At the southeast quayside in Pland, a beautiful white steam turbine ship is undergoing final maintenance checks.

After a long stop, the White Oak was finally ready to set off again. This time, it would carry many commissioned items from the Pland City-State, passing through the Central Route and the Northern Route, all the way north, passing through Cold Harbor, and all the way to Frost.

This is a long journey, but for an exploration ship that has been specially modified and designed for fast ocean voyages, this route, which is mostly located in safe waters, is not a big challenge - the powerful steam core will ensure the ship's surging power, and the newly renovated onboard church is enough to shelter all crew members.

The sailors who were busy on the shore and on the ship all looked quite relaxed.

In the engine room at the stern of the White Oak, the chief engineer and the assistant mechanic were supervising the sailors to complete the final preparations for the steam core.

This powerful machine is as huge as a house and is fixed to the main supporting structure of the ship with a solid steel frame. It consists of three longitudinally arranged spherical containers and a series of complex pipes, valves and linkages surrounding the containers. There is also an iron drawbridge suspended halfway between the three containers for sailors to check the operation of the steam core and perform necessary maintenance.

At this moment, several sailors were busy on the iron suspension bridge. They opened the heavy hatch of the spherical container and took out several dull metal rods that had been worn out. They then fixed several light golden metal rods that were as thick as forearms and nearly one meter long to the slots in the hatch and activated the mechanism to send the metal rods into the center of the container.

They are catalytic media made of boiling gold. They are the source of the powerful power of the steam core and one of the important guarantees for the stable operation of the machine. Like the prayers and incense rituals of the priests near the steam pipes, the boiling gold media in the steam core can also resist the invasion of certain malicious forces to a certain extent, preventing the machine from being suddenly "possessed" after a long period of operation.

The creaking sounds of pulleys and hinges continued to be heard. Two sailors seemed to be operating a little roughly. The burly bald chief engineer shouted, "Be careful! Don't damage the boiling gold catalysts. They are as soft as breadsticks. If you damage one, the captain will eat you!"

"If you mean the breadsticks baked by Chef Finley - then you should worry about the chutes and latches in the steam core being damaged!" The sailor on the drawbridge laughed, but he was still careful in his movements while talking nonsense.

"When we get to Frost, I'll suggest that the captain buy a batch of high-quality boiling gold catalysts from the local area. The boiling gold there is as cheap as stones on the ground," the assistant mechanic muttered to the side. She was a woman who looked to be in her thirties or forties. Her arms were as strong and powerful as a man's, and her work clothes were stained with oil. "The Adventurer's Association's procurement channels are too shady."

"That depends on whether the client and the church agree," the chief engineer shrugged. "Half of the cargo holds on the White Oak are special 'sealed rooms'. Many of the things we're transporting this time are raw materials and semi-finished products of holy objects ordered by the church. These things are very sensitive, and the supplies sent to the ship must have a strict list. Previously, the Grey Crow had a problem because a jerk secretly brought a barrel of mead on board, which caused the seal on the ship to loosen, and two shadows ran out and killed half of the people on the ship..."

"I know, so I will just give the captain some advice when the time comes." The assistant mechanic waved his hand and then frowned slightly. "But speaking of which, it seems that the captain hasn't arrived yet - he usually isn't late."

"The captain will come," the chief engineer said, then paused and repeated it for emphasis, "The captain will come—he hasn't retired yet."

※※※

"You really should retire," the wife said, leaning against the door frame with her arms folded, looking at this side with an unfriendly face, her eyes as sharp as they were back then, "Don't wait until I get on the boat and pull your ears before you realize how serious your situation is."

Lawrence did not respond. He just silently adjusted his captain's uniform in front of the mirror, checked his meticulously combed hair, solemnly picked up the hat next to him, put it on his head, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Martha, but I must start now," the old captain whispered. "The White Oak is waiting in the harbor."

His wife looked at him quietly, without any angry words or endless complaints, only long gaze and silence.

After an unknown amount of time, she sighed softly, "Okay, then be careful and come back early—don't run into any more messy things."

"I hope so." Lawrence sighed helplessly and turned away from the mirror.

"Have you brought everything?"

