Chapter 676 Next stop! French Fries Port!

  Chapter 676 Next stop! French Fry Port!

  The Governor’s Mansion on Roundabout Island.

  Channing walked into the office as usual, threw the newspaper he bought on the desk, and prepared to start a new day of drinking tea and reading newspapers.

  However, as soon as he sat down on the chair, a pungent fishy smell made him frown involuntarily.

  ”What’s the smell?”

  Why is it so smelly!

  Getting up and walking to the window, Channing planned to open the window for some fresh air, but as soon as he opened the window a crack, a foul smell blew into the room with the sea breeze. His

  eyes were squinted by the smell, and this time he finally figured out where this pungent smell came from.

  He closed the window, pinched his nose and walked to the door of the office, waving to call the secretary in the next room over.

  ”Damn…what’s going on over there at the port? Why is there such a strong smell!”

  The secretary was obviously also choked by the smell, and said helplessly in the face of the governor’s questioning.

  ”…The Northwest Wind cargo ship that just docked brought more than a thousand furs.”

  ”Fur?!” Channing stared at him blankly, and said subconsciously, “Why is the fur so smelly?!”

  The secretary said with a bitter face.

  ”It’s the kind that has just been peeled off from the alien species. Not only are the blood and grease not cleaned up, but it also looks like it has been fermented for a period of time.”

  ”Freshly peeled from the alien species?” Channing stared in surprise, “Where did they get them from?”

  Thousands of freshly peeled furs…

  That’s not a small number!

  Although the residents of the thirteen islands in the southern sea occasionally sail to the beaches south of Baiyue Province to hunt, even experienced hunters often dare not stay too long. It is already a great achievement to bring back one or two prey at most in one trip. The

  main sources of food for the islands are still fish in the sea and farmed algae extracts, as well as grains and livestock occasionally sold here from Silver Moon Bay.

  He has not heard of any port that can produce so many furs-

  wait.

  Channing suddenly thought of the Alliance’s base on the north shore of the Baiyue Strait. Those people had previously sent a greeting message to the Southern Islands Federation authorities through the radio station on the roundabout island in the name of “French Fries Port”.

  He had originally just regarded those people as a joke, thinking that they would not be able to hold on for long and would retreat, but he did not expect that those people would actually hold on? !

  As if confirming his guess, the secretary swallowed his saliva and said.

  ”I heard from the patrol that the Northwest Wind was in the settlement at the east exit of the Baiyue Strait… It was imported from the French Fries Port.”

  Channing was silent for a while, took a deep breath and said.

  ”I know.”

  Looking at the governor with a heavy face and wondering what he was thinking, the secretary nodded carefully and turned to go back to his office next door.

  But just as he put his hand on the door handle, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, almost touching his nose.

  Before he could see who came in, the aggressive voice blew in with the wind brought by the door panel.

  ”Mr. Governor! We have to take care of that ship!”

  Looking at the man who strode into the office, Channing, who was standing next to the desk, pressed his eyebrows and winked at the secretary standing at the door.

  ”Go and pour Director Stilwell a cup of tea.”

  ”Okay… sir.”

  The secretary nodded, glanced at the rude guy, turned and walked out of the door, closing the office door.

  Watching the door close, Channing then looked at the angry director of the port office and said in a soothing tone.

  ”You sit down first-”

  ”Don’t waste time,” the director named Stilwell waved his hand, interrupted him unceremoniously, and continued aggressively, “I don’t understand why you are so tolerant of those guys! We are the settlement of the Southern Islands Federation, not the settlement of the Alliance! They can rub those furs in our port today, and they can sell their asses under our noses tomorrow!”

  Channing coughed.

  ”That shouldn’t be the case… They have been behaving well so far.”

  ”You call that behaving well?” Stilwell walked to the window, pointed at the two cargo ships outside the window and said angrily, “Now the whole port is filled with the stench of decay! Those who don’t know would think it’s the biological weapons sent to us by Shelter No. 70!”

