Joe Butran suddenly thought of something extremely terrible, and he didn't even dare to think about it any further.
Jobtran immediately rushed to the world map of the work area. What he had to do now was not to look at the pins, but to confirm the route.
"Aldridge! Come here!"
Jobtran shouted anxiously.
"Will the Cyclopes be diverted from its course by the ocean currents? Tell me!"
asked Joe Butran very loudly and seriously, looking at the routes marked by pushpins on the world map.
At this time, his eyes were full of red veins, and his fists were clenched so tightly that the joints turned white from excessive force.
Seeing Jobtran's anxiety and restlessness, Aldridge first comforted him.
"Hey, brother, calm down. We are sailing in the Atlantic Ocean now. The weather in the Atlantic Ocean is much better than that in the Pacific Ocean. Besides, this is a hybrid ship, so it is very easy to adjust the course."
“Answer my question!”
Jobtran punched the wall, and the wooden wall wrapped in iron sheets made a buzzing sound due to his punch.
"Maybe...right? No one can predict the direction of the ocean currents, but our ship will not be greatly affected by the currents.
After all, in addition to traditional wind-powered sailing, there is also steam power.”
Aldridge said calmly.
"...What if there's no wind and the steam engine breaks down?"
Jobtran glanced at Aldrich dimly, which made Aldrich feel uneasy.
"We fell into a trap."
Joe Butron sat down dejectedly, leaning against the wall.
He pulled out a cigar from his pocket and smoked it silently.
"What? I don't understand you."
Aldridge looked at Jobtran, who seemed to have aged a lot in an instant, with a puzzled look on his face, and didn't understand what had hit him.
"What else does steam power need besides fuel?"
Joe Butran said distressedly, biting his cigar.
"Water? What's the problem?"
Aldridge asked this first, but he reacted the next second.
Aldridge's face turned pale instantly, and he understood Jobtran's worries.
Steam-powered furnaces require fresh water to drive, but now due to the problem of water tank pollution, fresh water resources have become the most critical resource on the ship.
And every sailor knows that seawater must never be added to a steam-powered furnace.
Seawater can only solve the immediate problem, but the salt remaining after the seawater evaporates will cause irreparable damage to the power reactor.
The salt in the seawater will crystallize, making it difficult for the piston of the steam-powered furnace to operate. The best outcome is that the steam-powered furnace will be scrapped, and the worst outcome is that the furnace will explode.
A massive explosion from a fryer could create a large hole in the bottom of the ship, and everyone on board would become a delicious meal for sea creatures.
At first, Jobtran was also wondering why a ship was equipped with two large water tanks at the same time, but his mind was busy thinking about the conflict between the captain and the team leader and he ignored this detail.
"Has the water in the tank been drained?"
Jobtran took a deep puff of the cigar, the hot smoke reached his lungs, and the nicotine stimulated his brain, making his thoughts run at high speed.
"If those guys hadn't stopped, there wouldn't be a drop left."
Aldridge said with a wry smile.
"Is there a nearby supply point? After we get out of the strait, can we turn around and go to this city to resupply resources?"
Jobtran stood up and pointed to the mark of a city along the coast on the map.
"But this city is empty... The Prussian War...
Now all you can find there are ruins and rats running around the streets."
Aldridge said helplessly.
“Then we can only go to this place.”
Job Tran pulled out a thumbtack and nailed it on a country.
A country that resembles a beating heart on the world map, a country full of legends of fairies, giants and gods, a country where fire and icebergs coexist - Iceland.
"I know what you're thinking, but trust me, don't let our ship get out of control."
Seeing Aldridge's embarrassed expression, Joe Butran could only speak helplessly.
"Those so-called noble families won't complain about staying a few more days on the ship, I assure you, but I need your cooperation."
Jobtran walked to the long table, pulled out a piece of white paper, and started writing on it quickly.
Aldridge was looking at the written statement behind Jobtran, with a gloomy expression on his face.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Aldridge asked.
"Tell me, do you have a better idea?"
