East Tivian, Prit East Coast.
During the daytime, the large port by the sea in East Tivian was as bustling as usual. Countless ships from various countries docked and departed here. The long, distant sound of ship horns starting their journeys was incessant. On the dock, countless passengers disembarking and embarking surged in crowds, and workers carrying heavy goods moved forward, sweating.
Among the many ships currently docked at the pier, there was a gray passenger ship. This ocean liner, having sailed from abroad, was currently moored at the shore. The gangway had been connected to the ship's side early. The long-waiting passengers were now slowly walking down the gangway, arriving on the dock. They were either other travelers coming to Prit or Prit people returning from abroad.
And among those returning Prit people, there was such a group of figures. It was a group of brightly dressed young men and women, about ten of them in total, carrying large and small bags of luggage. They walked down the high gangway onto the land of Tivian, chatting and laughing. Based on the language they used while chatting, it could be determined that they were all Prit people.
This group of young Prit men and women walked down the gangway and then gathered on the dock, chatting and laughing while looking up at the cruise ship nearby, seemingly waiting for something. Just then, several older men appeared from the top of the gangway and quietly walked down. They were all wearing appropriate clothing. The one leading them was a middle-aged man with graying temples, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, a checkered suit, and carrying a luggage bag, possessing a scholarly air.
After the older men walked down the gangway, they immediately came in front of the group of young men and women. The young people who had been chatting and laughing immediately quieted down upon seeing this, standing quietly side by side. The man wearing glasses, after scanning everyone in front of him, silently counted in his mind. After confirming that no one was missing, he couldn't help but smile and nod, then spoke.
"Students, welcome home. After being away for more than half a year, we have finally set foot on the soil of our homeland again. I am happy and grateful for this. Grateful to the benevolent Lord for allowing us to successfully complete this long journey. Although there were some risks and crises during the process, fortunately, everything ended without incident. We should be grateful for all this smoothness, grateful for the Lord's favor."
"Grateful to the Lord..." Hearing the man's speech, the young men and women standing together responded scattered. Their words were not uniform, and some of their expressions were rather perfunctory. But the man didn't care about this; he continued to speak.
"After this long journey, having seen so many historical sites and stories from so many countries, I believe you all have your own gains and enlightenment. Therefore, based on this study tour, you also have some assignments to complete..."
The man said this, and then began to assign his homework. After hearing these words, the young people below couldn't help but start making small sounds of wailing and complaining. But at the last moment, the man changed the subject and spoke again.
"However, the actual start of these assignments will be after school begins. School is currently on summer vacation, and there is still some time left in the break. Everyone can use this time to make some preparations, and then officially start this assignment after school resumes..."
Hearing the man's words, the young people's complaining sounds immediately stopped abruptly and instantly turned into a burst of cheers. Seeing the appearance of the young people in front of him, the man also chuckled and then spoke again.
"Alright, that's all I have to say. You are dismissed now. Everyone go home and get some good rest, recharge your spirits to welcome the studies in the second half of the year. Goodbye, students."
"Goodbye, Professor Machison!"
Responding to the man's words, the young people also said goodbye to the man in front of them separately and then left one after another. Just as a female student was about to leave, she was called back by the man named John. Machison.
"Oh, by the way, Miss Rodeloh, if you have time, remember to go find Miss Boyle and ask her how the urgent family matter is being handled? If she's finished, tell her the contents of the assignment so she can also make some preparations. She missed quite a few of the study tour classes. If there's anything she's unclear about, she can come to me. You all know my address."
"Oh, I understand, Mr. Machison. I'll go find her later. Goodbye!"
Saying this, Neff's roommate, Emma. Rodeloh, also quickly followed the steps of the other students and quickly left the spot. Watching the young people leave, John turned his head and chatted briefly with a few colleagues nearby. After discussing some work-related matters, he declined a banquet and finally left.
After saying goodbye to colleagues and students he had traveled with for half a year, John breathed a slight sigh of relief. He then adjusted his glasses slightly, picked up his briefcase, and began to leave the bustling dock.
