188: Chapter 188 Combat readiness upgraded, stronghold upgraded (3)

Gu He unhooked the black iron medicine gourd from his waist and placed it on the table in the Lords Mansion. When the bottom of the gourd touched the table, it made a dull, metallic thud.

"There are still eighty blood awakening pills—the raw materials are stuck due to the Great Ebb." He flicked the mouth of the gourd with his finger, and the gourd emitted a very low metallic resonance. "But I can use the remaining scraps of poisonous herbs to make a batch of emergency hemostatic powder. The efficacy is only thirty percent of the blood awakening pill, but it doesn't rely on the ebb tide for harvesting. The shallow waters on the periphery of the Ring Reef are full of low-level hemostatic algae—you just need to scoop them up, dry them, grind them into powder, and add two auxiliary ingredients to make it. The cost of one bottle is less than ten percent of a blood awakening pill—how much we make depends on how many people are harvesting the algae."

Lu Changyuan looked at Old Mai Liu. Old Mai Liu was pulling the day's fishing records out of his sleeve—the records showed the harvest of his six groups of sampans in various sectors today. He flipped the record to the back—the back was a distribution map of the surrounding seaweed. There are at least six types of medicinal seaweed attached to the shallow reefs within thirty miles of Blue Moon Island—among them, the hemostatic algae is distributed in the shallow reef belt between the second and third sectors, covering an area of about three miles long.

"Harvest it—" Old Mai Liu pushed the seaweed distribution map in front of Gu He. "Starting tomorrow, two groups will specialize in harvesting algae every day. We can harvest at least two hundred catties of fresh algae a day—after drying, there will be forty catties left. How much is that enough for you to make?"

Gu He looked at the distribution map and made an estimate. Forty catties of dried algae with two auxiliary ingredients—enough to make about three hundred doses of emergency hemostatic powder. Making a batch is enough for everyone guarding the perimeter of the island to have a dose to carry on them. He folded the distribution map and tucked it into his sleeve—then hung the black iron medicine gourd back on his waist. After hanging it up, he stood up—the black iron medicine gourd swayed at his waist, and whatever was inside the gourd bumped against the wall of the gourd, making a very faint, muffled sound.

Leng Feng took the perimeter sentry duty roster from his waist. The roster marked the duty hours and the number of people on duty for each sentry post. The people on the first page of the Sin Battalion were already all on duty—twelve sentry posts, two people per post, rotating in three shifts. Added to the patrol coverage of the six groups of sampans from the perimeter fishing team—in the thirty-mile fan-shaped area between the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench and Blue Moon Island, the current alert coverage can ensure that at least two people are watching any given point. But for the two-hour window—Leng Feng made a change on the roster: the sentry post closest to the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench (the one where the Old Veteran with the old scar on his cheekbone stands guard)—increased from two people per shift to three people per shift. Add one person responsible for specifically watching the light of the induction Array Pattern repeater—green light for normal, yellow light for warning, red light for emergency. The moment the yellow light comes on—the whole island starts moving.

"Starting tonight—" Leng Feng pushed the revised roster to Commander Cai. Commander Cai took it and scanned it—then folded the roster and tucked it into his belt. The position was next to his pipe—the pipe bowl was still empty, but he ran his finger around the handle of the pipe.

"The people on the first page—" Commander Cai pressed the roster against his belt. The pressure wasn't great, but his finger joints bulged out. "They won't run when they see the yellow light. You moved them from the Pier to the sentry posts—issued them sentry tokens, observation mirrors, and emergency talismans—they dared to hold the line that night on the left flank, and they will dare to hold it here too."

He paused—his fingers moved away from the pipe handle. "The people on the second page—they have complained while moving cargo during this time, but their hands haven't stopped. There are over two hundred of them—they arrive at the Pier early every time, and they are the last ones to leave. Old Li mentioned something to me at the Pier yesterday—he said he wanted to apply to polish shields."

"Polish shields?"

