Deep Sea Embers
chapter-57

The captain’s words were like the cold bristling night breeze blowing through the dark staircase, causing Alice to subconsciously hug her arms while following closely behind Duncan’s back. Eventually, she finally saw what the captain meant when he said “the lights are black”.

There were indeed lights in the lower cabin—at least in terms of structure and layout. The cabin she saw had the same support columns as above with oil lamps hanging from the sides. However, the flames burning there didn’t light the area but rather made the area in the vicinity darker than what’s in the distance.

That’s right, the closer to the oil lamp, the darker the light becomes. It’s as if the lamp itself were sucking in the light and turning everything dark.

Alice stared at the cabin for a long time and couldn’t find the right words to describe her logic, “This… doesn’t make sense…”

“An abnormal doll is telling me this is irrational?” Duncan shot a look at Alice, asking if she was serious. “Under the water level of the Boundless Sea, any rationality is a thing of the past. This abnormality is what’s normal.”

When he said this, his expression was quite indifferent as if the freaky situation had long been the norm for him. But what exactly was the truth? In reality, Duncan’s mind wasn’t any better because he’s equally as spooked.

“That’s right, that’s right…” Ai perfectly timed her speech and spoke in support of the captain’s explanation.

Ignoring the noise of the dove on his shoulders, he carefully observed the cabin that he had never set foot on. First adjusting the angle of the lantern in his hand to get a better view, Duncan wanted to get a gist of what’s out there.

Below the waterline of the Vanished… The lights in the cabin are “inverted”. The closer you get to the lamps, the darker it becomes like some sort of mirror image of the world. But my lantern is normal so that rule doesn’t apply….

Is there a principle behind this weirdness? Is this just the influence of the Boundless Sea, or is it mixed with the characteristics of the Vanished itself to cause this phenomenon? Is the “bright environment” in the cabin itself real? If those oil lamps are extinguished, will this place become brighter again?

For a moment, Duncan really wanted to test his bold theory and blow out the oil lamps using his power. But in the next instant, sanity choked him back at the bad idea. Experience has taught him everything in the world must have a purpose, including the spooky black lamps as well.

Then something occurred to him. In the city-state of Pland, their knowledge claimed that the light from a burning flame could dispel dangerous evils from the nearby premise. But Duncan now got a new theory. The actual part that’s dispelling the evil wasn’t the light produced by the flame but the actual fire itself, and under certain conditions, light and darkness may be inverted. In that case, wouldn’t the only thing worth trusting be the flame itself and nothing else since only that remains true?

“Captain?” Alice’s voice suddenly came from the side with nervousness and concern, “Is there anything unusual here?”

“There are no abnormalities.” Duncan’s expression remained unchanged as he replied lightly while slowly striding forward.

As he walked past the light absorbing lamps hanging from the support columns, Duncan had also noticed piles of ropes scattered at the base, which would’ve been a problematic tripping incident if not for the fact that the ropes had squirmed away on their own to make way for the captain.

For some reason, a thought came to mind: Light and shadow are the illusions of the deep sea, and reality is no longer credible at sea level. The only trustworthy thing is the flames themselves, always faithfully guarding the wealth of the Vanished.

He watched the quietly burning lights with a new perspective and nodded to express his approval and gratitude.

For that, the oil lamps throughout the entire cabin flared up, jumping and flickering with life to shroud the entire hall into further darkness…..

Duncan: “….”

He immediately regretted his initial assessment because that’s what you call shooting your own foot.

Alice had come up from behind then and carefully observed the surroundings. She could see the large wooden barrels and some crates piled up in the corners of the cabins, as well as some enclosed rooms and corridors leading to nowhere. Whispering: “It seems that this is also a warehouse… Was this once a cargo ship?”

“If it were a cargo ship, the cargo wouldn’t be kept in such a deep place—there’s a concept called the cost of handling,” Duncan shook his head and said casually. “These are ocean-going supplies, meant to be consumed by the Vanished itself during its long voyage.”

Alice blinked, “Ocean supply?”

Duncan did bother explaining and went forward to inspect some of the nearest cargo.

A couple of the barrels contained some kind of grease, dark brown and viscous, but didn’t have a overpowering stench like crude oil. Possibly some kind of fuel for the ship, but apparently had been stacked here for a long, long time. Duncan even suspected that the fuel had been “stockpiled” before the Vanished became a ghost ship, which might have been used for lighting and exorcism. Since the ship became a ghost vessel afterward, many of the things in the cargo hold were now effectively useless.

Then in another part of the stacked barrels, Duncan saw something familiar – cheese older than him, bacon capable of cracking rocks.

Duncan silently resealed the lid.

Most of the places were piled up with reserve materials at this level. Although a considerable part of them seemed useless on by today’s standard, it was enough to prove his previous judgment of the Vanished. At least in the beginning of its construction, the ship had been built for the intended purpose of going on some long voyage of exploration. The compartments are also all shielded to avoid spreading fire and pest infestation. Such a design wouldn’t be needed if the trips were short.

Now, however, this once ambitious plan of exploration was gone, along with its sailing crew. What’s left was a natural disaster known to humanity as a plague of the sea, the Vanished….

He and Alice continued to walk forward under these conditions, and after crossing several more separate warehouses, they had entered a new corridor with a staircase leading down another level.

“I feel like… it’s getting more and more gloomy…” Miss Doll hugged her arm and whispered to the captain, “Did you hear the wind? How can there be a sound of wind in the cabin?”

“I heard it too, but don’t be nervous, it’s normal,” Duncan said casually and then glanced at the doll again, “how come your courage is so small? You’re known as Anomaly 099. You shouldn’t be afraid of this stuff at all.”

As he spoke, he also thought about the information he had received from Nina before. In this world, there are many lists of “anomalies” and “visions” open to the people. These lists are there to help the people avoid the dangers they may encounter in daily life or identify some signs of abnormal behavior around themselves. Of course, such lists are never complete, often leaving some of the most dangerous and unique variables out of the general public’s eye.

He had tried to ask Nina about Anomaly 099 before of course, but the girl had never seen the number in the textbook.

This shows that Alice’s “cursed doll” either has a special secret involved, hence the blockade of information from the church and authorities, or…. It’s due to her being too dangerous and must be isolated from the minds of civilized society. Regardless of the reason, it couldn’t be anything innocent or harmless.

But this mysterious doll only shrunk her neck after hearing Duncan’s comment. Making a nervous expression: “It’s not like having a bigger number means I would be more courageous. I am Anomaly 099, not Courage 099….”

Duncan sighed, thinking that the doll may not be the most courageous out there, but she was most certainly the most cowardly. It’s a good thing no sailor actually saw Alice’s nervous and scared appearance, otherwise her image would be ruined….