Chapter 1 Aftermath

After that, Duncan heard no further information of value from these Doomsday Preachers.

They simply sat silently on the deck, breathing in the sea breeze of the endless sea as if savoring every second. They responded to Duncan's questions with either empty, indifferent stares or manic, deranged laughter.

But their last words lingered in Duncan's mind.

These fanatics who followed the subspace, their minds twisted, their sanity levels probably already negative… seemed to have gained knowledge that theoretically should not exist through their frenzied faith, learning truths that theoretically had never been leaked.

They "saw" that there was an unusual "humanity" within "Captain Duncan," and that this "humanity" was "picked up" – what was the meaning behind this statement? Could they really recognize that the soul within this body was no longer the original owner?!

And these cultists also mentioned that they were not hiding in the city-state… but in the cursed history? What did that mean? Did it mean that these mad Doomsday Preachers were normally not in normal spacetime, which was why they could avoid the surveillance of the city-state guardians while behaving so strangely?

Duncan silently watched the Doomsday Preachers, who were now wearing strange smiles, his mind churning. He also monitored the entire ship, sensing if there were any changes to the Vanishing Sail.

Goathead was still dutifully steering in the captain's cabin, seemingly paying no attention to the commotion on deck.

Every part of the Vanishing Sail was running as usual; the words of the Doomsday Preachers had no effect on the ship.

Alice was sitting on a large wooden barrel not far away, holding her head and listlessly tidying her hair – the doll lady's mind could no longer keep up with the topics discussed by the captain and the cultists, and she had long since run away.

After an unknown amount of time, Duncan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that he had wasted a little too much time on these cultists, and even been somewhat influenced by their mad words.

He had already obtained a lot of useful information from them, and it seemed that there would be no further gains, so there was no need to continue wasting time with madmen.

Just as the expression on Duncan's face changed, one of the Doomsday Preachers suddenly raised his head. His chaotic eyes reflected the empty, illusory sails of the Vanishing Sail, and he muttered as if in a dream, "Is it time to disembark?"

"There was never a place for you on this ship." Duncan looked at him expressionlessly. "But before I throw you off, you can still be of some use."

All three Doomsday Preachers raised their heads, slowly grinning strangely.

Despite the ecstasy they had shown when they first boarded the ship, even kissing the deck in fervent gestures, they showed no reaction of loss or fear upon hearing Duncan's words.

Duncan had originally thought that they would at least resist, try to stay on the ship, or even try to use the ship to reach their longed-for "promised land," the subspace, but there was none of that – only a strange numbness filled their eyes.

It was as if, in some unknown instant, most of their personality and memories had suddenly left their bodies, or as if they had suddenly heard some "calling" in the dark and then calmly accepted their fate.

Duncan frowned, not delving into what these already insane cultists were thinking, but turning to look at the gothic doll who was dazing not far away: "Alice, come here."

The doll immediately reacted, skillfully picked up her head and plugged it back onto her neck, jumping off the barrel and trotting to Duncan's side: "Captain, did you call me?"

"... Can you stop pulling your head off all the time? The joints aren't strong to begin with, and your intelligence drops when you take it off." Duncan frowned and muttered for a moment, then shook his head and pointed to the three cultists, "I'm going to have you do some testing."

"Testing?" Alice was stunned. "What kind of testing?"

"To see if your uncontrollable 'guillotine' ability is still working," Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you've forgotten about it."

"Forgot!" Alice nodded confidently. "I just remembered when you reminded me!"

Then, without paying attention to Duncan's instantly subtle expression, she turned to look at the "Doomsday Preachers" and greeted them: "Hello, I forgot to introduce myself earlier. My name is Alice, and I'm the ship's... cook?"

"You should tell them your other identity," Duncan said faintly, speaking to Alice but focusing his gaze on the cultists. "Anomaly 099."

The eyes of the three Doomsday Preachers finally changed slightly. One of them couldn't help but look at Alice, a hint of solemnity suddenly appearing in his expression.

