Chapter 16: The Adventures of Fastmobile

At 1 a.m., when the majority of the residents of Antalya Port had already gone to sleep, the steam cargo ship "Fast" slowly departed from the small pier where it had previously docked and headed towards the port.

In the hot boiler room, the burly Bratz, stripped of his jacket and wearing only a vest, shoveled coal into the boiler, releasing the energy of the natural fuel that had accumulated over millions of years. The water in the boiler was heated into steam, which in turn powered the engine, providing continuous power for the unimpressive cargo ship.

"Slow down on the coal, or we'll run out before reaching our destination!" shouted Elga, who was at the helm, and Alsaran, like an agile monkey, ran from the helm room to the boiler room below to convey the message to Bratz in German.

Standing beside the helm, Zhang Hainuo observed the route ahead by moonlight. The moonlit night was clear, with every building and tree along the shore clearly visible. As the bow pointed southwest, the world ahead opened up. The only annoyance was the slow pace of the cargo ship. Zhang Hainuo felt as though he was traveling at one-third the speed of a submarine, making him doubt whether the ship truly deserved the name "Fast."

To avoid exposing their identity as spies, Zhang Hainuo and his companions did not bring binoculars or any items with obvious German naval markings. This was inconsequential on land but felt uncomfortable once aboard the ship. What puzzled him was that Elga's cargo ship didn't even have a basic pair of binoculars. Upon inquiry, Zhang Hainuo learned that the Turkish captain wasn't accustomed to such equipment.

Despite the slow pace, Zhang Hainuo periodically looked back and noticed the harbor gradually receding. After a long day, he was starting to feel tired. Just as he was about to yawn, he noticed a black dot on the water ahead. Rubbing his eyes, he realized it wasn't a hallucination. Suddenly, he felt a jolt of alarm.

"Alsaran!" Zhang Hainuo called out, quickly entering the helm room, where Elga was attentively watching ahead.

"A sea mine!" Zhang Hainuo pointed at the black dot, fearing that the Turkish captain, who had drunk several bowls of wine during dinner, might be drowsy.

However, the Turkish captain appeared more alert than Zhang Hainuo had expected. He calmly replied in Turkish.

"He says he saw it!"

Alsaran, who had somehow appeared behind Zhang Hainuo, translated.

Elga murmured something again.

"He says their lives are all on this ship, so you can rest assured and go to sleep!" Alsaran replied.

Despite having seen sea mines before, Zhang Hainuo felt uneasy, especially since the ship was being navigated by a relatively unfamiliar person. He wondered if it would have been easier to comply with the British inspection honestly, but what followed made him reconsider his thoughts.

Two hours later, the Fastmobile did not obediently stop at sea for the British warship's inspection. Instead, it slipped into a small river on the Turkish coast. Although the river seemed wide but not deep, it was enough to prevent the cargo ship from running aground.

After turning the bend in the river, Elga ordered the boilers to be shut down.

Zhang Hainuo couldn't find words to describe the past two hours. When the British ship fired warning shots, he felt as nervous as the first time he commanded a submarine facing an enemy. Under Elga's control, the Fastmobile behaved like a small fish desperately trying to escape the jaws of a shark, maneuvering towards the shallow waters near the shore. Despite the British ship's pursuit, Elga's timely maneuvering into the river prevented the British from risking running aground to chase them.

After this ordeal, Zhang Hainuo's impression of the Turkish "drunken captain" changed significantly. He began to be glad that he hadn't given up on this ship. Of course, in hindsight, Elga's timely freshwater supply also proved essential!