  ”But there is indeed no rule that says that ships docked at the port cannot wash clothes on their own decks…” Seeing Director Stilwell staring at him, Channing felt that his statement was a bit far-fetched, so he coughed and said, “Okay, one week… If the ship still refuses to leave after a week, I will give it an ultimatum.”

  ”You said the same thing last week!” Director Stilwell said bluntly, “Give them a week! You might as well give them until next month!”

  Being ruthlessly exposed in front of him, Channing’s expression was embarrassed and he was even more annoyed, but he could do nothing about it.

  ”Okay, I admit that I didn’t dare to drive those guys away because I was worried about the reaction of the alliance, but what’s the problem? We are fighting with Shelter No. 70, and the current situation is getting worse and worse for us. Those old turtles will be fine as long as they close the door, and we have to be responsible for the food, drink, defecation and urination of millions of people! We also have to supply the federal navy! If we offend those people now, do you know what this means?”

  Stilwell sneered.

  ”They can’t just attack us directly from more than 2,000 kilometers away?”

  Seeing this guy’s indifferent expression, Channing also laughed.

  ”I’m not kidding, they really have this ability. I heard that our guys in the north fell into the hands of those guys.”

  Looking at Director Stilwell, whose expression began to become unnatural, Channing grabbed the teacup on the desk and took a sip, moistened his throat and continued.

  ”If I were them, there would be no need to go through so much trouble. I could just say hello to the Hump Kingdom and cut off the route from Silver Moon Bay to us. Guess how many people on this island would be left starving? Are you sure you want me to take this risk and do something that is thankless?”

  Stilwell’s mouth twitched.

  ”Are we just going to endure it?”

  ”There’s no harm in being magnanimous,” Channing shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his teacup. “Since they are paying the late payment fee according to the rules, we should let them stay according to the rules. Anyway, they can’t stay forever… Or do you have a better idea?” There was no

  sound in the office for a long time.

  The director of the port office obviously couldn’t think of a better way. He moved his lips for a long time but didn’t say a word.

  At this moment, the office door opened, and the secretary who had gone out to make tea came in with a tray.

  ”Mr. Stilwell, your tea.”

  Stilwell glanced at the teacup on the tray, then at the incompetent governor, and finally held back his words, and walked out of the office through the open door without saying anything.

  He still felt that the attitude of the Governor’s Office of the Roundabout Island towards the Alliance was too weak.

  However, he also admitted that, as that guy said, facing the behemoth of the Alliance, they really had no better way than to remain restrained…

  …

  Time passed by minute by minute.

  The sun quickly turned from the east to the west, and then sank into the sea, leaving layers of sparkling golden color on the distant blue waves.

  The stevedores squatting on the dock were enjoying the sea breeze and drinking beer, leisurely looking at the cargo ship not far away covered with blood and grease foam, and the busy girls on the deck of the cargo ship.

  Since about four o’clock in the afternoon, there has been no smell on the dock.

  Some of the women used mops, some rubbed with their hands, and some scraped with knives to clean the furs.

  Then they scooped up buckets of seawater from the sea and poured them on the furs.

  Under the flushing of buckets of seawater, the stinking pieces of meat and fat had been washed into the sea and became bait for the fish.

  After rinsing the furs, the girls hung them on wooden racks and lined them up neatly on the deck like rows of sails.

  Those “sails” became natural roadblocks.

  A short-haired girl and a big white bear were running around the fur racks, playing hide-and-seek with a group of laughing children.

  Of course, they were not just making things more difficult for those who were busy drying the furs.

  When they needed to repeatedly beat the surface of the furs with wooden sticks, the two funny guys put in a lot of effort.

  Seeing the man and the bear playing hide-and-seek with the children, many mothers of the children smiled knowingly.

  I feel like I haven’t seen this scene for a long time…

  On the other side of the deck.

  Twenty girls, about fifteen or sixteen years old, under the guidance of an old woman, rubbed barrels of marine oil on the inside of the fur.

