The snow-white pigeon stood dumbfounded on the table, its neck adorned with the brass compass Duncan had been searching for half a day, and the familiar obsidian knife lay at its feet.
Duncan stared at the pigeon with a somewhat dumbfounded expression, and the pigeon likewise gave him a dumbfounded look in return.
It's not an easy task to read expressions from the face of a bird, but for some reason, Duncan felt he could understand this pigeon's expression; not only its expression but even the glint of what seemed like "wisdom" from its slightly reddened eyes—its two mung bean-like eyes looked straightforwardly ahead, and when Duncan's gaze met its, one of the eyes clearly shifted its attention to him, while the other seemed to still be looking at the ceiling of the captain's cabin, aimlessly swiveling its inconsistent gaze.
"A... pigeon?"
After several seconds of reaction, Duncan finally murmured subconsciously, his lips quivering.
Why is there a pigeon? Why did a pigeon suddenly appear? Why is my brass compass still hanging on this pigeon? And how did that knife get here?
Or, to sum up a thousand words into one sentence: On this abnormal ship, can anything normal happen anymore?!
While Duncan was full of question marks in his mind and muttering in his heart, the pigeon that had been dazed for some time seemingly "woke" up. It pecked its head and took a couple of steps on the table, approached Duncan, stretched its neck, and made a loud "coo" sound.
"..." Duncan silently watched the bird, and for some reason, images of many classic pirate captains came to his mind, then he looked down at the captain's uniform he wore, "A bird by the side of a captain seems indeed standard, but under normal circumstances, shouldn't it be a parrot... What's the deal with a pigeon?"
At the sound of Duncan's words, the pigeon immediately nodded its head profoundly and emitted a female voice with a somewhat strange and stiff tone: "Transmission complete!"
All the mutterings from Duncan's heart to his mouth abruptly ceased. He nearly choked on his saliva, his eyes wide as he stared at the white pigeon in front of him, his expression one of utter astonishment.
He remembered the first time he stepped onto this ship, and the feeling when he met a talking goat's head in the captain's quarters.
But after all, it was not his first day on Homeloss; he had grown accustomed to the abnormalities of this world, so the talking pigeon surprised him only momentarily. The next second, his expression turned serious, and a faint green flame of spiritual energy emerged from his hand as he watched the pigeon in front of him warily: "Where did you come from?"
The pigeon cocked its head and stared straight at Duncan with one eye, while the other eye flitted about gazing at the ceiling: "Address error, please recheck the address or contact the system administrator."
Duncan: "…?"
Despite the momentary blankness on his face, an even greater surge stirred in his heart!
The words spoken by the pigeon... they did not fit the "style" of this world, not something that the goat head, or Alice, or any of the hooded heretics would say, but rather terms that "Zhou Ming" as an Earthling was more familiar with!
Yet the pigeon seemed entirely oblivious to the changes in Duncan's eyes and expression. It simply pecked at its wings, shook the brass compass hanging at its chest, and then began to stroll leisurely on the table as if contented.
After a few paces, it ran to the obsidian knife, pushed it a few times towards Duncan with its claw, and emitted that same female voice with the strange tone: "Take up this solar axe and embrace the glory of battle!"
Duncan abruptly stood up from beside the desk; his chair scraped against the floor making a grating noise. He stared intently at the innocent, indifferent-faced pigeon in front of him, while an extremely bizarre yet humorous mood filled his mind.
There was no way this pigeon could be an original part of Homeloss, nor was it likely something that originally existed in this world!
The phrases it uttered, only "Zhou Ming" could understand what they meant!
Maybe the scraping noise of the chair was too loud, even the chart room could hear the commotion here, when suddenly Duncan heard the voice of the goat head in his mind: "Captain? Are you alright?"
Duncan still focused intensely on the pigeon on the table. He knew the goat head didn't dare to directly peek into the situation in the captain's quarters, so he answered in a low voice with his usual calm, "I'm fine."
"Miss Alice is looking for you, should I..."
"Just take care of it."
"Yes, Captain."
Duncan exhaled, turning to glance at the door leading to the chart room.
The relentless barrage of chattering from the goat-headed Alice continued, and the doll-like Miss had already tried to stand up and leave several times, only to be stopped again each time. Duncan felt he should go out and rescue the unfortunate doll, but now... he had something more important to confirm.
Just endure a little longer, Alice.
Duncan sat back at his desk, preparing to attempt verbal communication with the pigeon before him, when he suddenly noticed something he had missed earlier—
A faint "fire line" seemingly extended from within the jumping flames between the fingers of his right hand. This ribbon of flame was as thin as a hair strand, dissipating into the air after stretching out a dozen or so centimeters.
And on that strange pigeon, a strand of pale green flame was similarly entwined, hidden within the gaps of its underwing feathers, with the other end trailing off into the air and fading into nothingness.
Duncan furrowed his brows, raised his right hand, and with a thought, the flames flickered; the pigeon vanished from the desk in an instant.
The next second, the pigeon appeared on his shoulder, lowered its head to peck at Duncan's hair and let out a loud "coo!"
Duncan flicked his finger again, and the pigeon on his shoulder reappeared on the desk.
The brass Compass hung from the pigeon's chest, its shiny casing reflecting the green light of the flames.
Duncan's frown deepened, "...related to this brass Compass?"
He could now confirm that there was a definite connection between himself and the pigeon, a bond even tighter than the one between him and Homeloss. This might also explain why the pigeon seemed to "know" some Earth knowledge that only he was privy to. He just couldn't determine the reason for the pigeon's appearance.
After much thought, he could only suspect the peculiar brass Compass.
From his testing with the Spiritual Body flames to the present, all anomalies started with this brass Compass, whether it was the previous experience of soul travel, the sensation of Spiritual Projection into a corpse, to just now when the Compass disappeared and reappeared hanging on the pigeon's chest... The source of everything seemed to be this object.
Duncan watched the pigeon for a while, then reached for the Compass.
He wanted to remove it for a thorough examination.
The pigeon did not dodge or obstruct, yet Duncan's fingers couldn't touch the surface of the Compass—his fingers passed right through it, touching the pigeon's soft chest feathers instead.
It was as if passing through an illusion.
The pigeon hopped on the spot, seemingly tickled by Duncan's touch, and opened its beak to squawk, "Today is KFC's crazy Thursday, V me 50..."
Duncan's eyelid twitched, and despite his disbelief, after testing two more times, he confirmed he couldn't remove the brass Compass from the pigeon—this object had clearly undergone some sort of mutation, becoming an illusion bound to the pigeon, impossible to remove or touch.
Or rather... was the pigeon now the true form of the brass Compass?
Many hypotheses flashed through Duncan's mind in an instant, including some he himself wasn't sure whether to believe. The only thing he could be certain of was that the apparition of this pigeon was inextricably linked to his experience of "soul travel" with the brass Compass, which may also have altered the form of the Compass itself.
Perhaps this was the nature of the brass Compass itself, an innate attribute of it as some sort of "anomalous object," or one might say the "usage price." As for why the pigeon was so off... it wasn't because of the Compass; it was because of the Earthling "Zhou Ming."
All of this remained unconfirmed and unrefuted until Duncan found the manual for the various anomalous items on Homeloss.
For now, he had to consider how to handle this... abnormal pigeon.
After a brief contemplation, he decided to give the pigeon a name first.
"I need to give you a name," he tapped the desk lightly with his finger, speaking seriously to the pigeon before him, "I think you should be able to understand me, right?"
The pigeon cocked its head, its eyes the size of green beans flickering as it looked at Duncan: "Eli?"
(Dammit!)