Chapter 17 The Bride Dies

Hu Bing suppressed his fear and looked at the skeleton hanging on the mast for a few times. When he saw the head, he recognized that the dead person was the fat man from yesterday.

Hu Bing walked up to Xie Liang and said, "It's him, the man who strangled that woman to death yesterday!"

Xie Liang responded softly without saying anything else. Only one person died, proving that the rules in the small world only forbid direct killing. Behaviors of injuring or indirectly causing death should be fine.

At this time, a man walked out of the crowd. He walked up to Lu Baixing excitedly as if he had been injected with chicken blood. "I can play with the women you can play with, and I'm still alive and well! What do you think? The rules don't allow killing, but they don't say you can't let me play with your women."

Lu Baixing rushed forward and punched the man, threatening him, "You're looking for death! Get away from me and don't let me see you, or I'll kill you!"

Wang Qiang, unwilling to be outdone, punched Lu Baixing in the back and said, "Why are you so angry? If you hadn't been so loud while playing with women, would I have thought of that? I'm almost dead, so what's wrong with me playing with a few women! Do you dare to kill me? Come on! Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

It seems that this man felt that he had escaped a disaster, and couldn't wait to provoke Lu Baixing. After just a few hits, Lu Baixing was pinned to the ground by Wang Qiang and couldn't move. After a while, it seemed like Wang Qiang was beating him unilaterally.

Carrot said to Hu Bing with difficulty, "Brother... no... that's not right. He's so weak... and yet he claims to be... an experienced Adventer."

Xie Liang couldn't help but stepped forward and caught Wang Qiang's fist that was about to hit Lu Baixing's chest with his hand, saying, "I can't kill you, but I didn't say I can't hit you."

Seeing this, Lu Baixing hugged Wang Qiang's waist tightly. Xie Liang took the opportunity to hold down one of Wang Qiang's arms with both hands and twisted it sideways.

After hearing a "click", Xie Liang let go of his hand, and then Wang Qiang's arm hung down limply. Xie Liang used the same method to remove his other arm.

Wang Qiang's screams and curses were endless, but Xie Liang ignored them and stepped aside to watch the show.

Lu Baixing pushed Wang Qiang, who was sitting on him and screaming, to the ground. He then turned over and pinned Wang Qiang down on the deck. He clenched his fists and punched Wang Qiang harder and harder. He roared angrily as he struck, "How dare you hit me! Who dares to compete with me?"

It was unknown how long this continued. Just as Lu Baixing was about to beat someone to death, Shi Xiaoyin walked out of the crowd. She patted him on the shoulder and said, "Alright, if you keep going, someone's going to die."

Only then did Lu Baixing get up from Wang Qiang, and kicked him again as he turned to leave.

Lu Baixing covered his injured mouth and complained to her, "Hiss... just now when he pinned me to the ground and beat me, why didn't you come out to help me?"

Shi Xiaoyin rolled her eyes at him and said leisurely, "Because I want to hit you too, but you're from the organization, and I can't do it myself. I'd be more than happy to have someone else do it, and what he said is not wrong."

Hearing this, Lu Baixing glared at her angrily: "You!"

Shi Xiaoyin looked at the people gathered on the deck and shouted:

"The rules within the sect forbid Adventers from killing each other, but they don't forbid beating people! I have a hundred ways to make people suffer so much that they wish they were dead. Men, put away your dirty thoughts, and women, don't let yourselves fall and grasp at hope. I'll find the clues, so don't cause me any trouble!"

The wind was getting stronger and stronger, filling the tattered sails with wind. The white bones hanging on the mast swayed more sadly in the wind, as if they were about to fall down at any time, and as if they were warning the people who came below not to break the rules here.

After a while, the sailors came over smelling the smell of death. They climbed up the mast, pulled down the skeleton hanging on it, and carried it away.

By dinner time, more than half of the remaining twenty or so people had developed fever symptoms, most of whom had eaten the meat paste earlier.

This symptom was contagious, and even Carrot, who had never eaten the meat paste, developed a low-grade fever. Under these circumstances, Xie Liang was helpless and could only ask Hu Bing to wipe Carrot's body with a towel to cool it down.

