Haidu: Top of the Tower

Chapter 13 The Search That Continues for Ten Thousand Years

The whale chain gun was fired for the first time, and the steel fork grazed the lifeboat and hit the sea, causing high snow-white spray.

When the water splash jumped, it seemed that Milady's heart was also lifted into the air.

She stood on the lookout board, holding the guardrail with one hand and the binoculars with the other. Knowing that Lu Ranzhou couldn't hear her, she still couldn't help whispering: "There is still a chance, come again!"

Compared with 30 seconds ago, it is now several times more difficult to hit the bow of the lifeboat.

Not only because Lu Ranzhou needs to control the sea wind and constantly adjust the direction, but also because he is carrying a powerful and heavy whale-piercing chain gun - when he aims to launch, the floating skateboard has no grip, and it will It was pushed far away by the recoil; even if it was aimed at the bow of the lifeboat when launching, because it was connected by a long cable, if Lu Ranzhou slipped back, the aiming head of the steel fork might be deflected.

As if that wasn't troublesome enough, the waves at sea were getting bigger and bigger; the wind was hitting harder and harder between the sky and the sea, and the waves were forming higher and higher peaks every time.Even the ship was bumping up and down, staggering here and there, almost causing Milady to fall on the lookout board several times, let alone a jet ski that was helpless in mid-air.

"Milady," shouted the bosun, standing on the ladder leading to the watch-board, holding on tightly to the railing, "the captain has missed! What shall we do now?"

Though he did not say much, Milady felt that she could hear under him, and what the rest of the crew were afraid to say.Abandoning Dao Mingke and his party is two different things from abandoning the captain; Lu Ranzhou himself knew this, so he went to save people himself.Even though the crew members were panicked and frightened, none of them dared to put that proposal into their mouths, but Milady knew that if there was no progress like this, I am afraid that moment would not be too far away.

"Adjust the direction, turn the bow of the ship against the wind, and open the fins," Milady shouted without turning her head amidst the howling sea wind, "Let's give the captain a little more time!"

At last what seemed an eternity of a second, Milady heard the bosun come down the ladder.

The crew in the stern had already got the horn, and when she needed to call Lu Ranzhou back to the ship, she would wave the flag; the crew would blow the horn as soon as they saw the signal flag.

Lu Ranzhou must return to the ship safely, this was the clearest and strongest thought in Milady's mind when she got on the lookout board.

If Dao Mingke's pedestrians really couldn't be saved, she thought she would do her duty, so she wouldn't feel guilty; the problem is that nothing happened to Lu Ranzhou.

Not only because she likes this captain very much and doesn't want him to die, but also because if he dies, Milady will be in trouble next time.

Even if the Nightcastle escapes in time under her command, no one will remember Milady's kindness at that time.Everyone on board will remember that she was the one who initiated the duel that led to Domink's launch, a chain of events that culminated in the loss of a vital figure in the voyage, the Captain.

As for whether Dao Mingke was the first to cause trouble and deceive others, it will not matter then.

People are always tolerant of bullies, as if as long as they don't bully themselves, they form a special alliance; but they are often very strict with the rebels, and it is best to have an extra one in the process. Ants are not allowed to be trampled to death-let alone such disastrous consequences?

On the one hand, if Dao Mingke and his party and Lu Ranzhou can return to the ship safely, then her future on the ship will be different...

Milady stared closely at the distant sea, when Lu Ranzhou fired the steel fork at the lifeboat again, her palms were already wet with sweat.But again, the whale chain gun missed, and this time it missed the lifeboat by two or three meters.

...Has it been a full minute?

Even without looking up, Milady could feel that the dark blue eyes of "Tears of Chaos" were slowly pressing towards the lifeboat like a lake descending from the sky.

There are such huge creatures in the world; as the "Tears of Chaos" tilted, the sea water pouring down from it formed a roaring high waterfall on the sea surface. Unexpectedly, there was only a snow-white spray, which was blown by the wind, and the vision was getting darker and darker.

When the "Tears of Chaos" approached completely, its lowered head might be the last scene they saw in the world.

The third time, the steel fork also fell into the sea water.

"Milady!" It seemed to be the bosun shouting to her from the deck below: "Call the captain back quickly, we must go!"

How to do?Is it time to call him?
From Lu Ranzhou's current position, he still has time to turn around...it's time to call him back.Milady held back the unwillingness in her heart, held the flag tightly, and was about to raise it when Lu Ranzhou's movement in the middle of the distance suddenly caught her attention.

He seemed to have forgotten to fire the whale chain cannon for a moment, and instead stepped on the airflow skateboard, swinging up and down, left and right in the air. At first glance, he seemed to be dancing in the air.

What is he doing?
Milady was startled, and unconsciously recalled the feeling when she stepped on the skateboard.

