Chapter 4423 — The Race Sets Sail
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
By then the wharf had long since been cleared. The boats that ordinarily thronged the harbor had all been held back to one side, and only thirty-two sailboats lay ranged in a single line along the wharf, twenty meters apart. To ensure fairness, all thirty-two were of the commonest model found in every sea region of the Southern Continent, uniform new vessels of identical make.
Watched by the Sky-Bearing Escort Agency contingent led by Qi Wenmo, Wei Zhao boarded sailboat number five. The contestants of the other thirty-one agencies likewise took their places aboard their own vessels, in the order of their agencies' rankings at the previous grand gathering.
Stepping into the wheelhouse, Wei Zhao looked around. The layout was essentially identical to the sailboat he had used on his last escort run, so he need not worry about being unable to sail her—at worst he might be a little rusty.
Within the wheelhouse, besides the compass, the route charts, and the other standard necessities, there was one item added specially for this gathering: a small jade-token array, marked with a number matching the sailboat's—number five.
After more than a year knocking about Cloud Terrace Island, from North Island to Central Island and now to the Southern Continent, Wei Zhao had broadened his horizons considerably. In particular, his friendship with the widely traveled Di Xingdao and Hong Zhong had taught him much; even things he had never seen, he could guess at.
This little jade-token array with its number was, unless he missed his guess, one half of a mother-and-child array. The one before him was the child; the mother would be somewhere in Demon Cold City, its numbers corresponding one to one.
If sailboat number five met with disaster—especially if the boat were destroyed and its crew killed—the little jade-token array would be destroyed with it. The mother array would receive word at once, and the people waiting in Demon Cold City would know exactly what had happened.
A stirring bugle call rang out. The thirty-two sailboats at Demon Cold Wharf hoisted sail as one and set forth along the prescribed course, departing together with no order of precedence.
"Nothing must go wrong!" Qi Wenmo prayed silently as he watched Wei Zhao's sailboat number five. He truly did believe Wei Zhao would not attempt anything he could not handle, but even so he could not keep his heart from quaking. Better safe than sorry—if anything did happen to Wei Zhao, he would never be able to atone for it even with ten thousand deaths.
Qi Wenmo was beside himself with nerves, but the heads of the other agencies showed no sign of worry, only an attitude of complete indifference. The ones sent into the field were all old, weak, sick, and crippled; everyone knew that once they set out, they would not be coming back, so no one harbored the slightest hope.
The sole exception was the Four Seas Escort Agency. They were not worried at all—they looked smug and certain of victory, as though the points for this second round were already a cooked duck in their eyes, unable even to fly away.
Never mind the myriad expressions of the crowd waiting at the wharf—once the thirty-two sailboats set out, since all were new vessels of the same model, they ran neck and neck through the opening stretch of the ordinary sea route. Even if slight gaps opened up, they were too small to be worth noticing. (A windfall event—cool phones for the taking! Follow Qi~Dian/Chinese Web's official account (WeChat: Add Contacts—Add Official Account—enter qdread) and join now! Prizes for everyone—follow the qdread WeChat official account today!) (To be continued)