Deep Sea Embers

Plane, southeast dock area, a beautiful white steam turbine ship is undergoing final inspection.

After a long stop, the White Oak is finally ready to set off again. This time it will carry many commissioned items from the city-state of Pland, passing through the central route and the northern route, all the way north, passing through Leng Harbor until the frost.

This is a long voyage, but for a specially modified exploration ship designed for fast ocean travel, this route, which is mostly located in safe waters, is not too challenging - powerful steam The core will ensure the ship's surging power, and the renovated shipboard church will be enough to protect the safety of all crew members.

The busy sailors on the shore and on the ship seemed quite relaxed.

In the machinery room at the stern of the White Oak, the chief engineer and assistant mechanics were supervising the sailors to complete the final preparations for the steam core.

This powerful machine is as big as a house and is fixed to the main support structure of the ship by a solid steel frame. It consists of three spherical containers arranged longitudinally and a series of complex pipes and valves surrounding the containers. It is composed of a linkage device and an iron suspension bridge suspended halfway around the three containers, which is used for water workers to check the operation of the steam core and perform necessary maintenance work.

At this moment, several sailors were busy on the iron suspension bridge. They opened the heavy hatch of the spherical container, took out several dull metal rods that had been worn out, and then took out several thin and thin metal rods. One meter long golden metal rods are fixed to the slot in the hatch, and the mechanism is activated to send these metal rods into the center of the container.

These are catalytic media made of boiling gold. They are the source of the powerful power of the steam core and one of the important guarantees for the smooth operation of the machine. Just like the priest's prayer and incense ceremony in the distance of the steam pipe, the boiling water in the steam core The gold medium can also resist the invasion of certain forces to a certain extent, preventing the machine from suddenly being "possessed" after a long period of operation.

The squeaking sounds of the pulleys and hinges were coming from time to time. The operation of two sailors seemed a little rough. The sturdy bald engineer chief suddenly shouted: "Be careful! Don't damage these boiling gold catalysts. This thing is as soft as a bread stick. If you break one, the captain will eat someone!"

"If you are referring to the bread sticks baked by Chef Finley - then you should worry about the chutes and latches in the steam core not being damaged!" The sailor on the suspension bridge laughed, but at the same time he was talkative. Just be careful with your movements.

"Bring them all."

"Where are the keys to the house and the amulet for leaving?"

The wife was silent for a moment and breathed out softly: "Your medicine."

After an unknown amount of time, she sighed softly: "Okay, then be safe and come back early - don't hit any more messy things."

This is a letter from Maurice, delivered this afternoon by a courier burning with green flames.

After a long silence, Lawrence picked up the bottle of potion. After a few seconds, he opened the small cork.

…

"The captain will come," said the chief engineer, then paused and repeated, as if for emphasis, "the captain will come - he's not retired yet."

"Don't forget your medicine." My wife repeated it again.

"It's good to have a big prayer book with you."

The strong taste spreads in the mouth, and the figure of my wife quietly dissipates in the sun.

Lawrence didn't respond. He just straightened his captain's uniform in front of the mirror silently, checked his meticulously combed hair, solemnly picked up the hat next to him, put it on his head and relaxed slightly. tone.

After finishing a day's work, Hanshuang finally returned home before evening. He opened the door, took off his coat, and the first thing he did after walking into the living room was to slump down on the chair in an awkward manner, and took a deep breath. Sighed.

The sender is Brown Scott.

"Okay, he wants to deal with these things." Hanshuang said as he waved his hand and stepped upstairs.

"It depends on whether the client and the church agree," Lun said.

The captain shrugged, "Half of the warehouses on the White Oak are ordinary seal rooms. Many of the things we transported this time were raw materials and semi-finished products for sacred objects ordered by the church. These things are very sensitive. There must be a list of supplies sent to the ship - before the Gray Crow, there was a bastard who secretly brought a barrel of mead on the ship, which caused the seals on the ship to loosen, and two shadows ran out and killed half the people on the ship. …”

Having said this, he exhaled, shook his head and sighed: "It is really not easy to make a living on the boundless sea."

