Deep Sea Embers

The island was getting closer and closer, and the dense fog on the island and the silhouette in the dense fog became more and more clear—Lawrence stood on the bow deck of the White Oak, with both hands tightly grasping the guardrail in front of him, his knuckles It looks a little whitish due to exertion.

Everyone will be nervous, even the old captain who has been wandering on the boundless sea for most of his life - what will happen on that island? What is that shadow in the thick fog? Why did that island appear around the White Oak as if consciously? And most importantly... where is this sea area shrouded in strange phenomena?

Lawrence took a deep breath, and the cold air flowed into his lungs, forcing his turbulent mood to calm down. He tried his best not to think about other abnormal things, such as Martha who appeared in front of his eyes, and other people besides himself He can also see the weird facts about Martha—he knew that he had to cut off his thoughts in this regard, because all this was obviously related to his deteriorating mental state. If he continued to think about it, Martha might really be more than just a phantom up.

He had no potion left, and even if he had, the potion had obviously lost its effect.

The steam core was running smoothly, and the White Oak gradually approached the small island with a winding coastline. This beautiful white ship sailed across the sea, leaving a long wake at the stern, amidst the rippling and spreading waves of the wake , there is a faint touch of green flashing past.

However, no one noticed what was happening at the stern of the ship—everyone on board was focused on the weird island at the moment.

The edge of the island is steep, with jagged rocks, and there is no suitable place to dock. The experienced helmsman did not let the ship approach directly, but controlled the White Oak and began to sail around the island.

When the ship circled about a third of the way, the sailors on the observation deck suddenly noticed something.

"There is a port!" shouted the sailor from the high platform.

After a while, a small pier appeared in Lawrence's field of vision. The facilities deep inside the pier were shrouded in mist, making it impossible to see clearly, but the part extending into the sea could still be seen clearly—the structure of that part was intact and there was no sign of damage.

With complete dock facilities, it means that the White Oak can be docked as a whole without having to use a small boat to land on the island, which undoubtedly improves the safety of exploring on the island. In addition to the convenience of replenishment and retreat, the White Oak The several small-caliber escort guns that come with it can also provide cover for exploration operations along the coast.

Lawrence returned to the bridge, and under his command, the White Oak began to approach the empty pier cautiously—because there was no assistance from the guides on the shore, the entire docking process was extremely slow, but it was finally completed without incident.

Lawrence looked across the pier and saw that the island was filled with fog, and even the nearby pier facilities were hazy due to the effect of the fog. I don't know if it was an illusion. He felt that the fog on this island was even more dense than what he had observed before. It's a lot more intense.

"I didn't see anyone," the first mate came to Lawrence and said while observing the situation on the island, "but I can vaguely see some lights... It seems to be coming from the port building."

"Is the radio responding?"

"No, after approaching this island, I can't even receive the frost signal that I have been receiving all the time," the first officer shook his head, "the light signal has not received a response either."

Lawrence pondered for a while: "You go and choose twelve shrewd and cautious sailors, bring your guns, and go to the island with me to explore."

"You want to go to the island yourself?" The first mate was taken aback. "This island looks very strange. If you do this, you may..."

"Risk? The risk of staying on board is probably the same," Lawrence shook his head. "It's not this island that's weird, it's this entire sea area. We are trapped by a large anomaly, and dangers are everywhere within the scope of the anomaly." , Going to the island to explore is at least possible to find useful information.”

The first mate opened his mouth, but he had to admit that the captain's experience and judgment were useful.

"Okay, I'll get ready now."

After a while, the chief mate selected twelve qualified sailors from the crew—all veteran seamen with many years of experience, and people with firm will and pious beliefs, plus the chief mate himself, a total of Thirteen people, ready to land on the island with Lawrence.

The left-behind affairs on the White Oak were temporarily handed over to the second officer.

The rope ladder extended to the pier, and Lawrence led his little exploration team to the mysterious island shrouded in mist.

The down-to-earth feeling somewhat weakened the uneasiness in the explorers' hearts. Lawrence stood on the pier, stepped on the ground hard, and turned around and muttered: "At least this concrete floor is real."

