Chapter 1 Aboard Another Ship

A rotating gate of fiery flames suddenly expanded on the deck, and then the master of the Forsaken Fleet stepped out.

Tall, majestic, wreathed in spiritfire, with eyes like torches, his very existence seemed the embodiment of the boundless sea's terror; his gaze seemed to ignite all the flames in the world.

And behind that tall figure, another elegant woman followed closely, dressed in a deep purple dress, with long silver hair reaching her waist and a beautiful but slightly pale complexion. She followed Captain Duncan, her demeanor mysterious and elegant, like an attendant.

Laurence felt his heart pounding and his nerves stretched to the breaking point. He watched Duncan walk towards him, and with each step the other man took, the inextinguishable spiritfire on his own body burned more intensely, until the other stopped on the deck, and only then did he belatedly lower his head: "Captain."

"Your ship is not bad," Duncan said casually, looking up and surveying the exploration ship he had met once before, and with which he had been entangled ever since. At the same time, a novel feeling arose in his heart.

Because in the strictest sense, this was the first time his main body had left the *Vanishing Sail* to come aboard another ship.

But it seemed that at least when operating within the *Vanishing Fleet*, the *Vanishing Sail* would not have any problems because of his departure… Laurence felt a strange sensation in his heart. He couldn't tell if Captain Duncan's words were a compliment, so he could only awkwardly continue to lower his head: "Um, glad you like it."

"Don't be so nervous. It's not like we're meeting for the first time."

Duncan nodded slightly and added, "Many years ago, I was an explorer myself. Unfortunately, my original badge was lost in the subspace."

Laurence was stunned and hesitantly raised his head, his tense nerves slightly relaxed, and his sluggish thoughts began to function again. He suddenly realized that this terrifying "subspace shadow" was telling the truth. A hundred years ago... Duncan Abernathy was indeed a member of the Explorers Association, even one of the most famous explorers of that era.

And strictly speaking, the Explorers Association hadn't even "removed" this ghost captain's name yet – because no one had ever thought it necessary to process a cancellation for a subspace shadow…

Duncan, however, didn't pay attention to Laurence's reaction or the entanglement in his expression. After confirming that the other man had relaxed a little, he casually chatted with him in a casual tone: "Was it smooth coming over?"

"Smooth," Laurence answered honestly, trying to make his reaction seem normal. "We departed from Frostwind Harbor, passed through the blockade set up by the Sea Mist Fleet in the outer sea, and they pointed us in the right direction..."

"Yes, I instructed Tyrion. The Sea Mist Fleet won't cause you any trouble." Duncan nodded, then looked up at the flagpole beside him. "Is that Abnormal 077 hanging up there?"

"Yes."

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

Laurence: "..." After hesitating for several seconds, he twitched the corner of his mouth: "He wanted to hang there himself—he wanted to use this method to return to his sealed state, but it doesn't seem very successful."

*Why are the humanoid 'abnormalities' I meet so strange?* Duncan muttered, turning his head to look at Alice, who was following behind him, seemingly elegant and dignified but actually wandering in the heavens, then pointed to the dried corpse hanging in the air, "Come down."

As soon as he finished speaking, the dried corpse, who had been pretending to be dead the previous second, immediately shook his body and fell onto the deck with a "thump," then scrambled to Duncan, trembling all over like Frankenstein on his first jolt of electricity: "Cap... Captain, Sailor rep... reporting for duty!"

Duncan frowned: "Are you stuttering?"

"I... I'm a sailor..."

Duncan was amused by the other's reaction. He didn't expect an intelligent abnormality ranked in the top 100 to be afraid of him, Captain Duncan. Then, he suspiciously turned his head to look at Alice, who was following behind him. *Both are abnormalities ranked in the top 100, both have the same thinking abilities as humans…*

*Why doesn't this person know how to be afraid?* She was only nervous for a moment on the *Vanishing Sail*, and then she quickly adapted to the environment. Now she could even fight with the pots and pans on the ship.

Alice noticed the captain's gaze and immediately responded with a brilliant, almost solid, silly smile.

Duncan: "....."

He suddenly felt that Alice might not be adapting quickly, but simply reacting slowly, probably afraid for a while at the beginning and then forgetting about being afraid…

At the same time, Alice also noticed the dried corpse trembling opposite her. She thought hard for a moment and seemed to remember what the captain had told her before departure, so she smiled and took the initiative to greet him: "Hello, my name is Alice. Are you also an abnormality?"

