At the southeast quayside in Pland, a beautiful white steam turbine ship is undergoing final maintenance checks.
After a long stop, the White Oak was finally ready to set off again. This time, it would carry many commissioned items from the Pland City-State, passing through the Central Route and the Northern Route, all the way north, passing through Cold Harbor, and all the way to Frost.
This is a long journey, but for an exploration ship that has been specially modified and designed for fast ocean voyages, this route, which is mostly located in safe waters, is not a big challenge - the powerful steam core will ensure the ship's surging power, and the newly renovated onboard church is enough to shelter all crew members.
The sailors who were busy on the shore and on the ship all looked quite relaxed.
In the machinery room at the stern of the White Oak, the chief engineer and the assistant mechanic were supervising the sailors to complete the final preparations for the steam core.
This powerful machine is as huge as a house and is fixed to the main supporting structure of the ship with a solid steel frame. It consists of three longitudinally arranged spherical containers and a series of complex pipes, valves and linkages surrounding the containers. There is also an iron drawbridge suspended halfway between the three containers for sailors to check the operation of the steam core and perform necessary maintenance.
At this moment, several sailors were busy on the iron suspension bridge. They opened the heavy hatch of the spherical container and took out several dull metal rods that had been worn out. They then fixed several light golden metal rods that were as thick as forearms and nearly one meter long to the slots in the hatch and activated the mechanism to send these metal rods into the center of the container.
This is a catalytic medium made of boiling gold. It is the source of the powerful power of the steam core and one of the important guarantees for the stable operation of the machine. Like the priest's prayer and incense ceremony at the far end of the steam pipe, the boiling gold medium in the steam core can also resist the invasion of certain forces to a certain extent, preventing the machine from being suddenly "possessed" after a long period of operation.
The creaking sounds of pulleys and hinges could be heard. Two sailors were operating the equipment roughly, and the burly bald chief engineer shouted, "Be careful! Don't damage the boiling gold catalysts. They are as soft as breadsticks. If you damage one, the captain will kill you!"
"If you mean the breadsticks that Chef Finley baked - then you should worry about the grooves and latches in the steam core being damaged!" The sailor on the drawbridge laughed, but he was still careful in his movements while talking nonsense.
"I've brought them all."
"Where are the house keys and the talisman for going out?"
The wife was silent for a moment, then exhaled softly, "Your medicine."
After an unknown amount of time, she sighed softly, "Okay, then be careful and come back early—don't run into any more messy things."
This is a letter from Maurice, delivered this afternoon by a courier whose body was burning with green flames.
After a long silence, Lawrence picked up the bottle of potion, and after several seconds, he opened the small stopper.
…
"The captain will come," the chief engineer said, then paused and repeated it as if for emphasis, "The captain will come—he hasn't retired yet."
"Don't forget your medicine," the wife repeated.
"It's good to bring a big prayer book."
The strong taste dissipated in the mouth, and the wife's figure quietly disappeared in the sunlight.
Lawrence did not respond. He just silently adjusted his captain's uniform in front of the mirror, checked his meticulously combed hair, solemnly picked up the hat next to him, put it on his head, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
After finishing a day's work, Han Shuang finally returned home before dusk. He pushed open the door, took off his coat, and walked into the living room. The first thing he did was to slump down in a chair in a very ungraceful manner and sighed deeply.
The sender was Brown Scott.
"Well, he wants to deal with these things." Han Shuang said while waving his hand and walked upstairs.
"It depends on whether the client and the church agree,"
The captain shrugged. "Half of the cargo hold on the White Oak is an ordinary sealed room. Many of the things we transported this time are raw materials and semi-finished products of holy objects ordered by the church. These things are very sensitive. The supplies sent to the ship must have a list. Previously, the Grey Crow was in trouble because a jerk secretly brought a barrel of honey wine on board, which caused the seal of the ship to loosen. Two shadows ran out and killed half of the people on the ship..."
At this point he exhaled, shook his head and sighed: "It's really not easy to make a living on the vast ocean."
