Duncan fell silent in thought.

This was the first time that Goat Head told him so many secrets about the subspace, and it was also the most frank communication between him and Goat Head.

Before today, this goat-head had always shown a huge resistance to the subspace, and avoided related topics whenever possible, never directly answering his own indirect questions. Its attitude at that time seemed to be that it was not only worried about the stability of the Lost Hometown, but also worried about the stability of "Captain Duncan".

But today, its attitude softened - after the captain ran to the warp, closed the door, and then ran back as if nothing had happened.

It seemed that it finally felt relieved and dared to tell what it knew.

The Goat Head said that he didn't know much and could not guarantee the authenticity of a series of intelligence, but for Duncan, even what it said now was enough for him to think about for a long time - this not only exceeded his current understanding of the subspace, it might even exceed the research depth of scholars in the current civilized world.

After thinking for a long time, Duncan raised his head and looked thoughtfully into the eyes of the goat-headed man: "...You know so much."

"I know something, to a certain extent... but I have no intention of hiding it from you." The goat-headed man's voice actually sounded a little nervous. "The less you know about things related to the subspace, the better, because in many cases, knowledge itself is pollution. But now it seems that the great Captain Duncan obviously does not need to worry about this..."

"Just take it as a sincere compliment from you," Duncan said casually, and then he looked the goat head up and down and asked unwillingly, "Is that really all you know? Are there any more details? For example, the identity of the pale Cyclops..."

"You're really putting me in a difficult position," the goat-headed man said helplessly. "To be honest, my memory...actually there was something wrong. I forgot a lot of things 'over there'. Now I only have these superficial impressions left."

Duncan stared into the goat-headed creature's eyes silently. After a long time, he looked away.

Goat Head indirectly admitted another thing - it was indeed not a "crew member" on the ship at the beginning, but came from the "other side", from the subspace!

Did the Lost Homeland "bring" something out of the warp when it left, and that thing turned into the goat head? Or did the goat head consciously take a ride and escape the warp? Was this a deal?

For some reason, the image of the pale giant who died on the edge of the celestial fragments appeared in Duncan's mind again.

The Warp is filled with the debris of the old world after it was shattered, but it seems that those are not just debris... The Goat Head seems to come from the Warp, and it has reason, can think, and can even communicate, so are there other things similar to it in the Warp? Or... if it returns to the Warp, the Goat Head will become another look, become... something similar to the pale giant? So it is so reluctant to "go back"?

Duncan had many questions at once, but in the end he didn't ask them directly.

Because he knew that the other party would never answer questions directly directed at the Goat Head itself, or questions that might be directed at "Captain Duncan" - this involved the stability of the Lost Homeland in the real dimension.

So he let out a light breath, stood up, and signaled the temporary end of this topic.

The bright sunlight shines through the window, onto the simple and elegant furnishings in the captain's room, casting a hazy luster in the dust.

"I missed today's sunrise," Duncan suddenly said, "Did the sun rise as usual today?"

"Yes, the sun rises on time at sunrise," the goat-headed man answered immediately, "It seems that the previous delayed sunrise was just an accident, and Anomaly 001 is still operating normally."

"...For an entity like Anomaly 001, once something goes wrong, fear will be forever imprinted in people's hearts. Those who noticed the '15 minutes' will probably never greet the sunrise as easily as before." Duncan shook his head slightly, and then suddenly seemed to remember something, "Wait, do you remember when the sun set yesterday?"

"Sunset?" Goat Head recalled and said uncertainly, "The sunset time should be on time and not affected. What's the problem...ah!"

"You've realized it," Duncan turned his gaze away from the window. "Yesterday's sun rose fifteen minutes late, but set on time. This means one thing."

"...It cruised across the sky at a faster speed than usual yesterday," the goat-head realized belatedly, "Anomaly 001...can consciously adjust its own mode of operation?"

Duncan said in a deep voice: "At least it accelerated consciously yesterday to ensure that 'Sunset' was executed at the right time."

The goat-headed man hesitated, "So this... is a good thing? This shows that Anomaly 001 has a certain self-repair function. Even if there is a small problem, it is consciously ensuring that the world can run smoothly..."

Duncan said nothing more.

Goat-Head seemed optimistic, but he was not relaxed at all by the "self-adjustment" of Anomaly 001. Instead, he felt more nervous after confirming that the sun had actively accelerated for one day.

Because he knew one thing - when a huge, ancient and unsupervised system suddenly began to use its own reserve resources to repair itself, it often did not mean that the problem would be solved. Instead, it was a signal that the problem had accumulated to a dangerous critical point!

Duncan couldn't help but walk to the window, pushed it open completely, and looked up at the huge body of light in the sky that was illuminating the world, as well as the two circles of runes surrounding the body of light.

The light emitted by Vision 001 was bright but not dazzling, and Duncan could even barely look directly at it.

But suddenly, Duncan's eyes froze.

He stared at the sun and the runes on the edge of the ancient vision. He carefully distinguished them and finally confirmed that he was not mistaken.

On the outer ring of the double runes, there was a slightly dim spot under the glow of the light. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a faint...gap.

※※※

In Plande, an antique shop, Duncan, who was sitting behind the counter supervising Shirley, Alice and Agou copying letters, suddenly looked up, and then quickly walked out of the shop under the surprised gaze of the three "students", came to the open space in front of the antique shop and looked up at the sky.

After a long while, until this fragile human body felt a little dizzy, Duncan closed his eyes and lowered his head.

Nina, who was originally helping Shirley and the others learn to read, ran out worriedly: "Uncle Duncan, what's wrong with you?"

Duncan raised his head and gently ruffled Nina's hair.

"It's okay, I just came out to check the weather."

"Check the weather?" Nina looked up at the clear sky in confusion. "Can't we just look out the window from inside the store? It's such a sunny day...ah, is something going to happen again?"

Nina suddenly lowered her voice as she spoke, and came over mysteriously to grab Duncan's sleeve: "Did you think of something on the boat? Are we going to take an adventure?"

"... Take risks, take risks. How can there be so many risks?" Duncan looked at the girl who had been thinking about a "thrilling new life" ever since she learned about the Lost Hometown, and said, "Don't worry about chaos in the world. Isn't world peace good?"

Nina stuck out her tongue in embarrassment, while Shirley, who had come to the store out of curiosity to see what was going on, was a little dazed after hearing what Duncan said. She was stunned for a long time before turning her head and muttering to Agou who was hiding in the shadows: "The captain said he likes world peace."

Agou didn't react at all.

Shirley frowned and repeated it again, then pulled the chain fused with her arm at an angle blocked by the door frame: "Agou, didn't you hear me?"

Agou's voice finally came from the shadows: "I'm reciting the alphabet. Don't disturb me while I'm studying."

Shirley: "...You really learned it?!"

"Nonsense, Mr. Duncan will check the homework later... Miss Alice is more serious than you!"

Shirley was stunned: "Homework? What homework?"

However, Agou did not answer her.

Because Duncan had already brought Nina back to the door, and Shirley's last muttering fell into the former's ears.

"Homework is something that will make me angry if you don't do it," Duncan said, smiling at Shirley who suddenly stiffened all over. "Go back and copy the alphabet ten times."

Shirley was about to cry: "Then...then why don't you beat me up..."

"real?"

Shirley was shocked: "No, no, no, I'll go copy the alphabet now!"

Duncan shook his head, then arranged for Shirley, Agou and Alice to study on their own for the time being, and told Nina to supervise them. He took one last look at the sky outside, then stood in front of the window and fell into thought.

Anomaly 001...something is seriously wrong.