Chapter 13: The Storm
According to the Gear Man's method of keeping time, after the first standard hour of the warning of the boiled egg, the dead or alive signal was completely surrounded by storm clouds.
Cyclones that will last for hundreds or thousands of years fluctuate and rise beneath the ship. The liquid substance that existed in the netherworld surged up like a flood, reaching a height of hundreds of meters, and then turned into gas. The gas swirled for a while, and then hail and raindrops hit the hull of the Dead or Alive.
All the jumping matter flew away exaggeratedly, turning into clouds and waves in mid-air.
This is a sea of liquid and gas.
And the gradient of density and heat, from top to bottom, sets off a powerful updraft.
The range of this updraft is beyond the eyes of young people, and there may be hundreds or even thousands of square kilometers, and the dead or alive cannot escape this range in a short period of time on its own. And even if you escape to the edge, it won't help. Because at the very edge of the updraft, I'm afraid that there is a downdraft of about the same intensity.
The people in the ship were unsteady on their feet, and from time to time they collided with the walls in pain, and the wind and clouds outside gradually obscured all vision, making their boat seem to enter a world of complete darkness.
This is nature's roughest force.
At its most exaggerated, the roaring floor slabs may be almost perpendicular to the ground, causing the person standing in them to be knocked down by gravity, turning the original wall as the ground and the original ground as a wall...... A terrible wall stretching upwards.
Mr. Dandan fell out of the sleeping box, was caught by Gu Chuan, and then hit the wallboard together.
The gear machine flew around in a hurry, but its strength could not pull anyone.
Whether the Dead or Alive will be able to ensure their safety is already a question of reverie.
"Can operating the waterwheel and sail alleviate the swaying problem?"
Gu Chuan asked loudly.
Everywhere in heaven and earth, there were whimpering and whistling.
The whistling sound occurs when the waves collide violently with the head of the wave and the head of the wave with the hull of the ship. And the sound of whimpering is the flow of the Netherworld itself, and the inner tearing of the clouds.
"I'm afraid...... Hard. β
Jae-sin lay on the floor, barely maintaining his balance.
Balance means that you can use your hands and feet to move in a changing space, rather than moving with the movement of the boat until you get knocked unconscious.
He explains:
"Waterwheels and sails rely on the rejection of liquids. Our controls, too, can change how they work. If the waves of the netherworld continue to grow, the watermill and the sails will surely follow the waves. β
"Butβ"
The young man had just shouted a syllable, and the boat had once again taken off high in the wind and waves.
The sudden weightlessness and inertia of force caused the young man's body to fly nearly five or six centimeters off the floor, and then pressed heavily on the floor. He leaned the egg against his back and protected it. The egg seemed to be completely panicked now, and said on his back:
"Eat me up, I don't want to suffer here!"
His thoughts that he had hoped for the egg's genetic memory were completely gone. He said angrily:
"Don't even think about that! You are going to live now, and we are not going to eat you, but to live! β
The young man's feet were on the door, and suddenly his feet were empty, and he was about to slide down the corridor. It was then that a soft hand wrapped around his taut waist.
Mr. Eggball slammed his head into the hand, feeling a terrible scorching temperature beneath him, and an equally unorthodox body temperature above his head.
That's Hatsuyun.
Hatsuun used to suffer from some kind of narcolepsy. Even though she was cured by Mrs. Okiri, once her sleep was confirmed, she always had to sleep enough. As a result, she wakes up a little later, but her athleticism is amazing, and she is able to move freely even in the almost completely upright cabin.
When she opened the door just now, she saw Gu Chuan slipping above her head, so she hurriedly grabbed him. She blinked, and said in a normal way:
"There's a storm?"
Outside the window was obviously the violent darkness of infinite darkness, and the complexion of the first clouds around him was still very quiet. The young man looked into her eyes, inexplicably reckless, and replied in a tone more calm than she did:
"Yes."
The boxes in the various rooms were already rolling to the ground. Most of the utensils that had been placed on the shelves fell to the ground with a sharp noise.
Fortunately, most of the Gear Man's things are metal components, some of which resemble glass, but they are not fragile products of the earth.
As they closed the door together, the wind seemed to suddenly stop.
But this made Gu Chuan instinctively uneasy.
Because it means that the ship, which was already in the air, is about to be smashed back into the water. Sure enough, in the next moment he thought, the falling giant ship drove all the life in it and let out a terrible roar.
