"Ten years! A full ten years! A full ten years has 5,256,000 minutes! One cycle has 40 minutes, which means there are 131,400 cycles!!"
Wrench became more and more excited, spit flying from his mouth. "Do you know why I can remember it so clearly? And not go crazy? Because every time I cycle, my thinking ability and my sanity will be reset! But the only thing that is not reset is my memory!!"
As soon as he said this, the entire deck fell completely silent. The people with snowflakes on their faces and heads froze in place, looking at each other. A faint atmosphere of despair spread in the air.
Seeing that morale was gradually declining, Krass immediately began to encourage them, "Don't listen to his nonsense! He was alone at that time, but now there are so many of us. We can always find a way!"
"This seems to be some kind of stance, without any intelligence. We have seen similar situations before, right? Just like the Diaoyu Islands before, wasn't it much more dangerous than this?" After Klaus' interruption, morale finally stopped declining.
But it is not enough to just prevent morale from declining; we must then find a solution.
Klas and the decision-makers including the first and second mates started to get together and think about how to find a solution.
All the while, the cycle continued, and they returned to the deck over and over again.
"I can't just sit there and do nothing. These difficulties can't stop me! You go in first and let me try." Lily said to them and flew into the air.
Her slender body was illuminated by the light. The dazzling sunlight shone from her body, covering everything around her. The snowflakes floating in the air and the icebergs close to the ship began to melt gradually. At this moment, the Earth Sea seemed to have a sun again.
Having experienced the death ray before, they dared not look at this scene any longer and hid in the cabin with shock in their hearts. When the light ended, the snowflakes and icebergs in the sky disappeared, and the sky became much cleaner in an instant.
"Successful?" Kraus came out with other crew members and looked up into the pitch-black darkness.
The snowflakes disappeared and it looked like they wouldn't be falling again. A glimmer of hope gradually appeared on everyone's face.
But the next second, they were teleported to the deck again, snowflakes fell from the sky again, and a new cycle began again.
Seeing her own method, Lily pursed her lips and started a new round of attempts, but no matter how she used the power in her body, she would always be teleported back to the deck.
Finally, after trying 15 cycles, Lily stopped. The powerful energy left to her by the God of Light was of no use at all in the face of this strange scene. This was the first time for her.
Lily's eyes turned red and there was a hint of grievance on her face, but she immediately put away the expression.
She is no longer a child and has no one to rely on, so she must persevere.
Lily sat down and began to analyze the experience gained from so many experiments.
Seeing that Lily's method didn't work, Klaus, as the captain, stepped forward.
He gathered all the trapped crew members together, pondered for a few seconds, and then said, "Just now, the first mate and I thought of several possible ways to succeed. Everyone must do as I say."
"We entered this cycle because we touched the white thing. We don't know how it affects us, but maybe we can try to isolate it from us."
"After entering the cycle again, first mate, you start recording the number of cycles. Then, aim your wind tunnel relic at the sky to blow away all the snow. The others use their blades to cut off any part of their bodies that touches the snow. Cut off your hair, clothes, and skin immediately!"
This method was outrageous, but no one on the crew objected. On the ship, the captain's orders were everything.
A new round of attempts began, but it was still useless. Even though they cut their bodies until they were bleeding, it still had no effect.
Seeing that the first set of plans didn’t work, Krass moved on to the next set, repeating the cycle over and over again, while they tried again and again.
After 12 cycles, Klaus's plan was finally tried out. Everyone was stunned and no one spoke. The atmosphere became weird.
"It's okay! Let's continue thinking about it! This time everyone will think about it together!" The determined Klaus had no intention of giving up.
They discussed various solutions with each other, and even Lily joined in. During the cycle, they would not feel hungry or sleepy.
They didn't know how much time had passed, but when they returned to the deck again, no one was talking this time, not even Korlas.
They have already thought of various solutions, and they can no longer squeeze out new ideas from their minds.
Everyone turned their eyes to Kras, waiting for the captain to give new instructions.
Everyone was trying hard not to let themselves collapse. They were always determined that there must be a way to leave, or they had to force themselves to deceive.
Feeling the crew's real gazes, Krass felt as if he was carrying a mountain on his back.
After this depressing atmosphere lasted for several cycles, Kras spoke with difficulty. "Come on! Let's start praying to the gods!"
Hearing this, everyone's pupils suddenly shrank. Doing this was extremely dangerous. Everyone knew that praying to any god at sea was a taboo.
It would be fine if they didn't respond. If they did, perhaps God's response would be worse than the current situation.
Perhaps Klaus really had no other choice and had to resort to this desperate measure.
God of Light
Bird of Misery
The Eye of the Heart
Futan
Thunder Ship
Hypnos
Idik
Revelers.
There were many gods believed in Earthsea, and they began to try them one by one, began to pray to him, and even began to work together to paint their portraits on the deck.
They changed gods every cycle, and when all the gods they knew were used up, nothing changed.
Krass did not offer any more morale boosting as the crew's morale had already reached its lowest point.
"First mate, how long have we been in here?" Klas picked up the wine glass and took a big gulp.
"I was counting. It's just been fifteen days." The first mate's words completely overwhelmed everyone's minds.
Only fifteen days had passed, and they still had to endure this kind of desperate days for the remaining nine years, eleven months, and fifteen days!
Everyone was venting their fear in their own way; some were cursing, some were roaring, and some were crying.
Among them, those who are already mentally ill take more extreme measures.
"Damn it! This is so fucking boring! I'm leaving first!" A sailor suddenly raised his pistol, pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger hard.
"Bang!" White and red light instantly spread on the snow. The surroundings suddenly became quiet and everyone subconsciously looked at their weapons.
At this moment, the cycle started again, and everyone was surprised to find that the head of the sailor who had just died appeared next to them intact.
"Hehe, it's useless. Do you really think that I haven't tried to commit suicide in the past ten years?"
Wrench's creepy words faintly reached everyone's ears.
(End of this chapter)