Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 680: 408, Misunderstanding

“Don’t worry about whether these sailors are a problem or not. In the Outer World, as long as we don’t run into any of those major organizations, we generally don’t need to worry about anything,” said a young man calmly.

“Besides, this is at sea, Yesenia’s home turf. Even if other Time Travelers come, they wouldn’t dream of defeating her on the water.”

“But we still need to be cautious. I’ll go up on deck later and chat with them to see what their deal is. Also, it’s best if we keep up our disguises and not let them know what we’re doing near the Yermakovsky Islands. Until we find the Gold Coins, we have to be careful about everything,” the middle-aged man’s voice emerged.

Speaking of which, the middle-aged man looked at Yesenia: “How deep can you dive now?”

Yesenia smiled and said, “Once I become one with the seawater, the pressure at the bottom of the sea doesn’t affect me much. I just need to think about how long my Awakening ability can last. With my underwater speed and endurance, diving to 900 meters and staying for an hour isn’t a problem.”

The middle-aged man nodded, “We’re also quite lucky this time. The ship we found has a crane. Later on, by connecting the ropes, we can easily lift the Gold Coins up.”

Once, someone found a hand-made anchor at location A4 and searched nearby for a sunken ship.

It’s just that the sea trench outside the continental shelf was ahead, so those who searched returned fruitless.

Now, with Yesenia possessing water-based Awakening abilities, she has an advantage that other Treasure Hunters don’t have.

“By the way, after we find the location of the sunken ship, what do we do about these sailors?” a young man asked.

The middle-aged man thought for a moment. “When the time comes, I’ll handle it.”

This so-called handling didn’t seem to carry any good intentions, and they had done many similar things in the past.

Qing Chen sat on the deck, listening, and estimated that these people never expected to encounter other Time Travelers on this Crab Catcher.

After all, Time Travelers were using their ability to shuttle between the Inner and Outer World to create wealth. Smuggling just seemed too low-level and didn’t make use of Time Travelers’ advantages.

Zhang Jian looked at Qing Chen, “Don’t just sit there and keep quiet. Where exactly did these people come from, where are they going, and what do they want to do?”

“Don’t suddenly ask me such philosophical questions,” Qing Chen glanced at him, “Once the ship’s been rented, let’s just steadily sail in the direction they told us.”

“They aren’t heading out to hunt for whales, are they?” Zhang Jian asked curiously.

The Yermakovsky Islands once had the biggest whaling station of the 17th century, although it later fell into disuse.

Back then, whalers held the world’s most dangerous occupation, not Crab Catchers.

At that moment, the middle-aged man came up to the deck, smiling, “Hello, I’m Chilton.”

Qing Chen and the others greeted him in return.

Chilton asked curiously: “I see you have crab pots on your ship; you must be Crab Catchers from some port, right? Why didn’t you go crabbing?”

After some thought, Qing Chen replied, “Last year we couldn’t find the crab grounds, so we ended up not covering our costs. Besides, crabbing is too dangerous. We had just reached the Barents Sea when one of the crabbing boats encountered danger. Some even said they saw sea monsters on the ocean floor. So, we came back, thinking of doing something simpler to recover our capital.”

Zhang Jian listened and was shocked. Every sentence Qing Chen said was true, but strung together, it became a lie.

Yes, the Arctic didn’t find crab grounds last year, but this year they did.

Yes, someone claimed to have seen sea monsters at the bottom of the sea, but Qing Chen didn’t mention that he himself was that sea monster…

Is this the art of language? Zhang Jian felt he had learned something.

The most formidable lies in the world are probably those where every sentence is true, but the combination tells a completely different story.

Chilton looked at the group, “Who’s the captain here?”

Qing Chen pointed at Zhang Jian, “That guy there.”

Chilton studied everyone carefully and then realized there were no weapons on the ship.

The sailors all carried daggers at their waists, but Chilton, experienced as he was, knew those were tools Crab Catchers always carried for cutting ropes.

Therefore, there were no firearms on this Crab Catcher.

That made things easier.

However, Chilton still needed to probe a little further, so he leaned on the deck and chatted with Qing Chen and the others for over an hour. He concluded that these people were indeed Crab Catchers.

They might not be crabbing experts, but their knowledge about crabbing was flawless.

In Chilton’s eyes, as long as they were real Crab Catchers, the risk factor for their mission wasn’t too high.

After all, they were Time Travelers, why would they worry about a group of fishermen at sea?

Qing Chen looked at Chilton, feigning curiosity, “What are you guys doing on the Yermakovsky Islands?”

Chilton explained with a smile, “I am a professor who studies human geography, and I’m taking my students to collect marine specimens, as well as volcanic geomorphology specimens from the Yermakovsky Islands. Those boxes are our scientific equipment.”

Qing Chen thought, if not for my superhuman hearing, I would have believed you!

Chilton asked with a curious look, “May I take a look at the pilothouse and the captain’s cabin? I’ve never been on a Crab Catcher before, so I’d like to have a look around.”