Then the wind struck again, and the ship flew up again, staggering up again, only this time at the stern.
And the door that had just been closed became a window above their heads.
"You can't do that."
The sound of glass books falling to the floor, the sound of gears and boxes hitting walls, and the sound of other movable weights moving on the floor, mixed with the sound of the Nether being torn apart.
Gu Chuan shouted to Zaiyan:
"Have you ever wondered if we would be submerged if the Netherwater went up all the way up and formed a wall in front of and above us, and finally trapped us in the Netherwater?"
Zai Yi didn't speak:
"Maybe the waterwheel and the sail will try to run out of the netherworld on their own, and thus enter a place with more gas......"
The young man's voice became calm:
"I've seen the information of waterwheels and sails, and they can't identify where the gas is on their own...... They rely on the direction in which the gas in the liquid floats to sense the gas region. But ......"
In another glass book, it is stated that there is no internal gas floating in the Netherworld. The Netherworld only has a direct vapor on the surface. Its interior is dense and there is no room for any gases to be present.
Zai Yan knew this better than Gu Chuan. The Gear Man's memory is higher than that of this group of mortals. He had read much more outpost ground glass books than Gu Chuan.
But he really didn't know what to do now.
The glass-like walls shimmer with an uncertain light. The scenery from the outside looms. The shaking floor is the shaking earth, and the storm is continuing to rise into the air. Rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall, is the eternal theme of this universe.
The clouds and mist were whistling, gradually turning into towering dark mountains. The clouds like mountains will hold everything in them together.
They are on the top of the mountains of the sea.
The misty fog reflected in the glass window, and countless fog flowers appeared. The lights of the hull of the Dead or Alive, as if struggling in the darkness, were bright on one side and the other.
Grabbing the gears on the wall, he barely stood up, and saw the outline of the dark and dreary substance rising from the window, revealing a chaotic cheap neon light.
In the next moment, it began to volatilize in large areas, like fog and rain, like admiration and complaint.
He didn't know if it was Netherworld.
Because in this weather, the reflective function of the glass wall to the outside world may fail.
"Indeed, it may be combined ......"
Zai muttered, its gearing machinery working nervously:
"We may need to go outside to confirm."
He stumbled and prepared to walk out.
They need to know more about the Nether Movement.
In the whistling of the wind, Gu Chuan pressed his shoulder and said:
"You know the most about the Dead or Alive, and you know how to control most of the tools, and you need to stay in the Dead or Alive."
Zai Yan was stunned.
When Hatsuyun heard this, she was ready to carry out this mission.
Who knew that Gu Chuan also shook his head:
"Hatsuun, you are not suitable, your athleticism is the strongest, so you can't perform this mission, you need to support the person who is going to carry out the mission, and if necessary, you need to rescue him. Not to mention ......"
The young man smiled sincerely:
"Chuyun, your water nature is not good! Haha, it's not good to hold your breath. β
That was what happened a long time ago in the water ingress of Sunset City's underground caverns. A red cloud of shame appeared on Hatsukumo's face. At that time, she was almost like a fool, and she could only let the young man in front of her carry her around.
"That'...... It can't be me, right? Mr. Ballball cowered, it was now caught by the gear machine and flying in the air. It whispered to itself, "If I die in such a mission, will it be a good death or an evil death for me?" β
Gu Chuan Mali put on the ball cover, stood firm on the rocking board by himself, and said heartily and briskly:
"I need to come."
Mr. Eggball's eyes flashed, and he had already realized the answer:
"Probably one of the best good deaths, at least for him...... It's weird......"
The young man did not hesitate to act, he was barefoot, and under the solemn gaze of Zaiyu, he ran with Hatsuun to the location of the exhaust chamber.
Zai Yan silently turned on the lights on the hull shell.
Protective clothing is hung outside the exhaust room, and the safety rope has been attached to the protective clothing. There is another kind of tight string in the safety rope that transmits sound very well. With this, the Gear Man achieved the effect of a primitive wired telephone, which is roughly equivalent to the experiment of paper cup communication done by elementary school or middle school students on the earth.
It is protected by a safety rope and relieves most of the external vibrations, and it can barely be used.
He took off his hazmat suit and put it on without any hesitation.
And Hatsuun's hand pressed on one end of the safety rope, knowing that this was the life thread of the young man.
He then closed the door to the exhaust chamber.
The man outside the door heard his voice:
"I'm out, please wait a moment."
