Since the last long talk with Tirian, Duncan told Nina, Shirley and others about the Abyss Project, but he did not mention what the Lost Homeland's next sailing plan was - until now, a letter from an old friend that Morris received finally led to this journey to the north.

"We are currently following the route of the Sea Mist and heading north. We are expected to reach the edge of the Frigid Sea in a few days. The scenery there will be completely different from that in the central sea area," Duncan said. "You can spend this time on the ship. Alice has prepared rooms for you. Of course, if you have difficulty adapting to life at sea, you can return to the city-state - I can summon you temporarily when necessary."

"I... I'll stay on the boat," Shirley raised her hand immediately, "I can help Miss Alice with some work..."

"You need to do your homework on the ship as well," Duncan glanced at her calmly, "I'll supervise it personally here."

Shirley shrank her neck immediately: "Ah, then I..."

"You also need to do your homework in the city-state, and I will supervise it personally."

Shirley said with a sad face: "Then...then I'd better stay on the boat, just for a change of environment."

"I want to be on the boat, too." Nina looked at Shirley and then at Duncan, her eyes sparkling, her tone full of eagerness. "I haven't really adapted to life on the boat yet. I didn't even make it through the night last time..."

Duncan nodded. "Well, you can go back later and bring the bedding you are used to in case you can't sleep in an unfamiliar environment."

"Yeah," Nina nodded repeatedly, and then seemed to remember something, and asked hesitantly, "Then can I take the holiday homework and textbooks assigned by school to the ship? I'm afraid I won't be able to finish them before school starts..."

As Nina finished speaking, Agou couldn't help but hold his head with his paws: "We are riding the most terrifying ghost ship in history to solve an extraordinary incident, but it sounds more and more like a vacation trip..."

Duncan paid no attention to Agou's mumbling. He thought for a moment and said to Nina uncertainly, "You can bring the spelling books used by Shirley and Alice on board, but your textbooks and homework may be dangerous. Reading books on the vast sea is like reading in a city-state after dark. It is easy to attract malicious intent from some shadows."

Nina was stunned for a moment, then calmly analyzed the situation and thought for a while. Suddenly, she raised a very constructive question that even Duncan had not considered before: "If something comes out of the shadows, can't you just beat it up?"

Duncan: “……?”

Agou and Shirley: “…Yes!”

"I haven't thought about this at all." Duncan was stunned for several seconds before finally speaking with a strange expression. He admitted that he had fallen into a blind spot in thinking since the moment he heard Goat-Head talk about the "Taboo of Reading at Sea". He just habitually treated this as a rule like everyone else, but never considered other possibilities. But now it seems... it is Nina, who has only been exposed to the extraordinary field for a short time, who has shown incredible open-mindedness.

Of course, Nina was not bound by traditional thinking - because on the first day this girl came into contact with the supernatural realm, what she saw was her uncle Duncan stepping on the city-state and tearing the sun apart with his hands. The world's top supernatural pollution was presented to her in the form of being pinned to the ground and beaten...

Anyway, Uncle Duncan is invincible, and if anything causes trouble, just let Uncle Duncan beat it up - Nina's thinking is very clear, simple and crude.

"I need to confirm something." Duncan said suddenly, then stood up and left the restaurant.

He came straight to the captain's cabin carrying a large book and slammed it down in front of the goat's head.

Goat Head was startled by the sudden movement: "Ship...Captain?"

"What are the usual consequences of reading books on the vast ocean?" Duncan asked bluntly.

The goat-head was startled, and spoke subconsciously: "Ah, this is obvious. Reading on the vast sea will usually attract the attention of certain wills in the depths of the world, such as invaders from the spiritual world, demonic projections from the abyss, and even whispers from the subspace will take advantage of this process. They will extend their projections to the real world when the reader relaxes his vigilance, and... what are you doing?"

Duncan directly spread out the big book about the folk culture of various city-states that he brought from Plande City-State, and said without looking up while flipping through the contents: "When will those 'invaders' you mentioned come?"

