On the edge of the chart table, the silent, pitch-black wooden carved goat head had been staring at Duncan quietly—this silent gaze was obviously more awkward than the noisy other goat head.

Duncan finally couldn't ignore the other person's gaze, so he had to look up from his thoughts and ask, "Why are you staring at me?"

"I thought you would take the helm again, just like last time," the goat-head said slowly, "and that feeling... was wonderful."

Duncan raised his eyebrows, his tone somewhat surprised: "You want me to take the helm again?"

"I don't know, I just feel it's incredible." The goat-head thought for a moment, with a little more uncertainty in his tone. "I can feel this 'ship', and I can understand every part of it, but I don't know how to communicate with it... It seems like an old friend of mine, but I have forgotten about it, so it ignored me. And last time, when you went to the stern deck and held the steering wheel... I seemed to hear its voice."

"Oh? You heard 'it'? What was it?"

Duncan immediately showed a curious expression. Because he left in a hurry last time, he didn't have time to listen to the goat head talking about this matter. Now that the other party reminded him, he immediately realized that he had ignored this question. When he went to steer the helm, the goat head in the real world woke up. Then what about the goat head on the dream side? How did it react at that time?

The goat-head was silent for a moment, as if he was recalling something. After nearly half a minute, he slowly spoke: "Rather than a sound, it was more like some 'thing' that appeared directly in my memory. It seemed to be calling me, reminding me not to forget the contract with the 'Captain', reminding me not to leave my post... I also saw some pictures, saw..."

It suddenly stopped, as if its half-asleep state was affecting its thinking, making it unable to organize appropriate language to describe the things in its memory. It seemed to have fallen into that state of mental stagnation again and forgot the current topic.

Duncan had to remind him: "What did you see? Is it the image of the ship?"

"Oh, yes, it's this ship, but I don't think I'm on it..."

"You're not on board?"

"I was in a very dark place, empty...Everything was empty and chaotic. A shadow floated over. It was the shadow of the ship, but it seemed to be disappearing soon. Then a vague voice talked to me. I couldn't remember what the voice said, but the owner of the voice took something from me. Then, the shadow became a entity..."

The goat-head spoke slowly and incoherently in a dreamy tone, with illogical turns and interruptions frequently appearing in its words, like an already chaotic dream displaying its bizarre and constantly flashing scenes without embellishment.

The goat-head paused for more than ten seconds before adding the last sentence: "...So, I became a part of the shadow. It seemed to have happened a long, long time ago, but the ship seemed to still remember it... Strange, is it it that remembers it, or me?"

Goat Head seemed to be confused again. His muttering voice became lower and lower, and finally turned into a completely inaudible mutter. After thinking for a moment, Duncan's eyes gradually changed. He sat behind the navigation table with a serious expression.

The description of the goat's head was confusing and there were many missing and vague details, but that didn't mean there was no useful information in it - from those sentences, Duncan could deduce and associate many things!

What it tells... seems to be the scene a hundred years ago when the Lost Homeland and the real Captain Duncan Abnomer took it away from the warp!

In the real world on the other side, Duncan had also asked another goat head about this matter indirectly, but the latter's answers were vague several times, as if he had forgotten what happened a century ago. Now it seems that this information was left in the memory of the goat head in this dream? Or according to this goat head, it was the "Lost Homeland" that remembered this matter?

Duncan looked at Goat Head, who had fallen silent again, with a subtle look, then raised his head to glance at the captain's room.

This is the dream of Goat Head, and dreams in the general sense are the "subconscious projection" of the dreamer.

But just now, Duncan suddenly realized something.

This ship may not only be Goat-Head’s dream, the Homeland Lost, but also alive!

A century of "symbiosis" has closely linked the Goat Head and the Homeland Lost together. This connection is not only reflected in the material structure, but also in the spirit - the latter is a living ship. Although many "objects" on the ship seem to have only the most basic activity, but as a whole, as the Homeland Lost... its "consciousness" may be far more complex and complete than one can imagine.

Complete enough to participate in this dream in an unimaginable way.

Duncan slowly placed his hand on the chart table in front of him. He stared at it for a long time, as if he was looking at the entire Lost Homeland through the table. He thought about the information revealed by Goat Head's description just now, and his fingers unconsciously stroked the rough tabletop.

