The second floor of the antique shop was not very large. Apart from the kitchen and bathroom, there were only two rooms, one for Duncan and the other for Nina. Shirley, who was staying there temporarily, obviously had to sleep with Nina.

"Actually, I can sleep in the corridor..." Shirley looked a little uneasy as she watched Nina busy preparing for her, "Or I can sleep on the floor on the first floor..."

"That won't do," Nina said, looking up at the door. Uncle Duncan had already gone back to his room. Now there were only her and Shirley, plus "Agou" who was taking a nap nearby. "How can we let guests sleep in the corridor? Besides, the first floor... the first floor is full of Uncle's 'treasures'. He won't agree to that."

"His treasure?" Shirley was stunned for a moment, recalling what she had seen on the first floor - she was so nervous before that she didn't even take a good look at this place, but now thinking back, the first floor seemed to be just a pile of messy-looking junk. To say that it was the "collection" of a subspace shadow was really a bit outrageous.

But she soon realized: here, the "Mr. Duncan" was just an ordinary person, and Nina in front of her seemed to really not know that her "uncle" had other faces.

Thinking of this, Shirley's expression became a little strange again. Under the bright light brought by the electric lamp, she quickly glanced at Nina and whispered, "Are you really not angry?"

Nina stopped making the bed and raised her eyebrows: "Angry? Why?"

"...I actually lied to you for quite a long time," Shirley whispered. She had rarely been so embarrassed and spoke in a low voice in her life, but since she met "Mr. Duncan", she was getting more and more accustomed to speaking in a low voice. "I only approached you because of Agou's hint at the beginning, but I didn't expect you to believe me so easily, and even... so easily treat me as a 'friend'. I think you should be a little angry."

"...No one has taken the initiative to talk to me in school for a long time. I thought..." Nina muttered, but quickly shook her head. "But I'm really not angry. No matter what the reason is, at least you really talked to me, went shopping and went to museums with me."

Shirley didn't quite accept Nina's frank reaction. Or rather, she had long been accustomed to a colder interpersonal environment. Instead, she felt particularly awkward around Nina, who seemed to always radiate warmth: "You are such a weird person."

"Really?" Nina made the bed and sat on it, tilting her head slightly. "But someone seemed to have said this to me a long time ago... 'How can this child be so generous?' I remember hearing that."

As she spoke, she waved to Shirley: "Come up and sit down, why are you standing there like an idiot?"

Shirley was stunned for a moment, then hesitated and sat next to Nina, feeling extremely strange in her heart.

She never thought things would turn out like this.

She was being stared at by a warp shadow and had to live in its "nest". She was in the same room with the "followers" of the warp shadow. Agou had been huddled together in inexplicable fear since the beginning. She knew how dangerous and strange the real situation was at the moment, and that she might even be just a step away from death - but when she opened her eyes, there was actually only warm light and a girl with a warm smile in front of her.

"The lights are so bright..." As if to break the tension, or perhaps just to make conversation, Shirley suddenly muttered softly.

"Is there no electricity where you live?" Nina was a little surprised.

"I live in... an older neighborhood. There are no electric lights there yet," Shirley said, a little embarrassed. "We still have to use oil lamps after dark."

"Ah..." Nina opened her mouth, feeling a little awkward, and then changed the subject a little stiffly, "Do you want to change into pajamas? You can wear mine. I have one from two years ago that should fit you well."

"……good."

"Go to bed early today. Tomorrow is a day off. I'll walk you around the neighborhood in the morning and buy you some new clothes. Your skirt is burned."

“…I don’t have any money.”

"Then consider it my gift to you."

"……good."

※※※

Duncan stood at the window sill of his bedroom, looking quietly in the direction of the Sixth Block, his expression calm.

The two girls had already gone to bed next door. After going through so much that happened today, he didn't know if Shirley was tired, but Nina was definitely tired.

He closed his eyes slightly and tilted his head to "look" to the side.

In the dark vision, two small green flames jumped up.

That was the direction of the next room. The two flames were the "marks" he left behind. One of them came from Shirley, and the other one... indicated Nina's location.

Duncan still doesn't know what the ashes surrounding Nina mean, nor does he know what secrets are hidden in this city-state, where the "curtain" came from, or who is controlling everything behind the scenes.

