Chapter 17 Strange Bird and Ritual Blade

The pigeon tilted its head, probably feeling that Duncan hadn't heard clearly, and quickly repeated, louder than before, "Ayi!"

Duncan finally understood what the bird meant, "You mean, your name is Ayi?"

The pigeon nodded proudly, pacing back and forth on the desk, "Goo-goo!"

Duncan couldn't help but rub his brow. He always felt that communicating with this bird was even more bizarre than communicating with the goat head, mainly due to the pigeon's elusive language style, "Do you know how you were born? Or rather… how did you appear here?"

The pigeon thought for a moment, its eyes vaguely looking in different directions at the same time, "Oh dear, the page is gone, try refreshing?"

Duncan: "…"

He found that he couldn't understand what this bird was thinking at all, and wasn't even sure if the sentences it suddenly blurted out were related to the current topic.

But he was absolutely certain that this bird was thinking, and communicating with him very… seriously.

It just clearly had its own understanding of "communication."

Duncan talked to the pigeon, who called himself "Ayi," for a few more sentences, and the result was that their conversation always maintained a parallel frequency. Basically, they were talking about their own things. If they were related, he couldn't see where the intersection was. If they weren't related, the pigeon answered every question... and occasionally, one or two sentences seemed to answer Duncan's question.

In the end, there wasn't much progress in the communication. Duncan could only frown and mutter, "What the hell is this thing…"

He felt that it would probably take a long time to establish a normal conversation with this bird. This process might even be more difficult than getting used to the goat head's chatter.

The pigeon squatted on the desk opposite him, innocently blinking its little eyes, occasionally mumbling and asking to v it 50.

Duncan didn't pay attention to the bird's mumbling. Instead, he curled his fingers and gently rubbed them, watching the green flames flicker in the air. He was at least certain of one thing—that the brass compass, although integrated with the pigeon in front of him, was still, in essence, an "anomalous item" that he could control.

The ghostly green spirit fire rose up, and green flames almost simultaneously rose from the gaps in the feathers of the pigeon "Ayi." The brass compass hanging around its neck popped open, and under the transparent glass shell, the slightly illusory pointer was gradually stabilizing according to Duncan's will. The dial depicting many mysterious symbols was also gradually filled with flames.

Ayi didn't react at all, just naturally bathing in the spirit fire, as if waiting for Duncan's order.

Before the brass compass was completely activated, Duncan took the initiative to disperse the flames.

During the test, Duncan was also silently summarizing in his mind:

"The compass still works… just with a strange 'medium.' It's not yet certain what effect this pigeon will have, perhaps some kind of assistance…

"The details of this compass are still unclear. It's best not to carry out a second 'shuttle' before being prepared… Next time I test it, I need to pay attention to any changes in the compass and the pigeon.

"There is a connection between the pigeon and me. This connection becomes more obvious when the spirit fire is activated, and I can even directly control the pigeon's location to a certain extent… but the control can only go so far…

"'Ayi' clearly has its own will and will act according to its own ideas. The instructions given to it may not all be carried out. This is different from the other 'items' on the *Ghost Ship*.

"Can speak, has a certain ability to think, and can independently judge problems… Compared to ordinary anomalous objects, this pigeon seems closer in nature to the goat head…"

Duncan summarized some of the currently known information in his mind. Finally, his gaze fell on the obsidian dagger.

The knife blade, like dried and twisted fingers, was dark and reflective.

This was exactly what the black-robed priest wearing a golden sun mask held in the sewer gathering place when he presided over the evil sacrificial ritual. From the point of view of its use, this should be a "ritual blade."

Duncan arrived at the gathering place, which seemed to be located under the "Pland City-State," in the form of a mental projection. He also returned mentally. He originally thought that this process should be entirely mental or spiritual, but now this ritual dagger was truly in front of him.

After thinking for a moment, Duncan reached out and picked up the dagger.

The cold, hard touch was real. This was a real object.

Duncan released some spirit fire again, letting the flames wrap around the blade. From the empty and void feedback, the extraordinary power once contained in this ritual dagger had indeed dissipated.

Just as he had judged at the sacrifice site before, this thing was not a true "anomalous object," but should be an extended product of some kind of extraordinary power, or a temporary item that was "infused" artificially.

Although Duncan didn't know what kind of system the "anomalous objects" in this world had, he guessed that this dagger shouldn't be a very rare item, at least… it looked like it was mass-produced.

"Did you bring this back?" He looked up at Ayi, who was resting on the desk, and raised the obsidian dagger in his hand, "And is it specifically for me?"

The pigeon stared straight at Duncan with its red eyes, motionless, with no response to the question.

Duncan: "…?"

He asked again, but the pigeon still didn't move at all, as if it had suddenly turned into a lifeless sculpture.

The sudden abnormal change made Duncan frown slightly, but just as he was about to use spirit flames to stimulate Ayi to see if he could forcibly wake it up, the bird suddenly "came alive" again. It jumped up and down in place, shouting loudly, "Take this solar battle axe, take this solar battle axe, take this…"

"Okay, okay, I understand. You don't have to answer every question I just asked," Duncan quickly waved his hand, while forcibly quieting the pigeon and organizing his language, "Then do you know how you brought this dagger here? Or rather, can you carry 'physical objects' through, is that right?"

The pigeon thought for a moment, then lowered its head and pecked at Duncan's fingers, "Full discount, free shipping on every item."

Duncan: "I… I'll just pretend I understood."

He sighed, feeling that his communication limit with this bird was here.

Then he stood up from the desk and looked in the direction of the chart room.

The goat head and Alice were still outside, and the enthusiastic and friendly communication was still continuing.

The doll hadn't made a sound for a long time, and the goat head had just begun to tell the seventeenth way to cook kelp stew.

Duncan felt it was necessary to rescue his only (and surprisingly the most normal) crew member.

On the other hand, he had been in the bedroom for too long, and he had made some abnormal noises in the middle. He felt he needed to show his face to reassure the goat head.

But before leaving, he hesitated and glanced at Ayi, who was running around on the desk.

Should he take this pigeon out too? How would he explain it if he took it out?

Duncan only hesitated for two seconds before decisively grabbing the pigeon and putting it on his shoulder.

He was going to be active on the *Ghost Ship* for a long time, and this pigeon would definitely be following him for a long time in the foreseeable future. He didn't know what the bird's living habits were yet, but as an "anomalous object" with the ability to think and communicate, it would probably be difficult to hide it somewhere like a dead object.

Adding a "crew member" to the ship was something that couldn't be hidden, and if he hid it now, it would be a huge damage to the image of "Captain Duncan" once it was exposed in the future.

So he might as well take this pigeon out generously and say it was his new "trophy"—he didn't need to explain anything to that goat head; the captain didn't need to explain to the first mate.

The first mate would make it up himself.

As for the strange things that this pigeon blurted out from time to time (which would definitely be incomprehensible strange things to the locals in this world)… there was no need to explain them either.

Let the goat head and Alice figure out how to make it up themselves.

Carrying the fat pigeon on his shoulder, Duncan got up, tidied up his appearance, and strode calmly towards the chart room.

The pigeon proudly puffed out its chest, announcing as if proclaiming, "Authentic herbal tea, authentic voice, welcome to watch…"