"Do you want to take this opportunity to tell me something?" he asked in his heart.

But he received no response.

Perhaps, the "consciousness" of the Lost Homeland was a state he could not understand, and it might have responded - but no one could understand it.

Duncan thought about what Goat Head had just said.

It said that it had floated in a dark and empty place, surrounded by nothingness and chaos, which was consistent with the characteristics of the subspace. It also said that the Lost Homeland appeared in front of it, looking like a phantom that was about to disappear... Was that the state of the Lost Homeland when it first met the Goat Head?

About to dissipate... That is to say, when the Lost Homeland just fell into the warp, its condition was actually very bad, so bad that it had even lost its entity. In a sense, the ship had even been erased by the warp at that time - leaving only a vague voice, the voice of Duncan Abnomar.

Then, the owner of the voice took something from the "Goat Head", and the phantom of the Lost Homeland regained substance... This "thing" is the key!

Duncan's eyes suddenly became solemn, and then he remembered what Goat Head said at the beginning - the Lost Homeland reminded it not to forget the "contract" with the captain.

There is a contract! A contract between Goathead and Duncan Abnomal!

What was the content of the contract? What agreement had they reached when they met in the warp a hundred years ago?

Duncan Abnomer took something from the Goat Head to reshape the entity of the Lost Homeland, and the Lost Homeland took the Goat Head out of the subspace and brought it to a stable reality dimension...

This should all be part of the contract.

But what then?

Duncan Abnomer is not alive today, he has disappeared, and inside this powerful body is now a soul named "Zhou Ming".

And the Goat Head in the real world... obviously knew about the changes that had taken place in the "Captain" a long time ago.

But it still performs its duties as the first mate diligently.

Is this also part of the contract?

The goat head in the real world said that it didn't remember its experience in the subspace, so... did it still remember the contract? Or, it had also forgotten the contract, but some kind of "restriction" was still in effect, forcing it to continue to fulfill the agreement...

Duncan's thoughts raced through his mind, and after a moment, he suddenly stood up.

The goat head on the table did not react at all, nor did it move its eyes to follow Duncan's movements as it did before.

It seemed to still be immersed in that half-asleep, half-awake state - its previous memories and thoughts had exceeded its "thinking threshold".

Duncan ignored the goat head, knowing it would recover after a while - he had more important things to do now.

He left the captain's room, walked up the stairs leading to the stern deck, and followed the familiar route to the bridge where the steering wheel was located.

With the experience from last time and the preparation this time, Duncan did not hesitate any longer. He quickly took a few steps forward and gripped the heavy steering wheel tightly.

The next second, the entire ship suddenly "came alive" under the captain's helm.

The familiar scene appeared before his eyes again. The huge ghost ship was waking up quickly. There were sounds of objects activating everywhere on the ship, the rigging was being tightened, the sails were fluttering, the cables and capstans were creaking - and the huge "root tunnel" that seemed to be able to accommodate a huge ship also appeared in front of the Lost Homeland almost at the same time, and rushed towards it like a huge whirlpool.

Countless branches, roots and phantom lights in the mist filled Duncan's field of vision and surrounded the direction in which the Lost Homeland was heading. Those warm streams of light once again climbed onto the deck and wandered aimlessly around the control panel.

"Sasloka, is that you?"

A slightly childish voice reached Duncan's ears, and streams of light were wandering around him, as if he was looking for something, but it also seemed as if he was simply sleepwalking.

"...Sasloka won't come."

Although he knew that Silantis couldn't hear him now, Duncan still answered seriously. Then he ignored the phantom lights floating around him and focused all his attention on the ship under his feet.

The Lost Homeland was sailing in the darkness, moving quickly in the huge "root tunnel". Occasionally, a structure that looked like a fork in the road would appear in the tunnel. However, the ship seemed to know the route itself and would choose its own course without the captain's control.

All Duncan had to do was hold the steering wheel.

He was also able to focus more on perception.

If the situation was really as he thought, if this ship was both the dream of Goat Head and the dream of the Lost Homeland, then... somewhere on this ship, there must be something different from the Lost Homeland in reality.

That is the subconscious modification of dreams and the recall of memories.

It was something that the Lost Homeland was trying to reveal to itself.