A ship "rose" from the sea in a shocking way and appeared in front of Vanna and Nina.

The waves on the sea have not yet subsided, and the layers of turbulence are spreading around the rusty ship. Sea water continues to fall from its rusty chimneys and deck structures, making a huge and noisy noise. It sways slightly between the waves, and the slanting sunlight shines on its deck, as if spreading an unreal color.

Nina was stunned. It took her several seconds to react and she screamed, "Ah! A ship! A ship! A ship suddenly appeared!"

Then she suddenly turned to Vanna and said quickly: "I'm going to tell Uncle Duncan!"

Before she finished her words, the girl turned around and ran across the deck like a gust of wind towards the stern.

Fanna still stared at the strange ship that suddenly emerged from the sea, observing the signs of decay and oldness, and every detail on the hull.

She noticed a line of large letters on the side of the bow. The letters were covered with severe rust and dirt, making them difficult to read, but she managed to read them out:

〖The Obsidian〗①

The sudden appearance of the mysterious ship on the sea made a lot of noise, and of course Nina and Vanna were not the only ones who noticed it. In a moment, the other people who were resting in the cabin also gathered on the deck, including Maurice, Shirley, Agou and Alice. They came to the bow in surprise, looking at the strange ship not far away, guessing its origins, and soon, Duncan also followed Nina to the deck at the bow.

"Mr. Duncan," Vanna said immediately after seeing Duncan, "There is no sign of living people on that ship. It may be a... ghost ship."

When he said the word "ghost ship", the expression on the young inquisitor's face was somewhat strange.

"Let's go together," Duncan replied casually, and then he looked up at the "ghost ship" that looked only half the size of the Lost Hometown. He first noticed the chimney structure on the upper floor of the ship. "It looks like a steamship... Can you guess its approximate age and origin?"

"No need to speculate," Morris' voice suddenly sounded from the side. The old scholar looked at the sea in the distance with a complicated look in his eyes. "I saw its name - Obsidian, a steam clipper that sank in the Frost Sea six years ago."

"Ah?" Shirley, who was craning her neck, looked at the old man in surprise, "Grandpa, do you know that ship?"

"Brown Scott was on that ship when he had the accident," Morris said in a low voice, "but...how did it suddenly appear here? And in this way..."

Alice, who was standing by, listened to the conversation of the others, looked up at the Obsidian in the distance, then looked back at Morris and Duncan. After thinking for a long time, she finally said, "Captain, is this normal? Will a sunken ship float up from the sea again?"

"This is certainly not a normal situation," Duncan gave the fool a look, "This is called a ghost ship... and I suspect it's more than just a ghost ship."

As he was talking, he heard the voice of the goat head suddenly ringing in his mind: "Captain, do you want to fire a few shots? The artillery said that they are a little eager to see this suitable angle and distance, and they can't help but want to throw a few shells..."

"Let them bear it!" Duncan interrupted the goat-headed man without hesitation. After a moment's hesitation, he turned to look at the people around him and said, "We have to go over and take a look at the situation."

"We are going to... go to that ghost ship?" Shirley shrank her neck immediately upon hearing this. "Isn't that a bit rash? I'm not afraid of anything else, but I'm afraid that the ship will suddenly sink again. After all, it suddenly appeared..."

"Aiyi will bring us back," Duncan glanced at the girl calmly, "Of course, if you don't want to go, you can stay here. I won't force you to do that."

Shirley opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Agou beside her broke the silence: "Let's go, let's go! It is our unshirkable mission to serve the captain! We are happy to do so!"

Shirley was stunned for a moment, and then she muttered to her partner in her heart: "Agou, can you have some principles..."

"How can it not be a principle to see the situation clearly and actively participate in group activities?" Ah Gou argued in the mental connection, "The boss is leading the team and there is no need to worry about safety, so of course we have to show ourselves well..."

"I mean, can you let me have the chance to cling to your boss next time? You always snatch it away..."

Agou thought for a moment and said, "...Shirley, can you please have some principles?"

