Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 834 Their Last Journey
The "flame" between the stars flowed at the end of the world. In Duncan Zhou Ming's perception, he seemed to be able to clearly see that the sparks were slowly connecting into a ring.

Every spark he left on the four nodes of the outer barrier was now evenly emitting starlight, and these lights were now gradually penetrating and covering those nodes, covering the "ancient gods" that constituted those nodes, covering their authority, covering their essence, covering their memories, covering... their information.

Just like the first time he penetrated his fire into the golden sun mask, he saw through the secret hidden behind the mask. Just like he usually used fire to spy on and control those extraordinary objects, he was actually doing the same thing now.

Every piece of data of this world from its birth to its end gradually entered his mind during this process.

Because in the eyes of the "anti-singularity", this entire vast ocean, this pile of ash that is gradually cooling down but still stubbornly pretending that civilization is still alive, is itself an "extraordinary object".

Alice lowered her head and looked at Duncan curiously: "Captain, how long do we have to wait here?"

"We can go now," Duncan said softly, "Nina and the others have returned safely to the Infinite Sea, and we should continue to the next place."

Alice was very curious: "The next place? You haven't told me where it is yet..."

"We have to find it ourselves - but it shouldn't be difficult." Duncan said slowly, then lowered his head and looked at something beside him.

It was an hourglass with a simple and exquisite shape. It was the "vitality" left by the God of Death Bartok to the Goddess of Storms Gemona. Three days ago, Duncan took the hourglass out of the temple.

Now, the sand in the hourglass representing vitality has almost run out.

Duncan picked up the hourglass. A little flame was burning quietly and illusorily in the hourglass container. The last few remaining grains of sand did not fall down, but floated in the center of the container in the flame. He watched the last "life" and heard a faint and tiny voice from them. Then he nodded gently: "Yes, I am leaving."

A faint voice seemed to be saying goodbye to him, but almost no information could be heard.

Duncan seemed to have understood all the meanings. He smiled, with a gentle and happy tone: "Ah, that sounds good... You want to be with your friends again, travel again, have a lively tour group... And then you want to open a souvenir shop?

"Okay, I understand. I'll arrange it... Don't doubt or worry. It will happen. This is a one-time opportunity to customize the world and the future. You all deserve this chance.

"...Yes, it will take some time, a very, very long time, but don't worry, the last thing I lack is time. For eternity, it only takes a blink of an eye...

"Now, we are going, Gemona, goodbye - have a sweet dream."

The last bit of sand quietly dissipated in the flames, and the hourglass silently disintegrated into dust. They drifted away in the wind, and the entire island began to sink little by little in the flames filled with starlight.

Duncan stood up and waved his hand to open the flaming door leading to the Lost Homeland.

A moment later, they had returned to the Lost Homeland - under the control of Goat Head, the ship was steadily passing through the fog between the Leviathan Islands and approaching the edge of the node sea area.

Duncan brought Alice to the captain's room. The moment the door opened, Goathead, who was staring blankly at the edge of the chart table, immediately turned his head. While the captain didn't tell him to shut up, the diligent first mate let out a long sigh and began to mutter:

"Ah, I'm not used to the silence on the ship. Normally, Miss Vanna should have started exercising on the deck at this time, and Shirley must be taking Agou on 'explorations'. At first, I thought they were too noisy and kept wondering when we could have some peace and quiet. I didn't expect it to be so quiet this time. But I still feel so uncomfortable. I just returned to the initial state on the ship. Time flies so fast. You said that human heart is a wonderful thing. Why didn't I expect to experience so many things at the beginning? Of course, I can't be considered a kind person now. I'm done. Shut up."

The goat head quickly shut his mouth, not even giving Duncan a chance to yell "shut up" - the latter felt that the words from the other side were like a wall of water, and he was about to ask it to shut up, but he didn't expect it to learn to answer first. As a result, the two words were stuck in his throat, and he could only stare at the wood carving on the table, and after a while, he said, "Can you shut up?"

The goat-head had a blank expression (of course, that hard face usually had no expression either): "Sure, I just need to finish what I'm saying."

Duncan was choked again. He suspected that this guy did it on purpose, and he had sufficient evidence. However, Goat Head certainly didn't care about this, so he could only frown and say, "...Then you continue to shut up here. Alice and I will solve the next navigation problem."

The goat-head said simply: "Understood."

Duncan's mouth twitched, and he walked towards the bedroom deep in the captain's room with the puppet. When he was almost there, he couldn't help but whisper to Alice: "I'll remember to add a setting to the new world later. Anyone who speaks without punctuation will have his tongue rolled..."

