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"No matter how many years pass, you never change. You always see the personal and group interests most clearly," Li Li said with a wry smile as he poured a glass of wine and pushed it toward Chen Rui.
Chen Rui, unusually, did not take the wine. Leaning back on the sofa, he sighed lightly. "Everyone can see it clearly, and wise people would make the same choice as I did; it's just that I decided more quickly."
Li Li knew that this time Chen Rui was genuinely hurt by the public opinion. He patted his shoulder. "Those who achieve great things are not bound by conventions. As Emerson said, heroes are not braver than ordinary people; the difference lies in their courage lasting only five minutes. You stood up to shield the entire Dream Project Team from the storm in that situation! You are a hero."
"I am not a hero; I am just an ordinary person forced by circumstances," Chen Rui replied with a light sigh, looking at Li Li with a bitter smile.
Li Li got up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the beautiful scenery outside. "You should avoid showing your face for a while; just stay in the hotel before we set sail."
Chen Rui patted the backpack beside him and smiled. "I certainly won't show my face again, but I also don't want to stay in this hotel."
Li Li glanced at Chen Rui and asked with a smile, "Have you prepared my share?"
"Of course."
Chen Rui pulled out another large backpack filled to the brim from behind the sofa and tossed it to Li Li.
Yakushima has many beautiful sights, but most areas belong to forested regions, so they can only be reached on foot. This perfectly suited Chen Rui and Li Li's requirements—not to draw attention.
Although Yakushima covers only five hundred square kilometers, its highest peak rises to one thousand nine hundred meters. Apart from coastal areas, most of the island is forested, with mountains occupying about seventy-five percent of the island. Notable local attractions include White Valley Cloud Water Gorge, Heavenly Hot Springs in the Hirane Sea, Okawa Falls, and Chihiro Waterfall—all of which require hiking to reach.
The two slipped out of the hotel at dusk without attracting anyone's attention except for a puzzled receptionist. There was also a path leading up into the mountains behind the hotel, allowing them to quickly enter the mountainous area.
Whether it was luck or something else, after setting off on this island where eighty percent of the time is rainy during the wet season, they had not encountered any rain since their departure. The rare good weather lifted everyone's spirits on the island.
The departure time for The Other Shore was noon on January 1st, 2007. Before that, all Trainees could board and disembark freely without a unified assembly time; they could return whenever they wanted before sailing.
In fact, at least one-third of the Trainees returned to Aboard before even the second or first night; after all, there were simply not enough accommodations on the island, and not everyone had enough nerve to stay with local residents.
Even camping tents had long been snatched up by those who disembarked earlier, forcing this group to return to Aboard for rest. This greatly limited their range of activities because although the island is small, transportation options are quite limited and cannot accommodate all five thousand people. Thus, those Trainees returning to Aboard were destined not to fully appreciate the beauty of this place.
After all, not everyone was as well-prepared as Chen Rui and Li Li.
January 1, 2007, 11:50 AM
Ten Minutes Before Departure:
Chen Rui stood in front of the central control console in the Central Command Room. Guo Xinhua ran over from the front and saluted, "Report! All personnel have boarded, and the instructor team has begun preparations to enter the Dream World."
"Where are the Trainees?" Chen Rui asked.
"They haven't been grouped yet, so they are not ready to enter the Dream World."
"Nonsense!" Chen Rui exclaimed angrily. "Why didn't you use this time to organize them?"
Guo Xinhua shrugged, looking somewhat helpless. "Grouping requires the captain's approval, and during that time, we couldn't reach you, so we didn't proceed with it."
Chen Rui slapped his forehead. He had turned off all his communication devices while climbing with Li Li to avoid disturbances. After all, the First Officer was already acting as captain, so there shouldn't have been many things needing his attention. But why did he forget about this?
Sighing, Chen Rui looked at the information on the control panel and suddenly brightened. "What's the next stop? How long will it take to get there?"
Guo Xinhua didn't need to check the map; the information seemed to be imprinted in his mind. He replied casually, "The next stop is Brunei's Sulu Sea, with a journey of 181 nautical miles."
"No stops along the way?"
"Of course not!"
Chen Rui frowned slightly. "Only 1,800 nautical miles? Even at a speed of thirty knots, it would only take sixty hours to arrive. What can we do in reality during those sixty hours?"
"What do you mean?"
Chen Rui nodded and immediately began tapping on the touchscreen of the central control console.
"Change the scheduled plan: no grouping. Everyone enters the Dream World directly and proceeds straight into the second Dream Stream."