The dried corpse was slightly stunned, and looked up and down at the "elegant lady" in front of him, who looked no different from an ordinary human, but seemed to have a sense of incongruity in her gestures.

"You too?"

"Yes," Alice said happily, "I'm 099."

The sailor awkwardly scratched his head, probably dealing with another out-of-control abnormality in this way for the first time: "Um... I'm 077."

Alice thought for a moment, and then looked smug: "Then my number is bigger than yours!"

Duncan couldn't help but interrupt: "Abnormal numbers are ranked from front to back. 077 is in front of you."

Alice reacted for a moment and miraculously understood: "Ah... So he's better than me?"

"Not necessarily. Abnormalities ranked in the top 100 are extremely strange. Their strength cannot be judged by their number alone, but rather tends to present different dangers under different conditions."

Duncan patiently explained, "At sea, he should be better than you. On land, you are better than him."

Alice didn't seem to understand how much she understood, but just curiously looked at the "sailor" in front of her, and then suddenly reached out and grabbed in the air. The dried corpse instantly froze in place, as if even his soul (if he had one) had been frozen in an instant. Then, all his joints and skin began to rapidly transform into a puppet.

Alice suddenly let go.

The sailor staggered back a few steps, looking at the puppet in horror: "Wh... what the f*ck?"

"Not good."

Alice shook her head, "Don't even know how to protect your threads."

"Don't grab other people's threads casually, did you forget?" Duncan immediately reminded sternly, then frowned again, "Wait, you said, Abnormal 077 also has 'threads'?"

"Yes, there are several floating on his body," Alice nodded as a matter of course, "But his threads are a bit strange—ordinary people's threads float to a very high place in the sky and then gradually disappear, but his threads float out and then return to his body, as if forming a circle…"

Duncan immediately frowned and looked up and down at the still terrified "sailor." Then, a faint green fire flashed in Alice's eyes beside him.

The next second, Duncan also saw Abnormal 077's "threads"—almost transparent white threads extended from the dried corpse's head and torso joints, swaying in the surrounding nothingness and returning to his body.

*There really are threads.* Do all intelligent humanoid abnormalities have these "threads"? Or is this unique to Abnormal 077? What's going on with these threads that are different from ordinary humans and circulate within themselves? Many questions flashed through Duncan's mind in an instant, but he quickly restrained these doubts and apologized to the "sailor" very seriously: "Sorry, Alice is a bit ignorant. She has no malicious intent, she just wanted to say hello."

"No, no, no, don't apologize!"

The dried corpse almost jumped up on the spot, and quickly waved his hands while backing away, "I'm fine, I was just startled just now. Alice, right? I got it, 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" and "People close to the top boss are more powerful," the sound of which even Laurence could hear.

Laurence blinked his eyes and watched from the side. He was stunned and didn't understand what had just happened, but he felt that the two abnormalities in front of him seemed to have "communicated" with each other and the sailor seemed to have been frightened again. Then, he thought of something, and his strange eyes fell on the beautiful lady with an elegant appearance: "Wait, Abnormal 099… Captain, so this is…"

"It's the coffin you transported on your ship," Duncan smiled and raised his hand to introduce.

"But now the coffin has been assimilated by the *Vanishing Sail*. The 'contents' are in a state of long-term out of control, the same as the sailor next to you."

As soon as Alice heard this, she immediately went up to Duncan and nagged: "Captain, Captain, I'm not out of control. I'm usually very obedient…"

"Yes, yes, yes, I'm not out of control either," the dried corpse quickly added. "I'm usually very obedient to arrangements. Captain Laurence asked me to go ashore and fight the cultists and I didn't hesitate…"

Laurence listened in a daze, looked up at the "sailor" who was trying to show himself, and then looked at the "coffin filling miss" opposite him who was beautiful and elegant but now seemed to have something wrong with her brain.

His gaze finally fell on Captain Duncan. Suddenly, the pressure and tension that had lingered for a long time dissipated. Laurence inexplicably felt that the relationship between himself and the "ghost captain" in front of him had grown closer, and even… a sense of shared suffering arose spontaneously.

It was a feeling of shared suffering as captains on the boundless sea, but having to take care of an out-of-control abnormality with a brain full of holes…