Chapter 764 Before the Voyage

The sailor became a special new resident of the "Witch's Mansion"—but his addition didn't seem to affect the daily operations of the mansion in the slightest.

Most of the time, this mummy could stay in one place as obediently as a real corpse. He didn't need to eat or sleep, and if no one spoke to him, he wouldn't open his mouth for two or three days straight. He always stayed in his quiet corner, as if thinking about something, spacing out in one place for a whole day without moving.

This made the others in the house almost forget that there was a new "guest" here.

Only when Rooney cleaned would she have a few words with the mummy. The main content of the exchange was just a few sentences:

"Ah, move over a bit." "Okay." "Alright, you can move back now." "Oh."

Days passed like this. On the third day, the landlady of the house finally couldn't bear it anymore—Lucrezia found the "sailor" pretending to be a corpse in a pile of junk in the basement storage room: "I heard my father describe you as not like this on the White Oak. You made quite a commotion every day, so why are you so quiet here?"

"Isn't it good to be quiet?" The sailor sat up from the pile of junk, staring at the witch's eyes in the darkness. "As far as I know, you are someone who likes peace and quiet."

Lucrezia was stunned for a moment: "Well… it's not bad. No, what I wanted to say was…"

But she was interrupted halfway through.

"I'm conserving my energy for the voyage," the sailor said suddenly, the mummy's eyes becoming serious. "We're about to have a historic voyage, madam. Although the captain didn't say it, you should also know his plan—so in the days to come, I need to adjust my condition. The captain told me to rest more these days, and then recall as much as possible about the *Sea Song*, which is what I've been doing these past two days."

Few dared to act so lazy and rude in front of the "Sea Witch"—Lucrezia's eyebrows twitched involuntarily, but she quickly returned to her usual expressionless look: "Father always has his ways."

...

Lucrezia's expression finally had a subtle change. She quietly looked at the mummy for two or three seconds, and finally turned around and left without hesitation: "Lie down then."

Lucrezia quietly looked at the mummy for a while, finally withdrew her gaze, and turned to walk towards the door: "The *Brilliant Star* is always ready for a voyage."

"You are still resisting, I can see your hesitation," the sailor said calmly. "I probably know what you are resisting… but please be prepared. This may be the greatest voyage in history, or it may be the last voyage. At least this time, you can choose to set off with your father…"

While saying this, she got up from the armchair and came to Duncan's side.

But after noticing the gaze from the direction of the desk, the doll immediately opened her eyes. She looked at Duncan, a happy smile on her face: "Captain! Are you done writing?"

The sailor lay in the pile of junk, noncommittally clicking his tongue, then suddenly changed the subject: "So, are you? Is your *Brilliant Star* ready to set sail?"

"Help me connect my lumbar spine and shoulders…" The sailor continued to lie in the pile of junk in that arrogant posture, unable to move at all. "I stretched too far just now, and my joints came loose…"

Duncan stopped writing and looked aside—the night outside the window was still dark, and the bright electric lights illuminated the study. Alice was sitting quietly in the armchair near the window, the light shining on the doll's shoulders. She had her eyes half-closed, as if about to fall asleep.

The sailor thought for a moment: "…I've been here for three days, and I've only said so much today… Fine, I won't say anything."

"Captain Kalani is a good person, the cafeteria on the *Sea Song* was terrible, the second shift crew was always noisy, and other than that, there was fog, fog with no end in sight," the sailor stretched, the dry and twisted joints making a series of terrible sounds as if they were about to snap, then he fell back and lay in the pile of junk again. "I've disappointed you. I didn't remember anything related to the 'route,' although the captain seems to have a lot of confidence in me…"

"Voyage…" Lucrezia's expression changed almost imperceptibly, but she recovered immediately. "Then what did you remember?"

"Not sleepy, not sleepy!" Alice waved her hands immediately, then her gaze fell involuntarily on the captain's diary out of curiosity. "Is this your diary? Uh… I can't understand a single word…"

Duncan smiled and shook his head, not explaining anything, just casually asking, "Do you want to try writing a diary?"

A calm gaze containing great pressure made the mummy shut his mouth.

"I'm done writing," Duncan said casually. He didn't put away his diary, but spread it out on the table openly—because he knew that no one in this world could understand what he had written. "If you're sleepy, go back to your room and rest, you don't have to stay with me all the time."

