As Duncan watched, Anomaly 132 - "Lock" sensibly opened itself and freed itself from the buckle, jumping to the other side of the table where it was out of the way.

Duncan opened the large dark wooden box, took out the wooden carved goat head inside, and placed it on the navigation table.

The "first mate" at the edge of the table turned his head and stared at the wooden goat head that looked exactly like him. The two pairs of eyes carved from obsidian stared at each other. After a long time, he let out a long sigh: "Wow——"

Duncan raised his eyebrows: "Is that all you're sighing about?"

"It's so shocking. I can only think of this right away." The goat-headed head twisted on the base, as if trying to observe its "other head" from different angles. It stretched its neck and looked for a long time, muttering as it looked, "I vaguely felt it when you returned to the ship, and you must have brought this 'Dream Skull' back with you when you went to that ship. I'm not surprised by this, but the feeling after seeing it with my own eyes is still incredible. There really is someone exactly like me..."

It suddenly stopped talking here, and seemed to be a little confused: "Why is it not moving?"

"You ask me?" Duncan looked strange. "This is your own head."

"But I'm not familiar with it either," the goat-headed man said confidently, "Before coming to Breeze Harbor, I didn't even know I had a spine..."

Duncan was speechless: "..."

The awkward and weird atmosphere lasted for a few seconds. The goat head finally moved again. It stretched its neck towards the "Skull of Dreams" and said, "Can you bring it closer?"

"Like this?" Duncan took the lifeless "Dream Skull" next to the goat's head and observed it curiously. "Do you feel anything?"

"...would you mind bringing it a little closer?"

Duncan moved it closer, and then closer, and finally he simply put the "Dream Skull" directly on the forehead of the goat head, so that the two wooden goat heads were facing each other. "Okay, this is close enough - do you feel anything?"

“Take it away, take it away… It’s close enough,” the goat-headed man hurriedly twisted his neck and yelled. When Duncan put the “Dream Skull” back on the table, he exhaled very humanely and muttered, “I still don’t feel anything… Apart from being able to strongly sense its ‘existence’, there is no way to establish any ‘communication’ with this head, nor can I sense that this head has any thoughts or memories, and it didn’t respond to me either…”

It stopped and thought carefully, then shook its head: "It feels like this is just an empty shell. Apart from 'existence' and 'same origin', it seems to have no connection with me at all."

Listening to Goat-Head's description, Duncan frowned deeply.

"This is a bit unexpected," he said with a frown. "After all, this is another fragment of Sasloka. Even if it is a more seriously damaged part, it should have some special features. And the 'sacrifice' ceremony of the cultists before also proved that this 'Dream Skull' is 'active'... Why is it that after coming into contact with you, there is no movement at all?"

"I don't know, but at least I can be sure that this head is absolutely real - I can indeed feel its 'existence'. This feeling is very subtle, and I don't know how to explain it to you..." The goat-head said, and then made some guesses, "Maybe the method of contact is wrong? Or... was it the sacrificial ceremony performed by those cultists that damaged this head? After all, those bastards have been using the blood of the elves to stimulate the 'Dream Skull'..."

Duncan looked serious, with a thoughtful look in his eyes. He glanced at the goat head again and said, "Those cultists are indeed bastards - but don't you feel weird when you say your other head is 'broken'?"

"It's strange, but I can't find the right words," the goat-headed man said helplessly, "Who made me really be in this state now? I'm dying in pieces..."

Duncan: “…”

He discovered that his first mate had changed somewhat since the Light Wind Port incident. The most obvious change was that he had become as open-minded as if he was having a heart attack...

Duncan shook his head, throwing aside the strange feeling that suddenly popped up in his mind, and then patted the lifeless "Dream Skull" with his hand.

"Anyway, the current state of this 'Dream Skull' is definitely not right. Perhaps it really is because of the 'operation' of those cultists that it has undergone some kind of change, or perhaps we have not yet found the right way to activate it, or... it is 'missing' something. Anyway, I will leave it here for the time being, and you can observe its changes. What do you think?"

"Everything is up to you," the goat-headed man said immediately, "and I'm also very curious about what this head is. Putting it here will allow me to study it when I'm free."

