The island was getting closer and closer, and the island's thick fog and its silhouette in the thick fog became more and more clear - Lawrence stood on the bow deck of the White Oak, his hands gripping the guardrail in front of him so tightly that his knuckles were
It looks a little white due to exertion.
Everyone will be nervous, even the old captain who has been wandering on the boundless sea for most of his life - what will be on that island? What is the shadow in the thick fog? Why does that island appear as if it is conscious?
Around the White Oak? And most importantly...where is this sea area shrouded in strange phenomena?
Lawrence took a deep breath, and the cold air penetrated into his heart, forcing him to calm down his turbulent mind. He tried hard not to think about other abnormal things, such as Martha appearing in front of him, and other people besides himself.
He could also see the strange facts about Martha - he knew that he had to cut off thoughts about this, because it was obviously related to his deteriorating mental state. If he continued to think about it, Martha might really be more than just a phantom.
Already.
He had no potion anymore, and even if he had, the potion had obviously lost its effect.
The steam core was running smoothly, and the White Oak gradually approached the small island with a zigzag coastline. This beautiful white ship sailed through the sea, leaving a long wake at the stern, in the rippling and spreading wake waves.
, a faint touch of green flashed past.
However, no one noticed the situation at the stern of the ship. Everyone's attention on the ship was now focused on the strange island.
The edge of the island is steep and has rugged rocks, and there is no suitable place to dock. The experienced helmsman did not let the ship approach rashly, but steered the White Oak to start sailing around the island.
When the ship was about one-third of the way around, the sailors on the lookout suddenly discovered something.
"There is a port!" shouted the sailor from the high platform.
After a moment, a small pier appeared in Lawrence's field of vision. The facilities deep inside the pier were shrouded in fog and could not be seen clearly, but the part extending into the sea could still be seen clearly - that part was structurally intact and had no traces of damage.
Having complete dock facilities means that the White Oak can be docked as a whole without having to use a small boat to land on the island. This undoubtedly improves the safety of exploring the island - in addition to convenient supply and evacuation, the White Oak
The several small-caliber escort guns it carries can also provide cover for exploration operations along the coast.
Lawrence returned to the bridge, and under his command, the White Oak began to cautiously approach the deserted dock. Without the assistance of shore guides, the entire docking process was extremely slow, but it was ultimately completed without incident.
Lawrence looked across the pier and saw that the island was filled with fog. Even the pier facilities at close range looked hazy due to the influence of the fog. I wonder if it was an illusion. He felt that the fog on the island was even worse than what he had observed before.
It's a lot more intense.
"No one was seen," the first mate came to Lawrence and said while observing the situation on the island, "but you can vaguely see some lights... It seems to be coming from the port buildings."
"Is the radio responding?"
"No, after approaching the island, I couldn't even receive the frost signal that I had always received." The first mate shook his head, "There was no response to the light signal either."
Lawrence pondered for a moment: "You go and choose twelve shrewd and cautious sailors, bring your guns, and explore the island with me."
"You want to go to the island in person?" The first mate was immediately surprised, "This island looks very strange, you are so
I'm afraid there will be..."
"Risk? The risk of staying on the ship is probably the same," Lawrence shook his head. "What's weird is not this island, but the entire sea. We are trapped by a large anomaly, and dangers are everywhere within the anomaly."
, it is at least possible to find useful information by exploring the island."
The first mate opened his mouth, but he had to admit that the captain's experience and judgment were useful.
"Okay, I'll get ready right now."
After a while, the first mate selected twelve qualified sailors from the crew - all old seamen with many years of experience, and they were strong-willed and devout people. Together with the first mate himself, a total of
Thirteen people were preparing to land on the island with Lawrence.
Gave it to the second mate.
The rope ladder extended to the pier pier, and Lawrence led his small exploration team onto the mysterious island shrouded in mist.
The down-to-earth feeling somewhat weakened the uneasiness in the hearts of the explorers. Lawrence stood on the pier, stepped on the ground hard, turned around and muttered: "At least this cement floor is real."