Walking on the busy dock, John walked forward all the way. Beside him were dockworkers moving back and forth and groups of passengers. In front were countless people coming to pick up relatives and friends. To better show their location in the crowd, some people picking up others held up signs high, writing various information and names on them, so that the person to be picked up in the crowd could see it from a distance and meet with the pick-up person.
Although no one was there to pick up John at this time, the signs in the distance were still swaying before his eyes. He couldn't help but see the information written on the signs. Originally, John hadn't paid too much attention to them, until one of those signs underwent an incredible change in John's eyes.
It was an ordinary pick-up sign held up by someone in the crowd in front of John, the content written on it was "Mr. Tony. Frank, please come this way." Originally, John had no impression of this unfamiliar name and therefore didn't pay special attention. But at a certain moment, the content on the sign showed a clear change in John's eyes.
The sign that originally said "Mr. Tony. Frank, please come this way" had its spelling distorted after John had walked only a few steps. The strokes that formed the letters began to swim around freely like snakes in John's eyes, leaving their original positions and moving all over the sign, like black loaches. Seeing the sign in this state, John couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly.
However, before John could be too surprised, the "black loaches" on the sign had already quickly swam and reorganized, forming a line and recombining into new letters. These letters then reassembled into new words, new sentences. Finally, a passage of text completely different from the previous content appeared on the sign before John's eyes.
"Professor John. Machison, please stop immediately now!"
His name suddenly appeared on the changed sign, and it also told him to stop immediately. This instantly multiplied the shock in John's heart several times over. He instinctively stopped right where he was, almost without needing the sign's harmful content to remind him. But what happened in the next second was even more unexpected.
Above John's location, on a crane jib originally used for lifting dock cargo, the heavy steel hook, at some point, moved above the passing passengers. The hook, which was originally bound by chains, suddenly had its chains break at this moment. The entire heavy hook directly smashed downwards. The hundreds of kilograms of heavy weight directly hit the dock floor with a loud crash, creating a small pit and countless radiating cracks on the ground.
The location where the hook fell and hit the ground was precisely less than half a meter in front of John. He simply watched as the deadly hook smashed down right in front of him, and the scattered dust flew onto him.
Witnessing all this, John stood rooted to the spot, while the surrounding ordinary passengers were startled and screamed. The scene was chaotic for a moment. Dock workers in the distance saw the situation and immediately rushed over to maintain order and disperse the crowd.
"Mr.... Are you alright, Captain? If you're not injured, please come with us. We'll handle things here."
At this time, a dock worker came up to John and spoke. John, who had been stunned by the sudden situation, finally came back to his senses. After glancing at the heavy hook before him with lingering fear, he shook his head, adjusted his state, and left with the worker.
"Thank you for your trouble..."
John, along with other startled passengers at the scene, was led away and evacuated by the dock workers. Meanwhile, on the steel frame of a dock crane, a figure wearing thick, tightly wrapped clothes was lying there. With a steel saw placed beside him, he watched the scene below from a distance and couldn't help but frown.
As he followed the workers away from the scene, John took a few deep breaths to calm his tense nerves. Then, he couldn't help but think that if it weren't for that strange sign appearing just now, he probably would have been directly hit by that thing. The only reason he could still stand here was that peculiar sign that could change.
Thinking of this, John immediately turned his head and looked towards the crowd again, trying to find the miraculous sign that had warned him. However, all he saw this time were bobbing heads; he didn't see any trace of that sign again. Naturally, he also couldn't find the person holding the sign.
'Where... did it go? What exactly was that word? Was I seeing things?'
Seeing this scene before him, John felt confused and somewhat disappointed. Without realizing it, he was led away from the scene by the dock workers. Just as he and several other startled passengers were brought to an open area, another worker was walking towards him with a plate of small cakes, smiling.
"Madam and Mr.s, the accident just now was our mistake, and it caused you a fright. As an apology, please enjoy these cakes and relax."
After the worker finished speaking, he brought the plate of cakes he was holding in front of everyone. Then, several quick-witted passengers immediately picked one up and ate it. Suddenly, only two were left on the plate. Just as John's gaze fell upon the plate, a familiar sight appeared before him.
