Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 614 - Chapter 614 Chapter 613 The Ship and the First Mate

Chapter 614: Chapter 613: The Ship and the First Mate Chapter 614: Chapter 613: The Ship and the First Mate At the edge of the maritime chart table, the silent, dark wooden carving of a goat’s head kept watching Duncan–a gaze more unsettling in its silence than the other, chattering goat’s head.

Duncan finally couldn’t ignore the gaze anymore and had to lift his head from his thoughts to ask, “Why do you keep staring at me?”

“I thought you would go ‘steering’ again, like last time,” the goat’s head said slowly, “It felt… very strange.”

Duncan raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised, “You want me to steer again?”

“I don’t know, I just feel it’s incredible,” the goat’s head pondered, its tone uncertain, “I can feel this ‘ship’, I understand every part of it, yet I don’t know how to communicate with it… It’s like an old friend of mine, but I have forgotten about it, so it ignores me now. Last time, when you went to the aft deck and grasped the steering wheel… I seemed to hear its voice.”

“Oh? You heard ‘its’ voice? What kind of voice was it?”

Duncan showed a curious expression immediately, as he had left in haste last time and hadn’t gotten the chance to discuss this with the goat’s head; now that it mentioned it, he realized he had overlooked this question–when he went to steer, the goat’s head in the real world had awoken, but what about this one in the Dreamscape? What was its reaction then?

The goat head paused, seemingly recalling, and after nearly half a minute, it slowly began, “Rather than a voice, it was more like something that directly appeared in my memory. It seemed to be calling me, reminding me not to forget the contract with the ‘captain’, reminding me not to neglect my duties… I also saw some images, saw…”

It suddenly stopped, as if the state of being half asleep and half awake was affecting its thought process, making it unable to organize appropriate language to describe what was in its memory, as if it had again fallen into a kind of mental stalling, forgetting the current topic.

Duncan had to remind from the side, “What did you see? Was it an image of this ship?”

“Oh, yes, the ship, but it seemed like I wasn’t on the ship…”

“You weren’t on the ship?”

“I was in a very dark place, hollow… everywhere was hollow, murky, a shadow floated over, it was the ship’s shadow, but it looked like it was about to dissipate soon, and a vague voice spoke to me, I can’t remember what the voice said, but the owner of the voice took something from me, and then, the shadow became a solid…”

The goat’s head, in a dreamy tone, narrated slowly and disjointedly, its speech often showing a lack of logic and abrupt interruptions, like a chaotic dream unadorned showing its bizarre, continually flashing scenes.

The goat’s head paused again for over ten seconds before continuing with the last sentence, “…Thus, I became part of the shadow, that seems like something from a very long time ago, but the ship seems to remember… strange, is it the ship that remembers, or is it I who remember?”

The goat’s head seemed to fall into confusion again, muttering more and more softly until it became completely inaudible murmurings, Duncan thought for a moment and his gaze gradually changed; he sat behind the navigation desk, his expression already somewhat grave.

The description from the goat’s head was topsy-turvy, with many missing and fuzzy details, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any useful information in it–from those sentences, Duncan could entirely deduce and infer many things!

What it narrated… seemed to be a scene from a hundred years ago when the Homeloss and the real Captain Duncan Ebnomal had taken it from the Subspace!

In the real world on the other side, Duncan had also discreetly inquired about this from the other goat’s head, but its replies were vague, seemingly having forgotten the events from a century ago, now it seemed, this piece of intelligence was retained in the memory of this goat’s head in the Dreamscape? Or, according to this goat’s head, was the “Homeloss” remembering this event?

Duncan subtly observed the now silent goat’s head again, then looked up around the captain’s room.

This was the goat’s head’s Dreamscape, and in the general sense, a dreamscape is the “subconscious projection” of the dreamer.

But just now, Duncan suddenly realized something.

This ship might not just be the goat head’s Dreamscape–Homeloss was also alive!

The century-long “symbiosis” had closely linked the goat’s head with the Homeloss, this connection not only manifested in the material structure but also in the spiritual–the latter was a living ship, although many “objects” onboard seemed to have only the most basic activity, but as a whole, as the Homeloss… its “consciousness” might be far more complex and complete than he had imagined.

Complete enough to participate in this Dreamscape in a way unimaginable.

