Chapter 39: Deep Sea Devil

  There was a Yolander named Francios who led two medium-sized sailing ships across the vast Southern Ocean, around the southernmost tip of the distant Kingdom of Ephenia, along the winding eastern coast, through the treacherous waters of western Shangri-La, and finally arrived at the legendary easternmost kingdom of Sumer by sea. They successfully landed in the Kingdom of Sumer and received a warm welcome from the people of Sumer. They were welcomed to the palace of the Kingdom of Sumer and attended a welcoming ceremony hosted by the Queen of Sumer herself.

  After staying there for a month, they were loaded with specialties of the Sumerian kingdom and returned from the original route. After five or six months of drifting at sea, they finally returned to Yuelan Kingdom. This voyage once again proved that the ocean world is connected, and any place in the world can be reached by sea. At the same time, they also proudly announced to people all over the world that they had seen the legendary beautiful Sumerian queen who was said to be matchless in beauty. "Heavens! I have never seen such a beautiful woman, she made my heart completely stop beating, every move of hers, in my eyes, is the will of heaven, and I couldn't resist at all."

  "The Imperial Navy has really fallen, now it can't even compare to the captains of the Yulan country." Yang Jirui sighed softly, crumpling the newspaper in his hand into a ball and casually throwing it on the ground.

  Yang Shuang said with great surprise: "Has the Empire never had a captain arrive in the Sumerian Kingdom?"

  "Of course, there is, but it's the route to the North Sea. The Empire's merchant fleet usually sets off from Lancang or Meicang, passes through the capital of Numilia, Alamanie, and then reaches Patre in Harare Kingdom after passing through the northernmost part of the Blood-colored Plateau, Rocklasone and Salamatiya. This route has always been in a cold region, and the sea surface freezes in winter, so basically only eight months can be navigated throughout the year. Moreover, it is increasingly threatened by Arctic pirates, and fewer and fewer fleets dare to take this route."

  Yang Shuang said in surprise: "Then what about the route south? Why doesn't anyone dare to take it?"

  "The reason why the southern route has not been opened up until now is mainly due to the harassment and obstruction of the Aifuni Empire's Navy. They have a deep-seated hostility towards the Tangchuan Empire, and if it weren't for the vast expanse of the South Ocean separating them, I think their navies would have clashed long ago. However, from another perspective, it is also due to the influence of the Deep Sea Devil's Disease. The southern climate is warm, with sunshine all year round, which has contributed to the spread of the disease. The severity of the outbreaks in the south is much worse than in the north, and almost every ship that crosses the South Ocean will experience an outbreak of the disease. Ship fleets departing from the imperial coast usually break out in Deep Sea Devil's Disease when they reach the central part of the South Sea, so they have to make a temporary landing on Lusong Island or other places to wait for the disease to heal before continuing their journey."

  He paused for a moment, and Yang Ji Rui shrugged his shoulders and said: "However, after passing by the island of Lu Song, it is the vast South Ocean. In that vast ocean, the outbreak of deep-sea devil disease is almost inevitable, and it is very difficult to avoid. However, it is very difficult for ships to find islands to land and perform sacrificial activities to eliminate the curse of the deep sea devils. Therefore, even if not everyone on the ship dies, at least half of them will die, and the remaining people must rely on their strong will to persist until they reach the coast of the Yage Alliance or the coast of the Aifuni Kingdom. However, the navy of the Aifuni Kingdom is not friendly to the fleet of the Tangchuan Empire, and forced detention and even opening fire are common occurrences. Over time, except for some adventurous captains, merchant ships absolutely dare not take this deadly route."

  Yang Shuangfen furrowed her brow and said: "I've been listening for a while now, what exactly is this 'Deep Sea Devil's Disease' you're talking about?"

  Yang Jirui's body trembled slightly, and he said with a lingering fear: "Oh, that's the most terrifying disease, and it's also the nightmare of sailors. Whoever gets this disease is finished. This disease only occurs in sailors, and it usually breaks out when they sail to deep sea areas, so people call it the terrifying deep-sea devil disease. At first, the patients' faces change color from their normal complexion to a dark, smoky hue. They are tired of moving and feel disgusted with any activity. Soon, their gums become itchy and swollen, and even slight friction can cause bleeding; apart from their gums, other parts of their bodies also bleed easily. At this time, they feel that their skin is extremely dry, and upon examination, pale red, light blue, or rather black and lead-colored spots can be found. Like the appearance of the skin, it seems as if the blood has seeped out from under the skin due to subcutaneous bleeding. Later, many patients' legs also become swollen, although not to the toes, but remain so for a long time, even longer than those with true edema. People who get this disease either bravely ask their companions to throw them into the sea or lie on the deck and wait for death. Nothing they eat works, no medicine works, and in the end, they can only die in agony."

  Yang Shuangfen was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood that this wasn't a bad disease. His eyebrows rose, just about to speak, but Yang Jirui misunderstood his expression, thinking he had been frightened, and immediately comforted him with gentle words: "However, you don't need to worry, only those weak-willed people and those who are not loyal to their country will contract that disease. For a brave and loyal person, any illness cannot harm them. Just like Fletcher and Fawood, they lived at sea for so long, going in and out of the South Ocean, with countless sailors dying under the devil's tyranny, but the two of them were safe and sound. As long as one has integrity, is worthy of heaven and earth, even if the sea devil wreaks havoc again, it cannot harm you."

