Deep Sea Embers

Martha disappeared, as if she had never existed in the first place.

However, the warm touch still lingers on the temples, and the slightly lemony scent still lingers in the nostrils—she seems to have never been here, but she has never left.

Lawrence felt his fingers tremble a little. He lowered his head and tried several times before he could replace the small bottle cap. It took him a long time to put it back in his pocket. He felt his heart pounding. Beating straight—his heart never beat like this even in a big storm.

Reason came late, like waking up from a long dream. He realized that he had brushed past madness just now, and even almost fell into a state of continuous delusion. Falling into this state, it is impossible to regain his sanity, but at this moment, he has neither the luck of surviving after the catastrophe, nor the lingering fear of facing madness.

All he felt was a dull sadness and regret.

And this kind of indifferent sadness and regret is more of a warning sign—it means that from the bottom of his heart, he no longer resists "crazy" itself.

Lawrence took a deep breath, trying his best to get rid of the thoughts that entangled his reason. He glanced around, and saw that the White Oak was right under his feet, and there was still a boat full of people waiting for him to take them back to Pland .

Now is not the time to be insane.

"It's really time for me to retire..." The old captain sighed, and slowly walked towards the stairs in front of him, but he stopped suddenly after taking a few steps, with a serious face on his face.

He recalled the scene when "Martha" appeared just now—even though he knew that this kind of "reminiscence" was dangerous and might cause the other party to reappear, he couldn't help recalling it, because he suddenly realized that just now Some of the things "Martha" said to herself are very interesting:

"Lawrence, be careful, you are in the middle of the sea..."

"If I were you, I shouldn't have any unnecessary questions at this time, but leave here immediately... Your vigilance has dropped..."

Lawrence subconsciously repeated these two sentences in his mind. Even though he knew that it was just a hallucination caused by his memory confusion and cognition shaken, he still couldn't help taking these two sentences as some kind of warning—Martha might be It doesn't exist, but do you feel some kind of danger deep in your intuition? These two sentences... Are my subconscious minds warning?

The old captain looked around and carefully observed the "White Oak" again. Everything he saw was normal. Then he raised his head again and looked at the Frost City State next to him.

Everything is normal in the Frost City State. The nearby port area looks calm and peaceful. The city area not far away has begun to light up. Farther away, the high sea cliff overlooks the sea, appearing in the dim sky. A rigid and powerful outline.

But a faint sense of disobedience rose up, like an unstoppable tide gradually rising in his heart, and with this sense of disobedience, Lawrence suddenly heard the gentle sound of waves in his ears—the overlapping He couldn't make out the sound of the waves around the White Oak at first, but soon he realized that the sound was ringing directly in his head.

The sound of the waves... is it a warning? Is the blessing of the storm goddess Gomona in effect? !

Lawrence's eyes were fixed, and he immediately gave up the plan to go to the shore, and suddenly turned around and rushed towards the bridge. The cold night wind whizzed past his ears, stimulating his nerves like a blade.

"Captain?" The first officer on duty on the bridge was shocked when he saw Lawrence suddenly appearing. He stood up from his chair and walked quickly to the captain, "Aren't you going to the shore..."

"Things have changed," Lawrence said quickly. "I don't think it's quite right... How long have we been docked here? Has anyone sneaked ashore?"

"No," said the first mate immediately, "you have ordered everyone to stay on board, and everyone is quite honest. Besides, we have been docked here for several hours."

"It's good that no one goes ashore," Lawrence nodded quickly, and then glanced in the direction of the bridge, "Ignite the steam core, and we leave this port."

"Ah...ah?" The first mate didn't realize it all at once, "Leave this port? We just..."

Lawrence interrupted him without waiting for the other party to finish speaking: "There is something wrong with this place, I can't say it, but I feel very bad. Remember the problem with the stargazing room before? And earlier, we couldn't communicate with Frost, From then on, everyone's vigilance was lowered, and something ... was affecting us all."

He spoke quickly, and at the same time he knew how abnormal the order he had given was—except for a little intuition, he had no evidence to prove the correctness of his order, and the White Oak had just experienced During a long voyage, both humans and machines need to be repaired at this time. In this case, his departure order is like nonsense.

