Michael leaned on the string of the boat, staring intently at the water.

Finally, he saw something break through the sea, a round object with tentacles reminiscent of disgusting things like sea urchins.

"I saw the Germans mine floating!" Michael shouted in the direction of the cockpit, "In front of us on the right, take the helm!" ”

At this time, the person in charge of the cable cutting operation underwater showed his head on the side of the boat and patted the side of the boat vigorously, reminding Michael to pull him up.

Michael reached out and pulled the guy in the water with his equipment.

"There are no mines down here," the man took off his mask, "and that's the only one that has slipped through the net." ”

Earlier, the Royal Navy's minesweepers had been towing minesweepers around the waters several times, and Michael's task was to manually check if there were any mines that had slipped through the net.

At this time, the captain came out of the cockpit and asked loudly: "Are you sure there are no other mines under the water?" We said the same thing yesterday, and it turned out that not long after the port authority ordered the ships at the open sea anchorage to enter the port, three ships were blown up and sunk. ”

"But after the sinking of the three ships yesterday, we immediately carried out another minesweeping operation, and we didn't find any new mines." Michael frowned, "Could it be a torpedo or something, don't the Germans like to use submarines very much?" ”

"The port department decided that we didn't sweep the mines clean, and I was scolded severely, damn it." The captain touched his beard with an unhappy expression, "Anyway, go into the water again and see if there is any leakage." ”

After the captain finished speaking, Michael heard the man in charge of underwater operations sigh. At sea, the captain's order was absolute, and the guy could only obediently go into the water again.

At this time, the harbor patrol boat in the distance opened fire, and the shells fell continuously around the floating mines, and finally detonated the mines.

Michael looked at the water column set off by the explosion of the mine, and suddenly said: "Can this anchor mine directly blow up a cruise ship of tens of thousands of tons?" Why don't I think it's so powerful? ”

The captain smacked his lips, his beard squirming up and down with the smacking of his lips.

"I'm not at all surprised if the Germans used any new weapons. Since the last war, they have liked to be fashionable, what airships, poison gas, flamethrowers, submachine guns, hum. And the Chinese who now rule Germany heard that Jules Verne, who especially respects France, and that it is normal for him to rule the Germans. If it's a new weapon, we can't deal with it at all, so there's no point in worrying about it, we just do what we can. ”

Michael nodded.

At this moment, there was a faint buzzing sound in the sky, and Michael looked up and saw a small black shadow flying slowly across the clear blue sky.

"Damn the Germans, can't the Royal Air Force find a way to fix these things?" The captain complained impatiently, "It buzzes in the sky all day long, and it can see everything we do." And most importantly, its humming sound is even more irritating than the Scotsman's bagpipes! ”

Michael glanced at the captain and said, "Yesterday when I was chatting in the tavern, I heard from a few junior magicians that the Germans had put in a new type of flying armor that could fly as high and faster than an airplane, so the Royal Air Force did not dare to make a light dispatch now." ”

The captain's beard moved again, and he waved his hand: "Okay, let's not talk about it, hurry up and launch me again, there are still ships waiting to enter the port and unload in the anchorage at sea." Get moving, boys! ”

**

An hour later, Michael, along with the rest of the ship's crew, watched as the first steamer sailed into the channel where they were responsible for minesweeping. Michael estimated that the ship was 8,000 tons less, and the cargo hold on the draft ship was 100 percent stuffed with heavy cargo, and the total displacement may have reached 10,000 tons.

The hull of the ship was badly maintained, most of the shell paint had fallen off and was rusty, and its owner must have been a miser, and he had to save even that little paint money, didn't he know that if he didn't paint it diligently, the ship would age quickly?

Echoing the rusty hull, the chimney of the cargo ship spewed smoke - its boilers were certainly poorly maintained, and the fuel was mostly low-quality oil with a lot of coarse residue, which was not burned sufficiently, otherwise there would not have been such a large amount of soot. Combined with the slow speed, the ship gave the impression of an old man faltering, and it was almost impossible to resist going up to help it.

Michael looked at the old ship and prayed in his heart over and over again that it would pass through the course safely. It's not that Michael cares about the country, he just does his best to finish today's minesweeping operation. Yesterday, because a ship struck a mine in Michael's waterway, Michael and his team were busy until the evening before they finished work and rested - but in the end they did not find a single German mine that slipped through the net.

The buddy in charge of underwater operations muttered in a low voice: "It's almost to the place where the ship hit the mine yesterday, right?" ”

"Shut up," Michael whispered, "it's unlucky to say this, wait until it gets over." I don't want to go hungry and stay busy until the evening. ”

"You complain to the Germans, and you have the ability to let them not fly all the way at night to lay mines."

Michael and his companion whispered, while their eyes did not take off the old ship on the surface for a moment.

