The entire lower section of the Vanished had been fragmented, with the area beyond the shattered cabin engulfed in a void of darkness and shimmering chaos.
“Could this be the true ‘bilge structure’ of the Vanished? If so, what lies beyond this broken cabin? And could such a sight be discovered beneath the Boundless Sea?”
Duncan cautiously took two steps forward on the largest floating plank, making sure that the exit behind him didn’t disappear as he did so.
“Captain…” Alice’s anxious voice echoed again as the doll hesitantly peeked part of her head out from the doorway in terror, “This… this is normal, right?”
Duncan’s heart was less certain than the doll’s; after all, she could blindly trust the captain, while he had no one to depend upon. However, confronted with Alice’s apprehensive demeanor and the “crew rules” mentioned earlier by the goat head, Duncan stifled his disquiet and maintained his usual poised facade.
“Don’t worry,” he said lightly, “the Vanished is a ship beyond your imagination.”
“Indeed, it is unimaginable…” Alice said in awe. Duncan’s composed demeanor seemed to reassure her to some extent as she observed the shattered and fragmented space that was once the ship’s lowest level, “Captain, it doesn’t seem like there’s water outside.”
Duncan considered her question before raising an eyebrow, “You think this is the underwater portion of the Boundless Sea?”
Alice looked surprised: “Huh? Why are you asking me that?”
Duncan appeared nonchalant: “Because you have experience.”
“Isn’t it because you threw me overboard…?” Alice said instinctively, only to correct herself halfway through the sentence, “I don’t think so… The sea should be filled with water. Even if the Boundless Sea isn’t right, there must be water beneath the ocean. But this looks like…”
“A void filled with chaotic streams of light,” Duncan shook his head, finishing her sentence. Approaching the edge of the floating wooden platform he was standing on, he looked down at the flowing streams of light, “The bottom of the Vanished… is not within the Boundless Sea.”
Alice was taken aback by the revelation: “Huh? So where is this place?”
Duncan didn’t answer her. The truth was, he didn’t know either. However, he had a vague suspicion in his mind.
“Could the ship be sailing in several different dimensions simultaneously?! On the surface, the Vanished sails through the Boundless Sea of the real world, but in reality, various parts of the ship existed in different dimensions simultaneously? This could also explain why the deeper one goes into the Vanished, the more eerie and gloomy the surrounding cabins become. Perhaps the strangeness and gloom are not actually originating from the cabin itself…”
“If that’s the case, what exactly is this chaotic space if it isn’t the Boundless Sea? It doesn’t resemble the spirit world, nor does it look like the dark space tunnel experienced during the Spirit Walk… Could it be that it is a ‘deeper,’ hidden dimension?”
With numerous conjectures and suppositions occupying his mind, Duncan slowly reached to his side and drew the pirate sword from his waist. Instead of using his own body, he decided to test the waters with the blade, unsure if something malicious would snap at him like a predator attempting to lure him in.
But in the next moment, his eyes widened slightly in surprise at what he witnessed.
The tip of the sword had vanished, only to reappear at the next floating rubble further away.
Duncan furrowed his brow and tried a different direction, only to observe a similar phenomenon.
Now he finally understood.
These seemingly fractured areas were actually interconnected in space, and the ostensibly fragmented bilge structure remained whole!
Straightening his back with newfound confidence, he glanced around to ensure nothing else was out of place before exhaling a long sigh.
These “cracks” were, in essence, merely optical illusions. Although the foundation differed, the final result was the same to their senses.
But what caused this? Was it overlapping spaces? Or a distorted projection from a higher dimension to a lower one?
Duncan tapped into all the reliable and unreliable knowledge in his mind to attempt to explain the bizarre occurrences here.
Meanwhile, Alice observed with puzzlement as the captain made odd movements at the edge of the floating wooden platform before asking, “Captain… are you performing a special appeasement ritual… to pacify the cabin?”
Caught off guard, the man quickly sheathed his sword and replied, “That’s right…”
“Oh, that’s incredible!” Alice’s eyes lit up, “Do you want to perform a pacification ceremony for all the fragments here?”
“…… One is enough,” Duncan maintained a straight face as he continued to deceive her, and then quickly diverted her attention before the inquisitive doll could probe further, “Let’s go.”
As he spoke, he ensured the lantern was functioning properly and held it close. After this, there would be no turning back, yet nothing happened…
Just as he had experimented with his sword earlier, Duncan had directly “skipped” the process of crossing the gap.
Alice watched in astonishment as the captain proceeded without any issues. Despite seeing that it was safe, she remained apprehensive. In a burst of courage, she suddenly charged forward and leaped with her eyes closed. Naturally, this led to her crashing straight into an unprepared Duncan, who had the wind knocked out of him.
Picking himself up after the tumble, he stared expressionlessly at the headless doll scrambling around behind him – Alice’s head had fallen off again during the chaos and had rolled about ten meters away from her body.
“So… Sorr… Sorry…”
“You behave and wait here for me. I’ll come pick you up afterward,” Duncan sighed, wondering to himself why he had brought this troublesome doll down here. “Have you considered attaching a screw to your neck…?”
Alice’s head didn’t seem to hear Duncan’s second remark when she began to stammer in shock, “The-Ther-There… There’s a d….”
Duncan furrowed his brow and turned his head to look in the direction that Alice’s head was urgently indicating with her eyes.
A dark wooden door stood silently at the end of the debris.
“A door… There is actually another one!”
Duncan had considered whether this classic situation from old horror movies would occur. But when he finally faced it, his heart still leaped in fear.
By this time, Alice’s headless body had also stumbled over. Unable to tolerate the nonsense any longer, the pirate captain quickly grabbed the doll’s head and handed it back: “Was there such a door there before?”
Alice reattached her head with a “pop” and answered, “I don’t remember one. I think it only appeared after we came over.”
Duncan snorted dismissively and cautiously approached the door with the lantern in hand.
In truth, he no longer needed the lantern for illumination in this peculiar cabin. The chaotic glow from the cracks provided enough light to see most of the outlines, but that wasn’t why he kept the ghost lantern activated – it was for his safety and protection.
The newly appeared door seemed ordinary enough on the surface, and it shared a similar style and material with most cabins on the Vanished.
“This door leads to the Vanished,” Duncan read the words atop the doorframe, which appeared to be made of copper.
