Duncan sat on the sofa in the living room, leisurely reading the newspaper he bought from the street this morning. Occasionally, he turned his head to look at Shirley, who was lying on the coffee table with a sad face and writing furiously, and Agou, who was lying next to Shirley and concentrating on reading a copy of "A Brief History of Modern City-States". He felt at ease.

In this strange and weird world, he finally found a little bit of familiar rhythm of life.

On the other hand, taking Agou, Shirley and Nina over was also the realization of an idea he had been thinking about for a long time - Captain Duncan's small class finally reopened.

He turned his head and looked at the other side of the coffee table. Nina was sitting on a small stool, writing her winter vacation homework seriously. Morris was supervising beside her, occasionally helping his student correct some mistakes in the details.

"You're a good and responsible teacher," Duncan said to Morris. "Nina is lucky."

"She's a hard-working child, and I don't want to delay her life," Morris laughed, then glanced at the homework book spread out in front of Shirley with a subtle expression on his face, "But I didn't expect you to be so good at...teaching others."

Duncan raised his eyebrows: "Oh?"

"The study plan you made for Shirley, Alice, and Agou is very reasonable, even... somewhat professional," Morris said hesitantly. "I also saw the test paper you prepared for them before, which was also very professional. This is a bit... beyond my expectation."

The old man was very careful with his words. He was indeed a little concerned about this matter. When he first learned that Duncan was enthusiastic about educating the three illiterate people on the ship, he did not think of new words cards, word books and multiplication tables. The first picture that emerged in his mind was completely in the direction of "the followers of the evil god gathered in the ritual field to learn forbidden knowledge". In the end, he saw the dreaded Captain Duncan taking out a pile of literacy cards...

How to say it, although he has now more or less gotten used to Captain Duncan's peaceful and friendly nature in private, the awkwardness still surges up uncontrollably when he thinks that such a Warp Shadow is actually giving a serious lesson (a literacy lesson at that).

Duncan certainly knew what the old scholar meant, but he couldn't explain it, so he just smiled and waved his hand: "Maybe I once had a dream of becoming a teacher?"

Morris didn't know what to say for a moment. Duncan looked at Shirley's irritating handwriting again and couldn't help but sigh: "It's a pity that the learning progress of these three 'students' is too different. It's really a headache."

Morris thought about it and nodded. "Indeed. I think Agou can almost study in a library until he graduates from college, but Shirley is still struggling with common words, and Alice...Alice..."

Duncan sighed again: "Alas, Alice tried hard, but she is Alice."

The learning progress of the three illiterate people on the ship was completely different from what he had initially expected. He originally thought that Shirley, who had a better brain and would learn faster, was still half illiterate. Her unwavering spirit of giving up and her desperate attitude towards learning were the main reasons. Alice worked harder than anyone else, but Miss Doll's brain didn't seem to be good at reading and writing. As a result, the most literate of the three people turned out to be a dog. With his amazing diligence and understanding, Agou could not only read literary works by himself, but could even solve quadratic equations with three variables...

There are thousands of Deephounds chasing knowledge - now it seems that Agou is the only one who has caught up.

To be fair, this is the biggest stain in Duncan's - or Zhou Ming's - entire teaching career.

Just as he was sighing in his heart, Alice, who had gone out to buy groceries, finally came back - nearly twenty minutes later than expected.

"I'm back!"

Miss Doll opened the door and walked into the house. She put down the things in her hands and leaned her head to the living room to greet them. Then she saw the top student, the poor student and the poor student who were doing their homework beside the coffee table. She immediately showed a happy look on her face: "Nina! Shirley! Agou! You are here?"

"I just got here this morning, and I've already been making up for half a day's homework..." Shirley raised her head, tears welling up in her eyes, "The captain told me to rewrite everything from page 16 onwards in the vocabulary book..."

"It's three times," Duncan said slowly, "Don't reduce your task by two-thirds without making a sound."

Then he ignored Shirley's subsequent reaction and looked up at Alice: "Why did you come back at this time? Are you in trouble?"

"Ah, no, no!" Alice waved her hands hastily, "I just encountered some excitement... I didn't watch the excitement! I encountered something, and I investigated it..."

This puppet really can't lie, and isn't good at making excuses. With just a few words, he exposed the fact that he wasted time watching the fun on the way home.

