Afternoon

The warm sea breeze ripples across the sea. A medium-sized ferry with the number 303 cut through the water and approached the Gesar Islands to deliver the newly appointed Admiral to their destination.

Jiqi stood at the bow of the ship and looked at the buildings located on the archipelago, slightly stunned.

The town guard house covers a huge area, almost the same as the enterprise college. However, most of them are deserted islands, not inhabited at all, and some are just wild beasts, insects and birds. Only the area located in the most marginal location is the location of the real residence.

Several three-storey buildings and a standard runway for take-off and landing aircraft, the rest are fields for growing vegetables. It's a bit rudimentary, but it's all there.

"Young man, this is the destination ahead of you, Gelst Town Guard." The bearded man controlled the rudder, lowered the speed, and slowly sailed into the dock to prepare for docking.

Jiqi was the last passenger on the ferry, and Alexander was assigned the town guard next to Gelst. When he got off the boat, he didn't forget to say hello, and asked Ji Qi to go to his town guard mansion to have fun, and he would also come to visit the door from time to time to achieve the purpose of enhancing the relationship between the two.

Wales also seems to like the cute destroyer girl Z23, and she is still reluctant to give up when she leaves.

Maybe it's the so-called bond. Jiqi looked at Wales, who was a little sullen because of Z23's departure, and said in his heart.

The ferry landed smoothly, and Jiqi took Wales' hand and stepped off the boat, setting foot on this strange land for the first time. He turned and waved goodbye to the captain, thanking him for his send-off.

Through the porthole of the transition wheel, Ji Qi saw a somewhat unfamiliar figure, it was the deputy who had been silent, he smiled slightly at himself, as if to say goodbye, but he kept gesturing at himself with his hand. Ji Qi squinted his eyes slightly, trying to see his movements more clearly, but the bearded captain seemed to sense something, and turned his head sharply, staring at the deputy beside him. The deputy's movements stopped abruptly and shook his head, expressing helplessness.

As the ferry drifted away, Jiqi stood at the pier, recalling the strange gesture of his deputy at him.

Since the books in the college library are borrowed for free, Jiqi often goes to the library to pass the time, and he has basically read most of the books in it and recorded the important parts of them, even those books that are very out of the way, he has also dabbled in them.

The deputy just now gestured to himself in sign language, which is rarely used. This language was invented to facilitate communication between people with disabilities who are unable to speak, and is rarely used by ordinary people. Why, then, was he so sure he could know what he was saying? What made Jiqi a little strange was that the bearded captain and his deputy did not communicate at all on the ship, and the two did not even make so-called eye contact, let alone language. This made him suspect for a moment that the deputy was a mute who could not speak, and the deputy's actions just now confirmed his suspicions.

Thinking of this, Jiqi seems to understand the relationship between the two a little, and the bearded man and the deputy may not be all the way at all. The most important thing now is to figure out what the deputy wants to tell himself.

"Wales take out those books of mine." Jiqi packed up all the books in the hut and asked Wales to pack them in her ship's space, and there were some detailed notes on sign language.

"What is the Admiral doing with the book now?" Wales was a little puzzled, but still took all the packed books out of the space.

"I have some questions that I want answered." Ji Qi picked up a heavy notebook from the stack of books and kept flipping through it, looking for the same gesture according to his memory. "Don't, believe, no, card, wheel." The last three words use homonyms, which seem to be someone's name, which is also one of the most common defects of sign language, which cannot express what you want to express as accurately as writing, and the same is true for names, so it is usually compensated for by homophony.

"Mercarron, Mercarron." Jiqi recited these three words softly, and every time he read it, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. He seemed to have heard the name mentioned, and not only by one person, but also more than once.

Suddenly, he remembered where he had heard of the name. In the cafeteria, one student used to brag about how good he was at lunch, and one of his favorite remarks was that my dad was a student of Macallen. Someone next to him asked who Mercarron was, and he would be proud to say that he was the president of the Enterprise Academy.

"The principal's name is Macallen? But why did you tell me not to trust him? Jiqi frowned, he had a very good impression of the old man, he could be said to be the most impressive person among all the people in the academy, there was no one. Give yourself guidance on the stage and stand up to stop your stupidity when it counts. It can be said that he has done what an elder should do, and he is a person worthy of respect and trust. But now he was told not to trust the responsible old man, which made him wonder about the deputy's motives.

"Is the Admiral in trouble?" Wales looked at the frowning teenager, a little worried.