"The light is in that direction." The first mate held a large-caliber rifle in his hand and looked up into the distance. "It can still be seen here, but there is still no sign of human activity."

"Don't disperse, don't touch things you don't know at random, if you hear voices talking to you around you, don't answer until you confirm the source of the voice and the location of your teammates," Lawrence ordered with a serious face, "If you see someone in the fog If anything suspicious appears, warn everyone immediately, and you cannot shoot yourself or leave the team to explore."

Speaking of this, he paused for a moment, and glanced around the team he had brought.

Twelve sailors, a first mate, and himself.

"Finally, remember that we are fourteen and only fourteen—there can be fewer, but never more, before we return to the ship."

The sailors immediately responded: "Yes, Captain!"

Lawrence nodded, and led the team towards the thick fog.

They crossed the wharf trestle and came to an open place, which seemed to be a storage place for temporary collection and distribution of goods-you can also see some remaining storage facilities and small lifting mechanisms, but apart from these facilities, Still can't see any "person" figure.

"It doesn't look like it's been deserted for a long time," the first officer observed the surrounding environment and muttered, "It's just like a busy wharf a few days ago."

Lawrence didn't say a word. He carefully observed the nearby port facilities. Suddenly, his eyes fell on a nameplate.

"Dagger Island port supplies."

Dagger Island is the name of this island.

"This is Dagger Island?" The first officer came over and looked at the words on the nameplate with a little surprise in his eyes, "I've heard that this place...is a small island near the Frost City State. It used to produce boiling gold, but it is said that It was turned into a military facility many years ago...is this really Dagger Island?"

"Everything here is unbelievable—we docked briefly at a place that looks like 'Frost'," Lawrence shook his head, "Go on, the place where the light left just now may be the port office , there may be something there that can answer our questions."

The exploration team left the pier stacking area and began to follow a sloping ramp to the light that lit up in the fog. Everyone was nervous and focused on the movement in the fog.

A very slight wind was blowing disorderly on the island, causing the thick gray fog to slowly roll, and the weird silhouettes faintly visible in the distance seemed to move along with it, swaying slightly like some kind of living thing His own body, and in this dark and chaotic fog, the light became more and more obvious, and gradually approached in everyone's field of vision.

The first officer who was walking in front of the line suddenly stopped.

"What is this?" The first mate lowered his head, frowning, observing a bunch of weird things on the side of the road.

Laurence, revolver in one hand and lantern in the other, came to the mate and saw the heap.

It looked like a gray-black pile of mud—dried and cracked at the edges, but it could still be seen surging at the last moment.

It was like a ball of boiling ooze that was still bubbling one second, and was drained of all water in the next instant.

"Mud?" Lawrence frowned, not rashly touching the weird thing, "Why is there mud here?"

"It seems that I saw some similar black mud on the pier before," a sailor in the team suddenly said uncertainly, "but at that time it was mixed with a pile of sundries, I thought it was just some Rubbish……"

Lawrence nodded, and then another sailor suddenly shouted: "There are a bunch here too!"

Lawrence followed the sound and saw a pile of black mud on the ground on the other side of the road.

This thing is everywhere on this island?

Feelings of uneasiness filled his heart, but no one could answer what the mud was. Lawrence carefully gathered the team to avoid contact with the weird "silt", and then continued to walk deep into the thick fog.

After a while, they finally came to the end of the ramp, just as Lawrence had judged earlier—this was where the port office was.

A small building made of reinforced concrete stands here, with a slightly yellowish light spilling from the windows, and no movement can be heard inside.

The main entrance of the building was slightly opened with a gap, and a nameplate was nailed to the door, and the words "Port General Office" were written on the sign.

Lawrence came to the door, listened to confirm the movement inside, and then prepared to push the door open.

But suddenly, his movements stopped.

On the wall next to the gate, a line of scratches that seemed to be hastily carved with a dagger came into his eyes, and it was a sentence——

"Humans have one and only two eyes!"