Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 28 Ship Armor
"This is a piece of armor, a very rare ship armor." The magic mirror commented.

"Ship armor? Tell me what it's used for?"

While urging, Cheng Lang stuffed the two cups of Poseidon's blood into his belt pocket. Including what he got from Gerta, he already had three cups.

"This is an inverted hourglass, the work of the famous armor master Vanhart."

The magic mirror explained, "Fix it to the ship's bell stand. Simply flip the hourglass to reverse the ship's direction. After the blood of Poseidon runs out of the hourglass, you can reverse the ship a second time."

As he spoke, the magic mirror displayed the small boat carved on the top of the hourglass frame. "To change the direction and angle, just twist this boat.

But it is not without its drawbacks. Every time the ship changes direction, its speed is reset to zero and it needs to accelerate again."

"Is this thing rare?" Cheng Lang asked.

“Of course it’s rare.”

The magic mirror explained, "Ship armor uses an astonishing amount of raw materials, and the success rate is very low. Even for the armor master Vanhart, his success rate is less than 50%.

And if he hadn't married the Pirate Queen Eleanor, a love-brained woman who even sea captains shook their heads at, he probably wouldn't have been able to support himself even if he had to sell his ass, and he wouldn't have had the chance to leave behind so many famous ship armors."

"This Van Hart?" Cheng Lang asked curiously while looking at the old hourglass.

"Two hundred years ago, he was only a legend."

The magic mirror scoffed, "It's said that because he emotionally betrayed the Pirate Queen Eleanor, the Queen commissioned a friend to forge a piece of armor that can only move back and forth."

“Good death.”

Cheng Lang twitched his lips, walked to the ship's clock tower on the indoor bridge, and fixed the hourglass on it.

Regardless of whether Captain Senfa will know about the existence of this ship armor in the future, now is obviously not a good time to try it out. As the saying goes, you can only make a fortune by keeping silent. It is the most annoying thing to take advantage of others and still act ungratefully.

The ship's harvest was not only a piece of ship armor and those larger-caliber cannons, but the vine goblins, with their excellent eyesight and somewhat keen sense of smell, also found a box of gold coins from the shipwreck.

Unfortunately, the financial reserves of this pirate ship that used ship armor were really small. Even if the treasures that the vine goblins took from the sailors' corpses were added together, there were only less than 60 gold coins and silver coins and copper coins that were not worth five gold coins in total.

After collecting the spoils, Cheng Lang signaled to the magic mirror, which immediately used a mirror hanging on the mast to send a light signal to the Flamingo.

Soon, the two ships moved slowly and the distance between them was shortened. Captain Senfa also sent a messenger to deliver a letter, briefly explaining the situation of the other two ships and clearly stating that all the spoils belonged to Cheng Lang and his ship.

Knowing that the other party was trying to cultivate friendship, Cheng Lang did not explicitly refuse. He commanded the Valkyrie to follow the Flamingo back to the edge of the sea fog, and finally stopped next to the captive ship.

It was not known whether it was Captain Senfa's or Mr. Lu Ting's decision, but the Flamingo once again took the initiative to distance itself.

Seeing this, Cheng Lang didn't hesitate and took several gorillas led by Wukong to board the pirate ship which was still filled with the smell of fireworks.

I went to the gun deck to take a look first. This ship was equipped with 15-coin cannons, and the wooden gun mounts of several of them had been smashed by shells.

Seeing this, Cheng Lang lost interest and simply handed the task of collecting spoils to Teng Xiao. He ran back to the relatively safe Valkyrie and commanded the Great Sage to take the other chimpanzees to salvage the sunken ship.

While both sides were busy, the cannons salvaged from the sunken ship were gradually pulled out of the sea. Unfortunately, this time they were still 15-coin cannons.

Although the artillery on his ship had just been upgraded, Cheng Lang no longer looked down on these artillery pieces. He simply intercepted the gunpowder barrels and asked the vine goblins to send all the replacements on his ship to the captured ship.

"Are we going to give them all the spoils?"

On the Flamingo in the distance, Captain Senfa, who had already asked the sailors to return to the cargo hold and turned off the lights, asked with a painful look.

"Senfa, this is on the sea."

Mr. Lu Ting, also holding a telescope, warned, "Be more patient and clear-headed. Can our Flamingo outrun them, or find that elusive ghost ship in the sea fog? Or can we find other ships willing to help us near the Vermilion Bird Islands?"

