Chapter 27: God's Gift

"Um... Do you have a sister or sister-in-law named Doreen?"

This question from Logan seemed a bit out of place because he didn't even know the exact birth year of Doreen. He only knew that "Gone with the Wind" was a classic Hollywood movie from quite early on— in fact, its fame in Europe and America was far less than in China, especially the song "The Blue Danube" based on the Scottish folk song!

When the British girl in front of him said "no," Logan thought he might have been mistaken. But then she continued, "She's my cousin!"

"Cousin?"

As soon as he heard this term, Logan sighed inwardly: had the legendary goddess already aged? Oh well, oh well, it was perfectly reasonable for a niece to resemble her aunt. Why not just take this fresh and tender young girl back to Germany? Even if he couldn't immediately reach the upper echelons of Germany, it wouldn't be bad to collect beauties of this era for pleasure!

This Doreen was neither shy nor reserved, and she said straightforwardly, "Yes! She's living in America now! Are you her friend?"

"Kind of!" Logan replied with a smile, trying to conceal his embarrassment. Little did he know that this expression captivated the two girls beside him.

Just then, the old car in front grumbled and Logan thought it was fixed. But to his surprise, Lunsin shouted, "Captain, the clutch isn't working. We can't fix it!"

Logan shrugged at "Aunt Susan" and said, "I'm really sorry, we didn't bring any spare parts for the car either. How about this, when we get to Bridport, we'll call a mechanic and have them bring the parts. Sound good?"

"What?" Aunt Susan made an exaggerated expression, hands on hips, indignantly questioning, "So you think it's gentlemanly to leave a group of ladies stranded in the wilderness?"

"But we really have an important mission! I'm sorry!" Logan angrily tossed the remaining half-cigarette on the ground and shouted to Lunsin and Tom, "Get in the car!"

Before Logan could get into the car, Aunt Susan quickly grabbed his sleeve and said, "Alright, alright, Mr. Officer, you see, it's so dark, and it's wartime, who knows if someone will come and take advantage of the situation. In 1916, this kind of thing happened a lot! I'm old, I don't care anymore, I'll just let them take the stuff on the car, but my daughter and niece aren't even 20 years old yet, we mustn't have any accidents!"

Already pressed for time, Logan was now regretting his decision to order the car to stop. As Aunt Susan tugged on his sleeve, he wished he could just elbow her away— it wasn't a sports field, there wouldn't be a referee coming out to award a ruby War God card (boldly borrowing the term from the game "Football Modifier," and offering a sincere praise)!

Glancing at "God's Gift" and her two distinctly different sisters, Logan bit his lip. "Okay, I'll safely take them to Bridport, and then call the mechanic. Deal?"

"You're a good man!" Aunt Susan pushed her daughter into the front seat while pleading, "Mr. Officer, you must take good care of my daughters and nieces!"

"Alright!" Logan was already losing his temper.

"Do you swear! In the name of the British Army!" Aunt Susan relentlessly pursued Logan.

"Okay, I swear in the name of the British Army. If I fail, I'll be toothless after the next battle with the Germans!" With this statement, Logan finally felt a bit relieved: don't worry, the mechanic won't come!

Squeezed into the driver's seat by the super-fat lady, Aunt Susan's two nieces had to go to the back of the car. Looking at the "national treasure" smiling at him from the seat, Logan gritted his teeth and resolutely squeezed into the armored car with Skaub and the others in the front— as for the suffering, let poor Lunsin Fritz handle it!

The convoy set off again, and it wasn't until Aunt Susan disappeared completely from sight that Logan finally breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly realizing that his temples were already damp with sweat.

********

"Commander, we just found something strange on the sea. You'd better come and take a look!"

On the British minesweeper with the hull number J-36, several sailors gathered at the front deck, and their commander, a young lieutenant officer who always seemed to frown, also came to the front bridge. He picked up the binoculars and observed very carefully, "I don't see anything! What does it look like?"

"Um... it's faintly visible on the sea surface, like the tentacles of a floating mine, but when we tried to use the searchlight to lock onto it, we couldn't see it anymore!"

"The floating tentacles must be more than one!" the lieutenant suggested.

"But... I only saw one!" With that, the burly officer shouted to a big sailor on the forward deck, "Kyle! Use your binoculars to look carefully and see if that thing is floating in some corner!"

The sailor scratched his head, "Sir, I've been looking hard, but I can't see it! It might have sunk to the bottom of the sea!"

"Sunk to the bottom of the sea?" The lieutenant frowned, "Then it's probably a German submarine!"

"You mean... that's the periscope of a German submarine?" The officer widened his eyes. A year ago, in October, a German submarine sneaked into Scapa Flow and sank the British battleship "HMS Royal Oak," an event that deeply saddened every officer and soldier of the Royal Navy. As a result, every military port had greatly strengthened its vigilance and defense, and similar incidents had not occurred since.

In order to completely blockade the German Navy in the North Sea, the main force of the British fleet was still concentrated in the northern waters at this time. Only some light ships used to defend against German attacks were anchored in southern ports. Portsmouth, the nearest one, had two light cruisers and some destroyers. Did the Germans intend to replay the drama of Scapa Flow?

"Proceed at one-third speed!" the lieutenant ordered, and after a few minutes, he ordered the ship's engines to be shut off— but the boilers still maintained enough pressure.

Next, the minesweeper floated quietly on the sea like a powerless boat.

Time tested people's patience, and this Royal Navy lieutenant, who always seemed to be frowning, was like an old hunter, standing motionless on the bridge waiting. After a full fifteen minutes, just when everyone was starting to doubt, a sailor standing on the forward deck finally shouted, "Look, it's appeared again!"

The lieutenant picked up the binoculars, and after a careful observation, he dared to bet with anyone— if that wasn't a periscope of a submarine, he'd swallow the binoculars in his hand!

"It's moving west! Towards the direction of the Isle of Wight!" shouted the sailor on the forward deck.

The lieutenant estimated in his mind that following that direction forward would lead to Bridport, the most inconspicuous small port on the Isle of Wight. What was it doing there?