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"I'll be back soon." Song Zhou bent down and kissed him, his voice gentle. "If I'm not back yet and the fleet is ready to leave, take the helm first."

Lu Ao reached out and rested a hand on his wrist. "Then come back early. It's pretty boring steering the boat alone."

There were too few people at sea. Other than occasionally chatting on the public channel, there was no one to talk to all day.

Lu Ao did not really like talking to strangers, and he rarely spoke on the public channel. If Song Zhou left, he often grew drowsy while steering alone.

After Song Zhou returned to the regulatory agency, Lu Ao continued taking notes on the bed. Before long, he was so sleepy that he was nearly asleep.

Just then, the portable communicator by his side rang with Old Dai's voice. "The fog outside looks like it's about to clear. Should we get ready to set off?"

Lu Ao looked up.

The fog outside had merely thinned. It was nowhere near clearing.

The others in the fleet clearly did not want to stay here any longer either. Hearing that, someone immediately chimed in. "I think it's about to clear too. We can start moving forward, spread out a little, and go slowly. It should be fine."

Everyone responded enthusiastically.

Lu Ao went to the bridge and saw the light dots representing the other boats on the dashboard slowly moving forward one after another.

He counted them, only moving after the last dot had begun to advance.

Ever since the fleet had set out, he had especially liked trailing behind it.

It was easy to catch up from behind. If they were at the front and went too fast, the boats behind could easily lose track of them.