A rotating flaming door suddenly expanded on the deck, and then the master of the Lost Homeland Fleet stepped out of the door.

Tall, majestic, surrounded by spiritual fire, with eyes as sharp as torches, its existence itself is like the embodiment of fear on the vast ocean, and wherever its gaze goes, it seems to ignite all the flames in the world.

And behind the tall figure, an elegant woman wearing a dark purple dress, with long silver hair down to her waist, beautiful face but slightly pale skin came out. She followed closely behind Captain Duncan, with a mysterious and elegant temperament, like an attendant.

Lawrence felt his heart pounding and his nerves were stretched to the limit. He saw Duncan approaching him, and with every step he took, the inextinguishable spiritual flame in his body grew stronger. It was not until the other party stopped on the deck that he lowered his head belatedly and said, "Captain."

"Your ship is nice." Duncan said casually, and then looked up and looked around at the exploration ship that he had met once before and had been entangled with until now. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a sense of novelty in his heart - because strictly speaking, this was the first time that his real body left the Lost Homeland and came to another ship.

Before stepping on the White Oak, he was worried about whether his departure from the Lost Homeland would cause any unexpected changes. After all, using an "avatar" to walk around the city-state on a daily basis and leaving the ship in person were two completely different concepts. But now it seems... at least when operating within the "Lost Homeland Fleet", the Lost Homeland would not have any problems due to his departure.

Lawrence felt a little strange in his heart. He couldn't judge whether Captain Duncan's words just now were a compliment or not. He could only lower his head awkwardly and said, "Well, I'm glad you like it..."

“Don’t be so nervous. This isn’t the first time we’ve met.” Duncan laughed. Lawrence’s reaction was within his expectations. He had seen this kind of reaction many times. “Relax. Just treat it as meeting an ordinary senior from the Explorers’ Association.”

As he spoke, his eyes swept over Lawrence's uniform, and on the other's collar, he saw the emblem of the Explorers' Society.

Duncan nodded slightly and added, "Many years ago, I was also an explorer - unfortunately, my badge has been lost in the warp."

Lawrence was stunned, and raised his head hesitantly. His tense nerves relaxed a little, and his sluggish thinking started to work again - he suddenly realized that what the terrible "warp shadow" said was true. A hundred years ago... Duncan Abnomar was indeed a member of the Explorers' Association, and even one of the most prestigious explorers of that era.

And strictly speaking, the Explorers' Association has not even "removed" this ghost captain yet - because no one has thought of the need to cancel the registration of a warp shadow...

Duncan didn't care about Lawrence's reaction or the confusion in his expression. After making sure that the other party was a little relaxed, he started chatting with him in a casual tone: "Did everything go smoothly when you came here?"

"Um...it went smoothly," Lawrence answered honestly, trying to make his reaction seem as normal as possible. "We set out from Frost East Port and passed through the blockade set up by the Sea Mist Fleet in the open sea. They showed us the way..."

"Well, I told Tirian that the Sea Mist Fleet will not cause you any trouble," Duncan nodded, and then raised his head to look at the flagpole next to him, "Is that Anomaly 077 hanging on it?"

“Yes… yes.”

"What did he do wrong? Why is he hanging from the flagpole?"

Lawrence: “…”

After hesitating for several seconds, he curled his lips and said, "He asked to hang there on his own initiative. He wanted to use this method to restore himself to the sealed state, but it seemed to be unsuccessful."

"...Why are all the humanoid 'anomalies' I've seen so strange?" Duncan muttered. He turned his head to look at Alice, who seemed elegant and dignified but was actually daydreaming, and then pointed at the mummy hanging in the air, "Come down."

As soon as he finished speaking, the mummy who was still pretending to be dead a second ago shook his body and fell to the deck with a "bang". Then he rolled and crawled to Duncan, trembling all over like Frankenstein who had just received electricity for the first time: "Captain...Captain, the sailor reports to...you!"

Duncan frowned: "Are you stuttering?"

"I... I'm a sailor..."

Duncan was actually amused by the other party's reaction. He didn't expect that a top 100 intelligent anomaly would actually be afraid of him, Captain Duncan. Then, he turned his head in confusion and glanced at Alice who was following behind him.

They were all ranked in the top 100 anomalies, and they all had the same thinking ability as humans... How come this puppet didn't know how to be afraid? She was nervous for a while on the Lost Homeland, but then she quickly adapted to the environment, and now she can even fight with the pots and pans on the ship.

Alice noticed the captain's gaze and immediately responded with a silly smile that was so bright that it was almost genuine.

Duncan: “…”

He suddenly felt that Alice might not have adapted quickly, but simply had a slow reaction. She probably forgot about being afraid after being scared for a while...