What's more, leaving the port needs to be coordinated with the port. Reigniting the steam core without reporting is a serious violation of regulations. He must take responsibility for his own decision.

But the severe warning signs were beating in his heart, and the sound of waves getting stronger and stronger echoed in his mind. Gamona's blessing was warning him that he must never continue to contact the "port", even if he said a word more.

The first officer stared fixedly at the captain in front of him, and after nearly half a minute, he suddenly stood up straight and said loudly, "Yes, captain!"

On board, the word of the captain is the law.

An insane captain can cause an entire ship to be buried with him—but more likely, an experienced captain will save a ship from a crisis.

The order was quickly issued to the whole ship, and the bewildered sailors were urged to act, and they were quickly ready to set sail again in conditioned proficiency.

A new boiling gold catalyst was inserted into the steam core, and the deep sound of mechanical vibrations revived in the depths of the White Oak. The sailors quietly released the fixed cables on the side of the ship, and retracted the springboard to the deck. Lawrence stood on the bridge, looking through Passing the wide glass boat and carefully observing the movement on the pier——

Some figures were moving on the wharf. Under the dim gas light, those figures were vague and unreal, and some loading and unloading vehicles passed by a little further away, leaving long and thick shadows on the road.

They didn't seem to notice that a ship had re-ignited the steam core in the night, and there was no "something" that suddenly appeared to intercept the White Oak, which was about to sneak away.

The situation is better than expected. In Lawrence's worst guess, he was even worried that hundreds of thousands of sea monsters would suddenly appear in the surrounding seawater at the moment the steam core rekindled, and the white oak wood would be crushed. The number is dragged directly into the water.

"Keep the lights on, don't blow the whistle," Lawrence quickly said to the first mate next to him, and then walked to the bridge and took the steering wheel with his own hands, "I will steer myself - the boiler maintains high pressure and is ready to overload at any time Prepare."

"Yes, Captain."

Although he still had doubts in his heart, everyone on the ship carried out the old captain's order without hesitation. Lawrence could feel that the giant steel beast under his feet was slowly moving.

The whole ship was in a state of blackout, the propellers under the water began to rotate, and the White Oak was gradually leaving the port. The sound of the sea being stirred up made everyone tense up, and all eyes were on the nearby building. A city-state shrouded in darkness.

Lawrence felt his palms sweat.

But the city-state still didn't respond abnormally—even though the White Oak's changes could no longer be concealed, no one came to check the situation.

He looked at the radio communication station next to him, and the telegraph machine was silent like death.

Theoretically, at this time, the Port Bureau should send an emergency call, and the port officials on duty will question the reason for the sudden departure of the White Oak—but nothing happened.

On the contrary, this strengthened Lawrence's confidence and made him think that his judgment was correct.

Something is wrong with this place!

The power of the steam core increased by one level, the speed of the propeller gradually increased, and the White Oak left the dock area faster and faster, and the open sea began to appear directly in front of the bridge, with sparkling lights on the water.

Lawrence took a deep breath and clenched the steering wheel tightly: "Up to full speed!"

...

A gust of gray wind swept across the courtyard and condensed in the front hall of the cathedral. Agatha's figure stepped out of the gray wind. She quickly passed through the porch and hall, and came to the "underworld" where the city-state bishop Ivan was. Thinking Church".

The icon of Bartok, the god of death, stood quietly at the end of the church. The dark coffin lay horizontally on the platform at the foot of the icon. The lid of the coffin was opened, and Bishop Ivan, who usually rested in the coffin, Standing aside, looking up in Agatha's direction.

The mummy-like bishop, whose whole body was covered with bandages and only one eye was exposed, was wearing a gold-rimmed robe with a black background and held a tin staff in his hand. After Agatha approached, he took the initiative to speak: "I have heard that about Dagger Island."

"It can be seen that you are going to preside over the meeting in person," Agatha nodded, but she was a little worried, "Can you hold it?"

Bishop Ivan raised his hand, and there seemed to be a grayish-white mist slowly drifting out from the gap in the bandage.

"It's enough for the body and the will to hold on."