Chapter 339: Setting Out: A Certificate in Early Childhood Education Really Does Make a Difference, Huh?
The harbor was bustling with people coming and going, so it wasn’t a suitable place to chat with a marine creature.
So, after a brief conversation with Kesuye, Everly started the yacht again and drove it back to the empty, deserted bay where they had been before.
After mooring the boat, she took a flashlight and walked to the edge of the yacht. Crouching beside the low railing, she pointed the beam directly at the surface of the sea.
At the spot illuminated by the light, a silver-white shadow glided beneath the water. A moment later, the shadow grew larger, and with a splash, Kesuye’s wet head emerged from the sea.
“Good evening, Kesuye.” Everly smiled and waved at him.
Kesuye’s eyes curved into a smile, and a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. In a tiny voice, he replied, “Good evening, Everly.”
He was still as shy around strangers as ever. The moment he finished speaking, the lower half of his face was already buried firmly beneath the water, leaving only a pair of innocent, guileless eyes peeking up at Everly cautiously from below.
Everly was already used to seeing him like this and didn’t pay much attention to it. Remembering the blood she’d seen earlier, she asked with concern, “How’s your hand? Does it still hurt?”
Kesuye shook his head. At Everly’s gesture, he reached out his hand and rested it in her palm.
He had a very beautiful pair of hands, with long, slender fingers and perfectly formed hands. His sharp nails resembled a cat’s claws. Normally, they remained tucked inside the flesh of his fingertips, making his hands look almost indistinguishable from a human’s. Only when hunting would they spring out, allowing him to easily tear his prey into several pieces.
Between each of his fingers was also a layer of transparent webbing. It felt cool and soft to the touch, somewhat like jelly. In his mermaid form, it was used to propel him through the water.
Everly held his hand and examined it from top to bottom. Before long, she found a faint pink scratch on the pad of his index finger.
After eating Gary, Kesuye had gained powerful regenerative abilities. In just a few minutes, the wound on his hand had already healed almost completely, and it was no longer bleeding.
She gently pinched the wound twice, and after making sure there was nothing wrong, Everly felt a little less guilty.
She pushed his hand back into the water, then leaned over the railing and asked curiously, “How did you find me? When we parted, you were still in the Pacific Ocean, weren’t you? How did you suddenly end up all the way over in the Atlantic?”
“I can feel you… through the sea,” Kesuye answered.
Having successfully graduated from his early childhood education software, he was no longer the mute mermaid he had once been. Kesuye’s vocabulary had increased tremendously, and he had basically mastered the fundamentals of grammar as well. He was frighteningly good at it.
However, since he still lacked someone to practice with, Kesuye remained a little halting when he spoke. Every so often, he would have to pause and think for a moment before squeezing out his next sentence, making him look somewhat slow and adorably clueless.
“I felt you, so I came,” he added after furrowing his brows and thinking for a moment.
Everly tried her best to parse it. “You mean that as long as I’m by the sea, you can sense me and find your way to me?”
“Mm, that’s right.” Kesuye nodded. The tail hidden in the water behind him couldn’t help but smack the surface with a loud splash, sending a spray of cool droplets into the air.
He was practically like a little puppy…
Suppressing a laugh, Everly held out her hand. Without her even having to say anything, Kesuye voluntarily raised himself higher out of the water, lifted his head, and gently nudged his forehead against her palm.
As he sank back down, a faint blush had already spread across his fair face. His blue-ringed eyes were moist and glistening, as though tiny stars were twinkling inside them.
Puppies loved playing chase, while Kesuye liked being “patted on the head” like this.
Everly’s heart seemed to fall into a pile of fluffy feathers, becoming light, soft, and wonderfully weightless.
She asked with a smile, “I can understand you calling my name from the water, but why were you banging on the bottom of the boat? I thought I’d run into some kind of water ghost. You nearly scared me to death.”
“Ah…” Kesuye froze for a moment. His head drooped, and his expression suddenly turned dejected. “Because the boat was too noisy. I was afraid you wouldn’t hear me… I’m sorry. I frightened you. I’m really sorry.”
Everly shook her head. “It’s fine. I didn’t realize you were the one calling me, and I suddenly started the boat and ran, which ended up hurting your hand. I was at fault too, so we’re even.”
Mentioning the whole water-ghost misunderstanding reminded Everly of the gun-smuggling plan that had been troubling her for quite some time.
Then, as she looked at Kesuye in front of her, a brilliant idea suddenly occurred to her: she could have Kesuye transport the guns for her!
As an aquatic creature, Kesuye was an excellent underwater swimmer. With a single breath, he could swim underwater for dozens of minutes. All Everly had to do was hand the guns over to Kesuye before entering the country and have him follow far behind her boat. Once Everly had completed the customs clearance and other entry procedures, she could find an opportunity to retrieve the guns from him!
At the thought, Everly’s eyes lit up, and she looked eagerly at her friend. “Kesuye, are you free for the next few days? There’s something I need your help with.”
“I’m free! I can… Please let me help Everly.”
Kesuye agreed incredibly quickly. His drooping head instantly perked up, and his black-and-white whale tail couldn’t restrain itself from swishing back and forth in the seawater, sending waves splashing against the yacht with a constant series of watery crashes.
He really was just like an ocean puppy…
Everly couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. “Thank you. It’s not difficult, but it’s very important to me. I’m really glad you’re willing to help.”
Kesuye’s face grew even redder.
His eyes curved into a shy smile as he looked at her. With most of his face submerged in the water, he began blowing bubbles again, going “blub blub” beneath the surface.
