In the chaotic night created by the interweaving of "sunlight" and the creation of the world, Duncan and his companions quickly passed through the silent and deserted streets, and finally stopped at an intersection that was completely covered and blocked by countless lush plants.

Giant trees block out the sky, tangled vines entwine around tall buildings on the roadside, and root systems bulge out from the road surface, winding along the ground like bulging blood vessels. The entire block is dead silent, but occasionally one can hear the sound of birds or wind that seems real and illusory coming from the depths of the dark woods. The ethereal and illusory sounds seem to have crossed the border between dreams and reality.

“…it’s still here.”

Standing at the intersection at the end of the block, Duncan looked seriously at the huge vine spreading out from the darkness and spoke to himself.

Alice craned her neck to look at the long ramp where the vines spread out. After looking for a long time, she spoke uncertainly: "Captain, this thing looks... a little bigger than last time? I remember it didn't seem to extend this far before..."

"You remember correctly," Duncan exhaled and said seriously, "It's bigger than last time. This vine... is growing."

Alice blinked her eyes for a long time before she sighed, "Wow..."

Duncan did not speak again. Before taking further action, he was confirming the situation of Morris and others in his deep consciousness - especially the situation on Vanna's side.

Except for himself and the two puppets, everyone has now arrived at the other side of the Nameless Man's Dream just like last time, and everyone's landing point in the dream is not much different from before. In this regard, the Nameless Man's Dream seems to show some kind of worrying... "continuity".

Of all the people, Vanna faced the most confusing situation.

The judge arrived at the desolate desert again, and this time, she encountered a giant who called himself "God".

Now Vanna is trekking with the giant in the vast sea of ​​sand. From what has been heard so far, the giant is very friendly and tells Vanna many things about the desert.

However, what the other party said did not correspond at all to the ancient legends that Duncan knew and circulated in this world!

What is going on in that desert? What is the origin of the giant who claims to be a god? What is the relationship between the lost years mentioned by the other party and the ancient heritage of the elves? Why does such a strange place appear in the depths of the Nameless One's Dream?

Duncan just felt more and more confused.

Now, he could only hope that Vanna could get some further information from the vast sea of ​​sand and the mysterious giant, or... others could find some clues related to the "desert" in the endless forest.

Maintaining the connection between himself and other people deep in his consciousness, Duncan took a deep breath and refocused on the matter at hand.

The fact that the giant vine reappeared in the real world was actually good news for him. He had been worried that his last "shock" would cause some unpredictable changes in the Nameless Man's dream, which would lead to the disappearance or relocation of the vine, making it difficult for him to continue his investigation. But now it seems... at least this clue is still there.

Of course, the current situation also forced him to start worrying about another thing:

The vine didn't disappear...but its size grew.

Could this thing just keep growing like this until it wraps around the entire city?

After a moment of inexplicable worry in his heart, Deng calmed himself down, then took a step forward and slowly placed his hand on the end of the vine.

"Pay attention to the movements around you. If there are any drastic changes, wake me up immediately." He turned around and said to the two puppets behind him.

"Hey!" Alice nodded immediately.

Lu Ni also bowed slightly and responded respectfully: "Yes, old master."

Duncan nodded slightly, then gradually calmed his mind, carefully controlling the power of the flame, allowing his perception to spread and penetrate along with the flowing spiritual fire, and once again establish a connection with the vine.

Because of his experience last time, he was more careful this time in his operation to avoid disturbing "Silantis" again like last time.

After a moment, Duncan opened his eyes in the darkness.

The boundless fog appeared in his sight again.

Following his intuition, Duncan looked into the deepest part of the fog.

A hazy and huge shadow gradually emerged as he looked at it. The boundless fog was floating, and the light and shadow in the fog outlined the familiar silhouette of the Lost Homeland - the awe-inspiring ship was floating in the void like a silent ghost, as if... it was issuing a silent invitation to Duncan.

Duncan gladly accepted the invitation.

He condensed his spiritual incarnation in the darkness, and then, while carefully controlling the flow of flames around him, he flew towards the Lost Homeland deep in the fog and landed silently on its deck.

Just like the last time I saw it, the ship was still empty. Wisps of fog floated on the silent and deserted deck, and the familiar ship facilities appeared shadowy in the fog.

