Chapter 19 The Door to Subspace

Duncan led Alice back to the upper deck of the Vanishing Ship—the cold Worldscar still hung high in the night sky.

Duncan thought he had explored the ship for a very long time, even suspected that the night had passed, but looking at the deep night sky now, he seemed to have only spent a few hours below.

But the bizarre and unusual situations he had seen in just these few hours were enough to leave a deep impression on him.

He still remembered the cabin with inverted light and shadow, and the door at the bottom of the hold… especially that door. What was behind that door?

The lantern in Duncan's hand had gone out, and he and the doll slowly walked towards the captain's cabin. Neither of them spoke much—the doll seemed to have already begun rehearsing the cooking in her head, while Duncan's attention was focused on the surrounding deck structures.

He compared them with his memory, confirming that the dilapidated cabin opposite the door was indeed part of the Vanishing Ship. The styles of the two were completely consistent, and there was a vague continuity in the architectural structure.

And now that he recalled it, he always felt that there was something else hidden in the depths of that dilapidated cabin, concealed in the darkness.

That was the Vanishing Ship's unknown "Hidden Snow Zone"—a Hidden Snow Zone that even Captain Duncan could not perceive or detect.

Did the goat-head know about that door? Did it know what was behind it?

Should he ask it about it?

The captain's cabin was reached, but Duncan's thoughts were still fluctuating. He led Alice in, opened the door, and saw the goat-head still quietly staying on the navigation table, its hollow black eyes turning towards the direction of the door in response to the sound.

Duncan turned to hang up the lantern, and then he heard Alice greet the goat-head with a little excitement, "Mr. Goat-Head! I went to the bottom of the hold with the captain! The bottom of this ship is amazing! The lowest cabin is actually fragmented—and there's a very strange door!"

Duncan immediately stopped struggling with how to start a conversation about the relevant topic with the goat-head—he almost forgot that he was still carrying a curious doll who knew nothing. Alice's chatter opened up the scene!

He tried to control himself from laughing out loud, while pretending to be calmly tidying things up, he perked up his ears to listen to the conversation between the two "crew members." He heard the goat-head's voice, with a tone that was not at all surprising: "I knew you would be surprised! Miss Alice, now you realize how great the Vanishing Ship is, right? It can simultaneously navigate in different dimensions while ensuring safety!"

Duncan listened, and his heart moved.

The situation was indeed as he had guessed. The reason why the scenery outside the cracks in the bottom of the ship was so strange… it was indeed because it no longer belonged to the space-time where the boundless sea was located!

At the same time, he was also calculating quickly in his mind: The curious Alice was full of interest in the strange scenes in the lower level of the Vanishing Ship. She seemed afraid to ask too many things to himself, the "captain," so she would rather ask the talkative goat-head. But if he kept standing here listening, it would seem strange and suspicious, and might even make the goat-head turn the topic to himself—if it said something like "ask the captain," he couldn't handle it…

Thinking of this, he immediately had a plan. He straightened his face, restored his usual seriousness, and said calmly: "You guys chat here, I'm going to take a walk outside—Goat-Head, Alice is already a member of the ship. As for the things about this ship, as long as they are not too secretive, you can just tell her."

Alice immediately showed a happy smile on her face when she heard this, and the goat-head immediately agreed: "Of course, Captain, your loyal subordinate has always been enthusiastic about new members…"

Duncan pushed the door and left the captain's cabin.

But in the next second after leaving the captain's cabin, he concentrated his mind again, and with the close connection between himself and the Vanishing Ship, he carefully paid attention to the movement in the captain's cabin.

After concentrating his spirit in one place, the vague perception turned into clear and real-time monitoring. Everything in the captain's cabin was clearly reflected in Duncan's mind. He "saw" Alice simply move a stool and sit opposite the goat-head, excitedly recounting her exploration experience in the lower level of the Vanishing Ship, telling about the bizarre scenes in the bottom of the hold.