"The people on the second page move cargo at the Pier—they don't have shields. Old Li watches the people on the first page hang shields when they go on duty every day—his hands itch. Polishing shields—it means taking the people from the second page to the armory to polish rust off the spare shields, replace the leather straps, and patch the nicks. It's not to let them go on duty—it's to let them have a shield in their hands. After polishing, lock the shields back in the armory. As they polish—as they polish—" Commander Cai pulled the pipe from his belt. The pipe was empty—but he touched his lips to the mouthpiece. After touching it, he tucked the pipe back into his belt. "They will feel that they should have one too."

Lu Changyuan looked at Commander Cai—for about three breaths. Then he nodded.

"Tell them—on the back of every shield they polish, write the name of the person who polished it. In the future, if anyone is transferred from the second page to the first page—the shield they receive will be the one they polished themselves."

Commander Cai pulled the pipe from his belt—this time he really pulled it out. He bit the pipe in his mouth—the pipe bowl was still empty, but his upper and lower teeth ground against the bite point of the mouthpiece. Then he took the pipe out of his mouth—and tucked it back into his belt. "Fine."

Evening. Lu Changyuan stood at the entrance of the Lords Mansion—looking at the sea in the direction of the Outer Port. After the ebb tide, the outermost row of the Ring Reef was exposed above the water in the sunset. The induction Array Pattern embedded in the reef wall was completely invisible in the sunset—but a circle of extremely faint residual light of the Array Pattern occasionally flashed on the surface of the reef. That was the trace of the signal being exchanged between the induction Array Pattern and the boundary suppression stele. The frequency of the signal displayed on the boundary suppression stele was still accelerating.

Su Qingli walked out of the Formation Affairs Room—holding the latest page of the rubbings of the Receiving Formation in her hand. The record showed—the amplitude of the sixth fluctuation source had increased by nearly half a percent in the last two hours. An increase of half a percent was just a very thin line on the paper that had lifted less than half a grain of rice in height—but the direction of the rise did not turn back. Six fluctuation sources—each one was rising.

"It is accelerating—" Su Qingli handed the rubbing record to Lu Changyuan. Lu Changyuan took it—and looked at it under the sunset. There were six waveform lines on the paper—the one closest to Blue Moon Island was moving upward. In the upper right corner of the paper was a triangle drawn by Su Qingli with an Array brush—a red circle, an altar, and a middle node, with straight lines connecting the three vertices. A tiny cross was marked in the center of the triangle—next to the cross was noted: Total Hub, two thousand five hundred zhang. "Leng Feng says the Haiyuan Clan is very anxious—much more anxious than three months ago. They are rushing for time."

She took the Array brush out of her sleeve—and drew a dashed line between the sixth fluctuation source and the center of the triangle. The length of the dashed line—calculated according to the nautical chart scale—was about eighty miles. Eighty miles. The Haiyuan Clan still had eighty miles to go from the position of the sixth fluctuation source to the center of the triangle—the Total Hub.

Lu Changyuan folded the rubbing record and tucked it into his sleeve. He turned and walked into the Lords Mansion—to the nautical chart table. A remnant map, Leng Feng's rubbings, a distribution map of fluctuation sources, and a standard issuance list from the Military Department—four items were spread out on the table. He pressed his hand on the small cross in the center of the triangle. The pressure of his fingers pressed a tiny dent into the surface of the chart paper.

Two thousand five hundred zhang deep. The Total Hub of the ancient Sealing Pattern. As for what is sealed underneath—the intelligence section of the Grain Supervision Office only found one sentence: "There is something sealed underneath." As for what exactly it is—we will only know when it opens. But the Haiyuan Clan is prying the lock layer by layer from the outside. The speed of prying the lock is accelerating. Six fluctuation sources—the closest one is one hundred and twenty miles from Blue Moon Island.

Tomorrow—Lu Changyuan looked up. Outside the window, the last ray of sunset retreated from the Ring Reef—the residual light of the Array Pattern on the reef wall flashed and then dimmed.