Chapter 76 076 Neverland

Flying through the passageways inside the Nautilus, smelling the faint burnt odor even in the corridors and seeing the twisted walls, Barry felt a pang of emotion.

Although Christie saw through Holmes's bombing plan and it didn't directly reduce the Nautilus to rubble, the Nautilus still suffered heavy losses because not everyone managed to dodge the bombs.

The hull was in the best condition, with only partial deformation but no tearing; the generator was intact, but almost all of the ship's electrical circuits were destroyed; the most sensitive radar (although not very effective in the air) and communication lines were basically completely destroyed and could not be repaired by normal means.

In addition to a bunch of technical terms and damage reports that Barry couldn't understand, it's fair to say that the Nautilus had essentially lost all its functionality as a submarine.

If the Nautilus's power source wasn't actually Verne's supernatural ability rather than an engine, the UN would probably have been stuck in place, helpless and waiting to be captured.

Even so, theoretically, the Nautilus at present can only rely on Verne's special ability to have a little bit of mobility, and it is impossible for it to continue to perform its function as a base.

The damage that Barry could understand was enough to keep the Nautilus in dock for a year or two—provided there was sufficient funding, materials, and manpower.

So Barry casually raised his hand, thankfully he was there.

A frosted texture covered the space, enveloping a large, severely distorted corridor, and Barry's hand gradually rotated in the air as if gripping a handle.

From that blurry space, one could see that the originally distorted walls gradually recovered, and in a short time they were restored to their original state as if nothing had happened.

Lowering his hand, the blurred space returned to normal. Barry looked at the now completely new walls and nodded in satisfaction.

—So it's fortunate that he was there, isn't it!

Barry's "Neverland" is essentially a place where he can select all the matter in a certain area and, after a certain period of time, "fix" it to form a "region" that he can control.

Barry can control these fixed areas as easily as he controls his limbs to perform various actions—for example, he is flying in the air now by fixing the surrounding air and "lifting" himself and the air together.

Moreover, Barry can manipulate time within this area. He can easily accelerate or decelerate, and even reverse the time of the matter surrounding the area—whether it's physical damage or chemical reactions, everything will be reversed back to a state before it happened.

Although it can only restore the timeline to the point in time when Barry covered the corresponding area, using this for repairs... would be like having a cheat code.

At least visibly, after Barry joined the UN, Verne's dark circles from worrying about the Nautilus's maintenance costs disappeared.

After repairing the last damaged section and checking off the last item on the repair list, Barry hummed a tune as he drifted towards the lounge.

He asked Exupé to make tea before he came out, so it should be ready by now, right?

Just as Barry was carefully observing the time it took for Exupéry to brew tea and seriously considering whether to speed things up, Verne and Romain Rolland walked around the corner in front of him.

"Barry, you're here?" Verne, who had also spotted Barry, was somewhat surprised by Barry's efficiency. "Is the last section finished too?"

“Of course, I can be incredibly skilled when I get serious—” Barry floated up to Verne and then suddenly put on a serious expression. “However, there are some parts that evaporated or were discarded because they were too small, which I can’t do about—although the main structure has been repaired, there are still quite a few small details that are in need of repair.”

Although Barry can control the fixed area, that still requires reaction time.

So although Barry reacted quickly after the Nautilus was attacked, managing to control most of the area and prevent the situation from worsening, he didn't have time to collect all the parts because Verne, fearing a second attack, left quickly.

Thinking of this, Barry, who had been looking serious, pouted unhappily.

"Those parts were broken so badly that even I could no longer sense where they were scattered, let alone retrieve them."

"So it still needs some repairs, right?" Verne listened to Barry's words calmly, showing no intention of reacting. "That's normal. It's already a pleasant surprise that we don't need to completely overhaul the Nautilus."

"That would be the best way to think about it—"

The moment Barry heard Verne's reply, his grin vanished, and he swayed past Verne and Romain Rolland, waving goodbye.

"Then I'll go rest now. I'll draw you a sketch of the parts that need repair later!"

As Barry flew further and further away, Verne sighed helplessly.

"He really is carefree; none of these things have affected his mood."

Romain Rolland, who was also watching Barry fly away, smiled wryly upon hearing this, "After all, Barry and Exupéry's sense of time and danger has always been different from ours. They... are, after all, infinitely close to immortality."

Whether it's Exupéry's "The Little Prince" or Barry's "Neverland," in some ways, they are both supernatural abilities that allow the user to avoid death.

"Yes, time-based systems really have a huge advantage in this regard."

He gave a casual reply, not paying much attention to the topic, and instead walked quickly forward.

"Defoe should have already taken the things over, let's hurry up."

Romain Rolland shrugged nonchalantly and quickened his pace slightly. But he still kept up with Verne with effortless ease.

They hadn't gone far when Defoe, standing in front of a heavy door with several cardboard boxes piled at his feet, came into view.

Bored, Defoe looked around and saw both Verne and Romain. He was about to greet them when he suddenly seemed to remember something and froze on the spot with a slightly complicated expression.

"Very good, you've brought everything?"

“I’ve brought everything, but…” Defoe sighed, “Why am I the one playing the bad cop during the interrogation? Who am I supposed to scare by having me do it?”

Upon hearing Defoe's words, Romain Rolland and Jules Verne both froze.

"It's alright, I believe you." Verne said this dryly, barely consoling remark, and then took out his key and opened the door to the "interrogation room."

"Anyway, let's prepare before the 'prisoner' arrives."