Ashes Of Deep Sea

The deep sea is truly something to fear.

Alice, although a puppet, still possessed animated eyes that conveyed emotions and facial expressions that defied common sense. Therefore, Duncan could clearly perceive from her expression a fear and aversion to the deep sea… or perhaps to some “things” in the deep sea. Considering the encounters he had at sea before, with the Spirit Realm and so-called border phenomena, it was easy for him to realize that this vast ocean was definitely hiding great terrors.

Yet the Homeloss was sailing on this boundless expanse of sea, and that mechanical ship he had bumped into at the Spirit Realm was sailing these same waters too.

This couldn’t help but pique his curiosity about something even more distant—what is the land in this world like? Or rather, does normal land even exist in this world?

However, the puppet before him couldn’t answer his questions. For most of the time in Alice’s memory, she had been in a drowsy state, which Duncan judged to be the effect of some kind of seal… or “suppression”.

He still remembered observing the cabin of that mechanical ship as he passed by it, through Homeloss’s extensive sensors. The mysterious runes, abundantly symbolic religious decorations, and the symbols engraved on the exterior of Alice’s “spirit coffin” all pointed to one thing:

This “cursed doll” was certainly deeply feared in “civilized society”.

Duncan looked meaningfully at the puppet miss in front of him, who returned a serene and gentle gaze.

“Let’s confirm one more time, you have no recollection of where you came from, and you can’t remember any of your past experiences, right?”

“I don’t remember,” Alice answered earnestly, “Ever since I had memory, I’ve been lying in this large box—although I don’t know why, there always seemed to be a group of anxious people around me. They were so afraid I would come out that they sealed the box in every way they could. To be honest, looking back, I suddenly find the circle of nails you hammered into my lid kind of friendly… even though you later added eight cannonballs, at least you didn’t pour lead into it, right?”

Duncan didn’t pay attention to Alice’s nonsense this time, but instead continued to ask, “Then where did your name come from? Who named you? If you really have never left the box or had contact with others, how did you get a name? Did you give it to yourself?”

Alice suddenly froze.

She seemed genuinely perplexed, maintaining a dazed state for a good ten seconds, and just as Duncan was beginning to worry if the puppet also had a “crash” setting, the puppet miss started moving again: “I… don’t remember, I’ve known my name to be Alice from the beginning, but it was not a name I gave myself, I…”

Muttering in confusion, her hands instinctively went to her head, a gesture that made Duncan’s eyes twitch, so he quickly interjected, “Alright, if you can’t remember, let’s leave it at that, you don’t need to pull your head off…”

Alice: “…”

Afterward, Duncan asked the puppet miss in front of him many questions, but unfortunately, most of them remained without answers.

Just as the puppet miss herself described, for the most part since she became conscious, she had spent her time in a drowsy state within that “spirit coffin”, alternating between sleep and semi-consciousness. She knew very little about the outside world, with her only knowledge coming from conversations she overheard from outside her coffin while half-asleep. These fragmented pieces of knowledge hardly helped Duncan form an outline of this world.

But even so, Duncan had not come away empty-handed—through his conversations with Alice, he at least ascertained a few things:

This world had something known as a “City-State” structure; this term came up repeatedly in the puppet miss’s narrative, almost encompassing her entire journey, and her original destination was to be a City-State known as “Pland”.”

It seemed to be a prosperous place, with sailors saying in their conversations that it “holds an important position on many trade routes”.

Furthermore, Alice also had a designation known as “Abnormality 099”, and apparently, this was some kind of “official” term within the civilized world. As for the name “Alice” she referred to, so far, apart from her and Duncan, there seemed to be no third person who knew of it.

Finally, Alice had been transferred from one City-State to another, and she was not the only “Abnormality” to be moved this way. On certain journeys, she overheard those responsible for the “escort” mentioning words such as “other sealed chambers”.

Duncan boldly speculated that perhaps this continuous movement of “Abnormalities” was itself a necessary action to seal the abnormalities and prevent them from “escaping”.

And it was clear—the team responsible for transporting Abnormality 099 had run into bad luck this time, as the unpredictably appeared Homeloss had already helped the “puppet” to escape.

Only, it was unknown what terrifying aspects this strange cursed doll possessed, and what kind of destruction her escape might bring.

After all… she seemed quite harmless while on the Homeloss.

Frankly speaking, Duncan was quite disappointed.

He thought he had finally found someone who could help him understand this world, but the person lying in the coffin was just as confused as he was.

But when his gaze swept over Alice, who still sat quietly on the wooden box, that disappointment faded a little.

At least, he now had someone to talk to aboard Homeloss—albeit she seemed like a doll, albeit her head detaching was horrifying, albeit she surely had many more secrets, albeit she occasionally spat out some trash talk.

But she was still more normal than that incessantly noisy goat-head painting.

And speaking of weird dangers… this Endless Sea, this ship called Homeloss, the bizarre things on this boat, which looked safe?

Even from an outsider’s perspective, “Captain Duncan” seemed to be the most dangerous entity on the Endless Sea.

Duncan exhaled a breath, his expression unconsciously softened a bit, and he asked with an air of casual chat, “I wonder, if I were to throw you overboard again, what would you do?”

Alice blinked, “Would you still stuff me with cannonballs this time?”

“No.”

“Then would you still nail nails into me?”

“Er… no.”

“Fill me with lead?”

“No… cough, what I mean is, if I refuse to let you stay on the boat…”

“Then I would just row back again,” Alice said with composure, her face serene, “I don’t wish to be devoured by this sea, at least your ship provides a place to land.”

Duncan was taken aback by the doll’s frankness, to the point where he didn’t know whether to call her honest or thick-skinned; after pondering, he managed to say, “You could be a bit more tactful…”

“You already know the answer, don’t you?” Alice said with a smile, “But if I come back, I might find a way to hide somewhere in the cargo hold where you won’t find me, and not brazenly run up to the deck again. My awakening time is short. I hadn’t thought things through on my previous returns, but now I have experience…”

Duncan cut her off, “My perception extends throughout the entire ship, I can even pinpoint the location of every wave that hits the hull.”

Whatever Alice was going to say next was stifled, “Ah…”

Duncan continued calmly, “And I could also choose to destroy you completely, to prevent you from pestering me and my Homeloss ever again.”

The doll lady seemed to have never considered this possibility, she instinctively widened her eyes, then there was a click near her neck…

The headless doll scrambled to catch her own head and started frantically pressing it back onto her neck; Duncan couldn’t keep the atmosphere going and could only sigh with a bitter smile, waiting for Alice to secure her head back on before he continued, “However, I’ve suddenly thought that having an extra crew member on this ship might not be a bad idea—if you can behave yourself on this boat, I can assign you a position.”

“You should’ve said so earlier! You scared my head off!”

Duncan couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his eye, “So, what exactly is the deal with your neck?”

Alice looked innocent, “I don’t know! I usually don’t get that many chances to ‘come out and about’; how would I know why my body has this problem…”

Duncan silently observed Alice for a few seconds, then said earnestly, “It appears that lying in bed too long is not good for the cervical spine.”

Alice: “…”

Observing the speechless doll lady, Duncan suddenly felt a bit better.

“Alright, to sum it up, Homeloss has gained a new crew member—follow me, I’ll show you a place to rest.”