Chapter 829 The Final and the Initial

The Brilliant Star slowly adjusted an angle beside the coast, and the paddle wheel devices on both sides of the ship let out a low whimper. It began to accelerate gradually, and slowly drove into the boundless fog, faster and faster, Getting further and further away, and finally disappeared completely from Duncan's gaze.

Duncan stood on the bow of the Lost Home for a long time, looking at the direction where the silhouette disappeared deep in the thick fog. Until he could no longer see it, he still looked in that direction for a long time. Then he looked back and saw the gorgeously dressed A Gothic doll in a dark purple dress was standing next to him.

The puppet was also looking into the distance, and almost at the same time he withdrew his gaze from the distance.

The chubby white pigeon landed on Alice's shoulder, tilting its head and looking steadily at its owner with a pair of green bean eyes.

The Lost Home is quiet now. There is no more fighting between Shirley and Nina. There is no more Maurice who is always looking at the sea or bowing his head in thought. There is no more Vanna who is always sitting on the barrel carving talismans. And the figure of Agatha who always appears in strange places - on such a wide and empty deck, only the captain and the doll stood together.

And the abstract and greedy fat pigeon.

"They're all gone..." After a long time, Alice whispered.

Duncan couldn't tell at the first moment whether this was an emotion expressed by Miss Doll or a statement of fact that he had just reacted to.

When everyone left, she was the only one who stayed without thinking about anything. With a natural and logical attitude, Duncan never gave her any instructions, and she didn't ask anything, as if from the beginning She knew that she had to stay, and even took "staying on the Lost Home" as a matter of course - which made Duncan a little curious.

"When everyone else left, you didn't ask me if you could stay." He looked into Miss Doll's eyes, "Have you never thought about this at all?"

Alice laughed, as if she hadn't thought for even a ten thousandth of a second: "Of course I want to stay!"

She answered so simply, and apart from this answer, there didn't seem to be any other reason in her mind - or, in other words, she didn't think this matter needed any reason.

Duncan looked at her firmly and suddenly laughed. Then he shook his head and pointed around: "Look, it seems to be the same as it was at the beginning."

Alice looked around curiously and quickly reacted: "Yes, you and I are the only ones left on this ship again... Ah, there are pigeons, and Mr. First Mate."

Ai Yi, who was standing on the doll's shoulders, tilted her head and suddenly flapped her wings vigorously while making a noisy and sharp female voice: "Initializing settings, initializing settings!"

Duncan took a deep look at the pigeon that represented one of the fragments of his hometown, and said softly thoughtfully: "...Yes, the settings are being initialized. It's time to perform the next step."

As he spoke, he turned around and waved to Alice without looking back: "Let's go, Alice. It's time to fulfill the agreement with Gemona."

"Aye! Good captain!" "Aye, aye, captain!"

…

The mist floats slowly around, like a thin but endless curtain, gradually closing on the scale of the entire world. The hazy shadow in the direction of the ship's stern changes from clear to blurry, and finally gradually and completely disappears into the depths of the endless mist - —The Brilliant Star is about to reach the boundary of this "archipelago sea area". From this location, the Lost Homeship that was left next to the "Temple Island" is completely invisible.

Lucretia and others stood on the highest deck of the Brilliant Star. No one was willing to look away until no familiar outline could be seen in the fog.

"...At the beginning, I thought I would be 'cursed' on that ship for the rest of my life," Shirley muttered softly. "At that time, I was scared to death..."

Next to a guardrail not far away, a clothesline was tied between the guardrail and the flagpole. The wet little doll Nelu was hanging on the clothesline, and the rope passed between her two sleeves. , letting her sway on the rope. This little guy with an incomplete mind seemed to be able to feel the change in the atmosphere. She looked at the silent others with some uneasiness, and then looked at her mistress with a hint of worry. He whispered: "Mistress...isn't you happy?"

Lucretia looked back at the little puppet swinging on the rope, with a gentle smile on her face: "No, just thinking."

"Think!" Nilu said immediately, but she didn't know whether she was asking or habitually repeating the last two syllables of others' words.

Lucretia didn't care about this, and just said to herself: "Yes, think, think about what to do next, you will also think like this in the future, and your mind will grow. Like your sister - you all have my carefully crafted 'heart'."

Nilu was dazed on the rope for a moment, then suddenly started shaking happily: "My heart!"

