Chapter 1 A Welcome Ceremony

For Vanna, the events of the past two days felt as if they were filtered through a lens of unreality. Her life had undergone a complete transformation, so drastic it felt like an absurd dream. She often wondered if she was trapped in an illusion—and at this moment, her self-doubt reached its peak.

She saw Mr. Morris standing before her, a smile on his face.

The young inquisitor abruptly closed her eyes and rapped her forehead, then opened them to find that Morris was still there—and beside the old gentleman stood a tall figure.

It was the gloomy, dignified captain of the Vanishing Ship.

"Welcome aboard, Vanna," Morris said. "I know you have many questions..."

Vanna opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, she heard a "pop" beside her. She didn't sense any threat from the sound, but it startled her nonetheless. Instinctively turning her head, she saw a large mass of colorful paper scraps and streamers flying towards her—a beautiful woman with long, silvery-white hair down to her waist was staring blankly, a paper tube in her hand still emitting wisps of smoke from the gunpowder.

Vanna: "….?"

Before she could react, the silver-haired woman excitedly grabbed a second paper tube from the side, fiddled with it in front of her, and pulled the string.

Seeing this, Vanna quickly reminded her, "Ah! You're holding it backwards..."

Her warning came too late.

A Gou immediately shook his head, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Hook, where's the hook... a stick will do..."

It was in the antique shop in the Upper City.

"How many more secrets are there?" Duncan's lips finally twitched, and he regained his ability to speak. He looked at Alice. The highly respected scholar was an elder he had known since childhood. Her appearance on that ghost ship was the most unbelievable thing of the day, yet at this moment, the elder was the only person he could think to ask. "Since when..."

Her face was expressive—though deep down it felt like ten thousand different thoughts were exploding in her mind, she really didn't know what kind of reaction to have on her face.

Nina's expression drooped instantly: "...Not even a little?"

"She can't drink alcohol," Sherry's voice came immediately from behind Nina. "Not even if you call it 'barley juice.'"

Duncan: "..."

This was a welcome ceremony—which would have been quite delightful if it hadn't been happening on the Vanishing Ship.

"Oh."

Duncan was taken aback: "...This demon can talk?!"

Before Sherry could speak, Nina excitedly ran over and happily announced to everyone, "There's a dinner party tonight! A welcome dinner for the new crew member!"

The deck instantly fell silent. The two girls chased after a head rolling around everywhere, while the silver-haired man who had lost his head walked around helplessly in place. Mr. Chris, who had been in the middle of a sentence, was holding his head and sighing incessantly, while the air still smelled faintly of the residue of the streamer cannon.

The world had quietly changed long ago; she just hadn't known it until now.

"There's very delicious fish soup!" Nina also shouted from the side. "The captain caught the fish himself."

"This can't be left for Alice to do alone... Ah, the head fell down the stairs!"

"Yes, His Holiness the Pope reminded me to restrain my urge to pry when I'm around you," Vanna sighed again, looking at the skeletal hound beside Nina. "Unless I'm mistaken, that's a Netherhound? Is that little boy a summoner living in symbiosis with a Nether demon?"

"Hello!" Morris waved with a smile, his face radiating harmlessness. "Didn't scare you just now, did I?"

"I..." Nina shrank her neck and carefully began, "I bought them with my own allowance."

Vanna pursed her lips and turned to look at the owner of the ship.

"

And then there's a deck barbecue!" Nina added quickly. "There's fish, beef, and barley juice!"

"See, I told you he has a crew that's a real headache," the gloomy and dignified Captain Duncan finally spoke, his voice finally jolting Vanna out of her daze. "Things are always such a mess on this ship—but from another perspective, your life here shouldn't be boring."

Vanna's eyes widened instantly, and even with her composure, she almost jumped up at that moment. Immediately afterwards, she heard a scream from behind: "Ah! Uncle Duncan! Alice's head fell off again!"

