Chapter 34.2: The Travel Team
Cheng Qisheng pinched the bridge of her nose.
She had been too busy lately to observe her “traveling believers,” and after digging through her mental records, she realized these people were truly something else.
They had indeed reached the seaside. And they had indeed gone sea fishing.
Then they found several boats along the shore. One of them was a deep-sea fishing vessel that could be operated by four people.
Even though they didn’t share a common language or writing system, one of them had previously operated a similar Blue Sea fishing boat.
So, driven by their longing for the distant unknown, they half-guessed and half-taught themselves how to operate it—and somehow managed to start the vessel.
They weren’t completely unprepared either. They spent several days assigning roles on the boat, practicing day and night, scavenging diesel and spare equipment from other ships…
And then they decided: that was enough. Let’s set off.
Before setting off, the most cautious decision this group made was holding a small meeting.
“We don’t know how long it’ll take to reach shore. We need to consider emergencies—what if the boat capsizes?”
“How about this: we bring some wood onto the boat. If it flips, we can hold onto the wood.”
“Right, and we can wear life jackets while we sail.”
—That was the entirety of their plan.
And yet, somehow, they actually pulled it off.
They sailed to a place even they themselves didn’t know how to identify, the boat eventually capsized, and they ended up in the ocean, wearing life jackets and clutching pieces of wood, bobbing up and down in the sea.
Cheng Qisheng pinched the bridge of her nose again.
Honestly, she had already nurtured eight civilizations. She was long past being surprised by the diversity of human behavior.
But this “tour group” was… well. Forget it. Humans were like this. Nothing they did was truly strange anymore.
If they hadn’t had this sudden, bizarre, completely unplanned impulse to go out to sea, they would never have ended up so close to the direction of Yunbula Nation.
Cheng Qisheng looked around.
All she saw was ocean.
Out here in the middle of the sea, there were no coordinates—and even if there were, a Safe City couldn’t just materialize over open water.
All she could do was repeatedly “pat” the freezing believers, trying to make them feel a bit better.
Water does provide buoyancy. As long as they clung to the wood, they wouldn’t sink.
The problem was that in stormy night seas, being soaked in freezing water meant hypothermia was only a matter of time—even for Blue Sea humans.
The ship had already sunk. The only “navigation equipment” they had left was driftwood, and they didn’t even have fresh water.
If they couldn’t reach land within three days, death was the only outcome waiting for them.
Cheng Qisheng glanced at the trembling believer under her touch and noticed her color improving slightly. She silently revised her earlier estimate.
Fine. With divine blessing, they might be able to last a little longer.
Four or five days, maybe.
At this point, all Cheng Qisheng could do was continue granting them blessings while waiting for the storm to pass alongside them.
On the first day, after the waves subsided, the group managed to steady themselves on the driftwood using their strong sense of balance. They barely managed to avoid being thrown back into the sea and escaped hypothermia by a narrow margin.
On the second day, Cheng Qisheng gathered Blue Sea’s relevant experts and drafted a rough survival plan.
That day, the sky was clear. At night, the stars of Velvet Star finally became visible again.
On the third day, the experts used stellar positioning—Velvet Star’s two suns, its multiple constellations, and even variations in sky brightness—to calculate an approximate latitude and longitude.
There were still errors, but that didn’t matter. Their goal was simply to get the group to land as quickly as possible.
Using Velvet Star’s map and the information relayed through Aether, Cheng Qisheng guided the group to move in a specific direction.
It matched the direction of Yunbula Nation.
“Ocean currents, water color, and seabird flight patterns all indicate that there is land in that direction. It’s the closest landmass.”
On the fourth day, the travel team used driftwood and their own bodies as rudders. Under the guidance of Blue Sea experts—whose instructions Cheng Qisheng had directly relayed—they positioned their makeshift “raft” to face the waves head-on, lowered their bodies, and began drifting toward the direction indicated by the Creator God.
Within these four days, they survived by drinking rainwater. Because of constant exposure to the sun during the day, each of them showed signs of dehydration.
The good news was that they were not hungry.
Because when they fell into the sea, one of them happened to still be carrying a fishing rod.
At first, they managed to catch a few small fish. Then, using those fish as bait, they actually succeeded in catching more fish.
The only issue was that after being rescued, they would likely need a parasite check—since they had been eating everything raw.
