Chapter 1430: Reef in Sight
“You know where a treasure is?” Tony asked with incredulity in his eyes. “How do you know where a treasure is?”
“Just know that I know,” Ning said. “But what I don’t know is what the treasure will be. I chose not to know that.”
Tim and Tony both gave scrutinizing looks toward Ning.
“What do you mean by you ‘chose not to know that’?” Tim asked.
“Oops, I spoke too much,” Ning said with a grin. “You guys are learning more and more about me.”
“Okay, wait,” Jasmine said. “Let’s go back a bit. You said you were steering the ship, but you are out here the whole time.”
“I am steering the ship in a way, but not at the same time,” Ning said. “The ship is steering itself in a way.”
Tim was about to speak when Ning cut him off. “No, I’m not letting it drift on its own. There is a destination and it is going in that direction. I just do not need to remain at the helm at all times.”
Tim’s eyes narrowed.
“Your ship navigates the waters automatically?” Tony asked. “How does that work?”
“There are complicated answers to that question that I do not wish to go into right now,” Ning said.
“Not like I expected you to,” Tony said. “You haven’t even told me how the ship appeared in the first place.”
Ning shrugged. “I have let the ship know where we are going, and it will take us there on its own.”
“That is incredible if true,” Tony said. “What technology is it that allows for something like that to occur? I don’t think I have heard any such thing yet.”
“And I don’t think you will in your lifetime,” Ning said. “Not unless that inventor creates something like that out of nowhere. I’m still curious to see where he gets all of his ideas from.”
“Still, this ship is quite incredible if it can do what you say it can do,” he said.
Tim looked down at the side of the railings he was standing against and realized what it was that was catching his attention.
“Why is the ocean so murky today? I can barely see beneath the surface,” he said.
Jasmine looked down as well. “You’re right, it is quite murky today,” she said. “I wonder if it’s just this area.”
“Must be,” Tim said.
Tony looked down the side as well after hearing the three. “Huh, I don’t remember this place behind this hard-to-see-through. I can’t believe I can’t even see any fish out here today.”
The sun came out from the clouds and forced the people to turn away from it. The sun was lowering in the sky to their left, so they sat by the railing with their backs to it.
“Thank god this metal doesn’t heat up so much,” Jasmine said.
Hours passed in what felt like no time at all, and even as the sun was approaching the horizon, Tim saw a distant patch of solid silhouette in the distance, one that grew as they got closer.
“It’s the reef, isn’t it?” Tim asked, catching everyone’s attention.
Jasmine and Tony immediately got up and peered in the distance. They couldn’t see it very clearly from where they were but rocks jutted out from the oceans, marking the location of the reef.
“I believe we are here,” Ning said.
Tim looked toward Ning. “Are we still going forward?” he asked.
“Of course,” Ning said.
“Sir Ning,” Tim started speaking. “Just to make sure, you do know why ships don’t go directly into the reef, don’t you? It’s because even when you see a path through them, there never really is any path.”
“There are rocks just below the surface that will destroy your ship’s rudder the moment they crash into it.”
“There are tales of people being stuck there for months, coming close to dying, who are only saved at the last minute because a passing ship noticed them,” Tim said. “And those are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones just die out there. That will be something that could happen to us if we get stuck there.”
Ning nodded. “I know,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to bring you to your deaths.”
Jasmine sighed and shrugged. “We can only trust him at this point,” she said. “Let’s just stay here and watch where this goes.”
The other two nodded.
“Actually,” Ning said. “You three unfortunately cannot watch anything from here.”
“What do you mean?” Tim asked, turning to look at Ning as he went to the 2-meter large box of a room.
“Are you going to steer the ship from henceforth?” Tony asked.
“No,” Ning said. “Come on in. You won’t want to stand out here when we get to the reef.”
All three of them looked at each other, and Jasmine quickly shook her head.
“I am not getting in there with you,” she quickly said.
“Why not?” Ning asked.
“Why not? That’s where you go to shit. I’m not hiding in such a place even if you somehow decided to steer from that very place,” she said.
Ning smiled. “You can stay out here, but you will drown for sure if you do,” he said and kept the door open for all three. “Don’t you all want to come in instead?”
Tim sighed and walked in forward. He entered the tiny room and looked around with a hint of confusion.
Tony walked in next and he too was confused.
Jasmine hesitated for a while, but she knew better than to stay out here at this point. She closed her nose and walked into the room as the final one.
Ning closed the door and they felt a loud shaking as the door clanged shut.
“You don’t have to close your nose,” Tim told Jasmine. “It doesn’t smell in here.”
Jasmine slowly let go and was relieved to find that was the truth. “Alright, now what?” she asked and looked around. She noticed a lack of… everything.
“How do you steer from this place?” she asked. “There is no steering wheel in here.”
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