"Investigation?" Duncan looked at Alice with a little surprise. He didn't think of pursuing the matter of her "watching the fun". Although he did warn her not to wander around on the road, it was just a small matter. What he cared more about was... Alice, who was usually dull, could actually say the word "investigation" with a serious face.

Even if it was just an excuse she made up, he was very concerned about what the doll had investigated.

"There's a family on that street nearby. They say someone has died. All the people from the church have gone there," Alice immediately began to tell Duncan what she had seen and heard on the road. "A woman said she killed her husband, and the onlookers said the man of the house had gone out before... Oh, yes, I also saw a woman. She was dressed very similarly to you! She was also wrapped in bandages..."

Duncan listened in a daze to the puppet's incoherent and non-focused narration, and barely understood what had happened. Then he noticed the "bandaged woman" mentioned by the other party at the end. He frowned slightly, and was about to ask for some details when he saw Vanna, who was sitting at the dining table not far away feeding pigeons, suddenly stood up.

"The stranger is approaching," Vanna said quickly, "It's a clergyman."

Duncan immediately waved his hand, asking Alice to calm down and put on her veil again. Agou, who was squatting beside the sofa, retreated into the shadows in the blink of an eye. Ai flapped his wings and hid on a nearby cabinet. Morris got up from the sofa and walked to the door.

"Don't be nervous, we're just visitors." Duncan was quite calm. He waved to Vanna and Morris who were a little nervous, then walked calmly to the door and opened it casually.

A young woman wearing a long black trench coat, bandages wrapped around her body, a black bowler hat and holding a cane was standing outside the door, with her hand raised as if ready to knock on the door.

She seemed to be frozen there.

Duncan looked the young woman up and down, then down at himself.

"Ah, we're wearing the same clothes." He said casually.

"That's her, that's her," Alice was standing behind Duncan. She saw the person at the door clearly and came over happily. "That woman in black I told you about. I saw her on the way back from shopping..."

Alice's voice woke Agatha up from her daze. The muscles on her face trembled slightly. She tried for a long time to move her eyes away from the tall and burly figure in front of her and look in the direction where the voice came from.

The blonde woman who had no breath and heartbeat and who had been seen not long ago was standing in the room, looking at this side with curiosity and joy.

She is here indeed.

Agatha took several deep breaths, trying to calm her heartbeat. The slight tinnitus in her mind gradually faded away, and the blackening and double vision caused by suddenly looking directly at the "truth" finally dissipated from her eyes - she finally breathed a sigh of relief, and remembered her purpose in her confused mind.

A somewhat stiff smile appeared on her face: "I... don't mean to disturb you, I just came to see what's going on, you..."

"Come in," Duncan nodded calmly and made way to the side. "It's quite cold, don't stand at the door and talk."

Agatha was stunned and didn't react for a moment.

Seeing this scene, Vanna, who had been standing by without saying anything, couldn't help but frowned and stepped forward to look at the other party: "You rushed here knowing where this place is. You didn't think about what would happen after opening the door, did you?"

"Understand a little bit," Morris said hurriedly. "The captain's mind must be confused after seeing him for the first time. The higher the spiritual vision, the more confused this girl is. It's obvious that she is confused."

When Fanna heard this, she immediately recalled her experience of joining the Lost Homeland and felt that the old man was right.

Agatha finally came to her senses when Vanna was talking to Morris. Her mind was still a little confused, but her rationality had regained control. Thanks to Duncan's conscious restraint, her mind was not greatly affected. As soon as she recovered, she nodded hurriedly: "Sorry, I was distracted."

Then she looked at the road that Duncan had cleared, and after a little hesitation, she finally took a step forward.

She knew where this place was.

She knew that the burly figure was essentially an indescribable being who had descended upon the city-state and whose status was most likely similar to that of an ancient god.

She knew she had stepped into a "land of arrival".

But from the moment the door opened, there was no room for regret.

Behind Duncan, Morris watched the tense young lady step into the house, slightly tilted his head and whispered to Vanna, "Better than you were before."

Vanna muttered in a low voice: "Don't blame me. The Captain was too scary when he first 'entered the dream'."

Morris nodded: "That's true..."

Vanna added, "But I was much calmer the second time."

Duncan listened to the two men muttering in the background, and finally couldn't help but turn around: "You weren't much stronger the second time - be quiet, the guests are coming."