Chapter 1 The Words of the Captain

The captain's words, like the clear, cold night wind, passed through the increasingly dim stairwell. Alice subconsciously hugged her arms, following closer behind Duncan. As they descended further, she finally understood what the captain meant by "the lights are black."

The lower deck did indeed have lights—at least, structurally and in terms of layout, the cabin she saw had the same support pillars as above. Inextinguishable oil lamps hung from these pillars. The lamps were burning, but the flames actually made the area around them darker than the distance.

Yes, the closer one got to the lamps, the dimmer the light. The lamps themselves were almost completely shrouded in shadow, with only vague outlines visible. The light gradually increased further away from the lamps—the brightness in the corners of the cabin was almost the same as that of the upper deck.

The reason it felt so unusually dim down here when looking from the stairs was that two lamps were hanging on either side of the stairwell. Visually, it was as if these lamps were actively releasing darkness, neutralizing and obliterating the light that was already in the cabin.

Alice stared at the cabin, which was generally in a dim state, and muttered after a long while, "This… is this even reasonable?"

"You're an unreasonable doll telling me to be reasonable?" Duncan glanced at Alice, who was clearly getting nervous. "Beneath the sea level of the Endless Sea, things being reasonable is the most unreasonable thing of all."

His expression was quite calm when he said this, as if this strange situation was just a minor wave he was used to seeing. But in reality, his reaction was exactly the same as Alice's—even the pigeon in its undead form on his shoulder suddenly flapped its wings and spoke its mind: "Does this make sense? Does this make sense? Does this make sense…"

Duncan ignored the chattering of the pigeon on his shoulder and carefully observed the cabin he had never set foot in, while adjusting the angle of the lantern in his hand, trying to understand the environment through the changes in light and shadow.

Below the waterline of the Vanishing Sail… the light in the cabin was "inverted."

The lamps seemed not to emit light, but rather to absorb the light originally in the space, as if… some kind of "world mirror."

However, the spiritual radiance emitted by the lantern in Duncan's hand followed normal lighting rules: it was bright around the lantern, and dimmer further away.

Was there a principle behind this? Was it simply the influence of the Endless Sea, or was it mixed with the characteristics of the Vanishing Sail itself? Was the "bright environment" in the cabin itself real? If those "light-absorbing" oil lamps were extinguished, would this place become bright?

For a moment, Duncan actually had this bold idea. He was really thinking about what would happen if he extinguished the oil lamps on this level. However, in the next moment, he forcibly stopped this obviously wrong idea.

He couldn't extinguish the lights here—even if it seemed that these lights were causing the entire cabin to be dim, there must be a reason why they were lit here!

He suddenly thought of something. In the city-state of Pland, the information he had obtained was that "burning flames can dispel strange dangers"—in this statement, it was the "flame" itself that was effective, not the light emitted by the flame. Did this mean that in specific situations, light and darkness in this world would be "inverted," and under this inverted condition, the only thing worth believing was the "flame" itself?

Did this also indirectly explain why the light emitted by "electric lights" had no exorcising effect—because it was only light, lacking the element of "flame"?

"Captain?" Alice's voice suddenly came from the side. The doll's voice was filled with nervousness and concern. "Is there anything unusual here?"

"Nothing unusual," Duncan replied calmly, his expression unchanged, as he slowly stepped forward.

The "light-absorbing" oil lamps burned quietly on the support pillars on both sides. Some scattered ropes were piled around the pillars. As Duncan walked between them, the oil lamps hanging on the pillars made slight crackling sounds, and the ropes on the ground slowly wriggled back, making way for the captain.

For some reason, a sentence suddenly appeared in Duncan's mind:

Light and shadow are illusions brought by the deep sea. Beneath the untrustworthy sea level, only the flame itself still loyally guards the wealth of the Vanishing Sail.

He looked at the quietly burning lights and nodded slightly, as if to express his recognition and gratitude.

Then, in the next second, all the oil lamps in the entire cabin visibly grew stronger, with flames leaping up beneath each glass lampshade.