Everly had noticed that this was one of his little habits. Whenever Kesuye felt happy, embarrassed, awkward, or some other emotion that became too intense for him to know how to release, he would hide himself in the water like a crab and blow bubbles outward.
He really was such a cute whale.
After chatting and catching up with Kesuye for quite a while, Everly finally said goodbye to the big whale and piloted the yacht back to the harbor.
Over the following week, Everly was either running around with the broker to various agencies, such as the state vessel management department, insurance companies, and the Federal Communications Commission, handling all the documents required for the boat to enter and leave the country; purchasing the firearms and ammunition she needed to take with her through various channels; or learning from the old sailor she had hired about the precautions for taking a boat out to sea in extreme weather. She was busier than she could have imagined.
The only time she was basically free was at night. During those hours, Everly would often pack a dozen or so portions of food, bring them aboard, then take the yacht out to sea and anchor somewhere with few people around. There, with a flashlight in hand, she would share the delicious food from shore with Kesuye.
A week later, the final document was ready. Everly checked the weather forecast for the next few days. The weather at sea was clear, with no strong winds, heavy rain, or other conditions unsuitable for travel.
And so, on the ninth day after arriving at Miant Port, the morning of November 24, Everly officially departed Miant Port aboard her yacht, which was loaded with travel supplies, and headed toward North Bimini Island in the northwest of the Bahamas.
Foreign vessels entering the Bahamas had to first proceed to a designated port of entry, complete the stamping and verification procedures at the port’s customs office, and obtain an official Bahamian sailing permit. Only after receiving the permit could Everly travel freely through the country’s waters.
Alice Town on North Bimini Island was only a few dozen nautical miles from Miant Port. It was relatively close and had fairly good public security as well. After comparing several designated ports, Everly decided to complete her entry inspection there.
To avoid any mishaps, only a little over ten minutes after setting out, Everly sent a signal to summon Kesuye and handed him a huge, heavy waterproof backpack.
Inside the backpack were all the prohibited weapons she planned to take on this trip. Each weapon had been wrapped layer upon layer, enclosed in more than a dozen waterproof bags. They should have no trouble sitting in the sea for an entire day.
Half an hour after setting out, Everly encountered the U.S. Coast Guard at sea. They checked her documents and reviewed the departure information she had submitted in advance. After confirming that everything was in order, they let her pass and even wished her a pleasant trip.
After that, Everly continued across the vast ocean for a little over two hours, following the satellite navigation. Near noon, the yacht finally arrived at North Bimini Island.
It was a low-latitude island.
With December approaching, there was none of the cold, bleak atmosphere of the northern mainland here. The temperature remained at a pleasant twenty degrees Celsius or so. Even before reaching shore, Everly could see the island’s lush, verdant vegetation and the exotic-looking streets and lanes along the waterfront.
Following the procedures the broker had previously explained to her, Everly raised the yellow quarantine flag well in advance. Then, under the guidance of the dock workers, she brought the yacht safely into the marina at Alice Town.
After waiting for about twenty minutes, officials from Bahamian Customs and Immigration boarded the yacht as required to conduct their inspection and verification.
The majority of Bahamian nationals were Black. When they saw Everly, they were initially cold and expressionless, and they gave her a hard time while checking her documents. Later, Everly discreetly slipped a hundred-dollar U.S. bill into her entry documents. The official silently removed the special “document” and immediately became much friendlier, while the inspection of the yacht suddenly proceeded considerably faster.
About an hour later, Everly successfully completed the entry and customs clearance procedures and obtained the sailing permit she needed.
With this permit, Everly could sail freely through Bahamian waters without worrying about being stopped.
The rest of the day was free time.
After traveling all morning, the yacht had consumed quite a bit of fuel. Everly planned to refuel with some diesel in Alice Town and, while she was there, buy some local specialties to eat.
Since she was unfamiliar with the area, she didn’t venture far, staying only around the more densely populated areas near the marina.
After getting some pigeon peas and rice and conch salad from a street food stall, Everly carried the bag and was just about to leave when she turned around and spotted a familiar figure on the corner of the street diagonally across from her.
Golden hair, blue-gray eyes, pale skin, and handsome features. Even though he had deliberately put on a wide-brimmed hat to conceal his identity, there was no hiding the elegance and gloomy air unique to the old-fashioned aristocracy of Brita.
It was Grant Megan, the missing heir to the Megan Medical Group!
Several years ago, Everly had happened to run into him in Radyard. Not long afterward, the zombie virus outbreak occurred in Radyard, and the city was reduced to a wasteland by the bombardment.
And now, he had appeared on an obscure island in the Bahamas with seven or eight men who looked like bodyguards.
Horror Movie Survival Rule #1: Pay attention to the hints.
Everly certainly didn’t think this was a coincidence. She still remembered that when Orff was investigating the source of the poetry about the Fountain of Youth, he had accidentally discovered that another mysterious force was also searching for it.
Orff had tracked down Cody Barnes, the sole surviving descendant of the Barnes family, intending to buy the ancient manuscript in his possession that contained clues to the poem. However, that mysterious force had beaten Orff to it and snatched the manuscript away first.
Megan Group, the Bahamas, the Fountain of Youth. Any one of these words appearing by itself would mean nothing. But when they were put together, Everly couldn’t help letting her imagination run wild.
After all, several of the Megan Group’s heinous crimes had been connected to the pursuit of immortality.
And what the Fountain of Youth could grant people was precisely that—immortality.