Deep Sea Ember

Chapter 6 The Missing "Cargo"

The assembly bell rang, and the hurried bell was followed by the chaotic and panicked footsteps of the sailors, while Lawrence, the second officer, and the priest who had not yet been out of breath were left in the cab.

The old captain looked at the sea outside the window, at this moment the White Oak was still in the depths of the spirit world, the sea outside the side of the ship was entrenched in fog, and the water surface was still as dark as ink, but the storm had stopped, and the terrible lost homeland was gone—this couldn't help but give people an illusion, as if the previous storms and even the collapsed border of reality were brought by that ghost ship, And now all the disaster had gone away with the departure of the ship, away from the White Oak.

Lawrence thought of the terrible legends about the Lost Homeland and Captain Duncan Abnomar, the fleet that was swallowed up by the frontier of reality more than a century ago, and the ships that sank into the deep sea in the encounter with the Lost Home, and suddenly felt that this was not impossible.

But anyway, now that the Lost Home has left, the surrounding sea has temporarily regained calm, although it is still in the dangerous depths of the spiritual world, but at least he and his crew have a chance to breathe.

Next, Lawrence must determine what the Lost Home took from the White Oak—or left behind.

And it must be determined as soon as possible.

did not rule out all hidden dangers, he did not dare to let the ship float to the real world, because some things brought out of the spirit world would cause terrible pollution in the real world, but if he stayed deep in the spirit world for too long, he and his crew would still be irreversibly affected.

Listening to the noisy sound from the deck, Lawrence suddenly raised his head from his thoughts, and he looked at the pastor who was sitting in front of the incense burner, his face had improved a little, and his expression was very serious: "Mr. Ron, how stable are we now?

The

priest coughed twice, and then took out a small compass with a beautiful shape engraved with many marine symbols and sacred symbols from his arms, and after pressing the metal lid with a snap, the hands on the compass immediately rotated quickly, and finally stopped steadily in a certain position.

"We stay on the surface of the spiritual world, slightly close to the real world, from the influence of deep depths...... Very faint," the pastor looked at the compass pointer, his expression suddenly a little confused, "Strange...... We are completely stable here, with the relic closed, almost completely unsinking...... Ahem ......"

"Maybe the 'collision' of the lost homeland hit us on a safe route," Lawrence smiled bitterly and shook his head, trying to liven up the atmosphere with a cold joke, "I've heard that there are some delicate balances in the spirit world that can save things from the deeper 'pull' ......."

"Mr. Captain, this joke is too cold," said the pastor, coughing twice more, and although he had calmed down, his condition was not good at all, "Ahem, whatever happened today must be reported to the church...... The appearance of the lost homeland is by no means a trivial matter. In the past few decades, there have been reports of encounters with the Lost Home, but it has been proven that it was just a group vision caused by the crew's nonsense or a vision that got out of control, but today we are witnessing it for sure...... The goddess is on top, you should be mentally prepared for not being able to sail again in the near future after returning to Prade.

"I understand - neither the church nor the city-state authorities will allow a ship that has just suffered a vision disaster to return to the sea, this is for everyone's safety, and I have to report not only the church, the city-state, and the Explorers' Association...... Alas, and my terrible wife......" Captain Lawrence pressed his forehead hard, let out a long sigh and waved his hand, "Don't talk about this, you need to rest now, until you return to port, this ship needs the blessing of the goddess."

The

pastor nodded slightly, and soon, the first mate, who had just left, returned to the cab.

"There were not few people on board, and there were not many people," the first mate immediately reported without waiting for the captain to ask, "I personally inspected the sailors assembled on deck, and also went to the boiler room to check on the mechanics who remained there, and they were all able to accurately pronounce the names of the gods they believed in, and they were living people.

"Not a single person?" Lawrence's eyes widened, this should be good news, but he couldn't believe the situation reported by the first mate, "Where is the Holy Emblem?

"The relic is also normal," the first mate nodded immediately, "The navigator is preparing incense and essential oils, waiting for your order to restart the relic again."