In this situation, an ordinary Velvet Star native might not have been able to endure even three days. But the Blue Sea people held on—and because a heavy rain had fallen that day, they managed to collect enough fresh water, becoming even more energetic than they had been in the previous two days.
On the sixth day, one of them began to run a fever. It was unclear whether it was due to a parasitic infection or simply the result of prolonged dehydration without rainwater. But by then, they had also noticed something else: a brighter horizon.
Out at sea, a brighter stretch of sky usually meant land nearby. The light was stronger there because it was reflected from land masses.
By this point, the travel team was completely exhausted—but they were still able to lie on their driftwood and laugh.
“We’re almost there! We’re almost there!”
“Under the guidance of the Lord, we will successfully escape this ordeal. This is something worth recording.”
“We’re about to reach a new land. And on this land, we will be the first Blue Sea people to arrive. That is also worth recording.”
The member who loved documenting their travels the most had a notebook tied to her head. It was her travel journal. Unfortunately, it had been soaked by seawater, and much of the ink had blurred. She could only try her best to preserve what remained.
If only there were a pen.
Then, drifting on endless ocean waves, writing down her feelings at this very moment would surely be the happiest thing in the world.
Over these past few days, Cheng Qisheng had focused most of her attention on these remarkably troublesome believers, and so she could faintly sense their thoughts.
She could feel that they truly did not fear death during their journey. If she had not come to rescue them, perhaps even in their final moments they would have accepted death with the thought: If we die on this journey, we have no regrets.
The Great Creator God expressed: she did not understand—but she accepted it.
After all, whenever she refused to let Blue Sea people go to war and they became depressed in response, she already felt like there was nothing she couldn’t tolerate.
Cheng Qisheng was watching the experts calculate how long it would take the travelers to reach land based on the brightness of the horizon they had described.
Then, suddenly, her gaze shifted in one direction.
A fishing boat was slowly approaching.
Onboard, several people were observing the drifting travel group from a distance. As they drew closer and realized there were actually living people in the water, every face on the boat was filled with shock.
Cheng Qisheng studied their expressions carefully.
She saw only surprise, confusion—and caution.
The fishing boat moved closer. Someone picked up a small fish and tossed it toward one of the believers lying on the driftwood.
The believer lifted her head. Her face was pale, but she quickly caught the fish as it bounced into the water. Looking up at the people on the boat, she said in Velvet Star Common Language:
“Thank you.”
Among the crew on the fishing boat—most of them with pale skin—there was a man with black hair and black eyes from the Ming Nation who widened his eyes.
——The nearly seven-day-long great ordeal ended with the Blue Sea travelers being rescued by the local Velvet Star people.
The fishing boat’s first mate was a Ming Nation native, and he made the final decision to carry out the rescue.
The exhausted Blue Sea group was pulled aboard. After drinking fresh water and putting on dry clothes, they finally began to recover.
“You’re from the Ming Nation? From that far away? And you came all the way here on just those pieces of wood?”
The first mate had countless questions:
“What’s happening in the Ming Nation? Are there also man-eating monsters there? We can’t contact the outside world at all—has your government collapsed too? Are there any survivor bases there?”
The travel team member who could understand a bit of Ming Nation language felt her ears buzzing from the rapid speech.
It was too fast—she couldn’t understand it properly.
“Where… is this?” she asked.
The first mate replied, “Yunbula Nation. You don’t even know where you are? Were you shipwrecked?”
…
In the botanical garden, Cheng Qisheng was basking in the sun, watching butterflies flutter through the air. A faint smile slowly appeared on her face.
At the same moment, the travel team all jolted.
They had received a divine revelation from the Great Creator God.
The member who knew a little Ming Nation language perked up noticeably. She lifted her head, her eyes bright.
“Thank you for saving us.”
“My country will repay you.”
The first mate immediately realized that her Ming Nation language was poor—she was a foreigner, not one of his compatriots.
And perhaps due to fever, her mind was still somewhat confused.
In a world that had changed so drastically, Yunbula Nation was effectively as good as a fallen country. Information from other nations could no longer reach them, and those countries were likely in similar states.
At this point, what even remained of the concept of “nation”?
He stood up in disappointment.
“No need to repay us. In times like this, seeing living people from outside is already a kind of reward.”
“Which country are you from? I’ll see if I can find someone from your country so you can communicate.”
The tall woman lying on the damp ground—looking utterly miserable and exhausted—said:
“Blue Sea. We are from Blue Sea.”
