Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 461 - Chapter 461 Chapter 462 The First Step to a Harmonious

Chapter 461: Chapter 462: The First Step to a Harmonious Relationship Chapter 461: Chapter 462: The First Step to a Harmonious Relationship A portal of spinning flames abruptly expanded on the deck, and afterward, the master of the Exiled Fleet stepped out from the gate.

Tall and majestic, wrapped in Spiritual Fire, his gaze as piercing as a torch, his very presence seemed a materialization of terror upon the Endless Sea, as if his gaze alone could ignite all the flames of the mortal world.

Following closely behind the imposing figure emerged an elegantly dressed woman in a deep purple gown, with silver hair flowing down to her waist and beautiful features that were slightly pale, closely following behind Captain Duncan, her demeanor mysterious and graceful like an attendant.

Lawrence felt his heart pounding furiously, his nerves were stretched to the limit as he watched Duncan approach, and with each step nearer, the unquenchable Spectral Flame on him flared more intensely–until the figure stopped on the deck, and he belatedly lowered his head, “Captain.”

“Your ship is not bad,” Duncan said casually, then raised his head to survey this exploration ship that had a past fleeting encounter with him, and since then, their destinies had been entangled. At the same time, he felt a novel sensation–for strictly speaking, this was the first time his true self had left the Homeloss to board another ship.

Before stepping onto the White Oak, he had worried whether leaving the Homeloss would cause any unforeseen changes since walking among the City-States using a “proxy” and departing from the ship in his true form were entirely different concepts, but from what he could see now… at least when moving within the “Exiled Fleet,” there wouldn’t be problems due to his departure.

Lawrence, meanwhile, had a strange feeling and couldn’t decide whether Captain Duncan’s comment was a compliment, he could only awkwardly continue to lower his head, “Uh, I’m glad you like it…”

“Don’t be so nervous, this isn’t our first meeting,” Duncan smiled, Lawrence’s reaction was within his expectations, and he had seen much of it, “Relax, just as if you’ve met a senior from the Explorers’ Association on a normal day.”

Saying this, his gaze swept over Lawrence’s uniform, and at the collar area, he noticed the emblem of the Explorers’ Association.

Duncan nodded slightly, then added, “Many years ago, I used to be an explorer–unfortunately, the badge I had then is now lost in the Subspace.”

Lawrence was stunned and hesitantly looked up, his tense nerves slightly relaxed, and his sluggish thoughts began to stir again–he suddenly realized that the terrifying “Subspace Shadow” was telling the truth, a hundred years ago… Duncan Ebnomal was indeed a member of the Explorers’ Association, even one of the most renowned explorers of that era.

And strictly speaking, the Explorers’ Association hadn’t even “expelled” this ghost captain yet–because no one thought there was a need to handle cancellation procedures for a Subspace Shadow…

Duncan, however, didn’t mind Lawrence’s reaction and the struggle on his face, confirming that the other had relaxed a bit, he then started chatting casually, “Was the journey here smooth?”

“Uh… smooth,” Lawrence answered honestly, trying to make his reaction appear as normal as possible, “We set off from the east port of Frost, passing through the blockade line set by the Mist Fleet in the outer sea, they guided us…”

“Hmm, I instructed Theryan, the Mist Fleet won’t trouble you,” Duncan nodded, then looked up at the nearby flagpole, “The one hanging there, is that anomaly 077?”

“Yes… it is.”

“What did he do wrong? Why hang him on the flagpole?”

Lawrence: “…”

After hesitating for several seconds, he managed a forced smile, “He opted to hang there himself–he wanted to use this method to return to his sealed state, but it seems quite unsuccessful.”

“…Why do all the humanoid ‘anomalies’ I encounter seem so bizarre,” Duncan muttered, turning to glance at Alice who seemed elegant and dignified but was actually lost in her own thoughts, then he pointed at the hanging corpse, “Come down.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the corpse, which had been pretending to be dead just a second ago, suddenly shook and “thump,” fell onto the deck, then scrambling frantically to Duncan, trembling all over like Frankenstein during his first electrification: “Cap… Captain, the sailor reports… to you!”

Duncan frowned, “Are you stuttering?”

“I… I am a sailor…”

Duncan found the reaction somehow amusing, he hadn’t expected that an anomaly ranked in the top hundred, with Spiritual Intelligence, would actually know fear towards him, Duncan the captain. Then, puzzled, he turned his head to look at Alice following behind.

Both rated in the top hundred anomalies, both possessing cognitive abilities akin to humans… How could this doll not know fear? Originally, she had been nervous aboard the Homeloss for a moment, then she quickly adapted to the environment, and now she could even interact lively with the pots and pans on the ship.

