Deep Sea Embers

Duncan temporarily stopped helping Alice deal with the residual glue, as if he was listening carefully to the sound in the distance. After a while, he lowered his head again and wiped off some debris that fell on the table with a soft cloth.

Alice blinked and looked at the captain curiously: "Boat, captain, what happened just now?"

"Morris received a letter from a friend far away, and he was not at ease about what the letter revealed," Duncan smiled, stood up, and helped Alice deal with the residual glue on her neck joints. He said casually, "I want me to help you see the situation."

"Friends from far away, friends?" Alice's head stammered on the nautical table, "Yes, yes, is it in danger? We want, want, to save people?"

There is not much glue left on the neck joints, and it is far easier to clean up than the residual glue in the hollows of the head joints. Duncan quickly disposed of the dry glue, and he finished the final wiping carefully, then bent down and wiped Alice away. Ruth picked up her head and carefully put her back in place like a work of art.

"We may be going to rescue someone," he said softly, turning the doll's head left and right, "or it may be to help him rest in peace. But no matter what, we have to go to a far away place."

The puppet's head was placed in place, Alice's slightly dull eyes instantly became flexible, she shook her head lightly, like a puppet being injected with soul, and her speech became fluent again: "Ah, where are we going then? "

Duncan put away the cleaning tools and looked at the foggy sea chart.

On the chart, the small bright spot representing the Sea Fog was moving slowly, and it was already some distance away from Prand.

"North," he said in a low voice, his eyes falling on Goat's Head, "hoist the hornsail and jib, turn north—follow the Seamist."

"Aye, Captain!"

...

Heidi put the small brown medicine bottle on the coffee table, about three-fifths of the clear medicine could be seen in the medicine bottle, and the medicine reflected a faint golden light in the gradually sinking sunset light, while rippling in circles. In the golden light, there seemed to be tiny air bubbles continuously separating out and jumping around the liquid surface.

"This is the last dose of medicine. It is a little stronger than the medicine you have used before. You can drink it when you are out at sea. You only need three drops at a time-of course, I also recommend that you start taking it now," The psychiatrist raised her head and looked at the gray-haired old captain in front of her, "As a captain who has spent half his life on the boundless sea, you should be more responsible for your health."

"Thank you for your suggestion, Miss Heidi, I know my situation," Lawrence said without impatience, but without excessive enthusiasm. He just picked up the bottle of potion curiously, and looked at it through the glass bottle in the sun. The liquid with bubbles is constantly separating out, "... very beautiful potion, is it bitter?"

"It's a little bit, but it's more herbal, and I added some honey to cover the bitterness," Heidi said. "It won't be hard to drink."

While speaking, she raised her head and glanced at the sky outside the window.

The sun was sinking gradually, and the slightly orange-red sunlight was shining in the living room through the glass windows.

This is the home of Lawrence, the captain of the White Oak, and as a senior old captain, Lawrence has arranged many furnishings in the living room that can prove his sailing experience-coral specimens collected from offshore shallow waters, rudders and ships. There are models of them, totem decorations from some remote city-states, and there is a large shelf near the wall, which is full of awards and souvenirs issued by the Explorers' Association, city-state authorities, and the four churches.

Now, these things that symbolize glory and memory are immersed in the slanting sunlight, coated with a layer of golden brilliance, and gradually dimmed in the brilliance.

It's time to leave, and it's not a good time to continue providing psychological support after sundown.

"It's time for me to leave," Heidi exhaled softly, and got up from the sofa, her gaze fell on the medicine bottle in Lawrence's hand, "Please don't forget to take the medicine—it can effectively help you resist the pain brought by the boundless sea." mental impact."

"Thank you, you've helped me a lot," the gray-haired Lawrence also stood up, with a sincere smile on his face, "I'll see you off."

Heidi was sent to the door by the old captain, but before she left, she couldn't help but look at Lawrence twice, and said, "Besides, I have one last suggestion—although your current situation puts everyone of the same age at risk. Not bad for a captain, but you've really reached retirement age, and it's time to consider handing over the White Oak to a reliable successor."