"Actually, it wasn't long ago—just a little earlier than you," Chris smiled calmly and nodded slightly. "Heidi doesn't know about this."

She went to Alice, lowered her voice: "Does this... happen often?"

"Normal 099, its former name was Puppet Coffin, now they seem to directly call her 'Puppet.' But I have my own real name, you should know it, just call her Alice here," Sherry said casually, then added, "Don't worry, you're safe now."

Vanna nodded as she picked colorful paper scraps from her hair. "Oh."

Duncan was in a state of unprecedented bewilderment. He stared at the chaotic scene on the deck, a few colorful streamers drooping from his hair and shoulders. He seemed to vaguely understand what had just happened, but felt it was better not to understand.

Duncan sighed deeply again. Sherry paused and turned to look at Morris. "Don't give him any weird things to play with in the future. I'm telling you now."

The next second, a boy who looked about high school age rushed over from the side, flusteredly chasing after the head rolling on the deck. Then a boy leading a black giant dog ran out from another direction, shouting as he helped chase, "I told you earlier that holding it was unreliable!"

"Looks like I left in a bit of a hurry," Alice nodded. "I should bring you some local specialties from the north as gifts later."

"The last sweet fruit wine was the limit," Sherry said sternly. "Beer is too early for you."

Vanna then ran to the side, found a paper tube with colorful packaging in a wooden bucket, and excitedly ran over holding it up: "Morris, Morris! There's another one here! Do you want to..."

"We always operate legally, even though the goods aren't real, the prices are," Sherry said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "As for you not noticing anything... that's actually a good thing. You understand what I mean."

"I found the rope, throw it down, throw it down... Miss Alice, bite it yourself, I'll pull you up!"

"From what I know, it's occasionally like this," Sherry said in a low voice. "Sometimes it's even happier—especially when Miss Alice has some new ideas."

She raised her head, looked at the scene on the deck, saw that Nina and Sherry hadn't "fished" the head out of the crack in the stairs yet and were now frantically trying to "return it to its place." A plump pigeon flew over from who knows where, muttering nonsensical sentences like "Big hammer seventy, big hammer seventy" beside her. She finally made out the silver-haired man's features and remembered where she had seen that face before.

At that time, he had blond hair—now that she thought about it, it must have been a disguise.

Vanna was stunned, then looked at Alice, who was stretching her neck. He had noticed the details on her joints earlier and was now pensive: "An Automaton, could it be..."

"What other 'surprises' are there?" she asked helplessly. The things that had happened after she walked through the Flame Gate had completely disrupted the mental preparation she had been doing since this morning. She had never felt so helpless and flustered in her life. "Tell you now, so you can be mentally prepared."

She looked at Duncan, at Nina, and then at Mr. Chris, who was spreading his hands with a helpless expression, and finally understood everything.

"Stop messing with that thing!"

Sherry glared. "So who bought this thing anyway?

Why wasn't it on the shopping list?"

Vanna subconsciously touched her neck, then gave a slightly stiff smile, as a response to the cursed doll's greeting.

The trace amount of gunpowder pre-loaded in the paper tube exploded with a bang, and the silver-haired man was directly splattered in the face with streamers and paper scraps. He instinctively leaned backwards, and then he heard a strange "pop" sound. A head rolled onto the deck in Duncan's sight.

"Not only can it speak, it can even spell its own name and calculate addition and subtraction within a hundred," Sherry said casually. "Among the crew of the Vanishing Ship, it's considered relatively well-educated."

Vanna looked at Nina, then at Sherry, and after a long while, she sighed softly, "So, there really was something wrong with that antique shop—and I didn't notice anything."

"Ah, I really didn't know—I was complaining to her today, saying that you suddenly went out to handle some business without explaining the situation," Vanna said with a complicated expression. "Who could have imagined... you'd just appear before me like that, on this 'Vanishing Ship.'"

"Let her hold it? She doesn't dare to!"