The huge Narwhal slowly floated in the dark space, constantly approaching its destination.
In the cockpit, Dipper looked nervously at the compass and the watch on his wrist, and standing next to him were Charles and Nico who were doing the same thing.
The compass, which should have pointed straight to the south, was shaking as if it had electricity.
"Five minutes are up, turn right." As the circular steering wheel began to turn continuously, the Narwhal in mid-air began to change direction.
After this scene was repeated several times, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the vibration of the compass gradually weaken.
"Captain, the foundation's map is really helpful! Without their reminder, anyone who enters this kind of hellhole will get lost." said Dipper at the helm.
Charles looked at the map in front of him. This map was drawn by him. As an excellent painter, this map was very detailed.
"Don't be distracted. This road is close to the dangerous purple area. Try to drive through it. If that thing comes out, it will be a big trouble."
"Captain, why do you want to redraw the map? Wouldn't it be better to just bring the thing the foundation gave you?" Nico asked with some confusion.
"Wow!" Charles turned to the second page of the map in his hand. "It's the same with a drawn map. It's not as intuitive as a 3D map, and it's just a little more troublesome."
"But if we get the communicator in our hands and the Foundation puts some tracking program in it, then our lives will be completely in their hands. We must always be on guard against others."
Charles had been ambushed once before, and he didn't want to be ambushed again, even if the other party was now an ally.
Nico nodded in understanding, "Yeah, that's true. I'm not completely confident about those guys either."
After seeing that there was no danger on the next route, Charles stuffed the map in Nico's arms and walked out of the cockpit. "You keep an eye on it, I'll go check somewhere else."
"give it to me."
After coming out of the cockpit, Charles began to inspect each cabin one by one. This boring but very important thing he had to do every day. Although Lily's mice were on guard, it never hurt to have an extra layer of insurance.
The kitchen, dining room, fuel tank, water tank, turbine room, crew lounge, every corner of the Narwhal was left untouched.
When he walked into the crew lounge, he saw the crew members playing fishing cards, including Norden with his back hunched.
He controlled the tall green body, playing cards with one hand and writing on paper with the other hand to communicate with other crew members.
"Are you guys taking advantage of me because I have no eyes? Are you guys teaming up to cheat me? Why haven't I won once in all these rounds?"
Audric, smiling happily, quickly retorted, "How is that possible? Are we that kind of people? Let me tell you, having eyes and not having eyes are two different things. Look at me playing cards before when I didn't have eyes, and I still won whenever I wanted to. It has nothing to do with eyes, but luck and skills!"
Another vampire sailor nearby chimed in. "Yes, that's right, don't play dumb, you've already lost three liters of blood, I'm keeping track of it."
Planck, who was holding his neck, cursed angrily, "You beasts, are you crazy? You sucked Norden's blood, can you drink it?"
Listening to their conversation, Charles left with satisfaction. He had been worried that Norden would not be able to adapt and had considered letting him retire directly, but now it seems that Norden is still the same Norden, and there is no change in the way he gets along with other crew members.
After exploring other places, there were only a few small compartments left to inspect. Space was limited on the Narwhal, and besides the captain, the only ones who could have personal space were the first mate, the second mate, and Grace.
The second mate was on duty. After taking a quick walk around the fragrant room, Charles came out and arrived at the door of the first mate's room.
There was a knock on the door, and the green vines at the door were lifted. The moment Charles walked into the bandage room, it was as if he had come to a green rain forest, and the air was very fresh.
The small room was filled with various plants that were intertwined and growing very lushly.
"You should keep this ability if you can. It's such a waste."
Bandage shook his head and pointed to the wide open window on the right wall, where a row of black leaves resembling morning glories were placed. "It doesn't matter how much of this plant can collect moisture from the air."
Charles walked over in surprise and was surprised to see that the inside of the spiral leaf was covered with a layer of gray film with scattered small water droplets hanging on it.
"That's great! Where did you find this plant? If you bring more and make it more popular, the fresh water problem on the ship can be solved!"
"Before I was transformed, I went through the Foundation's modified relic ritual. I found a relic that matches the relic in my body. So... I have more abilities and some new changes."
Hearing this, Charles frowned slightly, feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the other party's rash use of his body for experiments.
"You should at least let others experiment on that thing first. Why do you want to use it on yourself so directly?"
Bandage shook his head, "It doesn't matter. The risk is not very... big. It's not worth the risk. The people below can't wait any longer."
As he said this, a vine wrapped a letter and brought it to Charles. Charles opened it and found that it was a letter from Bandage's brother.
elder brother
Are you okay up there? My mom, my sister and I are all worried about you. I have been working in the canning factory for half a year now.
Nowadays, all kinds of food are canned, even kelp is canned. Because of this, the factory has to work overtime every day, and the skin on my hands has been soaked and curled.
But when I thought about my brother eating the canned food I made, I didn’t feel tired at all. My sister works in a newly opened machinery factory. She said her job is to stick something on the machine, so there’s no need to worry about her, as the terrain there is higher and the work is easier, and my mother is with her too.
Yesterday, we rented a boat and went to the top of our basement during the rare holiday. Mom didn't say anything, but I could feel the sadness in her heart.
Brother, if you can, please bring back the darkness. After you left, I was the only man in the family. But looking at the rising sea water, I was really scared. The living place was getting more and more crowded, and some people even had to sleep on the boat.
Hanks Mark
(End of this chapter)