Chapter 10 Aboard the Sunken Ship

Duncan had always been curious about what made this gothic doll who called herself "Alice" so special and dangerous that the sailors escorting her were so nervous, and that she could occupy the extraordinary designation of 099 in this world full of bizarre and dangerous things.

Admittedly, a doll that could move on its own and possess intelligence was indeed quite eerie, and the sight of her occasionally running around holding her head or acting separately was truly frightening, but in Duncan's opinion, this bit of eeriness was far from meeting the standard of "obtaining an upper-level designation." The simplest comparison was a piece of information he learned from Nina:

Anomaly 196 - Blood, a dangerous anomaly contained and sealed in the underground sanctuary of the Plandt Cathedral. Its main body was the amount of fresh blood equivalent to the entire blood volume of an adult male. This anomaly possessed certain thought characteristics, could flow and spread on its own, and would actively try to replace the blood in nearby eligible "hosts" and seize their bodies to escape. The method to prevent its flow and spread was to store it separately in twenty-two blood jars and keep it frozen—but if someone bled within ten meters of the storage point, the seal would immediately fail, the blood of the bleeding person would be replaced by Anomaly 196, and the host's own sanity would be taken over as well.

This anomaly ignored countermeasures below the level of a Saint and would unconditionally kill eligible hosts.

As one of the most dangerous anomalies managed by the Plandt city-state, the relevant information about Anomaly 196 - Blood was always open to the public to ensure that if the anomaly leaked into the city, the authorities could quickly locate it and take measures to deal with it.

Duncan didn't know what the so-called "Saint" was, but judging from the name, it should correspond to some quite powerful transcendent level. Perhaps that Inquisitor Vanna who had appeared in the newspaper was a Saint—and how many Saints like her who could potentially fight Anomaly 196 were there in the entire Plandt city-state?

And this was just Anomaly 196, something ranked over a hundred and almost two hundred—Alice's number was Anomaly 099.

Within the top hundred.

Although, according to Nina, there was some uncertainty in the numbering of anomalies and phenomena, and it was not always possible to make clear comparisons of strength between different anomalies and phenomena, but overall, the top-ranked anomalies and phenomena usually had a higher risk or more bizarre and difficult-to-control "characteristics." Either that, or they had caused astonishing destruction or promoted special historical events, firmly occupying unique upper-level designations in a way that left their names in history.

In any case, a number within the top hundred meant extremely troublesome and dangerous characteristics for the civilized world, or something that had caused a shocking event in history. But this cursed doll named Alice...

Duncan turned his head and glanced at Alice, who was obediently following behind him. Noticing the captain's gaze, she immediately looked up and returned a harmless and somewhat timid smile: "Hehe..."

It was unlikely to expect this thing to understand its own dangerousness—he would have to look for clues in the historical archives of the Plandt city-state later.

But what method could an antique shop owner who spent his days in the lower city use to access such "classified information"? The "antique industry connections" left by the cultist Ron were obviously impossible. The history of most things in that shop didn't exceed last week...

Duncan pondered quietly, but his steps didn't stop. The ghostly green spirit fire burned quietly in the lantern in his hand, gradually spreading deeper into the cabin, and the ambient light that showed a "reversed" state due to the strange environment at the bottom of the cabin mixed with the light of the lantern, presenting a bizarre and even dizzying, psychedelic and chaotic state of light and shadow.

To outsiders, this scene was probably an extremely strange, eerie and terrifying picture.

However, Duncan's heart felt a faint peace. His power was immersed in the light of the lantern, permeating little by little like a trickle of water in the depths of the cabin, which had been closed for who knows how many years. This cabin structure, which was completely unknown to him before, was gradually becoming clearer in his mind, and a subtle "touch" was transmitted—

The last area of the Sunken Ship not under the captain's control was returning to normal. Duncan could feel more and more clearly that, as he explored, the faint "agitation" of various things in the cabin around him was gradually calming down.

Indeed, as the goat-headed man said, the bottom of the Sunken Ship was a little "restless" due to being submerged in the Endless Sea for a long time, but as long as the captain personally came down to appease it, the order on the ship would gradually calm down.