Lucrezia stopped and turned back in confusion: "Anything else?"

But she had only taken half a step when the sailor stopped her: "Hey, wait a minute, there's something else…"

Lucrezia didn't respond, just frowned.

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"

"Me?" Alice was stunned, but quickly shook her head. "I don't… I don't know what to write, and it would require knowing a lot of words, right…"

Duncan laughed: "Just write down things that you think are meaningful or interesting. Writing a diary doesn't require a lot of words. The amount of vocabulary you have now should be enough—if you really don't know how, you can draw it."

The doll listened quietly, her eyes gradually lighting up.

"I can draw!" she said happily.

Although her so-called "can draw" meant that at best, she could draw something that people could tell was a man or a woman, a person or a dog—but since Duncan taught her the most basic drawing skills, she had always proudly thought that she already "knew how to draw."

Duncan just smiled, then reached into the desk and took out a new diary, and clipped a pencil in it, handing it to the doll in front of him.

"I'm giving this to you, I brought it from the ship," he said. "You can write down the things you want to remember on it."

Alice happily accepted the "new gift" given to her by the captain. She flipped through the blank diary, and then lay down directly on the desk, as if she was about to write something in the book, but as soon as she picked up the pencil, she thought of a new question, and looked up at Duncan: "Why did you suddenly want me to write a diary?"

Duncan was stunned. He didn't expect the doll to ask that suddenly. After thinking for a moment, he nodded: "We're leaving soon, this time to a very far place. We may see all kinds of things on the journey… Memory is short, and if you don't want to miss the scenery on the journey, it's necessary to record them safely."

Alice listened to the captain's words as if she understood, not knowing what the doll was thinking at the moment. After a few seconds, she nodded "oh," and then lowered her head, very seriously writing a few words on the title page of the diary with a pencil—"Alice's Diary."

"Done!" She happily showed the name she had just written to the captain.

The row of letters was crooked, but it was indeed the best she had written since she started learning to read and write with Duncan.

"Very good," Duncan nodded with a smile, but then couldn't help but remind her, "But diaries are not usually shown to people casually, you have to keep it safe…"

Alice tilted her head, pointing to Duncan's diary on the desk: "But you showed it to me."

Duncan's expression froze: "…That's because I know you can't understand the words on it."

"…Oh," Alice scratched her hair, and then looked at her diary with some hesitation, "Can't I show it to you either?"

"No," Duncan said seriously, but then he noticed the hesitation and helplessness in the doll's expression, thought for a moment, and added, "But if there's something you really want to share with me, you can—other than that, I won't look at it, that's your secret."

The doll became happy again: "Okay!"

Duncan only felt a little helpless, but no matter what, being interrupted by this doll made him feel a lot better.

Alice didn't think so much, but she could feel that the captain's mood was getting better, which made her very happy. She watched Duncan put away the diary on the table, thought for a moment, and casually asked, "Captain, are we going to the border next?"

Duncan looked at the doll in surprise.

"Miss Vanna told me," Alice said immediately. "She also said that we'll leave in a few days—this time we need to bring enough food and water on board, because the place we're going may be very special…"

Duncan nodded lightly: "That's right, it will be very special… a place where even I don't know exactly what it looks like, what will happen."

"…Farther than that 'Holy Land Island' before?"

"Farther than that."

"Oh—"

Alice stretched out the sound, as if trying to imagine what a place farther than Holy Land Island would look like, but she couldn't imagine it.

"Aren't you worried?" Duncan looked curiously at the doll in front of him. In the other's clear gaze, he didn't seem to see any trace of unease.

Alice held her head and shook it vigorously.

Duncan thought for a moment, deliberately making things sound a little more serious: "We may get lost outside the border, we may encounter time distortions, even if we prepare well, it may take us a long, long time to return… Or, we may not be able to return at all."

Alice still shook her head, and then suddenly burst into a smile—

"Don't be afraid, I'll bring you back."

"You? Bring me back?"

"Yeah!"

Duncan laughed in surprise and helplessness: "How are you going to bring me back?"

"I don't know!" Alice replied without hesitation.

Duncan: "…"

He looked helplessly at the doll in front of him, who always seemed to be confused, looking at the other's smile that was clearly muddled but exceptionally confident.

But suddenly he seemed to think of something, and when he looked at Alice again, his helpless expression contained a trace of thoughtfulness…