When passing through the water near the requisitioned civilian ship where Michael was located, the old ship pulled the whistle and saluted Michael and others who worked hard to clear the mines with a majestic whistle.

Then it struck a mine.

From Michael's point of view, the old ship seems to be lifted in half by a column of water, at least a few tons of sea water are thrown up, and when the water column falls, the waves affect the ship of Michael and others, making the deck shake from side to side like a swing. Michael grabbed the side of the boat with both hands and continued to stare at the old ship.

He saw the middle of the old ship's hull slowly deform, and it was clear that the structure of the keel had been destroyed, and that seawater must have poured into the compartments of the lower hull. At this time, the large amount of cargo carried by the old ship became deadly poison, and the life of the old ship passed quickly.

Michael suspects it will most likely last less than ten minutes.

At this time, the captain's roar made Michael wake up suddenly: "What are you doing in a daze!" We're going to start saving people! Get moving, get moving! ”

As soon as the captain's words fell, someone jumped out of the old ship, and then the crew appeared on the deck one after another, jumping into the water like dumplings.

Michael picked up the tires hanging on the outside of the ship's strings, threw them out with his round arms, and the rest of the crew threw the ship's life-saving supplies into the water.

Behind the crew who were paddling hard, the hull of the cargo ship gradually snapped, and the middle part of the explosion wave was already submerged, the rear of the hull was cocked, and the propellers that had been stopped were exposed to the water.

Immediately afterwards a large amount of steam was ejected from the chimney, and it appeared that the boiler's steam pipes had burst, and then the chimney bent under its own neutrality and smashed into the water because the cable it was pulling was broken.

Now the ship's chimney has bent over without breaking the cable, and the ship is really old enough.

Soon, the entire ship disappeared completely from the sea, leaving only a few oil stains to show that it had ever existed.

"," Michael heard the captain's curse, "what the hell is going on!" We have cleared all the mines, and we haven't seen the periscope of the submarine! What exactly are the Germans attacking us with? ”

Michael glanced back at the captain, who was rubbing his hair in frustration in front of the wheelhouse door, and then turned to look at the other cargo ships that had followed the old ship into the channel.

The cargo ships were reversing course, preparing to leave the threatened waters.

Just as Michael was about to look away, another cargo ship was "cut off" by the rising column of water, followed by a dull explosion that shook everyone's eardrums.

Michael heard someone whispering, "I don't think it's our fault for missing mines, the Germans must have planted something other than mines in the sea." ”

"I've heard that they used giant octopuses in their own rivers to attack our river gunboats, as well as the troops on the river banks."

"My cousin who came back from Holland said that the Germans can manipulate jellyfish!"

"Are you a fool, the newspapers say that it was a chemical weapon used by the Germans, and they put chemical agents in the seawater, so that all of us who went into the water were sunk in the sea."

"It's really a jellyfish, my cousin saw it with his own eyes!"

At this time, the captain shouted: "Alright, enough! ”

The ship fell silent for a moment. The captain continued: "Whatever your cousin sees, since the newspapers say it is a chemical weapon, it means that the truth that your cousin sees is not good for the Empire, so you shut up for me, or the secret police will come to you and charge you with a crime of bewitching the public, and no one will be able to protect you at that time, even if you pay 450 pounds to bribe those secret police, it will be useless!" ”

At this time, the ship's operator poked his head out of the cockpit and shouted to the captain: "The port authority has asked us to clear the channel again and find out what exactly sank the cargo ship!" ”

"Sue them and we're doing it!" After speaking, the captain looked at his crew again, raised his hands and clapped his hands and urged, "You all heard it, it's time to work." Although it seems that we can't do anything about the new weapons of the Germans now, at least we have to make a show for the big guys on the shore! Move...... Oh my God, what is this? ”

While the captain exclaimed, Michael was also stunned.

He saw a little girl with a wet hair climb onto the side of the boat, curiously observing the people on board, and when she saw the workers who had already dressed for underwater work, she made a "oh" sound, and then staggered and disappeared from the side of the ship.

"Someone's overboard!" Michael shouted subconsciously as he threw himself on the side of the boat and looked into the water.

He just saw the tentacles full of suction cups burrowing through the water.

Then the tentacles wrapped around the small motorized sailboat, pulling the entire ship into the water.

Michael took a deep breath before falling into the water, and immediately after entering the water, he opened his eyes, carefully avoiding the ropes to avoid getting entangled, and swimming towards the surface with his hands and feet.

It was too late to say that, and then he saw a huge eye in the water watching him, and it scared him enough. Then he realized that it was the eyes of a large octopus.

The huge sea beast immediately looked away and swam in the other direction.

Michael noticed a petite figure guiding the octopus in front of it.