Duncan didn't care what Shirley and Agou were communicating about while they were in a daze at the same time (he knew that the two of them were definitely whispering in their mental connection since they were silent), but he looked up at the others and said, "Want to join us?"

"I want to go!" Nina was the first to raise her hand. She even seemed a little excited. "I've only heard of ghost ships in legends before, but never seen one with my own eyes."

"The Lost Homeland is also a ghost ship," Duncan had to remind the girl, and then looked at the others, "What about you?"

"Maybe we can find clues that Brown left before the accident on that ship," Morris nodded, "I'll go with you."

"I'll go too," Vanna said, "The ghost ship phenomenon is likely related to heresy or evil invasion. I have some experience in this area."

"I don't know," Alice thought for a moment, looking at Duncan, "but I want to be with the Captain."

"Then let's all go, just to see the world," Duncan said casually, and waved to the mast not far away, calling down the pigeon that was basking in the sun with its eyes closed, "Aiyi, take us to see the ghost ship."

A ball of dark green flame suddenly rose up on the Lost Homeland. A moment later, a huge skeleton bird took off into the air and swooped down towards the Obsidian, which was swaying slightly with the waves not far away.

The deck of the Lost Homeland fell silent.

The silence lasted for a short while, and then a small boat hanging near the side of the Lost Homeland suddenly made a creaking sound and shook in frustration.

It was a shuttle boat, which was normally used to quickly transfer personnel between two ships approaching each other on the sea.

Two cables coiled on the edge of the deck made a rustling sound and crawled to the shuttle boat like snakes, raising the ends of the ropes and tapping the hull of the boat.

The goat head who stayed in the captain's room certainly sensed the situation near the deck. It sighed slightly and talked to the old guys who had been on the ship for a century: "How about... you small boats should practice paddling in the sea..."

The boat rocked and creaked louder...

On the other side, Ai, who flew over the Obsidian, did not land immediately. Instead, under Duncan's command, he circled over the ghost ship for several times. After roughly confirming that there were no active targets on the entire ship, he landed on a deck that looked relatively clean and stable.

Dark green flames burned in the sky, and Duncan and his companions stepped out of the flames.

An obvious foul smell almost immediately penetrated everyone's nostrils - it was the fishy stench brought by soaking in sea water, mixed with some indescribable smell of corruption.

Nina was the first to frown after arriving on the deck: "Ugh... It smells so bad..."

"Not all ghost ships are as clean and tidy as the Lost Homeland, with unlimited fries," Duncan said to Nina with a smile, "If this ship is really the Obsidian, it has been submerged in the deep sea for six years."

As he spoke, he looked around the steamship, which exuded a sense of weirdness in every way.

Rusted, broken, and stained - it may have once been a beautiful and advanced mechanical speedboat, but now there is only a pile of lifeless steel and wood. What's even more strange is that as a ship that has just floated out of the sea, the sea water on it has disappeared.

The deck is dry.

Even the many hollows in the deck, where water might have easily accumulated, were now dry.

Vanna obviously noticed this as well. She squatted down, rubbed the ground with her fingers, and frowned slightly.

She still remembered the scene when the ship floated out of the sea. A large amount of sea water poured down from the Obsidian, which looked like an endless waterfall. The sea water washed every corner of the ship. According to common sense, there could be no dry place on the ship.

"Vanna," Morris turned around after taking a quick look at the surroundings, "Do you sense any heresy or evil corruption?"

"...No," Vanna frowned and shook her head slowly. She had been paying attention to this since she stepped onto the deck, and was always sensing whether there were any fluctuations of supernatural power around her. "There is no supernatural breath at all, but this is even more wrong - the deck is dry, which is obviously abnormal, and there must be supernatural power involved behind the abnormal phenomenon."

"It could be a supernatural power beyond your perception," Duncan said casually, and then walked forward. "Anyway, if there is something hidden on this ship, we just need to look for it and it will definitely show up."

Nina quickly ran two steps to catch up with her Uncle Duncan: "What if something really jumps out?"

Duncan paused and turned his head with a smile: "Anyway, let's try to reason first..."

Notes:

① Obsidian.