"When we get to Heidi, I'll suggest to the captain that we buy a batch of high-quality boiling gold catalysts from the local area. The boiling gold there is as cheap as the stones on the ground," the assistant mechanic muttered to the side. She was a woman who looked to be in her forties or fifties. Her arms were as strong and powerful as a man's, and her work clothes were stained with oil. "The Adventurer's Association's procurement channels are too shady."
"Let the lady take a break. She has been dealing with weird nightmares and nonsense sailors today," Frost slumped in the chair and waved her hands weakly. "A ship had a mechanical failure in the vast ocean and was stranded in the open sea for nearly twice the planned time. Several sailors were tied up and carried off the ship - it was a disaster."
"I hope so." Lawrence sighed helplessly and turned away from the mirror.
The mother watched her son go downstairs quietly, then she looked away and glanced at the letters in front of her.
"I brought it with me," Lawrence bent down, picked up the large suitcase at the door and patted it, "as well as a few pages of handwritten prayers and the sacred candles I got from the cathedral."
"I know, so I'll just give the captain some advice when the time comes," the assistant mechanic waved his hand, then frowned slightly, "But speaking of which, it seems the captain hasn't arrived yet - he's usually not late."
"... ..We are heading to Mengzheng. There is not much scenery to see along the way. Only the large pieces of floating ice that can be seen on the sea and the cold fog in the distance are quite interesting... ..
"I'm going out." Lawrence responded softly, and then, as the psychiatrist instructed, he dropped a few drops of medicine into his mouth.
He looked up at Martha and saw his wife still leaning against the doorframe, her arms folded, looking at him, just as he remembered.
His wife opened her mouth and seemed to want to say something, but Lawrence turned around and said with a smile: "I have them all. I'm not old enough to forget things."
"... Nina was doing her winter break homework in the cafeteria today, and a strange shadow came out of her textbook, and everyone rushed to beat it, very...
This letter came from Heidi.
"Water, electricity, gas, all kinds of bills - all kinds of stuff," my mother said casually, her tone nonchalant. "Your father used to take care of it, but now he's out, so I'm taking care of it."
The mother was sitting by the warm fireplace sorting some letters. When she heard her daughter coming home, she turned her head slightly and said, "Girl, you should pay more attention to your image. A lady would not act like that."
On the small low table at the door, a large brown glass bottle was placed there quietly. The sunlight shone on the bottle, and the clear texture of the liquid in the bottle could be vaguely seen.
"Well, that's true," Nina pouted, finally getting up from the chair. She walked towards the stairs, but suddenly stopped out of curiosity, "These letters are..."
The letter contained the common spell of the God of Wisdom to prevent outsiders from seeing its true contents.
"... 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 the fish with vitality tasted better, but I couldn'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 twice, and her eyes moved to the side little by little.
"Have you brought everything?"
Lawrence's movements froze and stilled.
Most of it is indeed bills.
The old captain, who had drifted on the vast sea for half his life, packed his
She packed her belongings, sighed softly, picked up her suitcase, and left the house.
The old woman smiled as she read the familiar words on the letter: Mother looked up from the letter and said, "That sounds terrible. You can't lie there like this. Go upstairs and take a bath to calm yourself down. The water is ready."
But there were two real letters—one of which came from a place that no one could imagine.
His wife looked at him quietly, without words, without endless complaints, only long gaze and silence.
"I brought them all with me. I didn't forget."
"You really should retire," the wife folded her arms and leaned against the door frame next to her, looking at this side with a bad face, her eyes were as sharp as before, "Don't wait until I come to the boat and pull your ears before you realize how serious your situation is.
"Have a safe trip," he mouthed.
Lawrence silently put the cap back on the medicine bottle, opened the small suitcase, and put the remaining medicine in a corner where it would not get bumped. He grumbled as he sorted things out, "This psychiatrist is just fooling people... That stuff is so bitter, it doesn't smell like herbs at all."
"Thank you, Martha, but I have to get going," the old captain whispered. "The White Oak is waiting at the port."