The puppet once again braved the wind and waves to return to the Lost Homeland, and seemed a little frightened - and after listening to the messy description of this shameful puppet, Duncan also widened his eyes in astonishment.

"Disappeared? Disappeared right in front of your eyes?" Duncan looked at Alice in amazement, and then looked at the lifeboat next to it that had just been lifted to the side of the ship by the winch. The ropes used to tie up the End of Days preachers were still on the boat, but the cultists who had been tied up were nowhere to be seen.

"Yes, yes! They disappeared in just a moment! There was not even a sound!" Alice gestured to explain her bizarre experience to Duncan, "In the instant the sunlight shone, they disappeared, as if they had never existed..."

"They disappeared without a trace the moment the sun shone on them..." Duncan frowned. He had imagined countless ways for the End Preachers to escape or resist, but he didn't expect them to just disappear out of thin air. This made many of his preparations useless. "I can understand them jumping into the sea, since they are soluble in water. But how can they be soluble in sunlight... Is it related to the sun? Will the sun's suppressive power prevent them from surviving in the real world?"

"I don't know." Alice stared, confidently.

"I didn't ask you either," Duncan glanced at the puppet, "So what was wrong before they disappeared? What did they say? Or did they perform any weird rituals?"

"They... just kept on mumbling about the subspace, the promised land, the destined reincarnation of the end and rebirth, etc." Alice rubbed her head, and then suddenly remembered, "Oh, right! One of the cultists also said something like 'Our another day has ended'..."

"Is their 'another day' over?" Duncan frowned, and then for some reason, he thought of what a missionary of the End had said to him before -

They hide in the cursed history.

Some outrageous guesses popped up, but when I thought about what a ghostly state this even more outrageous world was in, it seemed that no matter how outrageous the things were, they were not that outrageous.

"Captain?" Alice saw Duncan frowning and thinking for a long time without paying attention to her, and finally couldn't help but take the initiative to speak, "What did you think of? You..."

"Nothing," Duncan shook his head, as if he was talking to himself, or muttering softly, "I just suddenly had a crazy idea. Those so-called end-of-the-world preachers... I'm afraid they are not non-linear..."

"Non-linear existence?" Alice was stunned. Her limited brain capacity and knowledge prevented her from following the captain's train of thought. "What does that mean?"

"...You'd better not ask. With your intelligence, it's hard for me to explain it to you clearly." Duncan glanced at Alice, hesitated for two seconds, and shook his head. "But I suddenly figured out one thing. Why did the book that Morris gave me say that the Preachers of the End were the most mysterious cultists who were the most difficult to detect and capture... This is too outrageous."

This is outrageous—Duncan repeated in his mind.

Hiding in the abnormal flow of history, it is itself a non-linear existence, shuttling through reality with the alternation of day and night. Unless you kill him on the spot, you will never be able to arrest a preacher of the end who was captured yesterday today - this is the astonishing fact he inferred based on the existing clues.

In comparison, the Sun Cultists, who were equally brutal and dark but were mostly made up of a motley crowd, seemed much more ordinary and approachable - although they also had the strange characteristic of being "constantly transformed from ordinary people under the influence of the creeping sun", they were not that evil after all.

But then again...if the Preachers of the End are really "non-linear beings" as he guessed, then how did they become like this? How can ordinary humans...strip themselves out of the normal flow of time and become a "sliced ​​creature" that is discontinuous in time?

Just because they followed the Warp... and thus received the Warp's crazy and chaotic "blessing"?

"Captain, you are daydreaming again..."

Alice's voice came again, and the puppet was looking at Duncan a little worriedly.

"I'm fine." Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and put away all those messy thoughts. He felt that it was too early to brainstorm now. After all, it was his first time to come into contact with those subspace believers. There was no point in making the most outrageous speculation rashly.

He turned his attention back to Alice.

"Did you see the note I gave you?" he said casually.

