Xiao Li thought about it before tentatively asking the pen fairy, “Do you know the identity of ‘it’?”
Did the ‘it’ in the mission refer to the water ghost or another ghost? The pen fairy was under the control of the summoning. It was very reluctant to answer but it still wrote a frowning face before writing: [It is a trap.]
A trap…
Did the pen fairy mean this ship? Or the mission itself? Xiao Li thought in his heart before asking, “Where is it?”
Pen fairy: [It…]
The moment the pen fairy wrote this sentence, apart from the first word that Xiao Li and Xie Zeqing could see, the rest of the sentence was obscured by some supernatural force, presumably because it touched on the truth about the cruise ship.
This meant that reincarnators couldn’t directly ask for the truth from higher evil spirits. Xiao Li abandoned the third question he had prepared, pulled out the toothpick inserted in the sandwich and asked a question Xie Zeqing couldn’t understand. “Who is that cat?”
Pen fairy: […….]
It couldn’t say, it couldn’t stay it! However, it had to answer. The pen fairy could only bear the damage to its reputation and wrote in a panic: [T-This touches on my intellectual blind spot.]
Xiao Li, “…”
The pen fairy actually had an intellectual blind spot about this type of thing?
He used his eyes to signal to Xie Zeqing but the young man just looked back with strange eyes. It seemed he didn’t understand Xiao Li’s meaning. Xiao Li touched the back of Xie Zeqing’s hand holding the pen with him and sent the pen fairy back.
Then Xiao Li used the pen that was refilled with ink to add a word after the other clues he previously wrote: a trap.
Xie Zeqing was different from Xie Lingshi. Xie Lingshi liked to think while Xie Zeqing had his natural constitution and relied on sensing the ghosts to clear the instance. Therefore, Xie Zeqing was actually very confused when he saw the clues that Xiao Li wrote out.
He was confused but he didn’t ask. The young man picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip. His eyes fluttered as he waited for Xiao Li to open his mouth.
Xiao Li touched his chin. Then below the word ‘trap’, he drew a ship and a doubting question mark. Xie Zeqing on the side was even more confused. Why did Xiao Li draw a pool of vomit under the trap? Or was it a turf trap? No, it looked more like Pinocchio’s nose…
Xiao Li presented all the clues in his mind before crumpling the white paper into a ball and throwing it into the trash can. It seemed he didn’t intend to open his mouth to explain to Xie Zeqing. Xie Zeqing twisted twice in the chair before drinking the cup of coffee.
The two of them were thinking when a few people came up the stairs. It was the remaining few reincarnators they had separated from at the dock and at this time, they were led by a playful and cute girl. The girl was wearing Buddha beads around her wrist and had a round face, round eyes, moderate figure and always had a smile on her face.
She came to the two men. “Are you also reincarnators? I am Qi Xiaoxiao.”
Xie Zeqing put his hand on the table, looked down at the girl and spoke coldly, “Yanluo.” (TL: Yama, king of Hell)
Xiao Li, “…”
Xie Zeqing, this boy was a bit of a chunnibyou.
He sighed. “Just call me Moriarty.”
Qi Xiaoxiao didn’t care about their strange names. There were numerous strange names among the reincarnators, including ‘Wukong’ and ‘Heavenly Emperor’. The strangest name she had ever seen was ‘A Wise and Lucky Man’ in a post on the forum.
Qi Xiaoxiao smiled at them and got to the point. “Were you attacked by a ghost last night? We had a reincarnator who was caught by a ghost while sleeping last night. Fortunately, he had a life-saving item and survived.”
Xie Zeqing glanced at Xiao Li. “He was also attacked but is fine.”
Qi Xiaoxiao habitually touched the Buddha beads on her wrist. “Do you want to join us? It is better to act together.”
This was the main reason she came to greet them. After all, the two men looked different on the outside.
Xie Zeqing shrugged and slightly raised his chin, smiling at Qi Xiaoxiao. “I am used to being alone.”
Qi Xiaoxiao smiled. There might be some disappointment in her heart but the smile on her face was unchanged. “Okay, hopefully, we can cooperate again if there is an opportunity.”
Once she finished, she sat down near them with the others and ordered a cocktail. Qi Xiaoxiao smiled and raised the glass in the sea breeze. “We went to the crew yesterday to ask about the history of the ship. It sounds innocent and there was never a haunted experience.”
Xiao Li put a small piece of the sandwich into his mouth with the toothpick. Before he could open his mouth, he was caught by this unpalatable sandwich and coughed a few times. Xie Zeqing frowned and put the other side’s orange juice in front of him. Then he replied to Qi Xiaoxiao, “Maybe the ghost boarded the ship and followed us.”
“But we—”
Qi Xiaoxiao was speaking when a male reincarnator ran up from the downstairs cabin. He whispered a few words in Qi Xiaoxiao and Qi Xiaoxiao jumped up. “Something happened to a plot character!”
They ran together towards the cabin and Xiao Li also followed. In the corridor of the second-class cabin, a brunette girl lay on the ground, gasping violently while holding the card that belonged to her.
Luo Shan had just experienced a moment of horror. Enron had gone out early in the morning to discuss last night’s photo with Zhu Zhu. Luo Shan had stayed in the room to organize things. Once all the luggage was organized, Luo Shan went to the bathroom to wash her face. She had filled up a basin of water and just wanted to wash her face when a huge force came from behind her!