In John's eyes, the decorative patterns on the edge of the exquisite plate suddenly came alive, just like the letters he had seen on that sign before. They came alive, transforming into swimming loaches, which swam and reformed into new words and phrases on the plate, appearing before John.
"Don't eat the last one left."
Seeing this phrase, John was startled. He immediately noticed that there were only two cakes left on the plate at that moment. The one on the left was being reached for by another passenger. After that person took it, there would only be one left on the entire plate for him.
After the incident just now, John subconsciously followed the "suggestion" that had appeared on the plate. He immediately reached out and snatched the second-to-last cake, which was about to be taken by someone else, and then said goodbye to the people before him.
"Thank you for the treat, I have something else to do, so I'll be leaving..."
Saying this, John took the cake, turned, and left. The passenger who had been about to take a cake looked at the last remaining cake on the plate and couldn't help but frown slightly, gazing with a hint of seriousness at John's receding back in the distance.
After leaving the workers, John immediately quickened his pace, preparing to leave the dock quickly. As he passed a trash can, he threw the cake he was holding into it, and then continued to walk quickly forward. At this moment, he had vaguely sensed that the atmosphere at the scene was wrong. What he wanted to do now was to leave quickly.
'This place isn't right... Must leave quickly!'
Thus, John hurried along without stopping. Soon, he left the dock and headed towards a carriage hub, preparing to take a carriage to leave the port area. As he walked along the street leading to the carriage hub, some graffiti on a signpost at a street corner ahead began to change again. Just like before, unrelated strokes recombined before John, forming new sentences.
"When you get to this sign, stop for a moment."
Seeing the miraculous words appear again, John immediately followed them subconsciously. When he reached the front of the signpost, he immediately stopped. Less than a second after he stopped, a carriage speeding almost out of control came rushing out from the blind spot at the street corner, dashed onto the sidewalk, and sped past John in a shriek. The wind stirred up by the runaway carriage blew across John's face, sending a chill down John's spine.
Standing rooted to the spot, John stared blankly at the runaway carriage that had sped past almost grazing his face. It had now crashed onto the street beside him, overturning people and horses, leaving a scene of chaos. Many innocent passersby who were affected were injured quite badly. John imagined what the result would have been if he hadn't stopped just then but had been directly hit, and a shiver ran down his spine.
"This... What in the world is this...?"
Seeing the scene before him, John's heart was now filled with an unnamed fear. Within just over ten minutes of setting foot on Tivian soil, he had narrowly avoided danger multiple times. If it weren't for the strange words warning him, he wouldn't know what state he would be in now.
This scene before him seemed to trigger certain associations in John's mind. Feeling the danger, he composed himself, gripping the hand holding his suitcase tightly. His eyes constantly scanned his surroundings discreetly, as if danger could be lurking anywhere. The restless anxiety in his heart grew more intense.
Although John still couldn't figure out the exact situation at the moment, he already knew that he had to leave this area quickly. No matter what, he had to be fast!
Just as John was about to start moving and continue leaving, a sound of hooves suddenly rang out beside him. John, hearing the hooves again, immediately turned his eyes to be on guard. What he then saw was an ordinary hired carriage slowly approaching him along the road, gradually coming to a stop. The driver on the carriage was looking towards the accident scene where the crowd had gathered in the distance.
"Oh dear... What happened here? Driving a carriage like that, how careless..."
On the carriage, the young driver looked at the accident scene in the distance and commented. Then, he smiled and looked at the cautious John by the roadside, continuing to speak.
"By the way, Mr. are you waiting for a carriage? If so, come on up. Within the City area, you can go anywhere."
The driver said this to John. After experiencing the incident just now, the startled John had originally wanted to refuse the driver's invitation, but when he saw the scene on the carriage door, he couldn't help but be startled again.
On the door of that old hired carriage, the dense scratches that were originally there actually came alive like the characters John had seen before. They twisted and reformed on the carriage door, reconstructing into a simple sentence.
"Get in the carriage."