A request for ship repairs

"Hello, hello!"

Qin Mao shook hands with each of the three, cleared his throat, and introduced himself:

"My name is Qin Mao-Qin as in Qin Shi Huang, Mao as in anchor. I'm a Sequence 1 Hammer Apprentice of the [Apocalypse Shipwright] Sequence, and my vessel is the Eerie Coconut over there."

When he upgraded his ship in the future, there was a chance its appearance would change to some degree. Anyone who wasn't blind would notice.

Since holes in his story would show sooner or later, he might as well patch them in advance.

[Apocalypse Shipwright], Sequence 1 Hammer Apprentice-that was the identity he had invented for himself.

According to Wang Tai, there were at least a hundred different transcendent Sequences.

Out on this sea, where communications were cut off and exchanging information was difficult, he didn't believe anyone could know every Sequence well enough to expose his lie.

Besides, "ship repair" would become a major advantage in his own development.

Even in the face of danger, among ordinary people, transcendents, and transcendent Shipwrights, he would be the one most worth protecting.

The three set up a table on deck. Ye Xuanyin took out half a bottle of lychee wine, poured four glasses, then put it away as though it were a treasure.

"Qin Mao, sit down. Let's drink and talk!"

"Come on, Ye. Who are those few drops for, the ants?"

"If you don't like it, don't drink it. Give it back!"

The four weren't far apart in age, and soon they were chatting and laughing together.

After half an hour of conversation, through questions and volunteered accounts, everyone's experiences came out.

Before the apocalypse, Yang Fan had still been a high school senior. He said he had been captain of his school's swim team and ranked near the top academically. He had only come of age last month, his home was in Lu City, and after fleeing all this way, he was the only one left.

Ye Xuanyin had graduated not long ago and originally worked at a law firm. After the apocalypse, she had heard people say there was a chance of survival out at sea, so she had made her way to the coast.

As for Yan Qi, his hometown really was in Wei Province-his looks didn't lie. He said he had transferred to a school in the east back in middle school. He had been doing perfectly well as a programmer when the apocalypse suddenly descended.

The three had fled with groups of survivors and met when they put out to sea, so they decided to stick together.

After getting along fairly well during their time together, they had decided to join forces and establish a fleet.

Because of Yang Fan's abilities and foresight, Ye and Yan had unanimously agreed to make him fleet captain.

Yang Fan had named his own ship the Hope, and the fleet the Hope Fleet.

"What do you think of the name, Qin? Positive, uplifting, and full of hope!"

The first time Qin Mao heard that name, the corner of his mouth twitched violently.

The goddamn Hope...

The ship I blew up just yesterday was called the Hope... and that fleet that got smashed to pieces in the Blood Moon Sea six months ago was called the Hope Fleet too...

What a jinx!

But he didn't want to say that and embarrass them.

"It's good. A very good name. Brimming with life, symbolizing the spark of humanity's hope!"

Yang Fan was, after all, a boy who had only just come of age. Seeing someone understand him so well, he nearly jumped up in excitement. "You get me, Qin! Some people even called it corny. They have no taste!"

Ye Xuanyin sipped her fruit wine and silently curled her lip.

Qin Mao figured that, with the sea being so vast, the ships he had seen certainly weren't the only two named Hope.

The word "hope" was far too common in the apocalypse, with an astonishing rate of repetition, just like the names Zhang Wei and Liu Wei.

But there was no denying it... hearing that word made boundless hope for this dark apocalypse well up in one's heart!

After they had slowly sipped their way through a small glass of fruit wine.

"By the way, pal, can that [Apocalypse Shipwright] Sequence of yours repair ships?"

Yan Qi's eyes lit up as he looked expectantly at Qin Mao.

The other two also appeared to be chatting casually, but in truth, their ears were pricked up.

Here's my chance! Qin Mao calculated inwardly while putting on a troubled expression.

"I can, but it takes a huge toll, and the cost is high..."

Yang Fan tapped the tabletop lightly with his knuckles, putting on a mature, seasoned air as he followed up.