It felt like another person was standing behind Luo Shan with an arm pressed to her head to drown her in the basin! Luo Shan struggled. It was unknown where she touched the ghost but she managed to pull her head out of the basin before suffocating. However, it wasn’t over.
The water in the basin seemed to ‘swim’ towards her like a water snake, trying to drown her. Luo Shan frantically ran outside, pulling open the door and running out into the hallway. The water flowed behind here until she fell due to the inconvenience of her slippers.
“Help—”
The moment Luo Shan closed her eyes in despair and thought she was going to die, the card she had been keeping in her pocket fell to the ground. Then the water disappeared. Luo Shan clearly saw a light coming from the playing card and dispersing the water.
This playing card… protected her?
Luo Shan picked up the water card from the water. It was wet and a bit wrinkled but she held it in her hand like it was a treasure. She was like a drowning person clinging to the last piece of driftwood. Luo Shan thought that the man giving out the playing cards at the party must be an expert. He saw the existence of the water ghost and gave them a life-saving gift!
She held the playing card until the reincarnators arrived and circled around Luo Shan.
“Miss Luo Shan, are you okay?” The reincarnator who had informed Qi Xiaoxiao of the incident had apparently talked to Luo Shan before. He pretended to be surprised as he leaned over to help Luo Shan.
Luo Shan bowed her head and clenched her playing card.
“This lady, what happened? Why are you so upset?” Qi Xiaoxiao asked with a smile.
Luo Shan only recognized them as strangers who had greeted her at the dance. She subconsciously denied it. “It’s fine, it was just a slip…”
The male reincarnator said, “It’s fine. Luo Shan, did you encounter something? I encountered something last night but fortunately, I was wearing a special jade and managed to escape. I think this ship is… haunted!”
He deliberated lowered his voice for the last word, blasting it in Luo Shan’s ears like a thunderbolt.
Luo Shan had encountered a bosom friend. “It is the water. I… I was washing my face and then something held me down like it was trying to drown me. The water followed me after I rushed out…”
“Then what?”
“Then… that’s it!” Luo Shan held up the playing card. “It saved me. It dispersed the water…”
The eyes of the group focused on the card. Qi Xiaoxiao took her own playing card out of the bag and thoughtfully examined it. Was this card more than just an ornament? Qi Xiaoxiao smiled for a moment and tried to get more attention from the plot character. She went with the male reincarnator to help Luo Shan find her companions.
Xie Zeqing wanted to stay with them but he saw Xiao Li move in the other direction. The young man squirmed before catching up with Xiao Li. “Where are you going?”
Xiao Li replied, “Go to eat.”
“Didn’t you just eat a sandwich?”
“It was unpalatable.”
“……”
Xie Zeqing doubted that he was with the wrong person. Then he touched his stomach. A cup of coffee wasn’t enough to fill him up and his footsteps consciously followed. The two of them walked past cabins one after another. The ship sailed very steadily, with only a slight shaking telling them that they were on water.
After walking for a minute, Xie Zeqing’s appearance suddenly changed. He reached out to grab Xiao Li’s left hand and shouted, “A ghost has appeared.”
The moment he spoke, a row of continuous footprints appeared in the opposite direction. The footprints were made of water, as if an invisible person dripping with water was coming towards them.
Xie Zeqing’s entire body was tense. The ghost tattoo on her arm moved as he closed his eyes to sense the mood of the water ghost. He opened them and said, “It is looking for food. It is very hungry…”
Xiao Li looked at Xie Zeqing with amazement. “You can translate?”
Xie Zeqing spoke very quickly, “I can vaguely detect the ghost’s emotions but I’m not strong enough to sense words. There is also a distance limit. Wait, now isn’t the time to focus on this. The focus is that it wants to eat us!”
The water ghost stopped a metre away from Xiao Li.
Xie Zeqing simultaneously translated the other side’s emotions. “It is the same.”
The next moment, the two people looked up as the sound of footsteps came from the ceiling! Footprints came from all directions. The entire corridor was like a sauna as fog constantly gushes out. In the haze, a man with water dripping appeared on the ceiling.
The water ghost’s hair was wrapped with seaweed, its teeth were extremely sharp and it had obviously been hiding in the sea. The hair had a king crab clamped to the end, an octopus at the feet. Xiao Li stared across the air at it.
Xiao Li’s eyes were bright. He put one hand into the pocket to stop the playing card that was ready to come out. His other hand directly grabbed the water ghost’s hair. Before it could open its mouth, he pulled out the king crab wrapped in the hair. The crab was pulled out along with a few long hairs belonging to the water ghost.
Xie Zeqing slowly translated, “……It is afraid……it hurts a bit…….”
The author has something to say:
Water Ghost: I’m hungry, let me see what humans I will eat today?
Xiao Li: So clever, I’m also hungry.
Water Ghost: ……
Xie Zeqing (trying to see things): The mood of the water ghost is very panicked.
Any support on Patreon will be appreciated and you will also get access to advance chapters.
https://www.patreon.com/rainbowturtle
If you just want to support or buy me a coffee, you can consider Ko-fi:
https://ko-fi.com/rainbowturtle