At this moment, the sailor broke the silence: "We are close to the boundary of the physical sea area - Ms. Lucretia. If we go further, we will fall into the chaotic time flow. It is time to enter the next stage of the voyage."

Lucretia nodded slightly and looked to the side.

In the slowly flowing mist, a hazy female figure was standing there and nodded to Lucretia.

"Then it's up to you and the sailors, Lady Agatha."

"You're welcome. It's the captain's order." Agatha's slightly ethereal voice came from the air, and then her phantom gradually dissipated in the mist.

Then, a strange and low roar suddenly sounded from the depths of the Brilliant Star, from under everyone's feet - as if some huge monster was waking up from the bottom of the cabin and floating up from the sea. The roar and vibration gradually enveloped the entire ship, and the "reflection of the Lost Homeland" taken away by Agatha also appeared in this physical dimension!

The huge phantom descended, it was reversed from the shadow kingdom, and quickly floated up from the surrounding mirror-like calm sea, and quickly merged with the Brilliant Star with an unstoppable momentum.

Shirley stared with wide eyes, watching the surrounding decks begin to burn. The false green flames devoured all parts of the ship inch by inch. The towering chimneys turned into dark masts, and the steam and smoke floating in the air turned into spiritual sails. The wooden deck extended in her vision, and at the end of the deck stood the towering bridge and the dark steering wheel.

For a moment, she even felt that she was back on the Lost Homeland.

But this illusion was only a momentary thing. After all, the phantom was a phantom. At a very close distance, she quickly distinguished many details that should be on the Brilliant Star from the shadow.

But this degree of "projection fusion" was enough for Anomaly 077 to fulfill his duties as the "helmsman of the Lost Homeland".

The shriveled and hunched corpse solemnly adjusted his sailor uniform, nodded to Lucrecia, and walked towards the towering stern bridge in the phantom flames not far away. He walked along the projected steps to the high platform and held the dark steering wheel. The hollow whistling and echoing seemed to come from the depths of this phantom, and finally turned into cheers for returning home.

"Return-sail!" The sailor turned the steering wheel hard and shouted loudly with his iconic broken voice, "Let's go home!"

...

A faint whistling sound seemed to come from the edge of the distant sea. Duncan, who was walking in the ruins of the "Pilgrimage Road", stopped and looked back at the direction of the phantom.

Alice, who was walking beside him, also stopped and looked at him curiously: "What's the matter?"

Duncan turned his head and whispered: "...They returned, everything went well."

"Really? That's great," Alice laughed happily, "I don't know how Plande is doing..."

"Prande... is fine now."

Duncan said slowly, sensing the distant and vague "signal" that came across time and space.

He could still sense Plande's situation. The "avatar" staying in the antique shop was still executing the instructions he conveyed, but he could clearly feel that this connection was becoming increasingly unstable.

This was not affected by the environment, nor was it related to the "long distance" of the "end of the world"... This was a change that would inevitably occur over time as "Zhou Ming" continued to grow and awaken as part of the "anti-singularity".

The fragile shelter could not withstand the direct observation of the "anti-singularity". A gaze beyond the infinite sea would annihilate the infinite sea in that gaze of even 0.002 seconds.

That's why he had to let Nina, Morris and others return to the Infinite Sea to act as his "eyes" - because he himself would soon lose the ability to observe the Infinite Sea.

After a moment of perception, Duncan began to carefully control the connection between himself and those distant avatars. He felt the degree of "awakening" in his essence and once again weakened the activity of the avatars - now, he has closed the avatar's taste and smell, blocked the perception of cold, warmth and pain, and blocked all those fragile and complex feelings that belong to "people".

These feelings were once very important to him. Those perceptions of cold and warmth, the sharpness of pain, and the precious sleepiness and sleep have long helped him maintain his cognitive benchmark as a "human", but now, he has to close them one by one to extend his observation time of the Infinite Sea as much as possible.

He wants to at least hold on until Nina returns home safely.

"Captain?"

A worried voice came from the side. Duncan turned his head and saw the puppet looking at this side worriedly, grabbing his sleeve and shaking it carefully.

"Are you okay?" Alice said worriedly, "You don't look very good."

Duncan's expression gradually softened.

Even without relying on the "information" conveyed by those avatars, he could still maintain his human nature.

"It doesn't matter," he whispered, "Let's go, they have already set off, and we still have a long way to go."