Ashes Of Deep Sea

Chapter 13: Being Bedridden for Long Periods of Time Is Bad for the Neck

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The deep sea was something to be feared.

Alice was a doll, but she still had lively eyes that could sufficiently convey her emotions. Besides that, she had facial expressions that were beyond common sense. Hence, Duncan could make out her fear and resistance to the deep sea, rather, something in the deep sea. When he recalled the Spirit World he saw on the sea and the so-called supernatural phenomena of the boundary, he quickly realized that a great terror was hidden deep within the vast ocean he was in.

Nevertheless, the Lost Home was voyaging across this endless ocean. The machine-powered ship he crashed into in the Spirit World was also sailing this ocean.

Duncan couldn’t help but be curious about the currently ethereal things to him. What do the continents in this world look like? Or did this world have land masses at all?

However, the doll before him was unable to answer all his questions. Alice’s memory was mainly fuzzy. Duncan speculated that her memory was either sealed off or suppressed by some force.

He still remembered the things he observed on the machine-powered ship through his sensory connection with the Lost Home when the two ships crossed paths. The mysterious markings and religious setting on the other ship, as well as the symbols carved on the outside of Alice’s coffin, clearly pointed towards a fact:

As a cursed doll, people from civilized society would be apprehensive of her.

Duncan gave the doll a pondering look. The latter looked back at him with a calm and serene gaze.

“Let me confirm once more. You cannot remember where you came from at all. You also cannot remember anything from your past clearly, correct?”

“I do not remember anything,” answered Alice thoughtfully. “I can only remember lying in the coffin. However, I don’t know why there seemed always to be a group of nervous people around me. They feared me emerging from my coffin and used various methods to seal me inside. To be honest, now that I recall all this, I suddenly feel that the nails you hammered into my coffin cover were actually kind of nice. Although you later added eight cannonballs, at least you did not pour lead into my coffin.”

This time, Duncan did not pay heed to Alice’s teasing. Instead, he asked, “Where did your name come from? Who named you Alice? How did you get your name if you have never left the coffin and interacted with other people? Did you name yourself Alice?”

Alice was dumbfounded.

She seemed to sink into a state of confusion. She was stunned for more than 10 seconds. When Duncan contemplated the possibility of this doll experiencing a system crash, Alice regained her senses and replied, “I don’t remember. I knew from the start that I was called Alice. However, this name is not something I came up with. I…”

As she mumbled in a daze, she subconsciously held her head with both hands. Duncan’s eyes twitched when he saw her in such a state. He immediately stopped her from thinking further, saying, “Alright. It’s okay if you don’t remember. You don’t have to take your head off.”

Alice was speechless.

After this, Duncan asked Alice a lot of other questions. Unfortunately, he didn’t get much information from her responses.

Just like she said, she had spent most of her time in a daze in the coffin since she was conscious. She maintained a state of half asleep and half awake. She knew very little about the outside world. Her only knowledge of the world was from the conversations she overheard while lying in the coffin. Sadly, the broken pieces of information she knew were insufficient to help Duncan understand the structure of this world.

Even so, Duncan did not come out completely empty-handed. During his conversation with Alice, he at least managed to confirm a few things:

In this world, there existed a power structure known as city-states. This term repeatedly appeared in the doll’s narration. It seemed to make up her entire journey. This time, the original final destination of her journey was the City-state of Pland.

It seemed to be a prosperous place. The sailors said it was an essential stop along many sea routes in their conversations.

Next, Alice also had the designation of Abnormality 099. This seemed to be an official designation of the civilized world. As for the name Alice that she called herself, aside from Duncan and herself, no one else seemed to know about it.

Lastly, Alice had been transferred from city-state to city-state. It appeared that she was not the only Abnormality being transferred around like this. During some voyages, she had heard her transporters mention other sealed crates in their conversation.

From this, Duncan made a bold guess that shipping abnormalities around constantly was a necessary means to seal abnormalities and prevent them from escaping.

Clearly, the team in charge of transporting Abnormality 099 this time had had a stroke of bad luck. Due to the Lost Home that appeared from nowhere, the doll they were transporting had escaped.

Duncan could not understand. What was so frightening about this strange, cursed doll? What destruction would she cause if she escaped?

After all, she seemed relatively harmless the whole time she was on the Lost Home.

To be honest, Duncan was somewhat disappointed.

Initially, he thought that he had finally encountered a means that could help him understand this world. To his surprise, the fellow lying in the coffin was as clueless about this world as he was.

However, when he shifted his gaze to look at Alice, who was quietly sitting on the wooden crate again, he felt less depressed.

At the very least, he gained a conversation partner on the Lost Home. She was but a doll. She looked terrifying when her head came off. She certainly had a lot of secrets. She talked trash sometimes.

Nevertheless, she was much more normal than the garrulous goat head.

In terms of strange and dangerous, the boundless sea, the Lost Home, and the strange things on board were all unsafe.

From the perspective of others, Captain Duncan seemed to be the most dangerous being on the boundless sea.

Duncan let out a sigh. His expression relaxed subconsciously. He asked Alice in a casual tone, “I want to know. What will you do if I throw you off the ship again?”

Alice blinked and asked, “You will not stuff cannonballs in my coffin this time, right?”

Duncan replied, “I won’t.”

Alice continued, “Will you nail me in?”

“Erm, no.”

“Pour lead inside?”

“No… Ahem, I mean that if I reject you staying on my ship…”

“Then I will row back here again,” said Alice as she sat up straight. She calmly said, “I do not wish to be swallowed by the ocean. At least I will have a place to stay on your ship.”

Duncan was shocked by this doll’s calmness. He could not decide whether she was honest or shameless for a moment. After deliberation, he said, “Could you be more subtle about your intention of staying here?”

“You already know the answer anyway, do you not?” said Alice with a smile. “However, if I return, I might find a way to hide somewhere below deck so that you will not notice me. I will not carelessly come on deck again. It has only been a short while since I awakened. I did not think things through the last few times. Now, I have experience…”

Duncan interrupted her and said, “I can sense everything on this ship. I can even tell where each wave hits the hull.”

The rest of Alice’s sentence was cut off. “Ah…”

With a calm look, Duncan continued. “I can also choose to destroy you and use a more thorough method to prevent you from continuing to pester me and my ship.”

The doll seemed to have never thought of this possibility. Her eyes widened in horror. Then, a cracking sound could be heard from her neck.

Panicking, the doll caught her falling head. She quickly placed it back on her neck. Duncan could not possibly continue scaring her in such a state. He sighed in amusement. After Alice secured her head, he said, “However, I think it’s not bad to have a new crew member on board. I can keep you around if you promise to stay on the ship without causing trouble.”

Alice exclaimed, “You should have said so earlier! I was so frightened that my head came off!”

Duncan’s eyes twitched as he asked, “So, what’s with your neck?”

With an innocent face, Alice replied, “I don’t know. I didn’t normally have so many chances to come out of the coffin and move around. How would I know why my body has such a problem?”

Duncan silently stared at her for a few seconds. Then, he said with a serious expression, “From the looks of it, being bedridden for long periods is bad for the neck.”

Alice did not have a comeback for his joke.

Duncan’s mood improved as he looked at the speechless doll.

“Alright! Anyway, the Lost Home now has a new crew member. Follow me. I will assign you a place to rest.”