Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 840 "Test"

It was an incredible ship—an incredible captain, an incredible first mate, and an incredible pigeon.

There was also an equally incredible doll on the boat that looked exactly like him.

Leanora felt that this place was completely different from what she had imagined - but better.

After a tour of the upper area, Duncan returned to the deck with the "Frost Queen".

"This ship is huge, and there are layers of cabins below the deck. If I really want to take a detailed tour, I'm afraid it will take more than a day to see it all," he said with a smile, "Let's get down to business first."

After hearing what the captain said, Leigh Nora's thoughts instantly returned to her feelings about the ship. She immediately straightened her expression and looked solemnly over the side of the Lost Homeland.

The seemingly ordinary, thin and soft mist flowed outside the ship's side, quietly and harmlessly.

But that was not fog. There was no "fog" there at all - in the entire space outside the Lost Hometown, there was only extreme nothingness that could not be recognized or described. The "fog" that seemed to exist was actually just a faint illusion produced by the extremely limited perception ability of mortals when they vaguely sensed that "something existed".

But the "Captain" said that the cornerstone of a new world is hidden in this extreme nothingness.

Leigh Nora's eyes couldn't help but fall on Duncan. She knew that there was another real existence hidden inside this tall and majestic body. The "Thousand Faces of Starlight" was looking into the distance with a serious expression through this body, as if sensing and looking for something in the flowing mist.

Duncan Zhou Ming walked to the edge of the deck. His perception permeated the entire ship. Using the ship as a carrier, he carefully "touched" the invisible "Sea of ​​Ashes" outside the ship. Among the flowing mists, he carefully observed the debris left after the annihilation of the world.

A moment later, he stretched out his hand over the side of the ship - wisps of flames covered his fingertips, and the flames were quietly stained with the color of starlight.

He heard a vague noise and vibration coming from deep within the Lost Homeland, the creaking of masts and ropes, and there seemed to be a sense of uneasiness mixed in these sounds.

"Don't worry," Duncan whispered as if he were talking to himself, "I'm still your captain."

The uneasy creaking and vibrating noises subsided slightly.

Duncan's fingers touched the "area" outside the side of the ship for the first time.

Almost at the same time, a sound of flapping wings came from the air. Ai flew down from the mast with a great noise and landed on Duncan's shoulder. It flapped its wings vigorously and made bursts of sharp and strange female voices: "锟斤拷...火火火火火火火火火..."

Then the pigeon jumped off Duncan's shoulder again, and it couldn't be told whether it was anxious or excited as it flapped its wings and ran around on the deck, shouting something that no one could understand except Duncan Zhou Ming - leaving Leigh Nora next to her stunned.

"...What is this pigeon saying?" Lenora couldn't help but touch the puppet next to her. Although it felt very strange to talk to a puppet that looked exactly like her, she couldn't find anyone else to ask about the situation. "What...?"

"Oh, Ai has his own way of speaking," Alice waved her hand as if it was a matter of course, "It is conveying something very important to the captain."

Lenora was stunned and looked at the puppet in surprise: "...Can you understand?"

Alice was even more confident than before: "I don't understand."

Lenoir fell silent after hearing this: "..."

Alice noticed that there was no movement beside her, so she turned her head and looked at the "Frost Queen" curiously: "Hey? Why aren't you talking?"

"...I wish I had your good attitude back then," Lenoir sighed, her thoughts going back to the past, "I used to...live a very tiring life."

"Then you should try to live an easy life from now on," Alice laughed and patted Lenora's arm. "The tiring days are over anyway."

Lenora suddenly felt that this seemingly innocent puppet in front of her might actually have a different kind of life wisdom...

Duncan heard the conversation behind him, but ignored it—most of his attention was now on "that world" beyond the side of the ship, deep in the ashes.

Slowly retracting his hand, Zhou Ming opened his eyes towards the mist. The eternal starlight extended across his field of vision. Wherever his eyes went... he saw those unassigned basic information elements were changing under the influence of the starlight.

After thinking for a while, he opened his arms in a certain direction.

Lenora and Alice's conversation immediately stopped - when the sound of wind and flowing mountain springs came from that direction, their eyes widened in surprise.

In the hazy fog, something appeared, and a solid entity was suddenly outlined. A huge, colorless and detail-less gray mountain range appeared out of thin air among the clouds. Then the mountain changed rapidly like some kind of living thing. Gullies began to appear on its surface, and it gradually became stained with various colors. All kinds of sounds also came from that direction, sometimes far, sometimes near, sometimes real, sometimes illusory.