  These marine oils are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which will slowly oxidize in a hot and humid environment. The polymers produced will naturally wrap the collagen fibers in the inner layer of the fur, giving it a soft texture and excellent hydrophobicity, while the aldehydes produced will cross-link with other oxides and collagen fibers, thereby producing a tanning effect. The process

  steps for tanning fur are far more than these, and also include a series of processes such as alkaline water soaking and rinsing.

  However, after completing these tasks, the fur’s rotting was basically stopped, and the value of these goods, which were originally worth only hundreds of thousands of silver coins, more than doubled.

  If all were towed to Silver Moon Bay, one piece of goods could be sold for at least one thousand silver coins! One thousand pieces would be one million!

  This does not include the blood mink fur and other high-quality goods included in it.

  The royal family of the entire desert will be crazy about it!

  However, although these furs are worth a fortune, they are obviously not as attractive to the men sitting on the dock as those exotic girls.

  Especially since this kind of water-intensive work will inevitably get your clothes wet.

  Many young men who are full of vigor and vitality are thirsty and can only drink beer bottle after bottle.

  Thanks to this, the business of the taverns near the dock has improved a lot.

  ”Are they from the Moon Tribe?”

  ”Yes.”

  ”It seems that they are no different from other people who come here from the Borneo Province.”

  ”This ship has been docked here for more than a week, and this is the first time I have seen them all standing on the deck.”

  ”I am more curious about how so many people squeezed on board.”

  A young man with slightly curly hair scratched the back of his head and asked his companion beside him.

  ”I still don’t understand why the Xilan Empire… drove away these hardworking girls? Can’t they just do the work?”

  He has never seen such a hard-working person.

  They can work non-stop from noon to dusk under the scorching sun, whether they are 11 or 12-year-old girls or elderly people.

  This is simply incomprehensible to the islanders of the ring island who have relatively good living conditions.

  The slightly older man on the side narrowed his eyes, picked up the beer bottle and took a sip, and said casually.

  ”Who knows, the outside of the sea is all wasteland, Haiya Province is, Baiyue Province is, Luoxia Province is also, not to mention Bola Province… God knows what those guys in the wasteland are thinking.”

  When he was young, he had been to the wasteland and escorted the blue jackets from Shelter No. 70 to a place called Qingquan City in the north to recover some data.

  Since then, he has lost interest in the world on land, and completely understood why their ancestors had to move to this isolated island.

  That wasteland is simply hell.

  No matter what happens, it’s not surprising…

  Just as the workers on the dock took advantage of the last bit of dusk to appreciate the beautiful scenery on the deck, Mogavi, who was standing on the deck of the Northwest Wind cargo ship, also stared with his eyes wide open, his heartbeat accelerated, and his breathing quickened involuntarily.

  But what caught his eye was not some exotic girl, but those brand new furs!

  The soft and beautiful fur swayed gently in the sunset, shining with dazzling light, just like glittering gold coins in his eyes!

  Of course.

  This description is definitely exaggerated, after all, most of the furs have only been preliminarily cleaned, and it will take some time before they are tanned into the final product.

  But even so, these scrubbed furs are much better than the bloody and greasy original appearance before!

  ”That’s great! Thank you! I really don’t know how to thank you!”

  Mogawi handed the bag of 110,000 silver coins to Sis, and his face was full of excitement. He was so excited that

  he was incoherent. It is no exaggeration to say that this was the most worthwhile deal he had made this month!

  It seems that not all the people in the alliance are unreliable.

  After receiving the reward from the NPC, Sis opened the bag and counted it carefully, and took out a few to check the authenticity.

  After confirming that there was no problem, she smiled and replied in a teasing tone.

  ”That’s easy. Just pay us a few tens of thousands more silver coins.”

  Hearing this, Mogawei almost choked on his own saliva and coughed twice.

  ”Cough… Although this idea sounds good, I really don’t have a single banknote left in my pocket now.”

  Sisi didn’t believe his nonsense. She just smiled faintly, then handed the purse in her hand to Zhimahu beside her and whispered.

