Do as I say! I know my ship better than anyone!!"

After shouting at the boiler room, Charles looked down at the chief mate on the ground, “John! Go and unload half of the cargo from the ship!”

He knew that this was not the time for hesitation; staying alive was more important than anything.

“Yes!” The chubby old man kicked open the door of the cockpit and rushed out.

Hearing the splashes of the cargo falling into the water, Charles felt his heart bleeding.

Fortunately, the series of measures proved effective. After a few more collisions, the Rat, now lighter, began to pick up speed and slowly pulled away from the monster behind.

When the real navigation mark appeared at the bow, Charles, drenched in cold sweat, finally slowly released his grip on the helm.

The trembling boy on the ground crawled to Charles’s feet and clung tightly to his thigh.

“Captain, I just… I just saw—”

Charles pinched his cheek to stop him from continuing.

“What was the third thing I told you before you came on board?”

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“Don’t look at or think about the monsters in the water unless they come close to our ship, and even if you see them, don’t say anything…”

“Good. Now stand up, go and drop the anchor first, then notify everyone on the ship to gather on the deck. I need to count the crew.”

After saying this, Charles released his hand and walked out of the cockpit. The deck was a mess, with water everywhere and ropes used to tie the cargo floating and swaying on the surface.

Wading through the seawater up to his calves, Charles reached the stern, which was spindle-shaped and had a large dent as if hit by a hammer. It was covered with some unknown black sticky substance that emitted a continuous foul odor.

Looking at the shape, it was easy to imagine the size of the creature that had just collided with the ship, but it was not a fish.

Dip followed the chief mate John as they struggled to move the bodies.

The boy looked surprise at his companion and said, “The captain is so amazing.”

“Haha, of course, otherwise he wouldn’t be the captain and you’d just be a sailor. He was just like you when he first came on board.”

“Really? What was Captain Charles like when he first came on board?”

“That’s a long story. It’s been about seven or eight years. I was a third mate on another ship at the time, and Charles drifted in from the sea. When we first rescued him, he couldn’t even speak.”

“Really? So he became a captain?”

“He stayed on our ship after that, learning to speak and becoming a sailor at the same time. Not long after he learned to speak, he announced that he wanted to have his own ship and lead all of humanity back to the land of light. We all laughed at him for daydreaming.”

“What happened then?”

“Then, he worked his way up from a sailor to a boatswain, and from a boatswain to a third mate. When we all thought he would move from third mate to second mate, he actually saved up and bought a second-hand cargo ship, yes, the Rat we’re on now.”