A cannon blast sounded, like thunder outside the window.
Jiang Ye sprang from the bed, like a startled beast, his eyes sharp as he looked out the window.
Dawn was just breaking. In the distance, on the sea, white waves like small mountains surged skyward. A glowing giant whale was blasted to pieces, its flesh and blood spraying through the air.
Jiang Ye frowned. These glowing whales were mounts for water ghosts. Could the water ghosts from the depths be making a comeback?
Cen Yemeng was also startled awake. Jiang Senlin began to cry, and she quickly picked him up and comforted him.
"What's wrong?" she asked, a little frightened.
"I'll go ask," Jiang Ye said. "It's probably nothing serious. The air wing hasn't mobilized."
He threw on his clothes and got out of bed, leaving the room in a hurry.
Just as he reached the doorway, he saw the captain running towards him, also in a hurry.
"Why did you fire?" Jiang Ye demanded immediately.
"A giant whale was approaching at high speed. Fearing it would damage the warship, we destroyed it with an electromagnetic cannon," the captain said, stopping abruptly and saluting. "The danger has been neutralized, and everything is safe for now."
"Have these glowing whales been numerous recently?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Not really. We occasionally encounter one at sea. The warship's hull is thin, and it's easily damaged if hit, so we destroy them whenever they approach," the captain explained, understanding his superior's concern. "Rest assured, no water ghosts have been sighted, nor have there been any large schools of whales."
Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand. The captain turned and left.
Returning to the room, he nodded to Cen Yemeng, who immediately relaxed with understanding.
Jiang Senlin stopped crying after a short while. He looked at his parents with wide eyes. Perhaps his parents' composure made him realize there was no major issue.
Breakfast was quickly delivered by the mess hall staff: seaweed and laver soup, braised prawns, Longjing shrimp, crab roe buns, fish floss mini cakes, clear stewed fish soup, a shellfish platter, boiled seabird eggs, and a plate of large oranges. Most of it was seafood caught by the warship. In reality, the ship didn't consume that much seafood; most crew members ate vegetables and land-based meats. The abundance of seafood was mainly to highlight the uniqueness of the journey.
The family sat around the dining cart, eating harmoniously.
Jiang Ye had a nagging feeling he had forgotten something...
As he was eating, he suddenly slapped his thigh. Jiang Senlin's debut as a painter! From Dafeng Novel Network.
He took out his phone and opened the app, going directly to the interface for Jiang Senlin's artwork from the homepage.
"Holy cow!" Jiang Ye blurted out instinctively.
"What's wrong?" Cen Yemeng, who was feeding their son with a spoon, turned to look at her husband.
"Our son has become quite famous," Jiang Ye said. "Total likes are eighteen million, and tips amount to 480,000 yuan. That's just data from the past six and a half hours."
Cen Yemeng's hand holding the spoon trembled with excitement, smearing food all over Jiang Senlin's mouth.
Jiang Senlin was helpless. He reached out, grabbed a tissue from the table, wiped himself, and then continued eating.
"What are people saying?" Cen Yemeng asked. She was still feeding their son and couldn't easily look at her phone.
"Mostly positive reviews," Jiang Ye said. "There are also some questioning the authenticity."
Cen Yemeng nodded in understanding.
If this child hadn't been born to her personally, she wouldn't have believed it either.
What child becomes an artist at such a young age?
Her own child was different. New parents always had the illusion that their child was the most outstanding.
After breakfast, they took a quick shower and changed clothes before heading out.
The air wing had completed its inspections and was ready to depart. More than half of the crew members for today were new, as flying continuously was mentally taxing.
Most of the pilots from yesterday were male soldiers.
Today, more than half were female soldiers.
The female soldiers were clearly fonder of children and vied with each other to greet Jiang Senlin.
Some even gave Jiang Senlin candies and small toys.
"Thank you, Auntie," Jiang Senlin nodded repeatedly, calmly pocketing the gifts.
"Call us 'sister'!" the pilots protested.
"Thank you, pretty sisters," Jiang Senlin immediately corrected himself.
The female pilots burst into laughter.
Jiang Ye was secretly amazed. Where did this kid learn that? He's so good at pleasing beautiful women at such a young age; what will he be like when he grows up?
Cen Yemeng looked on with satisfaction, rubbed Jiang Senlin's head, and carried him onto the plane.
Boarding, takeoff.
Che Zhen was still accompanying them but wasn't piloting. He was in a plane behind Jiang Ye, handling official duties and napping.
The air wing proceeded in the same manner as yesterday.
The planned route was to circle the entire planet along the north-south direction, allowing them to see the climate at various latitudes. If Jiang Senlin were to study geography in middle school in the future, his understanding of latitude would likely be deeper than his classmates' because he had personally witnessed every latitude.
Jiang Senlin was as excited as yesterday, craning his neck to look down. A global tour was an exciting experience for adults, and even more so for a child.
However, his parents were not accompanying him to enjoy the scenery as they had yesterday.
Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng were constantly scrolling through their phones, browsing the comment section of Jiang Senlin's artwork on the app.
When they encountered positive reviews, the couple would smile and give them likes.
When they saw negative reviews, their faces would stiffen.
The noise in the aircraft was loud, requiring them to speak loudly to be heard. Fearing they might disturb the child, Jiang Ye typed messages to communicate with Cen Yemeng.
"Wife, I've registered an account for our son on this phone. You open another small account and go spray those negative reviewers."
Cen Yemeng: "Opened. How should I spray?"
Jiang Ye: "Just say... 'Fuck your mother'!"
Cen Yemeng: "Wow, so uncouth. I like it, but... will it affect our son?"
Jiang Ye: "What's there to fear with a small account? No one will know. Just spray like that! Don't waste words with those people; just humiliate them. I've observed that this platform doesn't block profanity or anything. Many artists use much harsher language than this when arguing. Feel free to post boldly."
Cen Yemeng replied with two mischievous smiling emoji packs.
Then, she copied the profanity and replied to the negative comments one by one.
The people being sprayed lost face and quickly replied:
"Hey! Why are you cursing? You're simply unreasonable!"
Cen Yemeng decisively retorted:
"Fuck you!"
"Why are you cursing me? I'm just stating the facts; this painting isn't very good."
"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!"
"This is truly incomprehensible! Why curse right away? You fucking piece of fucking shit!"
For a full hour, Cen Yemeng relentlessly battled in the comment section, spraying all the negative reviews like a profanity-spewing machine gun. Her fingers tapped furiously on the screen, her expression resolute, like a mother tiger protecting her cub.
Jiang Ye wasn't idle either. He browsed the app, searching for particularly sharp and stinging profanity in other comment sections, copying and pasting them to Cen Yemeng to replenish her ammunition.
"So tired. Being a troll is physically draining," Cen Yemeng said after an hour of combat, stretching her wrists.
Jiang Ye thought for a moment. "How about... we find some help?"
Cen Yemeng blinked. "You want your subordinates to fight?"
Jiang Ye scratched his head. "That might not be appropriate. This is a private matter, after all. We can't involve the military... Got it! I'll use my personal connections. We have friends in business, and they have so many employees."
He opened his phone's contact list, scrolled down, found Tian Rao, and dialed.