Chapter Thirty-Four: Xixi's Request for Collection

  Tang Jie had a thin, soft gauze wrapped around his chest. He stood on the deck, stretched out a lazy waist, and let the slightly cool sea breeze blow across his chest.

  Three days later, Tang Jie's body had improved a lot. Although his muscles still had some minor tearing pain from time to time, and his tendons were still unable to exert strong force, he was finally able to get out of bed and walk around.

  From the cabin to the deck, all the way, the sailors saw Tang Jie, one by one respectfully making way for him, then sending him off with reverent eyes.

  Leaving the Atak Sea area, even a navigation rookie like Tang Jie can find different places.

  The sky of the Rong Chen Sea is not as bright and vast as that of the Atak Sea, she looks like a sentimental woman with a heavy sorrow on her face.

  Although it was morning, the large dark clouds cut through the clear blue sky, and in the distance, a gray misty expanse stretched out like an uncertain journey. But when I turned back to look, the azure sky was as pure as a blue crystal, without a single speck of impurity.

  This sky is reminiscent of the chiaroscuro shots often used in Hollywood blockbusters, using thick dark clouds and golden sunlight to highlight the confrontation between darkness and light.

  Tang Jie gazed at this sky, slightly sentimental.

  Is this foretelling my past and future?

  "Don't think too much..." Old Bar had somehow appeared beside Tang Jie, his gait a bit unsteady due to the injury on his foot.

  The old captain, who had been sailing for many years, could easily guess the concerns of others on the ship. He patted Tang Jie's shoulder and smiled warmly: "This kind of weather is normal in the Lintong Sea area."

  Old Ba Er looked up at the sky: "It seems that there is a storm waiting for us tomorrow, you need to be mentally prepared."

  Tang Jie felt that Old Ba Er was hinting at something and asked: "Why should I be mentally prepared?"

  Lao Ba's eyes stared intently at Tang Jie, and he smiled as he said, "Don't you have this realization yet?"

  "Enlightenment?" Tang Jie was perplexed.

  Old Ba Er nodded: "Yes, the realization of becoming a captain!"

  Tang Jie suddenly understood that what Old Baal had taught him before was the navigation skills that a sailor should master, and what Big Beard was going to teach him now would be the basic skills that a captain should master.

  He didn't speak, but listened intently, looking at Old Bar with his eyes, indicating that he should continue.

  Old Ba said, "On a ship, there may be over a hundred sailors, but only one can be the captain! This person must be the wisest, bravest, most ruthless and most kind-hearted among them. Only such a person can make a good captain!"

  Although Nia had explained the meaning of captain to Tang Jie, Old Bar's words still made Tang Jie somewhat incomprehensible. He asked: "Both iron-fisted and ruthless, yet kind and generous? Don't you think these two are contradictory, Captain Bar?"

  "Not at all contradictory." Captain Bar's face was serious as he looked at Tang Jie, saying in a deep voice "Kid, you have to remember that when you become the captain of a ship, what you own is not just this ship under your feet, but also everything on it and every life. Every word and action, every decision affects the safety of this ship and its sailors. You are responsible not only for yourself, but also for them!"

  "As a captain, you can never be lenient at any time! When it's time to be ruthless and cold-blooded, you must have the courage to cut off your own arm, even if this decision makes you feel like dying! But if this decision can save your ship and the lives of most of your sailors, then you should turn yourself into a cold-blooded devil and resolutely execute this decision!"

  Tang Jie's heart skipped a beat, and he let out a sigh: "So, when you were at the port of Dam, you didn't continue to wait for me. Because you couldn't sacrifice the lives of all the sailors on the ship just because of one person like me..."

  Old Barr nodded slowly: "That's right, that's exactly what it is. So, kid, I don't want you to hold a grudge against me because of this matter, just like Wells."

  "At first, I split with him to confuse Biscuit's vision. But what I didn't expect was that Biscuit would put his main force on chasing him, which also led Wells to mistakenly think that I used him as bait and abandoned him. So, the eighteen years of nurturing turned into hatred and resentment in this moment." Old Bar had an unspeakable sense of vicissitudes and desolation at this moment.

