The Lost Mermaid [Zhongyingmei]

"Miss, what are you fascinated by?" Mr. Andrews' voice came from behind Doris, "Is there any problem with this carved door?"

Doris turned her head to look at the person who came, and saw him leaning against the wall with a cigar in his hand, squinting at the carved door.

"Yes." Doris said seemingly unintentionally, "I always think it looks familiar, Mr. Andrews, this carving is really beautiful, can you tell me where I can order it?"

Mr. Andrews laughed loudly and said, "I'm afraid it's difficult, miss. This is the work of a woodcarver hired by our company with a high salary. His carvings are unique. You can see that every door and every window on our ship The carvings are not exactly the same."

He grinned triumphantly, the cigar between his teeth was flickering because of the movement of speaking.

"Ah..." Doris felt a sense of uneasiness in her heart, but she still asked hopefully, "So, where can I find other workers who can make similar flower carvings?"

After thinking for a while, Mr. Andrews replied: "I really don't know, Miss. But I heard that this woodcarver has lived in the East for generations, and he is the only one who came to Liverpool. If you insist on booking a similar style Carved doors and windows, I can contact him for you."

Doris thanked her, she was a little confused, the shape of this carving is too special, it is not a common plant carving, but an animal she has never seen before, it looks like a snake, but it has sharp claws.

The patterns on the soles of its feet are layers of waves, but no one knows the creatures of the sea better than Doris.This must be a man-made creature—but this shape does not come from the Western mythology she is familiar with.

"However, he has too many orders, and the Colossus has just placed an order—that is the third Royal Cruise Line designed by our White Star Line. If you are interested in this, we may be in a year later Let's meet again aboard the Giant."

Seeing her disappointed face, Mr. Andrews invited her friendly.

Doris nodded slightly: "Please be sure to tell me his contact information—or give it to my brother, Danny Boardman."

"Of course, I won't forget." Mr. Andrews bowed slightly and agreed.

For a moment, Doris didn't know what else to say, so she said goodbye to Mr. Andrews.

Mr. Andrews looked at her back, shrugged his shoulders, and muttered, "Is there such a charm about this carving? Sure enough, I still know more about the structure of ships. This artistic thing is really hard to understand."

He looked back at the pattern on the door carefully, with a puzzled expression on his face.The waiter who was watching all directions at the door looked at each other and politely opened the door for him.

With a soft snort, he put the thought behind him, and stepped into that happy place again.

Doris "walked" towards the deck. She looked at the layout of the Titanic and couldn't help sighing. No wonder Cal Hockley had so much confidence in it. He was sure that after it successfully arrived in New York, the stock of White Star Company would definitely skyrocket.

Today they took the elevator from the bottom to the top deck, and their range of activities was only the smallest boat, Squad A.But the decoration facilities on the deck of this dinghy are comparable to any top resort hotel,

The floor is covered with thick red velvet carpets, and the sound of footsteps and wheelchair pulleys is almost absorbed; there are exquisite wall lamps hanging on the wall, which are powered on even in the daytime, and the warm yellow light shines on the gold-plated lamps. It looks extremely luxurious on the surface; the wallpaper is printed with graceful and luxurious English roses, and the green branches and leaves are entwined to hold up the flowers decorated with gold powder...

Through the long corridor, Doris came to the deck at the other end.

As soon as he stepped into the sunlight, the surrounding scenery changed from gorgeous warm orange to cool sea blue.

The deck at this end does not seem to be a place for pedestrians to walk. There are many white lifeboats stacked in the middle, and there are narrow walkways on both sides.

Under the sunshine, the waves are undulating and shining brightly, and the iron cabin is also emitting heat from bottom to top under the scorching sun.The sea breeze carried water vapor, blowing away the steaming heat on the surface, but it couldn't cool down this huge steel product.

Doris's heart was irritated and cold.

Although these lifeboats seem to be many, as long as anyone does a rough mental calculation, there will be thousands of people living in the height of the Titanic's more than ten floors. A lifeboat location.

The strange animal on the carved wooden door bared its fangs and claws, and the protruding huge eyeballs made people shudder.

Doris's heartbeat was extremely violent, and she was finally sure that the terrible nightmare she had had was really a prophetic dream.

How she wished it was fake!

But in the dream, she was floating in the sea wearing a strange life jacket, and the people around her with their eyes closed were either clinging numbly to the wooden seats, or lying on the large door panels—and Ruth was under her body. The wooden planks are extremely familiar, with strange and unfamiliar patterns carved on them.

Doris was sure that she had never seen such a pattern anywhere else, and when testing Mr. Andrews just now, he also revealed that it was the unique work of the woodcarver employed by the White Star Line.

This conjecture made her feel cold and horrified.

Although she was still conscious in the dream, she couldn't control her body.Seeing Ruth struggling to wake up from the brink of death, she blew the whistle with her last strength, and only then did she attract the lifeboat looking for survivors.

