Chapter 1 A Fleeting Breeze

A cool sea breeze suddenly swept across the deck, causing Captain Lawrence, who had just stepped outside, to subconsciously rub his arms. But he didn't know if the goosebumps were from the chilly wind or from what the young Inquisitor had told him.

Anomaly 099, the Coffin of Dolls, upon losing control, not only possesses mobility and the tendency to escape, but also continuously expands its area of influence, relentlessly identifying humanoid targets within range for unconditional decapitation. Only Saints have a chance of resisting this almost causal decapitation effect...

For the past half-month voyage, he and his crew had been living with this dangerous anomaly—although, apart from the final encounter with the Vanishing Sail, the transport had been uneventful. Thinking about it now, he still felt a lingering fear.

But it was only lingering fear.

He was a member of the Explorers' Association, a seasoned ocean explorer. His job was to deal with the boundless sea. Unlike the fishermen who only operated in safe coastal areas, he had spent the majority of his sailing career dealing with various anomalies and even phenomena.

When accepting anomaly transport missions, the authorities or the Church would inform them in advance of the dangers involved. This part of the contract was usually the briefest, typically consisting of only one line: "This mission carries deadly risks, the specific details of which cannot be disclosed."

Every captain who made a living between city-states knew what they were facing, and more than half of the captains suffered from this deadly career in their later years. Years of dealing with the boundless sea meant that anomalies and phenomena would always leave something behind in your fate.

Many of his peers of similar age had already retired, either plagued by constant nightmares, suffering from mental problems due to varying degrees of curses, or left with physical disabilities from long voyages... or worse.

Captains and sailors on ocean-going ships had a high income far beyond the imagination of city-state residents, and they also had "occupational diseases" that far exceeded any other profession.

Captain Lawrence didn't think of himself as a noble person. He was in this line of work mainly to make money. Of course, he had had a passion for exploring the sea when he was young, but like most people, youthful enthusiasm was hard to maintain for a lifetime, and now... he felt that this little bit of passion was about to burn out.

While his mind was still normal, before the boundless sea entangled his fate, he should find a time to retire.

Lawrence sighed softly, turned around, and slowly walked towards the captain's cabin.

The priests' search and questioning of the entire ship had not yet ended. Before that, he could not leave the White Oak. After that, he would be transferred to the church with everyone else to undergo quarantine observation and a series of mental evaluations.

His gaze swept over the familiar ship facilities around him.

It was a good ship, and a new one. He had only been in charge of it for five years. In the common saying of captains on the boundless sea, "the honeymoon period between the captain and the ship hasn't even passed yet." To be honest, he was a little reluctant to retire.

But retiring now was better than dying on some future voyage or spending the rest of his life in an asylum.

...

In the lower city of the city-state, in the old Duncan Antique Shop, the middle-aged man lying on the bed on the second floor slowly opened his eyes, the slightly old and musty ceiling reflected in Duncan's vision.

"Hoo..."

Duncan exhaled softly, feeling the sensations transmitted from this body quickly becoming clear and stable, feeling his control over this body shifting from remote control to direct mastery. After a couple of seconds, he used his arms to push himself up.

The pigeon, Ii, fluttered over and rubbed its beak against his headboard, clamoring noisily, "Darling, welcome home! Are you eating first, or taking a bath, or..."

Duncan was about to stretch when the pigeon's words almost made him cramp up. He slapped Ii on the head, "Where did you learn all that?!"

Ii was clearly no ordinary bird. It didn't seem to mind being slapped by Duncan. It lightly took two steps to the side and continued to shout, "Pu de zhi yi quan, zheng da zai bizi shang, da de xianxue bengliu, bizi wai zai banbian, que bian si kaile ge you jiang pu..."

Duncan simply ignored the bird with the somewhat abnormal brain and got out of bed, looking at the table not far away.

On the table, quietly lay various experimental items that he had prepared on the Vanishing Sail:

A sun amulet, a dagger, cheese, a cannonball, and a salted fish.

Everything was complete, so many messy and unrelated things put together, and Ii had not "lost" anything.

This pigeon was even more reliable than he thought.

