Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 586 Dreamless Trance

Finally, the doll Runi was also pulled by Alice to accept the mark of fire given by the captain.

At this point, except for the more "rudimentary" Tin Man and the Marionette who do not have complete minds, everyone in this "Witch Mansion" has received the brand of spiritual fire before falling into a dream.

It was time for dinner, and bright electric lights and gas lamps on the walls illuminated the spacious dining room. Members of the Lost Fleet gathered around the long dining table, sharing fish, bread and wine, preparing to face the upcoming... A more profound and unpredictable night.

Subtle green flames danced in the depths of their eyes, making their gazes seem to be looking at the two dimensions of reality and illusion at the same time. Their conversations were temporarily mixed with a little bit of the captain's power, causing a low buzz in the air. Vibrating, green flames infected the gas lamps on the wall, causing all the flames to reveal a green light, making the walls and floors of the entire restaurant appear strange as if they were spirits in the firelight. texture.

If an unsuspecting ordinary person accidentally broke into this restaurant at this time, I am afraid that he would be immediately infiltrated by the strange atmosphere and power here - it would be very difficult to maintain sanity and self.

The clockwork doll Lunie lit the decorative candlestick, and the candlelight swayed on the dining table. The bright yellow flames reflected on the silver and ceramic cups and plates, giving off a mesmerizing warm light.

Maurice and Lucretia were discussing in low voices the ancient legends related to elven society. Their discussions were mixed with many professional terms, which made it difficult for ordinary people to understand; Shirley was devouring her food, and she would always be at the dinner table. The first one to fill her stomach; Vanna was praying before the meal. She was still the most pious one and would meticulously complete the sacraments to the goddess at any time; Nina quietly raised her stomach after eating a few mouthfuls of food. When he started, he turned his eyes and looked at the wine placed not far in front of him.

"I want to drink fermented grape juice..."

A fragment of the ancient sun made a request to the Fire Usurper.jpg.

Duncan glanced at the girl and raised his eyebrows: "Why didn't you say you wanted to drink wheat juice?"

Nina's eyes suddenly lit up, and she raised her hand to the beer on the other side: "Is that really okay?"

Duncan looked at her expressionlessly: "What do you think?"

"Oh..." Nina muttered, and honestly picked up the lemonade on the other side, looking disappointed.

The mechanical clock not far away was ticking and the hands were slowly moving forward.

As the dinner came to an end, Duncan suddenly broke the silence: "Actually, I have been thinking about a question."

"What are you thinking about?" Fanna across the dining table put down her knife and fork and asked curiously.

"How does the Holy Lord Netherworld view his followers?" Duncan said seriously. "He suggested that I capture a few Annihilation cultists to establish a connection with the Netherworld Deep Sea. He didn't sound distressed at all - but at the same time, He Don’t you think it’s weird to stay sane and seem to care about the world?”

"I think this is very reasonable," Morris wiped the corners of his mouth and said unhurriedly, "Especially on the premise that Holy Lord Yousu has reason, the suggestions he makes to you are even more reasonable."

Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "Oh?"

"Before you successfully established contact with that ancient god, there was never any communication between the Holy Lord of Netherworld and the real world. In other words, those so-called Annihilation cultists actually only believed in their 'Lord' unilaterally, and They draw power through this one-sided belief and constantly summon demons from the deep sea for their own use." Morris shrugged, "Think about it from another angle, if you are the Holy Lord of the deep sea, and suddenly there is a group of noisy people. Mortals appear out of nowhere, claim to be your descendants, then run into your yard, steal your fruits, dig up your fruit trees, deceive your servants, and finally try to pry open your door. Check into your room..."

Duncan thought about it and felt his blood pressure rising.

"Okay, I think I understand..." he sighed, "That makes sense."

The mechanical clock in the corner of the restaurant suddenly chimed loudly. The clanging sound interrupted the conversation at the table, and the hollow echo echoed abruptly in this huge mansion.

Duncan listened to the ringing of the bell, silently counting each stroke, and whispered: "It's nine o'clock."

No one responded to him.

There were only a few empty chairs on both sides of the dining table, as if there was no one there from the beginning.

Duncan frowned slowly and looked at the suddenly empty restaurant. Although this change happened under his nose, he still could not confirm the specific "process" of it all.

Everything happened suddenly, as if the whole world had "switched" in a very short moment, like a card flipping over instantly, and the numbers on the card turned into the patterns on the back - Nina and Morris. Having entered another dimension with the flipped cards, Duncan remains at the card table.

Staying "at the card table" with Duncan is Alice.

Miss Doll's eyes widened for a moment, and she looked frightened: "Wow!"

"The influence of the Dream of the Nameless One has indeed appeared again..." Duncan slowly stood up from the chair, "Even the rabbit doll disappeared."

As soon as he finished speaking, a nervous voice came from the side: "Old master, I...I'm still here."

