114: Chapter 114 Door Hooks

The blue-and-white bubble adhered to the bottom of the cabin door.

The Station Master stepped on the threshold.

"Back away."

E-19 retreated half a step.

The knocking sounds from Wooden Tablet One, Wooden Tablet Two, and Wooden Tablet Three also stopped.

The bubble did not bore into the cabin.

It circled along the door crack, as if searching for where the name was leaking from.

Jona lowered his voice.

"Did it smell the wooden tablets?"

Nami stared at the bubble's surface.

"No. It smelled the three lines approaching earlier."

Kahn grabbed a wooden board and blocked it in front of the door.

"Speak plainly."

"Noel, Shell Recognition Position Two, and Sain—three living lines are approaching. White Well thinks there is a General Sign-off Point on the ship."

Rake held his short baton horizontally across the gunwale.

"It wants to inspect the cabin door?"

The Station Master sneered.

"You can inspect, but you cannot come in."

The blue-and-white bubble suddenly split open.

A tiny white hook extended from within.

It was not the iron hook of the Small Chain Cart.

This hook looked like it was ground from bone; the tip had no sharp edge, but it carried an empty shell-imprinted white frame. It adhered to the wood grain of the cabin door, and the old medicinal scent on the door panel immediately faded in one spot.

Below the door panel, there were originally three lines of medicinal cloth seals.

The first one turned white.

The second one turned grey.

The third one was still pressed with the medicinal number written by the Station Master's own hand. After the white hook got close to the medicinal number, the edges of the number began to fade.

The Station Master pressed his hand over the medicinal cloth.

"It's even washing away the medicinal number."

Nami cut off half an inch of that medicinal cloth and sealed it into a small box.

"Evidence. The cabin door hook can wash away medical sources."

Jona finished writing and looked up at the Station Master.

"This is expensive, right?"

The Station Master kept a cold face.

"Expensive enough to give you three injections."

Kahn's expression changed.

"Cabin door hook."

Nami said, "It's not catching people, it's catching the door's source."

Jona understood.

"If the door becomes source-less, can the cabin be claimed by White Well?"

"Correct."

The Station Master pushed the medicine chest behind the door.

"In your dreams."

Nami took out the fake Source Seal, paused, and then put it back.

Night Ember looked at her.

"Not using it?"

"The fake Source Seal only has enough power for one use; it must be saved for the source register."

Kahn asked, "Then what about the cabin door?"

Nami tore a strip off the cover of the ledger.

The whole ship looked at her simultaneously.

Jona was stunned.

Kahn even forgot to scold.

Nami remained calm and pasted that strip of ledger cover onto the bottom of the cabin door.

"The ledger cover will withstand the medicinal frost."

Jona whispered, "That's a big sacrifice."

"Shut up and keep the accounts."

As soon as the ledger cover was pasted onto the cabin door, the cabin door hook immediately turned. It didn't recognize the door; it recognized the account first.

A Short Code floated up:

[Door Owes Account]

Kahn held his tongue for a long time.

"Sooner or later, you'll turn this ship into a debt ship."

Nami wrapped the broken hook's white thread around the ledger cover.

"Debt is safer than a name."

The cabin door hook bit into the ledger cover, trying to drag it away. Rake pressed his short baton down, pinning the hook's body. The hook didn't break; instead, it continued to grow a length of white thread from within the bubble, the end of the thread probing toward the inside of the cabin.

The Station Master jabbed the medical needle into the white thread.

The needle tip immediately turned grey.

"One medical needle ruined."

Jona wrote rapidly.

The Station Master looked at him.

"Write down double."

Nami poured the Grey Gull Old Seal powder into the door crack.

The powder stuck to the white thread, and the white thread immediately displayed a Short Code on the back:

[General Sign-off Point Awaiting Recognition]

Night Ember's gaze darkened.

"It's treating the wounded cabin as a sign-off point."

No one inside the cabin was knocking.

