Chapter 1 The Door to the Vanishing Ship

This door leads to the Vanishing Ship.

The letters on the doorframe were cast in brass, looking as if they had weathered a century. In the light of the spiritfire lantern and the chaotic glow pervading the cabin, every line on the letters seemed coated with a layer of solidified time, exuding an ancient and mysterious aura.

Duncan stared at the letters for several seconds, then turned and walked away without expression.

Alice's voice immediately came from the side: "Hey? Captain, are we leaving already? Shouldn't we check this door? Even if we don't open it…"

"There's nothing more to see. This is the end of the hold," Duncan said casually.

But at that moment, a soft tapping sound suddenly came, making him stop.

Duncan turned around and looked at Alice, who was behind him. Alice nervously looked around and finally turned to the dark wooden door: "The sound seems to be coming from behind this door…"

Duncan stopped in place, staring solemnly at the wooden door from which the tapping sound had suddenly come. He waited patiently for several seconds, then suddenly heard two more knocks—the knocks were faint and blurred, as if separated by an extremely thick curtain, as if the door was wrapped in invisible things, but it was definitely not an illusion.

After a brief but intense deliberation, he finally returned to the door. Alice also came over, nervously watching the movement that might follow.

Duncan held the lantern in one hand and gripped his longsword tightly in the other, carefully observing the dark wooden door in front of him. It was at this moment that he suddenly realized that the door was not completely closed—on the side of the door, he could see a gap of about one centimeter.

The door was ajar, as if someone had left in a hurry and forgot to close it, or as if some "things" inside had deliberately left a gap to attract the visits of the blind.

Duncan picked up the lantern and cautiously shone it inside, peering through the crack to observe the situation on the other side of the door—his other hand was already holding the longsword next to the crack, ready to stab at any "thing" that might come out.

However, he never expected what he would see—

Beyond the crack, there was a room.

A small room that seemed to be quite old. The wallpaper on the walls looked dim and wrinkled, and the slightly messy furnishings seemed to have not been properly cleaned for a long time. Directly opposite the door was a single bed, and next to the bed was a table, on which were placed a computer, books, and a small decoration.

A tall, thin figure was writing furiously at the desk. The figure was wearing an ordinary white shirt bought from a street stall, his hair was messy and unkempt, and his body, which obviously did not exercise much, looked a little thin.

Duncan's eyes stared intently through the crack at everything familiar on "that side," at the room, at the figure writing furiously at the desk. And that figure seemed to suddenly feel something, he stopped writing, suddenly looked up, and ran towards the door.

The figure ran over, staring intently through the crack at the outside, at Duncan.

Duncan also stared at him, at that familiar face—it was his own face!

After staring at each other for a few seconds, the figure on the other side of the door suddenly became agitated. He began to push the door hard, as if trying to get out, but the door remained motionless as if it were cast together with the space. So he began to try to break the lock, prying at the crack with tools. He pounded hard on the unmoving door, seemingly trying his best to escape, but to no avail.

The person inside the door finally gave up on this futile attempt. He patted near the crack in the door, shouting loudly at this side through the door—but from outside the door, only some vague, ethereal noises could be heard, not a single word could be understood.

Duncan watched all this in shock and confusion, watching the "himself" trapped in the room. He knew what the person inside the door wanted to do—his gaze slowly fell on the doorknob next to him.

The doorknob was within his reach.

From this side, this door might be very easy to open.

However, he just looked at the handle, taking no further action.

The person trapped in the room seemed frustrated. He shouted loudly at the outside one last time, and after realizing that his voice could not reach the outside at all, he ran back to the desk, bent down and quickly wrote something on a piece of paper, then quickly ran back and showed the paper to Duncan.

Through the crack, Duncan saw a string of scribbled words on the paper: "Save me! I'm trapped in this room! The windows and doors can't be opened!"

Duncan suddenly smiled.

His smile fell through the crack into the eyes of "Zhou Ming," who was trapped in the room. The latter finally slowly widened his eyes, as if feeling surprised, or as if gradually becoming angry from being ridiculed.

The next second, the pirate sword in Duncan's hand suddenly stretched forward, passed through the narrow crack in the door, and directly pierced into the body of "Zhou Ming" on the other side of the door.