  ”You go and hand over the reward to those people, I won’t show up.”

  ”Well! Leave it to me!” Zhimahu nodded with a smile and happily trotted to the other side of the deck.

  Mogawei’s eyes were fixed on the bulging purse until it disappeared into a corner of the deck with the jumping back and he

  withdrew his sight from a distance. He looked at Sisi again and smiled embarrassedly.

  ”By the way… that, please also take care of the boat washing, don’t forget it.”

  Sisi smiled faintly and said.

  ”Don’t worry, my memory is not that bad.”

  After saying that, she turned and walked towards the direction of the cabin.

  Looking at the back figure that was about to disappear at the door of the cabin, Mogawei suddenly shouted out of nowhere.

  ”Hey, are you free later?”

  Looking at the man who stopped, he forced a sunny smile from his face that did not match his temperament.

  ”If you are free… how about having a meal together? I’ll treat you.”

  Looking at the funny expression and hand-raising gesture of the NPC, Sisi couldn’t help but smile.

  However, she didn’t want to waste time on the completed branch quest, and the appearance of the NPC was not to her taste, so she politely declined the invitation.

  ”Thank you for your kindness, but I’ve already eaten.”

  ”Okay…”

  After understanding the euphemistic refusal, Mogawei awkwardly retracted his raised hand and scratched the back of his head, “That’s a pity… I remember there is a good restaurant here.”

  Although the feeling of being rejected is frustrating, this level of frustration is only a sesame-sized amount for a businessman like him.

  Especially when he thought of the value of the furs, he immediately put aside this insignificant regret and regained his confident smile.

  He had no doubt that when he transported this batch of precious goods back to Silver Moon Bay, his name would become a new legend in Silver Moon City!

  The noble ladies and young ladies in the city would go crazy for the precious goods he brought back from the East!

  In that prosperous port, is there anything that money can’t buy?

  If there is –

  it only means that there is not enough!

  …

  At the same time, on the other side of the deck.

  Zhimahu crossed the rows of fur racks and searched on the deck for a long time. Finally, he found Granny Sangru who was teaching the young people in the tribe the experience of tanning furs, and handed her the bag of money containing 110,000 silver coins.

  However, what Zhimahu didn’t expect was that when she happily told the old lady that these silver coins were all paid for them, the old lady looked at her in shock, and then pushed the bag of money back into her hands without saying anything.

  ”Take it away! How can we do this? We should do what we can. We are grateful that you are willing to take in the homeless. How can we accept your money?”

  Seeing that Granny Sangru had obviously misunderstood something, Zhimahu explained with a smile.

  ”No, you misunderstood. This is not our reward… It is paid by the cargo ship across the way. You helped them deal with these furs, and this is the fruit of your labor that you deserve-”

  ”That won’t work either!”

  The old man stubbornly stuffed the purse back into her hand, and held her hand tightly with his skinny hands, as if afraid that she would let go. He said sincerely, “Even if you give us money, we have no place to use it, so it’s better to leave it with you. If you need to buy something in the future, just use this money first! We trust you!”

  It was not just Granny Sangru.

  The other girls of the Moon Clan nearby were the same. They all begged her to take back the money and refused to take any reward.

  ”Yes, you can keep it for us!”

  ”We just want to help you do something, and we don’t want any reward.”

  Zhimahu had never dealt with such a situation before, and she didn’t know how to persuade the stubborn people.

  Just when Zhimahu was in a dilemma, a very energetic voice suddenly interrupted from the side and helped her out.

  ”Oh! Don’t worry, old man, this huge sum of money will come in handy soon!”

  Hearing the loud voice, everyone looked in the direction of the voice, only to see Tail standing there with his hands on his hips, and a meatball next to him.

  ”Ah Wei?” Zhimahu looked at Tail who suddenly appeared, and a surprised expression appeared on his face.

  Giving her a look of “leave it to me”, Tail looked at the people gathered here, cleared his throat and continued.

