After this, Duncan never heard any valuable information from these End of the World preachers.

They just sat on the deck in silence, breathing in the sea breeze as if they were enjoying every second as much as possible, and responded to Duncan's questions with either empty and indifferent gazes or crazy and confused laughter.

But the last words they had spoken had been seared into Duncan's mind.

These crazy people who followed the warp, whose insanity was disturbed and whose san values ​​might have been negative... seemed to have acquired knowledge that theoretically should not exist through their fanatical beliefs, and learned the truth that theoretically had never been leaked.

They "saw" that "Captain Duncan" had an abnormal "humanity" in his body, and that this "humanity" was "picked up" - what was the meaning behind this sentence? Could it be that they could recognize that the soul in their own body was actually not the original owner? !

And these cultists just mentioned that they were not hiding in the city-state... but in the cursed history? What does this mean? Could it be that these crazy end-time preachers are not in normal time and space at all, so they can avoid the surveillance of the city-state guardians while behaving so strangely?

Duncan silently watched those End of Days preachers who were showing strange smiles, his mind in flux. He was also paying attention to the situation of the entire ship, sensing whether there were any changes on the Lost Homeland.

Goathead was still obediently steering the ship in the captain's room, and he didn't seem to pay attention to what was happening on the deck.

All parts of the Lost Homeland were functioning normally, and the words of the End Preacher had no effect on the ship.

Alice was sitting on a large wooden barrel not far away, holding her head in her hands, fixing her hair in a bored manner - Miss Doll's brain could no longer keep up with the conversation between the Captain and the cultists, and she ran away early.

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

It seemed that he had wasted too much time on these cultists, and was even a little affected by their crazy words.

I have already obtained a lot of useful information from these people, and it seems that there will be no more gains in the future, so there is no need to continue wasting my feelings with these crazy people.

Just as Duncan's expression changed, an End of the World preacher suddenly raised his head. The empty and illusory sails of the Lost Homeland were reflected in his cloudy eyes, and he muttered in a dream, "Is it time to disembark?"

"There is no place for you on this ship," Duncan looked at the other person expressionlessly, "but before I throw you overboard, you can still be of some use."

The three End of the World preachers all raised their heads and slowly opened their mouths, laughing strangely.

Despite their ecstasy when they first boarded the ship, and even the radical act of kissing the deck, they did not show any loss or fear when they heard Duncan's words.

Originally, Duncan thought that they would at least put up a fight, would try to stay on the ship by force, or even try to use the ship to reach the "promised land" they had been longing for, the subspace. However, none of that happened - only a strange numbness filled these people's eyes.

It was as if at some unknown moment, most of their personality and memory suddenly left these bodies, or as if they suddenly heard some "calling" from the unknown, and then calmly accepted their fate.

Duncan frowned, and did not delve into what these already crazy cultists were thinking. Instead, he turned to look at the Gothic doll that was in a daze not far away: "Alice, come here."

The puppet reacted immediately, picked up its head and put it on its neck skillfully, jumped off the barrel and trotted to Duncan: "Captain, you called me?"

"...Can you please stop pulling out your head? The joints are not strong to begin with, and your intelligence will drop after it's pulled out," Duncan muttered with a frown before shaking his head and pointing at the three cultists. "I'm going to have you do some tests."

"Test?" Alice was stunned for a moment. "What test?"

"See if your uncontrolled 'Guillotine' ability is still there," Duncan raised his eyebrows, "Don't tell me you've forgotten about it."

"I forgot!" Alice nodded confidently, "I just remembered it when you reminded me!"

Then, without paying attention to Duncan's suddenly subtle expression, she turned to look at the "End Preachers" and greeted them: "Hello, I forgot to introduce myself just now. My name is Alice, and I am the...cook on the ship?"

"You should tell them your other identity," Duncan said calmly. He was talking to Alice, but his eyes were on several cultists. "Anomaly 099."

