Chapter 238 “Tracking of the Bright Star”
In another three hours, the sun was expected to rise from the distant horizon, bringing the relatively safe and stable daylight to replace the unsettling darkness of night—if the sun indeed rose as anticipated.
Duncan glanced at the nearby mechanical clock, its hands ticking steadily.
“Do you plan to wait for the sunrise?” Goathead’s voice suddenly inquired. “There are still three hours left.”
“Waiting idly for three hours is even more tedious than sitting here, staring at a mostly empty map,” Duncan replied, shaking his head. He stood up to stretch his shoulders and slowly walked towards the bedroom. “I’ll rest for a bit. If I don’t come out before the sunrise, wake me up.”
“Of course, Captain.”
Duncan nodded, returned to the bedroom, and casually tossed the paper with the mysterious emblem on the table before heading towards the nearby bed.
Though his body hardly required rest, he would occasionally take a short nap before dawn—not to relieve fatigue, but simply to “wake up and greet the sunrise.”
This practice allowed him to maintain a sense of being “alive” on the Vanished, preventing him from losing his humanity on this ghost ship. He didn’t know if there was a hidden danger in this regard, but ever since realizing that the Vanished’s condition was not as stable as he had initially thought, he consciously maintained this habit of “living a human life on the ship.”
Duncan lay down, closed his eyes, listened to the whispers of the waves, felt the gentle rocking of the ship beneath him, and gradually relaxed.
…
In the captain’s bedroom of the Bright Star, adorned with a feminine touch, Lucretia, wearing a silky nightgown, suddenly sat up in bed.
Her hair slightly disheveled, her expression weary and irritable, she clutched a half-human-sized, comically shaped yet eerily unsettling giant rabbit doll as she got up.
The doll, made of pink and blue fabric, had a scar across its face and a saw-toothed mouth painted with a blood-like, eerie red. As Lucretia rose, the rabbit doll shifted slightly, then turned its head. Its button eyes gazed at its mistress, and a little girl’s voice emerged from its cotton-filled body: “Mistress, I thought you had managed to fall asleep…”
Lucretia glanced at the nearby clock and spoke with a hint of annoyance, “I slept for a few minutes, only to be awakened by a strange dream… What time is it now?”
“Two hours before sunrise,” the rabbit doll said, hopping out of her arms and onto the floor. It bounced over to a cabinet, opened the door with its seemingly floppy plush paw, retrieved a bottle of the captain’s prized wine, poured a small glass, and handed it to Lucretia. “You can still sleep for a while—this will help calm your nerves.”
Lucretia downed the glass but still rose, “No need, lying down will only add to my irritation… Start tidying up.”
“Very well, Mistress.”
The rabbit doll, speaking in a little girl’s voice, responded crisply. It took the wine glass from its mistress and put it away, then hopped and bounced around to tidy up the bed, seemingly skilled and efficient.
Meanwhile, Lucretia snapped her fingers, and the room’s lights turned on. She took a slow breath, dragged her feet to the dressing table, and tapped a drawer under the mirror with her fingernail, causing it to open in response.
A wooden toy sailor, carved from wood, leaped out, adorned in a classic naval uniform and clutching a small command knife. He first bowed to Lucretia, then stood atop the drawer, waving his command knife and issuing sharp orders.
A large group of toy soldiers emerged from the drawer, quickly forming ranks and calling out names before running to the side to pick up a comb, hand mirror, water cup, and toothbrush. They swiftly and nimbly lined up, moving to Lucretia’s side or the back of her chair, and commenced assisting her with her morning grooming.
Lucretia sat dispiritedly in front of the dressing table, allowing the dolls to bustle around her as she grappled with the fatigue and stress induced by a sleepless night and rampant thoughts. She contemplated matters concerning the Vanished, and after some time, she inhaled deeply, forcing her mind to regain clarity.
At that moment, a faint golden gleam suddenly streamed in from the gap in the curtains nearby, catching the “Sea Witch’s” attention.
Lucretia noticed the golden gleam, initially unresponsive, but after a mere two or three seconds, her eyes abruptly narrowed, and she glanced up at the mechanical clock beside her.
There was still an hour until sunrise.
It wasn’t time for the sun to rise!
She abruptly stood up.
The toy soldiers momentarily fell into disarray, then efficiently commenced cleaning up and reassembling their ranks. The rabbit doll, having already tidied the bed, observed her mistress’s movement and hopped over: “Mistress, it appears to be getting light outside!”