She seemed to have completely forgotten about making supper for the captain—but Duncan didn't care at all.

He appreciated the doll's divine assist at the critical moment even more.

Under the night sky, A Yi suddenly flapped its wings and flew to the nearby mast, as if it was standing guard. Duncan slowly walked forward as if he was normally inspecting the deck, and in his mind, the conversation in the captain's cabin was clearly transmitted.

Alice had already talked to the goat-head about the strange door. The doll-lady's tone was filled with a nervous feeling: "...That door looks a bit scary, the captain wouldn't let me get close to it..."

"Of course you can't get close. Not to mention you, even I can't touch that door—don't give me that look, I know I don't have hands or feet, but what I mean by 'touch' is in another sense… contact, control, understanding, peeking, you understand? That door is untouchable in this sense… you're done if you touch it, got it?"

Alice seemed to be startled by the goat-head's particularly serious tone. She hesitated for a second or two before opening her mouth, "Then… what is that door?"

Duncan, who was walking on the deck, suddenly concentrated his mind, but he heard the goat-head suddenly fall silent, and after a long time, he said in a deep voice, but did not answer any questions directly: "You really didn't touch that door, right?"

"I didn't touch it!" Alice replied hurriedly, but then hesitated for a moment before continuing uncertainly, "But… but the captain went over and looked, looked through the crack in the door, and poked something on the other side of the door with his sword…"

As Alice's voice fell, Duncan suddenly felt the whole ship shake, and then all the mainsails and jibs made a low whimper in the wind, and all the masts and cables creaked after that—and all of these things were currently being taken over by the goat-head!

He looked up in surprise at the shaking masts and cables, as if he could perceive the momentary panic of the controller behind them through these things. In his mind, the exclamation in the captain's cabin came, it was the goat-head's voice: "What did you say?! You said a crack in the door? That door has a crack?"

"Yes… yes…" Alice seemed to be frightened, "The door was ajar, there was a crack, probably… probably only as wide as a finger…"

"The captain glanced at the other side of the crack in the door? Then what? He also stabbed with his sword… Did he have any changes at the time? Did he seem hesitant or dazed when he took you away?"

"No," Alice replied immediately, "The captain just looked very serious, and then quickly brought me back. He seemed to be thinking about something on the way, but he wasn't dazed at all—ah, he also discussed cooking with me, I'm going to the kitchen later…"

"Stop thinking about the kitchen! Do you know what's behind that door?"

"Ah… what's behind that door?" Alice's tone was a little dazed and scared. She had never seen the goat-head so serious and urgent—the way it looked made her feel like the ship was about to sink.

The goat-head's tone suddenly became very low, and it slowly opened its mouth: "Behind that door, is the Subspace."

Duncan, who was walking on the deck, stopped.

Behind that door, is the Subspace?

He was stunned, and the huge waves that surged in his heart almost interfered with the monitoring of the captain's cabin. But then, he thought of another thing—

That fragmented hold, the dim, chaotic light and shadow turbulence presented outside the cracks in the hold—the Vanishing Ship was simultaneously navigating in different dimensions, and the outside of its hold was obviously a different space-time from the real world, and there was a door in the hold, and the other side of the door was the Subspace…

Could it be that the lower half of the Vanishing Ship is actually sailing in the Subspace?!

And according to the goat-head, this state of navigation does not seem to be stable? Not only does the bottom of the hold need the captain to appease it from time to time, but that door should theoretically be tightly closed, but now it has a crack… What does this mean? Does it mean that there is a problem with the "airtightness" of the bottom of the hold? Or are some things in the Subspace trying to enter the Vanishing Ship?

He recalled that he had tried to close the door before leaving the hold, but no matter how hard he tried, the door remained in a state of being ajar—as stable as if it were integrated with space.

He didn't think much about it at the time, but when he recalled it at this time, a strange thought involuntarily came to his mind.

Perhaps… when he tried to close that door, something on the other side of the door was holding it back, preventing him from closing that passage…