"When we get to Heidi, I have to suggest that the captain buy a batch of high-quality boiling gold catalysts from the local place - the boiling gold there is as cheap as the stones on the ground," the assistant mechanic muttered to the side. He was a man who looked about four or five years old. A ten-year-old woman, her arms are as strong as a man's, and her work clothes are stained with oil. "The purchasing channels of the Adventurers Association are too dark."

"Let the lady take a rest. The lady has been dealing with weird nightmares and nonsense sailors today." Hanshuang slumped on the chair and waved his hand feebly, "There is a ship with a mechanical failure on the boundless sea. The stay at sea was nearly twice as long as planned, and several sailors were tied up and carried off the ship - it was a disaster. "

"I hope." Lawrence sighed helplessly and turned away from the mirror.

The mother watched her son go downstairs quietly, then looked back and glanced at the letters in front of her.

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"I have it with me too," Lawrence bent down and picked up the large suitcase placed at the door and patted it. "There are also a few pages of handwritten prayers and the sacred candles I got from the cathedral."

"I know, so I will give the captain some advice then," the assistant mechanic waved his hand, then frowned slightly, "but speaking of which, the captain doesn't seem to be here yet - he's not usually late."

"We are heading to Mengzheng. There is not much scenery to see along the way. Only the large ice floes that can often be seen on the sea and the cold fog in the distance are quite interesting.

"I'm going out." Lawrence responded softly, and then followed the psychiatrist's instructions and put a few drops of medicine into his mouth.

He looked up at Martha and saw his wife still leaning against the door frame, looking at him with her arms folded, just as he remembered.

The wife opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something more, but Lawrence turned around with a smile on his face: "I brought them all, I'm not old enough to lose anything."

"Nina was making up for her winter vacation homework in the restaurant today. A strange shadow ran out of her textbook. Everyone rushed to beat it. It was very annoying.

This letter came from Heidi.

"Water bills, electricity bills, gas bills, all kinds of bills--a mess," my mother said casually, with a calm tone, "Your father used to take care of it, but now he happens to be out, so I take care of it."

The mother was sitting next to the warm fireplace sorting out a few letters. When she heard her daughter coming home, she turned her head slightly and said, "You're a big girl, pay more attention to your image - a lady wouldn't be like that."

On the small low table by the door, a large brown glass bottle was quietly placed there. The sunlight shone on the bottle, and the clear texture of the liquid in the bottle was vaguely visible.

"Okay, that's right," Nina curled her lips, and finally stood up from the chair with all her strength. She walked towards the stairs, but suddenly stopped out of curiosity, "These letters are..."

The letter contained the common incantation of the God of Wisdom to prevent outsiders from seeing its true content.

"After lunch, the captain went fishing again. You know, this kind of fish - it struggled very hard this time. It was a thrilling scene. The captain said that energetic fish taste better, but in fact I didn't Taste the difference…”

The old woman smiled, put the letter aside for the time being, and picked up another letter that she had just opened.

Nina's lips trembled slightly, and her eyes moved to the side little by little.

"Did you bring everything?"

Lawrence's movements stiffened and stopped.

Most of them are indeed bills.

The old captain, who had been wandering on the boundless sea for half his life, organized his

After taking out the belongings, he sighed softly, picked up the suitcase, and left the house.

The old woman looked at the familiar writing on it with a smile: The mother looked up from the letter: "It sounds really bad, so you can't be paralyzed like this. Go upstairs and take a bath to relax yourself first. The bath water is boiled."

But two others were real letters—one of which came from a place no one could imagine.

His wife stared at him quietly, without words or nagging complaints, only a long gaze and silence.

"I brought them all with me, I didn't forget them."

"It's really time for you to retire." The wife folded her arms and leaned on the door frame next to her, looking here with an unkind expression, her eyes as sharp as before, "Don't wait until I get to the boat and pull your ears before you realize that you are how serious the situation is.

"Have a safe journey," he mouthed.

Lawrence silently plugged the lid of the medicine bottle, opened the small suitcase, and put the remaining medicine in a corner where it would not be bumped. While arranging the things, they all complained: "This psychiatrist Jinghu makes people do that stuff." It’s so bitter that it doesn’t have any herbal aroma.”

"Thanks, Martha, but it's time for me to get going," the old captain whispered. "The White Oak is waiting in port."

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