“It isn’t time for daylight yet,” Lucretia responded quickly, striding towards the window, “Where are we now?”
“We’re still following the course set last night,” the rabbit doll answered promptly, “We’re already close to where the ‘big thing’ is supposed to have fallen!”
As soon as the rabbit doll finished speaking, Lucretia flung open the thick curtains and thrust open the window, reinforced with a fine metal mesh.
A thin, hazy fog lingered on the sea surface outside the window, a common sight in the border area. Within that thin, hazy fog, a vast, faint golden glow floated quietly on the sea surface, its distance from the Bright Star still uncertain.
A massive, glowing object floated on the sea surface.
Lucretia gazed intently in that direction, inhaling deeply, and her body suddenly transformed into a whirl of colorful paper fragments. The colorful fragments swept out the window, soaring across the deck, through the stairs, and into the cockpit situated in the upper middle part of the ship.
Inside the cockpit, the clockwork puppet Luni, dressed as a maid, was navigating the ship. She instantly sensed her mistress’s approach, and as the colorful paper fragments flew in, she relinquished the steering wheel. The following second, Lucretia’s figure materialized from the paper fragments and took control of the wheel.
“Mistress, I was about to send someone to summon you,” Luni said, stepping aside, “That golden light suddenly emerged from the fog, and it appears to be the ‘fallen object’ we’ve been tracking.”
“Increase to full speed, have everyone on standby, and prepare the rear of the ship for entering the spirit world at any time,” Lucretia commanded swiftly, “Do we have enough spirit dust and magic oil reserves?”
Luni responded promptly, “Reserves are sufficient, and your orders have been relayed.”
Lucretia nodded, and then the Bright Star sprang to life at the captain’s command.
A large number of clockwork sailors, magical dolls, and ceramic soldiers hastened to their respective workstations. The specially designed paddle wheel structures on both sides of the ship started spinning faster, and the seemingly outdated engine gradually unleashed power surpassing that of modern propeller engines, rapidly increasing the ship’s speed. In the rear half of the ship, the ghostly “original hull” became more ethereal and blurred, with black hair-like stripes extending from the stern to the surrounding waters. From a distance, it appeared as if a dark tail trailed behind the Bright Star.
Under Lucretia’s direct control, the entire ship showcased a blend of magic and machinery, a fusion of beautiful elegance and terrifying grotesqueness!
As the Bright Star’s speed further increased, the enormous golden glowing mass floating amidst the mist and the sea became increasingly apparent to Lucretia.
The true scale of the object grew more immense as well.
Even the clockwork doll Luni gradually widened her eyes and couldn’t help but utter in a low voice, “My goodness… Mistress, what is that?”
Lucretia didn’t respond, but continued to stare intently ahead, concentrating on the massive golden apparition emerging from the mist, now resembling a small mountain.
It was too colossal to discern its complete outline from a single perspective, and its majestic, flawless appearance seemed beyond human construction.
A vast, intricate golden geometric body silently floated on the sea’s surface, emitting a soft, alluring pale golden light. It was nearly three times the height of the tallest mast of the Bright Star, with walls extending on both sides. The upper half of the structure leaned slightly outward, like a terrifying cliff, and its surface bore no visible protrusions, appearing entirely natural.
As they approached, Lucretia and Luni began to notice more details of the colossal object.
“It looks semi-transparent?” Luni curiously leaned against the wide viewing window, “It looks… like a glowing piece of colored glass?”
“No, it seems to be more than just transparent…” Lucretia shook her head, her eyes unwaveringly fixed on the enormous glowing geometric body. It seemed as though she had detected something unusual about the edges of the structure when a small black dot suddenly emerged from the nearby mist and entered her field of vision.
It was a seabird—even in the vast ocean and even in this border filled with strange phenomena, such creatures persisted.
If anything, these “wild animals,” lacking the complex intelligence of humans, fared better in the bizarre border seas than the brave and strong adventurers.
Lucretia’s attention shifted to the seabird, which appeared to be disoriented by the golden light on the sea surface and frantically flew straight towards the glowing “mountain.”
However, the next moment, the anticipated tragic collision did not transpire—the bird flew directly into the slightly tilted “cliff.”
After a while, from the corner of Lucretia’s eye, she saw the bird reemerge from another direction, seemingly unscathed.
Luni also witnessed this scene and was taken aback, “Is it an illusion?”
