Chapter 482: Sea‑Bottom Drilling

While the others were chatting, Jia Deliya stepped out of the captain's cabin, crossed over the people on the deck to Nina's side and asked:

"Are you ready?"

"Captain, we still need to wait a bit; I haven't finished the bottle of Nibos I just opened."

As she spoke, Nina cradled Pas and walked toward the other cabin.

Jia Deliya nodded at Nina, then her gaze fell on Ke Lai En, and she chose her words to explain to him:

"Someone has discovered a supposedly Quaternary relic on the seabed here; we plan to take a look along the way."

Frank dragged a basket of still‑alive sea fish out of the cabin, his eyes excited as he looked at the crowd on the deck and shouted loudly:

"Hey, gentlemen and ladies, does anyone need a drink? We have red wine, milk, coffee, and Lielangqi."

The crew of the Future who had been gathered together scattered as if frightened, breaking into small groups to loudly discuss awkward topics and stay away from Frank.

Seeing no one pay him attention, Frank turned his gaze to Leik Dun and the others near the rail, and he trudged over with the basket of live fish.

"Captain, do you need coffee? It's pure coffee, a bit bitter, but I also have milk here; you can mix them."

Frank enthusiastically pitched his homemade drink to Jia Deliya.

Jia Deliya, expressionless, nudged her glasses on her nose and said calmly:

"No need, it's still morning; I don't need coffee to stay alert."

Frank pulled out two still‑wiggling silver phosphorus fish from behind, handed them to Jia Deliya and said, "There's also milk and red wine here!"

Is he doing it on purpose, or did he really not notice that everyone on this ship is rejecting what he makes?

Ke Lai En stared at the silver phosphorus fish Frank held tightly, suddenly recalling what Leik Dun had said about fish that can grow when planted in soil. Could these be the fish grown in soil? They look no different from the ones in the sea; does "the Sower" mean anything can be cultivated from soil?

Frank glanced at Ke Lai En, who had been staring at the fish in his hand, as if he understood something, gave a sudden smile, and brought the two fish up to Ke Lai En, saying:

"Ge Erman, would you like to try?"

Looking at the fish handed to him, Ke Lai En stiffly whispered, "No, thank you."

"Is this also the fish you cultivated last night?"

Leik Dun, curious, reached out and took a fish from Frank's hand; his right index finger shimmered with specks of starlight as he gently brushed the fish's belly.

Dark‑red liquid instantly seeped from the fish's body, carrying a faint scent of wine and fish.

Leik Dun collected a drop of the dark red fluid on his fingertip, placed it on his lips and tasted it; the red wine flavor was strong, still with a hint of fishy aftertaste.

He smacked his lips twice, as if savoring, then said:

"Is this Suniya Blood Wine?"

"Exactly! This is my prized collection."

"This morning the restaurant's red wine was this special Suniya Blood Wine I supplied; those guys were thrilled to drink it."

Frank smiled proudly and nodded, as if he had accomplished something remarkable.

Leik Dun saw Ke Lai En's expression freeze, his gaze turning complex as he looked at the fish in Leik Dun's hand still dripping wine, as if trying to shatter it with his eyes.

Leik Dun turned his head toward Ke Lai En, who was still fixated on the fish, a hint of pale violet flashing in his eyes, directly projecting the message he wanted to convey into Ke Lai En's mind:

The restaurant on the Future has always been overseen by Frank; it's also where he holds tasting events, so generally there are no issues, and even if there are, Frank himself is the best doctor on the Future.

Ke Lai En snapped his head up, staring straight into Leik Dun's eyes, as if saying, "Why didn't you tell me this sooner, given how important it is?"

Leik Dun shrugged, tossed the fish into the sea, then turned to Frank and said evenly:

"It has a faint fishy taste, which really affects the flavor."

Frank nodded solemnly, recorded Leik Dun's feedback, and then said:

"There's no way around it; I replaced the blood in these fish's vessels, which boosts their nutrition but inevitably imparts some fishy flavor."

"I don't have time to tackle this now; once I crack the hybridization technique for dairy cows, sugar, and coffee, I'll address it."

"I think your suggestion is very meaningful: directly squeeze a cup of freshly brewed hot coffee from a dairy cow, which would skip many unnecessary steps."

No, I think these steps are necessary. I feel that by the time I step off the Future, I probably won't be able to look directly at dairy cows or coffee any more.

Ke Lai En sighed inwardly while giving Leik Dun a veiled glare. Having crew like you on the Future is truly Jia Deliya's blessing.

Leik Dun's mouth twitched; he could feel Jia Deliya's complicated stare. If this continues, Frank and I could be thrown overboard at any moment.

He let out a sigh in his mind, then looked at Frank, who was still rambling, and interrupted:

"Frank, don't you think using dairy cows is inconvenient?"

"You could completely modify the coffee tree so that it bears not fruit but a thick‑shelled juice, a blend of coffee, milk and sugar; plus, cultivating trees is far easier than raising dairy cows."

