160: Chapter 160 Return Trip and Rest, Obtaining the Fragment of the Map (1)

The fleet left the Pier at the left flank front line in the afternoon—the fog over the sea had mostly dissipated, and the remaining thin mist drifted across the surface, looking like a layer of extremely pale gray gauze spread over the water.

The sea breeze shifted from west to east—a tailwind.

Commander Cai ordered the fleet to hoist full sails—the sails of all seven ships billowed, the salt stains on the canvas reflecting white patches of varying sizes in the afternoon sun.

Lu Changyuan sat at the stern of the third ship.

Spread out before him was a wooden board taken from an ammunition crate—the back of the board was covered in horizontal lines carved by Commander Cai with the tip of a knife.

The lines were divided into two rows—eleven in the top row, over forty in the bottom row.

Each line in the top row was carved deeper than those in the bottom—the knife tip had traced the grooves three times, and the raw color of the wood was embedded within them.

Commander Cai squatted beside the wooden board, his smoking pipe in hand.

The bone powder in the pipe bowl had already burned out; he rested the pipe on his knees and tapped the third name in the top row with his finger.

"This one—" He pressed his finger on the name.

The calluses protruding from his knuckles scraped across the carved marks on the wooden board—wood shavings scraped off stuck to his knuckles.

"His name is Ma Laoliu. He has served five years—one of the longest-serving members in the Sin Battalion.

He is missing the index finger on his right hand—punished by the previous officer; after his finger was gone, he never drilled again."

Commander Cai picked up the smoking pipe—and tapped the bowl against the wooden board.

What he tapped out was empty—the pipe had not been lit since the first day, but he had developed a new habit on the ship: tapping once after reciting each name.

He recited the names of all eleven men in the top row—pausing for a moment when he reached the third name.

Ma Laoliu—that troublemaker whose rear he had kicked.

On the first day of drill, Ma Laoliu stood at the very back of the formation, dragging his feet on the muddy ground without lifting his heels.

Commander Cai walked past the first row—walked up to him, kicked him in the rear, and after kicking him, pushed him to the far right of the first row.

After being kicked, Ma Laoliu stood in position for twelve days—and did not arrive late once within those twelve days.

Last night, when the fish demons made their third charge, Ma Laoliu stood on the outermost side of the Fourth Squad—his feet planted in the drainage gutter, his shield braced tighter than anyone else's.

When he was bitten by a fish demon on the calf and dragged backward, he was still gripping his shield—the bottom edge of the shield dragged a straight scratch on the deck from the outside of the formation to the edge of the ship's rail.

"Eleven men." Lu Changyuan looked at that row of horizontal lines.

"A battalion that hasn't fought in three years—these are the first deaths."

Commander Cai did not respond.

He flipped the wooden board to the front—the front was carved with another string of numbers.

Those were the casualty figures of another transport battalion he had seen while waiting for the ship at the Pier a few hours ago—that battalion had taken the route through the Storm Gorge, departed three days ago, and returned with less than half its men.

The wooden planks on the side of the ship had been punched through with seventeen holes by something from beneath the water—all seventeen holes were below the waterline, and the people plugging the holes had inserted seventeen wooden wedges from the bottom of the ship.

The wooden wedges had swollen from the seawater, sealing the holes—but the men carried off the Pier were laid out from one end to the other.

The Sin Battalion had bypassed the Broken Star Reef—taking an extra day and a half.

Upon returning, all seven ships had footprints left by fish demons and marks from being slashed by fish-bone blades—but not a single ship had a hole below the waterline.

The fleet traveled on the sea for nearly two days—sails billowing when with the wind, and when against the wind, they furled the sails and moved forward one ship at a time using paddle wheels.

The small flags with blue backgrounds and gold edges hanging on the masts changed from deep blue to orange-red in the sunset of the second evening.

The row of old, paint-peeled flagpoles at the fortress Pier emerged from the horizon in the twilight—first the tips of the flagpoles appeared, then the signal flags on the walkway, and finally, the person standing at the end of the walkway was revealed.

Chu Yunfei stood on the Pier.

He was wearing a clean but still unhemmed officer's robe—the cuffs and collar were frayed, but the faint golden bloodstain on his lapel had been washed away.

He stood by the walkway—the two gray-clad men behind him were not sitting in the shadows this time.

They stood by the railing of the walkway—still standing in that same triangle, but the angle of the triangle was looser than last time.

It was not the angle of guards—it was the angle of waiting.

The ship docked.

Lu Changyuan jumped down from the deck—the height from the deck to the walkway was about three feet, and his knees bent slightly when he landed.

Chu Yunfei looked at him—looking at the dark green mark on the chest plate of his armor that could not be washed off after being soaked in fish blood.

"This trip of yours—took a few days longer than the original route."

"Detoured around the Broken Star Reef."

"Broken Star Reef?" Chu Yunfei raised his eyebrows slightly.

"The message you left—asked me to pick up someone on the way. The ship veered twenty degrees to the west."

Lu Changyuan loosened one of the buckles on his battle armor—the shoulder plate slid down half an inch.

After hearing this, Chu Yunfei was silent for a moment.

He tilted his head and glanced at the two gray-clad men behind him—both men nodded slightly at the same time.

Then Chu Yunfei reached his hand into his sleeve—and pulled out a fragmented map made of animal hide.

The hide of the fragmented map had been folded many times—the skin at the creases had worn thin, so thin it was translucent.

He spread the folded fragmented map on the nautical chart table—after the fragmented map was spread out, the edges of the animal hide curled up, and he pressed one corner down with his finger.

"This fragmented map—I found it in the old archives of the Grain Supervision Office."

His finger moved slowly downward along the marked line on the fragmented map.

The marked line extended southeast from the Zhenhai Fortress—passing through the left flank front line, passing through the waters on the outer periphery of the Dragon Burial Trench, and extending to the lower half of the map.

The marked line stopped at the bottom edge of the fragmented map—the ink at the break was dark red.

"Three years ago, the Royal Military Department sent a survey team—to assess the terrain deep in the Dragon Burial Trench.

Before the survey team left, they submitted this line to the Grain Supervision Office for filing—after reporting it, no one returned.

Not a single person from the entire survey team came out alive.

The fragmented map was mixed in with expired old files and sat in the warehouse of the Grain Supervision Office for three years—no one cared about it, no one looked through it, and no one knew that this copy still remained."

He moved his finger away from the fragmented map—but before moving it, he pressed down on the break in the marked line with his fingernail.

The indentation turned white on the old animal hide for a fleeting moment.

"A while ago, my old ailment flared up—the higher-ups told me to recuperate at the fortress and, incidentally, to organize the old archives.

I found this one while I was organizing."

"Why give it to me?"

"Your island is next to the Dragon Burial Trench."

Chu Yunfei folded the fragmented map back—he folded it along the old creases, and after folding it three times, it returned to its original small square.

"I am in the Royal Capital—holding this map is only good for putting it away.

It is more useful in your hands than in mine."