Joe Butron shook the ash off the cigar in his hand and handed over the paper filled with his words to Aldridge.
Aldridge sighed, took the paper from Jobtran, folded it, and put it carefully in his arms.
"And now?"
Aldridge asked.
"Give me a moment. I want to take a closer look at the changes in the captain's body."
Jobtran once again walked into the living room and carefully examined the captain's remains.
He put on gloves and gently touched the captain's cheek, only to find that the cheek muscles were soft and elastic.
"Why would a dead body act so limp? It doesn't make sense."
New questions arose in Jobtran's mind.
Under normal circumstances, the deceased will experience hypothermia within one to three hours after death. As time passes, the temperature of the body will gradually drop, but at the same time, muscle relaxation will occur simultaneously with the cooling of the body.
The deceased will generally have limbs that become soft, pupils that are dilated, eyes that are slightly open, and skin that loses elasticity. These things will happen within three to five hours after death, but the rigor mortis that should have occurred in the captain's body did not occur.
Rigor mortis is a very important corpse phenomenon. In adults, rigor mortis starts from facial muscles such as the masseter muscles and gradually spreads to the whole body.
It had been less than twenty-four hours since the captain was discovered and died, which was the time when rigor mortis should have reached its peak.
According to the anatomical definition, the occurrence of rigor mortis should be natural in a room temperature environment such as that in a living room.
Joe Butron frowned, remembering the situation.
"I left in such a hurry that I forgot to do a detailed autopsy."
Jobtran thought to himself.
"Aldridge, come over here and help."
Jobtran threw a pair of gloves from his small leather bag to Aldridge, and Aldridge understood what Jobtran meant after catching them.
"Hold on, I need to check his back first."
Joe Butran said so.
"Okay, tell me if you find anything."
Aldridge replied.
“The marks on my back from being cut with a knife have stopped bleeding, but there are black blood scabs left.
The subspinal muscles, teres major, trapezius, erector spinae, and latissimus dorsi muscles are in a loose state, without any signs of rigor mortis.
This doesn’t make sense, does it?”
Jobtran murmured doubtfully.
"Does the Captain have a history of chronic illness and taking muscle relaxants?"
Joe Butran asked Aldrich.
“I don’t know, but you can look in his drawers. To be honest, the captain is a man of few words and a man of action.
When we talk, we tend to talk about work rather than personal topics like this.”
Aldridge's reply made Jobtran frown, and he vaguely felt that something was wrong.
"You hold the back, I'm going to check the front."
Joe Butron stood on the other side of the bed and switched places with Aldridge.
Joe Butran grasped the captain's jaw with one hand and with a little force opened his mouth.
A foul stench hit his nose, but Jobtran was prepared for it and had already pinched his nose with his other hand.
The unsuspecting Aldridge was in trouble and had to loosen one hand to pinch his nose, but without the support of one hand, the captain's body fell forward a little.
A black pebble fell from the captain's mouth onto the bed. The pebble was oval in shape, and its surface looked like a small stone that had been washed in the river for many years, round and shiny.
The striking thing is that this dark pebble has blue markings on both sides, like a naturally formed ancient text.
It feels cold to the touch, but its shell is hard. If a geologist were sent to the scene, he would find that the origin of this pebble is not simple.
Jobtran had many guesses in an instant about the pebble that the captain was holding in his mouth.
"Is this part of the sacrificial ritual that the murderer put into the captain's mouth? Or is it a secret that the captain is determined to protect at all costs?"
Jobtran thought to himself.
"Aldridge, hold on tight, I'll go get a tool."
Jobtran said to the first mate, Aldridge, and walked over to the long table carrying a small leather bag containing tools.
Jobtran gently placed the pebble on the long table and took out a magnifying glass and a box of matches.
Jobtran lit a match with one hand and held a magnifying glass to the pebble with the other.
As the match slowly moved closer, Jobtran saw a strange scene through the magnifying glass.
There seemed to be ripples on the pebbles, black ripples.
The closer the match gets, the higher the frequency of the black ripples becomes. This pebble reacts to the heat source as if it has life.
