Ashes Of Deep Sea

Chapter 277: Chapter 281 Taboos About Reading at Sea

After his long conversation with Terrance last time, Duncan had shared the information about the Abyss Project with Nina and Sherry among others, but at that time, he hadn’t mentioned any upcoming voyage plans for the “Homeloss” — not until now, when a letter from an old friend Morris received finally led to this journey north.

“We are currently following the ‘Sea Mist’s’ route northward, and we expect to enter the edge of the Chill Sea in a few days, where there must be scenery very different from the central sea area,” Duncan said, “You can spend this time on the ship, Alice has already prepared rooms for you, of course, if you find it hard to adapt to life at sea you can return to the City-State—I can call you back if necessary.”

“I… I’ll stay on board,” Sherry immediately raised her hand, “I can help Miss Alice with some chores or something…”

“You also need to do your homework on the ship,” Duncan looked at her faintly, “I will supervise personally.”

Sherry immediately shrank her neck, “Ah, then I…”

“It’s the same in the City-State, and I will personally supervise.”

Sherry frowned, “Then… then I’ll just stay on the ship, consider it a change of environment.”

“I want to be on the ship too,” Nina looked at Sherry, then at Duncan, her eyes gleaming with a hint of eagerness, “I haven’t really gotten used to life on board yet, last time I didn’t even make it through the night…”

Duncan nodded, “Okay, then you can go back for a while and bring the bedding you’re used to here to prevent you from being unable to sleep in an unfamiliar environment.”

“Okay,” Nina nodded again and again, then seemed to remember something. She asked hesitantly, “Then can I also bring the holiday homework and textbooks from school to the ship? I’m afraid I won’t finish them before school starts…”

As Nina finished speaking, a dog nearby couldn’t help but hug its head with its paws, “We are taking the most terrifying Ghost Ship in history to resolve a Transcendent incident, but why does it sound more and more like a holiday trip…”

Duncan ignored the dog’s muttering. He pondered for a moment, then uncertainly said to Nina, “Sherry and Alice’s spellbooks can be brought on board, but your textbooks and homework may be a bit risky—reading books on the Endless Sea and reading books in the City-State after nightfall are similar, it’s easy to attract the malice from some shadows.”

Nina was stunned, calmly analyzed, considered for a moment, then suddenly raised a very constructive issue that even Duncan hadn’t thought of, “Then if something comes out of the shadows, can’t you just beat it up?”

Duncan: “…?”

Dog and Sherry: “…Right!”

“I had never thought about that,” Duncan was stunned for several seconds before finally speaking with a peculiar expression. He admitted that he had fallen into a blind spot in his thinking ever since the goat-headed man mentioned the “sea reading taboo” and had habitually, like everyone else, treated it as a rule without considering other possibilities. However, now it seemed… Nina, who had only recently been introduced to the Transcendent realm, displayed an incredible openness in her thinking.

Of course, Nina was not bound by conventional thinking—because on her first day in contact with the Transcendent domain, she had seen her Uncle Duncan standing in the City-State tearing apart the sun, the world’s top Transcendent contamination presenting itself to her as being beaten down…

After all, if anything troublesome happened, Uncle Duncan could just beat it up—Nina’s thought process was very clear and straightforward.

“I need to confirm something,” Duncan suddenly said, then got up and left the dining room.

He directly took a large book to the captain’s cabin, slamming it down in front of the goat-head.

The goat-head was startled by the sudden noise, “Cap… Captain?”

“What usually happens when you read books on the Endless Sea?” Duncan asked directly.

The goat-head was taken aback, then reflexively said, “Well, it’s obvious, reading books on the Endless Sea usually attracts the attention of some wills from the deeper layers of the world, such as invaders from the Spirit Realm, demonic projections from the Abstruse Domain, and even whispers from Subspace that sneak in during the process. They take advantage of the reader’s relaxed vigilance to extend their projection into the real world and… What are you doing?”

Duncan had opened the big book about the City-States’ folklore cultures that he had brought from Plunder City-State and was flipping through it while responding without looking up, “When are those ‘invaders’ you mentioned supposed to show up?”