Duncan slowly placed his hand on the chart table in front of him, he stared at it for a long time, as if through this table he was observing the entire Homeloss, thinking about the intelligence revealed by the goat’s head’s description, his fingers unconsciously caressing the rough surface of the table–

“Are you trying to tell me something during this opportunity?” he wondered in his mind.

But he received no reply.

Perhaps, the “consciousness” of the Homeloss was in a state he could not comprehend, it might have already responded–but no one could understand.

Duncan considered what the goat’s head had said earlier.

It claimed it was floating in a dark hollow place, surrounded by nothingness and chaos, matching the characteristics of the Subspace, and it mentioned that the Homeloss appeared before it, looking like a soon-to-dissipate illusion… was that the initial state when the Homeloss first encountered the goat’s head?

About to dissipate… that is to say, when Homeloss had just plummeted into Subspace, its condition was actually terrible, so bad that it had already lost its physical form, and in a certain sense, the ship was even erased by Subspace at that time–leaving only a blurry sound, the voice of Duncan Ebnomal.

Then, the owner of that voice took something from “Goat Head,” and then the phantom of Homeloss regained its physical form… This “thing” is the key!

Duncan’s eyes suddenly grew serious, and then, he remembered the first thing Goat Head had said–Homeloss reminded it not to forget the “contract” with the captain.

There was a contract! A contract existing between Goat Head and Duncan Ebnomal!

What was the content of the contract? What agreement did they reach when they met in Subspace a hundred years ago?

Duncan Ebnomal took a certain “thing” from Goat Head to reshape the physical form of Homeloss. Homeloss then took Goat Head out of Subspace, bringing it to a stable reality dimension…

This must have all been part of the contract.

But what about afterward?

Duncan Ebnomal had not lived to the present; he had already disappeared, and now a soul named “Zhou Ming” inhabited this powerful shell.

And that Goat Head in the real world… clearly knew about the changes that had occurred with the “captain.”

Yet it still diligently fulfilled its duties as the first mate.

Was this also part of the contract?

Goat Head in the real world said it didn’t remember its experiences in Subspace, so… did it still remember that contract? Or had it also forgotten the contract, but some kind of “limitation” was still at work, forcing it to continue fulfilling the agreement…

Duncan’s thoughts raced through his mind, and moments later, he suddenly rose.

The Goat Head on the table had no reaction, nor did it follow Duncan’s movements by shifting its gaze as before.

It seemed still immersed in that half-asleep, bewildered state–previous memories and thoughts had already exceeded its certain “threshold of thinking.”

Duncan didn’t mind Goat Head, knowing it would recover soon–now he had more important things to do.

He left the captain’s quarters, stepping onto the stairs leading to the aft deck, following the familiar route to the helm.

With the experience of last time and this time’s preparation, Duncan didn’t hesitate anymore; he quickly stepped forward and tightly gripped the heavy steering wheel.

The next second, the entire ship suddenly “activated” under the captain’s steering.

The familiar scene reappeared before his eyes, the huge Ghost Ship rapidly awakening, sounds of items activating echoing everywhere–from the ropes tensing, sails billowing, to the cables and winches producing squeaking and creaking noises–and that massive, roots-like tunnel big enough to accommodate a giant ship appeared in front of Homeloss almost simultaneously, coming at them like a huge vortex.

Countless branches, roots, and mists filled with phantom lights swamped Duncan’s view, surrounding the direction of Homeloss’s advancement, as those warm streams of light once again climbed onto the deck, aimlessly wandering around the helm.

“Saslouka, is that you?”

A slightly juvenile voice entered Duncan’s ears, the light streams circulating around him as if searching for something, yet also seeming merely sleepwalking.

“…Saslouka won’t come anymore.”

Although he knew that Silantis couldn’t hear him now, Duncan still responded earnestly, then ignored the phantom lights wandering near him, focusing all his attention on the ship beneath his feet.

Homeloss was sailing through the darkness, moving swiftly through the gigantic “root tunnel.” Occasionally, the tunnel would present structures resembling forks in the road, yet the ship, as if knowing its own path, would choose its direction without needing the captain’s control.

Duncan just needed to hold the steering wheel.

He also could devote more energy to perception.

If the situation was as he feared, if this ship was both Goat Head’s Dreamscape and Homeloss’s Dreamscape, then… somewhere on this ship, there must be some areas that were different from the real Homeloss today.

That would be the subconscious modifying the Dreamscape, the retracing of memories.

It was Homeloss trying to reveal something to itself.