The Narwhal was once again preparing to set sail.
The mice seemed to sense the loss of their leader. Their morale reached its lowest point, their ears drooped, they bit each other's tails, and climbed onto the deck in a group.
"Mother, don't see me off. You can go back. There is a new telegraph installed on the ship. I will send a telegram to let you know I am safe every once in a while." West, who was standing on the dock, said in embarrassment to his mother who was pulling at his clothes.
West felt a little embarrassed when he saw the other crew members on the deck looking over here.
"My son, don't you really consider the job of a postman? It's too dangerous to go on the ship." West's mother was still trying to persuade him.
"Mother, it's really nothing. Look, I've been out to sea for several times, and I'm still alive and well, right?"
"Besides, after we come back from this trip, we can sell this basement and buy a house closer to the school, so that my younger brothers and sisters don't have to travel so far to go to school every day."
Bandage on the deck silently looked at the sailor struggling with his mother below, with a hint of confusion in his eyes.
"Are you envious? Why don't you find a woman and start a family? You don't have to be alone all the time." Feuerbach walked up to him and said.
"No..." Bandage shook his head. "This scene... seems familiar... I seem to have had such an experience..."
"Dude, you should really write it down in a notebook. Maybe the various memory fragments can be linked together to bring back your memory. You can't do it this way."
Bandage nodded silently. He turned to look at the sailors chatting on the deck and asked slowly, "Captain... where is it?"
"He went into the captain's room as soon as he got on board. I guess Lily's death was a huge blow to him. You know, the little mouse was closest to him. Look at Tuba, he didn't show any sadness at all. A madman is indeed a madman."
Tuba on the deck was still smiling and catching mice for fun, but this time no mouse would give in to him. He pushed the mouse into a corner and bit it with his teeth.
"This time... the Pope is here too... be careful with him..." Bandage said, and turned to walk towards the cockpit.
Listening to Bandage's words, Feuerbach looked to the other side, at the ivory-white ship that was three times larger than the Narwhal.
"Yeah... We have to go on this voyage with that guy, it's really troublesome,"
"Wooo~~!!" The whistle of the Narwhal sounded, and under the gaze of everyone on Hope Island, two ships, one large and one small, slowly left.
In the bright cockpit, West, with his body stiff, nervously touched the steering wheel and listened tremblingly to the instructions of the first mate beside him.
Dipper, who was standing next to him, was furious when he saw him like that. "Relax, I told you to relax, but why are you holding the rudder so tightly? Are you afraid it will grow wings and fly away?"
West turned his head to look at him and was about to speak, but he grabbed his chin with his hand and turned him back. "Look ahead when you steer! Are you looking for death? You are so stupid, Bandage, why don't I be the helmsman? This guy is so stupid."
"Get out, now." As Bandage uttered these two words, Dipp, who was directing Jiang Jiang, immediately shut up, turned around and walked out obediently.
West looked at the bandage beside him with some gratitude, "Thank you, Mr. First Mate. The boatswain made me very nervous."
"Look ahead..."
“Ohhhh.”
Under Bandage's instruction, West quickly learned everything about being a helmsman. Actually, being a helmsman is not difficult. After all, it is different from driving a car. There are no other boats or people in the whole sea. Unless there are special circumstances, all you have to do is hold the steering wheel quietly.
This is why, in most cases, the helmsman is a sailor, and the first or second mate just needs to watch from the side.
West gradually got into the groove, his body no longer as stiff as before. He stared at the navigation mark in the distance and asked the bandage, "Mr. First Mate, was it the captain who taught you how to steer the ship?"
Bandage, who was looking at the sea chart, shook his head. "No... I forgot... who taught me... I just... can..."
West had also heard about the first mate's amnesia, so he didn't ask any more questions and just steered the helm quietly.
As he stared at the sea illuminated by the searchlight ahead, he saw a man walking onto the deck. It was the captain. He looked up at the sky without moving.
Charles looked at the dome high above his head with confused eyes. Outside that was the surface of the earth, but Charles felt as if he had lost his desire for that place.
Charles felt his hands trembling again. Ever since Lily's death, his hands had been twitching from time to time.
"Bang, bang!" The back of his hand slammed heavily on the edge of the steel ship twice, but the shaking did not get any better.
“Ugh~!!”
The sudden sound of the whistle allowed Charles to see the huge ship of the Church of Light on his left.
At the dark stern, there were two spots of light flickering constantly. Someone was holding a glow stick and waving flags towards this side.
Charles leaned on the edge of the boat with one hand and stepped on the waves to rush over there.
As soon as he boarded the giant ship, Charles immediately discovered that this ship was different from the Narwhal. As expected, the crew members were all believers of the Church of Light.
They did things as if according to some rigid rules and regulations, and Charles always felt like he was looking at a group of robots.
Led by a sailor, Charles soon found the Pope, who was eating in the canteen, concentrating on the beans on the plate in front of him.
Seeing that he ignored him, Charles didn't bother to ask and sat down on a stool nearby.
Using a fork to stuff every last green bean into his mouth, the Pope licked the plate clean with his tongue, then slowly wiped his mouth with a napkin before he finally turned his gaze to Charles.
"My son. I heard your ship has just been equipped with a telegraph."
"how?"
"I need you to carry the telegram to my ship."
"What do you mean? You guessed those guys were undercover on my ship?"
"I'm not guessing. I'm sure they will be on your ship. It's very important for them that we find the exit to the surface. They will definitely follow us."
"Actually, I would like to check your crew thoroughly, but I think you will not agree with this method, so let's try another method."
"Who are they you're talking about? And why are they trying to stop us from searching the surface?"
"What difference does it make whether I say it or not? Since they want to stop us from going up, they are our enemies, and our enemies should be eliminated."
After thinking quickly for a while, Charles finally agreed to the Pope's proposal. After all, the telegraph was newly installed, and the Narwhal had explored together before without the telegraph.
"Just for this?"
"No, there is one more thing. The God of Light asked me to ask you, what did you do when you were on the surface? What was the surrounding environment like?"
Charles's vigilance instantly dropped to its highest level. "Why, your God of Light wants to chat with me?"
(End of this chapter)