Anomaly 077, ranked in the top 100, had caused the death of dozens of ships and thousands of sailors in storms. It had consciousness and the characteristics of a "living thing". It was a dangerous anomaly that deserved to be treated with caution by the local church no matter which city-state it was placed in. It just chose to close its eyes and play dead in front of Lawrence, refusing to use its power.

Lawrence had imagined countless possibilities after activating Anomaly 077, and had conceived several plans to reseal the "Sailor", but he did not expect this to happen!

The old captain looked up and exchanged glances with his first mate. Both of them felt that the condition of the mummy in front of them seemed to be different from what was recorded in the documents, and at the same time wondered what went wrong - but soon, the roar of water columns coming from the nearby sea and the sound of White Oak's self-defense artillery firing interrupted their astonishment.

Now is not the time to be distracted, the "Haiyan" is about to catch up!

Unable to defeat the enemy and unable to escape, the "sailor" with ship teleportation ability has become the only hope for the White Oak to escape from danger.

Lawrence lowered his head and stared at the mummy that was pretending to be dead with its eyes closed - no matter what was wrong with this thing, he had to find a way to make it cooperate and go out of control!

"Wake up!" Lawrence reached out and grabbed Anomaly 077's collar and shook him. It was undoubtedly offensive to have such close contact with a mummy, but he couldn't care less at this moment. "I know you've escaped the seal. Listen, you're at the helm of this ship. 'Sailor', don't you have the instinct to control the ship? Don't you have a tendency to lose control? Go ahead! Take over this ship and get us out of here!"

The mummy lying on the ground was shaken and made a strange clacking sound from the friction of its joints, but it still kept its eyes closed. However, the obvious rise and fall of its chest could not be hidden from anyone's sight. At the same time, the continuous explosions around the White Oak made Lawrence more and more irritated. He finally couldn't help but slap the mummy: "I know you are awake!"

The mummy on the ground finally couldn't lie still any longer, and opened its eyes amid a series of shakings. However, its first reaction was to dodge to the side, trying to avoid Lawrence's sight while shouting, "Stop it! Stop it! I'm going back to sleep, can't I?! You can't joke like this! You can't touch this boat, you can't touch it!"

Lawrence didn't care about that. When he saw the corpse open its eyes, he immediately pulled it up and dragged it towards the bridge. Several sailors nearby also reacted at this time. The brave ones rushed forward to help. Several people almost pressed the shriveled body of the "sailor" to the front of the bridge. The first mate shouted beside him: "Press it on the steering wheel! This way its power will take effect the fastest!"

However, Abnormal 077 continued to scream miserably and struggled violently: "Let me go! Let me go!

"You can't do this! Help, help!

"Who are you all? Please be kind, please be kind!"

"Just touch the wheel!" Lawrence shouted as he used all his strength to push the mummy against the rudder. "It will be over soon!"

"I won't! Help!" Anomaly 077 resisted with such great force that several burly White Oak crew members couldn't hold down its arms. It struggled madly and tried to turn its head to look at the direction where it had just been lying. "Let me go back! Please - put that rope around my neck, just once, and I will sleep quietly and never get up again! Otherwise, give me the rope and I will hang myself... Don't let me touch this!"

There was chaos on the bridge. The scene was extremely weird - Anomaly 077, who was notorious among many captains and sailors in the Boundless Sea, was struggling for mercy like a victim tied to the ship, while the White Oak crew members who were in desperate situation were ferociously pressing the "abnormal" arm to the rudder. Even the lunatics in the mental hospital who had lost their minds to zero could not imagine this scene in their craziest fantasies, but it was actually happening on the White Oak.

However, Lawrence no longer had the energy to reflect on how wrong what was happening at the moment was. He only knew that the silhouette of the Haiyan was getting closer and closer, and the accuracy of its artillery was rapidly increasing. The side of the White Oak had been hit continuously, and a fire was burning at the stern. If the next shell hit the engine room or ammunition depot, or even the bridge, it would be all over!

Just as he was thinking this, a shrill whistling sound suddenly came into his ears. Listening to the direction where the whistling sound fell, Lawrence's mind suddenly went blank.

Oops.

The next second, a devastating explosion swept across the upper deck. A huge fireball rose and exploded close to the bridge. The Haiyan's artillery fire hit the side of the White Oak's bridge. This blow... was fatal.