Frank thought seriously for a moment, nodded, and said:

"That's a good proposal; I've previously studied mushrooms that produce milk, and with a few tweaks we could graft that trait onto trees."

Nina, clad in black skin‑tight clothing that looked like fish‑skin, staggered out of the cabin smelling of alcohol and said to Jia Deliya:

"Captain, shall we start now?"

The provocative size of her chest made the pirates on deck unable to look away, trying to stare directly at her bosom.

After giving Frank and Leik Dun a long look, Jia Deliya finally turned to Nina and gave a slight nod:

"Begin."

She barely landed, and Nina already sprinted to the rail, braced her right hand on the side, and vaulted over into the sea like a swift fish, plunging rapidly into the deep.

Leik Dun, sensing something, glanced toward the inner cabin of the Future, then quickly averted his gaze and said to Jia Deliya and Ke Lai En:

"It's too early today; I'm going to my room for a quick nap. If anything comes up, remember to wake me."

After speaking, he headed straight for the cabin, not returning to his own room but following his intuition deeper into the ship.

After descending several decks, thick turquoise vines suddenly draped the surroundings, raining down like a storm and intertwining into a dense emerald forest, layered endlessly with no visible end.

Chestnut‑haired, tall Bei Erna Dai abruptly appeared before Leik Dun.

She wore an Indies‑style women's shirt with large lace blossoms at the collar, a indigo captain's coat with patterned trim, cream‑colored trousers, knee‑high boots, and a tricorn hat adorned with a feather, looking like the leader of a pirate ship.

This is probably her most fitting attire for the "Mysterious Queen" image. He sighed inwardly, bowed slightly with his back to her and greeted:

Good morning, Ms. Bernaide.

Bernaide politely and distantly gave a slight nod, and asked in a flat voice:

You returned to the Future at this time—do you intend to go to the Divine War ruins? Or are you passing through there to somewhere else?

"It could be both,"

Leikton wasn't curious how the other knew the Divine War ruins might connect to somewhere, and simply gave a brief reply.

Bernaide seemed unconcerned with Leikton's answer; her deep gaze fell on the ground woven from emerald vines, as if her sight pierced the layers of obstruction and saw the dark, profound seabed.

After a brief silence, she finally spoke in a deep tone:

"The seabed ruins are highly unusual; the higher the sequence, the greater the danger,"

"That ruin bears clear traces of human activity, or of other civilizations similar to humanity, yet its history is so ancient that I cannot fathom it. Long ago, perhaps a civilization existed here, one skilled in smelting Thus: Steel to forge machines,"

"I noticed the complex, intense emotion that flashed in your eyes when you looked at the seabed earlier. I cannot decipher that feeling, but that state resembles some of my father's moments of absent‑mindedness,"

Bernaide fell silent after finishing her words, asking nothing and making no extra movements; her deep eyes looked toward the ground beneath her, as if she were watching the strange, dangerous deep‑sea ruins from afar.

After a period of silence, Leikton suddenly spoke:

"You have not been searching for the last tomb your father left behind— is it because Luen's George III is about to ascend as Black Emperor?"

"That is part of the reason, but mainly because when I ascended to Sage I made certain prophecies, one of which concerned Jiadeliya heading to the Divine War ruins now; my prophecy did not include you,"

"She was overly confident, overlooking the sea's effect on His Doul aboard her ship, which would bring irreversible consequences to them. Aside from your secret‑laden friend, the others would find survival difficult,"

Bernaide calmly narrated her prophecy and the possible future that the Future might encounter.

So it was his mother's worry after all. Leikton muttered inwardly, then shifted the topic:

"The seabed drill reaches the Earth's core, and to some extent connects to the 'Chaos Sea' deep within the core,"

"Drill? Is that a word you directly transliterated? What does it mean?"

Bernaide gave a gentle nod; she did not pursue the Chaos Sea, but instead asked about the drill.

Because this world has no oil underground, there can be no drill; when speaking with Bernaide, Leikton had simply assembled an Inditis word based on its pronunciation.

After a brief consideration of wording, he simply explained:

"Roughly, it's a very deep well used to extract things buried deep underground,"

Bernaide gave a slight nod, ceased further questioning about the drill, and stared down at the ground. After a moment, she extended her right hand forward, grasping from the void a brilliant, indifferent eye formed of starlight.

She casually tossed the eye, and it drifted like an illusion, easily passing through the emerald‑vined forest, through the Future's cabin and the cold seawater, landing upon Nina, who was exploring the seabed.

Encased in cold seawater, Nina felt her thoughts suddenly sharpen. She hesitated before the mouth of the well—so narrow even a child could not pass—sensing something in the dark well slowly beckoning her, though the feeling was faint and she easily resisted.

She then tossed a few nearby stones to test for a response; finding none, she picked up a metal rod whose original shape was unrecognizable and a piece of black, honeycomb‑covered hard soil, and swam back toward the surface.

At the unseen back of her head, a deep‑blue, cold, expressionless, eyelash‑less eye blinked twice, then dissolved into specks of starlight.

(End of Chapter)