Goat Head felt his thoughts getting tangled, but he continued to speak subconsciously while untangling them: "Tong... Generally speaking, they should come as soon as the reading begins, very quickly."

Duncan flipped through two more pages and looked up: "Why haven't they come yet?"

Goat Head: “…”

"Nina wants to do her winter vacation homework on the ship," Duncan said to the goat-headed man seriously, "If you have a way to 'attract' those 'invaders' you just mentioned, please attract them over. I have something to discuss with them."

"How...how do you plan to discuss this with 'them'?"

"Beat them, and keep beating them until they promise not to disturb Nina's studies," Duncan said. He thought for a moment and added cautiously, "Of course, this is just an idea of ​​mine. I'm not sure if it's feasible. Maybe you're more professional than me in this area?"

The goat-head's thoughts were a little tangled again. This time, it hesitated for a longer time than before before finally speaking: "I think you may need to 'test' for a while longer."

Duncan: “……?”

"Generally speaking, shadows attracted by reading have the characteristic of pursuing knowledge, which determines that they are a little bit smarter than ordinary "invaders." The goat-headed man finally spoke smoothly, but his tone was still very strange. "Smart means having a certain degree of judgment. Even the shadows from the chaotic abyss and the spirit world know how to seek benefits and avoid harm in the process of pursuing knowledge, and will not appear in front of you rashly..."

"I understand," Duncan nodded, and said casually as he scanned the words in the book, "That is to say, those who dare to run to the Lost Homeland are not unknown people or fools, but powerful invaders who are confident in themselves and have carefully weighed the pros and cons. This is actually a good thing, because it means that I only need to beat them once or twice to make the powerful ones among them quickly recognize the situation, and I don't have to worry about the endless harassment from the fools."

“I think your judgment is very reasonable.”

Duncan did not respond to Goat-Head's flattery, but continued to immerse himself in the book in his hand. He slowly turned the slightly rough pages, his eyes slowly wandering through the thrilling or mysterious folk records of the southern city-states, allowing his mind to relax and immerse himself little by little.

Waiting for the invaders who are chasing knowledge to smell this sweet bait and invade this undefended dimension of reality.

However, no intruders appeared.

"It doesn't seem to work," Duncan raised his head and said to the goat head sitting quietly on the edge of the table, "Is there any other way?"

"Actually... I think you don't have to be so obsessed with this. There are so many taboos in the Infinite Ocean. Not being able to read is just..."

"Nina has winter vacation homework to do," Duncan said gently, "She takes it very seriously."

"You might want to ask someone else to read, like Mr. Morris. Followers of the God of Wisdom are better at controlling their minds, which is useful when protecting themselves or setting traps," Goat Head said immediately. "Those invaders probably didn't dare to show up because they smelled your scent, but if we set a trap, it should be fine."

Duncan thought about it and decided it was a good idea.

So he went straight back to the restaurant with the book - everyone was still waiting here, Nina and Shirley were whispering about what Duncan was doing, Alice was checking each other's memorized words with Agou, and Morris closed his eyes to rest, and only opened his eyes when he heard Duncan walk in.

"I need a trap to attract those intruders who are chasing knowledge." Duncan walked straight to Morris and put the folklore book in the old scholar's hand. "You come and read this book. Make your mind look like an undefended learner and lure a powerful evil spirit chasing knowledge onto the ship. I want to 'communicate' with the intruder and find out what this intruder is."

Morris was shocked. He had been pursuing academic goals for most of his life, but this was the first time he heard such a crazy and fantastic thing. However, the next second, he realized from Duncan's eyes that this "Ghost Captain" was serious.

This is indeed an action that only a powerful Warp Shadow like him would dare to seriously consider.

After the initial astonishment, a strange sense of excitement and anticipation emerged from the depths of the old scholar's heart.

He had to admit that he himself suddenly felt a little curious.

What would happen if, under the witness of Captain Duncan, someone took the initiative to read and seduce the evil spirit on the Lost Homeland in this extremely special environment?

Morris picked up the book.