Duncan stepped forward to confirm each item on the table, and after confirming that everything was complete and undamaged, he couldn't help but look back at the pigeon pacing on the bed, a little praise rising in his heart for the bird.

Then he saw Ii pacing back and forth on the bed, reciting, "Lu Da kan shi, zhi jian Zheng Tu ting zai di shang..."

Duncan: "..."

He hid the praise in his heart and sat down at the table to check the condition of the "goods" one by one.

First was the sun amulet, which was unchanged. As a transcendent item that had been completely transformed and controlled by the spirit flame, it still quietly flowed with docile power inside. Two consecutive spirit world walks did not seem to affect the nature of this item.

The dagger, which did not have transcendent attributes, also looked unchanged. Apart from its ancient style, its blade was still sharp, and the scabbard was also well maintained.

Duncan's gaze fell on the piece of cheese he had brought from the Vanishing Sail's kitchen.

The cheese was normal, still in an inedible state, and did not quickly rot or disappear out of thin air after leaving the Vanishing Sail, as Duncan had imagined.

He then looked at the cannonball. The cannonball quietly stayed on the table, with no reaction to the captain's gaze.

Duncan pushed the cannonball and knocked on its cast iron shell.

The transcendent characteristics had faded from the cannonball.

On the Vanishing Sail, even the cannonballs were "alive." Of course, this didn't mean that each cannonball had an independent "consciousness," but rather that the entire ammunition system of the ship had a unified "consciousness" controlling it. As a "sub-unit" of this consciousness, the cannonballs on the Vanishing Sail would even immediately adjust their position and accept "inspection" when the captain looked at them.

According to Duncan's observation over a period of time, the combat power of the Vanishing Sail should be controlled by two "consciousnesses," one was the ammunition system, and the other was the dozens of cannons below the deck. These two consciousnesses should be responsible for the loading and firing work during combat, respectively, and controlled every "member" within their respective systems.

The cannonball in front of him had obviously left the control of its higher-level consciousness as it left the Vanishing Sail, turning into an ordinary iron lump.

Duncan was thoughtful.

If he brought this cannonball back, would it become a member of the ammunition depot again? Would the Vanishing Sail still "recognize" this "sub-unit" that had returned?

His thoughts extended further—the ammunition on the Vanishing Sail was limited, and the cannonballs that were fired would not return (the eight cannonballs that were used to weigh down Alice's cabin also did not return), so... could the ammunition on the ship be replenished? How would the replenished new ammunition become a "sub-unit" of the Vanishing Sail?

Extending his thoughts a little further: Could the Vanishing Sail upgrade its artillery system? More advanced cannons, more advanced cannonballs, could these things be used on that ship?

The Vanishing Sail was a ghost ship, which meant that it was difficult to supply and..."improve" it as easily as ordinary ships. The things transported to the ship were just "foreign objects." If they could not successfully become part of the Vanishing Sail, then these foreign objects would not have the convenient characteristics of "automatic operation" like the other facilities on the ship.

But if there was a way to turn these things into part of the Vanishing Sail... that ghost ship might exert even greater power.

At the same time, it would have better living conditions.

Duncan couldn't help but think a lot about this.

The more he came into contact with the modern City-State of Pland, the more he could feel that the Vanishing Sail a century ago was not as glamorous and perfect as its prestigious name suggested—

That ship might have strange and terrifying power, but it didn't even have electric lights, nor did it have French fries. Its weapon system was still ancient muzzle-loading cannons, and it was hard to say how powerful they were, and it didn't have French fries. The spirit sail was useful, but having a steam engine as a backup power was obviously not bad, but the ship didn't even have a boiler to heat water.

And it didn't have French fries.

Duncan silently glanced at the pigeon that had jumped onto the windowsill and was looking out in a daze.

The pigeon turned its head, blinking its green bean eyes at him, "Go to the pier and get some French fries?"

"Shut up, don't mention French fries." Duncan refused the pigeon with a subtle mood, and then focused his attention on the last item.

Salted fish, a pure natural food processed from the delicious gifts caught in the deep sea, tasted pretty good, and belonged to "items outside the Vanishing Sail."

After experiencing the spirit world walk, this salted fish didn't seem to have changed.

He'll stew it in a soup for Nina tonight.