Chapter 528: Shipbuilding
Chapter 528 -371: Shipbuilding
Paige Summers stared in shock at the ship before her and the nine men emerging from its hull. For a moment, she couldn’t quite describe the feeling in her heart.
All nine men had dark, sun-blackened skin and were painfully thin, their true features unrecognizable. Their outstretched hands were as rough as saws. And yet, it was these nine men who had built this vessel—nearly a hundred meters long and over ten meters wide, according to the blueprints.
Gazing at the ship, which was still only half-finished, Paige Summers truly felt it was a behemoth.
For just nine men, it was truly too tall, too massive.
Stroking the wood of the ship’s hull, Paige Summers’s eyes welled with tears.
‘They… they must be desperate to go home…’
Shawn Summers had already run over ahead of the others. It seemed he was explaining who Paige Summers and her companions were and why they had come.
Soon, expressions that were halfway between crying and laughing appeared on the nine men’s faces, and then tears began to fall.
Just like Summers Twelve the day before.
Paige Summers strode over to stand before them. “I am Paige Summers, Dylan Summers’s daughter,” she said. “I… have come to take you home!”
As one, the nine men bowed deeply in a grand salute. “Clan Leader!” Their voices trembled, low and hoarse, as if something was caught in their throats, preventing them from speaking clearly.
Finally, this day had come.
On the Summers Family’s island, they had once fought to the death to protect it, only to fail, forced to watch helplessly as their home fell into the hands of the Rovarians. Back then, their hatred had surged, and their only thought was of revenge.
But day after day of hard labor, of serving as death-squad soldiers, of being treated as disposable pawns, they began to grow numb.
Their only thought became to survive.
Then one day, someone suddenly contacted them.
This person said they could be rescued. And so, the flame of hope was rekindled.
They remembered their bone-deep hatred. They wanted to live, to live well, to live long enough to take back what was theirs!
Their island, and their dignity.
When they first arrived on this small island, it was completely barren.
Yet they did not despair.
Because Twelve and Shawn Summers were also working hard.
Shawn Summers periodically delivered shipbuilding materials, while some they sourced locally on the island.
They took the blueprints and studied them over and over, poring over every detail until they had committed them to memory before daring to begin construction.
For countless days and nights, they worked without rest. Even just shaving one more piece of wood made them feel they were one step closer to home.
After more than a decade of torment, there was nothing left that could make them retreat. No matter how bitter or difficult it was, as long as they remembered their ship was bound for Astoria, their hearts filled with immense joy.
They knew that one day, they would be able to set sail.
Their family, their Clan Leader, their loved ones… everyone far away on the mainland was probably also struggling, doing everything they could to survive. How could they, then, dare to falter?
But all their restrained, suppressed emotions shattered the moment they saw her—this young, beautiful daughter of their elder cousin or uncle, now the Patriarch Summers.
‘So, everyone else is gone? All of them? Are we all that’s left?’
One of the nine men let out a howl, and then, one after another, they all broke into loud, agonizing sobs.
Their cries were filled with despair, yet also with immense hope.
Perhaps they themselves didn’t know what they were crying for.
The past, the present, or the future?
Themselves, their clan, or everyone?
Perhaps, for everything all at once.
The rims of both Shawn Summers’s and Paige Summers’s eyes turned red.
They wouldn’t try to comfort them, or even disturb these men.
They had been suppressed for too long. Now, they could finally let it all out.
For them, this was a good thing.
It was some time before the men finally calmed down. After crying, most of them felt much better. Paige Summers didn’t say much, only that everyone was exhausted today and should get a good rest. They could get to know each other and discuss other matters tomorrow.
The men agreed without hesitation. They were, indeed, exhausted.
Paige Summers sighed, took the large hand holding hers, and leaned lightly against Marcus Monroe’s shoulder.
To avoid detection, no houses had been built on the island. Even the shipyard was built into the island’s natural topography, camouflaged by many transplanted tall, leafy trees. Everyone lived in caves dug into the island’s cliffs.
Paige Summers and her group were no exception.
Since there were extra caves, she and Marcus Monroe took one for themselves, while Rhonda Rhodes and the other three took a larger one nearby.
Paige Summers felt the man’s arm wrap halfway around her as he gently stroked the top of her head. A sudden tightness filled her chest, and she couldn’t help but confide, “I’ve never met them before, but for some reason, seeing them feels so… familiar.”
“Mm, that’s to be expected. They are all your father’s brothers.”
“Maybe,” Paige Summers said softly. “I’d thought about it before, about taking responsibility for them. But seeing them in person today, I’ve only just now truly realized how heavy that responsibility is. I will—I absolutely will bring them all back safely. And as for those Rovarians… I won’t let them get away with this. That scum… they all deserve to die!”
Marcus Monroe sighed softly. “Don’t worry. The ones who deserve to die—not a single one will be left alive. As for everything else, it will all go as you wish, as long as it makes you happier.”
Paige Summers hummed softly in agreement and said no more.
The arrival of Paige Summers and her companions injected a tremendous force into this small island and its nine inhabitants.
If a shipbuilding task that previously would have taken a month to complete was started now, it would probably take less than a day.
Paige Summers’s space contained all sorts of collected or self-made tools, not to mention metal materials, lumber, and various miraculous potions for softening or hardening substances—the last of which were, of course, Levi Young’s masterworks. Paige had a habit of collecting the “extras” or accidental “creations” from Levi Young’s potion-making, always feeling they would come in handy.
And sure enough, many of them were proving useful now.
Shipbuilding is no easy task.
But for Superpower Users, especially High-level Superpower Users, a job that would take five or six people could be handled by a single person.
As a result, the pace of construction increased dramatically.
In less than two months, they completed work that should have taken several more years!
The moment the ship was finished and successfully launched for a test run, all the participants erupted in loud cheers. They laughed and laughed until tears of joy streamed down their faces. It was almost impossible to describe that sense of accomplishment, and the boundless hope they felt for the future!
Even someone as normally aloof as Rhonda Rhodes couldn’t help but reveal a faint smile after having witnessed these people’s lives.
Even a personality as arrogant as The Shaman’s was completely subdued during this time.
No matter when or where, people who live their lives earnestly and with great effort are always worthy of respect, even if what they’re doing doesn’t seem all that difficult to an outsider.