When Yaha said this, everyone fell silent. When faced with a real dilemma, making a decision is not that easy.
Xia Ye looked left and right and found that no one said anything, so she raised her hand first:
"I……"
"You don't need to say anything." After saying one word, Yaha interrupted her.
"???"
"I know even if you don't tell me, but you hope to encounter those moth beasts, right? So you will definitely choose to chase them."
"You really understand me." Xia Ye smiled "hehe" and put down his hand again.
Then the scene returned to silence.
Yaha looked around and suddenly said: "There is one thing I want to explain in advance. In fact, for me, I want to chase that group of whales more than any of you - because I am a Bankrupt captain, I need Moir more than any of you. Even if I die because of this, I want to take the risk and give it a try, because this time I can't return empty-handed, otherwise death will be waiting for me.
"So, I could have not mentioned the moth beast, so that everyone would not hesitate and make the decision to chase after them immediately... But I can't do this because I am the captain of the Moby Dick and must deal with it. Everyone on this boat is responsible. I at least want you to know what kind of situation you may face next, instead of letting you step into a death trap without knowing anything.
"I'm done. Now, you can tell your choice."
This time, someone quickly spoke.
"I suggest you chase after them," the first mate said. "If you don't dare to take any risks, why hunt whales? Besides, even if you really encounter a moth beast...it's not certain who will die and who will live."
When the first mate said the last words, a cold aura seemed to emit from his whole body. But when Xia Ye turned to look at her, this breath disappeared without a trace.
"I also suggest chasing them." Tang Li continued, "I will go up to monitor them later. As long as the moth beasts appear within 30 nautical miles, I can immediately find their traces. As long as I am prepared in advance, I will not be passive during the fight. .”
Finally, the chief engineer spoke, and she only said one word: "Chase."
This time there was no need for Yaha to explain, everyone understood what she meant.
"Then it's decided, let's catch up!" Yaha nodded and said, "After the hunting starts, we rush in and out, kill one or two, and after harvesting the whale oil, we immediately retreat towards the islands. Wan If you really encounter moth beasts, if they are not too strong, you will kill them all; if they are troublesome, you will find a way to get rid of them."
"First mate, inform all crew members to prepare for whaling within 20 minutes."
"Second officer, monitor the whales and moth beasts, and report to me in time if there is any new situation."
"Chief engineer, we may turn on afterburners at any time to prepare your people."
"Okay, everyone, take action, 40,000 moles of whale oil are waiting for us!"
"Helmsman, right rudder 15, forward three, accelerate to 250 knots."
…
The urgent bell rang in the ship, and everyone took action, busy but not chaotic. Xia Ye watched Yaha issue one order after another. She didn't ask until all the arrangements were finalized:
"And me?"
Yaha turned to look at her: "Will you help us?"
Xia Ye smiled softly: "It depends on the situation."
Yaha thought for a while and then said: "With the power of the Moby Dick and the people on board, it should be easy to hunt down one or two whales, but if we encounter a very difficult moth beast, I hope you can help us,"
"I see."
…
20 minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Through the window of the cab, Xia Ye saw that the gunner, rangefinder and loader were all in place behind the gun mantlet, but the other crew members were ordered to stay in the cabin for the time being. What was the point?
At this time, Tang Li's voice came from the microphone located next to the wheel:
"We are still 20 nautical miles away from the whale group, and the speed and direction of the whale group have not changed."
"Received." Yaha replied, and then issued an order: "The main and secondary guns are each loaded with one delayed shot shell. They are not allowed to fire unless they hear my order. After the whale group comes into visual distance, turn on the afterburner."
Unlike other whaling ships, the Moby Dick had a main gun on the front deck and a secondary gun on the aft deck.
After receiving the order from Yaha, the loader immediately pulled out a metal cylinder from the magazine buried below the deck. The length of the cylinder was taller than the loader himself. The shiny silver shell was printed with a number of numbers. Xia Ye once asked Yaha about the pattern composed of red dots, knowing that each type of cannonball has a special symbol, and this pattern represents delayed shotshells.
Each Whaler shell weighs nearly 100 kilograms, twice as much as the 155mm howitzer shells of a bygone era. But with the power of the "Structural Strengthening" contract, the girl with thin arms and legs easily picked up the cannonball, stepped behind the barrel in a few steps, and neatly pushed the metal cylinder into the barrel.
At this moment, another report came from around me.
"Captain, a pod of whales has been sighted!"
Xia Ye opened her eyes wide and looked forward, and soon discovered white lines in the distance. They were slowly extending from left to right. They were exactly the tracks drawn by whales.
At the same time, Yaha has issued another command:
"Right rudder 5, forward four, turn on afterburner!"
About ten seconds later, a deafening roar came from the stern, and the Moby Dick turned on the afterburner again. On the shaking instrument panel, Xia Ye saw the pointer of the airspeed indicator moving to the right across one scale after another. It slowly stopped until it was close to the edge of the red zone.
That's...section 330! Moby-Dick is approaching its speed limit.
The whaling ship is less than 10 nautical miles away from the whale group. According to the current speed and course, it will take less than two minutes to intercept them.
The huge roar of the ether ramjet thrusters had obviously alarmed the whales. More than ten seconds later, a low chirping sound came from the distance. This sound penetrated the huge noise of the thrusters and penetrated into everyone's ears. As soon as Xia Ye heard it, his mood dropped inexplicably. He wanted to lie down on the spot and stop moving, even if he died because of it.
But then, a cold and slightly tingling feeling spread from the cup, piercing her nerves and cheering her up, and the low mood just now disappeared without a trace.
"Huh... was that just now?" she asked.
"The cries of whales have their own special effects." Yaha explained: "They rely on this method to hunt. They first use their cries to immobilize the schools of fish in the etheric sea, and then easily swallow the fish. But this method is ineffective against us witches, the cup will remove the effects of the sound on its own."
It turns out that cups have this effect... This is another piece of knowledge that I have lost. Xia Ye thought to herself.
"Since their predatory methods are ineffective against us, wouldn't they be at our mercy?" she asked again.
"How is that possible?" Yaha shook his head: "The cry just made was not directed at us at all. It was the whales communicating with each other. Look, they are coming -"
Following the direction of Yaha's finger, Xia Ye saw three separate tracks among the whales advancing in a wedge formation, rushing toward the whaler.
