"The Gobi Desert to the south is still very desolate, but at least there are people living there."
"One after another, cars loaded with sleepers and steel set off for the outpost. The bustling construction scene was quite shocking."
"This big commotion might attract everything on the surface, but we can't care about that."
"We are approaching the dark coordinates. Although this damn place has never given me anything good, I still want to sincerely hope that this exploration can be completed safely and let us bring the darkness back to Earthsea."
Charles watched the notes on the paper slowly dry, then closed the diary and walked out of the captain's room.
"Second mate, is everything okay?" He came to the cockpit and asked Nico who was raising his little finger.
"No problem. We are not in the sea now. There won't be so much trouble." After saying that, he gave the helmsman Norden a charming smile.
Feeling the other person's gaze, Norden's body tensed up instantly.
"I haven't asked you yet, what happened to your exploration ship last time? Why were you the only one who escaped?"
When exploring the surface, death is not a big deal, but it is very rare for only one person to come back alive. Not all ships are alive like the Narwhal. As an explorer who can discover a living island, Nico must be no pushover.
"Ah~ What happened that day... Honestly, I don't want to talk about it. It was too disgusting. I have reported all the details to the Explorers Association. If you are interested, you can ask them. By the way, Charles, what's wrong with your face?" Nico said as he reached out to touch his face.
Charles turned slowly and looked at him with calm eyes without saying a word. The atmosphere in the cockpit became a little solemn.
"Do you believe I will throw you down?"
Nico put away the smile on his face, withdrew his outstretched hand, put his right hand on his left shoulder, and saluted Charles.
"I'm sorry, Captain. I shouldn't have called you by your first name."
"I don't care who you are. Once you get on my ship, you must listen to me. If you can't stand it, you can just get off." Charles' voice was a little cold.
Nico's identity is exactly the opposite of his previous self, so he must feel disappointed, but Charles doesn't care.
As a captain, you can be selfish, extremely tyrannical, and even take pleasure in killing people, but you must never allow your crew to threaten your right to rule, not even in the slightest. This is the iron law of Earthsea.
"Okay, okay, I understand. Let's talk about something else. Don't you want to know what I encountered before? Actually, I don't know what we encountered. That thing looked like a rotten lizard with moss growing on its body."
"Its strength is very strong, and most importantly, it is almost immortal. Even if we use the deck gun to blast it into two sections, it uses the intestines that fell out of its body as legs and continues to kill my crew madly."
"That's not a big deal. Even if we can't do anything about it, we can still run away. But it turns out that thing lives in groups. Hiss~ When I think of my crew members being torn to pieces by lizards, I feel cold all over."
Charles reached for the map pinned to the wall. "Where did you encounter those things?"
Nico's slender fingernails scratched across the map, accurately pointing to a location. "Well... here, you see the Explorers' Association has marked it. They used a questionable and extremely dangerous mark."
Charles made a quick estimate and found that the danger on the map was not on his path, so he felt relieved.
"Then you are lucky to be able to come back alive after encountering such a thing."
"I am very curious about you, Captain. You have been exploring for such a long time without any problems. It can be said that you are the one who has explored the most among the explorers of Earthsea."
Charles glanced at him and said, "Take a good look at me now. Do you really think nothing is wrong?"
Nico covered his mouth with his white fingers and smiled softly, "At least compared to those guys who sank to the bottom of the sea, you are a lucky guy."
This time Charles did not answer him because he found something unusual. He looked past the transparent glass in front of him and looked outside. In the purple mist, there was a thick black smoke approaching this side.
"Sound the whistle and warn all crew members that something is approaching us."
As the shrill whistle sounded throughout the Gobi Desert, everyone on the ship immediately became tense and prepared for the next crisis.
Everyone looked at the black smoke in the distance with solemn expressions and a feeling of uneasiness.
Gradually, the black smoke slowly revealed a figure. It was coming out of the chimney of an exploration ship and it was rushing towards this side quickly.
"Give me the telescope." Charles closed his left eye and looked into the monocular telescope with his right eye.
In the circular field of vision, Charles saw the crowd on the deck. They looked very excited, their faces flushed with excitement.
"Lily, get your rats ready. If this ship shows any signs of attack, you must blow it up with cannons immediately." Charles said to his gunner.
It didn't seem to be dangerous, but Charles didn't dare to relax at all. Maybe these guys were attacked by something.
"Yeah! Got it! Leave it to me!"
Lily jumped off Charles's shoulders and rushed towards the deck gun with the colorful mice.
Under everyone's gaze, the two ships slowly approached, and Charles could see their faces without a telescope.
"Governor Charles? Is that Governor Charles? I have good news for you!! We found the darkness! You will definitely keep your promise! I will become the Governor soon!!"
Hearing the uncontrollable joy in the man's voice, Charles opened his eyes as wide as possible, leaned forward quickly, and most of his body jumped out of the edge of the boat.
"Darkness? It's really dark, are you sure? Is there any danger there? Are these my coordinates?"
"Not far, just three days ahead. However, it is not the coordinates you reported earlier. The location is seriously off. The darkness moves like the wind."
After hearing each other's words, all the crew members on the Narwhal were infected by each other's emotions and suddenly became excited.
No one wants to die. As long as the darkness is brought back, Earthsea will be saved!
(End of this chapter)