Chapter 1

This wasn't the first time Zhou Ming had crossed through this door to the "other side."

Several days ago, Zhou Ming woke up to find himself trapped in his own room by some kind of "anomaly." After a strange fog had shrouded the entire world, he discovered this bizarre place "on the other side" of the door.

After all, that door was now the only exit from his "room."

He still remembered the bewilderment and helplessness he felt when he first pushed open the door and saw a deck outside, and the shock and panic he felt when he first looked down and saw that he had changed bodies. But since then, in order to find a way out of this predicament, he had boldly explored "this side" several times and had been successful. Now, although he still didn't understand what was happening to him or what this strange ship that had appeared "outside his door" was all about, at least he had gained some experience and had a preliminary understanding of the ship.

As in the previous times, Zhou Ming forced himself to shake off the dizziness caused by crossing the door in as short a time as possible, and then immediately checked the condition of this body. He examined the short gun in his hand, comparing all the details from memory, and finally confirmed that the items he was carrying were the same as when he had last left the deck.

"...It seems that every time I cross this door, the body 'seamlessly switches'... If I could put a camera on the deck, I could confirm whether this body changes when I push open the captain's cabin door and return to my apartment...

"It's a pity that items from the two 'worlds' can't pass through the door, and I can't bring the camera over...

"But the phone in the apartment did record the scene when I crossed the door from that side. I did walk through the black fog... So it really is the body that 'changes' into this form when it passes through the black fog?"

Zhou Ming muttered to himself, knowing that he might look a little ridiculous standing on the deck talking to himself, but he had to make some noise. On this empty and eerie ghost ship... he needed some evidence to prove that he was still "alive."

A salty sea breeze blew across the deck, stirring the black and blue captain's uniform of unknown material that he was wearing. Zhou Ming sighed softly, but he didn't walk towards the deck. Instead, he turned around and looked at the door behind him.

He put his hand on the doorknob.

Turning the knob, he only needed to push the door inward, and he would see a gray-black fog. Passing through the fog, he would return to the bachelor apartment where he had lived for many years.

He put strength in his hand and pulled the door open.

The slightly heavy oak door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit cabin. In the dim light, he could see exquisite tapestries hanging on the walls, shelves displaying various ornaments, and a large nautical chart table in the center of the room. There was also a small door at the far end of the room, with a burgundy carpet in front of it.

Pushing the door open would return him to his bachelor apartment; pulling the door open would lead to the captain's cabin—and the latter was obviously the "normal facility" on this ship.

Zhou Ming stepped into the captain's cabin, and as he passed the door, he habitually looked to his left—a life-size mirror was fixed on the adjacent wall, clearly reflecting "Zhou Ming's" current appearance.

It was a tall man with thick black hair and a dignified short beard. His eye sockets were deep-set, and his appearance alone seemed to exude an imposing aura. He looked to be over forty years old, but his heroic appearance and imposing eyes seemed to blur this sense of age. The well-made captain's uniform further indicated the special nature of the person in the mirror.

Zhou Ming moved his neck and made a face at the mirror. He thought he was an easy-going and friendly person, and the image in the mirror didn't quite match his temperament. But he soon gave up on this attempt, because he felt that the person in the mirror not only didn't look any friendlier, but instead looked more like a psychopathic serial killer than a dignified captain...

While Zhou Ming was making these movements, a slight clicking sound came from the direction of the nautical chart table. He looked towards the source of the sound without surprise, and saw a wooden goat head statue placed on the table slowly turning its face towards him—the inanimate piece of wood seemed to come alive at this moment, its obsidian eyes embedded in the wooden face gazing at him gloomily.

Memories of the panic he had felt when he first saw this bizarre scene flashed through his mind, but Zhou Ming simply curled the corner of his mouth. He walked towards the nautical chart table, and the wooden goat head turned its neck bit by bit, a hoarse and gloomy voice coming from its wooden cavity: "Name?"

"Duncan," Zhou Ming said calmly, "Duncan Abernathy."