"The proposal for changing the plan must be initiated by the first commander of the individual project and requires approval from someone at the director level or above in the Dream Group. Such individuals are typically high-ranking government officials who are quite busy with their duties. Even if you have this idea, it will take a considerable amount of time to get approval," Guo Xinhua reminded, noting that the process would likely delay things significantly.
Chen Rui smiled lightly and glanced at Guo Xinhua.
"I'm not just the highest commander of The Other Shore!"
With that, a document was projected in front of Guo Xinhua, titled 'Change in Training Duration in Dream World During The Other Shore Voyage.' The content was brief, essentially summarizing what had just been discussed, and the approving authority was listed as the Security Director of Dream Group.
Staring at the document projection for a long moment, Guo Xinhua finally managed a wry smile.
"Alright, let's proceed with this plan. However, you should send this document to all director-level personnel's official email immediately; after all, this is no trivial matter."
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Chen Rui nodded and continued, "Calculate the shortest and longest distances between stopovers during The Other Shore's voyage, as well as the average distance. Let me know right away. And remember, do not include any distances already traveled."
Guo Xinhua nodded and returned to his desk, quickly pulling up a series of data for calculations. Soon enough, he had results.
"During this voyage, the shortest distance between stopovers is 940 nautical miles, while the longest distance is 40 nautical miles, with an average distance of 76 nautical miles."
Chen Rui exhaled and smiled lightly. "Actually, if they don't enter Dream World and don't speed up Dream Stream, they will spend more time at the stopovers than in the dream itself."
"It seems that way..." Guo Xinhua thought for a moment and awkwardly nodded. He found it hard to understand how such an obvious error could be planned out and even approved.
"It looks like I won't be here much longer. You need to work hard; before long, you'll be the captain of The Other Shore!" Chen Rui joked with Guo Xinhua. Although he said it playfully, it weighed heavily on Guo Xinhua.
On January 1st, 2007 at 1 AM, The Other Shore set sail from Yakushima towards Brunei Darussalam's Slibar Bay City. Less than an hour after departure, all Trainees entered Dream World—not for intensive training but to begin cultural education based on different levels of understanding.
At 4:04 PM on January 15th, 2007, The Other Shore entered the Sulu Sea. However, due to the late hour, the captain ordered everyone to rest and disembark in the morning.
The method of disembarking this time was no different from the last; however, it was not Chen Rui leading the crew off but rather First Officer Guo Xinhua. According to Guo Xinhua's insider information, Captain Chen Rui was not resting due to his watch duty.
However, some speculate that this is due to the recent Yakushima incident, which has made Chen Rui reluctant to engage with the media again.
Slibar Bay City, despite having a population of only sixty thousand and an area just one-fifth that of Yakushima, is still the capital of a nation. Its economic development is quite impressive, earning it the nickname "the Venice of the East." Naturally, the lack of accommodations would not force the Trainees to return aboard for rest.
However, being a city, the impact it has on the Trainees is not as profound as that of Yakushima.
On Christmas Eve, The Other Shore set sail from the Sulu Sea towards Jakarta, Indonesia.
Upon arriving in Jakarta, the Trainees disembarked in neat rows. This time, however, there was no instructor leading the group on the left side. The representative staff member assisting with disembarkation was still First Officer Guo Xinhua.
The media engaged in heated debates regarding this matter; at this moment, Chen Rui had become a very hot topic. However, according to interviews, it seemed that neither the Trainees nor even some instructors and staff members knew Chen Rui's whereabouts. When asked about this topic, the personnel in the Central Command Room wore serious expressions and were unwilling to cooperate with interviews.
At noon on the 9th, The Other Shore departed from Jakarta heading for Colombo, Sri Lanka. After boarding, the Trainees received no notifications and did not enter the Dream World even after departure. The instructors were equally puzzled and only received a "standby" response when they sought clarification from above.
Throughout the afternoon of the 9th, no work unit aboard The Other Shore could communicate with the Central Command Room. Aside from issuing a departure order, the Central Command Room sent no further messages and refused all communication requests.
At midnight on the 9th, all staff members and Trainees received a message on their personal terminals from the Central Command Room, instructing everyone to immediately gather at a designated location.
At 12:40 AM, a projection illuminated the front of each gathering venue, revealing none other than Captain Chen Rui, who had not been seen for quite some time.
Chen Rui appeared weary as he slowly bowed forward.
"Dear Trainees, instructors, and relevant staff members, I am here to formally apologize to you all. I will not be able to accompany you on your upcoming journey."
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