After some thought, Zhang Jian responded, “Sure, I’ll take you there.”

In reality, Chilton wasn’t there to look around, but to install listening devices to monitor the movements of the Crab Catcher.

Under normal circumstances, if there is something highly confidential to discuss on the ship, it would either take place in the cockpit or in the captain’s quarters and on the deck.

He had already planted bugs in all those places.

Chilton and the others carried with them button listening devices brought back from the Inner World, thin as a sticker, which they nonchalantly stuck who-knows-where during the tour.

Their movements were extremely covert.

After he finished placing them, he returned to the cabin and silently listened to the outside noises.

Chilton understood one thing well: after he had spent a long time interacting with the others, they would definitely discuss their impressions about his group.

That moment was the best for eavesdropping on secrets.

The next second, a sigh from Zhang Jian came through the channel in the captain’s quarters, “Ever since we chartered the ship to them, I’ve felt a void in my heart. Time Travelers are becoming more common by the day, practically everywhere. Now, we on the Arctic have all become ‘staff members,’ and maybe someday the Barents Sea will belong to the Time Travelers. Their crab-catching abilities are beyond compare.”

In fact, these remarks referred to Qing Chen and Siyang. Zhang Jian had grown increasingly uncomfortable over the past two days, their own ability to locate crabbing grounds paled in comparison to Siyang’s, greatly frustrating Zhang Jian.

But to Chilton, the words meant something else.

Upon hearing this, Chilton’s heart tightened instantly.

He privately pondered, could the crew’s insight be that sharp, to recognize them as Time Travelers right off the bat?!

And the part about chartering the ship was exactly about them.

Thinking this, the middle-aged white man exchanged looks with his companions, and someone silently pulled out a handgun from the luggage.

Chilton pressed down on his companion’s hand, signaling them to keep listening.

Then they heard Old John jovially respond, “This year making money has been relatively easy. I’m different from you captains, lacking that adventurous spirit. As long as there’s enough money to buy drinks when I land, I’m good. So, it’s fine to charter the ship to these Time Travelers; at least I don’t have to worry as much.”

Upon hearing this, Chilton and his group were reassured. First, these were indeed Crab Catchers, and secondly, there was no intention to interfere with their plans…

But the truth was, Old John and Zhang Jian were discussing Qing Chen and Siyang the entire time, and not once did they mention Chilton’s group.

“I think these Crab Catchers aren’t bad, and they’re not dangerous either,” one person said softly.

Another added, “That’s because they haven’t seen a huge amount of Gold Coins. Do you remember what you were thinking when we first found the shipwreck at the bottom of the sea? I believe even an angel would fall and become a demon at the sight of that scene.”

Another laughed and said, “Aren’t we already demons? It doesn’t matter. As long as I can enjoy life in Miami, being a demon is fine by me.”

At that moment, Zhang Jian continued, “By the way, I’m planning to have the Arctic properly repaired next year and take another trip to the Barents Sea. Old John, can you continue as my sailor? Do you really want to leave this ocean?”

Old John fell silent for a moment: “We’ll talk about next year when it comes.”

It was then that Chilton finally let go of his worries.

After pondering for a moment, he walked up to the deck and told Zhang Jian, “I have some coordinates that require you to get the crabbing vessel there in 20 hours.”

After saying this, he handed Zhang Jian a piece of paper with the coordinates on it.

Qing Chen knew this must be the so-called A2 location they mentioned.

He glanced at it and made a rough estimate in his mind; the place was about 60 nautical miles from the Yermakovsky Islands.

What followed showed the group’s shrewdness. After Chilton had grown weary of talking, he went back to the cabin, and then another young man came up to chat.

Moreover, the young man brought a walkie-talkie, with the intention of watching the crew on the deck to ensure navigational control.

And to prevent any secret plotting with paper and pen should they find the listening device.

By noon, Yesenia stepped out of the cabin and frowned at the fishy smell of cod on the crabbing vessel, “Where’s our lunch? The seventy thousand euros we paid include three meals, right? Can you control the cooking schedule a bit? I don’t want to eat at irregular times.”

To that, Siyang pointed at Qing Chen and told Yesenia, “This is our chef; you speak to him.”

Qing Chen: “…”

That girl really had an addiction to setting him up at any given moment. It was supposed to be Nedup who cooked, but now he’d have to pretend to be the chef due to that offhand remark.

Yesenia looked at Qing Chen, “Get started with cooking; we’re waiting to eat.”

…

…

At this moment, the Alps was still unable to find the Arctic or Qing Chen, yet it was found first by the Tiger Whale and He Jinqiu.

Jindai stood in the cockpit, yelling at Kreg, “Speed up, don’t let the Tiger Whale behind catch up!”

At this point, he was so frustrated he almost wanted to kill Kreg. If it weren’t for this guy leaking their departure, how would they have attracted a monster like He Jinqiu?!

…

Today there are only 8000 words, I will make up for it within three days.