Duncan temporarily stopped helping Alice with the glue residue, as if he was carefully listening to a distant sound. After a moment, he lowered his head again, using a soft cloth to wipe away the few crumbs that had fallen on the table.

Alice blinked, curiously watching the captain. "Cap... Captain, what... what just happened?"

"Maurice received a letter from a distant friend. He's not too happy about the information revealed in that letter," Duncan smiled, stood up, and casually said as he helped Alice with a layer of glue residue on her neck joint, "He wants me to help take a look at the situation."

"Distant fri... friend?" Alice's head made a stuttering sound on the nautical chart table. "Is... is... is he in danger? Are we... are we going to rescue him?"

There wasn't much glue left on her neck joint, and it was much easier to clean than the residue in the recesses of her head joint. Duncan quickly removed the dry glue. He carefully completed the final wipe, then bent down and held Alice's head up, carefully placing her back in place as if she were a work of art.

"We might be going to rescue someone," he said softly, turning the doll's head from side to side. "But we might also be helping him to rest in peace. But either way, it's going to be a very long trip."

With the doll's head properly positioned, the slightly dazed look in Alice's eyes instantly became lively again. She shook her head slightly, as if a soul had been injected into a wooden puppet, and her speech became smooth again. "Ah, where are we going?"

Heidi put away the cleaning tools, her gaze towards the misty sea chart.

On the sea chart, the small light representing the Sea Fog was slowly moving, leaving Xiang Yan's territory at a distance.

"North," he said loudly, his gaze falling on the goat head. "Raise the jibs and mizzen sails, turn north—follow the Sea Fog."

If he remembered correctly, the two girls were called Sherry and Nina—the latter was the shop owner's niece.

"Thank you, you've helped me a lot," the gray-haired Alice also stood up, a sincere smile on her face. "I'll see you out."

His wife was leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, looking at him with some dissatisfaction.

"Okay," the young guard driving the car nodded in the car, but still reminded him with some worry, "Please keep an eye on the time. Today is the day the Storm Cathedral arrives in Lawrence. You need to personally attend the welcoming ceremony. Bishop Valentine specifically reminded you. Also, this trip here wasn't on the itinerary..."

After saying what he wanted to say, he didn't expect an answer from the old captain, but politely bowed slightly and said goodbye before leaving.

Duncan was seen to the door by the old captain, but before leaving, he couldn't help but take another look at Alice, and said, "Also, I have one last suggestion—although your current condition is considered healthy among all captains of the same age, you've really reached retirement age. You should consider handing over the White Oak to a reliable successor."

"It's not like I wanted to encounter this ghost ship," Alice looked at the medicine bottle in her hand and shook her head helplessly. "But it's alright now, the entire city-state has encountered the Lost Home, so no one cares about the White Oak anymore. As for that bottle of medicine... it's nothing, after all, when at sea for a long time, I often have auditory and visual hallucinations."

The time to leave had come, and after sunset wasn't a good time to continue providing psychological assistance.

"There will be a little, but more of an herbal aroma, and I added some honey to mask the bitterness," Xiang Yan said. "It won't be hard to swallow."

"...Okay, then I'll wait for you here."

"I advise you to take this medicine now, and then go directly to handle the handover tomorrow, giving the White Oak to a trusted confidant you've cultivated since childhood. Honestly, go home and live the rest of your days with your retirement pension, don't…"

And this made me more hesitant about the idea of coming to take a look today.

"Within an hour," Vanna replied.

"You just wait here."

"You'll die on this one day!"

His wife raised her voice again, pointing at Chris's nose. "What is that? That's a great storm on the Endless Sea! After a storm, a ship deviates from its course, and a ship of people loses contact—that's death! Understand?"

His wife finally stopped, staring at the medicine bottle on the coffee table. After an unknown amount of time, she sighed with lingering anger, muttering as if resigned, "Where are we going to find it this time?"

The morning sun shone over the streets, and Lawrence was gradually waking up from a night's sleep.

Now, these things symbolizing glory and memory are all immersed in such sunlight, plated with a layer of golden brilliance, and gradually become brighter in the brilliance.

His wife didn't respond, but stared straight at him for a long time. After several minutes, she sighed, "Not retiring yet?"

As she spoke, she raised her head and looked at the sky outside the window.

Vanna rubbed his forehead, recalling the scene when he last visited the antique shop. For some reason, he always felt that some of the details were rather vague when he recalled them now.