Chapter 77 Aberrant 077

Aberrant 077, ranked among the top hundred, responsible for the demise of dozens of ships and thousands of sailors in storms, possessing sentience and the characteristics of a “living thing,” a dangerous anomaly that every city-state church would treat with caution – was now, in front of Lawrence, choosing to close its eyes and play dead, refusing to exert its power.

Lawrence had imagined countless possibilities after activating Aberrant 077, and had conceived several plans to reseal the “Sailor,” but he never expected this!

The old captain looked up and exchanged glances with his first mate, both feeling that the mummy's condition seemed different from what was recorded in the data, and simultaneously wondering what had gone wrong – but soon, the roar of water spouts and the sound of the White Oak's defensive cannons firing from the nearby sea interrupted their astonishment.

Now was not the time to be stunned, the "Petrel" was catching up!

Unable to win in a fight, unable to escape, the "Sailor" with the ability to teleport ships was the White Oak's only hope of escaping danger.

Lawrence looked down, staring intently at the mummy playing dead with its eyes tightly closed – no matter what was wrong with this thing, he had to find a way to make it cooperate and lose control!

"Wake up!" Lawrence reached out and grabbed Aberrant 077's collar, shaking it vigorously – being in such close proximity to a mummy was undoubtedly repulsive, but he couldn't care less at this point. "I know you've broken free of your seal. Listen, you're in charge of this ship now, 'Sailor.' Don't you have the instinct to control ships? Don't you have a tendency to lose control? Do it! Take over this ship, take us away from here!"

The mummy on the ground made a rattling sound of joints rubbing together as it was shaken, but still kept its eyes tightly closed. However, the obvious rise and fall of its chest could not be hidden from anyone's sight. At the same time, the explosions constantly ringing around the White Oak made Lawrence increasingly irritable. He finally couldn't help but slap the mummy's face. "I know you're awake!"

The mummy on the ground finally couldn't lie still any longer. In a series of shakes, it opened its eyes, but its first reaction was to dodge to the side, trying to avoid Lawrence's gaze while yelling, "Stop it! Stop it! Can't I just go back to sleep?! You can't be joking like this! This ship can't be touched, can't be touched!"

Lawrence didn't care about any of that. Seeing the mummy open its eyes, he immediately grabbed it and pulled it up, dragging it toward the bridge. Several sailors nearby also reacted at this time. The bolder ones hurried forward to help. Several people almost forcibly pressed the "Sailor's" shriveled body in front of the bridge. The first mate shouted from the side, "Press it against the helm! That's the fastest way for its ability to take effect!"

However, Aberrant 077 kept making shrill cries, struggling violently. "Let me go! Let me go!"

"You can't do this! Help, help!"

"What kind of people are you... please, please!"

"You just need to touch the helm!" Lawrence shouted as he used all his strength to press the mummy onto the ship's wheel. "It'll be over soon!"

"No! Help!" Aberrant 077's resistance was surprisingly strong, to the point that several burly White Oak sailors couldn't even hold down its arms. While struggling frantically, it tried to turn its head to look at the direction it had been lying in. "Let me go back! Please – put that rope around my neck, just put it on, and I promise to sleep obediently. I won't get up again! Or you can give me the rope, and I'll strangle myself… just don't make me touch this!"

The bridge was in chaos, the scene was utterly bizarre – Aberrant 077, with its notorious reputation among the captains and sailors of the boundless sea, was struggling and begging like a victim being forced onto a ship, while the White Oak sailors, deep in despair, were ferociously holding down the "aberration's" arms and trying to put them on the helm. This scene, even the most insane patients in a mental hospital couldn't imagine in their wildest fantasies, was now actually happening on the White Oak.

However, Lawrence no longer had the mind to reflect on how wrong things were at the moment. He only knew that the silhouette of the Petrel was getting closer and closer, and its artillery accuracy was also rapidly increasing. The White Oak's side had been hit several times in a row, and a fire was burning on the stern. If the next shell hit the engine room or the ammunition depot, or even the bridge, it would be all over!

Just as he was thinking this, a shrill whistling sound suddenly entered his ears. Hearing the direction of the whistling sound, Lawrence's mind suddenly went blank.

Crap.

The next second, a deafening explosion swept across the upper deck. A huge fireball rose and burst open next to the bridge. The Petrel's artillery hit the side of the White Oak's bridge. This hit… was fatal.