She didn't see 1900, she didn't see Cal Hockley, and even—Doris wondered now, was the "self" in the dream herself?

After she had that dream, it was unintentionally shelved in the depths of her memory, and now she was desperately trying to remember the blue and gray faces in the dream, with a splitting headache.Her mind seemed to be broken by a blender, and she tore at her hair painfully, but could not recall any details.

Those livid gray faces were like molds, without any particular details, and no matter how much Doris tortured her hair, she could only remember the beads of water and frost on their eyelashes.

Doris clenched her teeth and groaned in pain.

A thick blanket wrapped her up.

"Doris, what's wrong with you? Did you get a headache from the sea breeze?" Cal Hockley's voice seemed to penetrate a thick goldfish bowl and reach her eardrums from afar, "Honey, I'll take you Go back to the break room. I think you need a cup of hot cocoa, your hands are freezing."

Carl's hands wrapped hers tightly, and he was shocked by the coldness of his palms, and wrapped the blanket around her head and face.

Doris shook her head laboriously.

Carl didn't notice her movement, turned around and stood behind her wheelchair, as if he was about to push the wheelchair back.Doris reached out a trembling hand and grabbed his sleeve tightly.

"What's wrong?" Carl's heart skipped a beat. Before he could be happy, Doris took the initiative to hold him back, and then discovered her abnormality.

Carl walked up to Doris, knelt down, looked at her drooping head with concern, and asked softly: "What's the matter? Did the accident just scare you? Don't worry, I won't do it again." Let something like that happen, I have sent Chouilov to go with the captain to check, to see where there is still a problem with the line-"

"Carl!" Doris's hoarse voice interrupted his words, she raised her head, scarlet bloodshot in her blue eyes.

Carl was startled by her eyes, and subconsciously almost took a step back.

Doris felt as if a needle had been pricked in her heart, and she turned her eyes away.Carl realized that his unintentional actions seemed to have hurt her self-esteem, and apologized repeatedly.

"No, I don't want to listen to you." Doris grabbed his hand, "You..." Do you believe in prophetic dreams?

Before Doris could say a word, she suddenly got stuck. Being a mermaid was already difficult for people to accept. Would such a terrifying prophecy dream make him feel even more that he was a monster through and through?

Carl could tell that Doris had something important to tell him, so he turned serious and said, "Let's go over there and say, someone will come here at any time."

He stood back in the wheelchair and hid with Doris in the shadows behind the lifeboat on the edge of the deck.

Doris finally prepared herself psychologically.

Carl sat on the seat of a lifeboat, with Doris facing him.

Doris spoke slowly: "Carl, do you think these lifeboats are enough for the whole ship?"

He didn't expect Doris to ask him such a question, and he was stunned for a moment, and then he recalled under Doris' urging eyes: "If you don't count the workers who burn charcoal at the bottom and the passengers in the third class, Should be enough."

"Not counting them?" Doris' eyes widened. "How can they not be counted? Aren't they also life?"

"My dear, of course they are also life, but—" Carl said lightly, "No accident will happen to the Titanic, and there is no need for us to make a mess here for the impossible."

He pointed to the pile of lifeboats behind him: "Look, these lifeboats take up a lot of walking space and are not beautiful. Originally, Mr. Ismay requested that only enough lifeboats be prepared for first-class passengers, but Mr. Andrews and I Insist on adding more, at least for the first- and second-class passengers—whose praise was vital to the Titanic."

"This is far from enough!" Doris growled angrily. "The combined number of passengers in first class and second class is less than [-]% of all the guests! There are so many crew members, what should they do?"

Carl was shouted inexplicably: "Doris, your worries are groundless! The Titanic will not sink at all. Its steel is the hardest and most advanced batch in Hockley's steel factory. Even if you shoot with a gun, it won't cause any harm!"

Doris shuddered, remembering the coldness of the sea in her dream.

"And what about icebergs?"

"Iceberg?" Carl repeated suspiciously, "I think that Captain Smith has rich experience, so he wouldn't be stupid enough to let the Titanic hit the iceberg, right? What's more, the iceberg is so huge and conspicuous that it can be seen and avoided from a distance. Already!"

"..." Doris was speechless, what he said did make sense, but...

"However, there will be thick fog on the sea at night! The crew may not be able to see clearly. If they don't find out until the iceberg is right in front of them, then it will be too late." Doris's little head turned quickly, her The speed of speech has never been so fast, "The emergency stop test just now proved this! Carl, if you don't find out until it is in front of the iceberg, the Titanic will not have time to stop or turn!"

Carl frowned: "Doris, I don't understand, why are you so worried? There is no cruise ship in the world that is safer than the Titanic!"

"No! You answer me first - if it encounters an iceberg or other cruise ships, can the Titanic stop at full speed immediately? If not, will she be destroyed and sink?"

"No, dear." Carl said firmly, "The Titanic will never sink."

"Oh... God!" Doris cried out in despair to the god she had never believed in, and it was the first time that she felt that communicating with Karl was so difficult!