Jobtran tried to use a match to burn the pebble, which looked like obsidian, but something amazing happened.
As the surface of the pebbles fluctuated, they formed a resonance of power, shattering the flames that were close to them.
Jobtran's hand was also affected by the wave, the match fell to the ground and was about to go out, and the pebbles returned to their calm state.
"A stone with mysterious power? Or a living alien egg?"
A new mystery emerged in Jobtran's mind. He didn't dare to touch the pebble again. Instead, he put it in an iron box and placed it on the table temporarily.
"Hey. You're back. What's the point of studying a stone? My hands are sore and the captain's body is getting heavier and heavier."
Aldridge seemed to complain about the timing of Jobtran's departure, but still pulled his remains from behind the captain.
"Getting heavier?"
Joe Butran's face changed, and then he rushed to the captain's body.
The captain's abdomen began to swell like a balloon, and dark green patches appeared on the skin of the lower right abdomen.
Bumps like small blisters appeared under the skin, and the blood vessels in his body became visible to the naked eye, as if his skin had become transparent.
His eyeballs bulged, his lips became thick, and the tip of his tongue protruded forward involuntarily. Overall he looked like a terrifying giant.
The next change was even more shocking. Bloody foamy liquid spurted out of his mouth and nose like a fountain, covering the entire bed with disgusting mucus.
His lower body was leaking urine and feces at the same time, as if he was incontinent.
"run!"
When Jobtran saw this sudden change, he covered the captain's body with the cup on the bed and shouted at Aldridge.
After hearing this, Aldridge was stunned for a moment, then immediately ran out the door.
Jobtran took a diary from the captain's bed, ran, closed the door, and lay down, all three actions done in one go.
At the moment when Jobtran fell down, a muffled sound like hitting a drum came from the living room.
"Bang!"
What followed was a series of explosions like firecrackers, a series of crackling sounds coming from the living room, and the muffled sound of pieces of meat hitting the wall.
The sound lasted for about twenty seconds, and some smelly black and red blood flowed out from the crack of the door of the living room.
Aldridge and Jobtran looked at each other, still in shock.
Both of them were frightened by the sudden change. Fortunately, Jobtran noticed something wrong, otherwise if he had arrived a little later, Aldridge would have been killed on the spot by the explosion caused by the captain's body.
"Oh my God, what's going on? I don't understand! I don't understand!"
Overcome by his inner fear, Aldridge squatted on the ground, holding his head, crying hysterically.
"Why did this happen to us on the ship? I still want to live, I want to go home! I want to go home! I miss my mom!!!"
At this time, Aldridge was howling like a madman. He had completely lost his mind.
Joe Butran didn't know what Aldridge saw before closing the door, but he was sure that the scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere must have been "exciting".
"Calm down! Man, if you want to stay alive, you must stay calm. Madness will only make you lose your mind and make some wrong choices!"
Jobtran stepped forward and gently patted Aldridge on the shoulder, trying to use words to stabilize Aldridge's mentality which was on the verge of collapse.
"How can you expect me to stay calm? People are dying in front of me. A corpse is like a bomb with blood and flesh flying everywhere! Who can accept such a reality?"
Aldridge's eyes were red and he grabbed Joe Butran's arm tightly.
In this situation, Aldridge had no sense of measure in his hands, and his nails dug deep into Jobtran's skin.
Seeing this, Joe Butron sighed and made a strong cut on the nerve at the back of Aldridge's neck with his knife.
There are many nerve connection points in the back of the neck. If suddenly subjected to force, a person will fall into a coma or even die. Of course, Jobtran controlled the force well.
"Trouble, one after another, what should I do next?"
Jobtran put the iron box containing pebbles into the small leather bag containing tools, then carried Aldridge's unconscious body on his shoulder, and walked out the door holding the small bag in one hand and the key he took out of Aldridge's pocket in the other.
After locking the door of the captain's room, Joe Butran suddenly turned around and looked into the captain's room through the glass.
The route on the world map is like the devil's grin.