The latter was pierced by the blade, opened his mouth as if screaming, and a series of hoarse, noisy sounds vaguely entered Duncan's ears. But Duncan remained unmoved, just gripping the hilt of the sword more forcefully and stabbing forward, leaning close to the door and saying softly:

"If you can't write Chinese, then don't."

The pigeon Ii, who had been silent all the way, suddenly flapped its wings at this time, making a hoarse sound: "This is an illusion. What are you covering up?"

The next second, the figure on the other side of the door suddenly began to melt like a wax figure and quickly dissipated in distorted, chaotic light and shadow. And the room, which looked extremely real and familiar, quickly shed its disguise, revealing its true appearance in Duncan's eyes: a dim, old cabin, empty and desolate, sealed in time and solidified decay.

The longsword in his hand transmitted an empty feeling, as if it had only pierced the air from the beginning.

The other side of this "extra door" is just a cabin?

Duncan observed the situation on the other side of the crack in surprise. But no matter how he looked at it this time, it seemed to be just an ordinary cabin.

But… is that cabin really "real"?

Duncan slowly retracted the longsword that had been extended through the crack, gently breathed a sigh of relief, and took half a step back.

The strangeness he had just encountered was still deeply imprinted in his mind. He didn't know if it was a simple illusion or something else, but one thing was certain… this door definitely had an unimaginable strangeness and danger.

If the illusion reflected by the door was distorted based on his own memories and knowledge, it meant that the danger on the other side of the door had exceeded the power of this "Captain Duncan." If it wasn't an illusion generated based on his own knowledge and memories, but a scene "fabricated" by something… then the situation was even worse.

Because no one in this world should know what that room looked like, no one should know the existence of the individual "Zhou Ming."

But the "thing" on the other side of this door knew.

He took a deep breath.

His caution just now was correct. In any case, he couldn't open this door.

At the same time, he was a little scared—because there really was a moment just now, when looking at the doorknob, that he had this idea in his mind: to open the door and let "himself" out.

"Captain…" Alice's voice suddenly came, startling Duncan from his thoughts. He looked up at the doll and saw the doll's concerned and fearful expression. "Captain, are you okay? What's in that door? Why do you look so serious…"

Duncan shook his head: "It's nothing. Behind this door is not a place you should look—we've reached the bottom of the hold. We can go back."

As he spoke, he reached out and tried to push the door to see if he could close it.

The crack that this door revealed was really unsettling.

But the door didn't move—although he had used a lot of strength, the door still seemed as stable as if it were integrated with the space.

Just like the sealed windows in his apartment.

Duncan thoughtfully retracted his hand—this door couldn't be closed, but he wouldn't try to open it further.

"Ah? Oh… oh, okay!" Alice didn't pay attention to the captain's attempt to close the door. She was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, with a happy expression on her face. "Then let's go back quickly. To be honest, this place is quite eerie. I'm a little nervous again…"

Duncan noncommittally hummed and took Alice, turning to walk towards the "last door" that led to the stairs.

This place was too evil. Even he didn't want to stay any longer.

After this, no more abnormal things happened.

They smoothly passed through the fragmented bottom of the hold, through the cargo hold where the lights were reversed, through the dark stairs and corridors, and returned to the cabin above the waterline.

The moment she returned to the normal cabin, Alice felt her whole body suddenly relax a lot, as if some shadow that she couldn't detect before, wrapped around her body, had been dispelled. She saw the surrounding lights return to normal, and the cabin was no longer gloomy and oppressive. As for Captain Duncan next to her…

The captain looked no different from before. He didn't seem to feel oppressed before, nor did he feel extra relaxed now. The environment deep in the Vanishing Ship didn't seem to have any effect on him.

It's just that the captain was obviously very silent when he came back, looking preoccupied.

"Captain, are you tired?" Alice asked cautiously. "Do you want me to make you something to eat? You didn't eat dinner properly…"

Duncan stopped his thoughts and looked at the doll beside him.

On Miss Doll's face was a sincere expression of concern—just like Nina.

He suddenly relaxed, and the slight haze in his heart seemed to be quietly dissipating.

"This time, don't drop any strange things into the pot."

"My head is not a strange thing!"

"Especially your head."

"…Oh."