The goat-head felt his thought process tying up, but still responded as he struggled, “Usu… Usually, they should appear immediately after the reading starts, very swiftly.”

Duncan flipped through two pages and lifted his head, “Then why haven’t they come yet?”

Goat Head: “…”

“Nina wants to do her winter vacation homework on the ship,” Duncan said seriously to Goat Head, “if you have a way to ‘attract’ those ‘invaders’ you just mentioned, draw them here, as I need to negotiate with them.”

“How do you plan to ‘negotiate’ with ‘them’?”

“By beating them, repeatedly, until they promise not to disturb Nina’s study,” Duncan spoke, then after a moment of thought, cautiously added, “Of course, this is just an idea. I’m not sure if it’s feasible. Perhaps you are more professional in this regard?”

Goat Head’s thoughts got tangled again, and it hesitated even longer before finally speaking, “I think you might need to ‘test’ it a bit more.”

Duncan: “…?”

“Generally speaking, shadows attracted by reading possess the trait of pursuing knowledge, which means they are a bit ‘smarter’ than ordinary ‘invaders’,” Goat Head’s words finally flowed smoothly, though still spoken in a strange tone, “Being smart means having some judgment. Even the chaotic and disorderly shadows of the Abstruse Domain and Spirit World Shadow, in their pursuit of knowledge, understand to weigh advantages against disadvantages and wouldn’t rashly appear before you…”

“I understand,” Duncan nodded, his gaze scanning the words on the book as he casually spoke, “That means those who dare to board ‘Homeloss’ aren’t nobodies or fools, but must be powerful invaders who are confident in themselves and have carefully weighed their options—actually, that’s a good thing. It means I only need to beat them once or twice to make the powerful among ‘them’ quickly understand the situation, without worrying about endless harassment from fools.”

“I think your judgment is very sensible.”

Duncan did not respond to Goat Head’s flattery, but continued to immerse himself in his book. He slowly turned the slightly rough pages, his eyes leisurely wandering through the thrilling or mysterious lore of the southern City-States, letting his mind gradually relax and sink.

Waiting for the knowledge-pursuing invaders to sniff out this sweet bait and invade this defenseless reality.

However, no invaders appeared.

“It seems it doesn’t work,” Duncan lifted his head, speaking to the quietly seated Goat Head at the edge of the table, “Is there any other method?”

“There is actually… I think you might not need to be fixated on this matter. There are so many taboos in the Endless Sea, being unable to read is just…”

“Nina needs to write her winter vacation homework,” Duncan said in a gentle tone, “She takes it very seriously.”

“You could perhaps have someone else try reading, like Mr. Morris—followers of the god of wisdom are better at controlling their minds, useful both for protecting themselves and setting traps,” Goat Head said immediately, “Most invaders are likely cautious because they’ve sensed your presence, but setting a trap should work.”

Duncan thought about it and felt it was a good idea.

He picked up the book and went straight back to the dining room—everyone was still there waiting, Nina and Sherry were whispering guesses about what Duncan was doing, Alice was checking spelling words with A-Dog, and Morris was resting with closed eyes, only opening them upon hearing Duncan’s entrance.

“I need a trap to lure those knowledge-seeking invaders,” Duncan walked straight to Morris, placing the folk tome in the old scholar’s hands, “Read this book, make your mind appear as an unprotected scholar to lure a powerful evil spirit onto the ship. I want to ‘communicate’ with that invader, and by the way, figure out what exactly these invaders are.”

Morris was startled; he had pursued academia for most of his life and it was his first time hearing such a mad and fanciful plan, but the next second, he realized from Duncan’s eyes that the “Ghost Ship Captain” was serious.

Indeed, only a powerful Subspace Shadow like him would seriously consider such a course of action.

After the initial shock, a strange excitement and anticipation also arose from within the old scholar.

He had to admit, he too suddenly became curious.

What would happen if, under Captain Duncan’s witness, on the exceptionally unique ‘Homeloss,’ he actively read and lured an evil spirit?

Morris picked up the book.