Chapter 53 Warmth and Memory

In Duncan's eyes, the massive, chaotic shadows of darkness had once again "collapsed" into that dashing female adventurer, and within the depths of the mirror, the layered silhouettes no longer trembled erratically.

Duncan quietly watched this scene, remaining silent for a long time.

Martha in the mirror, after recomposing herself, remained still for a moment—as if pausing before a film officially begins. Two or three seconds later, a lifelike sparkle returned to her face. She looked down at herself with some confusion, then belatedly raised her head: "What…did you do?"

Duncan temporarily ended his contemplation and gently shook his head, "Nothing, just a welcome."

Then he paused, sorted his thoughts slightly, and said, "If you are to be 'Martha' forever from now on, do you still plan to tell Lawrence the truth?"

"He might…already know," Martha hesitated, then slowly said, "I've hinted at some things to him. I told him that I am a personality pieced together with Martha as the main subject, and from his memories. Given Lawrence's keenness and experience in the extraordinary, plus the fact that I have revealed a lot of unnecessary information, he should not find it difficult to deduce…that if 'Martha' can accommodate one memory, she can accommodate countless others, after all…"

The female adventurer paused, a somewhat complicated smile on her face: "After all, in that mirror city, I seemed to know too much."

"What was his reaction?"

"He…doesn't care," Martha shook her head, "But I don't know if he will never care." Duncan quietly looked at her for a while, then suddenly laughed.

"You care about these things, so it seems I don't need to worry," he said in a relaxed tone, "Then let's put these things aside, madam. In this vast sea, darkness and strangeness are countless, so any warmth is all the more worthy of cherishing—Lawrence understands this very well."

In the mirror, the female adventurer showed a thoughtful expression, while Duncan outside the mirror paused slightly before continuing, "What else do you know about the deep sea below Frost?"

"The deep sea…" Martha frowned. She immediately collected her thoughts, sorted through her vast memories, and slowly opened her mouth, "I do have some 'memories' about the deep sea, but most of them are dark and blurred, interspersed with the fear of constant sinking and the absurd hallucinations produced in the cold suffocation. These things probably can't be used as concrete references, but…"

Duncan raised his eyebrows: "But?"

Martha in the mirror thought for a moment and opened her hands.

Her figure suddenly disappeared in the mirror, like ink spreading out in an instant. Black lines quickly spread across the mirror surface. Then, shadowy things emerged from the darkness.

A vast shadow, as if floating in endless nothingness, like an island, like an irregularly shaped mass. Countless small objects could be seen around the shadow, like "debris" that had broken off from the surface of the irregular mass, floating and rotating around the island.

And in the center of that floating "island," one could see something huge like a pillar, extending infinitely upward and downward in the darkness, as if piercing through the shadow, and then piercing through the entire nothingness.

Martha's voice came from the depths of the mirror:

"I traversed all memories pointing to the deep sea. The immense fear experienced by countless devoured intelligences during the sinking process is superimposed into this scene. I don't know how to interpret this scene—it looks like a large floating object in the deep sea, pierced through the middle by a huge 'pillar,' but because of the lack of reference, I don't know how big that object is, nor do I know how big that pillar is."

Duncan stared at the scene presented in the mirror for a long time, without saying a word.

What emerged in his mind were countless pieces of information related to Project Abyssal—the submersible that never returned, the mad deep-sea advance team, the insane descriptions of the abyss, and…the huge cavern in the depths of the Gold Boiling Mine, and the ancient god's tentacle that crossed the boundary between reality and illusion, deeply piercing into Frost City-State.

There really is a physical object in the deep sea.

The illusion in the mirror dissipated, and Martha's figure reappeared in front of Duncan: "That's all I know. Although I keep many memories, not many of them can point to the deep sea in a relatively sober state. You…"

"It doesn't matter, madam," Duncan said softly, interrupting the female adventurer, "I will go and see for myself."

On the deck, Alice and the dried-up corpse "sailor" had found the second little worm. The two "people" continued to poke at it.

But such a game was obviously not as interesting as fighting with pots and pans in the kitchen.

"I'm starting to get bored," Alice threw away the small wooden stick in her hand and looked up at the deck, which was still quite unfamiliar to her, "Why isn't the captain back yet…"

The "sailor" noticeably shuddered when he heard the doll mention the word "captain." He raised his head, hesitated for a long time, and finally opened his mouth, "You're usually with him…aren't you afraid?"