"You're really afraid of the seabed, even just coming to the cabin below sea level makes you this scared," Duncan suddenly said to Alice, who was following him, "Then why did you insist on coming?"

"I...I didn't think so much at the time!" Alice tried to calm down. "I thought that no matter how I walked, it was still on the ship... How would I have the concept of 'a cabin below the waterline'! I'm just a doll!"

"You don't even have a digestive tract, yet you're studying cooking—don't use being a doll as an excuse," Duncan said casually. "You need to brush up on your knowledge of ships in the future."

Alice gave a frustrated "oh," and Duncan was slightly silent before asking curiously: "Why are you so afraid of the deep sea? Or rather... why are you so afraid of the 'being submerged in the sea' thing? I know the deep sea is dangerous, and many people are afraid of it. You've said this reason before, but now it seems... your nervousness is more serious than I imagined, to the point that even just standing in a cabin below the waterline, just thinking about the sea outside makes you nervous... Stop fiddling with the lace on your clothes. There are no clothes to replace them on the Sunken Ship now. If you break them, you'll have to sew them yourself."/

"Oh," Alice quickly relaxed her hand a little, but then unconsciously grabbed her buttons again. "I...I never thought about this question at all. I'm just scared, is that okay?"

Listening to the doll's nervous tone, Duncan remained noncommittal. He looked to the end of the corridor and saw a staircase sloping downward had already appeared in his sight.

That was a deeper place, which might lead directly to the bottom of the cabin—the place where the ship had the deepest contact with the Endless Sea.

Duncan and Alice stood at the entrance of the stairs and glanced down. With the light emitted by the spirit fire lantern, they didn't see the structure of the cabin below, but a door stood in the depths of the darkness.

When he saw that door, Duncan couldn't help but frown.

The structure here was actually a bit abnormal. First of all, the road leading to the bottom of the cabin seemed too long—the stairs between the upper cabins were actually continuous, allowing one to quickly reach each floor of the cabin, but on this floor, the stairs leading to the depths were located at the end of the corridor, requiring one to walk through almost an entire warehouse area to reach it, which would undoubtedly affect the ship's traffic efficiency.

Secondly, there was an additional door below the stairs.

Duncan hesitated for a moment, then picked up the lantern and slowly walked down.

Alice hesitated even more, but in the end, she obediently followed—she would never dare to return to the upper level on her own now. It was still safer to follow behind the captain.

Soon, Duncan came to the door. He raised the lantern to illuminate the surroundings, trying to find any text markings around the door—and then a line of letters on the door frame appeared in his sight as expected:

"The Last Door to the Bottom of the Cabin"

"What does this mean?" Alice looked curiously at the letters on the door frame. "The last door to the bottom of the cabin... Normally, shouldn't the sign indicate the function of the room?"

"Obviously, it's a reminder," Duncan thoughtfully withdrew his gaze from the door frame. He put one hand on the doorknob, reminding the doll next to him before pushing the door open, "If you find any other doors inside, don't touch them."

Alice nodded nervously, and then saw Duncan push open "The Last Door to the Bottom of the Cabin".

An unusual pale glow came towards them.

They stepped forward and entered an open space.

After seeing the situation on the other side of the door clearly, Alice's eyes widened instantly: "This...this..."

She "this"-ed for a long time before finally squeezing out a sentence: "Cap...Captain! The bottom of the ship... is shattered! Shattered!"

She shouted loudly, but Duncan didn't respond for a while—because the latter was also staring blankly at the surrounding situation at this time.

The deepest level of the Sunken Ship, the cabin structure submerged in the Endless Sea—in fragments!

What came into view was a completely fragmented state of the cabin, countless huge cracks and glowing hollows, hundreds of cabin fragments scattered and floating in the space, yet maintaining some kind of "fragmented order," maintaining the proper outline and structure of the bottom of the cabin.

And beyond the huge cracks between the countless fragments, Duncan could clearly see the "scenery" outside the bottom of the cabin—

It wasn't the deep, dark Endless Sea he had imagined, but a pale, dim void, and countless dark and unclear light and shadows that quickly shuttled through the void.