Alice noticed the captain’s gaze and immediately responded with a brilliant, almost genuinely naive smile.

Duncan: “…”

He suddenly felt perhaps it wasn’t that Alice adapted quickly, but rather that she was simply slow to react, guessing that after being scared for a while at the beginning, she simply forgot about being scared…

Meanwhile, Alice had also noticed the mummy shivering opposite her. She thought hard and finally seemed to recall what the captain had instructed her before they set off. Smiling, she greeted the figure actively, “Hello, I’m Alice. I heard you’re an abnormality too?”

The mummy was slightly startled and looked Alice up and down with some confusion. She appeared no different from a normal human, yet there was something incongruous about this “elegant lady.” “You too?”

“Yes!” Alice said cheerfully, “My number is 099.”

The sailor scratched his head awkwardly, probably interacting in this manner with another out-of-control abnormality for the first time, “Uh… I’m 077.”

Alice thought for a moment and then appeared pleased with herself, “Then my number is bigger!”

Duncan couldn’t help but interject at this point, “Abnormal numbers are assigned from the front to the back–077 is ahead of you.”

Alice reacted a moment later, miraculously catching on, “Ah… so does that mean he’s tougher than me?”

“Not necessarily,” Duncan patiently explained, “the abnormalities ranked within the top hundred are extremely peculiar and usually cannot simply be ranked by their numbers. Instead, they tend to exhibit different dangers under different conditions.”

“On the sea, he would probably be tougher than you, while on land, you would be the tougher one…”

Alice wasn’t sure how much she had understood, only curiously examining the “sailor” in front of her, and then suddenly reached out and grabbed at the air.

The mummy instantly froze in place, as if even its soul (if it had one) was momentarily suspended in ice, and then all its joints and skin began to rapidly transform into that of a puppet.

Alice abruptly released her hand.

The sailor staggered backward a few steps, looking terrified at the puppet in front of him, “Bloody hell…”

“Not tough at all,” Alice shook her head, “doesn’t even know how to protect its own line.”

“You shouldn’t just casually grab someone’s ‘line’; have you forgotten?” Duncan immediately admonished her strictly, then frowned slightly, “Wait, you mean abnormal 077 also has a ‘line’?”

“Yes, there are several floating around him,” Alice nodded as if it were obvious, “but his line is a bit strange–it floats away but then loops back into his body, forming a cycle.”

Duncan immediately frowned and took another look at the still shaken “sailor” next to him, and then a slight green fire flickered in Alice’s eyes beside him.

The next second, Duncan could also see the line of abnormality 077–it was an almost transparent white thread extending from the skull and joints of the mummy, wavering in the surrounding void and folding back into its body.

There really was a line.

Do all sentient humanoid abnormalities have this kind of “line”? Or is it unique to abnormality 077? What about this cycle-forming line that is different from normal humans?

Many questions flashed through Duncan’s mind, but he quickly set aside these doubts and apologized sincerely to the “sailor,” “Sorry, Alice didn’t mean any harm; she just wanted to say hello.”

“No, no, no, don’t apologize!” the mummy nearly jumped at his words, hastily waving his hands as he stepped back, “I’m fine, just got a bit startled… Alice, right? Noted, I’ll just keep my distance…”

As he spoke, he muttered under his breath about how “it figures she works on the flagship” and “those around the big boss are indeed formidable,” loud enough for Lawrence to hear.

Lawrence blinked, looking on from the side, still not quite understanding what had just happened. It seemed to him that the two abnormalities had “communicated” in some way, and the sailor looked frightened. Then, something dawned on him, casting an odd look toward the elegantly dressed, beautiful lady, “Wait, abnormality 099… Captain, so this is…”

“That was the ‘coffin’ initially transported on your ship,” Duncan laughed, raising his hand as he introduced, “But now the coffin has been assimilated by Homeloss, and the ‘contents’ inside have been in a prolonged state of derangement, much like your sailor friend here.”

Alice immediately stepped forward, chattering at Duncan, “Captain, captain, I’m not out of control, I’m usually very obedient…”

“Right, right, I’m not out of control either,” the mummy hastily said, “I usually follow orders well too. When Captain Lawrence ordered me to fight the heretics on land, I didn’t hesitate…”

Lawrence listened in a daze, looking up at the “sailor” trying hard to prove himself and then at the beautiful, elegant lady across from him, who now seemed not quite sane. His gaze finally rested on Captain Duncan.

Suddenly, the longstanding pressure and tension seemed to dissipate, and Lawrence inexplicably felt a surge of camaraderie with the “Ghost Captain” in front of him, even… a sense of shared misery emerged.

It was a kinship born of being captains upon the Endless Sea, each tasked with managing a mentally deficient, out-of-control abnormality…