Phi-Fic Chapter 1068
Chapter 1068
During that half month, we had to organize people to clean the salt frost on the deck every day, but within half a day, a thick layer of salt would accumulate again.
"As for our supply ship, the steel plates on the bottom of the ship have been corroded with small holes, and we have to pump out water every day to keep it from sinking.
If we keep wasting time like this, we won't be able to wait for you to come back, and we'll be trapped there ourselves, and sooner or later we'll become floating corpses on the sea."
"So you decided to move." Qi Mingyu spoke at the right time, his tone calm but with some understanding.
In the end times, stopping losses in time has always been the most difficult but also the most necessary choice.
Captain Chen nodded, his eyes becoming more complicated: “Captain Shang and I discussed this all night and finally decided to leave.
Before leaving, we divided into several teams to leave clues.
Some carved the coordinates of Island 2 on nearby rocks, while others stuffed route maps into waterproof boxes and attached them to abandoned buoys. We figured that even if some were destroyed by salt spray, we'd still have one or two left for you to see.
At this point, he smiled self-deprecatingly, his eyes full of loneliness: "But I know in my heart that it is all self-deception.
Salt spray is so corrosive that the scratches on the reef will be worn away in less than a month, and the waterproof box on the buoy cannot withstand more than two fog attacks.
Even if a boiling point alloy is used, although the boiling point alloy can withstand the corrosion of salt spray, the scratches on it will be corroded away quickly...
We don’t know when or if you will be able to return, so those clues will most likely be wasted.”
"Then I decided to go directly to Island No. 2."
Captain Chen looked at them with a look of certainty in his eyes as he spoke: “I believe you can guess where we should go in this situation.
Island No. 1 was blocked by salt spray, and we actually had no other place to go except the relatively familiar sea area of Island No. 2.
I bet you could figure this out, and I bet you could come back safely—and now it seems I was right.”
He smiled with relief.
Zhou Shuwan and Qi Mingyu looked at each other and saw the understanding in each other's eyes.
Their original guess turned out to be correct. The mothership did leave clues for them, but they were completely destroyed by the cruel environment.
She and Qi Mingyu had indeed ruled out various possibilities before they were certain that the mothership would come here.
Mu Mu recalled what happened on the road and asked, "Captain Chen, when we were coming back, we saw a damaged cruise ship near Island No. 1. Was it our ship?"
Captain Chen was surprised when he heard this, but then he nodded in understanding: "That was a supply ship that accompanied us at the time."
He explained: “When it was moved, the ship’s engine had been completely destroyed by salt spray and could not be repaired.
We had no choice but to move all the food, medicine and fuel on board to the mother ship and abandon the empty ship there.
I thought it had been overturned by the waves and sunk to the bottom of the sea, but I didn’t expect it to still be floating on the sea.”
After Captain Chen finished speaking, everyone fell silent.
That brief silence contained everyone's sighs for the past and worries about the future.
Captain Chen suddenly let out a long sigh, as if to release the heaviness in his chest. He then changed the subject, his tone even more serious than before: "Talking about the past is ultimately useless. The most important thing right now is the matter of the Sky Fortress."
Upon hearing this, the Zhou family members sat up straight, and even Mu Mu, who had been leaning back in the chair, pricked up his ears.
Building a mid-air fortress is not only the hope of the mothership, but also the reliance of all of them to survive in the apocalypse.
"I know you brought back the hot spring minerals. Once the technical team analyzes them, they'll be able to forge boiling point alloys very soon."
Captain Chen's tone held a subtle hint of anticipation, but it was quickly replaced by worry. "But I know in my heart that even if we have the minerals and can create a boiling-point alloy, this mid-air fortress won't be built overnight. As long as the salt spray doesn't recede, we won't be able to return to Island 1."
He raised his hand and pressed his brow, the red bloodshot under his eyes becoming more and more obvious: "When we were stationed on Island No. 1, we had already planned the foundation of the fortress and even drove in several load-bearing piles.
But now Island 1 is completely engulfed in salt spray. Even approaching it is life-threatening, let alone construction. Without a suitable site, even a large quantity of boiling-point alloys would be nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.
Zhou Shuwan and Qi Mingyu also frowned. They both knew that in order to build an air fortress, a large building with a solid foundation was needed.
However, given the current situation...
At this moment, Captain Chen's voice deepened: "I don't know if you've noticed that the sea water temperature is much higher than before on our way back."
He looked at the Zhou family and said, "We record the sea temperature every day. Three months ago, it was stable at around 20 degrees Celsius, but now it has risen to 35 degrees Celsius.
Researchers say that at this rate, it won't be long before underwater geological activity becomes even more active. By then, even defending the current waters will be a problem, let alone building a fortress. "We probably don't have much time left."