119: Chapter 119 External Review

The External Audit white line burrowed into the Half-bridge ring.

The seawater immediately dropped by an inch.

It was as if an invisible ship were pressing down beneath the water.

Kahn gripped the rudder handle.

"The shadow ship has weight."

Nami placed the wind cup on the gunwale.

The wind cup did not spin.

"It's not the wind pushing; it's the signature position pulling."

Jona crouched beside her.

"The shadow has entered the bridge, but is the real ship still in the fog?"

"Yes."

"Then is there any point in attacking the shadow?"

"If we damage the shadow, the real ship will switch shadows. We need to steal the solid position beneath the shadow."

Night Ember looked toward the fog line.

The External Audit Ship did not show itself; it only sent over a white shadow.

The white shadow slid along the bottom of the Sign-Guarding Ship like a piece of paper soaked soft by seawater.

On the paper were Old Navy audit seals, as well as the R-1 Outer Signature Bridge front audit position.

In the center of the paper shadow, a copper button was pressed down.

The copper button was cracked.

Salt was wedged in the crack.

The Station Master said in a low voice, "An Old Navy uniform button."

Nami took out the Sain Old Shell Letter.

The Old Shell Letter began to heat up as soon as it neared the sea chart.

She did not let it glow, first covering the copper wire with Grey Gull Old Seal powder.

"Compare the button, not the person."

The External Audit shadow approached the Left Third Nail.

The Sign-Guarding Ship's three white rods began to write the signature.

The first rod wrote Noel.

The second rod wrote Shell Recognition Position Two.

The third rod wrote S-grade Job.

Seeing the letter S emerge, Jona immediately covered the recording board with a cloth.

Nami pressed the cloth down firmly.

"Don't let it complete the full name."

Night Ember's Black Flag shadow adhered to the water beneath the third rod.

He pressed only on the blank space following the S.

The white rod could not continue writing.

The white hand on the prow of the Sign-Guarding Ship twisted for a moment.

A Short Code flashed: [Job name missing.]

Nami immediately threw the overdue account bill over.

[Job name missing, audit fee suspended.]

The third white rod turned toward the account paper.

The letter S was not completed.

The Station Master let out a soft breath.

E-19 said softly through the door, "Shell Recognition Position Two is laughing."

The Station Master looked at him. "You hear laughter?"

"It's not laughter, it's the code tapping loosening up."

From within the shell crack came one short, three shorts, one short.

Then, two more shorts followed.

E-19 translated, "He says, the External Audit shadow is empty, the real ship is pressing from the right."

Nami's eyes narrowed. "The real ship is on the right side of the shadow."

She moved the wind cup to the starboard side.

The wind cup still did not spin, but the salt line at the bottom of the cup shifted slightly.

It tilted toward the southwest-by-south outer half-chain.

Rake asked, "Can we hook it?"

"We can't hook the real ship. Hook the right-side pressure of the shadow."

Rake understood.

The soft rope flew out, skimming the water.

The end of the rope did not go to entangle the External Audit shadow, but landed half a foot to the right of the shadow.

There was nothing there, yet the soft rope, as if catching on a wet cloth, suddenly sank down.

Kahn shouted, "There's a solid position!"

Rake reeled it in.

The soft rope dragged back a small piece of white mud.

A speck of copper rust was embedded in the white mud.

The Station Master placed the copper rust into a medicine tray. "It fell off a person's clothing button."

Nami lightly touched the copper rust with the edge of the Sain Old Shell Letter.

The copper rust heated up slightly.

The Old Shell Letter did not fully glow, only a small point lit up.

She immediately withdrew it. "That's enough."

Jona asked, "What does that prove?"

"The real External Audit Ship is within a half-chain to the right of the shadow, and there is a copper button on the ship that shares the same source as the Old Shell Letter."

Night Ember said, "Sain is alive."

Nami did not refute this. "Highly likely."

The Station Master said coldly, "I will prepare as if for a living person."

The Sign-Guarding Ship discovered the solid position had been stolen and its three white rods turned simultaneously toward the soft rope.

The External Audit shadow lifted, like a sheet of paper about to cover Rake's line.

