The door of the captain's room opened and Duncan stepped into the room. The goat head that was taking charge of the navigation of the Lost Homeland immediately reacted and turned its head towards him with a squeak.

"Duncan Abnomer, I answered in advance." Duncan took the initiative to say before this guy opened his mouth, then walked straight to the wine cabinet in the corner of the room, poured himself a small glass of liquor and drank it all.

The spicy and stimulating taste burned his nerves. This powerful drink seemed to have a soothing effect. Duncan exhaled lightly and felt his mood calm down a little. Then he turned to the nautical chart and looked at the route that was extending to the south.

The goat-headed head slowly turned with Duncan's footsteps, as if it was carefully observing the captain's every move. After a long time, it finally hesitated and broke the silence: "Captain, you don't look very happy... Do you need me to tell you a few jokes? I am good at elf-style jokes. Many people think that this race is serious, but in fact they have a special sense of humor, such as..."

"It has nothing to do with my mood, and I don't want to hear any jokes." Duncan waved his hand, but he knew that Goat Head really wanted to help him adjust, so he didn't say much. He just sat down quietly, as if concentrating on studying the extended lines and navigation marks on the nautical chart.

His thoughts inevitably wandered.

In the end, he still didn't get any more answers in his bachelor apartment - the computer that was in a strange state no longer responded to any questions he entered later, and remained silent as usual, as if the moon picture that suddenly loaded before was just an illusion he had created.

But even without more answers, Duncan realized that he had really touched upon that crucial...part.

The "moon" of the hometown world appeared in this strange and twisted world. Even if it was just a "model", a picture, or even a concept, it was enough to explain one thing:

The "two worlds" that he once thought were isolated from each other were not as "clearly divided" as he imagined.

But there was no one with whom he could share these secrets, no one with whom he could analyze this matter, including Alice, who trusted him unconditionally, and the seemingly loyal goat head on the table.

Duncan exhaled lightly, raised his eyes, and saw that the goat head was still staring at him quietly, and the pair of obsidian-inlaid eyes seemed to be filled with bottomless dark shadows.

"Captain, you can always trust your first mate." It said very seriously.

"I know, but you can't help with all problems," Duncan shook his head slightly, but this time, his expression was a little gentler. "You are thoughtful, but let's discuss this journey - we are about to go to the elven city-state in the south. Do you know anything about the 'elves' race?"

"I still remember them..." The goat-headed man spoke immediately, as if he had already prepared something in his mind. But he got stuck right after he finished speaking, and hesitated for a long time before continuing, "Ah, well, I didn't have much contact with them, but I know that the elves are a race with extremely high talents in mathematics and mechanics, and they also have a very unique historical heritage and some strange beliefs and customs. But compared to these, the elves are more well-known for their wonderful understanding of 'food'..."

"What is your understanding of 'delicious food'?" Duncan frowned. "This sentence seems to have a profound meaning?"

"The taste buds of the elves are different from those of other races, so they always make drastic local changes to the foreign food that spreads to their city-states," the goat-headed man said tactfully, "so I wanted to remind Miss Nina before, hoping that she wouldn't have too high... expectations for the sweet pancakes from Breeze Harbor. Although everyone says that Breeze Harbor gathers the specialties of various city-states in the civilized world, they don't say how the elves mixed those foods together."

Duncan: “?”

"In short, the elves stuffed sweet pancakes with chilies and aged cheese that was fermented until it started to bubble - the resulting mixture was a soul-shaking flavor. Although I personally think it's still quite creative, and at least more normal than honey pig intestines and sour and spicy sheep's eye pie."

Duncan listened expressionlessly for a long time before he slowly spoke: "It seems that Nina will be disappointed with the upcoming trip to the south..."

※※※

Lucrecia sat in Taran El's laboratory, looking at the famous elven scholar across the table, flipping through a mountain of information on the table quickly while stuffing an omelet into his mouth expressionlessly and gobbling it down.

The amazing smell of the egg roll pancakes constantly provokes the nerves of the "Sea Witch".

