than me?"

"This is not necessarily true. The anomalies ranked within the top 100 are all extremely weird. Generally, the strength cannot be judged by simple numbers. Instead, they tend to present different dangers under different conditions," Duncan explained patiently, " On the sea, he should be more powerful than you; on land, you should be more powerful than him..."

Alice didn't know how much she understood. She just looked at the "sailor" in front of her curiously, and then suddenly reached out and grabbed the air.

The mummy stood still in place for an instant, as if even his soul (if he had one) was frozen for an instant. Then, all his joints and skin began to rapidly transform into a puppet.

Alice suddenly let go of her hand.

The sailor staggered back a few steps and looked at the puppet in front of him in horror: "Fuck...fuck?"

"Not great," Alice shook her head, "I don't even know how to protect myself."

"You are not allowed to grab other people's 'threads' casually, have you forgotten?" Duncan immediately reminded him sternly upon seeing this, and then frowned, "Wait, you mean, Anomaly 077 also has a 'thread'?"

"Yes, there are quite a few floating on his body," Alice nodded matter-of-factly, "But his threads are a bit strange - ordinary people's threads float to very high places in the sky and then gradually disappear, but his threads are It floated out and then returned to the body, as if forming a ring..."

Duncan immediately frowned and looked up and down at the still shocked "Sailor", and then, there was a slight flash of green fire in Alice's eyes next to him.

The next second, Duncan also saw the "thread" of Anomaly 077 - an almost transparent white thin line extending from the skull and torso joints of the mummy, swaying in the surrounding void, and then returning to his body.

Really wired.

Do humanoid anomalies with thinking have this kind of "line"? Or... is this unique to Anomaly 077? What is it about this kind of thread that is different from ordinary humans and creates loops in itself?

Many questions suddenly appeared in Duncan's mind, but he quickly put them away temporarily and apologized to "Sailor" seriously: "I'm sorry, Alice is not very sensible. She has no ill intentions and just wants to fight with you." Hello."

"No, no, no, don't apologize!" The mummy almost jumped up on the spot, hurriedly waving his hands and backing up, "I'm fine, I just got a fright... Alice, right? I understand, I'll stay away from her in the future. …”

As he spoke, he muttered in a low voice, something like "As expected of someone who works on the flagship", "The people around the boss are more powerful", etc. Even Lawrence could hear the murmur.

Lawrence blinked and looked aside. He didn't understand what happened just now. He just felt that the two anomalies in front of him seemed to be "communicating", and the sailor seemed to be frightened again. Then, he Thinking of something, strange eyes fell on the beautiful lady with elegant appearance: "Wait, Anomaly 099... Captain, so this is..."

"It's the 'coffin' you escorted on the ship," Duncan laughed and raised his hand to introduce, "but now the coffin has been assimilated by the Homeless Ship, and the doll as its 'content' has been out of control for a long time. Same as the sailor next to you."

When Alice heard this, she immediately stepped forward and muttered to Duncan: "Captain, Captain, I haven't lost control. I'm usually very obedient..."

"Yes, yes, I didn't lose control," the mummy on the side also said quickly, "I usually obey the arrangements. Captain Lawrence asked me to go ashore and fight the cultists without hesitation..."

Lawrence listened in a daze, and looked up at the "Sailor" who was trying to express himself, and then at the "Miss Coffin Stuffing" opposite who was beautiful and elegant but seemed not to have a normal mind now. His eyes finally fell on Captain Duncan.

Suddenly, the pressure and tension that had been lingering for a long time dissipated, and Lawrence inexplicably felt that the relationship between himself and the "ghost captain" in front of him was much closer, and even... a feeling of sympathy arose spontaneously.

It's a kind of sympathy caused by the fact that we are both captains of the boundless sea, but we have to take care of an out-of-control anomaly with a flawed brain...