When she was in mid-air, the air currents moving around her, the balance under her feet, the inertia of the board, the direction of the wind... She closed her eyes, the angles of Lu Ranzhou's launches just now, the distance from the steel fork falling into the water, and how far he was in mid-air. The ups and downs in the past, all resurfaced in my mind one by one.

Suddenly Milady understood.

"Not in time!" She immediately opened her eyes and shouted down over the lookout board: "I am the acting captain, wait for my order!"

Milady didn't know the reaction of the people on board, nor was she interested in knowing.

In the next few seconds, she just stared at the distant sea so tightly that she couldn't even feel if she was breathing.

She was almost certain that when Lu Ranzhou fired the whale chain cannon for the fourth time, he aimed not at the lifeboat at all, but at the sea water next to the boat.

When people are highly nervous and concentrated, it seems that the flow of time in cognition will also be slowed down; the steel fork shoots out quickly, is blown away from the shooting path by the sea breeze, and plunges straight into the lifeboat... All these things should be seen by the human eye. The movements that could not be captured were clearly presented in Milady's eyes at this time.

"Hit!"

When the whale chain gun fired for the fourth time finally succeeded in biting into the bow of the lifeboat, cheers erupted from the stern of the boat.

It seemed that Milady's heart did not remember to beat until this moment; when she spoke, she found that her voice was hoarse, and coughed before conveying the order clearly and loudly: "Get ready to set sail at full speed!"

The propulsion mechanism system of the Night Castle soon roared and vibrated from the bottom of the ship, which meant that she could break through the waves at the highest speed at any time.Milady jumped off the lookout board in three steps at a time, and ran towards the stern on the violently swaying boat, just in time for Lu Ranzhou, who jumped down from mid-air, couldn't hold back for a while, hugging the mechanism and rolling around He crashed back into the boat.

She hurried up with big strides, and together with another crew member, helped Lu Ranzhou up.

"Captain," she couldn't help shouting, "it's not too late for you to come back!"

Lu Ranzhou's whole body was soaked by the waves, his face was pale, he panted and smiled and said, "Milady, you are really brave enough to wait until now?"

"Because I guess your fourth launch will probably be successful," Milady said with a sigh, laughing.

She had realized just now that after Lu Ranzhou missed a few times, he was calculating the deviation tendency of the steel fork after firing according to the distance, direction and wind direction pushed by the recoil force, so as to know where to launch the steel fork, so as to be most likely to hit In the lifeboat - I have to say, this reaction and vision are really amazing.Milady asked herself, if it were her, she might still not be able to figure it out after three launches.

"On this route, there are too many times when you need to use your brain to change your life." Lu Ranzhou patted her on the shoulder, as if guessing what she was thinking, and said, "You will get used to it in the future."

At this time, the whale chain gun was pressed on the deck by several hands together, and it was not rolled around by the waves at least; its long rope was stretched straight, tightly biting the lifeboat in the distance, and pulled it all the way. Break through the sea.Due to the extremely fast speed of the Night Castle, several times it even pulled the lifeboat into the air and fell heavily on the waves.

"Ready to collect the rope," Lu Ranzhou stood up, and ordered the crew members who had just arrived at this time, "Everyone, use your strength!"

After the steel fork bites a heavy target, it becomes a very laborious job to pull the target back.Milady retreated to the side, grasping the facilities on the ship, and stabilized her body; she watched several male crew members hold on to each other, exerting all their strength, turning the mechanism little by little, gradually shortening the long rope, and the lifeboat finally Slowly approaching the Night Castle.

On a sea boat running at full speed, it is simply an impossible task to pull the lifeboat and the people on board. Fortunately, the lifeboat bumped a few times just now, and the people on the boat woke up one after another. Although panicked and frightened, they still climbed the ladder and climbed back to the Night Castle one after another—it was a miracle that no one fell into the sea from the ladder in such a violent storm.

Perhaps they also understood that if they fell into the sea, there was no way the Nightcastle would stop and save them again.

When Dao Mingke fell on the deck with a "gudong", his whole body was already soaked by the waves, and his skin was so pale that there was no vitality.

Compared with the confident and imposing man in the morning, Dao Minke at this moment is simply a mollusk with the same appearance; he lay panting on the deck, rolled a few times because of the wind and waves, and finally stabilized After staying up, he murmured, "What, what's going on... What did I see just now?"

"It's 'Tears of Chaos'," Milady couldn't help but replied, "It appeared as soon as you boarded the lifeboat just now. I hope we can escape smoothly before it catches up."

"You guys... haven't left?" Dao Mingke raised his head in a daze, as if he didn't know her.

But if Milady had anything to say, she had no chance to say it.

At that moment, Milady felt that the sea under her feet suddenly had a will, and wanted to rush up to the sky and throw off the people and boats on her body.

