Chapter 4782 — False Alarm

In truth, that lookout was already holed up on the backup observation platform; Wei Zhao's post was nothing but a prank's decoy—no one would ever take him seriously.

Wei Zhao and Huo Yudie turned and climbed the lookout platform. It was the highest point, offering a commanding view of everything below. As long as visibility held, one could see not only the full scope of the ancient warship beneath but the sea for hundreds of li around; of course, if sea fog rolled in, that was another matter entirely.

But the weather these past two days had been excellent—cloudless skies from horizon to horizon, not a single cloud to be seen, let alone sea fog. Up here, Wei Zhao and Huo Yudie might as well have been sightseeing, for the strange scenery of this place could be viewed from nowhere else—the climb had not been wasted.

Two days passed without a single peril, so naturally Wei Zhao had no need to issue any evasive orders. Watching the view and chatting with Huo Yudie, he felt rather at ease.

Huo Yudie savored it too. To sit thus, the sea breeze on her face, nestled against Wei Zhao in their own private world—it was almost the most wonderful thing she could imagine.

Yet she knew it could not last. Even if Wei Zhao never gave Okuda Qi a handle against him, once they reached the Eastern Continent the two of them would have to part; whether they would ever meet again was uncertain, let alone spend their lives together.

When night fell, stars filled the sky above and the sea glittered with countless points of light below. That dreamlike, illusory scene lent their private world a warmth and romance all the more tender, and the two, already leaning close in ambiguity, could not help but feel a certain stirring.

"Wei Zhao…" Huo Yudie called softly, cheeks flushed crimson, as if something had crossed her mind.

"What is it?" Wei Zhao turned to glance at her, then hastily turned back, not daring to look again. Against the beauty of the night, Huo Yudie's air was at once innocent and alluring; the strange temptation woven of the two nearly overwhelmed even Wei Zhao's self-restraint.

"The poison from my leg wound—I think it's flared up again…" Huo Yudie bit her lip, head lowered, squirming. "You… could you suck it out for me again?"

"Hm?" Wei Zhao was stunned. That poison had been drawn out long ago—how could it suddenly flare up?

Under his gaze, Huo Yudie's face flushed deeper still, her fair neck turning a tempting scarlet. She urged him in a low voice, "Hurry…"

Wei Zhao swallowed speechlessly, finally understanding what she was hinting at. Could it be that the girl had been reminded by the first mate's little joke?

Silence fell over them. Faced with Huo Yudie's adorable, bashful expression, Wei Zhao felt a surge of tender affection; forcing down the instinctive urge, he said with difficulty, "Yudie, I can't make you any promises. After we reach the Eastern Continent, we may…"

"I don't care!" Huo Yudie covered his mouth with her hand, their faces now a finger's breadth apart. Each could feel the other's feverish breath; their breathing and composure were already in disarray.

"I…" Wei Zhao was about to say something when Huo Yudie suddenly did something extraordinarily bold—she reached out and pressed his head down toward her skirts. After tonight there might never be such a chance again; as a girl, she had thrown all caution to the winds.

With the familiar scent of her young body so close at hand, Wei Zhao's mind was a tangled mess. The girl had already gone this far—what was he to do?

Just then, the jade pendant at his chest gave an urgent, frantic warning. Wei Zhao snapped to his senses and hastily stopped Huo Yudie's bold advance. In his fluster he swept a glance at the sea ahead, then quickly activated the sound-transmission array beside him and shouted at the top of his voice, "Change course! Danger ahead!"

At that very moment, Okuda Qi and the real danger lookout were on the other backup platform. Hearing Wei Zhao's cry through the array, they both started—danger?!

Alarmed, the two peered carefully around. Though visibility was poor at night, by the light of the star-filled sky and the glowing creatures scattered through the sea, they could still make out the situation for several li around—all seemed calm and still.

"Danger, my ass!" The lookout exchanged a glance with Okuda Qi and cursed irritably. "A false alarm! The brat doesn't know a damn thing—what a pain in the neck!"

Okuda Qi's expression was ugly too. His original plan had been to exploit Wei Zhao's ignorance: when real danger came, the man would surely fail to spot it in time, much less give a prompt, accurate warning. And though the two of them were on the backup platform, so long as the situation was not especially dire, they would keep silent—thus turning the trick back on Wei Zhao and framing him.

After all, for a top-tier behemoth like the ancient warship, a minor hazard meant nothing at all; it could simply crush straight through. That way nothing would go wrong, and they would still have grounds to prosecute Wei Zhao.

Neither had expected this turn of events. With no danger at all, the boy was shouting himself hoarse into the sound-transmission array, putting them through a needless fright—this was plainly a false report of enemy movements!

Wei Zhao kept repeating his warning through the array, yet there was no response from below. Everyone knew it was Platform Two that truly monitored dangers; Platform One was now merely a stage, and until Platform Two spoke, no one from top to bottom would pay him the slightest heed.

Then Okuda Qi's voice rang out through the array, cold as ice: "What are you yelling about? Do you realize how much loss a single wrong judgment can cost us? Once we deviate from the set course, we may well run aground, and we'll waste vast amounts of spiritual energy besides—the array may even fail to gather enough qi. Can you bear the consequences?"

"Change course at once! Danger ahead!" Wei Zhao ignored him and kept shouting urgently. Though the others aboard could not hear, every place rigged with a sound-transmission array, the control room included, could hear his voice.

"Boy, you still dare to shout nonsense here? Do you know the penalty for falsely reporting enemy movements? Do you truly want to die?" Okuda Qi was now thoroughly enraged.

Originally he and Wei Zhao were people of two entirely different strata, with no grudge between them; had Ren Zhongyuan not asked him for a small favor, he would never have paid Wei Zhao any mind at all! (To be continued.)