The quieter it was, the more anxious the cabin door hook became. It crawled around the door crack, the white thread extending and retracting in segments. Unable to find knocking sounds, it began searching for the sound of breathing.

The Station Master pressed a wet cloth against the door crack.

"Hold your breath for half a beat."

A faint sound of clothing came from inside the cabin.

E-19 held his breath first.

Wooden Tablet One, Two, and Three also went silent.

"So, we cannot let the cabin door be recognized." Nami looked at E-19, "Don't knock."

E-19 nodded.

Wooden Tablet One, Two, and Three did not move.

The cabin was completely silent.

Having lost the knocking sound, the cabin door hook began to circle the door. Finding no living name, it returned to the ledger cover.

Nami said, "Rake, send it out."

Rake flicked his short baton, tossing the cabin door hook along with the ledger cover out over the gunwale. The white bubble drifted outward, chasing the ledger cover.

Kahn immediately patched the door panel.

"The cabin door needs repairs too."

Nami opened the ledger and saw that a strip of the cover was missing.

She was silent for a beat.

Jona said very softly, "I can choose not to record it."

"Record it." Nami closed the ledger, "This is combat damage."

The white bubble drifted outside the ship, and the third chain of the Small Chain Cart suddenly extended from underwater, hooking onto that piece of ledger cover.

Nami's eyes lit up.

"They've connected."

Rake said, "The cabin door hook and the Small Chain Cart?"

"Correct. The cabin door hook is looking for the General Sign-off Point, and the Small Chain Cart is looking for a place to sign for the hook repair. Both need to sign off."

Night Ember said, "We can make them sign for each other."

Nami looked at him.

"You finally look like someone who knows how to keep accounts."

Jona almost laughed out loud, but quickly stifled it.

Nami tied the fake maintenance account and the scrap of the ledger cover together, and pasted a rubbing of the broken hook on the outside.

"Make the cabin door hook sign for the Small Chain Cart, and make the Small Chain Cart sign for the cabin door hook."

Kahn said, "Will they believe it?"

"White Well's rules are: repair the shell first, then sign; if signed incorrectly, audit the account first. What we need isn't belief, it's stalling."

The tied-up ledger cover entered the water.

The Small Chain Cart and the cabin door hook approached simultaneously.

One wanted to repair the hook.

One wanted to recognize the door.

The two white threads touched, and the Short Codes flashed chaotically.

[Repair Hook Sign-off]

[General Door Awaiting Recognition]

[Sign-off Conflict]

Nami raised her hand.

"Now."

Rake threw the second broken hook into the point of conflict.

The white threads entangled the broken hook, mistaking it for a mutually agreed-upon sign-off item. The Small Chain Cart pulled one end, and the cabin door hook pulled the other, creating fine white cracks on the water surface.

Beneath the cracks, three layers below the right opening of the Evidence Warehouse loosened a bit more.

The corner of the source register was revealed for the second time.

Nami did not go to retrieve it.

Jona was anxious.

"Not stealing it?"

"Not this time. Let it think we didn't see it."

Night Ember understood.

"Next time it will open wider."

Nami drew the cabin door repair line into the map.

"Correct. They will bring more sign-off items."

The Station Master confirmed the cabin door wasn't leaking before moving his foot away.

Inside the cabin, Wooden Tablet Three knocked one long and two short.

Noel.

Then, Wooden Tablet One knocked two short.

E-19 said in a low voice, "He said, the cabin door hook smelled Noel."

Nami's expression darkened.

"The third line is about to be reconnected."

The white bubble sank beneath the water.

The remaining bit of medicinal frost was like a hook tip scraping across the door crack.

Kahn nailed the patch board tight.

"Next time it touches the cabin door, I'm charging triple."

Nami said, "Charge it to White Well."

Kahn was finally a bit satisfied.

Jona finished writing the fake invoice and pasted it on the inside of the patch board.

The list had only three items.

Door panel.

Medicinal cloth.

Breath-holding fee.

The Station Master saw the last item and nodded, which was rare.

"This should be charged."