  Yang Suo Feng scratched the back of his head, thinking that the outbreak of scurvy was due to a lack of vitamin C and had nothing to do with devils. But then he suddenly realized that in this era, scurvy wasn't yet widely recognized by people, and for unexplained problems, humans tend to attribute them to the power of gods. Yang Ji Rui was clearly one such person.

  But he couldn't help saying, "I'm afraid it's not like that."

  Yang Jirui didn't pay attention to Yang Shuangfeng's words and continued to say heavily: "Due to the influence of the Deep Sea Devil's disease, our empire's navy has always found it difficult to cross the sea area east of Luzon Island and reach the eastern part of Ireland. Except for Marshal Tang Lang in those years, no fleet has appeared in the vast area east of the Fire Dragon Peninsula. Before solving the problem of the Fire Dragon Peninsula, various minerals and resources in our Menis region can only be transported by land, which cannot meet our needs at all. If we can transport them on a large scale through sea routes, our days will be much better."

  Yang Shuangfen nodded thoughtfully, as if she had thought of something.

  Yang Ji Rui let out a silent sigh and said with emotion, "Of course, some people say that someone must have offended the dignity of the sea, so they received such punishment. In every port of every country, there will be incense-filled prayer rooms where sailors pray for divine protection before setting sail to avoid contracting deep-sea devil disease."

  Yang Shuang said disapprovingly: "Prayer is useless."

  Yang Ji Rui said with a bitter smile: "Feng, perhaps you haven't seen it before, but that's really a very painful memory. If you knew the miserable state of the Deep Sea Devil's disease, your prayers would be extremely sincere. Your third uncle had also contracted the devil's disease when he was young, and I was on the ship at the time, watching him fall ill with my own eyes. He was weak all over, depressed, feeble, anorexic, malnourished, pale-faced, with swollen and bleeding gums, and later, due to the death of his gums and tooth sockets, his teeth became loose and fell out. His joints, muscles, and bones ached, his skin had dark spots and bruises, his hair follicles were over-keratinized, and his skin bled around the edges... It was a terrible sight to behold... If he hadn't made it onto land when he was on his last breath, he might have died during that illness. After he recovered, our family held a grand sacrificial ritual to thank heaven for sparing his life. Perhaps you still remember the scene at the time - you were already over four years old then."

  Yang Shuang didn't listen very carefully, he already knew for sure that it was just a case of bad blood and had nothing to do with the gods. After he finished speaking, he said faintly: "Does our Menis region have places that produce lemons or something?"

  Yang Ji Rui said unclearly: "Lemon? Xingchuan Road may have some places, others haven't heard of it. However, the Grunia region of the Runilia Kingdom is famous for its lemons, and the barbarians there are said to love eating them. What's the point of asking this?"

  Yang Shuang said calmly: "Let Ah Kui buy one or two thousand catties of lemons, I need to use them. If there are no lemons, pomelos will do."

  Yang Ji Rui said: "Although our relationship with the Kingdom of Lunaria is not good, buying some lemons should be no problem, it's not like they're expensive or anything. The nobles of Lunaria don't even like that sour stuff, only barbarians would. But what do we need these for?"

  Yang Shuang said faintly: "I used it for other purposes anyway."

  Yang Jirui knew that Yang Shuangfeng must have had a deeper meaning, but since he didn't want to say it clearly, he couldn't ask again. In his opinion, there were too many secrets on Yang Shuangfeng's body, some of which were even inexplicable. But for the Yang family, the more secrets he had, the better. Suddenly, the shopkeeper walked over with great unease, followed by a young and arrogant Imperial Guard officer, and Yang Shuangfeng glanced sideways to see that it was none other than Geshu Han, who had been very unfriendly to him before.

  Yang Shuangfeng slowly stood up, his eyes also not very friendly looking at the comer, until Geshu Han had to finish his military salute, Yang Shuangfeng simply raised his hand slightly, as a return of courtesy, then faintly said: "Geshu Han, are you here to find me?"

  Ge Shuhan did not take notice of Yang Su's coldness, or rather he was forcing himself to tolerate his dissatisfaction with Yang Su without showing it on his face. He slightly adjusted his emotions and calmly said: "General Yang, I indeed have something to discuss with you."

  Yang Shuang said calmly, "Is that so? I don't know what business you have with me. After all, I'm just a helpless naval lieutenant general, and on land, I can barely protect myself. What could I possibly help the army with?"

  "General Yang, I deeply regret my unreasonable words this afternoon. I offer you my sincerest apologies for my rudeness and irrationality. It was not my intention to offend you; I was simply in a bad mood at the time and failed to control my emotions."

  Yang Shuangfeng waved his hand slightly, indicating that he should sit down beside him, but Ge Shuhan remained standing upright, and as a result, Yang Shuangfeng had to get up again. He accepted the apology with a smile and said: "General Ge Shu, I can see that you are very dissatisfied with the situation of those artillery officers, and you sympathize with them deeply. So, perhaps you can tell me, how did the Bei Ning Fu actually fall? Why did they suffer such punishment again?"

  Ge Shuhan wanted to speak but hesitated, looking at Yang Jirui beside him with difficulty.

  Yang Shuang said: "You don't have to worry about eavesdropping, he is my uncle."

  Gao Shu Han slightly calmed down, adjusted his thoughts and said with a sorrowful tone: "Lieutenant General of the Navy, perhaps you don't know much about the army, but you should also be aware that the 19th Division of the Central Army is an extremely powerful combat unit, known as the Firebird Division. During the 12th Battle of Loona, they infiltrated deep into enemy lines, launched a surprise attack on the enemy's rear, and made a significant contribution to the final victory. Due to their outstanding performance, they were awarded the Blood Medal."