Blue Sea?
He had never heard of it. Some small, obscure country?
The first mate decided to go ask around. He had already noticed that their Ming Nation language was not fluent. If he could find compatriots of theirs, it would be easier to gather information about the outside world.
“Rest here. I’ll go ask if anyone knows about Blue Sea.”
He pushed the door open—but outside, he saw the woman again.
She looked energetic, completely unlike someone who had just been rescued from the sea. In stiff Ming Nation language, she insisted:
“The Lord has given us… a revelation.”
“You saved the people of Blue Sea. You will receive Blue Sea’s… repayment.”
The first mate silently closed the door and walked out.
Outside, several people immediately gathered around him.
“How is it? Did they bring any information from the outside?”
The first mate shook his head in disappointment.
“The only one who could communicate with me has a high fever.”
Someone let out an “ah.”
“What do we do? We don’t have any medicine.”
The first mate sighed.
“Medicine wouldn’t help anyway.”
“Her mind seems to be burned out. She’s having hallucinations and hearing things—it looks like religious mania.”
——The fishing boat from Yunbula Nation returned to the port.
The travel team was supported by the crew as they stepped off the boat and looked around.
This place had probably once been a fishing village.
Now it looked broken and abandoned—ruins surrounded by thick walls built from stacked bricks, enclosing the settlement so that the survivors only had one side open to the sea.
A smart decision. After all, zombies couldn’t swim.
Because of its geographic advantage, this village had managed to preserve most of its population.
It was the largest survivor settlement the group had encountered so far on Velvet Star.
“There are many empty houses here. You can stay in them. Our resources are limited, so we can’t support you for free. You’ll need to fish for yourselves or find work in the village.”
The first mate had tried to communicate with the others on the ship, but all they could manage were phrases like “Praise the Lord” and “We are people of Blue Sea.” Everything else was incomprehensible.
Originally, he had hoped to gather information about the outside world—but that would have to wait. For now, they would need to learn the language of Yunbula Nation first.
But since they could at least speak their own native language, the first mate still approached them and explained how to survive in the fishing village:
“Still, I think finding work will be difficult. Not many people can afford to eat enough these days, and even fewer are willing to hire others in exchange for food. Also, there’s no medicine here—you’ll need to figure out how to bring your feverish companion’s temperature down as soon as possible.”
The tall woman being supported by her teammates lifted her head.
“Thank you, but I’m not crazy.”
The first mate shook his head and walked away, thinking to himself that no madman ever admitted they were mad.
In the apocalypse, a group of people had been washed up by the waves into Yunbula Nation, yet still insisted that their country would repay them.
What—was their country going to fall from the sky?
After the first mate left, the travel team looked up at the sky.
“Alright, let’s catch some fish first. We’ll wait until nightfall.”
Now they had learned the movement pattern of Yunbula Nation’s suns.
At night, they would be able to observe the stars—the trajectories of the constellations.
Blue Sea didn’t have the exact coordinates of Yunbula Nation, but that didn’t matter. Having the coordinates of other cities was enough.
Whether it was Mianyan City or Qianli City—Yunbula Nation was still on Velvet Star.
Beneath the same sun and the same starry sky.
And as long as there were fixed reference points to observe, Blue Sea’s experts would be able to calculate Yunbula Nation’s coordinates.
Fortunately, over the past few days drifting at sea, the travel team had already trained themselves in observing the sun and stars.
The group sat under a tree, supporting one another, and began discussing what to do next.
Crossing the vast ocean and reaching another land—sense of accomplishment +100.
The coordinates of this land were something the Great Divine Being desired. They could offer these coordinates to the deity—sense of accomplishment +9999!
Surviving the dangers at sea and being saved by the blessing of the Great Creator God—happiness +9,999,999!
The group murmured softly:
“Praise the Lord…”
A gentle warmth spread over them, identical to the force they had felt in the ocean.
In the sea, whenever their bodies had reached their limits, it had been the god’s blessing that gave them warmth and kept them alive.
——Cheng Qisheng gently patted the believers’ heads.
She watched as the travel team narrowed their eyes in comfort.
She watched them lie beneath the trees as they slowly recovered.
Finally, they looked toward the distant sun with unwavering determination:
“By the Lord, Blue Sea shall endure.”
“My Lord… we will accomplish this for You.”
