Chapter 1 The Closing

The door closed behind him, blocking the hollow gaze of the goat head.

But Duncan could still clearly sense the *Vanishing* and feel every subtle change on the ghost ship—in that sense of shared feeling like an extension of his own limbs, he "saw" the *Vanishing's* sails subtly adjusting their angles in the sea breeze, and the black helm on the stern platform turning slightly, further stabilizing the ship in the waves.

As he expected, the goat head had temporarily taken over the helm and was diligently fulfilling its duty as first mate—but Duncan could still take over the ship himself at any time.

Compared to when he was directly at the helm, the *Vanishing* was somewhat weaker in terms of both flexibility and speed, but Duncan's main goal now was to further dispel the fog on the sea chart, and since he had no clear goal or route, he didn't care about this little effect.

After confirming that the goat head wasn't doing anything strange and that the gothic doll below deck was staying put in its room, Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the not-so-large room.

This was his private chamber as captain, and the most comfortable and elegant room on the *Vanishing*. Besides a soft bed, there was a classic wardrobe directly across from the door against the wall and a display shelf with many strange items on it. Opposite the bed was a dark brown desk, but there were no books on the desk, only a few decorations and writing and drawing tools.

Next to the desk was a window that directly overlooked the distant sea. There were also several hooks on the wall next to the window—the pirate sword and flintlock pistol that Duncan carried with him were previously hung on these hooks.

Duncan went to the desk, placed the longsword and flintlock pistol within easy reach, and opened the desk drawer to check the gunpowder and lead bullets in the wooden box.

A small brass compass lay next to the lead bullets and powder bag. Duncan picked up the compass and saw the needle under the glass case still spinning wildly, as if constantly pulled by an invisible chaotic force field. At the bottom of the compass was inscribed a line of small letters—

"We are all Vanishers."

Duncan casually played with the compass in his hand, watching the needle spin around as if it were drunk.

He had already checked the things here many times. He discovered this room during his initial exploration, and the things here, including that message, must have been left behind by the real Captain Duncan.

After reviewing the information he had gathered so far, Duncan breathed a sigh of relief, casually put the compass on the desk, and gently rubbed his fingertips.

A tiny cluster of green flame ignited at his fingertip, and in the reflection of the flame, half of Duncan's palm immediately showed a transparent, illusory texture like a spirit body—but under conscious control, the flame did not spread around as before, but hovered above his finger like a candle flame.

After the flame stabilized, Duncan used his other hand to approach the flame and feel it, and then took a quill from the side and touched the flame with the tail end of the pen.

He couldn't feel any heat, and the quill was not ignited. Only a bit of dark green color spread on the pen, making the quill glow faintly.

And Duncan didn't "feel" any feedback from the quill, which was completely different from when he used the flame to touch the sea chart and the ship's wheel.

Duncan silently noted the new experience in his mind—this "Spirit Body Fire" has no temperature, does not ignite things, and is very likely to only connect with the "abnormal" things on the *Vanishing*, and will not have any feedback on ordinary things.

So, what if it's an "abnormal" thing from outside the *Vanishing*... would this flame react?

Duncan pondered. For a moment, an image of a certain gothic doll suddenly appeared in his mind—Alice, who seemed to be an "abnormal" from outside the *Vanishing*?

Would she be affected by this Spirit Body Fire?

But he just thought about it and threw the absurd idea aside.

Because even if Alice was not human, even if she was a cursed "Anomaly 099," she was also an independent individual who could speak, walk, and think for herself, and now she was also a "crew member" of the *Vanishing*. Duncan had subconsciously regarded her as a "person."

He could not accept using a living person to test his flames—after all, he was not sure what far-reaching effects this flame would have on the affected "anomaly," or whether it was harmful at all.

Next, Duncan tested several times, checking the nature of the flames while determining whether there were extraordinary attributes behind the various things in the room.

Finally, his gaze fell on the small brass compass with the "message."

The brass compass lay quietly on the table, the needle under the glass case spinning wildly, but whether it was an illusion or not, when Duncan focused his "ill-intentioned" gaze on the needle while maintaining the flame, the needle seemed to suddenly freeze for a moment.

Then it continued to spin around as if nothing had happened.

Duncan: "..."

This thing definitely reacted to his gaze just now!

He was originally a little afraid of this compass, after all, it had the writing left by the "real Captain Duncan" on it. He was very worried that the deceased ghost captain had left some kind of power or "trap" on this personal item to prevent thieves, so he had never tested the compass with fire, but after seeing the reaction of the compass, he suddenly made up his mind.

Duncan reached out and picked up the compass. The cold touch traveled to his fingertips. After glancing at the still wildly spinning needle, he put the thing directly into his right hand, which he used to maintain the Spirit Body Fire, and slowly clenched it.

The dark green flame flowed like burning grease in an instant, spreading between his fingers. A dark fire quickly ignited on the surface of the compass. In the fire, countless phantoms seemed to rise and disappear. And in the next moment, the needle that had been spinning wildly suddenly stopped and pointed straight at a certain direction on the vast sea.

Duncan's heart skipped a beat. In that instant, he clearly felt the "feedback" from the compass and confirmed that it was indeed an "abnormal item" that could be controlled by the Spirit Body Fire, but before he could carefully perceive the details in this feedback, a sudden "attraction" struck!

Duncan only felt his body sway. In the next second, his vision blurred, and the furnishings in the captain's chamber had turned into nothingness, and even the surrounding walls and roof had collapsed and dissipated like snowflakes in the blink of an eye. In the light and shadow that fell like snow, boundless darkness filled his vision.

Duncan stood in the center of this darkness in astonishment, and alarm bells rang in his heart. His first reaction was to reach for the firelock and sword that were placed beside him, but in the next second, he realized that he only had the brass compass left beside him—it was still tightly held in his hand.

Duncan blinked. In his gaze, countless thin strands of light suddenly permeated around the brass compass.

These rays of light spread and intertwined in the darkness, expanding infinitely like weaving a net, and between the intertwining of light, countless stars of light emerged. Some of these lights scattered sporadically, and some gathered like rivers. Against the background of the light network, they were as brilliant as a galaxy.

Duncan looked at the apparition in front of him with some confusion. He was very vigilant and a little uneasy, but for some reason, he did not feel any sense of crisis, or even...

Between this dim light net and the stars, he felt a long-lost sense of peace and comfort.

In the next second, a strange feeling suddenly came. Duncan's gaze was involuntarily attracted by a cluster of starlight intertwined in the light net. He looked at the cluster of starlight and only felt that the starlight was crumbling, as if it would immediately fall completely into the darkness.

He subconsciously reached out to the starlight.

A huge pulling force came at this moment—Duncan felt as if his soul had flown up, and he involuntarily rushed towards the starlight that was about to fall into darkness, while the dense light net woven by the compass quickly receded in his vision, and the galaxy gathered by the starlight around him suddenly began to rotate and wriggle!

In the rapid flight, he subconsciously looked at his right hand holding the compass, but saw that the compass had disappeared at some point. At the same time, in the instant before he was about to touch the dim starlight, he saw a shadow suddenly condense in the darkness out of the corner of his eye.

The shadow appeared as naturally as if it had always been with him, and quickly fell towards the dim light spot with him.

Duncan could only vaguely see that the shadow seemed to be a bird flying with its wings spread. Before he could see the details, his eyes went dark.

The heavy touch from the real world came from his limbs, along with a putrid stench of rotting flesh, and the ear-piercing sound of heavy chains dragging on the ground.

(Holy crap!)