Due to the lack of reference, Xia Ye had a hard time judging how big the whale was.
But it must be much larger than an ordinary whale, because it has four pairs of bony wings.
There are two pairs at the front of the body, which are connected at the roots and separated into two completely independent spars upwards; and there are the same two pairs at the back of the body. Four pairs of bone wings take turns to move up and down, pushing the beluga forward quickly in the sea of clouds.
Looking at the appearance of the white whale, Xia Ye had a strange and vague idea in his mind, but before he could catch it, Yaha's voice came from the microphone.
"Xia Ye, are you and the second mate together?"
"Uh...right."
"Come to the cab and don't disturb the second officer's lookout." Yaha said in a tone that left no room for doubt.
After all, Yaha is the captain, and Xia Ye still respects each other's opinions on specific matters.
"Okay~"
She responded, turned to Tang Li and said, "Sister Tang Li, I'll go down then."
…
As soon as she entered the cab, Xia Ye heard Yaha's rapid-fire orders. Apparently Yaha and others also saw the white whale through the vision shared by Tang Li.
"Right rudder 10, increase speed to 280 knots."
"Main, secondary guns, and one harpoon shell each ready!"
"Chief engineer, this time you will enter the 'synchronized enhancement' mode first, and then follow my orders to start again. The maximum time will not exceed 2 minutes."
"First mate, prepare the ceremony materials on the foredeck."
"Second officer, report the target range, speed, and direction to me again."
…
Xia Ye stood next to Yaha and waited until she had given all the orders before asking:
"How soon will it take us to catch up with that whale?"
"The straight-line distance between the opponent and us is 105 nautical miles." Yaha said, "The speed is about 160 knots. Considering that we have to bypass several ether vortices along the way, we can catch up with it in about an hour."
"It actually took so long."
"That's because we discovered it early." Yaha said. "An ordinary lookout can usually only detect targets about 15 nautical miles away. Thanks to the second officer, we have a lot of time to prepare..."
Hum~ In addition to the second mate, and thanks to this witch, if it weren't for me, Tang Li would have had to wait until there were 30 nautical miles left to find the white whale. In that case, you would only have about 15 minutes to prepare. .
Although Xia Ye thought so in her heart, she didn't say it out loud.
And Yaha had already continued: "Especially the first mate's ceremony, it takes a lot of time. It is of course the best to prepare it early... Look, they have already brought up the wing bones."
Through the window, Xia Ye saw the first mate and crew members moving the wing bones onto the front deck. Each of these wing bones was more than two meters long. Under the command of the first mate, the crew arranged the wing bones into a circular pattern, and then fixed them on the deck with adhesive-like things. The whole scene had no mystical style, but instead looked like a group of people. Dustmen at work.
In the previous discussion, Xia Ye had already roughly understood the battle plan designed by Yaha. To describe it simply, it was probably——
A big move.
The most critical part is the first mate's ceremony.
The first mate briefly described the effect of this ritual. It sounded very powerful, but in reality you can only know what it is like by watching it.
Anyway, you will see it soon, just wait a few dozen minutes.
"Thank you." Yaha said suddenly.
"What?" Xia Ye didn't react at all.
"According to the agreement we made before going to sea, you originally only had to watch with a cold eye." Yaha explained, "But in fact, you have helped me many times so far."
Hearing what Yaha said, the girl couldn't help but be stunned, but soon, she accepted the other party's thanks calmly.
"This is called 'additional investment'." She said with a smile, "And so far, the return seems to be quite good. I just hope that in the next step, everything will not be lost."
"If I only consider the white whale, I think my plan will almost certainly succeed." Yaha said confidently, "But I'm afraid that other accidents will happen."
"for example?"
Yaha shook his head: "If I knew, it wouldn't be an accident. So, I want to know, if an accident really happens, will you 'additional investment'?"
Xia Ye once again thought of the strange feeling in her heart when she saw the white whale for the first time, but the feeling was too vague. She couldn't catch it when it first appeared, and it was even harder to catch it now.
The only thing she could confirm was that this idea probably didn't represent good news, which was why she cared so much about it.
"I will." She smiled, "As long as..."
Yaha was immediately startled: "What do you want to do again?"
She had already suffered enough when she put on socks last time. What tricks were she going to do this time?
"As long as you say: 'Super invincible and lovely Master Xia Ye, please help me~', I will promise you."
This time Xia Ye's request turned out to be extremely simple.
