Deep Sea Embers

This door leads to the Lost Home.

The letters on the door frame are made of brass, and they look as if they have passed through a century. Under the reflection of the spiritual fire lantern and the chaotic dim light that permeates the entire cabin, every line on the letters seems to be plated with a layer of brass. The frozen time exudes a simple and mysterious flavor.

Duncan stared at the line of letters for several seconds, then turned away without expression.

Alice's voice suddenly came from the side: "Hey? Captain, are we leaving now? Don't you need to check this door? Even if you don't open it, you can..."

"There's nothing left to see. This is the end of the bilge," Duncan said casually.

But at this moment, a slight tapping sound suddenly came, making him stop.

Duncan turned his head and looked at Alice who was behind him. Alice looked around nervously, and finally turned to look at the dark wooden door: "The sound seemed to be coming from behind this door... "

Duncan stopped where he was, staring seriously at the wooden door that suddenly heard a knocking sound. He waited patiently for several seconds, and suddenly heard two more knocks - the knocks were weak and vague, as if Separated by an extremely thick curtain, it seemed as if the door was wrapped by something invisible, but it was by no means an illusion.

After a brief but intense weighing, he finally returned to the door, and Alice followed him, nervously watching what might happen next.

Duncan held a lantern in one hand and a sword in the other, carefully observing the dark wooden door in front of him. At this moment, he suddenly discovered that the door was not actually completely closed - on the side of the door, you could see A door crack of only about one centimeter.

The door was ajar, as if someone had left in a hurry and forgot to close it, or as if some "thing" inside had deliberately left the door ajar to attract blind people to visit.

Duncan picked up the lantern and carefully shone it inside, observing the situation on the other side of the door through the crack in the door - but his other hand had already put the long sword against the crack of the door, ready to stab anyone who came out from inside at any time. anything".

However, he never expected what kind of scene he would see——

Opposite the crack in the door is a room.

A small room that looks like it has been there for some time. The wallpaper on the wall looks dull and wrinkled. The slightly messy furnishings seem to have not been tidied up for a long time. You can see a single bed facing the door. , there is a table next to the bed, with computers, books and a small ornament on the table.

A tall and thin figure was studying at the desk. The figure was wearing a white shirt bought at an ordinary street stall. His hair was messy and unkempt, and his body, which was obviously not very exercised, looked a little thin.

Duncan looked through the crack in the door, staring at everything familiar "over there", staring at that room, staring at the figure who was writing at the desk, and that figure seemed to suddenly feel something. He stopped writing and suddenly raised his head. , got up and ran to the door.

The figure ran over and stared outside through the crack in the door, staring at Duncan.

Duncan stared at him too, staring at that familiar face—it was his own face!

After staring at each other for a few seconds, the figure opposite the door suddenly became excited. He began to push the door hard, as if he wanted to get out, but the door seemed to be cast together with the space and remained motionless, so he began to try to break the door lock again. He used tools to pry open the cracks in the door, and slapped the door that was motionless, as if he was trying his best to get out of trouble, but to no avail.

The person inside the door finally gave up this futile attempt. He patted the area near the crack of the door hard and shouted something through the door. However, only some vague and ethereal noises could be heard from outside the door. Can't hear a word clearly.

Duncan looked at all this in shock and confusion, looking at the "self" trapped in the room. He knew what the person inside the door wanted to do - his eyes slowly fell on the door handle next to him.

The door handle was within easy reach.

From here, the door may be opened very easily.

However, he just looked at the handle and did not take the next step.

The man trapped in the room seemed to be frustrated. He finally yelled outside the door. After finding that his voice could not reach the door at all, he ran back to the desk, bent down and quickly wrote on a piece of paper. He wrote something on it, then ran back quickly and showed the piece of paper to Duncan.

Through the crack in the door, Duncan saw a string of scrawled words on the piece of paper: "Help me! I'm trapped in this room! Neither the windows nor the door can be opened!"

Duncan burst into laughter.

His smile fell through the gap into the eyes of "Zhou Ming" who was trapped in the room. The latter finally slowly opened his eyes wide, as if he was shocked, and seemed to be getting angry because of being ridiculed.

The next second, the pirate sword in Duncan's hand suddenly stretched forward, passed through the narrow door gap, and directly pierced the body of "Zhou Ming" on the other side of the door.

