Eight, Prelude to Landing

  Eight, Prelude to Landing

  As time passed, the sky gradually brightened, and in everyone's field of vision, the distant ships also began to emerge from being just a few twinkling points in the darkness, slowly revealing their vague outlines.

  But the people on the lighthouse had not yet had time to observe carefully, and the thin water vapor quickly rose between heaven and earth, soon becoming a layer of thick fog like white gauze, enveloping the fleet, harbor and city, also blocking the line of sight of both sides of the battle.

  "The morning fog is really annoying." Nomu put away the telescope and wiped the lens with a velvet cloth, "Is there any discovery, such as the number of enemies?"

  A group of officials shook their heads, none of whom had attended military school and naturally couldn't understand how to detect the number of enemy troops through dim lights. Although Renny was a priestess of the goddess of strategy, she had only read some military works and wars in church, with theoretical knowledge barely sufficient, but actual operational ability close to zero.

  Nuo Mu's face revealed a hint of disappointment, and he exhaled a white mist in the cold wind. As a Zorvath elf, he was naturally extremely afraid of the cold. Although he had wrapped thick cotton ear covers on his long ears, after a night of cold wind blowing, Nuo Mu still felt that the frostbite on his ears showed signs of cracking, making him somewhat eager to return to the warmth of his room.

  "Taylor, chief advisor, among us you have the highest level of magic, is there any way to scout out the enemy's movements?"

  "This... let me think... with Dispel, the range of the fog is too large; with Divination, I haven't learned it; with Detect, this distance is..."

  "Whatever. Whatever." Nohm shook his head impatiently, blew some warm air onto his slightly numb hands and headed towards the spiral staircase in the center of the lighthouse, "Since there's nothing we can do, let's all take a break first."

  People who had been frozen for a night swarmed into the passage like amnesty. The space in the lighthouse was very narrow, and there were no decent rooms except for the spiral staircase. However, the servants of the governor's mansion had already set up a large tent on the platform under the lighthouse and cooked hot red tea. Everyone smelled the tea fragrance at the top of the lighthouse and had been eager to wait until now.

  Ferry was the last to go downstairs, for some reason, he always felt a little uneasy, although he didn't plan to die defending the port and had already made a withdrawal plan, but he still felt that something had not been taken into account. Unfortunately, when it came to what specific place had problems, he really couldn't think of anything.

  "Alas, I'm not some legendary prodigy who doesn't need to attend military school and is born with an innate mastery of war!" Fili rubbed his fingers together, gazing intently into the mist on the other side for a long time before confirming that there would be no gains to be had, then walked down. Just as he reached the bottom floor of the lighthouse, he saw Renni walking in with two teacups in hand.

  "Xiao Feili, why did you come down so late? The tea is almost gone!" She shook the cup in her hand, "I brought some for you, hurry up and drink it while it's hot!"

  Looking at the hot air rising from the teacup, Feri only felt that his body seemed to have frozen stiff. He stretched out his hand to take the hot tea, but his stiff and pale fingers couldn't grasp the smooth cup. Renni pitied Feri's frostbitten hands and handed the teacup directly to his mouth. Feeling the warmth of the steam gently brushing against his numb face, Feri carefully drank down the warm red tea.

  Ahhh... imagining such a scene in my mind... the frozen internal organs were awakened by the red tea, a warm current stretched out to all four limbs, and Phil let out a satisfied sigh, with a bitter but richly fragrant flavor drifting from his mouth.

  "This is truly the best drink for winter." he sighed.

  "Then let's have another cup." Renny brought the other cup to Fili's mouth as well, and Fili, who felt a bit warmer now, took it himself and didn't drink immediately, but held it, wanting his hands to regain their sensation as soon as possible.

  "Aren't you going to drink?" Phil asked hastily as he saw Renny holding an empty cup and about to leave.

  "Reni's words had not yet finished, when a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from the air, and Feri's face changed, dropping the cup and making a fierce dash, pressing Reni to the ground."

  "Boom!" A small explosion sounded in the distance, and the ground shook slightly, but soon returned to calm. Phil leaned his ear to listen for a while, but due to the fog also blocking the transmission of sound, he couldn't even distinguish the direction of the explosion.

  "Is it on fire? Or is it being shelled by the enemy?"

  "Uh... why don't you get off me first, everyone's watching." Rennie's face turned red as she pinched him.

