Chapter 187: Chapter 191: Non-linear Existence, and Preparations for the Journey to the City-State
The puppet once again rode the wind and waves back to Homeloss, and it seemed to have gotten a bit spooked—and after listening to the puppet’s muddled description, Duncan’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“Disappeared? Just vanished into thin air right before your eyes?” Duncan stared at Alice in disbelief, then turned to look at the lifeboat that had just been hoisted next to the ship’s side by the winch—the ropes that had been used to tie up those Doomsday Preachers were still on the boat, but the Heretics who had been bound were now nowhere to be seen.
“Yes, exactly! Just like that, gone! Without a sound!” Alice gesticulated wildly as she explained her bizarre experience to Duncan, “In the moment the sunlight hit, they were gone, as if they never existed…”
“Gone quietly in an instant when sunlight touched them…” Duncan frowned, he had imagined countless ways those Doomsday Preachers might escape or fight back, but he never considered that they might just disappear into thin air, rendering many of his preparations useless, “Even if they jumped into the sea, I could understand that, at least it would be soluble in water, but soluble in sunlight—what does that even mean… Could it be related to the sun? Does the suppressive power of the sun prevent them from remaining in the real world?”
“I don’t know,” Alice declared, her eyes wide in sincere ignorance.
“I wasn’t asking you,” Duncan glanced at the puppet, “Anything off about them before they disappeared? Did they say anything? Or perform any weird rituals?”
“They… they just kept mumbling, going on about Subspace, the Promised Land, the predestined new birth of the end, things like that,” Alice rubbed her head, then suddenly recalled, “Ah, right! One of the Heretics said something like ‘another day for us is over’…”
“Their ‘another day’ is over?” Duncan’s brow furrowed even deeper, then for some reason, he thought of the words a Doomsday Preacher had said to him before—
They hide within the cursed history.
Outlandish hypotheses sprouted in his mind, but considering the absurd state of the world, even the most preposterous things didn’t seem so far-fetched.
“Captain?” Alice, seeing that Duncan had been frowning in thought for a long time without paying her any heed, finally couldn’t resist speaking up, “Did you think of something? You…”
“It’s nothing,” Duncan shook his head, as if talking to himself, or perhaps muttering a gentle sigh, “Just suddenly had a crazy idea, those so-called Doomsday Preachers… they might not be of a linear existence…”
“Non-linear existence?” Alice was instantly bewildered, her limited brain capacity and knowledge struggling to keep up with the captain’s line of thought, “What does that mean?”
“…Better not ask, I’d struggle to explain it clearly to you with your intelligence,” Duncan took a glance at Alice, hesitated for a couple of seconds and then shook his head, “Only now I’ve come to realize something, why the book Morris gave me stated that Doomsday Preachers are the most mysterious and hardest to find and capture among the Heretics… This is just too absurd.”
Too absurd—Duncan repeated to himself.
Hiding within an abnormal historical flow, being non-linear beings themselves, traversing reality with the change of day and night, unless killed on the spot, you could never apprehend a Doomsday Preacher today that was caught yesterday—this was the startling fact he deduced from the clues at hand.
By comparison, the Sun Cultists—equally vicious and dark, but mostly just a rabble—seemed much more mundane and relatable. Although they too had the eerie trait of “constantly transforming from ordinary people due to the influence of the writhing sun,” it wasn’t as bizarrely extreme.
But then again… If the Doomsday Preachers truly were “non-linear existences” as he hypothesized, how did they become that way? How could ordinary humans strip themselves from the normal flow of time to become a discontinuous “slice of life” within it?
Simply because they follow Subspace… and thus received its wildly chaotic “blessing”?
“Captain, you’re zoning out again…”
Alice’s voice came once more, as the puppet looked at Duncan with a touch of concern.
“I’m fine.” Duncan let out a light breath, packed away his jumbled thoughts, feeling that brainstorming now was premature, especially since it was his first contact with the Subspace Believers, and making wild guesses wouldn’t be of any use.
He turned his attention back to Alice.
“You saw the note I gave you?” he asked casually.