"I thought you were really numb to the point of not fearing death," Duncan noticed these changes, but still remained calm. "Then I hope you lunatics who aren't even afraid of subspace will like the upcoming arrangements – what you have to do is very simple: stay near Alice, and then survive, or, be beheaded!"

Alice listened from the side and suddenly leaned over and muttered, "Captain, you really sound like a villain when you say that..."

Duncan looked at the doll in astonishment: "... Which side are you on?"

"Death means nothing to us..." While Duncan was muttering to Alice, one of the Doomsday Preachers finally spoke. He looked at Alice and actually took a step forward, a hint of mockery in his expression. "It's just another pause in this long journey – you ignorant person who rejected the grace of the subspace, obsessed with the illusions of the real world, will never know the truth beyond life and death..."

Duncan quickly tugged at Alice's arm: "Did you hear that? That's what a villain sounds like..."

Alice nodded: "Oh."

Then Duncan ignored the reactions of the Doomsday Preachers and looked up at the night sky where the World Scar hung high, suddenly asking, "How long have these people been on the ship?"

"Several hours, right?" Alice thought for a moment and replied, "My sense of time is pretty accurate!"

"Several hours… In other words, the guillotine's appraisal and activation time must have passed at least one cycle."

Duncan pondered, his eyes falling on the doll in front of him, while recalling the descriptions related to the characteristics of Anomaly 099 in his mind. "But it's still not safe… Let's wait a little longer, and then do the next round of testing."

"Next round of testing?" Alice blinked in confusion. "How are we going to test it?"

"We can now roughly determine that your guillotine ability has not taken effect, but we cannot yet determine whether this is due to the influence of the Vanishing Sail or me." As Duncan spoke, his gaze swept over the Doomsday Preachers, as if to doubly confirm that the heads of these cultists were still in place. "In a few more hours, after confirming that your ability's appraisal and activation cycle has passed at least one round, I want you and these 'preachers' to temporarily leave the Vanishing Sail."

Alice listened, and suddenly froze: "Temporarily leave the Vanishing Sail? Where are we going?"

She raised her head and looked beyond the ship's railing. All she could see was the boundless sea. At this moment, the wind and waves were calm, and the entire sea was bathed in the pale glow of the World Scar, which even gave people the illusion of an endless snowfield. And in this boundless sea... there was no place to set foot.

Duncan thought for a moment.

Now he had found "materials" for Alice to test with, but in order to ensure the rigor of the testing process, he also needed a "test site" that could eliminate his own interference. This test site could not be located on densely populated land, and it had to be outside the Vanishing Sail, so there seemed to be no other choice.

"There are several lifeboats in good condition. I'll put one down and temporarily cut off its connection with the Vanishing Sail," Duncan looked into Alice's eyes. "You will float on the sea for a while – I will have the big ship wait nearby and won't leave you behind."

The doll lady shrank her neck when she heard the captain's plan: "Float... float on the sea again?! I have psychological trauma! And the visibility on the sea is so poor at night. What if you lose me? What if a gust of wind blows the boat away? What if the boat capsizes..."

Duncan interrupted her before the embarrassing doll could finish speaking: "Stop, stop, stop, there are not so many what-ifs. I'll have Ai circling and watching you in the sky, won't that do it? Besides, are you afraid of not being able to return to the ship? You were able to ride the waves with a coffin board back then, and eight cannonballs couldn't hold you down. This time, you at least have two proper oars!"

Alice's grumbling was immediately stifled, but only for a short while. She then looked worriedly at the sea not far away, and then at those people who were neither human nor ghost, the subspace believers who were confused and frenzied, and grabbed Duncan's sleeve hard: "Captain, you promised, you must not lose me later!"

Duncan: "..."

He felt that this doll was becoming more and more useless on the ship – she was not as good as she was when she was riding the waves on the endless sea back then. At least she had a foolish energy back then...