  Although Old Bar had already obtained Tangie's understanding, he still couldn't help but bring up the matter again. Wells' betrayal was a huge blow to him, and he didn't want Tangie to follow in Wells' footsteps.

  At the mention of Wales, Dong Jie felt a twinge of discomfort in his heart, but he still smiled: "I understand, just like when I went to save you, you also told me to hurry up and leave without caring about you, this principle is the same!"

  Lao Ba Er stared intently into Tang Jie's eyes, as if trying to see through his heart. But in those deep and profound black pupils, he only saw clarity and sincerity.

  He didn't take this matter to heart indeed.

  The big beard let out a sigh of relief, putting down the heavy stone in his heart. He patted Tang Jie's shoulder and said with satisfaction: "Now you understand why a captain must be iron-fisted and ruthless. And I believe you should understand better than anyone else why a captain must be kind and generous, because you've already done it!"

  Tang Jie smiled slightly and didn't say anything.

  Old Ba Er placed his hand on the railing of the ship's side, gently stroking it: "When I first boarded this ship, every day I would wax the deck, apply tung oil to the pulleys' ratchets, and lubricate the steering wheel's axle with gypsum. I've done all the maintenance work for this ship, its every nook and cranny, every rope, every pulley, every yardarm, every sail, I'm familiar with them like the back of my hand."

  "You've just set sail, I don't expect you to be like me, familiar with every inch of your ship's skin, but at least I hope you can remember what I said: take care of your ship as you would your woman, and take care of your sailors as you would yourself."

  Tang Jie listened intently, his deep eyes sparkling with light, like two bright morning stars.

  Lao Ba Er looked at Tang Jie and smiled: "Your life on the sea has just begun, your road is still very long!"

  "Look, Xixi!" The sailor on the lookout suddenly pointed forward and shouted loudly. His loud voice not only interrupted Tang Jie and Old Ba's conversation but also attracted the attention of the pirates on the deck.

  The pirates rushed to one side of the deck and gazed out at the distant horizon, where a strip of land was visible. They burst into excited shouts.

  "Xixi has arrived, kid, go get dressed, we'll be landing soon, and I'll take you to pick out a sea vessel of your own!" Old Bal said with a smile.

  Xixis, where the legendary coalition of beastmen, dwarves, humans, merfolk, wyverns and nagas clashed with Raphael's mighty legion for the first time.

  It is said that this was originally a plain, and the name given to it by the creator god was Baphetresiris, in which Baphet means "beloved of the gods" and Siris means "plain".

  But after a three-day and three-night fierce battle between the Six Clan Alliance and the Sky Legion, Buffett Rixxis became a scarred battlefield. What's more frightening is that the powerful and terrifying giant tribe used their terrible power to blast the earth's crust, while the elves continuously released magic, summoning meteor showers like storms from the sky, and flying dragons and winged people constantly releasing flames and lightning towards the ground, the entire continent collapsed in the face of their terrible power.

  The continental shelf where the Buffett's Rissisis was located was blown into two pieces, one of which sank into the sea, while the other became a severely depressed depression.

  From then on, "God's favored plain" Bafq became extinct and was replaced by "God-forgotten" Sis.

  There was a time when Sisal was a desolate place where no birds or beasts had ever lived. But as people's footsteps extended and developed in the vast ocean, navigators discovered that Sisal, which was bombed into a depression by the heavenly army, turned out to be a natural harbor with deep water and shelter from the wind.

  And to the south it borders the Atak Sea, and to the north it leads directly to the Edel Ocean, one of the Seven Great Seas. From here, taking a sea ship eastward, Xixis is the closest port to the Noah Continent, and the route from here is also the shortest route.

  Its unique geographical location has been praised by sailors as the "Pearl of the Sea". As time went on, more and more sailors chose to stop here whether they were heading north to the Edel Sea, south into the Atak Sea, or west to the Noah Continent. They all chose to dock and replenish supplies here.

  As the ships needed maintenance and replenishment, sailors on board had nowhere to vent their energy, gradually, there were docks, shipyards, restaurants, taverns, and even brothels here.