The gust of air came with a bang, and the metal and glass were torn into pieces under the power of the shells. The scattered wall structures turned into deadly fragments. A dazzling light of fire lit up in Lawrence's vision, and then he saw his first mate flying up, and his body was instantly swallowed up by the waves of fire that came from the side, followed by the other sailors on the bridge, and then himself.

The flames devoured everything. Lawrence saw the fireball expand and engulf the entire bridge. He saw his body gradually burned in the flames. Time seemed to slow down. He watched it all happen clearly, even watched the flames spread inch by inch in the air, and gradually took on a layer of strange dark green - dark green?

Lawrence's mind suddenly went blank. He barely had time to realize what was happening before he saw the red fireball that rushed into the bridge instantly turned into a dark green sea of ​​fire. The sea of ​​fire formed by the spirit flames licked everything in sight, metal, wood, glass, leather...

Everything burned by the flames became translucent like spirits, and the crew members who were swallowed by the fireballs fell to the ground one by one. They were wrapped in the spiritual flames, and their flesh and bones were as crystal clear as chalcedony. Then they crawled up one by one as if nothing had happened and looked at each other in astonishment.

This scene... is exactly the same as the first encounter with the Lost Homeland.

It was as if the horrific scene that happened on the White Oak that day was happening again.

Lawrence woke up from his trance with a feeling of groundedness, and found himself standing in front of the control panel without him noticing, with a raging spiritual flame also burning on his body - he subconsciously reached forward and grabbed the steering wheel with his hand.

In an instant, he felt—

He felt everything about the White Oak, from a screw to a window to a rope, all reflected in his mind as clearly as his own body.

He has been with this ship day and night for so many years, but has never been as closely connected with it as he is today.

Along with this feeling, there was also an extremely strong thought that surged into his mind. It was as if a voice filled with endless majesty was announcing his fate to him -

Now, you are a member of the Lost Fleet, go and serve Captain Duncan.

Lawrence held the steering wheel blankly, feeling the White Oak turning deftly in his mind, and slowly aiming the bow at the "enemy ship" that was approaching rapidly in the distance.

Anomaly 077 was still there. The mummy was curled up next to the control panel, shivering as he watched the flames of the spirits around him rise. He wailed, "I said I wouldn't touch it, but you forced me to. Do I dare to touch it? If a sailor usurps power, he will be tied to a cannonball and thrown into the sea! I know the rules on the ship! I'm a sailor!"

Lawrence slowly lowered his head to look at the "sailor". In fact, he was still in deep confusion and had no idea what was going on. However, his gaze made Anomaly 077 quiet down instantly.

The mummy closed his mouth, stood up carefully, and took a look at the surrounding situation - the bridge that was torn apart by the bombardment was recovering rapidly in the burning of the spiritual flames, and all the crew members were standing at their posts. These people now looked like ghosts, but their instincts and remaining sanity still made them return to their posts as soon as possible, waiting for the captain's next order.

“Captain…” Anomaly 077 turned his head and looked Lawrence in the eye. “What do you want to do next…”

Lawrence was at a loss for a moment, then he seemed to sense something and slowly lowered his head.

"The Lost Home Fleet was attacked... and fought back."

"Fight back!" Anomaly 077 shouted immediately, "Fight back!"

"Fight back!" The voice of the first mate Gus also rang out from the side. His body was on fire and his voice was mixed with the crackling sound of flames. "Captain's order, fight back!"

"fight back!"

On the bridge, the crew shouted loudly, and in every corner of the White Oak, every crew member who had transformed into a ghost "heard" the captain's order at the same time. The ship that had completed its transformation in flames immediately took action - its steam core roared, all the turrets began to turn, and a loud whistle mixed with roars resounded across the sea!

The ship under his feet began to accelerate towards the direction of the Haiyan, and almost at the same time, Lawrence saw another shadow next to the White Oak - it was another ship, a ship with almost only a pitch-black outline, shrouded in thick fog and smoke.

Its outline is vaguely similar to that of the White Oak, and it seems like a sister ship of the same type.

The shadowy ship accelerated side by side with the White Oak and launched an attack in the direction of the Petrel at the same time.

Through the rising spiritual flames, Lawrence stared in amazement at the phantom-like warship that suddenly appeared on the sea nearby. After an unknown amount of time, he seemed to murmur its name in a dream -

"The Black Oak...Martha?"