Deep Sea Embers

Duncan carried Ai on his shoulder as he led the way through the large hole and into the twisted corridor. The others followed, with Vanna overseeing the rear to guard against any surprise attacks.

Upon entering, they quickly discovered that the place was more bizarre than they had anticipated.

The corridor wasn’t merely twisted; it was chaotic and peculiar in every way.

Doors of various sizes were randomly embedded in the walls on either side, some right-side up and others upside down. Round portholes occasionally appeared, but the windows faced a wall, door, or another window. Odd geometric protrusions jutted out from the walls or floor as if they were parts of rooms from elsewhere that had mistakenly merged with the corridor.

The interior of the “Obsidian” resembled the entrails of a monstrous beast that had been surgically altered by a terrifying doctor, its organs contorted and piled up, connecting haphazardly. Rooms intersected, doors askew, and exits and entrances were randomly connected in this main artery-like corridor. The end of this corridor held unknown darkness.

The ghost ship’s interior was eerily quiet, with only the sound of footsteps on the “floor,” which should have been the ceiling, echoing through the vessel. Amidst these sounds, something else seemed to be mixed in.

Nina and Shirley appeared nervous, while Alice remained composed. It wasn’t that the doll was courageous; she simply lacked common sense. All her sailing experiences came from the equally eerie and bizarre “Vanished,” so she wasn’t frightened by the ghost ship’s interior.

They walked for an indeterminate amount of time, the lengthy corridor stretching endlessly into the darkness, and the area ahead grew increasingly dim. Duncan prodded the dove on his shoulder: “Light.”

Ai suddenly screeched: “Take up this solar-powered battle-ax! Embrace the glory of battle!”

With the dove’s squawk, a bright green flame erupted from its body, and the blazing fire instantly dispelled the darkness in the corridor.

Vanna stared in astonishment, whispering to Morris ahead of her: “This dove… can it really be used like this?”

Morris’s tone was particularly indifferent: “The captain uses it like this all the time – sometimes when the dove is not around, he would use himself as a light source.”

Vanna: “…?”

But before she could marvel at the disparity between the legendary “Captain Duncan” and the real Duncan, a sudden noise interrupted everyone’s actions.

“Thump, thump, thump…”

It sounded like muffled knocking – coming from behind a nearby door! Everyone stopped instantly, their eyes focusing on the source of the sound.

It was a blue door with the words “Captain’s Room” written on it.

In a typical ship’s structure, the captain’s room obviously shouldn’t be located here. However, on this ghost ship, where everything was in utter disarray and the various cabin entrances were haphazardly strewn about, any door could appear anywhere.

“Thump, thump, thump…”

The knocking sound came again, clearer and more urgent than before.

It was as if there was a survivor behind the door, trapped after the shipwreck, desperately pounding on the door for help upon hearing the sounds in the corridor.

Vanna silently gripped the giant sword on her back, Shirley slightly lifted the black chain in her hand, Nina hid behind Alice, and Alice held her head up with her hands.

Duncan, expressionless, approached the door.

The knocking continued without pause.

However, Duncan didn’t seem to have any intention of opening the door. Instead, he bent his fingers and knocked back.

The knocking from inside suddenly stopped, as if the person making the noise was startled. After a few seconds of silence, a hoarse, deep voice broke the silence from behind the blue door: “Is there… anyone out there?”

“Yes,” Duncan said flatly.

“Ah, thank goodness! I am the captain of the Obsidian. I don’t know what happened to the ship, but I am trapped,” the hoarse, deep voice immediately said. “Kind sir outside the door, what is your name? Can you help me open the door?”

“Just call me Duncan,” Duncan said, signaling the others behind him to stay calm. “Before opening the door, I want to confirm – are you really the captain of the Obsidian?”

“Of course! My name is Christo Babelli. You can find my name and certificate number at the port authority. My certificate is in the room,” the voice said immediately. “But… this cursed door won’t budge, and I have no way of coming out to prove my identity to you…”

“Next question,” Duncan ignored the person’s ramblings and continued, “What year is it?”

“This year?” The voice inside the door was taken aback, likely finding the question odd, but still answered, “Of course, it’s 1894. Is there a problem with that?”

Duncan looked back at Morris, who nodded slightly.

1894 – that was the year the Obsidian had been shipwrecked.

Recalling the shipwreck, Morris suddenly stepped forward and asked, “Excuse me, Captain, do you know of a passenger on your ship named ‘Scott Brown’?”

“A passenger?” The voice behind the blue door hesitated. “I can’t recall the names of every passenger on the ship, but… Scott Brown, you say? Ah, I remember now. He’s the folklorist, right? He’s quite well-known, and I’ve talked to him a few times. From what I recall, he’s a slender gentleman with carefully groomed hair and a beard. He’s knowledgeable about funeral customs across various city-states and is particularly interested in the frozen sea area north of Frost…”

Listening to the voice from behind the blue door, Morris nodded slightly and whispered to Duncan, “No discrepancies.”

“Lucid, with a complete memory and able to accurately state his own name,” Vanna, who had been quiet, suddenly spoke up. “However, we can’t rule out the possibility that it’s a malevolent creature that has absorbed human memories and emotions to set a trap. Such occurrences aren’t rare on ghost ships.”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter. As long as he indeed possesses the captain’s memories, it’ll be fine,” Duncan said indifferently. “Even monsters can try reasoning first – if reasoning doesn’t work, we can try force. We’ll always find a way through.”

Vanna was taken aback, “…That’s true.”

Duncan placed his hand on the handle of the blue wooden door.

“I’m going to open the door, Mr. Babelli,” he said to the person inside.

Then, he turned the handle – unlike the completely rusted cabin doors seen before, this door showed no signs of damage. As he turned the handle, the faint sound of the lock turning could be heard immediately.

The door opened.

Under the slightly tense gazes of everyone, Duncan pushed the door open.

A chaotic and upside-down room appeared before their eyes.

All the walls were twisted, the ceiling seemed to be collapsing, and the room’s original furnishings were randomly fused to the nearby walls and floor as if buried by wood and metal. The exposed parts were all incomplete, like half a table or half a chair. There was a huge hole in the wall facing the door, and it was unclear where the dark hole on the other side led.

This chaotic and upside-down room was empty.

Duncan glanced into the empty room, but the next second, he heard the voice of “Christo Babelli” the captain coming from behind the blue door again: “Ah, did you open the door? I seem to have felt some movement, but this door is still not budging in my hands… Is there something wrong with my perception or cognition? Can you help me? I might have been trapped at sea for too long and am experiencing some ill effects. It would be even better if there is a priest willing to lend a hand…”

Duncan furrowed his brow.

He entered the chaotic room and slowly turned the door around to look behind it.

That’s where he saw “Christo Babelli.”

A mass… resembling a disfigured, melted wax figure clung to the door. Within the distorted, collapsing structure, one could vaguely see an arm pressed against the door panel, several fiber bundles connected to the hand, and a large mass of an unidentifiable “main body.”

This horrifying and twisted thing was fused with the door. When Duncan looked at it, it was still slightly swelling and wriggling, and from some part of its structure came a hoarse, deep voice—

“Ah, I can’t see you, did you come in? The room might be a bit messy. There was a significant tremor earlier, and I haven’t tidied up the room since… My vision seems to have some problems, but they’re not very serious. The most troublesome thing now is that I can’t move my body, it seems like I’ve forgotten how to control my limbs – oh, did you bring a doctor with you?”