Chapter 1 Alice

Alice stopped at the door of the captain's cabin.

The doll looked up at the dark oak door before her, noticing a line of words written in beautiful cursive letters on the door frame: Door of the Dispossessed.

It was not strange for such a line of words to appear on the door frame of the *Dispossessed*, but Alice frowned subconsciously—she was not curious about the door itself, but rather why she recognized the "words."

She had no memory of learning to read, in fact, she had no memory of "learning" anything. She didn't remember accumulating experience outside, or talking to people, yet this knowledge existed naturally in her mind.

She could understand the letters on the captain's cabin door frame, and she also knew the purpose of various furnishings in the room. This was impossible to learn simply by lying in a wooden box and listening to the people outside talking—so where did this knowledge come from?

Before today, Alice had never considered this question, but for some reason, after talking to that "Captain Duncan," the concept of "curiosity" suddenly emerged in the doll's mind, which should have been forever operating calmly.

She recalled carefully, and it seemed that the change occurred after Duncan asked about the origin of the name "Alice"... In that instant, she began to question some of the things in her mind that she took for granted, and tried to recall the origin of her name. Then, something in her mind loosened.

Alice didn't know if this loosening was good or bad, but she didn't like this feeling of confusion, so she quickly shook her head, tossed the doubt aside, adjusted her mentality again at the door of the captain's cabin, and then placed her hand on the handle of the oak door and pushed it forward slightly.

The door didn't budge.

Alice was stunned for a moment, then tried to push again, but felt that the wooden door seemed to be cast entirely from steel, unmoving.

Then, as she was about to try again, a voice suddenly came from inside the captain's cabin—the voice was hoarse and low, as if coming from a piece of rotten wood: "The door opens outward, madam."

This wasn't Captain Duncan's voice. Alice was startled, but she quickly reacted, hastily said "Oh," and then pulled the door outward—this time, the door opened very easily.

Only then did she recall that the captain seemed to have pulled the door outward when he brought her here before.

It seemed that the "life knowledge" that appeared out of nowhere in her mind was ultimately just knowledge. Having slept in a wooden box for so long, she still lacked real survival experience—Alice reflected on this slightly, then carefully peeked her head into the captain's cabin.

The captain's cabin was empty. The conspicuous navigation table stood quietly under the lamplight, the surface of the nautical chart on the table was covered with a thin mist, and the dark wooden goat head was turning its gaze from the edge of the table, its obsidian eyes staring blankly at her.

"Please come in, madam. The captain is busy, you can wait for him here for a while," the goat head spoke, even more polite than Alice had imagined. "Also, try to avoid peeking in like that. It will make some overly sensitive fellows on the *Dispossessed* feel like they are disliked, and appeasing them will be troublesome—and if your head falls off again, it's a problem. I don't have hands to help you pick it up..."

It really spoke! This wooden sculpture was really talking!

Although Captain Duncan had said before that the goat head on the navigation table could talk, suddenly hearing a wooden sculpture rattle off so much was still surprising to Alice. She reacted for a moment before replying, "Ah, okay, but my head isn't that easy to fall off, and I even made a point of... Wait, you said some sensitive things on the *Dispossessed*... Could it be that there are..."

Alice belatedly realized the information revealed in the goat head's words. She immediately looked around with surprise and nervousness. At this moment, she felt as if everything in the captain's cabin, even the entire *Dispossessed*, was swaying in the dim light, turning into the same kind of "strange things" as the bizarre goat head. The goat head's voice then entered her ears: "Is that so strange? It takes a lot of manpower to operate such a large ship. Did you think the great Captain Duncan would personally scrub the decks?"

What the goat head said actually made some sense. Although Alice's newly awakened and not-so-bright mind felt like something was wrong, she could only nod after thinking for a long time: "That's true... So there are many like you on the *Dispossessed*..."

"There's only one loyal first mate of the captain, the rest are a bunch of dull-witted fellows. You don't need to consider communicating with them—they have no interest in communicating with people," the goat head interrupted Alice before she could finish. "But considering you're new to the ship, it's normal that you don't understand many principles and rules. As Captain Duncan's most loyal first mate and second mate and..., I need to tell you some common sense that you must know to survive on this ship, after all, the captain wouldn't deign to explain this kind of thing to a newcomer... Madam, are you ready?"

Alice listened blankly. She had forgotten her original purpose in coming to the captain's cabin, and only felt that this goat head rattled off a long string of words every time it opened its mouth. After two or three times, the rhythm of the conversation was completely out of her control. Especially when the other party suddenly rattled off a long list of titles just now, she felt her whole head buzzing. When the other party's voice fell, she could only nod subconsciously: "Ah, ah, good... okay?"

"Very good, then next are a few rules that every crew member of the *Dispossessed* must know. This will help newcomers adapt to the environment more quickly and fully receive the protection from the *Dispossessed* and the great Captain Duncan on the dangerous endless sea..."

The goat head was obviously very satisfied with Alice's answer. As it spoke, it shook its wooden head, its tone full of obvious pride—

"First, Captain Duncan is the absolute master of the *Dispossessed*. Captain Duncan is always right. Even if reality conflicts with Captain Duncan's words, Captain Duncan's judgment should be taken as the standard.

"Second, any crew member can only operate in the areas allowed by Captain Duncan. Areas that Captain Duncan has not ordered to be opened are absolutely not allowed to step into, because those areas do not exist.

"Third, if you step into an unauthorized area and you are fortunate enough to survive temporarily, you must stay where you are and wait for Captain Duncan to bring you back, or wait for death in peace—absolutely do not return without permission, because you are not returning to the *Dispossessed*.

"Fourth, the *Dispossessed* is always sailing on the correct course. Do not question the captain's sailing plan. If you find that the scenery around the *Dispossessed* is different from what you expected, or find that the *Dispossessed* has fallen into a 'deeper' sea, then this is a part of the normal sailing plan.

"Fifth, the captain will occasionally leave the ship, but he will definitely return. During the captain's absence, the *Dispossessed* will continue to sail normally, but all crew members must not approach the helm at the stern of the ship—the rudder system will feel insecure when the captain leaves, and the cables at the stern will strangle all reckless people who show signs of 'usurping' the throne.

"Sixth, on the *Dispossessed*, there are only six basic rules for crew members.

"Seventh, the door to the captain's cabin opens outward."

The goat head seemed to have popularized "common sense" to new crew members more than once. It said these rules very fluently and naturally, but Alice immediately noticed something was wrong when she heard the last two rules: "Wait, Mr. Goat Head, you just said in the sixth rule..."

"Sixth, on the *Dispossessed*, there are only six basic rules for crew members," the goat head replied immediately, without any hesitation when mentioning these basic rules.

Alice was a little suspicious of whether the problem was with her or with the "first mate" in front of her: "But you just mentioned the seventh rule..."

"Seventh, the door to the captain's cabin opens outward," the goat head replied very naturally.

Alice stared blankly at the dark goat head wood carving on the table. After doubting her ears, she began to doubt her brain—but she quickly realized that she didn't have a brain, so she confirmed again: "Aren't these two... contradictory?"

"Not at all."

Listening to the goat head's firm answer, and looking at its empty and dark eyes, Alice opened her mouth, but suddenly swallowed all the questions back.

(Mama mia!)