After this series of questions were raised, Senfa sighed helplessly, "That captain didn't attack us, and he helped us deal with the pirate ship sent by the Swordfish Merchants. We should be content."

“I’m glad you think so.”

Mr. Lu Ting smiled and said, "With a little more patience, we can gain no less than that captain."

Just as he finished speaking, a letter bird also landed on the open-air driving platform.

Taking off the glass bottle hanging around Xin Weng's neck, Mr. Lu Ting pulled out a piece of paper from it, looked at it, and then handed it to Senfa beside him, "Look, this is what we got."

I took the note and looked at it. There was only one neat handwriting on it: Arrange a captain and enough sailors to take over the ship and the spoils on it.

"Have you anticipated this?" Senfa asked in surprise.

"They didn't even have the sailors on board to carry the guns ashore."

Mr. Luting said, "And we've been to his ship. Have you seen the rest of the crew?"

Without waiting for Senfa to answer, Lu Ting handed him a wooden box and said, "I will take half of the sailors to that ship. Senfa, cherish our friendship and show your utmost sincerity. We may soon have two ships."

"What is this?" Senfa asked, holding the box handed to him by the other party.

"It's the ship armor left behind by the armor master Vanhart."

Lu Ting paused and introduced, "The legend may be true. The Swordfish Merchant Group may indeed have some connection with the fallen Pirate Queen Eleanor. Senfa, use this ship armor on the Flamingo."

"You stole it from that boat."

Before Senfa could finish, Lu Ting had already walked into the dark cabin carrying an oil lamp.

At the same time, Cheng Lang had already commanded the Valkyrie to retreat into the fog not far away, taking stock of the spoils found on the sunken ship and the captured ship.

The two ships only found less than a hundred gold coins and less than ten silver coins in total. However, they found more than a dozen barrels of fruit wine.

In addition to these gains, the goblins also brought back a second piece of ship armor from the shipwreck.

"Thanks to the Valkyrie, how could we have such a big harvest today!" In the captain's room, the magic mirror was spinning around excitedly.

"Is this also a ship armor?"

Cheng Lang picked up the object on the table and asked in confusion, "This is a seahorse. It's not accurate to call it a seahorse. Although it looks very similar to a seahorse, its mouth is a "snail" that looks very similar to the horn of a mirage."

"It's a mirage, a living mirage in a sense."

The magic mirror excitedly explained, "This is also Van Hart's work! It even appears in the records about the Pirate Queen Eleanor!"

"Isn't this a seahorse?"

Cheng Lang couldn't help but mutter, then asked, "So what's the use of this?"

"Dear Captain, please send it to the heart of the ship and throw it into the heart pool, then you will get the answer." The magic mirror said impatiently.

After a brief hesitation, Cheng Lang stood up, holding the sea mirage in one hand and a small mirror in the other. He asked as he walked, "Two of the three ships that came here have ship armor. Do you think the captive ship has it?"

"Are we finally going to plunder the Flamingo?" the Magic Mirror asked excitedly, "I've always said it's time..."

"Shut up!"

Cheng Lang said unhappily, "Compared to robbing them, I'm more concerned about whether the secrets of these ship armors will be revealed by the captives." "That's a..."

“You won’t live long if you eat alone.”

Cheng Lang said as he walked into the stairwell leading to the ship's core chamber. "We and the Flamingo share a secret. Even if it's to protect these secrets, we will trust each other, unless..."

"Unless they are planning to silence us?" The magic mirror said another possibility in fear.

“Just give it a try”

Cheng Lang said without comment, and at the same time opened the small door leading to the ventricle of the ship.

He walked up the stairs to the core area of ​​the ship and threw the mirage in his hand into the pool in the center of the ship. The mirage came to life the moment it fell into the blood.

In just a moment, Cheng Lang also understood the function of this ship armor.

Just like the Mirage Horn, this piece of armor can also generate sea fog, and even the range and time are basically the same.

But the difference is that the fog generated by this ship armor can actually move on the sea along with the ship!

The most important thing is that the ability to use this ship armor does not affect his ability to blow the Mirage Horn!

In other words, if he wanted, he could practically keep the Valkyrie hidden in the fog all day!

Before he could recover from this unexpected surprise, the magic mirror suddenly reminded him, "Dear Captain, I don't want to ruin the atmosphere, but the Flamingo just sent a light signal. Captain Senfa wants to talk to you."

"at this time?"

