Deep Sea Embers

The artillery fire was roaring, hot shells roared and fell from the sky, and huge water columns rose one after another inside and outside the port, some of which had almost rubbed against the side of the White Oak. Shaking, making disturbing, creaking noises.

Lawrence and first mate Gus led twelve sailors up the rope ladder, and returned to the deck of the White Oak without any risk. Behind them, Dagger Island was still shrouded in thick fog, and suddenly there was a crowd in the deserted port. There was a chaotic wind, and the mist swirled and rolled in the wind, as if full of malice, as if provoked by an uninvited guest.

The boatswain hurried over, a tall sailor with a tense face and a rifle in his hand (although it was of no use in a naval battle), he came to Lawrence and quickly checked the status of the captain , and then breathed a sigh of relief: "Great! You are finally back - we heard a thunder-like sound from the island before, and you haven't come back. The second officer thought something happened to you..."

The scene at the pier square just now flashed in Lawrence's mind. He thought of the four extra sailors and the sudden green flame, and a complicated expression appeared on his face.

Something happened, and it wasn't a small thing—but this was clearly not the time for an explanation.

"Let's not talk about that," he shook his head. "How is the situation now? Where is Jason?"

"The second officer is directing the battle on the bridge. We are fighting a warship of unknown origin," the bosun said quickly. "That ship fired at us as soon as it showed up from a long distance away, and it has been approaching this way— ——The stern was hit by a shot just now, but fortunately the damage was not too serious, but we must leave quickly, the White Oak cannot be the opponent of the battleship."

"Get out of here, right away," Lawrence said quickly.

The steam core made a low roar, and the boiling gold catalyst began to release surging energy. The powerful power mechanism drove the propeller, causing the White Oak to accelerate away from this strange port. Between the continuous falling shells and water columns, this An advanced cargo expedition ship with a pristine white hull accelerated, throwing Dagger Island in a thick fog.

However, the attackers were in hot pursuit.

Lawrence came to the bridge and observed the situation on the sea through the wide window at the rear of the bridge side. At the end of the vast sea, he could clearly see the silhouette of the attacker—a ship that was not too big. The large warship was chasing this side while continuously firing the main guns on the bow, and bright flashes pierced the dark sky covering the entire sea area time and time again.

Fortunately, it was a small ship and not a heavily gunned battleship, otherwise the White Oak would not have survived the attack until now.

Unfortunately, the speed of the ship was extremely fast. Even though the speed of the White Oak increased again and again, Lawrence still judged that the ship would catch up sooner or later.

The ship was even accelerating.

"We can't get rid of it," the first mate said in despair, "it's too fast...but our firepower can't be an opponent of a warship!"

Lawrence didn't say anything, just thinking quickly.

In terms of classification, the White Oak is indeed a civilian ship, but this does not mean that it is a lamb waiting to be slaughtered—as a special ship that can sail on the boundless sea for a long time and can transport sealed items between city-states Expedition ship, it has a military-grade steam core and anti-sinking structure, and its keel, waterline hull, and superstructure have also been specially reinforced. It can be said that in terms of hull strength alone, this ship is not weaker than the same level battleship.

What it lacked was its firepower—after all, as a civilian ship, it could only be equipped with a few small-caliber cannons for fighting against small groups of pirates or monsters in the sea. Those things were simply powerless against warships.

Judging from the current situation, the White Oak will be overtaken sooner or later—when the distance between the two ships is closer, the opponent's artillery hit rate will not be so low.

No matter how strong the hull structure is, if it is hit as a target, it cannot last for too long.

A sharp whistling sound suddenly came from a distance, followed by a loud bang that interrupted Lawrence's thinking. He felt the buzzing in his ears, and the ground shook under his feet. From the corner of his eye, he saw the white A fireball suddenly rose from the side of the Oak, and fragments of broken metal and deck structures shattered in all directions.

The boatswain yelled: "Shot in the side... Go put out the fire!"

Lawrence stabilized his figure amid the violent shaking, and the expression on his face changed rapidly, as if he had made a sudden decision.

"Cargo list," he raised his head, looking at the first officer who was maintaining order on the bridge, "bring me the cargo list!"

"Cargo list?" The first mate was startled for a moment, and then understood the captain's intentions. His expression became extremely contradictory and dignified, but he immediately carried out the order and sent a record book to Lawrence.

Lawrence opened the record book, his eyes quickly scanned it, and finally stopped on one line of content.