The entire cabin became darker…

Duncan: "…"

He suddenly regretted praising them too early. He should have waited until he was ready to return before giving these oil lamps a boost.

Alice followed, carefully observing the surroundings. She saw large wooden barrels and some crates piled in the corners of the cabin, as well as some closed rooms and corridors leading to unknown places, muttering, "This seems to be a warehouse too… Was this once a cargo ship?"

"If it was a cargo ship, the cargo wouldn't be placed so deep—there's a concept called transportation cost," Duncan shook his head and said casually. "These are all deep-sea supplies, for the Vanishing Sail itself to consume during long voyages."

Alice blinked. "Deep-sea supplies?"

Duncan didn't say anything, but instead went forward to check the cargo closest to him.

Some of the wooden barrels contained a kind of grease, dark brown and viscous, but without a strong smell. It might be some kind of fuel, but it had obviously been stored here for a very long time—Duncan even suspected that these fuels were "stock" from before the Vanishing Sail became a ghost ship. They might have originally been used for lighting and exorcism, but after the ship became a ghost ship, many things in the cargo hold became useless like this.

In another part of the wooden barrels, Duncan saw something familiar.

Cheese older than him, and salted meat capable of splitting mountains and cracking rocks.

Duncan silently sealed the lids again.

On this level, most places were piled with supplies. Although a considerable part of them seemed useless on the current ghost ship, it was enough to prove his previous judgment of the Vanishing Sail:

This ship, at least when it was first built, was prepared for some kind of deep-sea exploration. It could carry a large amount of supplies, and there were strict safety measures between each supply hold to prevent fire spread or pest and rodent damage to the supplies.

Thinking about the large number of cannons and the sizable ammunition depot on the upper level of the ship, he could almost guess what kind of ambitious exploration dream this ship originally carried—the most distant routes, the most dangerous journeys, facing the most dangerous environments and the most treacherous enemies. And such an exploration journey would require an entire ship of loyal and excellent sailors, and a steadfast captain to complete.

But now, this exploration plan that might have existed has disappeared with the wind. The ambitious Vanishing Sail has become the most terrifying natural disaster on the Endless Sea. The sailors have also disappeared, leaving only a ghost captain who still controls this ghostly ship that has lost its purpose.

He and Alice continued to walk forward, entering a corridor after passing several independent cargo holds. If the structure of this level corresponded to the upper level, then the stairs leading to the lower level should be at the end of the corridor.

"I feel… it's getting more and more eerie…" The doll hugged her arms, cautiously looking around as she whispered, "Did you hear the wind? How can there be wind in the cabin?"

"I heard it. Don't be nervous. It's normal," Duncan said casually, then glanced at the doll. "How can you be so timid? You at least have the designation of Anomaly 099, don't you?"

As he spoke, he also thought of the information he had obtained from Nina before—in this world, there were many directories of "anomalies" and "phenomena" that were open to the public. These directories helped people avoid potential dangers in their daily lives or identify signs of uncontrolled anomalies in time. But this directory was incomplete. Only the "anomalies and phenomena that were under control due to their threat or had special properties and were closer to the general public" were open to the public. Anomalies and phenomena that ordinary people had no chance to encounter in their lives were obviously not among them.

He had tried to inquire about Anomaly 099 from Nina, but the girl had never seen this number in her textbooks.

This meant that Alice, this "cursed doll," either had a special secret, to the point that the authorities and the church had blocked the information, or… she was too dangerous, to the point that she had always been strictly isolated from civilized society, and therefore would not interact with ordinary people at all.

Regardless of the reason, it was enough to add a hint of mystery to this doll in Duncan's eyes.

But after hearing Duncan's words, this doll only shrunk her neck, looking nervous. "It's not like having a number makes you brave. I'm Anomaly 099, not Bravery 099…"

Duncan sighed, wondering if this was the most embarrassing anomaly in the world. It was truly a wonder that the sailors who had escorted her before could be so nervous…