“I did!” Alice immediately nodded with enthusiasm, “At first, when I saw the box, I got scared, thinking you didn’t want me to come back. But when I read the note, I felt relieved… although I didn’t understand the words, I did understand the drawing you made…”
Duncan’s lips twitched as he thought to himself that the hunch he had after writing that note indeed came in handy—the puppet really was an illiterate: “…you truly can’t read.”
“I can’t read!” Alice declared with her usual assertiveness, “I lay in that box for so many years; it was already impressive that I’ve gathered some life knowledge just by ‘listening,’ how could I possibly make out the words…”
Duncan: “…”
“What are you thinking about, Captain?”
“I’m suddenly thinking… whether it’s feasible to start a remedial class on Homeloss or in an antique shop,” Duncan sighed, “including you, I now know two illiterates—and counting the dog makes three. That’s enough to form a study group.”
Alice pondered for a moment: “What’s a remedial class? And what’s a study group?”
“…I’ll explain another time,” Duncan waved his hand dismissively, then his expression turned a bit more serious, “Let’s talk about the previous ‘test’. Those three Heretics disappeared without any issues, right? Including after the box was sent over, they weren’t affected at all?”
“Of course, they were normal; their heads were still on their necks, I saw it clear as day.”
Duncan curled his finger under his chin and regarded Alice thoughtfully.
Though the traits of the Doomsday Preachers were bizarre, they certainly did not possess the power or “Transcendent resistance” of saints, given that Sherry could kill three of them by swinging a dog as a weapon. This indicated that their physical bodies were “conventional material” that could be destroyed, perhaps with just a higher tolerance for pain than most people.
And now, after spending so much time near Alice, the three Doomsday Preachers hadn’t been affected at all, which meant… the effect of the guillotine really disappeared?
Seeing the change in Duncan’s face and, even in her slow understanding, finally beginning to grasp the situation, Alice cautiously leaned in, lifted her face, a subtle hope on her face: “Captain… did I pass the ‘test’? Does that mean you can take me to the City-State now?”
“The test… seems to have been passed. Although I’m still uneasy about the odd Trait of the Doomsday Preachers, based on the results…” Duncan spoke very slowly, still thinking and weighing his options, but eventually he nodded, “Alright, the test did indeed pass. It looks like you’ve gained control over your guillotine ability.”
At this point, he paused before Alice could celebrate and added: “I will take you to the City-State, but not right away—you severely lack common knowledge about the human world, and there are parts of you that can easily blow your cover, such as your fingers and wrist joints. The former requires an intensive catch-up, and the latter needs some Disguise.”
“Uh-huh, I know, I know!” Alice nodded vigorously, seemingly not discouraged at all by the difficulties and problems Duncan mentioned, but rather appeared very motivated, “Mr. Goat Head told me too. It said the human world is very complicated, that there are a lot of rules even for buying groceries. It said if I wanted to go to the human City-State, I definitely need to ‘catch up on lessons’. If there’s anything I don’t know, I can ask…”
“Don’t ask it!!” Duncan, startled, quickly interrupted the puppet who was getting chummy with the goat head and was on the verge of taking a wrong turn, “It’s even less human than you are! You want to learn about human society from it? Where’s your brain?”
Alice looked innocent: “I don’t have one!”
Duncan almost choked, staring wide-eyed and finally managed to get out: “You… I admit you’re right.”
“Hehe…”
“Anyway, stop learning things from that goat head. It can’t teach you much that’s good,” Duncan sighed, feeling like every exchange with this puppet was a challenge to his nerves and even felt like making a sanity check, “Later on, I will find time to tutor you on common knowledge and think about the Disguise. You’re off the hook for now, go cook.”
“Oh, okay,” Alice nodded earnestly and was about to walk away but then seemed to remember something and turned curiously towards Duncan, “What are you going to do, Captain?”
“I have some matters to discuss with the goat head,” Duncan waved his hand, looking weary, “It’s none of your concern.”
Alice nodded and turned toward the direction of the ship’s cabin—with a fine mood, walking with light and elegant steps.
Duncan watched Miss Puppet’s receding figure, once again reflecting on her in his mind—
She truly does have elegance when she’s not speaking or turning her head.
Too bad she has a mouth…