Time to Run

When Bai Zhu came up from the lower hold, he looked as though he had been fished out of the water.

He raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, then looked at the crew on deck.

"The mess down below has been cleared out."

The moment he said that, several people who had been tense visibly relaxed their shoulders.

But Bai Zhu did not give them long to catch their breath.

He looked up toward the open sea.

"The ship is safe for now. Outside, it isn't over yet."

Milluki was crouched beside his terminal. Hearing that, he immediately held it up.

"Yeah, don't celebrate too soon."

"Only those few mosquitoes in the sky are still alive now, and the sonar's about to fall apart too."

"Our eyes are about to go blind."

Bai Zhu glanced at the screen.

The red dots in the open sea were still closing in, packed so densely it made his scalp crawl.

Ignoring Milluki's complaints, he turned to look for Morel.

"Retreat."

Morel stood beside the Smoke Wall with his pipe slung over his shoulder. Hearing that one word, he did not even blink.

"You serious?"

"Very."

Bai Zhu spoke quickly.

"There's no point investigating any further. We can't get in at all right now. Keeping ourselves alive comes first."

"There are bigger things in this sea. The fish schools are just appetizers."

Captain Nishimatsu had just steadied the helm. Hearing that, he immediately looked over.

"You want me to turn around now?"

Bai Zhu nodded.

"Yes. Immediately."

"If we keep going in, everyone on this ship will end up feeding the fish."

Milluki immediately chimed in.

"And my equipment can't hold out much longer."

"Keep dragging this out, and forget investigating—we won't even be able to see anything."

"With our