This time, Duncan did not go directly to the captain's room at the stern. Instead, after looking around, he walked in another direction.

He passed through the mist on the deck, his footsteps echoing in this empty and silent place. He walked past the ropes and debris piled and coiled on the deck and headed towards the cabin entrance.

The cables and various objects piled on the deck showed no reaction to Duncan's approach - they just lay there quietly, like the most ordinary dead objects.

Then, Duncan discovered another difference between the Lost Homeland with a strange atmosphere and the Lost Homeland he was familiar with:

On the "normal Homelander", these things on the deck would definitely move when he approached, either greeting the captain enthusiastically or making all kinds of weird noises to try to attract the captain's attention. However, here... although the two ships were almost identical in every way, everything on this ship was "dead".

Duncan frowned slightly, his eyes sweeping over the silent cables, buckets and hooks. He walked between them, and then suddenly stopped.

His eyes fell on a mop placed against the wall.

After a moment, he realized what the sudden "sense of familiarity" was about: this mop was placed here by Alice when she returned to the ship!

This ship with a strange atmosphere, the Lost Homeland, is not only exactly the same as the "authentic" one in reality, but also corresponds to the changes on the Lost Homeland in reality in real time?

Many speculations suddenly emerged in his mind, and Duncan felt that he seemed to have vaguely grasped the "essence" of this strange ship. At this moment, a sudden subtle sound coming from a corner instantly caught his attention.

On this ghost ship where everything was silent, the tiny sound like a whisper sounded so abrupt.

Duncan instantly locked onto the direction from which the sound came and walked towards that direction.

He stopped in front of a window.

A vague shadow or thick fog, as if mixed with black smoke, was appearing on the surface of the window glass, as if trying to condense into shape.

Duncan stared at the shadow that gathered and dispersed for a few seconds, then suddenly realized what was happening and whispered, "Agatha?"

As he finished his words, the shadow that had been constantly gathering and dispersing suddenly gathered together and within a few seconds turned into a clear image on the window - Agatha's figure appeared in the glass.

"Ah, you finally noticed me," Agatha on the glass surface let out a long breath as soon as she took shape, "I have been calling you from the cracks in the shadows, trying to attract your attention, but I really can't find a suitable mirror nearby..."

"How did you get here?" Duncan looked at the person in the mirror in surprise, and then he thought of something, "Wait, did you come here through the Lost Homeland..."

"Yes, I stayed in the reflection of the Lost Homeland after nightfall. It seemed a bit risky, but I succeeded," Agatha nodded. "As the reflection changed, I came here and met you. It seems that my guess is correct: when night fell, the 'shadow' of the Lost Homeland disappeared and turned into the 'other Lost Homeland' you saw here. Although the principle is not clear yet, we finally found the connection between the two Lost Homeland."

Duncan's brows gradually furrowed. He listened to the other party's story but did not respond for a while, which made Agatha a little uneasy: "...Should I not act on my own initiative like this?"

"You should have discussed this with me in advance, but that's not what I'm thinking about right now," Duncan waved his hand. "You stayed on the side of the 'Reflection'. Did you observe how the transformation process happened? Was there any obvious... 'movement' on the Lost Homeland at that time?"

Agatha shook her head: "There is no process."

“No process?”

"All changes happened instantly, without any process," Agatha confirmed again. "One second ago, I was still in the reflection of the Lost Homeland, observing and waiting for all possible changes in the mirror world. The next moment, the 'atmosphere' in the mirror world changed. I can feel... the shadow of the Lost Homeland has turned into something I don't recognize. My jumping between mirrors has been suppressed. I can no longer perceive the boundary between the spiritual world and the real world, nor can I return to the normal mirrors in the real world. It's as if... the whole world has become extremely sticky and is gradually solidifying..."

Duncan listened carefully to Agatha's description, then slowly turned his head and looked towards the stern deck.

That was where the captain's cabin was, and that's where the "other goat's head" stayed.

"Can you move freely now?" Duncan asked suddenly.

"It seems to be unaffected," Agatha said immediately, with a hint of surprise in her tone, "After you realized my existence, that strange feeling of oppression magically disappeared."

"Very good," Duncan nodded, "Then follow me - let's go meet the 'first mate' who is not in a good condition."