Chapter 99

Chapter 99 “The First Step to Testing and Mastery”

After confirming that Alice did not respond to all the “keywords” and was completely unaware of the information about the ability to “decapitate”, Duncan decided to tell the confused cursed doll what he came across from that little spying venture.

Because he already had a faint speculation at this time: maybe the key to the anomaly of the abnormal 099-puppet coffin wasn’t the doll Alice herself... but rather it’s her “coffin”.

Gently swaying with the waves of the Boundless Sea, Duncan went over the various details he had learned from the document with Alice. The poor lady was so scared that she had squirmed into a corner by the end of the bed.

“Do you have to be scared like this?”

“But... it’s really so scary!” Alice’s whimpering voice sounded like she’s ready to cry after listening to some horror story, “What indiscriminate beheading, what range of death will stop, what continues to expand the scope of territory... this, this, this... I don’t know any of that!”

“I believe now that you really don’t know,” Duncan glanced at the frightened shivering lady who kept squirming, “but this is indeed information about the Anomaly 099-puppet coffin.”

Alice held her head and stared at Duncan like she’s ready to pop that neck: “Then...”

“So I now have two theories. First, the above ‘decapitation’ may be your unconscious ability. You are in essence, an anomaly after all, so your power is most likely a passive range effect. Even if you were asleep before, it didn’t change the occurrence and remained active without your knowledge.”

Duncan said, slowly getting up from his chair and came over to the ornate wooden box. Touching it with the tip of his longsword.

“Second, the ‘decapitation’ power of the puppet’s coffin may not come from you as a puppet, but from your ‘coffin’ instead.”

“The coffin... You mean my box?” Alice’s eyes slowly widened, and her gaze subconsciously fell on the wooden box next to the bed with Duncan’s movements. “You mean...”

“The full name of Anomaly 099 is ‘Puppet Coffin’... In other words, you and your wooden box add up to the complete ‘anomaly 099’. When I first met you, I subconsciously thought that you were the ‘dominant part’ because I didn’t know the full name,” Duncan rubbed his chin and said while thinking. “Now that I think about it, the main focus of the name actually lied with the second half?”

Alice blinked, her head grinding with thought until she facepalmed: “Oh! That’s because I came with this box!”

With such a risk, he must figure out a series of things – is the subject of the effect Alice the doll or her wooden coffin box? Is it the captain himself who’s providing the suppression effect, or is it the ghost ship Vanished who’s causing it? Will the coffin and doll go berserk if separated, or will it absolve the beheading effect entirely?

Duncan had a large list of questions in his mind as he contemplated what’s plausible and what’s not. Gradually, various schemes began to formulate in the man’s mind, but at the end of things, he found one thing that frustrated him: he lacked many of the necessary conditions for testing.

The Vanished wasn’t a qualified testing ground because the power of the ghost ship interferes with the accuracy of the results. He doesn’t have a suitable test target either aboard.

Duncan raised his head and looked at Alice, who was sitting obediently on the edge of the bed—the doll lady was looking at her beloved wooden box with some sadness. It didn’t take much to guess what she thought since all her tangled emotions were printed on that face.

As if noticing the captain’s gaze, Alice suddenly broke the silence and whispered, “From the day I was conscious... I’ve been living in this box. It’s my bed, it’s my home, it’s my shelter, and I feel safe when I sleep in it.”

Duncan didn’t speak and quietly observed the doll in front of him.

“I now know why those humans are so afraid,” Alice reached out and gently stroked her wooden box, “They’re afraid of us.”

“I was planning to take you to the city state of Pland the next time I walked in the spirit world,” Duncan said in a deep voice, “I need a helper over there.”

Alice’s eyes seemed to light up for a moment, but then they darkened: “Ah, this might not work...”

“I’ve postponed the plan, but not canceled.” Duncan’s expression and tone didn’t change much, “We just need more time to confirm... ‘your’ power and master the conditions for this ‘decapitation’ effect. Know that the city-states have the knowledge and means to seal a variety of anomalies through various tricks. If they can do it, we here on the Vanished most certainly can do more.”

Alice glanced at Duncan suspiciously. From the captain’s calm and deep gaze, she soon realized that this was not an empty word of comfort.

“You have a plan?”

Duncan thought for a moment, raised his fingertips, and lit a cluster of faint flames.

“First of all, we may need a little fire.”