★ Illustration 8 ★

The pigeon tilted its head, probably thinking that Duncan didn't hear clearly, and quickly repeated it again, even louder than before: "Ai Yi!"

Duncan finally understood what the bird meant: "You mean, your name is Aiyi?"

The pigeon nodded proudly and paced back and forth on the desk: "Coo!"

Duncan couldn't help rubbing his brows. He always felt that communicating with this bird was weirder than communicating with the goat-headed man. This was mainly because of the pigeon's elusive language style. "Do you know how you were born? Or...how did you appear here?"

The pigeon thought for a moment, and its two eyes looked vaguely in different directions at the same time: "Oops, the page is gone, try refreshing it?"

Duncan: “…”

He found that he had no idea what was going on in the bird's mind, and he wasn't even sure whether the sentences it suddenly uttered were related to the current topic.

But he was absolutely certain that the bird was thinking, and was communicating with him very...seriously.

But it obviously has its own understanding of "communication".

Duncan talked to the pigeon that called itself "Aiyi" for a few more sentences. It turned out that their conversation always maintained a frequency like parallel lines. Basically, they were talking about their own things. If you say they were related, it was really hard to see where the intersection was. If you say they were unrelated, the pigeon would answer every question... and occasionally there would be one or two sentences that seemed to answer Duncan's questions.

There was not much progress in the discussion, and Duncan could only frown and mutter: "What kind of weird thing is this..."

He felt that it would take him a long time to establish normal communication with the bird, a process that might even be more difficult than adapting to the noisy goat head.

The pigeon squatted on the table opposite him, blinking its little eyes innocently, and occasionally muttering to V it 50.

Duncan paid no attention to the bird's muttering. Instead, he bent his fingers and rubbed them gently, watching the green flames on his fingertips jumping in the air. He was sure of at least one thing - although the brass compass had become one with the pigeon in front of him, it was still essentially an "abnormal object" that could be controlled by him.

The dark green spirit fire rose up, and almost at the same time, green flames rose up from the gaps between the pigeon "Ai"'s feathers. The brass compass hanging on its chest popped open with a "pop", and under the transparent glass shell, the slightly illusory pointer was gradually stabilizing according to Duncan's will, and the dial depicting many mysterious symbols was gradually filled with flames.

Ai didn't react at all throughout the whole process, he just bathed in the spiritual fire quite naturally, as if waiting for Duncan's order.

Before the brass compass was fully ignited, Duncan took the initiative to disperse the flames.

During the test, Duncan was silently summarizing in his mind:

"The compass is still usable... but there's a strange 'medium' added. I'm not sure what effect this pigeon will have, but maybe it will be of some kind of help...

“At present, the details of this compass are still unclear. It is best not to conduct a second ‘shuttle’ until you are ready… The next time you test, you must always pay attention to any changes in the compass and the pigeons.

"There is a connection between the pigeon and me. When the spiritual fire is aroused, this connection will become more obvious. I can even directly control the location of the pigeon to a certain extent... But the control can only go so far...

"'Ai' obviously has its own will and will act according to its own ideas. The instructions given to it may not be executed. This is different from other 'objects' on the Lost Homeland.

"It can speak, has a certain degree of thinking ability, and can make independent judgments... Compared to ordinary abnormal objects, the nature of this pigeon seems to be closer to that of a goat head..."

Duncan summarized some of the currently known information in his mind, and finally, his eyes finally fell on the obsidian knife.

The blade looks like a dry and twisted finger, with a black and shiny edge.

This is exactly what the black-robed priest who wore a golden sun mask and presided over the evil sacrificial ceremony in the sewer assembly hall once held. Judging from its purpose, it should be a "ritual blade."

Duncan arrived at the gathering place suspected to be located underground in the "Pland City-State" by means of mental projection, and returned by mental projection. He thought that this process should be completely on the mental or soul level, but now this ritual knife is really placed in front of him.

After a little thought, Duncan reached out and picked up the knife.

The cold and hard touch was real, and it felt like a real object.

Duncan released some more spiritual fire, letting the flames wrap around the blade. From the empty and void feedback, it seemed that the extraordinary power that had once been contained in this ritual knife had indeed dissipated.

Just as he had judged at the sacrifice site before, this thing was not a real "abnormal object", but rather an extension of some kind of supernatural power, or a temporary item "infused" artificially.

Although Duncan didn't know what kind of system the "anomalous objects" in this world had, he guessed that this knife shouldn't be a very rare item. At least... it looked like it was mass-produced.

"Is this what you brought back?" He raised his head and looked at Ai, who was resting on the table, and raised the obsidian knife in his hand. "And it's specially for me?"

The pigeon stared at Duncan with its little red eyes, its body motionless and without any response to the question.

Duncan: “……?”

He asked again, but the pigeon still didn't move, as if it had suddenly turned into a lifeless sculpture.

Duncan frowned at the sudden abnormal change, but just as he was about to use the spiritual flame to stimulate Ai to see if he could forcibly wake it up, the bird suddenly "came to life" again, jumping twice on the spot and shouting: "Take this solar battle axe, take this solar battle axe, take this..."

"Okay, okay, I understand. You don't have to answer every question I asked," Duncan waved his hands quickly, forcing the pigeon to calm down while organizing his words. "Then do you know how you brought this knife here? Or, you can carry 'real objects' to travel through time, right?"

The pigeon pondered for a moment, then lowered its head and pecked Duncan's finger: "Discounts for all items, free shipping for every item."

Duncan: "I... will just pretend to understand."

He sighed, feeling that this was the limit of his communication with the bird.

Then he stood up from his desk and looked in the direction of the chart room.

Goathead and Alice were still outside, their warm and friendly exchanges continuing.

Miss Doll hadn't made a sound for a long time, and Goat Head had just started telling the seventeenth way to make kelp stew.

Duncan felt that he needed to rescue his only (and surprisingly the most normal) crew member.

On the other hand, he had stayed in the dormitory for too long and had made some unusual noises, so he felt that he needed to show up and reassure Goat Head.

But before leaving, he hesitantly glanced at Ai who was running around on the table.

Should I take the pigeon out as well? How would I explain it if I took it out?

Duncan hesitated for only two seconds before decisively grabbing the pigeon and placing it on his shoulder.

He will be staying on the Lost Homeland for a long time, and this pigeon will definitely follow him for a long time in the foreseeable future. At present, it is not known what living habits this bird has, but as an "abnormal creature" with the ability to think and communicate, it is probably difficult to hide it somewhere like a dead object.

There is an extra "crew member" on board, and this is something that cannot be hidden. If it is hidden now, once it is exposed in the future, it will greatly damage the image of "Captain Duncan".

So he might as well take the pigeon out openly and say it was his new "trophy" - he didn't need to explain anything to that goat-head guy, and the captain didn't need to explain to the first mate.

The first mate will figure it out himself.

As for the strange words that this pigeon blurts out from time to time (which must be incomprehensible to the locals in this world)...there is no need to explain that.

Let Goat Head and Alice figure it out on their own.

Carrying the fat pigeon on his shoulder, Duncan stood up, straightened his appearance, and walked calmly towards the chart room.

The pigeon proudly puffed out its chest, as if announcing: "Authentic good herbal tea, authentic good voice, welcome to watch..."