After saying what she wanted to say, she didn't expect the old captain's answer, she just bowed slightly politely, said goodbye and left.

The figure of the psychiatrist walked towards the car parked at the intersection, while Lawrence sighed softly, turned and returned to the living room.

The wife was leaning against the door frame not far away with her shoulders in her arms, looking at this side with some dissatisfaction.

She is a tall woman. Although she is getting old now, she can still see some of her youthful demeanor. Standing there, she looks like she was standing on a boat... She is still the famous female explorer in the boundless sea. Home.

But now the female explorer is obviously not in a good mood.

"Every day, either the church censors or the psychiatrist visits the door, what kind of trouble did you get into outside!" She said in a loud voice with her eyes widened, "And what happened to that bottle of medicine—you didn't tell me But your mental condition is so bad that you need to take medicine to maintain it."

"It's not that I want to meet that ghost ship." Lawrence looked at the medicine bottle in his hand and shook his head helplessly, "But it's okay now, the entire city-state has encountered the Lost Homeland, so no one cares about it." It's about the Oak. As for this bottle of medicine...it's nothing, after all, it's been a long time at sea, and it's just some auditory and visual hallucinations occasionally."

The wife didn't talk to her, but just stared straight at this place for a long time, and then sighed after a few minutes: "Aren't you retiring?"

"I want to look for it again..." Lawrence said with some lack of confidence, "After all... there was no clear news of his death back then..."

"You will die on this sooner or later!" The wife raised her voice again, pointing to Lawrence's nose, "What is that? It was a big storm on the boundless sea! A storm passed, a ship deviated from the course, and a ship of people No connection, that's death! Got it?

"Look at you, how many years have you been looking for? You have passed the retirement age long ago, and those captains who were in the same period as you have retired long ago, and now they can enjoy the money they have saved for half their lives. Savings, those brainless people who are as stubborn as you are, what is the end of each one now? Drooling on the bed? Lying in the cemetery? Locked up in the madhouse?

"I advise you to take this medicine now, and then go directly to the handover tomorrow, give the White Oak to a confidant you have cultivated since childhood, go home honestly and live the rest of the day with retirement allowances, don't be so f*cking Waiting to die in a certain storm one day, my mother and you can't afford it..."

Lawrence listened to his wife's reprimand in higher and higher tones, just smiled meekly, and didn't refute anything. Finally, he put the small brown medicine bottle on the coffee table: "Let's do it one last time."

The wife finally stopped and stared at the medicine bottle on the coffee table. After an unknown period of time, she sighed with lingering anger and muttered as if resigned to her fate: "Where can I find it this time?"

"North," Lawrence said calmly, "the first place, the sea area where the 'Black Oak' encountered a storm, I happened to accept an escort mission to Frost..."

The wife didn't say anything, just waved her hands wordlessly.

...

The morning sun flooded the streets, and Prand was gradually waking up from a night of sleep.

Fan Na bent down and got out of the car door, narrowing her eyes slightly in the sunlight. At the end of her sight was the familiar signboard of the antique shop she had visited once.

The shop has already opened, and a girl with black hair and black dress who looks thin is sprinkling water at the door, and another girl who looks about the same age is hanging the open sign on the door.

If I recall correctly, the two girls were Shirley and Nina—the shopkeeper's niece.

Fan Na rubbed her forehead, recalling the situation when she visited the antique shop last time, for some reason, she always felt that some of the details were quite vague in her memory now.

And this strengthened her idea that she should come and see it today.

The subordinate's voice came from the car: "How long will you be away?"

"Within an hour," Fan Na replied, "Just wait here."

"Okay," the young guard in charge of driving nodded in the car, but still reminded a little uneasy, "You pay attention to the time, today is the day when the Cathedral of Storms arrives in Pland, you need to attend the welcoming ceremony in person Bishop Valentine specifically reminded us. In addition, we did not plan our itinerary when we came here this time..."

"Okay, okay, you've said it several times," Fan Na waved her hands with a helpless expression, "I know everyone is nervous about the Cathedral of the Storm's docking this time, and I will pay attention to the time."

"...Okay, then I'll wait for you here."