"It's nothing, it's just a little bit of a question that can't be answered." Ji Qi was only a little suspicious now, and there was no substantial evidence of which of the two parties was the real good person, and he didn't intend to believe the deputy's warning to him, but he would also be wary of the old man.

There is no utter groundlessness, and there is no utter goodwill. This is the wordless norm of this world.

"What doubts? Can't you tell me? Wales looked a little serious, she didn't like this feeling of concealment, since the first time she saw Jiqi, she had shown her bottom line, don't hide anything from yourself, just say what is it. Don't take everything alone.

Jiqi turned his head, looked at the angry girl with a tense face, and scolded himself, he forgot the advice the old man gave him, don't hide anything from the ship's mother, if you have any ideas, please tell them, they have the right to know everything.

He said apologetically, "It was the deputy's business, and he told me not to trust the principal and to be careful when he left." Now I don't even know who is telling the truth and who is misleading me. ”

"The deputy? The one who doesn't like to talk? Wales recalled.

"It's not that he doesn't like to talk, it's that he's probably a dumb person who can't speak." "He gestured to me when he finally left, and the result of his gestures was to tell me not to trust the principal. ”

"Headmaster, is that the old man who talked to you alone that day?" Wales asked.

Jiqi nodded.

"Then I advise you not to trust him." Wales has its own answer.

"Why?" Jiqi expressed his confusion.

"Because he has a bad smell on him." Wales struggled to recall the scene, "The ship's mother would divide people into two categories: good and bad, and although he gave people the impression of being a good person, he had a smell that made me very uncomfortable, and although the smell was faint, I could feel it." ”

"Bad taste." Jiqi labeled Mercaren as suspicious at the moment.

If there is a balance in Jiqi's heart, with Mercaren on the left and the deputy on the right, and Wales's cognition is like a heavy weight pressing on the deputy's side, the balance that he believes suddenly tilts to the right. An unknown deputy quietly reminded himself that Wales also had a bad impression of him, and it seemed that he was really worth watching. Jiqi made a conclusion in his heart and divided the old man into the bottom area of distrust.

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The pier near the Enterprise Academy

The emaciated figure weaved quickly through the crowd, looking back from time to time, as if hiding from something.

The figure turned left and right into the narrow alleyway, bypassed a few corners, and entered a somewhat dimly lit room.

The room was lit with a fireplace, and a middle-aged man in a hooded sweatshirt leaned against the soft leather sofa, looking at the intruders and nodding slightly.

"Mission accomplished?" The middle-aged man's voice was low.

"Well, it's done, but it seems to have been discovered."

"Discovered?" The middle-aged man was a little surprised, as if he had guessed something. "The bearded?"

"Yes, he seems to be aware of it when I was delivering the message, and I suspect he's someone over there." "And as soon as he got on the boat, he had doubts about my identity. ”

"It doesn't matter, as long as you don't get caught, it's all easy to say." The middle-aged man stood up, walked to the small dining table next to him, picked up the red wine bottle that had been opened, and poured himself a full glass. The sheer goblet rolls into a blood-like liquid, making it particularly inviting in the light of the fireplace. "Now he has doubts about me, no, not suspicions, there is evidence of my actions, but I still have a lot of use for him now, and he is not going to turn against me because of some rumors. Just be careful next time. ”

"But does it really work? Will he take our word for it? ”

The middle-aged man smiled slightly, as if reassuring him. "A good person will not easily believe the words of others, but he will also not easily distrust the kind reminders of others. Believe it or not, there will always be doubts about that old fellow. And don't forget, there is a ship girl by his side. ”

"Ship mother? What's the use of that? ”

"They are the most accurate creatures in recognizing people, they have a sharp sense of smell and a keen sixth sense, and almost no one can successfully disguise themselves under their identification. The old fellow had never shown any ill will, but he had a bad scent in him, and don't forget, I had been exposed to that drug, albeit forced. The middle-aged man took a sip of the red wine in his glass, his eyes overflowing with sadness. The ship's mother is very sensitive to its taste, even if there is only a faint trace, it can be detected, so his ship's mother has a bad impression of the old guy. ”

"What is a good chance that he would believe that?"

"It seems like this, even if we don't believe it, we have no choice. We can only pin our hopes on him, and no matter how it ends, we have done our best. The middle-aged man looked at the fire burning in the fireplace, and his eyes burned as brightly as a flame with something called anger.