It was a traditional convenience food of the elves. Its main ingredients were bread, eggs, fermented cheese and a fungus called "black finger mushroom". It smelled a bit like severely rotten wood and tasted like it, and the pickled "black finger mushroom" had a terrible taste and smell like an old rag - to Lucrecia, it could not be considered food overall.

But it is Master Taran El's favorite, not only because it suits the elves' taste, but also because it is convenient and easy to eat - a great scholar who is not afraid of sudden death can use it to solve a meal in three minutes, and three meals a day can meet basic nutritional needs. The time saved can be invested in endless research work and fighting wits with doctors.

"Oh, I found it—I knew it had to be here..."

Taran El finally stuffed the last bite of the burrito into his mouth, and while trying to swallow it, he spoke incoherently, and at the same time carefully pulled out some bound materials from the shaky "hill". The hill swayed as he moved, and it seemed that it was about to fall down, but it finally regained its balance in a more thrilling position than before.

"Here you are, Ms. Lucrecia. The information you requested about the ancient Kingdom of Crete and Vision 001 - if you had asked me for it yesterday, I would have found it right away. I hadn't stuffed it into this 'mountain' yet..."

Lucrecia reached out to take the information, and at the same time couldn't help but glance at the elven scholar opposite her - in terms of age, Taran El was in the "golden age" of an elf. He had just entered middle age, and with a little care, he would undoubtedly become an elegant scholar who would charm thousands of girls. However, his overly studious work habits completely destroyed all of this.

In most situations (like right now), the Elf Master is shown with huge eye bags and dark circles, tangled hair that is falling out every day (it used to be blonde, but now the texture and color are closer to yellowed hay), and a terrible complexion.

Lucrecia had worried more than once that this great scholar would die suddenly in front of her, but fortunately or perhaps incredibly, Mr. Taran Eyre is still alive today.

"I strongly recommend that you pay attention to your health and develop normal eating and living habits," the "Sea Witch" sighed and flipped through the file in her hand. "Even if it means you can live longer for research, you should pay attention to your body."

"I pay close attention to it," Taran El said casually, but then he made a rigorous correction, "I mean, at least more attentive than before - but special times and special standards, Ms. Lucrecia, you should know what the fragments that fell off Anomaly 001 mean to the civilized world. We must figure out its secrets, and the sooner the better..."

"But now it is clear that we have reached a bottleneck. Before a new breakthrough appears, your 'forgetting to eat and sleep' is like a useless effort." Lucrecia raised her eyelids. "Unless we can find someone from the ancient Kingdom of Crete, or find a 'manual' that directly explains the birth process of Anomaly 001, I still suggest that you take a few days off."

Taran El waved his hands irritably, as if he wanted to say something in defense, but he couldn't find any reason to refute. After a few seconds of bored silence, he suddenly thought of something, raised his head and said with a hint of hesitation: "Lady Lucrecia, as far as I know... your father is coming, and he is coming for the 'falling object'?"

"Yes, he left immediately after hearing about the 'alien object' and seemed to take it very seriously," Lucrecia said with an awkward expression on her face. "I was not prepared for this at all - in fact, I am still not mentally prepared. But why did you suddenly bring this up?"

"Your father came here immediately after learning about the 'falling object'. Obviously, he knows something about the situation, Ms. Lucrecia. Do you think... could he be the 'breakthrough'? Perhaps he knows what the stone ball at the center of the glowing geometric body is, or perhaps he knows the specific connection between the ancient Kingdom of Crete and Vision 001, or even..."

"Master Taran El," Lucrecia interrupted the elven scholar, "You may have misunderstood something. My father was an outstanding explorer. He might have been interested in the 'strange object' itself. And please don't forget that he had been in the warp for a century. Even my brother and I had to be extremely cautious when contacting my father. Your attitude at this moment is too... optimistic and a little bold."

Taran El laughed. "Ah, then which do you think has a higher mortality rate, an unhealthy lifestyle or a daring encounter with your father?"

The corners of Lucrecia's eyes twitched and she opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but at this moment, a sudden noise and exclamations from outside the window interrupted what she wanted to say.

"The sun! The sun is out!"