Duncan and Alice turned their heads at the same time and looked in the direction of the sound.Rune, the clockwork doll, was standing not far behind them—she had been standing there during dinner.

Now, the clockwork doll is left on "this side" of the real world.

Alice looked at her in surprise: "Luni! Why are you left here?!"

"I don't know," the clockwork doll spread his hands and shook his head and said, then looked across the empty dining table with worry in his tone, "Mastress, is she... okay?"

"They have arrived at the other side of the dreamland." Duncan said, and at the same time he couldn't help but look at Lu Ni up and down, his brows furrowed little by little.

Luni was left "over here"... why?
When the Dream of the Nameless One occurs, he and Alice will be left on one side of the real world. Now Luni is also left on this side, and she is awake... What is the mechanism behind this? Play a role?

Is it because of... "dolls"?
"Luni, can you dream?" Duncan suddenly asked while thinking.

"I... don't know," Luni was stunned for a moment, then answered honestly, "Occasionally, I would fall into a trance while the mistress was maintaining my body and recall some past things, but the mistress said it was not a dream. , it’s just that the memory is overflowing from the soul container... Maybe, I can’t dream? I don’t know what it’s like for humans to dream.”

"What about Rabbi? Does that rabbit named Rabbi really dream?" Duncan asked again.

"Rabbi can dream, in fact it is very powerful in dreams - many years ago, the hostess was often troubled by nightmares for a period of time, which later even disturbed her research work, so the hostess made some preparations, She took the initiative to fall into a dream to face the shadows that invaded her spiritual world - she won and captured a shadow from the deepest part of her nightmare. That shadow came from the spirit world. The hostess said it was a creation of fear, and then took that shadow The shadow beat him up again and again, and finally sewed it into a rag doll, and that was Rabbi..."

Duncan listened to the wind-up doll in front of him telling the past indifferently. After a moment, the corner of his mouth trembled: "It seems that Lucretia has experienced a lot of wonderful things over the years... Okay, I probably understand. What's going on?"

Alice scratched her head: "Huh?"

"The Dream of the Nameless One seems to only affect those creatures that can dream," Duncan looked at the two puppets in front of him, "and as puppets, you don't actually dream - or in other words, even if you are 'dreaming', your Dreams are also incompatible with ordinary people."

Duncan made some rigorous additions at the end, because he suddenly remembered that Alice had described to him some experiences that seemed like "dreams" while she was sleeping. Therefore, from a certain perspective, Alice would also be able to A dreamer - but just like Runi, her dreams are different from those of ordinary people. If I have to say... it's more like a "doll's trance".

This "trance" obviously does not meet the "standard" for entering the dream of the Nameless One.

Alice listened as if she didn't understand, and then her not very bright head suddenly had an idea. She seemed to have thought of something, and looked at Duncan with wide eyes: "Then Captain, why do you stay here like us?" 'Ah? You don't know how to dream either?"

"Of course I..." Duncan said subconsciously, but then he was stunned for a moment, with a strange expression on his face.

I...have I really had any dreams since I came to this world?

In the normal sense, it belongs to mortals, intertwined between reality and memories...dreams.

It was as if a switch that had been ignored for a long time was suddenly pressed, and a corner of chaos that had not been noticed in the subconscious suddenly revealed its existence. Duncan noticed this problem for the first time. He recalled quickly, recalling the door he had passed through. Behind the door, every time you fall asleep in this world, and... "Dreamland".

He recalled that he had had a dream - he had entered the subspace in the dream, and also foresaw future disasters in the dream. In the dream, he saw the sun extinguished, a dying hollow hanging in the sky, and weird luminous bodies. Falling from the sky...

Apart from that, he doesn't remember that he has ever dreamed of anything else, because his body doesn't really need sleep now, and he maintains the habit of lying in bed every day. Most of the time, he just uses it to maintain his "humanity" "A means...

Yes, I do dream, although rarely, although...

Duncan suddenly raised his hand and pinched his eyebrows hard.

No, dreams shouldn’t be like this, they shouldn’t be just like this—what about those ordinary dreams?What about those scenes experienced during the day and reflected in dreams after falling asleep?What about those things that can be called sweet dreams, those ordinary dreams, those interesting dreams, those dreams full of memories, those... dreams that belong to ordinary people?
Duncan struggled to recall, but he suddenly discovered that all his dreams either pointed to the subspace, or pointed to some prophecy-like "phantoms" that seemed to span time and space. Except for these two cases, every one of his dreams Sleep... is nothing but nothingness.

Even, not just in this world.

he recalled.

Zhou Ming recalled.

He recalled the days before he pushed open the door of his bachelor apartment, recalled the days before he was trapped in that fog, recalled a long, long time ago - that long time ago seemed to be another life - all those things were still there. As usual, the whole world has never fallen into fog.

Zhou Ming raised his head in confusion.

Did he... really have a dream like an ordinary person?

(End of this chapter)