“Yes!” Alice nodded happily. “When I first saw the box, I was shocked. I thought you wanted me not to go back. Then I felt relieved when I saw the note… But I didn’t understand the words on it, but I understood the picture you drew…”

Duncan's mouth twitched, thinking that the thought in his mind after writing the note really came in handy. This puppet was actually illiterate: "...You really can't read."

"I can't read!" Alice said confidently as always, "I've been lying in the box for so many years. It's already amazing that I can accumulate some common sense by 'listening'. How can I recognize words clearly..."

Duncan: “…”

"What are you thinking about, Captain?"

"I suddenly thought...I wonder if it would be feasible to set up a cram school in the Lost Hometown or the antique shop," Duncan sighed. "Including you, I already know two illiterate people - if you count the dog, there should be three, enough to set up a study group."

Alice thought for a moment: "What is a cram school? What is a study group?"

"...I'll explain it later," Duncan waved his hand, then his expression became a little more serious, "Let's talk about the previous 'test'. Those three cultists were all fine before they disappeared, right? Even after the box was delivered, they were not affected at all?"

"It must be normal. Their heads are on their necks. I can see it clearly."

Duncan put his fingers under his chin and looked at Alice thoughtfully.

Although those End of Days preachers have strange characteristics, they certainly do not have the strength or "supernatural resistance" of the saints. After all, Shirley was able to kill three people by swinging her dog, which shows that their flesh and blood bodies are also "conventional matter" that can be destroyed. At most, their tolerance to pain is far beyond that of ordinary people.

And now, the three End Preachers have been by Alice's side for such a long time, but they have not been affected at all, which means... the effect of the guillotine has really disappeared?

Alice watched Duncan's expression change. No matter how slow she was, she finally reacted. She approached carefully and raised her face with a hint of expectation: "Captain...did I pass my 'test'? Can you take me to the city-state now?"

"The test... should have passed. Although the strange characteristics of those End Preachers make me a little worried, but judging from the results..." Duncan spoke slowly because he was still thinking and considering, but in the end he nodded, "Okay, the test has indeed passed. Your guillotine ability seems to be under control."

He paused for a moment, and before Alice could celebrate, he added, "I will take you to the city-state, but not immediately. You have a serious lack of common sense about the human world, and there are parts of your body that are easily exposed, such as your fingers and wrist joints. You need to make up for the former and disguise the latter."

"Yeah, I know, I know!" Alice nodded vigorously. She didn't seem frustrated at all by the difficulties and problems mentioned by Duncan. Instead, she seemed very motivated. "Mr. Goat Head also told me that the human world is very complicated. There are a lot of rules even for going out to buy groceries. He said that if I want to go to the human city-state, I will definitely need to make up for it. If there is anything I don't know, I can ask..."

"Don't ask it!" Duncan was shocked before Alice could finish her words, and quickly interrupted the puppet that had been colluding with the goat head all day and was about to grow completely crooked, "It looks even less human than you, and you want to learn common sense about human society from it? Where's your brain?"

Alice looked innocent: "No!"

Duncan almost couldn't catch his breath. He stared with his eyes wide open for a long time before finally uttering, "You...I admit that you are right."

"hey-hey……"

"Anyway, don't learn anything from that goat-headed guy. It can't teach you many good things," Duncan sighed. He felt that every communication with this puppet was a challenge to his nerves. He even felt like he was passing a san check. "I'll find time to help you brush up on your common sense later. I'll also help you think about disguises. There's nothing for you to do now. Go cook first."

"Oh," Alice nodded vigorously, but just as she was about to leave, she seemed to suddenly remember something and turned around to look at Duncan curiously, "What are you going to do, Captain?"

"I have something to discuss with Goat Head," Duncan waved his hand, looking tired, "It has nothing to do with you."

Alice nodded, turned and walked towards the cabin - in a good mood, with light and dignified steps.

Duncan looked at the back of the doll lady leaving, and couldn't help but sigh again in his heart -

It's really elegant when you don't speak or turn around.

It's a pity that he has a mouth...

Notes:

① Sanity assessment. This term comes from the board game "Call of Cthulhu", which triggers a sanity test when the investigator faces something related to the indescribable or tries something that cannot be understood.