"Not afraid," Alice turned her head and looked at the ugly dried-up corpse with a puzzled expression, "I like being with the captain, why should I be afraid of him?"

"That's the subspace! Do you understand subspace!" The dried-up corpse had a horrified expression, "I feel like my sanity will 'drop' just by looking at him, and you dare to stick with him all day long—I think you should be Number 077, you're much more sinister than me."

Alice scratched her hair, ignored the dried-up corpse, and instead looked curiously at Lawrence not far away. Lawrence was with his first mate, Gus.

"Suddenly, everyone's flames can be controlled freely," First Mate Gus opened his palm and showed his captain a cluster of small flames quietly jumping in his palm. At the point where the flames and the palm made contact, one could vaguely see the translucent texture of flesh and blood transforming into a spiritual body. Outside the range of the flames, it was a normal flesh-and-blood body, "Do you have any clue?"

"I'm not sure either," Lawrence frowned slightly. He snapped his fingers, watched the spiritual fire jump at his fingertips, then waved his hand, and the flame disappeared silently, "The change happened not long after Captain Duncan boarded the ship…"

“…Could there be some connection?”

"Perhaps…but in any case, it's always a good thing," First Mate Gus said, "Before, the flames on everyone's bodies would always appear suddenly, as if stimulated by something, but we could never find the reason. To be honest, it was quite nerve-wracking—some people were even worried that we would never be able to go ashore normally in the future, after all, not every city is as 'worldly' as Frost and Pland…"

"The future, huh…" Lawrence's tone carried a hint of emotion and contemplation. He subconsciously clenched his fist and then opened it, feeling the power of the flames flowing calmly in his body, while thinking about the future of himself and the entire White Oak. "It's time to consider the future…"

He lowered his head, rubbed his fingers, and the spiritual fire flowed like water at his fingertips. A deep, majestic voice came from behind him: "Is it fun?"

Lawrence and Gus shuddered instantly and simultaneously. Flames two or three meters high shot up from their bodies…

The next second, Lawrence quickly suppressed the flames on his body and turned to look in the direction of the voice—Duncan stood there, looking at them with a subtle expression on his face. Duncan sighed silently.

As soon as he came out, he saw Anomalies 077 and 099 squatting on the deck poking worms, and he also saw the captain and first mate of his new ship playing with fire at the door—if you knew this was the Forsaken Fleet, you'd think this ship was heading to kindergarten…

…What kind of people have gathered around me?

"Dun…Captain Duncan!" Gus straightened his body instantly, and while patting off the last bit of sparks on the corner of his clothes, he hurriedly said, "I…we were studying how to control the power of the flames, to prevent the same situation from happening again as in Frost City-State…"

"The same situation? Are you referring to the captain leading an entire marine corps to be arrested by the local magistrate, and finally having my envoy bail people out of the police station?" Duncan pressed his forehead and waved his hand, "Forget it, as long as you're happy…"

As he said this, Alice had already run over, grabbing his arm and shaking it vigorously while shouting, "Captain! You're finally back! Are you done?"

"Done, done—stop shaking, don't pull off any of your joints again," Duncan said, holding down the overly excited doll, then turned his gaze to Lawrence and nodded lightly, "Don't worry, Martha is doing well. I have formally accepted her as a member of the Forsaken Fleet."

Lawrence was stunned, then sensed a hint of solemnity and deep meaning in Duncan's words. "You…saw that she was actually…"

"You don't want to care, she doesn't need to care, as for me…I don't mind," Duncan seemed to have a hint of a smile in his eyes, and said lightly, "The Boundless Sea is vast, and the Forsaken Fleet has always dealt with all kinds of strange things—it's no big deal to have one more harmless ghost ship."

Lawrence opened his mouth, but said nothing, and finally just took a light breath and lowered his head deeply in front of Duncan.

"In short, welcome to my fleet," Duncan laughed and patted Lawrence's shoulder casually, "Speaking of which, I seemed to hear you talking about…the future? Do you have any plans?"

"The future…" Lawrence hesitated, with a complex expression, "I am indeed considering this. Do you think…we can still return to normal ports as we did in the past?"

Listening to Lawrence's hesitant and entangled words, Duncan sighed softly. The future of the White Oak…is indeed a problem.