"Proposed - Invoked: The Sixth Authority - Infinite Branching Paths."
"boom!"
Like the sound of flames rising.
A flash of orange fire lit up in her palm, and then a very faint, very inconspicuous flame lit up in her palm.
The small flame expanded rapidly, like a burning bonfire, but it was rising towards the ground and its shape was upside down.
It was as if gravity was reversed for it, and what was below was actually above.
Because its brightness and intensity were so weak, it did not seem very dazzling even in the dark night where one could hardly see one's hand in front of one's face, and none of the survivors who were trying to climb onto the light sailboat in the distance noticed it.
The flames quickly expanded downwards, and the moment they touched the ground, they suddenly seemed to come alive, deforming and twisting in a very spiritual way, converging towards a certain point on the ground.
At the same time, the flames in Qi Ji's palm stopped coming out. She put her hand down and looked down at the strange flames gathering on the ground and changing on their own, as if a pair of invisible hands were shaping and kneading them.
After a few seconds, the shape of the flame was basically fixed. It was a small person the size of a palm, and only the limbs, torso and head could be roughly distinguished, but no more specific details could be seen.
The endless flames danced and burned all over its body. If it weren't so small, it would have been quite intimidating and oppressive.
"That's about it... that's it."
Qi Ji crossed his arms over his chest, looking at the small flame doll with satisfaction, a slight smile on the corner of his mouth.
With a wave of his hand, the little fire man started moving, walking towards the city in a very natural and coordinated manner, just like a living person. Ignoring the appearance, the movements were exactly the same as those of a real human.
In the blink of an eye, it disappeared from sight.
At the same time when the last red-orange flame completely disappeared into the night, Qi Ji was touched and turned to look at the sea.
I saw several figures standing on the deck of the schooner, skillfully lowering the rope ladder.
They were the crew members of the Challenger. They were all strong climbers, and they climbed onto the deck of the ship without much effort and helped other survivors who were not good at climbing to get up.
One of the plump and tall figures was waving at him, and in the other hand was holding a small, shiny object that was flashing in the night sky.
Qi Ji realized that it was Meili using the light to signal her that she could go through.
A few minutes later, we climbed onto the deck of a light sailing boat that was drifting leisurely on the coastal waters through the rope ladder lowered by the sailors.
"Huh... I'm all wet. Let's light a fire and warm myself up later."
Like everyone else, Mary was soaked all over, her shirt sticking to her tanned skin, highlighting her plump figure.
She took off her completely soaked coat and wrung out the water while looking around to count the number of people to make sure no one was left behind.
"……Um?"
At this moment, she discovered that Qi Ji, who was standing next to her...his clothes were not wet at all?
Not only the wide cloak, but also the long, beautiful black hair remained dry and smooth, and the whole person looked clean, tidy and refreshed.
"Forget it... It's normal for an earth mage to know water-avoiding spells..."
She did not investigate further and told everyone to get inside the cabin. She then cast several concealment spells to hide their auras and spiritual fluctuations, sealing the cabin to prevent their auras from being detected by the Siren.
"Let's stay here first and let the boat drift away naturally with the tide. When we are far away from the coast, we can raise the sails."
In a small room in the cabin, a dozen people, all soaked, huddled together in a circle. In the middle was a small oil lamp. In the dim light, Meili whispered:
"The current ocean current and wind direction are both westward, and the overall drift direction of this ship should also be westward... In theory, we will be getting farther and farther away from the danger zone—"
"Boom!"
The whole ship suddenly shook violently, and there was a dull sound underfoot, as if the bottom of the ship had hit something hard and heavy!
Chapter 515 Haidilao People
"what!"
"What is it?!"
"Siren...Siren has discovered us!"
At the same moment when the vibration of the hull was transmitted to everyone, everyone stood up suddenly as if by reflex, tensed their bodies with expressions of extreme panic, and screamed in confusion.