Duncan nodded slightly: "Very good."

Then he raised his eyes and looked out the window.

One third of the setting sun has already sunk below the sea level. Unknowingly, dusk is approaching. The remaining golden-red light of Vision 001 is magnificently spreading over the boundless sea. In another direction, the golden sunlight emitted by the "luminous geometry" near Breeze Harbor becomes more and more brilliant with the arrival of dusk. Between the interlaced sunlight, the silhouette of the distant city-state appears a little hazy.

How long can this peaceful sunset view last?

For some reason, this thought suddenly came to Duncan's mind, but then he let out a breath and put these distracting thoughts aside.

"I'm going to go back to my room and rest for a while. Once Lucrecia has finished her business, I'll go to the city with her. In the meantime, please take care of the Lost Hometown."

"Yes, Captain."

Duncan nodded, stood up and walked towards the bedroom door deep in the captain's room, but suddenly he stopped and looked at the goat head on the table with some curiosity: "You said you wanted to 'study' this dream skull, how do you plan to study it? You don't even have hands."

"That's a good question," the goat head pondered, and after a moment he raised his head confidently, "Anyway, let's try to talk to it first. Maybe this brain has become autistic because of those cultists. If I can give it some advice, maybe I can help it resolve its problem..."

Duncan immediately lost hope in his "research" on the goat head.

But he didn't say anything, just gave Goat Head a look that said "good luck", then waved his hand, turned and walked into the bedroom.

With a bang, the dark wooden door closed.

In the empty captain's room, only the two wooden carved goat heads on the table were left quietly.

This silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before the goat head finally turned around and looked at the motionless "Dream Skull".

"...Have you heard of the eighteen cuisines of the Infinite Ocean?"

※※※

Just a few minutes after falling into a short nap, Duncan was suddenly awakened by a buzzing noise coming from nowhere.

He quickly got up from the bed, but at this moment, silence had returned to the cabin inside and outside.

In the dim bedroom, there was only a lantern on the table emitting a light that seemed to be somewhat insufficient in brightness. It was pitch black outside the window not far away, as if night had fallen for a long time. It was quiet outside the door, and no sound could be heard from the corridor and the deck.

Duncan sat on the edge of the bed in the dark, feeling a sense of oppression rising from nowhere. He remembered what happened before he went back to his room to rest, and then he noticed something out of place in the environment.

It was too quiet - not even the sound of waves hitting the hull could be heard, and the "night" outside the window seemed too dim. One could neither see the afterglow of the "sunshine" from the luminous geometric object near Breeze Harbor, nor the cool light of the Creation of the World shining on the sea.

Duncan frowned, and suddenly felt something. He quickly left the bed and came to the window next to the desk.

In the endless darkness, a chaotic and dim light slid silently from the far distance outside the window. In the space briefly illuminated by the light, a huge and deformed shadow slowly emerged at the end of the field of vision, rolling silently.

Subspace!

Duncan's heart suddenly moved, and he instantly realized what had happened.

After such a long time, he "swimmed" into the subspace again? !

He still remembered the first time he entered the subspace, and that it was after a "nap". He remembered that he thought it was a strange "dream" at the time - that was also the only time he had entered this "time and space" that was regarded as a taboo by the world. A long time had passed since then, so long that he almost forgot about it.

Now, the same thing is happening again.

Duncan frowned and silently became alert. He first summoned a ball of fire and hid it in his hand, then walked cautiously towards the door.

He no longer thinks of this as "sleepwalking".

Because he knew that he did not dream - although he did not know the reason behind it, "dreams" did not seem to belong to him.

He came to the bedroom door, listened attentively to the noise outside, and then slowly pushed the door open.

Outside was the dark and silent captain's room. Another dilapidated "Lost Homeland" appeared in his field of vision just like the last time. Everywhere showed the dilapidated appearance of having been abandoned for a century. Empty shelves leaned crookedly against the corner, stained oval mirrors hung on the mottled and cracked walls, dark and suspicious shadows and debris were piled on the floor, and the only intact navigation table was located alone in the center of the room, with the mysterious nautical chart on the table emitting a faint light.

A black wooden goat head was quietly lying on the table, slowly raising its head and looking at Duncan.