As soon as the door of the exhaust chamber was closed and the overhead hatch opened, the wind immediately hit the exhaust chamber. The substance of the netherworld invades it in the form of gas or high-temperature condensed liquid, like wind and rain.
He was a man who grew up on the edge of a big river, and he also caught fish swimming in the Himesui and Huaishui with his bare hands. Therefore, he is not afraid of water or rain, but has a wonderful sense of closeness.
Although, the Netherworld may not be confused with normal water.
He thought with interest, and climbed the ladder to the round hatch overhead.
The moment you climb out, it's like entering a world of light into a world of complete darkness. And he could hardly see anything, he could not see anything clearly, and he was alone in this eternal darkness.
The world around Sunset City is like nature's sweetest corner, and the Netherworld may be nature's most vicious curse.
The wind whistled over his head, and he almost flew with it.
It's a lightweight experience.
He needs to rely on his own strength to climb on the shell of the Death or Living. He didn't dare to stand up, but immediately chose to lie down and walk along the way attached to the shell.
The glassy, smooth shell that he boasted about was now unexpectedly the biggest obstacle.
And the snow that had accumulated on the hull of the ship, which they feared, had now become an important joint on which he could crawl with his bare hands.
The invisible world hides impermanent changes and threats. When the lights on the hull of the ship came on, the hull was once again exaggeratedly struck by the wind or waves.
Gu Chuan, who was lying on the ship, was once again in line with the direction of gravity, and the exaggerated deck was like a wall that stretched into the air, and he was about to slide off the wall.
His hands trembled, and then he clung to the dirty nether snow. And on his body, there were large swaths of netherworld matter flowing heavily through his body.
By that time, all the lights in the hull hull had been turned on.
The Death or Life number lit up like a crystal clear. The light shone all the way to the top and bottom ends, illuminating the outlines of all the dark things.
The young man clinged to the hull of the ship, looking in the direction of the sky.
He saw the gloom that flowed like a dark cloud, a great wave that was rising towards the end of the sky. The waves flew over the head of the Death or Life until they turned into endless clouds like a prison.
The waves are the walls of the prison, and the clouds are like the bars that look like gaps.
He looked behind him calmly.
Sure enough, there were also undulating gloom and clouds behind him, and they were more turbulent and strong than those overhead. In all directions, a cloud of clouds, updrafts from the Netherworld were bringing the Death or Life to the highest height that this tower-like cloud could formβif they hadn't been overwhelmed by the Netherworld before then.
The Dead or Alive is about to be completely encircled by the dense Netherworld.
But that's not the case. Because this time the storm is about to subside, and the death or life will fall heavily on the clouds below. Then, another wave of wind and waves could completely overwhelm everything.
Zaiyi asked him over the wired phone:
"What's going on outside?"
"Well, now, we may be able to record the initial formation of the towery cloud. It can be assumed that every time a tower-shaped cloud is formed, it may be a violent shock that affects thousands of kilometers of netherworld. β
Gu Chuan's academic answer choked Zaiyi.
Then, the Death or Life was once again raised in the storm.
The young man leaned against the hull of the ship that rose up like a wall again, stared at the bottomless abyss at his feet, and said with a smile as he estimated where they were and how much they had climbed:
"Hey, Zai, Dead or Alive, there should be a weapon that can blow through the Netherworld, right?"
The young man's face was red, as if burning, and the agitation of his temples in the storm made him unable to tell whether he was dizzy or agitated.
He needs to blow a gap with some destructive force.
The Netherworld may be endless underneath, and soaring to the top is only a thin layer.
"Weapons...... There really is such a thing. According to the design instructions, there are no ...... of implementation," Zai said, "and there are some weapon modules piled up in the warehouse, and I can't activate them in my own strength for this amount of time." β
The young man asked complacently:
"What about the telescope's laser positioning?"
The protection of the safety rope from the internal communication rope was no longer able to stop the growing storm, and in the midst of the commotion, Zai Yan did not hear him clearly, and he shouted loudly as he crawled along the rope towards the exhaust chamber.
"That thing...... Probably yes......"
Zai Yan said.
"However, this 'Shooting Light Six' does not have its own operating system...... It depends on the positioning of the telescope to activate, and there will be a problem with focusing on power......"
The young man smiled and said briskly:
"There are so many principles that don't need to be explained to me, since we can, let's quickly put the obstacles in front of us together...... Boom! β