Chapter 18 2. Urashima Taro from the Black Islands

In the autumn of the third year of Taisho, businessmen were planning to make a fortune in overseas markets.This includes Zhezhu's brother-in-law, who opened a Nanhai trading company overseas, which later became Hengxin Company. A small sailboat was sailing across the equator with an easterly wind.The "Seagull" equipped with auxiliary engines has a load capacity of about 500 tons, and the cargo ship's cabin is full of groceries and phosphate rock. Young people look forward to life at sea and think it is very romantic.The mainsail of the sailboat is tilted, indicating that the hull is galloping on the sea.In the quiet night of the South China Sea, nothing can be heard except the sound of waves lapping on the hull and the roar of engines.Looking up at the sky, you can see the beautiful Southern Cross between the two canvases.When Zhezhu was collecting coral reefs, he was also intoxicated by the beautiful scenery.The north wind couldn't always give them a free ride. After traveling for a while, the sailboat sailed into the equatorial windless zone.

"It's too noisy, Captain." Zhezhu was a little annoyed. "The sound of the auxiliary engine running is like a dance party in hell. Oh, it's so hot, I'm getting dizzy. Ah! What is that?! What is that!" Zhezhu set up a tent under the mast, and he stood up from the tent.A layer of hot fog rose from the sea outside the tent, and there was no wind or waves around, and the dark blue sea surface also faded, making people mistakenly think that the world was kneaded into a ball for a moment. Zhezhu saw something strange about 40 to 50 meters away on the port side.At first glance, it looks like an atoll, but the atoll is not this color.It doesn't look like an island either, because if it were an island, there should be coconuts floating on the nearby sea.

"That's it. That's the vortex in the 'Pacific Sinkhole'. It looks like an atoll, and the edge is raised outwards. Once you enter it, don't think about it. It's a famous magic land in the Pacific Ocean." There was a shrill cry from the bow, and a sailor on the mast shouted with his gong voice: "There's something weird ahead! Eight o'clock to starboard... a bird is holding something like a cage." Before the words were finished, the two pelicans were shot down.A sailor pulled up the cage made of vines and looked at it, and jumped back in fright.What exactly is in the cage?Everyone stepped forward to take a look, and found a cute boy with no clothes in the cage.He appeared to be in a coma, breathing very weakly.This is not a dream, is it?There are no islands nearby, how could a caged boy suddenly appear on the sea?

Everyone was staring at the cage as if they were drunk, and then they found a letter tied to the child.The captain took the letter, glanced at it and handed it to Zhezhu. "It seems to be written in German." "Oh, I see. Here it says: I've been the surrogate father of this boy, and lived with him for a month. We're in the Pacific Sinkhole. German, Cunay." "Pacific Sink" - when everyone heard these words, they felt as if they had been punched in the face suddenly.But how did this child get into the magic sea, and how did he get out?Everyone stood motionless under the scorching sun like a fool.

The child was sent to the cabin to rest, while Zhezhu looked solemn, as if he was having a nightmare that hadn't woken up yet.He climbed up the mast and looked out at the receding Pacific Sinkhole to the left of the sailboat. Are people tilting or the sea tilting?There is no need to think about it so much, anyway, a spectacle that you can't even imagine in your dreams is now in front of you.The blue water column gushes out from the sea in the distance, and there are reefs like animal teeth hidden in the vortex of the big funnel, which can only be observed. There must be more terrifying wonders in the misty place deep in the vortex.There was a loud bang from the other end of the smoke, which was the roar of the center of the "Pacific Water Leak"... The German Friedrich Cuney who wrote this letter is a youth cadre of the German New Guinea Expansion Company.He was once a well-known lieutenant of dragoons.Since he joined the New Guinea Expedition organized by the Berlin Anthropological Association the year before last, he has developed a strong interest in the South China Sea. After retiring, he joined the New Guinea Company.The man was athletic, with limbs as well-proportioned as an antelope.If you put a pair of monocles on him, he looks like a typical noble sergeant.

In May, Qiu Nai had a whim and planned to go out to sea in a canoe.His destination was an island called "Vailima" four thousand miles away from Fosiaha in German New Guinea. Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island, is buried there.The canoe that Qiu Nai drove was modified, and the sides of the hull were equipped with long poles with pontoons tied to the sides to fight the big waves. So he went out to sea in such a flat boat.Qiu Nai has been at sea for almost four months. He has fully experienced the fun of sailing adventures and plans to go home for a short rest. On the night of September 2, Qiu Nai returned to Fosiaha after a long absence.

——This is where the story begins. Qiu Nai rowed the boat through the "Maraibo" huts built by the natives on the water, and the bow of the boat plunged into the quagmire beside the mangrove forest.The 8,000-kilometer round trip finally came to an end.He dragged his tired body to the post on the coast and walked into the house. Qiu Nai was a little surprised, something big seemed to have happened during the time he was traveling.The German soldiers were gone, and those sleeping in the post were soldiers they had never seen before.That uniform should be a native soldier from the Polynesian islands.

"What's going on, where are the soldiers of our country? Who are these weird guys..." His gaze then turned to the notice on the wall, and his face turned pale after reading for a while.It turns out that this colony has been occupied by the Haozhou Fleet.By the end of the lines, blood came to his cheeks with rage. Qiu Nai's eyes darkened, and he almost fainted.He thought of the tragic death of his friend von Olsen and his son Willie, and the accumulated anger began to burn violently. It's so inhuman!Even a five-year-old child refused to let go.Perhaps it was the vengeful natives who killed them, but it was Beresford who was behind it all.

Having lost his place of residence after only four months, Qiu Nai's current situation is like that of Urashima Taro... Although his current situation is also very dangerous, the tragic death of his friend's family left him at a loss. I'm going to kill you!Beresford, you beast!I must kill you! Qiu Nai only had revenge in his heart, and it happened that the moon was dark and the wind was high that night, and Qiu Nai, who was faltering on his feet, arrived at the captain's mansion by accident.The window was wide open, and a star light shone inside the house.Children's clown hats hang on the wall, and toy trumpets and a model pirate ship sit on the table.

"Great!" he murmured to himself. A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.Didn't expect this guy Beresford to have a son... God help me.As long as you can get revenge, it doesn't matter so much.He picked up the child lying on the crib, wrapped him in a towel, took him into a small boat, and left Fosiaha like an arrow flying off the string.