"The light is in that direction." The first mate held a large-caliber rifle in his hand and raised his head to look into the distance. "We can still see it here, but there are still no signs of human activity."
"Don't scatter, don't touch unfamiliar things at will. If you hear a voice around you talking to you, don't answer before confirming the source of the sound and the location of your teammates," Lawrence said with a serious face, "If you see someone in the fog
If anything suspicious appears, alert everyone as soon as possible, and you are not allowed to shoot on your own or leave the team to explore."
Having said this, he paused and looked around at the team he had brought.
Twelve sailors, a first mate, and himself.
"Finally, remember, there are only fourteen of us - there can be fewer, but not more, before we return to the ship."
The sailors immediately responded: "Yes, Captain!"
Lawrence nodded and led the team towards the thick fog.
They crossed the pier trestle and came to an open area, which seemed to be a warehouse used for temporary distribution of goods - some remaining stacking facilities and small lifting mechanisms could also be seen, but apart from these facilities,
Still no "people" could be seen.
"This place doesn't look like it has been abandoned for a long time," the first mate muttered, observing the surrounding environment. "It just looks like it was a busy dock a few days ago."
Lawrence remained silent. He carefully observed the nearby port facilities. Suddenly, his eyes fell on a nameplate.
"Dagger Island Port Supplies."
Dagger Island is the name of this island.
"This is Dagger Island?" The first mate came over and looked at the words on the nameplate with a little surprise in his eyes, "I've heard of this place... It's a small island near Frost City. It used to produce boiling gold.
, but it is said that it was converted into a military facility many years ago... Is this really Dagger Island?"
"Everything here is unbelievable - we briefly docked at a place that looked a lot like Frost," Lawrence shook his head, "Let's keep walking. The place where the lights were left just now may be the port office.
, there may be something there that can answer our questions."
The exploration team left the dock stack area and began to walk along an upward slope toward the light that lit up in the fog. Everyone was nervous and paying attention to the movement in the fog.
A very slight wind blew randomly on the island, causing the thick gray fog to slowly roll. The weird silhouettes vaguely visible in the distance seemed to move with it, swaying slightly like something alive.
His own body, and in this dark and chaotic fog, the light became more and more obvious, and got closer and closer in everyone's field of vision.
The first mate who was walking in front of the team suddenly stopped.
"What is this?" The first mate lowered his head, frowning and observing a bunch of strange things on the roadside.
Lawrence, holding a revolver in one hand and a lantern in the other, came to the first mate's side and saw the pile of things.
It looked like a pile of gray-black mud - it had dried up and the edges looked cracked, but you could still see its surge at the last moment.
It was like a ball of boiling ooze that was bubbling one second and had all the water drained out the next.
"Silt?" Lawrence frowned and did not touch the strange thing rashly, "Why is there silt here?"
"I seemed to have seen some similar black mud at the dock before," a sailor in the team suddenly said with uncertainty, "but at that time it was mixed with a bunch of debris, I thought it was just some
Rubbish……"
Lawrence nodded, and then another sailor suddenly shouted: "There is a pile here too!"
Lawrence followed the sound and saw a pile of black mud on the ground on the other side of the road.
Are these things everywhere on this island?
What was that mud? Lawrence carefully gathered his team to avoid contact with the weird "mud", and then continued walking deeper into the thick fog.
After a while, they finally came to the end of the ramp, just as Lawrence had judged before - this is where the port office is located.
A small building made of reinforced concrete stood here, with slightly yellowish light shining from the windows, and no movement could be heard inside.
The main door of the building is slightly open, and a nameplate is nailed on the door, which reads "Port Comprehensive Office".
Lawrence came to the door, listened carefully to confirm what was going on inside, and then prepared to push the door open.
But suddenly, his movements stopped.
On the wall next to the door, a line of scratches that seemed to have been hastily carved with a dagger caught his eye. It was a sentence——