Chapter 23: An Unbeatable Enemy
Su Xiao looked at the small wooden carving floating in front of him. A faint cutting mark ran across it. Comparing the small wooden carving with Bubu Wang, although the appearance was completely similar, it lacked the charm, missing that unique fool-like aura.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang also held a small wooden carving in its mouth. This carving wasn't carved out but gnawed out with its teeth. Surprisingly, this small wooden carving bore some resemblance to Amu. The key point was that it had a lot of charm—this was a "tooth technique" honed through home-wrecking.
The protagonist team was traveling on their end, no need to pay attention. Although Su Xiao didn't know where the mermaid had been taken, he was certain it was a place full of dangers. Letting the protagonist team's luck take the lead was the best choice.
The long voyage began. The steel warship sailed at sea for nearly four days. After passing through a large area of dangerous reefs, it slowed down. It couldn't sail any further forward. The sea area ahead was covered with reefs. Even if the steel warship could smash through them, it might run aground.
According to Major Gewei, this was a completely unfamiliar sea area, far from the continent where the Southern Alliance was located. During the journey, they had passed through the Cold Sea Belt, the Yitemidu Trench, and the White Flotsam Bay.
At this point, the Alliance Flag should consider not how to sail but how to record the return route. Everything here felt unfamiliar even to Major Gewei, who had sailed at sea for many years. According to Southern Alliance law, he could even become an explorer and name this unfamiliar sea area.
The protagonist team, located over a dozen kilometers ahead, had already landed on an island. Unlike Major Gewei's concerns, the protagonist team didn't care about these things. They only felt they had undergone a very long journey.
On the lookout platform of the steel warship, Su Xiao gazed at the island ahead. The island was so vast that he even wondered if it was a continent rather than an island.
"Mr. White Night, the magnetic field in this sea area is very peculiar. Look."
Major Gewei strode up to the lookout platform, holding a device similar to a gyroscope. The central needle on it was rotating counterclockwise.
"What does that mean?"
Su Xiao wasn't omniscient. He knew very little about the maritime equipment of this world. Not knowing was fine; pretending to know when he didn't was shameful.
"It's like this, Mr. White Night. On the Southern Continent, the spiral compass rotates clockwise based on the direction of the continent and the magnetic field of the Extreme Southern Cold Sea. Through the scale and bead chain, even in places without radio signals, we can determine the approximate direction of the warship and then sail according to the sea chart.
But here, the spiral compass is rotating counterclockwise. This means it's no longer affected by the magnetic fields of the Southern Continent and the Extreme Southern Cold Sea. It's being attracted by a magnetic field closer to us. In other words, what we see ahead isn't an island but the edge of an unknown continent."
Su Xiao was puzzled by Major Gewei's explanation. Considering that the spiral compass wasn't a compass, he didn't delve deeper into this matter. He felt that this world's understanding of magnetic fields might have some errors, but that wasn't important.
"In other words, we've arrived at an unknown sea area and an unknown continent. Over so many years, haven't scholars tried to explore the ocean?"
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Major Gewei sighed emotionally and said:
"Of course they have, but the ocean is too vast. After many years of exploration, there are still many places that steel warships can't reach. Conquering this sea is my lifelong wish."
"I wish you success."
Su Xiao gazed at the unknown continent ahead and had Baha conduct an aerial reconnaissance.
More than three hours later, Baha returned. According to Baha, this unknown continent wasn't as large as imagined. It estimated that the area of this unknown continent was about 10 to 15 times the size of Gaman City and over 30 times the size of Youke City.
What Baha saw the most were forests, mountains, and a basin of grassland.
In the central zone of this unknown continent were many towering buildings and abstract, super-giant stone carvings. These buildings and super-giant stone carvings had a style quite reminiscent of the Aztec civilization.
As for more details, Baha wasn't clear. Circling over the edge of the unknown continent, Baha didn't feel anything unusual. But when it reached the sky above the central area, the feathers on its back stood on end, as if something was pricking it. An intuition that if it dared to investigate, it would be done for lingered in its mind.
With the general situation understood, Su Xiao temporarily decided not to set foot on this unknown continent. Things had developed to this point, basically leading to two outcomes: 1. The protagonist team fails and gets wiped out here. Members of the Mechanism and Eclipse Organization land on this continent, seize the mermaid, and eventually start a chaotic battle.