Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At this time, in order to not let the ship’s passengers and sailors be disturbed by their sorrow and fear, Fjodna dragged his old body and took the lead to walk to and fro from the forests to the shore, and from the shore back to the forests again like a robot as he added firewood to the fire that was burning the bodies.
Every time the first officer advised him to rest, the captain would always whisper as he walked haltingly, “I must not rest, Harry! Right now, everyone is watching me. As long as this old man is still moving, the young ones would then be able to endure it and not collapse. I can’t let them think too much right now. As time drags on, we’d definitely be dead if another group of evil midgets rushed over, or if those two beasts who have eaten up all the midgets turn hungry once again! We only have one chance to escape! It’s tonight! Tonight…”
Fjodna repeated the same answers seven to eight times over and over again. Unknowingly, night had arrived. The adverse circumstances and the captain’s strong will allowed those young New Yorkers who had not suffered before to volunteer with inconceivable tenacity. The high-intensity manual labor that lasted for more than ten hours had actually been endured by most people without any slight reservations.
Right now, the girls onboard and the cunning old men had also taken the initiative to disembark from the ship to carry the firewoods after all of the tablecloths had been torn to strips already. Even the executive director Mr. Hudner of the Ocean Shipping Company, who looked like a barrel with his height that was barely 170 centimeters tall and his weight that had already exceeded 230 pounds, pitched in to help.
Under such a situation, Zhang Lisheng also had no choice but to join in with the crowds of carrying firewood in order to not attract a lot of attention.
After he found a backpack and carried Mountoad behind him, he walked into the forest all by himself. He realized that the trees here were lusher than the rainforests on Earth but there was rarely a tree that had a height higher than 10 meters. On top of that, there were many dried and withered branches scattered on the ground. It looked like the propagation cycle of the plants in this world was shorter and more active.
Exuberant activity meant that the trees contained high amounts of woody oils. The high oil content in the wood also meant that higher temperature would be able to be generated when they were burnt. Because of this, with the help of the increasing amount of firewood thrown in the bonfire burning under the giant stone pillars, the bonfire was able to burn with a raging heat as its flame rose to a few meters high. If one could endure the heat and observe carefully by the side, one would faintly see that the stone pillars in the fire had started to show a faint shade of red.
Other than the sound of “crack crack crack…” when fresh wood was thrown into the fire, no other sound could be heard on the shore. It was only until when the moon on this different world — that was almost exactly identical to the one on Earth — had risen almost to the center, surging waves could suddenly be heard from the ocean.
“The tide is rising! It’s going to be high tide soon.” Fjodna, who had been waiting for the tidal sounds anxiously, finally broke out into a pleasant smile on his exhausted face. Breathing a sigh of relief, he stood up in a staggered manner before shouting with all of his might, “Everyone, throw the wood on your hands into the fire and get on the ship immediately. It’s going to be high tide soon…”
Under the call of the old captain, the ocean tides gradually rippled. All of a sudden, the distant forest was lit up again with flickers of fire like last night. As time went by, the fire became more numerous and in the end, it formed into a long snake. With a speed visible to the naked eyes, it slowly crept towards the shore.
Recalling the horror of the indigenous midgets during the day time, the crowds who were making their way on board burst into a riot.
“Don’t worry everyone! Even though these indigenous people are fast, they are just too far away from us! We’d all have boarded the ship already by the time they reach the shore. Don’t fall into chaos, come in order one by one and don’t panic. Take a deep breath and walk slowly! It’ll be alright!” The old captain, who still remained his calm and steady manner at this crucial time, played a key role once again. Under his comforting reassurance, the dangerous chaos on the suspension ladder soon regained its calmness as the flow of people began to pour onto the Elizabeth Holiday’s deck in an orderly manner continuously.
By the time everyone had boarded, the suspension ladder was retracted in the midst of the roaring motor sound. Fjodna, who climbed on board lastly, told the first officer by his side, “Harry, I’ll go control the helm in the steering room. Keep an eye here on these young men and remember, if we still haven’t set sail when the midgets arrive, don’t let anybody make any provocative actions!”
“Don’t worry, sir!” the first officer answered solemnly and confidently.
The old captain nodded before patting his first officer’s shoulder. “Oh yeah, Harry! I take back my sentence where I said I’ve misjudged you yesterday. Everyone makes mistakes! Making mistakes is not that terrifying but what’s terrifying is the unwillingness to repent after making one. It’s apparent that you’re not like that.”
After he had finished saying that, he turned around and walked slowly to the steering room.
As time gradually passed by, the bright moon on the sky slowly slanted and the tidal waves of the ocean gradually became more intense. In the end, it slowly submerged the huge pillars on the beach.
At this moment, loud commotions could be heard from the distant forest. Dozens of aborigines who were riding on bugs — bugs that had bodies covered in black vellus hair, with elliptical bodies that had eight long legs split into three sections, like spiders that had been magnified thousands of times, charged out of the forest as they wore light armor made of animal skin while holding onto wooden spears that looked smooth on the surface..