"Open the No. 2 seal room, and bring the sealed item 'Anomaly 077' to the bridge," he raised his head, and quickly ordered to the first officer, "Prepare a clean shroud and a new noose, and be ready for the second second seal."

The first mate's face was tense, even though he had already expected such a situation, he still seemed extraordinarily hesitant: "Captain, this..."

"The situation is urgent, that's the only way to go," Lawrence said with a serious face. "Under special circumstances, there is a precedent for unsealing the sealed artifacts on the ship to solve the crisis. If the church wants to pursue it later, I will explain it to them."

The first officer seemed to want to say something, but facing the serious gaze of the old captain, he swallowed everything he wanted to say, and finally nodded vigorously: "Yes, captain!"

The order was quickly executed, and several sailors who were specially responsible for handling the sealed objects rushed to the special area on the lower deck, opened the No. 2 sealed room, and released the sealed state of the room according to the containment rules of Anomaly 077.

A moment later, amidst the roar of artillery fire, several sailors came to the bridge with Anomaly 077, and put the things the captain wanted in front of Lawrence.

Lawrence lowered his head, staring at the "abnormal items" that the sailors brought out from the seal with a particularly solemn expression——

It was a mummy tightly wrapped in a shroud.

Anomaly 077 - Sailor.

Lawrence knew the information on every piece of cargo on his ship, including this abnormal object of course.

Anomaly 077 first appeared on an expedition ship that had mysteriously disappeared for three years, and was believed to be the culprit that caused the crash of the expedition ship. The appearance of this anomaly looks like a mummy, about 1.7 meters tall, in In the unsealed state, it will show the characteristics of a "living creature", and even be able to talk and think with people, and its power is highly consistent with its "identity".

As a sailor, it will try to influence the ship closest to itself, and will take over all functions of the ship in a short period of time regardless of any environmental conditions, ship type, and control technology limitations. Once it completes the takeover, it will Then the ship will be randomly teleported-the whole process only takes a few minutes, and a ship of any size will be sent to a random corner of the boundless sea under the influence of "sailor".

But this kind of teleportation is not a smooth trip - the ship teleported away by anomaly 077 will definitely appear in the center of a big storm.

No one knows whether Anomaly 077 specifically chose the storm as the landing point for the teleportation, or whether it created a storm specifically for this teleportation. The only thing that is certain is that in the large number of teleportation events that have been recorded, only a small number of ships can Safely sail away from the storm at "fall point".

More ships, and hundreds of unfortunates, fell prey to Anomaly 077.

However, according to the information Lawrence has, Anomaly 077 itself is not difficult to deal with—although the escaped Anomaly 077 will unconditionally activate its abilities before the transmission is completed, but once the transmission is completed, it can be easily resealed. Put a new noose around its neck, and it will stop moving immediately, and then wrap it in a shroud, and it will return to sleep—this mummy has no strength beyond human beings, and its combat effectiveness is not powerful.

At that point, all the White Oak's crew would have to do was fight a storm—and Lawrence and his crew had weathered countless storms.

Lawrence bent down and slowly put his hands on the shroud of Anomaly 077.

The crew on the bridge watched nervously.

Laurence took a deep breath and undid the cord clasp on the shroud.

A slight inhalation sound reached his ears almost instantly.

The sound came from the wrapped mummy.

The shroud loosened, as if an invisible force instantly untied all the rope buckles, and the true face of Anomaly 077 was exposed to everyone's gaze—a man wearing an old-times sailor blouse, with thinning and falling hair, shriveled almost like a skeleton The mummy lay quietly on the floor.

The mummy's chest was rising and falling slightly, and the rising and falling became more and more obvious. In the end, Lawrence even felt that he heard the other's heartbeat and breathing.

Anomaly 077 out of trouble - Sailor wakes from seal.

The mummy slowly opened its eyes, and sat up stiffly, its joints crackling.

"You are at the helm of this ship for the time being," Lawrence gritted his teeth and said with a complicated expression, "Take us out of here."

Anomaly 077 sat up straight, looked around slowly, and finally landed on Lawrence.

For some reason, Lawrence suddenly felt as if he saw a trace of panic on that withered and terrifying face.

Then he saw that the mummy really shivered.

"Don't...don't make trouble!"

A hoarse and frightened exclamation came from the mouth of the mummy, and in the next second it closed its eyes under the watchful eyes of everyone, and lay down directly to pretend to be dead.

It even reached out and tugged at the shroud scattered beside it, as if it wanted to secretly wrap the cloth strips around its body again.

Lawrence: "...?"

Sailors: "...?"