"What sort of cost? I can have everyone help think of a solution."

Qin Mao secretly rejoiced.

You're the ones insisting on asking, so I really am going to tell you!

He hesitated, counting on his fingers with a troubled look.

"First, repairing ships requires repair materials. I'm only Sequence 1. I can't repair anything without materials."

Yan Qi immediately nodded. "Sure thing, pal. Even a good wife can't make onion noodles without noodles."

"Second, repairing ships uses a lot of transcendent power. It even shortens my lifespan, so I can't do it too often."

"A shortened lifespan! That serious?!"

The three exchanged looks, half convinced and half doubtful. If it was true, then this ability's drawback was far too severe.

"All right. Unless it's necessary, you won't have to do anything, Qin. And if you do, we'll give you supplies in exchange."

"Third, my ship is a wondrous item, and its price is that I have to kill something every day. When the fleet catches fish from now on, don't rush to kill them. Ideally, wait for me to kill them all together. I'll need some fish blood too."

The laughing coconuts on the mainmast and the need to water the mainmast with blood... those things would draw attention sooner or later, so he might as well be open about them.

"No problem with that either! I'll arrange for three wooden tubs to hold the live fish we catch and leave them for you to kill."

None of these were major problems. They soon reached an agreement, and both sides felt they had come out ahead.

"Hey, pal, let's hurry over and look at the ship... I've got a hundred ants crawling around in my heart!"

With everything agreed upon, Qin Mao didn't stand on ceremony. He got up and looked toward the [Yaximu] on the far right.

But before going over, after holding himself back again and again, he finally couldn't resist asking Yan Qi, with his handsome mixed-race face, a question.

"Yan, that mouthful of Nang Language... what's up with that?"

As far as he knew, actual people from Wei Province didn't talk like that in everyday life. The funny Nang Language that jumbled sentences together was only something they occasionally used as a joke.

Besides, Yan Qi was well educated and had worked as a programmer in a major eastern city. His Mandarin couldn't possibly be poor.

Yan Qi froze at the question. His face flushed bright red, and his speech returned to normal.

"Ah! Back in school, I was chatting with a girl I liked and threw in a line or two of Nang Language. It made her giggle, so afterward, I kept doing it to please her... then it became a habit, and I couldn't shake it."

"So that's it! It's fine, it's nice. I was just asking." Qin Mao tried to hold it in, but a laugh escaped him.

"Ah, adash, laugh just a little at a time, or the air inside your belly will get lost!"

"Hahahahaha-"

Ye Xuanyin couldn't hold back either and clutched her stomach as she laughed.

Only Yang Fan was still trying to look serious, his young face turning red from the effort.

The three large ships, the [Hope], the [Rose], and the [Yaximu], all looked much alike. They were around thirty meters long, with hulls made of wood and metal, and their bottoms were clad in a special metal to prevent corrosion from seawater and marine organisms.

Beside them, the twenty-meter Eerie Coconut looked like a little brother.

Soon, Yan Qi brought Qin Mao to the third level of cabins below the [Yaximu]'s deck.

Though every effort had been made to nail layer after layer of planks over one cabin door, covering it in densely packed patches, seawater was still slowly seeping out.

Beside it stood a young woman in her twenties, holding a hammer and wearing dirty gloves. At that moment, she was silent, her head tilted slightly upward as she stared blankly at the cabin door.

While they were still some distance away, Yan Qi began introducing her to Qin Mao.

"That's Engineer Xu! The [Yaximu]'s Shipwright! She majored in ship repair at university. Let's not disturb her yet."

Standing before the leaking planks, Xu Ran heard this and felt the corner of her mouth twitch.

She used to think all those people called Engineer This and Engineer That were impressive.

They could solve any problem.

Until she herself was called Engineer Xu and brought over to repair this leaking cabin.

Looking at the damaged cabin, which she couldn't seal no matter how she boarded it up or applied coatings.

Only then did she understand that Engineer Xu, just two years out of university, didn't know a damn thing.