The two boats turned into the waterway to the mine about 100 meters apart. Because the noise of going at full speed was too deafening, both boats were now using a more moderate forward speed, and the bows of the boats going upstream were pushed away.
The river water leaves a white mark.
It was a completely unfamiliar waterway with no hydrological data. Polu arranged for two soldiers to test the depth of the river water from time to time with a long pole connected together, and then recorded it.
"Look! What is that!" The soldier standing on the front deck pointed to a large piece of shadow rising and falling in the waves.
Polu drove the tugboat over, and a soldier put a long pole on it and pulled it over. Several people gathered to help pull the floating object onto the deck.
This floating object is an artificial creation made of several wooden boards put together. It shows an arc curve and seems to have fallen off from some kind of round shell. There are several strange and smooth circular cutting marks on the fracture, and the other half
The wooden stubble left by forceful tearing was still exposed.
"Is this arc something on the hull?" Leonardo squatted down next to the wreckage and picked at the filler between the wooden boards: "It seems so. The fracture of the wood looks like it was filled with something strange.
The thing was cut in half and then broken off with force? The first half was smooth and round, and the second half was full of stubble."
He knocked on the wood again and made a dull sound: "This thing is quite hard. Looking at the marks, it must not have been broken by hitting a rock. The attacker is quite strong."
He straightened up and shouted: "Cheer up, everyone! Be on guard and have all your weapons and ammunition ready!"
After setting these up, he walked back to the cabin on the second floor. This obvious signal made everyone nervous.
The gun jackets of the machine guns were removed and the magazines were filled. The shotgun ammunition was carried from below the deck and put into the cabin, and someone climbed up the mast where the searchlight was mounted.
"What is it? What's going on?"
Polu did not let go of the rudder, and had no idea of the following conclusion. There is no automatic driving now, and the mechanical steering surface will automatically return to the right direction as soon as the hand is released. Otherwise, the steering wheel will rotate so many times, and it will still be able to find a way to return to the right direction.
The center point is really difficult.
"It should be a ship's hull. It's definitely not a wooden plank that was knocked off. It was chopped off by something. The weapon is very strange. I've never seen it before."
Leonardo walked into the cab with his head lowered and said a few words. He turned back to the passengers in the cabin: "It seems that there has been a battle. Be vigilant. The person who can cause such marks has a high level of combat effectiveness. At least
He is a high-level one.”
He took out the recoilless rifle he used last time from the ring, and laid out seven or eight wooden ammunition boxes that looked like large red wine boxes. Each box contained a round of ammunition with holes in the barrel.
The artillery shells have been quite busy recently, so this is all that has been replenished after Bolu ran out last time. Finally, I took out the shotguns and ammunition of several people and leaned against the wall.
The state of mind when they first set off was not to mention that it was like going on an outing, but as the voyage progressed, the relatively relaxed state of mind disappeared completely. From time to time, they encountered wooden products floating on the river as a constant reminder.
Both sides of the bank have changed from gentle hills to mountains. If it weren't for the surrounding tidal flats, the water surface would remain wide. This pressure would even make Polu want to retreat immediately. If you look closely, you can also find some wooden boards and wooden boards scattered on these tidal flats.
Something like a paddle.
The path taken by the trackers loomed and hovered between these cliffs and tidal flats. Polu felt that the speed of the ship had slowed down. He looked at the instrument to confirm that there was no problem with the status of the machine.
"It seems the water flow is getting faster!"
After a while, a shout came from the lookout post on the masthead: "Ahead, there is a situation on the right!"
There was a rush of preparations coming from downstairs, and the crisp sound of loading could be heard clearly from the low roar of the steam engine. The black muzzles of a dozen shotguns stretched out from the side of the ship.
As the distance got closer, Bolu felt a little overwhelmed by the miserable scene in front of him. He turned around and saw several people already looking ahead at the door behind him.
"...What's going on!"
The path trodden by trackers on the river beach stretches far away to a small village. The pier on the shore has collapsed in half, and logs are scattered on the base of the reef. Several ruins on the shore are burnt black, without sparks.
There were no embers. A wooden boat with only half of it tied by a rope was buckled belly up among the rocks on the shore. It made a clicking sound on the rocks on the shore with the fluctuation of the river water.
"What is going on? Why did it happen like this? Have we received any news?"
"No." Little Eileen showed a serious look: "This should be a resting village for boatmen to spend the night. Now the whole village has disappeared, and we don't know about it at all. So many boats have been lost, and the royal capital has not sent any troops.
Have people come here? As long as the person who comes here is not a blind man, they can tell that something is wrong! These losers!"
"Tezier, take your men, put on your armor, and go up to check!"
Leonardo shouted loudly.
Tezier nodded and raised his hand to make a clear gesture. He showed a serious look that Bolu had never seen before. He turned his head and looked at the soldiers who had already put on their armor and were tying it.
He picked up the shotgun: "Don't leave the sight of the river beach, don't act alone, work in groups of three, if there's any problem, just fire! Get ready to go!"
Polecht, who stayed on the experimental ship, steered the ship slowly closer to the shore. Several soldiers held the same long pole and kept testing the water depth on the shore. Fortunately, the water depth near the original dock was sufficient, and the experimental ship was safe.
It docked at the part of the pier that seemed to be intact.
Tezier waved his hand and led the people into the ruins. What followed was a depressing and long wait. Polu operated the tugboat and approached the dock. Tezier came back with the people, and he called
Wave: "I didn't find anything!"
Leonardo looked up at the darkening sky: "We have to find a place to spend the night. Otherwise, at this speed, we may have to sail at night, which is too dangerous. If no danger is found here, we can spend the night here."
how?"
"I have no objection. This pier looks very suitable." Polu, who had already been sailing for a day and had a sore back from standing, decisively agreed to the proposal.
"I have to build myself a chair!"
The tugboat also approached the dock, and Polu shouted to the back: "Lea, find someone to tell Polecht to turn off the power, but don't turn off the boiler! Keep the pressure at half, and be able to leave the dock immediately if necessary."
She responded and left.
It soon became dark, and the cold air from the riverside began to rise. The collapsed houses had long lost their functions. The soldiers dismantled their building materials, piled up a circular low wall around the pier, and then inserted
The torch kept a distance from the dark complex ruins.
"Did you find anything?"
Polu asked for a personal inspection, and when he came back, Leonardo fell into thinking.
"There was nothing. It was very strange. I went to check, and there was no body again. It reminded me of those bugs."
"If it's a bug, we can go back home now. With just a few of us, we'll never come back."
Polu wanted to stand up on the spot and return to the ship, and stepped on the accelerator to escape. He looked back at the deck. The two soldiers on duty were now beside the machine gun, which gave Polu a little confidence.
"The weird thing is here. The traces left by the attackers are human. They are not even bandits, but very well-trained humans. But what are they doing here? Is it meaningful? It's just a village where trackers rest.
Is there anything worthy of sending out such a team and using such a dirty trick? I can’t figure it out. Is there something particularly valuable that was transported out of the mountains?”
Bolu breathed a sigh of relief, it was not a bug and he could still try.
"Mercenary? Killer? Private soldier?"
"I can't say, there is too little information available now. But I can be sure that the person who did it was a human being."
"That means we can only take one step at a time?"
This feeling of completely not understanding what is going on is just like the pitch-black night all around. The dark mountain image is a ferocious monster, silently surrounding the team's small camp.