Compared to the unarmed aborigines during the day, it was apparent that these aborigines were the army members while the unarmed aborigines a while ago were just civilians. The instant they appeared, the passengers cursed and shouted at the midgets along the deck of the Elizabeth Holiday.
However, unlike the humans who were yelling in a hostile manner, these midgets who were riding on the giant bugs did not have the desire to attack the ship. Instead, they rushed to the fire burning under the giant pillars.
In fact, at this time, as the tide continued to rise, due to the reason that the fire ignited by the humans had plenty of fuel for it to burn, it was not extinguished immediately by the seawater. However, it was already at the end of its flight.
However, it looked like even a one-second frame of time seemed to be an unacceptable torment for the indigenous midgets who had just rushed to the beach. They would rather be swallowed by the waves that were constantly surging as the tide rose, or be scorched to death by the hot stone pillars, than wait for the fire by the beach to be extinguished by itself.
The fire flickering in the midst of it steaming was like the bonfire attracting moths to their own deaths, as they lured the midgets gushing out of the forest in a succession towards their death.
The ways the primitive aborigines sought for their own deaths in a manner that the civilized people could not fathom seemed to be even more frightening than them attacking the Elizabeth Holiday. “They’re crazy! These midgets are absolutely crazy! God! Dear God, please save us!”
“Urghh urghh! What the hell? This is definitely hell! This is hell!”
“Set sail! Why isn’t the ship moving! So much steam has risen already but why isn’t the ship moving…” Hearing the shouts of despair outside, Fjodna stood in the steering room controlling the rudder as he stared at the fog rising at the left side of the ship from the lookout window. His lips trembled slightly but he still did not give out any order.
“S-Sir, y-you haven’t started the engine y-yet? The draught for the ship should already be deep enough r-right?” In this suffocating atmosphere, the helmsman Alessandro could not suppress the helplessness in his heart and asked all of a sudden.
“Don’t rush, Alessandro. The steam rising from the ocean is still huge. The physical effect of the thermal expansion and contraction has not fully completed yet! We have to wait for it to complete entirely and let the foundation of the stone pillars to become more fragile… more fragile… Wait, be prepared now, young man! The steam rising is getting faint now! We don’t have much of a chance… NOW!”
As Fjodna yelled loudly, the Elizabeth Holiday gradually started its engine. The ship whistled “woo woo…” loudly and suddenly dipped backward.
The foundation of the giant stone pillar on the left while being soaked in the water was now covered with numerous tiny cracks. Rubbing against the ship emitting a series of ear-piercing “tshh tshh…” sounds, it did not collapse and still firmly clamped onto the giant ship in the ocean, not allowing the ship to move at all.
The first attempt of the humans trying to survive failed just like this. As the fire gradually diminished in the ocean, more and more indigenous midgets gathered on the shore, losing their grip while starting to turn their attention to the Elizabeth Holiday.
At this time, the unique tidal law of this different world had already separated the midgets far away from the cruise. Unfortunately, such a distance meant nothing to the island’s aborigines who could sacrifice at any time for their beliefs.
Thousands of them gathered together and drove the giant bugs underneath into the ocean. Floating unsteadily, they drifted towards the ship and even though some of them were swept away by the tides and went missing just like that, most of them still gradually approached the ship.
“Those midgets are getting closer to our ship! Guards, be prepared for defense! All of the sailors holding fire axes shall also be on standby with the guards! We don’t know whether those madmen will climb onto the deck with some strange method or not so everyone, stay calm! It’s better if each of you could look for a weapon to defend yourself, a chair, wine bottle or whatsoever!” On the deck, the first officer shouted with a trembling voice, imitating the captain’s tone, as he watched the dense amount of giant bugs moving towards the ship on the ocean underneath the bright moonlight.
“What should we do, Lisheng? Should we g-go find a chair to defend ourselves or should we escape using Island Dragon? B-But there are just too many midgets in the ocean…” Upon hearing the first officer’s words, despite fully trusting Zhang Lisheng’s power, Tina, who could not help but be nervous, asked incoherently when danger approached.
The deck had already fallen into a chaotic panic. Zhang Lisheng, who was standing by the edge of the ship with a blanket wrapped around him, whispered, “Don’t worry, Tina. Just a while ago when the ship’s engine was revved on, I saw the left stone pillar tremble for a moment. Looks like the foundation is already unstable and I have a plan that can quickly drive the midgets away after I carry it out.”
“They’re not even afraid of death so how could they possibly escape…”
“Trish, the reason they’re not afraid right now is that nobody has taught them fear at all…” The young man smiled and automatically released the jelly stone on his wrist. Stretching it out and wrapping it around his fingers, his mouth moved faintly before he quietly spat out a mouthful of dark-colored blood towards the ocean. With a low voice, he whispered, “Connect!”.
At this time, the ship whistled “woo woo —” once again. As thousands of people on the ship prayed together, the Elizabeth Holiday began to dip on one side before it slanted backward.
This time, it was apparent that the stone pillar on the left side of the cruise shook for a moment but unfortunately, it still did not break.