"Don't panic...everyone, don't panic! It may not be a siren, it may just be that the bottom of the ship hit a reef!"
The first person to regain her sanity was Meili, the leader. She spoke up to calm everyone down:
"Yes, this is still a shallow sea, it's normal to run into something! Besides, if it was really a Kraken, the ship should have been torn apart by now!"
After hearing her analysis, everyone felt it made sense, and they quickly calmed down after she appealed to their emotions and reasoned with them.
"It seems that it is indeed not a siren... It has been so long and there is still no movement."
The group of people stood there stiffly and waited for a few seconds. They found that after the initial vibration, there was no subsequent movement on the entire ship, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
If they really were those frenzied and bloodthirsty sirens...then they would definitely not just hit the boat and not react. They would definitely tear it to pieces and sink it without hesitation.
Since everyone is still standing safely in the cabin, it means that it is indeed not a mermaid, but something else.
"I'll go out and check the situation... 105, you have a stronger sense, come out with us." Meili instructed everyone in the cabin:
"Others stay here and don't move around casually. Stay alert."
After saying that, she turned around and glanced at Qi Ji, who was dressed the neatest and cleanest in the room, and nodded slightly.
"You follow me."
Qi Ji said nothing, with his usual slight smile on his face, and followed Meili slowly.
The two of them went up to the deck. Qi Ji looked around casually and said calmly:
"There are no monsters within a radius of several hundred meters."
After hearing her words, Meili finally put her mind at ease. Giving Qiji a look that told him to stay put, Meili walked slowly to the edge of the deck, poked her head over the railing and looked down at the dark water.
The light was so dim that one couldn't even see the water surface, let alone what was in the water. The area below the sailboat was almost entirely black, and when one looked down, one felt as if one was floating in space.
"It's too dark, I can't see anything... But if I light a lamp on the deck, it will be too conspicuous in the middle of the night, and I might be discovered by the Siren..."
After holding her breath and looking down for a while without any results, she frowned slightly in embarrassment:
"Why don't we just ignore it? No matter what it hits, it doesn't seem to pose a threat to us anyway... Let's not take unnecessary risks."
Finally, she decided to ignore that thing she didn't know what it was. As long as it wasn't dangerous, why would she bother asking questions?
As a navigator and a sea adventurer, courage and bravery are necessary, but also having a proper avoidance of the unknown and pretending to be confused when necessary is one of the necessary qualities for long-term survival.
So Meili retracted her head, turned around and whispered to Qi Ji who was not far away:
"It's alright, 105, let's go back... eh? What are you doing?"
With the help of the extremely weak moonlight, she discovered that the petite figure in the black cloak was not standing in the original place.
Instead, he walked to the railing on the other side, with his upper body almost stretched out, and looking at the movements of his hands... it seemed like he was pulling something upwards?
Meili suddenly felt puzzled, walked forward curiously, and whispered to Qiji's back:
"Did you find something? What are you talking about?"
When she walked closer, she noticed a large pile of rope-like things piled at Qi Ji's feet. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be... vines?
She was continuously pulling up pieces of vines, which were piling up wetly on the deck. It was obvious that the other end of the vine was connected to something in the sea.
And she was pulling that mysterious thing up through the vines.
"Well... technically, it's not a 'thing'."
At this time, Qi Ji said with a slight smile, and suddenly took a few steps back, and the hands holding the vines clearly exerted force -
"Brush it!"
The sound of the sea rolling. Meili saw Qi Ji retreating rapidly, holding on to the vines that kept rubbing against the edge of the railing with both hands, and dragging a huge object out of the sea with a grunt.
"Oh!"
A black shadow fell from the top of the railing and hit the deck with a loud thump.
"What is this?!"
Meili was shocked. The thing was about the size of a person, and its surface was covered with a lot of mud, seaweed and other filth. It was impossible to tell what shape it was. One could only roughly tell that it was a long strip, like a coffin.
"What we just hit."