  Sis was also transformed from a barren land into an extremely prosperous commercial port.

  As soon as Tang Jie stepped off the boat and onto the Shanghai harbor dock, he could feel a strong commercial atmosphere hitting him in the face. Every short and dark-skinned Xixi person around him exuded an air of thick pride.

  Pride?

  Yes, every native-born Sisian has a calm and humble pride.

  They have a unique smoothness and humility in their daily interactions, no matter what conflicts or disputes they encounter, they can always reason with the other party in a harmonious and peaceful manner.

  But when the other party mentions shipbuilding and starting from scratch, the people of Xixi will be in high spirits. Even if they are standing in front of the imperial capital of the Ponde Empire, which is invincible, the people of Xixi will say with a tone of contempt: When we started from scratch in Xixi, the Ponde Empire was still 500 years away from its establishment!

  Especially when it comes to the shipbuilding industry, which is what the people of Xixi are most proud of, they will say to you in a very excited and proud tone: Ha! Our Xixi ships are not like those fancy sea ships from the capital! Those ships may look good, but as soon as they encounter wind and waves, they can capsize three times over! Look at our Xixi people's ships, they're just like us Xixi people - short, sturdy, and able to withstand all kinds of wind and waves! Let me put it this way, I'll give you a hammer, if you can make a dent on my ship, I'll give you the whole ship for free!

  Of course, this is a rather exaggerated self-praise. However, the ships built by Xixi are indeed sturdy and durable, with strong resistance to wind and waves, and have a long service life, which is renowned worldwide.

  Due to the geographical constraints of Sisith itself, the shipyard in Sisith has a very limited area, and it is impossible to expand. They cannot build large and giant sea ships. After all efforts have been made without success, the people of Sisith gave up building large ships and specialized in medium and small-sized sea ships. The twin-masted Sea Snake-class, twin-masted Flying Fish-class, three-masted Vulture-class, and three-masted Lion Eagle-class warships they built are the most cost-effective warships in this world.

  Tang Jie stood on the dock and looked around.

  The whole of Sis was like an open pincer, with the cliffs on either side forming a natural barrier and the inner curved harbour filled with all sorts of ships.

  The busy people shuttling back and forth in the port and the scenery of Dam Port are very similar, but the difference is that here, even the dockworkers carrying cargo packages have a gleam of freedom and pride in their eyes, and everywhere is filled with a vibrant vitality.

  Several barefoot children with dark tanned skin and tattered clothes gathered around Tang Jie, stretching out their hands to pull at his hem.

  "Sir, do you need a rest? I'll take you to the best inn in Sicily, where not only can you eat the most delicious seafood in Sicily, but also play with the most beautiful women in Sicily. It's just one silver coin for a night! It's cheap and of good value, won't you consider it, sir?"

  "Sir, do you want to buy something? I can take you to the trading area in Xixi. I'm familiar with that place and know all the shop owners. If you're buying something, maybe I can even help you haggle over the price, get a discount or something."

  "Sir, are you looking to buy a boat? I know Jack, the foreman at Hellenram Shipyard. Whether you're looking to buy or repair a boat, I can help you get the best deal!"

  These twelve or thirteen year old kids surrounded Tang Jie, making it hard for him to move forward. Their eyes were filled with innocence and eager anticipation. Although their clothes were tattered, they weren't dirty or unpleasant.

  Tang Jie couldn't bring himself to drive them all away, and his head was dizzy from their chatter, so he hastily sought help from Captain Bar.

  Lao Ba seemed to be used to such things and took out a handful of copper coins from his bosom, tossing them into the air.

  The eyes of the children were immediately attracted to them, and they cheered, busy picking up copper coins on the ground. Who still cared about entangling Tang Jie?

  Lao Ba Er gave Tang Jie a sly wink: "Aren't you leaving yet?"

  Good morning, everyone!

  However, I have an impolite request here, and I hope all readers will forgive me.

  I'm going to see Lord Zhou soon, I have no flowers in hand to bid farewell, it's a bit improper. Would you all big brothers lend me some flowers?