  ”Just now, I discussed with my companions that it is not good to stay in other people’s ports all the time. And there is a war here, and we may be involved one day.”

  ”It just so happens that our companions have established a new settlement on the north bank of the Baiyue Strait. There is a vast unowned land there. As long as they abide by the laws of the alliance, anyone can settle there!”

  Hearing this, the crowd around them spread a commotion of whispers, exchanging surprise and confusion in their eyes.

  A vast unowned land?

  But…

  they heard that it is the world of alien species.

  And those who have settled there, will they really accept them?

  Seeing the concerns in everyone’s eyes, Tail continued with full energy.

  ”Don’t worry, although there are many alien species there, we are the alliance that has defeated even the mother nest of Qingquan City! A few alien species are no problem, these furs are peeled off from those alien species!”

  The facts visible to the naked eye are more convincing than all rumors.

  The survivors of the Southern Islands Federation had evacuated from Baiyue Province, and the Kingdom of Oasis No. 4 also suffered a great setback there. Those defeated losers naturally spared no effort to describe the horror of Baiyue Province and the unconquerability of that forest.

  However, now, the players of French Fries Port have not only gained a foothold in that unconquerable land, but also proved with facts that those savage and bloodthirsty aliens are not invincible.

  Although most of the survivors here didn’t know what the Qingquan City mother nest mentioned by Tail was like, when they looked at the rows of furs peeled off from the aliens around them, they all relaxed their brows at the same time.

  At this moment, everyone had only one concern left in their minds –

  ”Will they… accept us?” Hesitantly looking at the port not far away, a girl of about fifteen or sixteen walked out of the crowd and asked Tail in a low voice.

  ”Oh! Of course!” Tail raised his thumb and gave her an affirmative look, and continued with a confident smile, “In fact, it was the survivors of French Fry Port who invited us to settle there, and they promised to ensure the safety of the settlement.”

  ”There are many powerful bosses there, and it is no problem to deal with a few monsters and bosses, but some basic work is still in short supply. Not only tanning fur, but also the salt pans near the port, and the orchards that are planned to be built in the future… In short, there are so many places where people are needed! As long as you are willing to work, you can get paid like today, and you can buy a lot of things!”

  Looking at the pairs of eyes that are gradually brightening with longing and desire, Tail’s mouth can’t help but curl up a smile.

  ”Of course, everything there has just begun, and the conditions are still very simple now, which is definitely far worse than the ideal city… But Tail can assure you that everything will slowly get better! How about it? Are you willing to go there with Tail?”

  More and more people gathered around, and the increasingly noisy discussions spread along the crowd to the surroundings.

  Some people’s eyes were full of expectations, but some people also showed trepidation and uneasiness about changing the status quo.

  Just when everyone was undecided, a firm voice suddenly came from the side.

  ”I am willing… I will follow you!”

  The voice sounded familiar.

  Zhimahu subconsciously looked back and saw Misa, who was wearing a ponytail, looking at this side seriously and squeezing out of the crowd to walk towards this side.

  A trace of surprise appeared on her face.

  It was the first time she saw such a brave expression on the face of this shy girl.

  Hearing that voice continue her words, Misa was suddenly surprised as if she had discovered a new world, and looked at the brave girl with a serious expression.

  ”Oh! Girl, you have to think clearly. Once you get on our pirate ship – bah, on our port, you can’t go to the ideal city.”

  ”Ideal city… that is someone else’s home. No matter how good it is, there is no place for us.”

  Casting her eyes to the nearby port and the faces watching the excitement at the port, Misa’s face floated a relieved smile.

  ”Compared to living under someone else’s roof, I still want to have my own home more. Even if it’s still shabby, it doesn’t matter. I’m willing to accompany it to get better slowly.”

  After saying that, she turned around and looked at her compatriots around her, and mustered up the courage to raise her voice.

  ”Everyone… How long have we not lived in the sun like today!”

  From the moment they moved into the concentration camp in Jingalon Port and let buyers choose like animals.