The latter was pierced by the sword blade and opened his mouth as if screaming. A series of hoarse and noisy noises seemed to be heard in Duncan's ears. However, Duncan remained unmoved and just held the hilt of the sword harder. Stab forward, get close to the door and whisper:

“If you don’t know how to write Chinese, you don’t have to write it.”

The pigeon Aiyi, who had been silent all the way, suddenly flapped his wings and made a hoarse voice: "This is an illusion, what are you hiding?"

The next second, the figure on the other side of the door suddenly began to melt like a wax statue and quickly dissipated in the distorted light and shadow. The room that looked extremely real and familiar also quickly shed its disguise and appeared in Duncan's eyes. The true appearance: a dark and old cabin, empty and dusty in the dilapidation of time and solidification.

The sword in his hand felt empty, as if it had only pierced air from the beginning.

Is there just a cabin across from this "extra door"?

Duncan unexpectedly observed the situation on the other side of the door crack, but no matter how he looked at it this time, it seemed that it was just an ordinary cabin.

But... is that cabin really "real"?

Duncan slowly retracted the long sword that poked through the crack of the door, breathed a sigh of relief, and took half a step back.

The strange phenomenon he encountered just now was still deeply imprinted in his mind. He didn't know if it was a simple illusion or something else, but one thing was certain...this door was definitely more weird and dangerous than he imagined.

If the illusion reflected on the other side of the door is distorted based on his own memory and cognition, it means that the danger on the other side of the door has exceeded the power of his "Captain Duncan". If it is not based on his own cognition and memory, It's an illusion, but a "fabricated" set... The situation is even worse.

Because no one in this world should know what that room looks like, and no one should know the existence of the individual "Zhou Ming".

But the "thing" on the other side of the door knew.

He took a deep breath.

My caution just now was correct. No matter what, I couldn't open this door.

At the same time, he was a little scared - because for a moment just now, when he looked at the door handle, he had this thought in his mind: to open the door and let "himself" out.

"Captain..." Alice's voice suddenly came, awakening Duncan from his thoughts. He looked up at the puppet, and saw the puppet's concerned and frightened expression, "Captain, are you okay? There's that door. What? Why do you look so serious..."

Duncan shook his head: "It's okay. Behind this door is not the place you should look - we have reached the bottom of the bilge and can go back."

As he spoke, he reached out his hand and tried to push the door to see if he could close it.

The crack in this door is really unsettling.

But the door didn't move at all - even though he had used a lot of strength, the door was still as solid as if it were integrated with the space.

Like the boarded-up windows in his bachelor apartment.

Duncan retracted his hand thoughtfully - the door wouldn't close, but he wouldn't try to open it any further.

"Huh? Oh...oh, okay!" Alice didn't pay attention to the captain's attempt to close the door. She was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted with a happy expression on her face, "Then go back quickly, now The place is quite weird to be honest, and I’m a little nervous..."

Duncan hummed noncommittally, took Alice and turned towards the "last door" that led to the stairs.

This place was so evil that even he didn't want to stay any longer.

After that, nothing more unusual happened.

They successfully passed through the fragmented bilge, through the cargo hold with reversed lights, through the dark stairs and corridors, and returned to the cabin above the waterline.

The moment she returned to the normal cabin, Alice felt that her whole body suddenly relaxed a lot, as if some previously undetectable shadow that was wrapped around her body was dispelled. She saw that the surrounding lights returned to their original state, and inside the cabin He is no longer gloomy and depressing. As for Captain Duncan next to him...

The captain looked the same as before. He didn't seem to feel depressed before, and he didn't feel extra relaxed now. The environment deep in the Lost Home had no impact on him.

But when he came back, the captain was obviously silent and seemed worried.

"Captain, are you tired?" Alice asked cautiously, "Would you like me to make you something to eat? You didn't even eat your dinner well..."

Duncan stopped his thoughts and looked at the puppet beside him.

On Miss Doll's face was a look of genuine concern - just like Nina's.

He suddenly relaxed, and some of the haze in his heart seemed to be quietly disappearing.

"Don't drop weird things into the pot this time."

"My head is not a weird thing!"

"Especially your head."

"……oh."