Cheng Lang thought for a moment, then said as he walked out, "Send back the signal. You're welcome anytime."

"Have you really decided?"

On the deck of the merchant ship Flamingo, Mr. Lu Ting, who was originally preparing to serve as captain on the prisoner ship, frowned and asked Senfa.

"Decided"

Captain Senfa said as he carefully climbed up the rope ladder to the small boat on the sea, "Mr. Lu Ting, I know how valuable this thing is, but what if he also found similar things on the other two ships?

Just like you said, that elusive ghost ship can destroy us at any time.

I can't gamble, not with the lives of all the sailors. So Mr. Lu Ting, it's time for me to fulfill the most basic responsibility of a captain."

"It seems that you still remember what I said to you when we went out to sea," Mr. Lu Ting sighed.

"of course I remember"

Senfa, who had already jumped onto the transport boat, looked up and waved to Mr. Lu Ting, "The captain's most basic responsibility is to bring all the sailors to shore safely."

After saying this, he placed the boat lantern in his hand on the bow of the transport boat and rowed away from the Flamingo alone.

"Senfa"

On the deck of the Flamingo, Mr. Lu Ting said loudly, "You will be an excellent captain, a better captain than most people on the sea!"

“Thank you for the compliment!”

Senfa responded loudly to Mr. Lu Ting with a smile, and at the same time rowed the boat even harder.

At the same time, Cheng Lang personally drove the Valkyrie out of the thick fog and picked up Captain Senfa who came alone at the edge of the fog.

Just like every time he boarded the ship before, Senfa did not see any sailors except Cheng Lang, except for the scarlet eyes hidden in the thick fog and the shadows of the sails.

However, when he followed Cheng Lang into the meeting room that he envied again, he saw a little girl with long black hair busy pouring scarlet fruit wine into a glass.

Captain Senfa glanced at Cheng Lang's hair almost subconsciously, then immediately withdrew his gaze. He sat down at the other party's invitation with a normal expression, then took out a wooden box from his arms and pushed it over.

"What is this?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

"This is what my sailors just found when they were torturing the first mate of the captured ship."

Captain Senfa explained, "This is a rare piece of ship armor, Captain Cheng Lang. Without your help, the Flamingo would never have survived the pursuit of three ships. I don't think I should embezzle such a valuable item."

"Are you worried that I will sink you?" Cheng Lang asked directly. Senfa, who was sitting opposite him, also had cold sweat on his forehead.

"We are friends," Cheng Lang's next words finally made him feel relieved.

But before he could say anything, Cheng Lang said, "We also found a ship armor on the last ship that was sunk."

As he spoke, Cheng Lang pushed a glass of fruit wine to Senfa, then picked up the ship armor he had brought, stood up and said, "Please wait a moment."

Before Senfa could say anything, Cheng Lang had already walked out of the conference room quickly, trotted downstairs, and went into the captain's room. He couldn't wait to ask the magic mirror, "Look quickly, what is this thing?"

“It’s still Van Hart’s work.”

The magic mirror frowned as he said, "This is a broken ship armor."

"Damaged ship armor?"

Cheng Lang couldn't help but frown as he looked at the thing in the box. It was not big, and it was dark and soft all over.

Even though he didn't want to say it, this thing really looked like a condom that had been used and forgotten to tie the knot.
"This is a boat bladder made from the swim bladder of a deep-sea demon fish. It's one of Van Hart's most famous works."

The magic mirror explained, "It allows ships to dive for a short period of time, but the naval structure is damaged."

"So it can't be used?" Cheng Lang asked disappointedly.

"It can be used, of course it can be used." The magic mirror explained quickly, "but I'm afraid there will be some side effects."

"What side effects?" Cheng Lang urged, "I'm in a hurry, tell me everything quickly."

"Each use requires consumption of Poseidon's blood"

The magic mirror explained, "The exact amount of Poseidon's blood required will probably only be known when it's actually used."

'New problems'

Cheng Lang asked, "Which one is more valuable, this or the flipping hourglass?"

"Of course it's that!"

The magic mirror said almost subconsciously, "But the deep-sea magic fish has long been extinct, and this ship's bladder may be difficult to repair.

Considering this, it is as valuable as an inverted hourglass. "What are you going to do, Captain?"

"Building friendships"

As Cheng Lang spoke, he walked out of the office, went back upstairs up the stairs, and then took out the flip hourglass, which was also a ship armor, from the ship's bell stand on the side of the bridge.

(End of this chapter)