Duncan Zhou Ming stood at the edge of the deck. Information was reorganized in front of his eyes and revalued in his thinking. He raised his hand and adjusted it slightly to the side as if plucking the strings of a guitar. The "mountain" that was quickly becoming real suddenly split in the middle. A magnificent waterfall poured down from the mountain and flowed into a river. The next second, the river rushed, and vast plains emerged on both sides of the river. A piece of land that was vaster than any city-state that Lenora knew grew and spread in the mist. The mist dissipated and condensed into clouds and blue sky...

All this new thing was still expanding rapidly, and finally spread to the surroundings of the Lost Homeland. Here the river was poured into a vast lake. The Lost Homeland floated on the mirror-like lake. After a few seconds, "wind" was generated and introduced into this scene, and ripples began to appear on the lake.

Lenora looked at this scene in astonishment. She finally couldn't help but come to the edge of the deck and looked at the green land, blue sky, lake and mountains that had spread to the end of her sight. It seemed as if the whole world had been shaped. She smelled the fresh air and heard the sound of wind and water. A strong feeling appeared in her heart -

This place really exists, everything here is real and "valid", right at this moment, if a person comes to this vibrant lakeside, then... he can survive here!
He can breathe here, the water here is drinkable, crops can grow in the land, birds and beasts can reproduce in the mountains and plains, rain will fall here, clouds will gather and disperse in the wind, plants will wither and flourish, and life will rotate...

A smile of joy almost broke out on her face.

But before that smile appeared, Duncan Zhou Ming had already put down his hands.

Then everything around the Lost Hometown collapsed and dissipated silently - the mountains and plains turned into mist again in the blink of an eye, all the colors and outlines returned to chaos, and those sounds and the breeze blowing across the cheeks... were as if they had never appeared.

Lei Nora looked at the scene in a daze, as if she couldn't react all of a sudden. It took her a long time before she raised her head and looked in the direction of the captain.

"This is just a test, and a very basic one," Duncan said in a low voice as he walked towards Lenora. "It is only used to verify whether the 'material' here can be reactivated again. This is not how Genesis works."

Lenoir could tell the captain's tone was a little complicated, and she couldn't help but get nervous: "Then... the results of the test..."

"Good news and bad news," Duncan exhaled softly and spoke slowly, "The good news is that my previous judgment was correct. The information will not disappear. It just loses its original 'definition'. Re-assigning values ​​can make this mathematical machine work again."

Leigh Nora said hurriedly, "What about the bad news?"

"The bad news is that my other previous judgment was also correct - the existing conditions cannot support the 'self-sustaining operation' of this restarted mathematical machine. As you just saw, once my observations and definitions are lost, everything here will instantly return to its initial state.

"So it's meaningless to simply reassign them. Everything still has to go back to the 'singularity'. I need a big bang to start with, and a big bang... requires harsh conditions."

Lenoir tried to follow the captain's train of thought. The knowledge she had gained in the "nest" started running again in her mind. After thinking for a moment, she gradually realized: "You... know the conditions it requires, right?"

Duncan was silent for a moment, then nodded: "...Yes."

"Can you do this? Is it difficult or impossible?"

Duncan did not answer her question this time. After a long period of contemplation, he just shook his head and said, "I still need to think about it carefully."

After saying this, he waved to Lenora and Alice.

"I need to go back to my room and plan what to do next," he exhaled, turned and walked towards the stern, "There are still many empty rooms below deck. Alice can take you to rest."

Duncan walked away. Lenora blinked and turned to look at the puppet beside her: "He looks very worried. Is the Captain always so...human?"

She thought for a long time before finding the right word "humane", but she didn't dare say it in front of Duncan.

"Yes," Alice nodded without thinking, "Shirley said that the captain is very human!"

Leigh Nora: “……?”

Is this how the word "human nature" is used? !
But before the Frost Queen could speak, Alice quickly changed the subject: "I'll take you to your room on the ship to rest first... By the way, do you want some fish soup?"

Lei Nora didn't know how the topic suddenly jumped to this point. She was stunned for a moment before she spoke: "Uh, no need."

Alice was still full of enthusiasm: "The fish soup is delicious! It's a famous dish on this ship!"

"Thank you, but I...may not be able to enjoy it."

"You don't like fish? How about sweet pancakes? The captain likes sweet pancakes the best!"

Lenora looked embarrassed: "...but I'm a ghost now."

"……Oh."

(End of this chapter)