The deck left her feet, the sky weighed down the sea.

Just for a moment, she couldn't see anything clearly, as if the world was wrapped in the cliff-like waves that pushed up to the sky again and again, spinning and churning between the gloomy sea and sky. There is a sea in front of time, but I don't know where is the way out.

In the fuzzy and broken vision, amidst the tumbling screams and endless roaring furious waves, Lu Ranzhou's repeated orders were so far away that they seemed to be hallucinations: "Go to the hold! All go to the hold!"

A big hand tightly grabbed Milady's arm, and pressed her to the boat, not leaving with the waves.She was dragged somewhere, and the force was so heavy that her arms ached; on the sea boat that was constantly being thrown into the sky, she couldn't tell whether she was walking, crawling, or rolling and flying.

People's imagination is so limited, she was vaguely amazed, as if another self was thinking from a distance, not personally experiencing it, who would have thought that there would be such a huge monster in the sea, which could lift out and touch the sky? What about the waves?
Even when Milady was hiding in the bottom cabin, she couldn't see the eyes of "Tears of Chaos", but she seemed to be able to feel the strong emotions belonging to it in the world: puzzlement, disappointment and fear—it seemed to be It is more afraid than the people on the boat who don't know whether they will lose their lives. They are afraid of returning to the bottom of the sea where only it is left, and fall into the long and lonely waiting again, not knowing where there are companions in the vast world.

Milady's perception of time was paralyzed.She didn't know how long she had endured the tumbling and throwing, but miraculously, the Nightcastle gradually caught the waves again, stabilized her body with her last breath, and was finally not pushed into the deep seabed by the huge waves.

"It's gone," an unknown person cried in the pitch-black bilge, "It must have sunk again!"

Milady pressed against the bulkhead wall, and after a few seconds of delay, she finally felt that there was still life flowing in her veins.

"What, what's going on?" Someone asked in a trembling voice, "Why did it leave suddenly?"

Milady covered her face with her hands, and could scarcely gather her strength.

After a while, she replied in a hoarse voice: "For the Tears of Chaos, the Night Castle is just a pile of steel and wood. We hid in the cabin and disappeared from the sea. The Tears of Chaos lost the connection with it. I probably thought that something that happened countless times before happened again today."

"Things that happened countless times? What do you mean?"

I don't know how many years ago the "Tears of Chaos" has survived until now. I'm afraid it will never understand why the "companions" it finds time and time again disappear on the cold seabed.

Milady smiled wryly, and said: "It keeps appearing in front of human beings, probably because it thinks that we, a small thing that can feel its mind for some reason, are its companions. According to legend, the beast of chaos Doesn't the tear bring the human lost in its mind to the bottom of the sea? After it brings the 'companion' into the bottom of the sea, the person dies naturally. From its point of view, it must be like disappearing into the bottom of the sea... I Think, maybe it went to the bottom of the sea to find us."

There was a moment of silence in the cabin.

She naturally didn't know whether her guess about "Tears of Chaos" was correct, and she never wanted to know—one time in a life is enough for such an experience.

In the darkness, something made a "cha" sound, and then a red dot lit up.

Milady stared at the red light, and smelled a smell of tobacco as it flickered on and off; then, Lu Ranzhou's voice sounded: "Even sea monsters know how to cherish their companions, we The people on board are still fighting to the death."

Milady was startled, and laughed dumbfoundedly in the darkness.It was a rare time when she couldn't say anything, and after a few seconds, she suddenly heard Dao Mingke say: "Captain, I just don't like people from the Wave Concerto family."

After a pause, he said sullenly again: "However, Milady... seems to be different from those people from the big families I remember."

"She was the one who came up with the idea of ​​pulling your lifeboat back, and she was the one who made us stop after the duel," said another voice from the hold, as if it was the volunteer narrator.

Dao Minke's voice was almost as if he was buried in a brick: "I...I heard about it. At least I heard about the stopping of the ship."

Milady coughed hastily, and said, "If Dao Mingke hadn't grabbed me into the hold just now, I might have been thrown overboard long ago."

The cabin was quiet again for a while, and Milady thought to herself, maybe Dao Mingke, like herself, is extremely grateful that the lights here are all off at this time, right?
"Okay," Lu Ranzhou seemed to stand up as the red cigarette butt rose from the darkness, "Since it's safe, stop chatting here and get out of the hold. I don’t know what kind of damage the ship suffered, and the lights in the cabin are not on, why don’t you go check it quickly?”

She smiled silently again.

When everyone left the hold, the foamy waves had spread out a swaying but steady sea surface at the foot of the Night Castle again.Standing on the deck, Milady looked behind her, only to see a vast sea and sky, and a vast world.

(End of this chapter)