"That's it?" Yaha always felt like there was some kind of trap.
"Yes, that's it. As long as you tell me now, I will help you."
"Super invincible and lovely Sir Xia Ye, please help me," Yaha said quickly, "Okay."
"Not affectionate enough."
"ah?"
"Oh, I'll say it again, listen carefully, 'Super invincible! Love! Sir Xia Ye, please help me~~' Pay attention to the rise and fall of my tone, especially the word 'ba' at the end, it should be full of pleading And looking forward to it~"
Yaha could only say it again.
"puff--"
Before Xia Ye could reply, the helmsman standing aside couldn't help but laugh.
"Concentrate on the helm!" Yaha commanded with serious eyesight.
"yes!"
"You've passed the test, Captain Yaha." Xia Ye chuckled and said, "If necessary, I will help you with my most powerful contract."
Yaha finally breathed a sigh of relief: "You agree now?"
"Yes, because you have met my requirements. Although there are still many shortcomings according to my standards, it is already very good for you."
"But what's the point of your request..."
"Because it's fun."
"Huh?"
"For me, fun is the most important thing." Xia Ye said with a smile, "Even a little more important than Mol."
…
Just fifty minutes passed quickly.
The distance between the Moby Dick and the white whale had shortened to less than 20 nautical miles. Looking into the distance with all his eyes, he could even see a very thin trail.
Tang Li's voice suddenly came from the microphone:
"Target speed is increasing! Currently approximately... 180 knots."
Yaha's expression showed no surprise.
"It has spotted us," she said. "Helmsman, enter ramming mode and increase the speed to 300 knots."
"The main gun is ready to aim, and the distance will be shortened to within 5 nautical miles before firing."
Following Yaha's order, the stern thrusters soon roared with force, and the Moby Dick's speed increased again. The bow of the ship split open the red-gold sea of clouds, and rushed towards the target.
The white wake in the distance expanded little by little. When Xia Ye could barely see the whale with the naked eye, the wake heading northwest suddenly turned an angle to the left.
Tang Li's report immediately came from the microphone:
"Target changed! Currently heading due west."
"Steering blindly will only make it catch up to us faster." Yaha sneered and issued the order, "Left rudder 5, align the bow of the ship with its tail and then return to the right direction... Okay, back to the right direction."
Just as Yaha said, the white whale made a very inexplicable turn. Not only did it not escape from the Moby-Dick, it actually made the straight-line distance between the two much closer.
Xia Ye could even see its bone wings.
"Report the distance," Yaha called into the microphone.
"8 nautical miles."
"Very good. Aim the main gun at the root of its left wing. Be careful, it's the root of the wing. Don't aim at the back, or the bullet will ricochet!" Yaha gave an order to the gunner.
"After entering 5 nautical miles, you can seize the opportunity to fire on your own without waiting for my order."
"First Mate, how was your ceremony?"
"Already prepared."
…
Yaha's orders became intensive again. The ultimate goal of this trip to sea, the huge and unique white whale, was already in sight. Everyone was busy nervously, making final preparations for the hunt.
Only Xia Ye looked out the window without saying a word.
But she wasn't looking at the white whale.
Her vision was not even focused, and the sight in front of her became increasingly blurry, but the idea in her heart gradually became clearer.
She suddenly walked quickly to the microphone.
"Sister Tang Li, can you scan again due west? As far away as possible, such as 100 nautical miles or even further?"
"Xia Ye?!" Yaha frowned and looked at her. Now that Tang Li was focusing on the white whale, Xia Ye suddenly asked her to look elsewhere, which would undoubtedly disrupt Yaha's arrangement.
"Trust me, just take a look." After Xia Ye said to the two of them, he added: "It's best not to find anything."
Yaha hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing: "Just do as she said."
There was no reply from the other side of the microphone. Xia Ye knew that Tang Li was looking due west 100 nautical miles away with his big eyes.
After half a minute, Tang Li's voice came from the microphone again.
Her voice was unusually hesitant.
"Due west, contrails were found 130 nautical miles away, heading due east, there are at least five... there may be more, I can't be sure."
Yaha raised his eyebrows slightly: "Is it a pod of whales? Have all the whales near Debso Tower hid in the deep sea?"
"It's a pod of whales, but..."
"but what?"
"I seem to see..."
Tang Li's incredible voice came from the microphone:
"Those whales... each seem to have four pairs of bony wings!"
(End of chapter)
