The sky was filled with dark clouds, and the wind at sea was getting stronger.
Qiqika came out of the cabin and went to pull the rope on the mast, trying to lower the sails that were billowing in the wind.
With such rough seas, controlling a two-masted sailing ship without a sufficient number of experienced sailors is no easy task. He had to lower the sails, at least one.
Qiqika found this boat at sea.
He used to run a private tour guide business on Tubuai Island. Because he could speak a few languages and have simple conversations, his business was pretty good. Tourists would often give him tips to drive around the island's ring road or take them to rent boats.
However, everything changed after that miraculous period of amnesia.
He received two strange customers that day, both a man and a woman, but he had no recollection of what they looked like or what happened afterward.
He only remembered that he seemed to have led them to the Tapu, and then he fell unconscious in the woods near the Tapu.
Later, something happened that suddenly made the situation tense in the Tubuai Islands, the Bass Islands, and even the Cook Islands. Warships from many countries began to patrol the area, and the roar of fighter jets could be heard from time to time. It was said that the aircraft carriers of two major powers were confronting each other in the Pacific Ocean basin to the south.
Fewer and fewer tourists are coming to Tubuai Island, and his business has plummeted.
He was thinking of doing something else, but what else could he do on this kind of island besides tourism and fishing?
Tourism has declined, and fishing is hard work.
As a child, he often went to sea with his father. In addition to the unbearable hardships on the ship, he also had to face the constant threat of death. When a storm came, whether he could survive on the vast ocean depended entirely on the whim of the god Avaiki.
Qiqika's second aunt's husband was arguably the most successful in this line of work on the island; his car was one that he had discarded. However, he eventually died in a storm, and the wealth he had accumulated through decades of hard work fishing ended up in the hands of his Hawaii mistress.
Qiqika lived a muddled and hesitant life on the barren island. Soon after, with the help of her elders, she married a local girl and gave birth to their child a year later.
His savings were quickly depleted, and he even sold the car his second aunt's husband had given him. But he still waited outside Mataura Airport, hoping to catch one or two generous tourists and earn some money from them for his child's milk powder.
What finally made Qiqika decide to go to sea was the discovery of two bodies in the forest. The place where the bodies were buried was the same place where he had once lost consciousness.
Although a long time had passed and the bodies were badly decomposed, the police still managed to identify the two people as a male and a female tourist. Qiqika concluded that these two were one of the two couples of tourists he had served that day.
The police did not suspect Qiqika, but instead focused their attention on Petru had once lived at the harbor entrance behind the Tapu.
Qiqika also suspected that Petru was responsible, because ever since this strange Redbeard man arrived on Tubuai Island, all sorts of strange tales had been circulating about him. Some said he was a great pirate, some said he was a wanted criminal, and others said he was a terrorist. He had a two-masted sailing ship, which looked a lot like those pirate ships from the Middle Ages. The harbor where he docked was full of reefs, and even the natives of the island dared not linger there for long.
Most importantly, ever since the day Qiqika fell into a coma, this strange man left Tubuai Island and never returned.
The police posted a reward, asking the islanders for clues. The money was tempting, but Qiqika didn't dare to claim it. He felt something was off about the whole thing, and saying anything wouldn't do him any good; it was better to pretend he didn't know. What if Redbeard came back for revenge? Although he couldn't actually provide any more valuable clues.
He finally decided to go to sea.
They borrowed some money and rented a small fishing boat. The Tubuai people usually use such small boats to fish in the nearby waters. Although their catch is not as good as that of the larger fishing boats, it is enough to make a living.
Qiqika, however, was unwilling to engage in such small-scale activities near the coast. He wanted to go further, partly to return home with a full catch and give his wife and children a wonderful surprise; and partly to escape, though he didn't know what he was escaping from, as if going further away would make him safer.
Then he saw the two-masted sailing ship, drifting like Ghost on the lifeless sea.
He felt as if fate had seized him by the throat, and filled with fear, he inexplicably boarded the two-masted sailing ship.
There wasn't a soul on the boat, and it was covered in dust.
After two days of anxious waiting on the ship, as if awaiting judgment, and still no sign of Redbeard, Qiqika finally realized that this was not a joke played by fate, but a gift from Avaiki.
That Redbeard must be dead.
The ship's interior was not as old as it appeared from the outside; on the contrary, it was surprisingly luxurious. The cabins were filled with weapons and supplies, and even a whole box of US dollars.
Qiqika had considered taking the US dollars home on his small boat; with that money, he could provide his woman and child with the happiest life for the rest of their lives. But greed prevailed, and he ultimately decided to sail the large ship back and hide it somewhere. Even if he couldn't dispose of the weapons on board, he could still get rid of the other supplies, which would still be a large sum of money.
As he steered the ship home, whistling and dreaming of a bright future, a strong wind suddenly arose on the once calm sea.
Large clumps of clouds gathered in the sky, blocking out the sunlight. The surging sea made the already small ship sway precariously.
Qiqika knew a storm was coming, but there were no warning signs, which made this island native also feel uneasy.
To maneuver such a two-masted sailing ship in a storm, at least ten sailors are needed to control the sails and keep the ship steady. Now, he is all alone, so he has to lower the sails and rely solely on the rudder to maintain balance.
He had just untied the first sail rope when he saw a huge wave surging in.
Qiqika had never seen such a large wave, bigger than the biggest mountain he had ever seen.
The giant wave lifted the bow of the ship to an almost vertical angle, slowly rising towards the sky. Qiqika clung tightly to the mast to avoid falling.
When the ship was pushed to its highest point, Qiqika felt as if she could reach out and touch the clouds in the sky. Those clouds stretched far, far away, forming a huge cloud of wind on the vast sea.
Qiqika knew she might be doomed. Having lived on a Pacific Ocean island for years, she could easily recognize that this was no ordinary storm; it was a powerful tropical cyclone, also known as a hurricane.
The wind grew stronger, and the sailboat lingered in the air like a kite for a long time.
The rain poured down.
Qiqika stood atop the giant wave, vaguely seeing a huge whirlpool appearing on the sea ahead, with his ship positioned on one edge of the whirlpool.
There was a dark shape at the center of the whirlpool. It was impossible to tell what it was in the storm, but it was certain that it was not a reef, because a reef could not have such a sharp and angular shape.
A giant wave crashed down, nearly capsizing the ship. Qiqika felt the blood rush to her head, but it also allowed her to make out the shape of the dark figure—
That was a pyramid.
Yes, that's right, it's the pyramid. If he weren't standing upside down, he definitely wouldn't be able to tell. In other words, this pyramid was originally upside down as well.
Then, the pyramid suddenly emitted a dazzling light, and exploded like a nuclear bomb.
Qiqika felt her body disappear in the nuclear explosion, leaving only a wisp of consciousness. The consciousness spread far, far away with the power of the nuclear explosion.
He saw his wife holding their child, standing on a brown rock by the sea, gazing into the distance, waiting for her husband to return laden with his catch.
For the first time, he found his wife's eyes so beautiful...