The wooden goat head's voice instantly changed from hoarse and gloomy to warm and friendly: "Good morning, Captain! I'm so glad to see that you still remember your name—how are you feeling today? How is your health? Did you sleep well last night? I hope you had a good dream. Besides, today is a good day to set sail. The sea is calm, the wind is favorable, it's cool and comfortable, and there are no annoying navies or noisy crew members. Captain, you know a noisy crew member..."

"You're noisy enough," although it wasn't the first time he had dealt with this strange goat head, Zhou Ming still felt his head throb. He glared at the thing almost viciously, squeezing the words out from between his teeth, "Quiet."

"Oh, oh, oh, of course, Captain. You like quiet. Your loyal first mate, second mate, boatswain, sailor, and lookout knows that very well. There are many benefits to keeping quiet. Once a medical expert... or maybe a philosopher or architect..."

Zhou Ming now felt that not only was his head throbbing, but even his bronchi were starting to shake: "I mean, I'm ordering you to be quiet!"

As soon as the word "order" was uttered, the goat head finally fell silent.

Zhou Ming breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the nautical chart table to sit down—now, he was the "captain" of this empty ghost ship.

Duncan Abernathy, a strange name, a tongue-twisting surname.

The moment he first crossed that layer of gray-black fog and set foot on this ship, he knew these things in his mind. He knew that his body "over here" was called Duncan, that he was the owner of this ship, and that this ship was sailing on a long journey far beyond imagination—he knew these things, but that was all he knew.

The memories that remained in his mind were vague and thin, so that only the key passages above remained. The other details were completely blank, as if he knew that this ship had an amazing sailing plan, but he had no idea where it was going. The original owner of this ship—the real "Duncan Abernathy"—seemed to have died a long, long time ago.

And what remained in Zhou Ming's mind was more like the strongest and most profound "impression" that a ghost captain had left behind in the world after his complete death.

Instinct told Zhou Ming that there were big problems behind this "Captain Duncan's" identity, especially since there were supernatural phenomena on this ship (a talking wooden goat head). The mysteries surrounding this Captain Duncan might even mean some kind of danger he had never imagined, but he had to use this name in order to move around safely on this ship.

Because, like the wooden goat head just now, some things on this ship were constantly trying to confirm the "captain's identity."

Even the ship itself was constantly confirming the captain's identity.

It felt like some kind of insurance measure, as if the ship's captain could really forget his name at any time, and once he forgot his name, something extremely terrible and dangerous would happen, which was why "inspection methods" had to be set up everywhere on the ship.

Zhou Ming didn't know what the consequences would be if "Captain Duncan" forgot his name, but he believed that there would be no good consequences if he said the wrong name.

After all, even the wooden goat head on the nautical chart table didn't look like a good person.

But if he used the name Duncan Abernathy, then everything on this ship was quite amiable.

Anyway, they didn't seem to be very intelligent.

Zhou Ming—perhaps he should be called Duncan now—Duncan ended his brief contemplation and recollection, and then looked at the unfolded sea chart on the table.

However, there were no identifiable routes, markings, or land on the sea chart, not even an island. On its rough and thick parchment surface, he could only see large patches of gray-white clumps constantly surging and undulating. Those gray-white, mist-like things seemed to be obscuring the original routes on the paper, and the only thing that could be seen in the center of the sea chart was the silhouette of a ship looming in the fog.

Duncan (Zhou Ming) had no experience sailing in the past few decades of his life, but even someone who didn't know anything about sea charts would definitely know that a "normal" sea chart didn't look like this.

Obviously, like the wooden goat head on the table, this sea chart was also some kind of supernatural item—but Duncan hadn't yet figured out its usage pattern.

Seeming to notice that the captain's attention was finally on the sea chart, the goat head, which had been quiet for a long time, finally began to move again. It began to make cracking sounds as the wood rubbed against each other, and its neck twisted slightly. At first, the twisting was relatively restrained, but soon the cracking sound became impossible to ignore—finally, the whole thing's head began to twitch on its base as if it had entered vibration mode.

Duncan, afraid that the thing would continue to twitch and start a fire on his nautical chart table, finally couldn't help but glance at it: "Speak."

"Yes, Captain—I must emphasize again, today is really a good day to set sail. The Forsaken Home is waiting for your orders as always! Shall we raise the sails?"