  From the moment the Xilan Empire deprived all of their property and freedom for inexplicable reasons.

  That voice, which was not sensational, resonated with countless people, including the respected Grandma Sangru, whose wrinkled face also showed a moving expression.

  The old man took two trembling steps forward, stretched out his skinny hand and held the child’s hand, with a warm smile on his face.

  ”Misa… You said something that none of us knew how to express. I feel that it has been hidden in my heart for a long, long time.”

  As she said that, she looked at Zhima Paste, and then at the tail, with gratitude and sincerity in her aging pupils.

  ”I am willing to follow you and go to that settlement together. If there is anything we can help with in the future, please let us know!”

  As she finished her words, more and more powerful voices came from all directions.

  ”Me too!”

  ”Please take us with you!”

  Seeing the enthusiastic group, Zhimahu and Rourou’s eyes lit up with moved light, and Weiba shouted excitedly.

  ”Oh! That’s a happy decision. The next stop is French Fries Port! Rourou, quickly light up the boiler and set sail!”

  ”Who is the captain?”

  ”Don’t worry about these details! Hurry up!”

  Looking at the two lively people who suddenly made a fuss, Zhimahu said with a smile.

  ”Wait, that… before we set off, do we have to help people wash the boat first? They have already paid.”

  Weiba, who was pushing Rourou from behind, suddenly stopped.

  ”Giao! I almost forgot.”

  ”Hahaha!”

  The hearty laughter blew towards the endless sea with the sea breeze, blending into the gradually deepening night and the ups and downs of the waves.

  Sis, who was watching everyone from afar and holding a notebook in her arms, couldn’t help but reveal a gentle smile on her face.

  Although this is undoubtedly a wasteland.

  But with these lovely friends around, she always forgets about this matter from time to time…

  Turning back to the cabin.

  Sis spread the notebook on the table, took out the newspaper bought from the port in the morning and spread it flat next to it, and selected the news worth paying attention to and cut it out. The

  side quests of this game are hidden very deeply, and players need to actively collect relevant clues and analyze them in the game.

  Probably thanks to Shelter No. 70, the media industry in the settlements of the Southern Islands Federation is still relatively developed, and it is much easier to obtain information than in Silver Moon Bay.

  Not just to collect intelligence for side quests.

  She also needs to determine the progress of the war in the southern waters through the clues revealed in the news, and grasp the opportunity to enter Shelter No. 70.

  That place is now under the blockade of the Southern Islands Federation Navy. Not only are there warships patrolling the nearby waters, but there are also submersibles performing search and mine-laying tasks underwater.

  That’s not a place you can just put on a diving suit and sneak in.

  After all, the South Islands Federation is a force fostered by Shelter 70. Based on her observations over this period of time, these people are largely similar to the “Alliance without Players”.

  They have ended the wasteland under their feet to a certain extent and established an order that is different from most of the original survivor settlements on the wasteland. However, due to various reasons, the members of Shelter 70 separated from the local survivors and their identities changed from “pioneers” to a special class that was high above them, thus ending up in a completely different way from Camp 101.

  However, what puzzled her was that the fuse that ignited this war was too sloppy and full of various puzzling doubts.

  It wasn’t even just the fuse that ignited the war –

  it also included some strange details in the war report.

  ”The ‘Golden Coast’ research ship sank… My goodness, they have so many ships.”

  Reading the words in the picture quietly, Sis cut it out from the headline page of the newspaper, pasted it on the notebook, and arranged it together with three other pictures cut from other newspapers.

  Standing up and walking to the side of the nautical chart, she drew a red circle as a mark in the waters north of the southern archipelago based on the approximate location provided in the newspaper.

  Together with the previous three, the four red circles are all concentrated in the north.

  A thoughtful expression appeared on Sis’s face.

  ”This is already the fourth one, and like the previous ones, it is in the waters outside the trade route…”

  Could there really be a submarine ambushing in a place like that?

  Although there is no evidence, she always feels that she is very close to the truth…

  (End of this chapter)