A month passed quickly, and soon it was time to go out to sea again.
Black smoke began to billow out of the Narwhal's chimney again, and Charles walked onto the deck with the newly recruited crew members.
"Bandage, go and assign the task time for the new crew members." Charles said to the first mate beside him.
The silent first mate nodded, and walked towards the deck with his newly grown legs, leading the new crew member.
Charles brought Orderic to the captain's room, where a huge newly purchased nautical chart was spread out on the table, with islands, dangerous areas and dark areas clearly marked on it.
Charles said to the vampire in front of him, "Where is Sodom? Mark it out."
"Um, I can't see it. Please tell me the location of Dark Crystal Island."
Charles pressed his hand on a thumbtack and told him that this was Dark Crystal Island.
Odric followed the Dark Crystal Island, drew an arc on the sea chart with his finger, and poked it lightly with his sharp nails. "Here."
To Charles' surprise, the place was not as far away as he thought. "Sodom is right here? So close?"
"It's here sometimes. On the 6th and 25th of a month, it will appear here."
Charles was stunned. "Appeared? It's not an island? It's moving?"
"Yes, Captain. To be exact, it is a ship. It is a large ship made up of ships plundered by pirates."
Looking at the distance to the dot, Charles quickly estimated the sailing time and supplies in his mind.
Although what Odrick said was so decisive, it was information from 40 years ago after all. Even if there was nothing there, there would be no shortage of supplies to bring back.
“Have you brought enough plasma bags?”
Odrick nodded quickly, "It's enough. I have enough for 60 days."
"Reserve some of it. If a high-intensity battle occurs, I might need it."
"I understand, but Captain Charles, it is a relic of the vampires after all. You'd better use it less."
"I know. Go ahead."
Odric bowed, turned into a bat and flew out quickly.
In the waters near the island, Charles deliberately walked slowly to allow the new crew members to get acquainted with each other.
Most of the crew members this time were locals of Coral Island, and some of them had even met Charles once before, and they got along quite well with each other.
On the eighth day after leaving the port, the Narwhal slowly approached its destination, and the dark sea surface finally began to change.
"Captain, there's a ship ahead!!"
"I saw it." Charles looked through the glass at the ship in the distance.
That was obviously not the Sodom. The ship was too small, only half the size of the Narwhal, and it was a wooden boat.
Wooden boats are rare in the Earth Sea. Generally speaking, most places where wood can grow are flattened to grow edible crops.
As the ship slowly approached, more details appeared in front of Charles. Unlike the Narwhal which was powered by a turbine, this wooden boat was actually powered by sails.
Not to mention that there is basically no wind on the sea, even if there is wind, it would be too long to sail relying solely on sails.
"Captain, what should we do?"
"I'll take the helm, you go out and signal them, tell them it's customary, left rudder to left rudder."
"Okay!" Dipper, wearing the bracelet, rushed out with the flag.
The young man waved the red flag quickly, and the wooden boat began to turn, as if it understood the flag signal.
The two ships passed each other. Charles looked at the old wooden boat and a hint of doubt flashed through his mind. Was this ship also going to Sodom
"Bang bang bang!" The crisis appeared in an instant. The gun door on the left side of the wooden boat opened directly, and a black gun muzzle was pointed at the Narwhal.
Charles, who was tense all over, made a prompt decision and turned the steering wheel wildly, trying to use the smallest area to meet the enemy's shells.
Even though Charles responded urgently, many shells still hit the deck, but the expected explosion did not come. The shells seemed to be soft, sticking to wherever they hit, and began to emit black and purple smoke. Soon the smoke enveloped the entire Narwhal.
"Lily! Fight back!!" Hearing Charles' voice, the rats on the deck rushed towards the turret quickly, and the muzzle of the 125mm caliber gun began to move towards the wooden boat.
At the same time, black shadows slowly floated out along with the black and purple mist. Their dark bodies were as thin as paper, with no facial features where their heads should be, and they were holding weapons made of the same material in their hands.
As soon as the strange paper man stood still, he ran towards the deck gun and slashed wildly at the rats on it, forcing the movement of the gun muzzle to stop.
The crew fired rapidly at the things, but the bullets passed through them without affecting their movement at all.
Charles, with a frown on his face, did not dare to delay any longer. He took out the mirror and was about to smear the blood on it.
The ghost tricks on the god's side can't scare him. The wooden boat in the distance is the key, and he must be stopped.
Just as he was about to bite his finger with his teeth, he felt a sudden pain in his abdomen. Shocked, Charles looked down and saw a bloody knife tip sticking out of his chest.
Without any thought, he pulled out the pistol with his right hand and pointed it behind him. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he stopped abruptly.
The man who stabbed him was the boatswain Dipper. He had a strange smile on his face and a cold voice came from his mouth, "Shoot... Shoot..."
The next second, Charles took a deep breath, endured the pain and put on the clown mask.
As soon as the mask was put on, Charles pulled the trigger and Dipper fell to the ground with a bullet.
Controlling the muscles in his body to clamp the blade inside his body, Charles stumbled out of the cockpit.
The crew members outside have already started fighting with the paper men. They are obviously at a disadvantage. Except for the giant James, the attacks of others are completely ineffective.
Charles, holding his wound, grabbed the bat mirror and threw it at the bat in the air. "Blind man! You shook his boat for me!!"
The bat held the mirror in its mouth and flew quickly towards the wooden boat.
As soon as he finished speaking, a paper man appeared behind Charles, holding a shiny weapon and chopping at his head.
Charles quickly stepped back and ran into his arms. The black knife in his hand flew up and down, and the paper man quickly turned into confetti.
"Tsk, that's it?" Charles was about to rush into the battlefield with a knife in hand, but his body suddenly stiffened and the wound began to bleed again.
He didn't dare to act rashly. His body was in danger. If he moved again, he would probably bleed to death.
Charles quickly found another solution. He slowly squatted down and took out a handful of steel nails from the wooden barrel next to him.
The steel nails were thrown out and accurately pierced into the paper men, nailing them to the ground, but this was only a delaying tactic.
There were more and more paper people, as if endless, and Charles' consciousness began to blur.
(End of this chapter)