Rake did not pull hard.

He simply let go.

The end of the soft rope broke off and fell into the water; the External Audit shadow covered nothing.

Kahn looked at the broken end. "Another loss."

Nami said, "Record it against the External Audit Ship."

Kahn nodded. "This account is getting easier to write."

The External Audit shadow, having failed to catch the soft rope, began to press down on the Left Third Nail.

The Left Third Nail had already been waiting for verification.

As the External Audit shadow pressed down, the verification point lit up.

Nami lined up the three items: the Half-bridge fee return signature, the copper rust, and the white mud.

"Verification requires three pieces of evidence. We currently have two and a half."

Jona asked, "What is the half?"

"The copper rust."

"Then what is the other half missing?"

"Sound."

The deck fell silent.

There was no coughing in the fog.

The External Audit Ship no longer gave human sounds.

The Sign-Guarding Ship was also waiting.

It knew The Calamity was missing the third piece of evidence.

Wooden Tablet Three suddenly tapped one long and two shorts.

Noel.

Shell Recognition Position Two also tapped. One short, three shorts, one short.

Finally, a very faint sound came from the fog line in the distance.

A copper button hitting the ship's deck.

Once. Pause. Twice. Pause again. Once.

Jona looked sharply at Nami. "Is that the Old Certificate Room distress code?"

Nami did not answer immediately.

She looked toward E-19.

E-19's face turned pale, but he nodded. "One-two-one, there is someone in the Old Certificate Room."

The Station Master pressed his shoulder. "That's enough, don't listen to the rest."

Nami wrote the sound code as three dots, not writing any names.

She applied the three dots to the verification position of the Left Third Nail.

A Short Code lit up: [Left Third Nail verification established.]

The Sign-Guarding Ship's white rod stopped abruptly.

The External Audit shadow also stopped.

The Half-bridge position was locked.

The Outer Signature Bridge's return signature, which could not cross the half-way point, changed from a temporary delay into a verification rule.

Kahn slammed his fist onto the rudder box. "Did it work?"

Nami tucked the verification code into an evidence bag. "The Left Third Nail is done."

"What about the other two nails?"

"Not yet."

Night Ember looked at the three white dots. "The next one is the Central Nail."

From the shell crack came the tapping code from Shell Recognition Position Two. One short. Three shorts. One short. Two shorts.

E-19 said softly, "He says, beneath the Central Nail is the shell-patching opening."

Wooden Tablet Three followed with one long and two shorts, then added one short.

E-19 closed his eyes. "Noel is beneath the Left Anchor, not the Central Nail."

The Station Master asked, "What about the Right Nail?"

The External Audit white line shivered slightly.

The old copper button chimed three times.

Nami looked toward the Right Nail. "The Right Nail connects to the External Audit Ship."

Three bridge nails, three live lines.

The positions were finally separated.

The Station Master arranged three small medicine bottles in the same positions.

The left bottle held pain-relief powder.

The middle bottle held white stone powder.

The Right Bottle was empty.

"The left side is for treating injuries, the middle is to prevent shell-patching, and the right side is waiting for the living person."

Nami glanced at the empty bottle. "The right side cannot have the scent of medicine."

The Station Master nodded. "If the External Audit Ship smells medicine, it will sign him away as a casualty account."

Jona drew the empty bottle into the recording board. "The Right Nail will only keep an empty bottle."

Kahn asked, "Does an empty bottle also incur a fee?"

Nami said, "It owes an escort fee."

Kahn was satisfied.

Night Ember looked at the three medicine bottles. "Rescue requires three groups of people."

"Three sets of actions," Nami corrected. "The fewer the people, the better."

Rake laid out the three soft ropes separately. "One isn't enough."

"Three aren't enough either. We are still missing the door to the hold beneath the bridge."

The Sign-Guarding Ship's face turned black. [Verification disturbed the bridge, switching to Broken Bridge Audit.]

Kahn's expression changed. "It wants to break the bridge?"

Nami flattened the sea chart. "No. It wants to audit who breaks the bridge."

Night Ember gripped the Black Flag. "Then let the bridge break itself."