Chapter 998: Setting sail
Along the southeastern coast of the Heaven Dou Empire, Victory Bay lay calm beneath a somewhat gloomy sky. The clouds hung low, though an occasional stubborn shaft of sunlight pierced the murk and spilled across the sea, leaving a dazzling patch of light. Fishing boats threaded through those bright patches like water insects one could reach out and catch.
The waves, too, seemed awakened by the sunlight, their yellow-and-blue shimmer dancing joyfully. White breakers rose beside the shore from time to time, spraying snowlike foam.
Far away, amid the hazy summer mist, the harbor waters gleamed like neon. The white sails of fishing boats appeared and vanished like seagulls. Dolphins swayed as they surfaced, exposing backs like those of bulls, while gray mullet flashed silver in the sunlight.
On the mountainside not far from the bay, fragrant lotus blossoms smiled along the slope, and young lambs bounded among scattered rocks. Some shepherd boys played reed flutes, while others lay flat on the grass, gazing up at the drifting, ever-changing white clouds whose blue shadows floated across rice fields just beginning to yellow. In a peaceful village farther away, young village girls admired the reflections of their homemade spring dresses beside a flowing stream. Three or four farmers with pipes between their lips were predicting the bounty of the autumn harvest. Old women sat outside their homes, warming themselves in the sunlight, surrounded by children who held yellow and white coin-shaped flowers aloft as they danced in circles and cheered.
Fishing lights dotted the bay, while distant mountains and nearby coconut groves stood in sharp, silhouetted outlines.
"Whooo—"
A piercing blast shattered the bay's tranquility, drawing the attention of many people at the harbor.
They saw an enormous steamship setting sail from the pier. Steam from its