Fifteen days later, on the barren Gobi Desert, the tracks of the Narwhal were turning rapidly, and the crew members were at their respective posts, doing their own work.
They were now in the Gobi Desert, behind the previous desert, a place that had never been set foot on, and with the Narwhal they could go further.
Sailor Norden held the steering wheel under the guidance of the first mate. Next to him stood a thin, bald old man. He was the new second mate from Hope Island, an old captain who knew him well.
A flash of black appeared in the air beside the ship, and then turned into a man in a black cloak at the door of the cockpit.
"Nothing unusual or found on the left side." Odrick said to the bandage inside.
Bandage nodded silently and quickly drew a dotted line on the map on the wall with a pen.
"Captain, you haven't come back yet?" Odric groped his way into the cockpit.
"No, the Governor said we should visit more places," the second mate said casually.
"Okay, then I'll go down. Call me when you need to explore other places." After saying that, Odric turned into a bat again and slid quickly along the communication pipe to the turbine compartment.
The chief engineer had died in the last exploration, and he was now the chief engineer of the Narwhal.
As soon as Odrick left, the cockpit suddenly became quiet.
Bandage has this kind of personality. Seeing that the first mate had no intention of communicating, Norden did not dare to speak rashly.
Finally, it was the new second mate who spoke first. "Hey, do you mind if I smoke a cigarette? My mouth is a little dry."
"Hmm..." Bandage responded simply.
"Thank you." Second mate Charlie pulled a cigarette from his pocket, took out his lighter and lit it.
He slowly blew out a smoke ring. "Before coming here, I was a little surprised to hear that I would be boarding the Governor's ship. I didn't expect that I would get along with him quite well. He didn't have any of the arrogance of the islanders."
"Um… "
"I grew up in a garbage dump, and I hate those looks of contempt the most. When I was intercepting goods in the past, whenever I met those guys who looked down on me, their only fate was to feed the fish in the sea."
When Norden heard this, his pupils shrank slightly. He wanted to say something, but when he saw the bandage next to him was indifferent, he held back.
"Many people have died on this... ship... How dare you come here...?"
The second mate stretched out his right hand holding a cigarette and scratched his shiny scalp.
"I know but it doesn't matter. I'm 74, so if I die, I die. But my grandson was just born, and the island can't be flooded. He can't die right after he comes out."
As he said this, a hint of tenderness appeared in Charlie's wrinkled eyes.
"I heard... from the captain... that you have a... special relic... so he... chose you...?"
"Yes, yes, that thing is really good. I originally planned to leave it to my grandson, but relics are not good things. There is too much blood on it. I think I'd better forget it."
"I told the Governor that if I die, my belongings will belong to him. I don't want any reward. I just want him to do everything he can to stop the sea from rising and let my grandson live safely as an ordinary person."
As they chatted, the new crew members and the old crew members became closer. The atmosphere was finally not as tense as before.
Just as Charlie was vividly describing to Bandage how his well-behaved grandson never made a fuss when he slept at night, he suddenly heard the sound of flapping wings outside.
"Left rudder 30, I saw something strange over there!" Charles, who had turned back into human form, rushed in with a serious expression.
"Found... what?" Bandage was very surprised by Charles' attitude.
"We'll know in the past. I'm not sure if those things are related to the disappearing darkness."
The Narwhal began to turn quickly and headed in the direction Charles said.
In just half an hour, something appeared on the barren ground, some specks of powder similar to ash.
The further we went in, the more powder there was, until it finally reached the point of snow.
"Huh!" The bat that Odrick turned into quickly flew over the powder. When he returned to the deck, he held the things in both hands and handed them to Linda, the ship's doctor. "Here."
"Are you sure you've seen things on the surface before?" Charles expressed doubt about Linda's words.
Linda did not refute anything. She looked at the powder carefully, and finally picked up a little bit with her fingernail and put it directly into her mouth. She took a sip and spit it out.
"I can't guarantee it, but I think it looks a lot like ashes."
"Ashes of what?"
“Human ashes.”
As soon as Linda said this, the deck was silent for a second or two.
"You must have made a wrong judgment, doctor. Do you mean that there are humans on the surface?" Dipper said in surprise.
Hearing this, Charles' heart beat faster.
"I also think it's unlikely, so I can't explain it clearly."
Charles thought for a moment and patted Lily on the shoulder. "Get your rats ready for battle. The front and rear deck guns must be ready to fire at any time."
"Okay! Mr. Charles!" Lily jumped off his shoulder and ran towards the muzzle.
This kind of situation was the first time that anyone had seen it in Earthsea. Faced with unknown dangers, everyone secretly braced themselves.
But this scene lasted much longer than Charles had imagined, for three days, and the powder seemed endless.
At four o'clock in the morning of the third day, Charles, who had just laid down for a short time, was awakened. "Captain! Wake up! The sailor on duty on the deck saw something! It looks like a huge house!!"
When he hurried to the deck, he was immediately shocked by the scene before him.
A huge square metal building appeared in front of him, and the Narwhal was parked next to it, like a toy boat next to a shoe box.
The powder on the ground was sprayed out from the small holes above the "shoe box". There was so much powder that it accumulated into a slope. All the powder they had seen before was blown away by the wind from here.
"Are there really people on the surface? Are they still alive?" Charles looked at the door on the building and his heartbeat began to speed up. "Reconnaissance."
Bats flew over, and mice quickly rushed over. They began to investigate around the huge building, but they didn't find much. There was nothing outside except a thick layer of dust.
"Woooooo ...
Following the footprints left by the rats, Charles and his crew came to the huge building.
"Captain, the door has been completely welded shut." Dipper reported.
Charles stood there and touched the cold wall with his hand. The expression was flat and smooth, and it was obviously a man-made building.
"We must find a way to get in and take a look. If there really is someone inside, then we may have another option besides searching in the darkness."
In order to open the building, Charles used various methods, including explosives, acid corrosion, and mechanical cutting.
After nearly six hours of grinding, the welded iron door finally opened up to a crack barely big enough for someone to enter.
"What kind of metal is this? It's much harder than Alloy No. 3." Dipper complained.
"Shh, don't talk, there's noise inside."
As everyone held their breath, a faint sound came out from within the crack.
"It's... a song... I've heard this... song... before..." Bandage said, and went straight in.
(End of this chapter)