Qi Ji threw the vine in his hand and let it dissipate into the air. He then walked calmly to the strange object and waved his hand gently.
“Swish, swish…”
New vines emerged from thin air, sweeping over the object nimbly and swiftly, brushing away the seaweed and mud clinging to its surface, revealing its original appearance bit by bit.
"Uh, be careful, I don't know what this thing is. If you move it carelessly, it might be dangerous..."
Meili watched Qi Ji's behavior cautiously, and worriedly condensed a small black fireball in her palm to guard against any accidents.
"Don't worry, it's not something strange... come and take a look."
Qi Ji smiled without any sense of crisis or tension and waved at her, motioning her to come over.
For some reason, she noticed that the corners of this girl's mouth were more obviously upturned, and were twitching slightly... as if she was trying to hold back a laugh?
Meili hesitated for a few seconds, but finally believed in her own judgment. She carefully moved closer and used the moonlight to observe the object that had been almost cleaned of filth.
“Ah! Is this a person?… Ugh…”
The moment she saw the appearance of that "thing", a flash of lightning went through Mary's mind and she screamed uncontrollably, but she immediately reacted and quickly covered her mouth tightly, strangling the subsequent scream in her throat.
"Who... who is this person?"
She felt her heart pounding. After finally suppressing her emotions, she leaned close to Qi Ji and asked in a very low voice, her eyes still scanning the figure on the ground.
Yes, after clearing away all the seaweed and silt that blocked the view, a human figure appeared.
This is a middle-aged man with gray hair. He has a dignified appearance, deep facial features, and a mature temperament. You can tell at first glance that he has an extraordinary bearing.
He looked to be in his forties or fifties, but he was extremely sturdy, at least two meters tall, with muscular arms and thighs that were full of power, which was completely unlike the appearance of a man of this age.
The clothes he was wearing seemed to be very thick, but firstly the light was dim, and secondly a large amount of mud and water had already contaminated all his clothes, so it was basically impossible to tell what he was wearing.
Now the man's eyes were closed and he showed no reaction, obviously unconscious.
But the lines on his face were tense, the muscles all over his body were taut, and he stood straight, as if he was in a state of high alert, making people feel afraid.
"you do not know?"
Qi Ji looked at Mei Li with a little surprise, her expression was mixed with shock and confusion:
"I thought this guy was so famous, you all would know what he looked like."
"One zero five...what are you talking about? Do you know this person?" Meili was also confused.
Qi Ji shrugged and hooked his fingers. The vines that appeared out of thin air came to the man's chest, and then carefully cleaned the clothes on his chest, brushing off the mud and dirt on the fabric.
Soon, the blue-black sludge faded away, revealing a deep red color, which was the original color of the man's clothes.
A pattern embroidered on the left chest of his shirt was also vaguely revealed:
Three broom flowers at the same height hold up a heavy shield with images of swords, guns and flames on it.
"This, this is..."
He was startled at first, then his eyes widened in astonishment:
"Glory to the Plantagenet Empire, the Royal Fleet?!"
Chapter 516 Another acquaintance
This chapter counts as the update on the 26th.
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On the inky black sea, a two-masted light sailing ship was floating, swaying slightly under the rhythmic waves, like a tiny leaf in front of the endless sea.
On the deck of the sailboat, Mary was half-kneeling beside a tall and sturdy figure. Her long, slightly curly purple hair was soaked by the sea water and stuck tightly to her plump body.
The former merchant ship captain's beautiful eyes widened as he stared at the mysterious man lying flat in front of him, his gaze fixed like a nail on the embroidered badge on his chest.
"The Royal Fleet... And this is not an ordinary Royal Fleet logo, there is a golden border on the edge. This person is not an ordinary soldier, at least he is a captain... or even an admiral!"
After a long silence, she spoke in a deep voice full of amazement.
After saying this, the astonishment on her face was quickly replaced by deep doubts:
