The sunlight was blinding, Su Huilan shielded her forehead with her hand. Looking up, she saw Petru bending down and calling to them, but his eyes were only on Mrs. Larry.
Then, a series of thuds echoed from the freeboard deck passageway, followed by Boris's booming voice. "Hey, Petru, we need some help!"
"Coming!" Petru hurried over.
Su Huilan smiled and said to Mrs. Larry, "Madam, this guy really cares about you."
"He's not a bad person," Mrs. Larry said.
Alice pursed her lips and thought for a moment, then finally couldn't help but say, "Madam, that Redbeard says he wants to marry you."
"Don't talk nonsense," the lady said.
"It's true, he told me himself," Alice said. "He said you are the most admirable woman he has ever met, and he fell in love with you from the first day he saw you."
Mrs. Larry's face remained as serious as ever, showing no change whatsoever, but Su Huilan keenly sensed a fleeting, unusual glint in the lady's eyes, like lightning flashing deep within the clouds.
After spending several days together, Su Huilan gained a deeper understanding of Mrs. Larry. This renownedly serious female scientist was actually quite approachable; she possessed a kind heart and a noble soul. However, for some reason, she always wore a stern face, presenting an unapproachable demeanor that was far from her true nature. Su Huilan sensed that Mrs. Larry harbored some secret, causing her to wear a disguise and conceal her true self. Her reluctance to mention her husband, Mr. Yeger, suggested perhaps some painful past. But Su Huilan felt it wasn't that simple.
Alice cautiously observed the lady's expression for a while before carefully saying, "Madam, I also think Petru isn't a bad person. Although he's a pirate, he was forced into it, wasn't he? He even said he'd be willing to be your follower and accompany you on archaeological expeditions! I think... Mr. Ye... Mr. Yeger... it's been... so long, you could consider it..."
A loud thud interrupted Alice's words as a hatch panel beneath the freeboard was pushed open and fell into the lake. A folding gangway was then pushed out.
Ship gangways are usually controlled automatically by a retractor, but now that there is no power on board and the electrical circuits are down, the pneumatic devices will naturally malfunction, and the gangway will be locked. Even if the manual devices and connecting shafts are still usable after so many years, they probably won't be easy to open.
However, it's unclear how Ivan and his men managed to do it, but not only were the gangways pushed out, but the three folds were also unfolded. Ivan climbed out of the cabin and grabbed the hinges of the gangway, while Boris and Petru checked the connection between the two winches, fearing they might break. Ivan stomped hard on the unfolded gangway twice, and the gangway, which had been pushed out of the cabin and lay horizontally, suddenly straightened out with a clatter. The lower end fell down and was caught by the winches, becoming a ladder leaning against the side of the ship at a 40° upward angle.
" Petru, try the manual turntable of the launcher; it needs some height adjustment," Ivan said as he climbed back up the winch into the freeboard passageway.
Petru crawled inside, and soon a creaking sound came from inside, and then the gangway gradually descended to the water's surface.
Anderson rowed the boat to the gangway. Su Huilan stepped on it first, tested it, and, finding no problem, extended her hand and said, "You may come on now, madam."
She and Mrs. Larry went up first, followed closely by Anderson and Alice, and the group went up to the deck.
Qingmu and Situ were still on the deck, leaning on the railing of the ship, looking towards the distant lake shore. They were doing the same thing, giving orders to the savages on the shore to bring torches.
Qingmu's consciousness crossed the lake, conveying a need for fire to the savages of the Sangqi Tribe. He didn't feel that distance hindered this command of consciousness, knowing that the movement of consciousness within Mental Power Field differed from three-dimensional spacetime; it was more like a subconscious exchange within a dream. In a dream, no matter how vast the space, the dreamer's subconscious is omnipresent, because that is the world you yourself created.
The boundaries of dreams are the limits of your Mental Power.
The ebony staff created a strange connection between his Mental Power and the island's Mental Power Field, expanding the boundaries of his spiritual power. Within this range, there were no obstacles to the transmission of consciousness.
However, this all seems like a dream.
The savages on the lake shore pushed two rafts into the water, and some people, carrying large bundles of sticks, stood on the rafts and sailed towards the large ship.
Qingmu knew that the torches they were carrying were made of something similar to pine resin, and that a single torch could burn for a long time.
Just as the savages' bamboo raft approached the ship, the gangway was already in place, and Mrs. Larry and her entourage had boarded the vessel.
Several savages, their faces filled with surprise and unease, climbed the gangway up the terrifying behemoth.
With the lights on, people re-entered the bridge. As they passed the command room, Situ's guess about the time was confirmed by Mrs. Larry. As an archaeology major, she was more qualified to speak about the condition of the body.
"Whether it's been a thousand years or not, it's been at least five hundred years, but it's still a bit strange..."
The lady carefully examined the mummy's skin and hair, and out of the professional ethics of an archaeologist, her movements did not damage the integrity of the body and clothing in the slightest.
"The person must have died of natural causes, peacefully, at an age of approximately sixty to eighty. I apologize, that's a rather broad range, but for a precise estimate, we'd need to go to a laboratory. Such a corpse could only form in extremely arid desert regions, not on a ship. If, as Mr. Stone says, they entered a Stasis Space, extremely dry like a desert, I don't know how long a warship's fresh water would last, or even the food on board, but surely they couldn't have lived comfortably until they died of old age?"
Mrs. Larry's thinking was clear, and she immediately pointed out the problem. Situ's theory of Stasis Spacetime solved the problem of time and space disorder, but it could not explain everything.
Apart from Lieutenant Colonel Halsey sitting in the command room, the upper deck of the bridge was empty. They continued down to the lower decks, where the space became cramped and confined. Especially without electric lights and ventilation, the torchlight was insufficient to illuminate the entire passageway, instead casting flickering shadows in their eyes.
They arrived at the soldiers' rest area, which was their dormitory. Qingmu found that the space here was quite large; the aisles and beds were bigger than he had imagined.
" United States soldiers certainly live a comfortable life; even their beds are wider than those on our ships."
Boris complained, but what he saw next silenced him, and he couldn't utter another word.
On each bed lay a soldier, dressed in a neat uniform, lying stiffly. The torchlight shone on their faces, revealing them, like Halsey's outside, to be withered, zombie-like faces.
This is like a concentration camp for mummies.