The expressions of the three End of Days preachers finally changed. One of them couldn't help but glance at Alice, and his expression suddenly became solemn.

"I thought you were really numb to the point of not fearing life or death," Duncan noticed these changes, but still looked calm. "Then I hope you lunatics who are not even afraid of the warp will like the following arrangements. What you are asked to do is simple. Stay near Alice and survive, or be beheaded and die."

Alice was listening nearby, and suddenly came over and muttered, "Captain, you really sound like a villain when you say that..."

Duncan looked at the puppet in astonishment: "...Which side are you from?"

"Death is meaningless to us..." When Duncan was muttering to Alice, one of the End Preachers finally spoke. He glanced at Alice and took a step forward with a hint of mockery in his expression. "It's just one more stop on this long journey. You are a foolish person who rejected the gift of the warp. You are obsessed with the maze of the real world and will never know the truth beyond life and death..."

Duncan quickly tugged at Alice's arm: "Did you hear me? This is what a villain is..."

Alice nodded: "Oh."

Then Duncan ignored the reactions of several End of the World Preachers. He looked up at the night sky where the World's Creation was hanging high, and suddenly asked, "How long have these people been on board?"

"It must have been several hours," Alice thought for a moment. "I have a pretty good sense of time!"

"A few hours... That means the guillotine's verification and effectiveness time must have passed at least one round," Duncan thought thoughtfully. His eyes fell on the puppet in front of him, and his mind recalled the description of the characteristics of Anomaly 099. "But it's not safe yet... Let's wait a little longer and then do the next round of testing."

"Next round of tests?" Alice blinked in confusion. "How do we test?"

"It is now roughly certain that your guillotine ability has not taken effect, but it is not certain whether this is due to the influence of the Lost Homeland or me," Duncan said, his eyes sweeping over the End Preachers, as if he was making extra sure whether the heads of these cultists were still in place. "In a few hours, after confirming that your ability test and the effective period have at least passed one round, I want you and these 'preachers' to temporarily leave the Lost Homeland."

Alice was stunned when she heard this: "Leaving the Lost Homeland temporarily? Where are we going?"

She raised her head and looked out of the ship's side. All she could see was the endless sea. At this moment, the wind and waves were calm, and the entire sea surface was immersed in the pale glow of the creation of the world. It even gave people the illusion of an endless snowfield, and in this endless sea... there was no place to stand.

Duncan thought about it.

Now he has found the "materials" for testing Alice, but in order to ensure the rigor of the testing process, he also needs a "testing site" that can eliminate its own interference. First of all, this test site cannot be placed on densely populated land, and it must be outside the Lost Hometown. It seems that there is no good choice.

"There are several lifeboats, all in good condition. I'll launch one and temporarily cut off the connection between it and the Lost Homeland," Duncan looked into Alice's eyes. "You just drift on the sea for a while - I'll have a big ship waiting nearby and won't abandon you."

Miss Doll shrank her neck immediately after hearing the captain's plan: "Again... another trip on the sea?! I have a psychological shadow! And the visibility on the sea is so poor at night, what if you lose me? What if a gust of wind and waves sweeps the boat away? What if the boat capsizes..."

Duncan interrupted the shameful puppet before she could finish. "Stop, stop, stop. There are so many chances. I can just let Ai hover over you and keep an eye on you. Then again, are you afraid that you can't get back to the boat? You were able to row back against the wind and waves even when I gave you a coffin lid. Eight cannonballs couldn't hold you down. At least you still have two oars this time!"

Alice's chattering was immediately suppressed, but only for a short while. She looked worriedly at the sea not far away, and then looked at the half-human, half-ghost, chaotic and frantic Warp believers, and grabbed Duncan's sleeve hard: "Captain, you must not lose me later!"

Duncan: “…”

Why did he feel that this doll was becoming more and more useless on the boat? She was no better than when she was sailing on the boundless sea. At least she had some silly energy back then...