Alice came over and muttered, "But Mr. Goathead doesn't have a tongue at all. The sound comes directly from his neck..."

Duncan entered the room and closed the door. Hearing this, he turned his head and glanced at Miss Doll: "Now that you mention it, I'm curious. Do you have a tongue?"

'Yes,' Alice said, opening her mouth seriously, and pulling at the corners of it with her fingers. 'Look—Pull-pull-pull, tongue.'

"...I'm really curious about how that mistaken replica of Navigator No. 1 'formed' you in the first place. They've already created a tongue, but they can't reinforce the joints." Duncan looked at the cute doll with a subtle expression, turned and walked to the bed, then took out the clockwork key used to activate the "Navigator Version of Alice's Mansion" and shook it in front of the doll.

Without the captain's instructions, Alice skillfully sat down in front of Duncan, turned around, unzipped her back, and exposed the keyhole.

Duncan picked up the navigator key, but before turning the spring, he looked at Alice's back and suddenly fell silent. After a moment, he said, "Alice, I have a question."

"Hmm? Go ahead."

"Have you ever thought about... wanting something? Like something you want, or a wish, like... not being a 'doll' anymore?"

Alice pressed her clothes and turned her head in confusion: "No, what's wrong with being a doll?"

"Don't you have any requests or ideas about the new world and the future?" Duncan said seriously. "Nina and the others have more or less some ideas of their own about this matter. Shirley wants a large piece of free space, Morris wants space for research and exploration, and even the Queen of Leviathan has her own wishes to realize. But you...you have always been very quiet. When we discussed the new world, you never expressed your opinion."

Alice was stunned for a moment, and seemed to be thinking seriously about the captain's question, but after a while, she shook her head: "Because I really don't have any opinion."

Duncan frowned slightly.

"Because I don't have any complaints, everything is good," Alice said seriously, "and I don't know what the new world should have. Everything I saw on the day of 'awakening' is here. It's enough to have these. The others... are gone. And being a puppet is not bad either. I like the way it is now."

She paused for a moment, then quickly added, "Ah, if you must, I'll stay with you in the New World - I'm not used to living in the city-state."

Duncan was stunned for a moment, and finally his expression changed from surprise and astonishment to a helpless and gentle smile.

"Okay," he nodded gently, reaching out to touch Alice's hair, "I'll take you with me, but this is just the basics - if you really don't know what you want, leave it to me, and I'll help you think about it and realize it."

"Oh, OK!" Alice nodded happily, moving and turning around on the bed, but suddenly seemed to remember something and turned her head happily, "Oh, by the way, I want a new frying pan, a smaller one, the kind that can make small sweet pancakes, you can add this."

"...Okay, I'll make a note of it." Duncan was stunned for a moment, then a gentle smile gradually appeared on his face. He nodded solemnly, "In the new world, Alice wants a new frying pan."

"The kind used to make little sweet pancakes!"

"Yeah, the kind used to make little sweet pancakes."

The clockwork key slid into the keyhole, and with a click, the key rotated by itself in the keyhole of the puppet - the light and shadow changed, the five senses were reset, Duncan opened his eyes, and saw that he had returned to the place where he left Alice Mansion.

The main engine hall of Pilot No. 3.

Dim lights poured down from the sky. In the center of the gloomy hall stood a "tree" made of cables, pipes and metal branch structures. At the edge of the platform where the roots of the tree were located, a puppet holding a drawing board was slowly opening her eyes - just like a robot that gradually turned on after being powered on, she woke up little by little, and then a smile appeared on her face.

"Captain! We're in again!"

Duncan nodded, walked over and helped the puppet, who was still a little uncomfortable because he had just woken up, to stand up.

"Captain, what are we going to do next? Should we say hello to the Black Sun at the door? Should we look for the next route you mentioned?"

Duncan looked down at the "drawing board" in Alice's hand.

This so-called "drawing board" is essentially the remaining "functional interface" of the Linghang-3.

"I want you to search for something," he began.

"Searching for something? Searching for what?"

"The escape pod of the A New Hope - it was left at the end of the ash."

(Book recommendation time, Toad’s new book “The First Magical World War”——

Charlotte Mecklen traveled to the Fars Empire and only wanted to be a civil servant in a foreign continent. She was not a combatant... But who would have thought that civilians would also go to the battlefield!

I'm recommending a book when it's finished, highlighting that life and death are up to fate after the healing...)
(End of this chapter)