"I've brought them all."

"Where are the keys to the house and the talisman for going out?"

"I brought them all with me. I didn't forget."

"It would be good to take a little prayer-book with you."

"I have it with me," Lawrence bent down, picked up the small suitcase at the door and patted it, "as well as a few pages of handwritten prayers and the sacred candles I got from the cathedral."

His wife opened her mouth and seemed to want to say something, but Lawrence turned around with a smile on his face: "I brought them all. I'm not old enough to forget things."

The wife was silent for a moment, then exhaled softly, "Your medicine."

Lawrence's movements froze and stilled.

"Don't forget your medicine," the wife repeated.

Lawrence's lips trembled twice, and his eyes moved to the side little by little.

On the low table at the door, a small brown glass bottle was quietly placed there. The sunlight shone on the bottle, and the clear texture of the bottle could be vaguely seen.

After a long silence, Lawrence picked up the bottle of potion, and after several seconds, he opened the small stopper.

He looked up at Martha and saw his wife still leaning against the doorframe, her arms folded, looking at him, just as he remembered.

"Have a safe trip," she mouthed.

"I'm going out." Lawrence responded softly, and then, as the psychiatrist instructed, he dropped a few drops of medicine into his mouth.

The strong taste dissipated in the mouth, and the wife's figure quietly disappeared in the sunlight.

Lawrence silently put the cap back on the medicine bottle, opened the small suitcase, and put the remaining medicine in a corner where it would not get bumped. While sorting things out, he muttered, "That psychiatrist is just fooling people... This stuff is so bitter, it doesn't even smell like an herbal medicine."

The old captain, who had been drifting on the vast sea for half his life, packed his belongings, sighed softly, picked up his suitcase, and left home.

※※※

After finishing a day's work, Heidi finally returned home before evening. She opened the door, took off her coat, and walked into the living room. The first thing she did was to slump down in a chair in a very ungraceful manner and sighed deeply.

The mother was sitting by the warm fireplace sorting some letters. When she heard her daughter coming home, she turned her head slightly and said, "Girl, you should pay more attention to your image. A lady would not do this."

"Let the lady take a break. She has been dealing with weird nightmares and nonsense sailors today," Heidi slumped in the chair and waved her hand weakly. "A ship had a mechanical failure in the vast ocean and was stranded in the open sea for nearly twice the planned time. Several sailors were tied up and carried off the ship - it was a disaster."

At this point she exhaled, shook her head and sighed: "It's really not easy to make a living on the vast ocean."

The mother looked up from the letter and said, "That sounds terrible. You can't just lie there like this. Go upstairs and take a bath to calm yourself down. The water is ready."

"Well, that's true," Heidi curled her lips and finally got up from the chair. She walked towards the stairs, but suddenly stopped curiously, "These letters are..."

"Water bills, electricity bills, gas bills, all kinds of bills - all kinds of messes," my mother said casually, her tone nonchalant. "Your father used to take care of it, but now he's out, so I'm taking care of it."

"Well, I don't want to deal with these things." Heidi said, waving her hand and walking upstairs.

The mother watched her daughter go upstairs quietly, then she looked away, her eyes scanning the letters in front of her.

Most of it is indeed bills.

But there are two real letters - one of which comes from a place that is hard to imagine.

It was a letter from Maurice, delivered this afternoon by a courier whose body was burning with green flames.

The letter contains a special spell from the God of Wisdom to prevent outsiders from seeing its true contents.

The old woman smiled as she read the familiar words on it:

〖…We are heading to Frost. There is not much scenery to see along the way. Only the occasional small piece of floating ice on the sea and the cold fog in the distance are quite interesting…

...Nina was doing her winter break homework in the restaurant today, and a strange shadow came out of her textbook. Everyone rushed to beat it, and it was very lively...

...Before lunch, the captain went fishing again. You know, that kind of "fish" - it struggled very hard this time. It was a thrilling scene. The captain said that energetic fish tasted better, but I couldn't taste the difference...〗

The old woman smiled, put the letter aside for the time being, and picked up another letter that she had just opened.

But this letter came from Han Shuang.

The sender was Brown Scott.