Lawrence listened suspiciously, and once again couldn't help but muttered softly: "...... Did he really let go of the ship?

"Good luck is in our favor, Captain," the first mate spread his hands, "we lost nothing, maybe the terrible ghost captain just happened to pass by, or maybe even just accidentally bumped into it."

"Do you believe this?" Lawrence immediately glared at his first mate, "If good luck really favors us, we will never meet ...... at all"

As soon as he was halfway through his words, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the door, and then someone pushed open the door of the cab, and the sweaty boatswain appeared in front of Lawrence, the tall man's face was full of horror.

"Captain! Abnormal 099 is missing!!

The

cockpit was instantly quiet, and everyone was looking at each other, but for some reason, Lawrence suddenly felt relieved in a short shock -

Great, after encountering the Lost Home, something was finally found on the ship, then this is great!

But then he controlled the expression on his face, and as he walked to the door, he ordered the first mate to take over the steering wheel in a hurried tone, and ordered the boatswain to lead the way in front.

Hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor of the White Oak's cabin, and soon Lawrence was led by the boatswain to the deepest part of the steamship.

A special cabin appeared before his eyes.

The door of this cabin was engraved with dense occult symbols, and the heavy and dark door seemed to be cast from a single piece of black iron, and the mysterious symbols extended from the edge of the door frame to the corridor, vaguely as if to form some kind of closed cage to restrain the things stored in the cabin.

Lawrence glanced at the gate, confirmed that there were no signs of damage to the gate and the symbols around it, and then looked up - the "reliquary" where the holy emblem was placed was directly above the sealing room, which was the key to ensuring that the ship was not affected by the "deep", and it was also the second layer of insurance to maintain the sealing room, even if it was closed, it should be able to ensure that the barrier of the sealing room was intact.

But it was in such a situation that both barriers were intact, and the contents of the sealing room, the most critical cargo escorted by the White Oak on this voyage, Abnormal 099 - the puppet coffin, disappeared.

Lawrence took a deep breath, stepped forward to open the door of the sealing room, and pushed the heavy door open with force.

Inside the sealing room, the lights were bright, and the steam lamps hanging from the four pillars illuminated the center of the room almost without blind spots, but the "goods" that were supposed to be placed there were gone, leaving only a few crisscrossing chains and some gray-white ashes scattered on the surrounding ground.

The boatswain's voice came from behind Lawrence: "According to the sealing requirements of Anomaly 099, the lights have been maintained in this room, and every two hours a crew member will come in to reinforce the chains around the 'coffin' and sprinkle ashes on the floor of the room, but on that ship...... When the ghost ship appeared, because of the chaotic situation, the sailor who was supposed to be on duty did not enter the room in time, he was almost seven minutes late, and only found that the anomaly 099 had disappeared......"

"Just seven minutes late will not cause that thing to lose control, at most the seal will weaken and there will be changes, and the worst case is just a coffin running around in this room - the layers of seals and the confinement of the holy emblem are not decorations," Lawrence frowned and shook his head, "The current situation is that it is gone...... The cargo left the ship, and it had nothing to do with the sailor.

The

boatswain's expression was a little nervous: "Then you mean ......"

"It must be the Lost Home," Lawrence said in a deep voice, "That 'captain' took away the abnormal 099 ......."

Speaking of this, he paused, and sighed softly: "Maybe we should be glad that the Lost Homeland has always only taken what it wants, and that captain came for Abnormal 099, not our lives."

The

boatswain looked at his captain's face, then at the empty seal room, and then hesitated for a long time before asking, "What ...... We have lost such an important cargo, how can we ...... to the city-state authorities"

Lawrence glanced at the boatswain and patted the other party on the shoulder vigorously.

"The loss of hometown is a natural disaster, and we have marine insurance."

“…… Does the insurance company compensate for this?

"They won't compensate for the Explorer Association to issue a new bounty ...... for the Lost Home"

"Captain, are you a little anxious......

"Shut up."