The shockwave arrived with a roar. Metal and glass were torn into pieces under the power of the shell, and the scattered wall structures became deadly shrapnel. An blinding flash of light appeared in Lawrence's vision. Then, he saw his first mate fly up, his body instantly engulfed by the flames surging in from the side, followed by the other sailors on the bridge, and then himself.

The flames devoured everything. Lawrence watched the fireball expand, engulfing the entire bridge, and watched his body gradually burn away in the flames. Time seemed to slow down. He clearly watched all of this happen, even watching the flames spread inch by inch in the air, and gradually take on a strange, ghostly green color – ghostly green?

Lawrence's mind suddenly went blank. He barely had time to realize what was happening when he saw the crimson fireball that had poured into the bridge instantly turn into a sea of ghostly green fire. The sea of fire formed by spirit flames licked at everything in sight, metal, wood, glass, leather...

Everything that was burned by the flames appeared to be semi-transparent, as if it were a spirit body. The crew members who had been devoured by the fireball fell to the ground one by one. They were wrapped in spirit flames, their flesh and bones as crystal clear as jade, and then they got up one by one as if nothing had happened, and looked at each other in astonishment.

This scene… was exactly the same as the first encounter with the Forsaken Ship.

It was as if the terrifying scene that had happened on the White Oak that day was being replayed.

A feeling of treading on solid ground came, and Lawrence woke up from his trance, seeing that he was standing in front of the bridge at some point, and that he was also burning with raging spirit flames – he subconsciously reached forward and grabbed the helm.

In an instant, he felt it –

He felt everything about the White Oak, from a screw to a window to a rope, all clearly reflected in his mind as if they were his own body.

He had spent so many years with this ship, but he had never felt so closely connected to it as he did today.

Along with this feeling, an exceptionally strong intention surged into his mind. It was as if a voice filled with endless majesty was proclaiming his destiny to him –

Now, you are a member of the Forsaken Fleet. Be loyal to Captain Duncan.

Lawrence held the helm in a daze, feeling the White Oak turn nimbly in his mind, and gradually point its bow at the "enemy ship" rapidly approaching in the distance.

Aberrant 077 was still there. The mummy was curled up into a ball next to the bridge, trembling as it watched the spirit flames rising around it, and wailing, "I said I wouldn't touch it, but you had to make me touch it. How could I dare to touch it? Sailors who usurp power are tied to cannonballs and thrown into the sea! I know the rules of the ship! I'm a sailor!"

Lawrence slowly lowered his head and glanced at the "Sailor." In fact, he was still deeply confused and couldn't figure out what was happening, but his gaze silenced Aberrant 077 instantly.

The mummy closed its mouth, carefully got up, and looked around. The bridge, which had been torn apart by the artillery fire, was rapidly being restored by the burning spirit flames. All the crew members were standing at their posts. These people now looked like ghosts, but instinct and the remaining rationality still made them return to their posts as soon as possible, waiting for the captain's next order.

"Captain..." Aberrant 077 turned its head and looked into Lawrence's eyes, "What do you want to do next?"

Lawrence was dazed again, then seemed to feel something and slowly lowered his head.

"Forsaken Fleet under attack… retaliate."

"Retaliate!" Aberrant 077 immediately shouted, "Retaliate!"

"Retaliate!" First Mate Gus's voice also rang out from the side. His body was ablaze with flames, and his voice was mixed with the crackling sound of the flames. "Captain's orders, retaliate!"

"Retaliate!"

On the bridge, the crew shouted in unison. In every corner of the White Oak, every crew member who had been transformed into a ghost "heard" the order from the captain at the same time. The ship, which had completed its transformation in the flames, immediately took action – its steam core roared, all the turrets began to turn, and a loud, mournful whistle echoed across the sea!

The ship under his feet began to accelerate towards the Petrel, and at almost the same time, Lawrence saw another shadow next to the White Oak – it was another ship, a ship with almost only a black outline, shrouded in thick fog and smoke.

Its outline was vaguely seventy or eighty percent similar to the White Oak, and it was clearly a sister ship of the same type.

The shadowy ship accelerated side by side with the White Oak and launched an attack on the Petrel at the same time.

Through the constantly rising spirit flames, Lawrence stared in astonishment at the phantom-like warship that had suddenly appeared on the sea next to him. After an unknown amount of time, he seemed to murmur its name in a dream –

"Black Oak… Martha?"