As the saying goes, children speak without restraint, and birds speak even more without restraint. In people's minds, what a bird says is often more reliable than what a person says. Besides, after so many days together, people may not know each other very well, and whether they love or hate each other, there are always many doubts. The Boss Coal, apart from being greedy, has no other faults. On the contrary, he is like a talkative and innocent child, causing a lot of laughter and joy.
The Boss Coal said it was an empty ship, so it was an empty ship; a bird wouldn't lie about that. As for what the skeleton was, no one could be sure until they saw it with their own eyes, not even in their imagination. There were just too many strange and wonderful things happening in Ramla; people didn't have the mental capacity to fabricate any more stories about the ship.
Only Qingmu knew that the Boss Coal must have seen a real skeleton. He was too lazy to ask; he figured he'd just have to go up and see for himself. He looked at Situ, Situ also looking at him, and said, "Let's go up and take a look."
At this point, everyone reached a consensus. Since it was an empty ship, it couldn't possibly be anyone's accomplice. Moreover, such a large warship felt very familiar to them, who had been away from modern life on Earth for so long; it was like seeing a long-lost relative.
It's fine if there's no one there; if there's no one there, it means the property is unclaimed. Having this boat is like having a stable place to live, where they can shelter from the wind and rain, and they can use the supplies on board as they please.
Alice could almost see rows of pristine white naval uniforms hanging in the closets, clean sheets on the dormitory beds, and blankets folded into neat squares on the beds. For a woman who had lived in the wild for a long time, the greatest luxury was being able to take a shower, change into her pajamas, and sleep soundly in a clean and warm bed.
Petru and Boris, on the other hand, were obsessed with guns, cannons, and missiles. A few weapons from the frigate would be enough to flatten this savage island. Just imagining the machine guns roaring and shells exploding on the island made their mouths water.
The Crow was eating meat when it looked up and saw the people. It cried, "Caw! There's no food on the boat. Forget about it!"
Boris chuckled, "You think you're some kind of bird that's been inside a freezer? There's probably enough meat in there to feed us for months!"
The Crow disdainfully turned its head away and continued eating its jerky, "Don't believe me? Go see for yourself!"
Anderson and Petru went to find the lifeboats hidden by the lake, while Ivan and Boris went to prepare sturdy vines to make ropes, as the warship's gunwale was seven or eight meters above the water, and it would be impossible to get up there without ropes.
With their small numbers, the lifeboats could barely accommodate everyone, but the savages couldn't get through. Qingmu and Situ had the people from both tribes gather at the lakeside to await orders. If they were attacked by the Huracan People, they could quickly retreat to the lake on the rafts and canoes they had prepared beforehand.
The closer you get to the warship, the more enormous it appears. It didn't seem so big when you saw it from the sea, but when you put it in Beihai Park, it becomes a colossal object.
The lifeboat moved to the side of the warship, and the hull became a three-story-high wall in front of everyone.
Ivan handed the rope to Petru: "You're good at this."
Petru grabbed the rope and tugged at it, shaking his head as he looked at the stones and branches tied to the end. "It's sturdy enough," he said, "But it needs a hook, right? Pirates aren't so primitive as to not even have hooks."
Boris said, "The only iron you have left is the gun in your body."
Petru said, "Don't keep trying to take my guns. Once we're on the ship, we'll have as many guns as we want."
Boris said, "That's true. But let's make it clear first, that helicopter is mine. I saw it through my binoculars; it's parked on the deck!"
Petru said, "You're a submarine pilot, can you fly a plane?"
Boris scoffed dismissively, "Piece of cake!"
Ivan said, "Stop arguing. The USS Swordfish frigate has two Apache attack helicopters, and I think the other one is probably parked in the hangar. We need to figure out how to get up there. If we can't get the ropes up, we'll have to try to access the well deck where the hovercraft and landing craft are located through the propeller and drainage holes."
Situ pointed to the Crow atop the Qingmu roof and said, "You can ask our winged angels for help."
"Caw--Handsome people always have such nice voices!" the Crow said happily, then looked up again, "I can't guarantee it'll be hanging in a safe place, caw!"
Situ said, "If you're not afraid of dropping your master, then hang it anywhere."
The Crow turned to look at Qingmu and thought for a moment, then shook its head vigorously. "Oh no, no, he's already a block of wood. His brain has never been very sharp. If he falls again, he'll be smashed into wood chips!"
After saying that, it spread its wings and flew to Petru in a flash. It grabbed the end of the rope in Petru's hand with its claws, flapped its wings twice, and flew up.
"Damn, that bird is fast!" Petru complained.
The Crow quickly flew to the top of the ship's side, grabbed the vine rope, circled around an upright antenna-like object, passed through the railing of the ship's side, and then flew back.
Just as it was about to fly back to the small boat, the rope suddenly taut because it wasn't long enough. Its claws were still gripping the rope tightly, while the other end of the rope was in Petru's hand. Its body was suddenly pulled and abruptly stopped in mid-air.
It flapped its wings, but its body couldn't move forward an inch. Then, it was pulled down by gravity, swinging in an arc like a swing on a rope, and finally crashed into the deck with a thud. Its neck drooped, it swayed a couple of times, and it looked dead.
Qingmu knew the Crow was feigning death, but his heart still skipped a beat. He stood up from the small boat, reached out to take the Crow, cradled it in his hands, and said, "You're not dead, are you?"
The Crow slowly woke up, shaking its head and swaying, "Dizzy... caw... dizzy..."
Qingmu gently stroked its feathers, brushing off the dust. "Be more careful next time."
"Wow, I knew you were the only one who cared about me!" The Crow finally came to its full life and happily jumped onto his head.
"Something seems off!" Ivan suddenly said, pointing to the hull of the ship.
People could see where he was pointing, where the Crow had just crashed, leaving a grayish-white bird-shaped mark.
"The warship's hull is made of special steel with anti-rust paint. Even if it gets corroded by seawater, it will only rust, not be so fragile."
Ivan reached out and touched the surface of the ship. Immediately, a layer of white, grayish substance stuck to his hand, leaving a grayish-white mark on the ship.
Petru slammed the butt of his submachine gun against the boat twice, producing a dull thud.
"It's nothing, just the surface paint has weathered, the hull should still be sturdy," he said. "But it's really strange! I've seen abandoned tanks from WWII in the desert in this condition, but I've never seen a ship like this. Looks like the United States ' stuff isn't so reliable after all!"