"You know what? I really don't hate them. I just don't understand why they betrayed me when I could give them whatever they needed. Why do you think so? Did I give them too much?"
"Ahem." Charles cleared his throat. "Nico, I'm happy to discuss your personal affairs, but not right now. Can you tell me other details about this relic? Is there any way to avoid its side effects?"
Charles wondered if he could avoid the side effects if he integrated it into his own body.
Nico shook his head slightly. He looked at Charles, biting the end of the silver spoon with his white teeth. "I don't know. This relic belonged to my first mate, but he's dead."
After Charles thought for a moment, he nodded and said, "Very good, I will take this relic, but I don't quite understand why you want to board my ship."
He was still not sure about the ability of this relic, but that didn't stop him from owning it first, maybe it would come in handy later.
"Because my ship is gone and everyone is dead, Charles, you know what? I have nothing now. I am so lonely and I really want someone to give me a warm hug."
The scar on Charles' face trembled slightly. "Tell me about your ability. I am indeed short of a second mate on my ship, but I need to conduct an assessment."
"Hey~ Look at you, you were just a small captain living in a shabby hotel in the port area. I still remember what you looked like back then, but now, you are already the famous overlord of the North Sea."
"Look at me again. I have gone from being a governor who had everything he wanted to a nobody who would die without anyone knowing. Why is life always so fickle?" Nico kept complaining with resentment in his voice.
If it weren't for the need for the other party's relics, Charles really didn't want to communicate with him. Every time he talked to him, the topic was always inexplicably diverted and there was no focus at all, which made people want to get angry.
"Nico, stop talking nonsense. Do you want to get on the boat or not? If you keep this attitude, there's no need for us to talk!"
Hearing Charles' voice become more serious, Nico knew that the other party was serious. He immediately put down his coffee and began to report quickly.
"Nico Sepro, age 49, physical strength level 8, level 9 after adding relics, more than ten years of sailing and exploration experience, three times of surface exploration experience."
Charles looked at his face carefully, then turned and walked out the door. "I need to discuss this with the others. Meet me at the fortress entrance tomorrow."
The next morning, the Narwhal set sail. Under the gaze of the other crew members, Nico climbed up the ladder to the deck with a smile and greeted them.
On the hard ground on one side, Anna, wearing a large sun hat, hugged Charles' neck and gently bit his ear.
"There's nothing wrong with this sissy. Everything is normal. He's not a spy of the Futan Cult."
"Why did Nico come on my ship? What's his purpose?"
"He got on the boat because he didn't want to die either, and he didn't want his children to die."
Hearing this, Charles opened his eyes slightly and looked at Nico on the deck. "He has another child? With his husband?"
Anna turned away slightly and then rolled her eyes at Charles. "A man can have children? Give birth to one and show me. Of course, you have to find a woman to give birth to one. Don't look at him like this now. He used to be—"
Charles didn't wait for Anna to finish, and pushed her away and walked towards the ladder. "No time for gossip, don't tell me such irrelevant things in the future."
"Scumbag, be careful, don't die."
Hearing the sound behind him, Charles smiled knowingly, and seven or eight tentacles suddenly pushed forward on the ground, bouncing towards the ship like a cannonball.
Charles was not the only one who set sail. Many explorers began to set out one after another. All of their goals were the dark coordinates marked by Charles. —————————
She placed the accessories next to a fat girl with a smudged face, and the fat girl rhythmically picked up the accessories one by one and placed them on the rapidly rotating rubber conveyor belt in front of her.
Under the huge punching machine, these simple accessories are quickly transformed into practical parts and sent to other finished product factories in a steady stream.
When they saw the female worker who was changing shifts walk into the workshop, everyone else in the workshop breathed a sigh of relief, as the time for the shift change had finally come.
Away from the noisy workshop, the female workers complained about the poor working environment while changing out of their whale oil-stained uniforms.
"Alas, now I have to work 11 hours a day and only have three days off a month. I really don't know when this life will end."
"Look, my hands are covered with calluses. Why should we women do this kind of work? Are all the men dead?"
"The men are all in the dock building ships. There are no men in the factory. I heard that the Governor is exploring the surface up there. It will take a lot of ships."
"Ah! I'm so annoyed. I need to rest~! I want to go shopping. I want to go to the video hall with my boyfriend to watch TV!!"
“Why don’t you let me quit? Why do you let me work in the factory? It’s really dirty.”
Dongna listened to their complaints and stopped wiping the oil off her face with a towel. She said with a smile, "Actually, this is pretty good. The Governor even paid part of the overtime pay, and there is also free lunch at noon."
The complaints stopped, and the female workers first looked at her in unison, and then began to laugh at each other in a low voice.
The smile on Donna's face gradually disappeared. She knew what these people were talking about. They were just saying that she was a country bumpkin from an outer island, an old woman in her thirties who looked like she was in her fifties.
As a person from an outside island, owning a house of her own does not mean she has everything. She cannot integrate into Hope Island. The adults always have so many concerns, especially the group of women who gather together.
On the contrary, her daughter made many good friends at school. Children's minds are relatively simple.
"Donna, ignore them, let's go home together. Your daughter should be waiting for you at home."
When Donna heard what the freckled fat girl said, she immediately sped up her work. That's right, her daughter Nini had already gotten off work.
When the two came out of the smoke-filled factory, the fat girl stretched her body vigorously. "Ah, I'm finally off work. I can go home and have a good meal."
Dongna smiled as she looked at her broad back. She was not without friends here. The girl in front of her, Jasmine, was her friend with whom she could talk.
Although the two are of different ages and have different personalities, they have become good friends who can talk about anything. Maybe it's because they both look ugly, one is old and the other is fat.
Just as the two were walking towards their residence, a group of policemen in black uniforms ran past in panic, scaring the two.
"What's going on? Are you catching another spy from the Futan Church?" Jasmine said in surprise, covering her double chin.
Just as he finished speaking, a cloud of red mist exploded in the distant sky. This color made the two men feel a little uneasy. They knew what it meant.
(End of this chapter)