  Fili lifted her head and found herself and Lani lying at the entrance of the lighthouse, opposite a large tent where people were drinking tea and resting. Because of the cannon fire just now, everyone inside had already run out, with pairs of eyes staring straight at them, and several faces showed a flirtatious expression.

  No matter how thick Fei Li's face was, he also felt very embarrassed in the face of such attention. He smiled brightly and stood up with a push of his hands on the ground, scratching his hair to think of something to say to match the occasion.

  "Hiss... Hiss..."

  Another loud shell burst into the air, and Phil immediately pushed Renny down again with great agility, just as she was about to get up.

  "Dear, it seems I'll have to lie on you for a while longer."

  ****

  On the first day of 1991, the weather in Yemeng Port was very strange. The strong wind at night stopped suddenly when it became daytime, making people feel extremely stuffy. The thick fog that covered the sky made people feel suffocated and showed no signs of dispersing for a long time. People on the dock and ships could only stand there blankly, not knowing what to do even if they wanted to take action.

  In the thick fog, the restless spirit army first launched a pointless bombardment of the land with their naval guns, while the coastal defense artillery also fired wildly at the imagined position of the enemy with their limited number of cannons. Both sides were like two blind men throwing stones at each other across the street, basically unable to hit their targets, but able to exert immense psychological pressure. The dense fog severely affected the officers' command and control over their troops, which was a great test for the low-quality defending army.

  Given the traditional experience of "new soldiers fearing cannons", all officers were dispatched by General Norm to leave their warm command posts and go down to each defensive section for inspection, and Fili and Reni were also assigned. Before leaving, Fili took off his precise transmission ring and stuffed it into Reni's hand.

  "This is..." The female pastor stared at the expensive blue sapphire silver ring in her hand, suddenly becoming somewhat flustered. "Little Phil, although I'm very happy to receive this thing, but now saying such things, isn't it a bit... untimely?" Her handsome face flushed with a layer of redness, and her voice became smaller and smaller due to excessive excitement, until it was almost inaudible. Unfortunately, Phil, who was full of worries, didn't notice this at all.

  "This ring contains a precise teleportation technique, the coordinates have been changed to near the gate of New Masobu City." He said solemnly, "The activation code is 'I am a big silly bear', it can only be used once, remember it carefully!"

  "Why..." Rennie's face showed a complex expression of disappointment and surprise, just as she was about to say something, Fili raised his hand to signal her, blocking her words.

  "Don't ask me why, I'm not even clear about this myself. In short, I have a bad premonition about today's battle." He looked around cautiously and whispered, "I don't care if there will be trouble in this fight, nor can I do anything about it. But I don't want you to encounter any problems on the battlefield, and if you're in danger, don't hesitate - remember, survival is more important than anything!"

  "Are you telling me to run away?" The female pastor also regained her composure and questioned Phil, but her tone was obviously not very strong.

  "This isn't your war!" Fili pressed a hand firmly on Lenni's shoulder, "You're only attached to me as an aide, you've never had any formal military record or rank, and you have no obligation to stay here. I know you think running away is shameful, but how foolish this battle plan is, you're not unaware of it, so think about your own life for once."

  "But you gave me the ring, what about yourself? I remember you only made one."

  "This thing is worth a suit of plate armor!" Fili opened his own greatcoat and patted the pink robe inside, "Besides, I have some little tricks that can more or less guarantee your safety in battle. But what about you?" He said with a hint of apology, "It's been so long, I'm really sorry I haven't made you a good set of armor yet. As long as you can protect yourself on the battlefield, it would be the greatest help to me."

  Reni still hesitated, but Ferri couldn't wait any longer. Because they walked too slowly, unfortunately, they were noticed by Colonel Nohm, who was now walking towards them! He pulled Reni's head over and hastily whispered in her ear:

  "Listen, you can desert because you're not a soldier and won't be punished, but if I, a genuine colonel, abandon my troops and run away with my tail between my legs, that's a capital offense! Who will protect me then?"

  The female pastor, who had realized she didn't have much fighting power, finally gave in and put the ring on her left middle finger. "You have to promise me that you'll survive and meet me at New Misorble City!"

  "Definitely!" Seeing her lover already wearing the ring, Feri's heart suddenly felt a huge stone fall to the ground, and she dropped this sentence before turning around and rushing towards her own defense zone, soon disappearing into the thick fog. Renny brought the ring on her middle finger to her eyes for observation for a long time, as if she wanted to remember every detail in her heart, until the general came to urge her, she sighed and left with small steps.