At the same time, Alice also noticed the shivering mummy standing opposite. She thought hard and seemed to finally remember what the captain had told her before departure. So she smiled and took the initiative to greet the other party: "Hello, my name is Alice. I heard that you are also abnormal?"

The mummy was slightly startled, and looked up and down at the "elegant lady" in front of him with some doubt. She looked no different from an ordinary human, but there seemed to be a sense of disobedience in her gestures: "You too?"

"Yes!" Alice said happily, "My number is 099."

The sailor scratched his head awkwardly. It was probably the first time he had to deal with another out-of-control anomaly in this way. "Um... I'm 077."

Alice thought about it and said proudly: "Then my number is higher than yours!"

Duncan couldn't help himself after hearing this: "The abnormal numbers are from the front to the back - 077 is in front of you."

Alice took a moment to react, and miraculously came to her senses: "Ah... so he's better than me?"

"That's not necessarily the case. The anomalies ranked within the top 100 are all extremely bizarre. Generally, their strength cannot be judged simply by their numbers. Instead, they tend to present different dangers under different conditions," Duncan explained patiently. "If they were at sea, they should be stronger than you. If they were on land, you would be stronger than them..."

Alice didn't know how much she understood. She just looked at the "sailor" in front of her curiously, and then suddenly reached out and grabbed something in the air.

The mummy instantly froze in place, as if even his soul (if he had one) was instantly frozen. Then, all his joints and skin began to rapidly transform into a puppet.

Alice suddenly let go of her hand.

The sailor staggered back a few steps and looked at the puppet in front of him in horror: "What the...what?"

"Not great," Alice shook her head, "You don't even know how to protect your own line."

"You are not allowed to grab other people's 'lines' casually. Have you forgotten?" Duncan immediately reminded him sternly upon seeing this, and then frowned, "Wait, are you saying that Anomaly 077 also has a 'line'?"

"Yes, there are several of them floating on his body," Alice nodded as a matter of course. "But his threads are a bit strange - ordinary people's threads float up high in the sky and then gradually disappear, but his threads float out and then return to his body, as if forming a loop..."

Duncan frowned and looked up and down at the "sailor" who was still in shock. Then, Alice beside him had a faint flash of green light in her eyes.

The next second, Duncan also saw the "line" of Anomaly 077 - a nearly transparent white line extending from the joints of the mummy's head and torso, swaying in the surrounding nothingness, and then returning to his body.

Really wired.

Do all humanoid anomalies with thoughts have this kind of "thread"? Or... is this unique to Anomaly 077? What is this thread that is different from ordinary humans and loops on itself?

Many questions suddenly popped up in Duncan's mind, but he quickly put them aside and apologized to the "sailor" very seriously: "I'm sorry, Alice is not very sensible, she has no ill intentions, she just wants to say hello to you."

“No, no, no, don’t apologize!” The mummy almost jumped up on the spot, and quickly waved his hands while backing away, “I’m fine, I just got scared just now… Alice, right? I understand, I’ll stay away from her in the future…”

As he spoke, he began to mutter under his breath, things like "No wonder he works on the flagship" and "The people around the boss are more powerful". Even Lawrence could hear his muttering.

Lawrence blinked and watched from the side. He didn't understand what had just happened. He just felt that the two anomalies in front of him seemed to be "communicating" with each other, and the sailor seemed to be frightened again. Then, he thought of something, and his strange eyes fell on the beautiful lady with an elegant appearance: "Wait, anomaly 099... Captain, so this is..."

"It's the 'coffin' that was transported on your ship," Duncan laughed and raised his hand to introduce, "but now the coffin has been assimilated by the Lost Homeland, and the puppet as the 'content' has been out of control for a long time, just like the sailor next to you."

When Alice heard this, she immediately stepped forward and said to Duncan: "Captain, Captain, I'm not out of control. I'm usually very obedient..."

"Yes, yes, I didn't lose control," the mummy beside him said quickly, "I usually obey orders. Captain Lawrence asked me to go ashore and fight the cultists, and I didn't hesitate..."

Lawrence listened in a daze, looked up at the "sailor" who was trying hard to show himself, then looked at the "Miss Coffin Stuffing" opposite who was beautiful and elegant but now seemed to be mentally unstable, and finally his eyes fell on Captain Duncan.

Suddenly, the pressure and tension that had been lingering for a long time dissipated, and Lawrence inexplicably felt that the relationship between him and the "Ghost Captain" in front of him had become much closer, and even... a feeling of sympathy arose spontaneously.

It was a kind of sympathy brought about by being captains of the same ship on the vast sea, but having to take care of an out-of-control anomaly with a hole in the brain...