But he could feel that he was getting closer to the truth of eleven years ago, and was gradually prying away the thick fog that was condensed from some supernatural element and covered the sky above the city-state.

Leaving a "mark" on Nina is a form of insurance. This mark allows him to detect the other party's condition at the first moment, and serves as a positioning tool in emergency situations. Moreover, if he figures out what the "ashes" around Nina are in the future, he can also use the power of the mark to intervene at the first moment, at least isolating Nina from the harmful supernatural powers around her.

But having just one layer of insurance is not enough.

Duncan looked at his hands.

This body is still too weak and too far away from the original body. The power that can be transmitted from the original body and the power that this body can control are limited, and the potential dangers of this city-state may be beyond his expectations.

He took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.

The next second, Duncan on the Lost Homeland opened his eyes, stood up and pushed open the door of the captain's bedroom.

The goat-headed man's noisy voice came almost without delay: "Oh, great captain! Your loyal following omission is being calibrated..."

"In which direction is the city-state of Plande?" Duncan glanced at Goat Head and interrupted him quite skillfully.

"P... Plande City-State?!" The goat-head was caught off guard, and a moment of surprise appeared on his hard wooden face, but then he reacted, and his tone suddenly became unexpected and excited, "Pland City-State! The human city-state! Is the great Captain Duncan finally going to launch a plundering expedition?! Is this your attack target? Do we attack the port directly, or plunder merchant ships passing by the city-state? We can also slowly corrode the city-state's coastal waters and gradually blockade its coastline. The city-state navy may be a problem..."

"Shut up and don't make any unnecessary arrangements." Duncan walked straight to the navigation table and tapped the table with his hand. "I only want to ask you the direction of Plande City-State."

"Oh, okay, okay, as you wish--"

Goathead's tone became a little low and drawn out, and he spoke slowly. The next second, Duncan noticed a flickering bright spot suddenly appeared on the edge of the foggy nautical chart.

"The Plande city-state you are looking for... should not be too far off," said Goat Head respectfully. "Ah, unfortunately, the nautical chart has been dormant for too long. It can only mark the approximate location of Plande. The sea conditions and landmarks along the way are still shrouded in unknown..."

"It looks very far away." Duncan glanced at the bright spot in the mist, and then judged the scope of the explored sea area around the Lost Homeland. He frowned slightly and said, "If we sail at full speed, how long will it take to get close to the coast of Plande?"

"Half a month? Or maybe a month? In fact, it's already very fast. We are not really far to the border of civilization yet," the goat head babbled, "You can also choose to let the Lost Homeland go at full speed in the spirit world, but this is not very safe. Although the spirit world itself does not pose a big threat to us, there are many daring people in the deep sea who may cause trouble..."

Deep sea...

Duncan subconsciously thought of "Agou", but soon shook his head: "Then let's sail in the real sea first and get closer to the Plande city-state - the last question is, can we avoid being discovered by the city-state?"

He looked into the goat-head's eyes.

As the "captain" of the Lost Homeland, his question this time was a bit risky.

Because he should have complete control of the ship and fully understood its capabilities.

But he asked it anyway, he was testing himself, the "first mate", little by little.

The obsidian eyes of the goat head showed no emotion. He just stared at the captain quietly. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke as usual: "...We can hide in the fog. If necessary, we can temporarily dive into the reflection of the broken waves. In this way, at least fifteen miles away from the coast, human cities and ships will not be able to detect the approach of the Lost Homeland.

"But it won't work if it's closer - the gods will notice it, and the city-state's cathedral will issue a warning."

"Your experience is from a century ago," Duncan said calmly, "Does it still work now?"

"Of course," the goat-headed man said cheerfully, "a mere century - the gods won't make any progress in this century."

Duncan breathed a sigh of relief. "Very good. Then let the Lost Homeland approach the Plande City-State and be careful to conceal itself."

"Can I ask you something?" the goat-headed man asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Just wanted to do a test," Duncan thought for a moment, a smile on his face, "to see if the wifi would be better this way."

Goat Head: "...wi...what do you mean?"

"Let Ai explain it to you later?"

"No! Your faithful following omission does not care what this means at all!"