The next day, more people died. Only two people survived in the boat room that was occupied by four people. According to them, they all had basically the same dream.

In the dream, different women were floating in the boat room where they lived. They asked them in a shrill voice if they could see them. The two surviving men said they didn't see them.

One of the men also said that he actually took a sneak peek.

He said that in the dim cabin, those women were like evil spirits and very scary - the flesh on their faces was festering and oozing pus, their eye sockets were black holes, and their exposed limbs were black and red, as if their entire bodies were not covered by skin.

They were all wearing red wedding gowns, floating around the room. He was so frightened that he quickly closed his eyes and lay in bed in silence until dawn.

Xie Liang guessed that those women were most likely those who died as sacrifices.

That day everyone knew there was a rule on the ship: if a woman in a wedding dress asked you if you had seen her at night, you had to say no or not answer. If you answered yes, they would peel off your skin and let you die in pain.

As night fell, the wind gradually grew stronger, and the ship seemed to be moving faster. The wind grew stronger and stronger, making the windows creak.

After an unknown amount of time, the boat suddenly began to spin violently back and forth. A heavy rain began to fall from the dark gray sky, and the boat kept spinning back and forth in the rain.

After an unknown amount of time, the rain finally stopped and the boat gradually calmed down.

The ship should have sailed into the Sea of Silence. Xie Liang and Shi Xiaoyin both clearly felt the weirdness of this sea area - it was very quiet. Apart from the sound of the ship, there was no sound on the sea. They could feel the wind blowing very hard, but could not hear a trace of wind.

Late at night, Xie Liang packed up the items that were thrown away by the ship and lay down on the bed and slept until morning.

This day was the fifth day since entering the small world. More than half of the descenders were dead or injured. Some were skinned to death, some died of fever, and some, although not dead, did not look like they would last much longer.

At lunch, those with high fevers didn't come out to eat. Everyone was on the verge of death. Only those Adventers who had already mutated were still full of energy and were wolfing down the fish on the table.

Suddenly, there was a "bang!" sound, and the round body of one of the mutated Adventers exploded like a ripe pomegranate, and the skin covered with blue-green fish scales began to crack from above his swollen head.

Then the skin began to curl up, and most of it had peeled off his body, revealing the red flesh underneath, which looked like a peeled banana.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Explosions rang out one after another, and those mutated Adventers exploded one after another almost at the same time. They didn't even have time to react or scream before they were dead. The people next to them were all splattered with sticky blood.

The sailors, upon seeing this, danced with joy as they walked towards the mess, as if the fruits of their labored labor were finally ready to be harvested. They gleefully tore off the blue-green skin from the men's bodies and carried them away. Before leaving, they even cleaned the ship's hall spotlessly.

Except for Xie Liang and Shi Xiaoyin, everyone else had a fever: those who ate the meat paste had a high fever and their bodies turned red; those who did not eat the meat paste had a low fever.

When night fell, the invaders who had eaten the meat paste were burning red all over. They ran onto the deck like crazy, shouting for water.

As soon as they saw the water, they poured it on themselves. When the water touched their skin, white smoke came out, as if their bodies were extremely hot.

Not long after, they died on the deck, their bodies still red and steaming, as if they had been cooked.

Shi Xiaoyin looked at the dead on the deck and said hoarsely, "If this continues, everyone will die."

Seeing Shi Xiaoyin's cheeks slightly red, Xie Liang asked worriedly, "The temperatures of those with low-grade fever are gradually rising. Do you feel any discomfort?"

"Now that you ask, I actually feel a little hot. I need to find a way out quickly."

"Aren't we always trying to figure it out?"

"That's true."

"Look over there." Xie Liang said, pointing to the junction of the sea and the sky in the distance.

Although there was only a vague shadow there, it was vaguely visible that it was an island.

"Is that the island?"

"It should be, but I wonder if there is anything on this ship that the boy likes."

Shi Xiaoyin looked at him and said, "We have a very beautiful bride. I think that young man will be attracted to her."

Those brides also had miserable lives. Xie Liang didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything else.

The quiet night passed quickly, the sky turned white, and the rocky island was right in front of us.

Several more people died last night. So far, only seven or eight of the original thirty or so Adventers are left.

Luobo had a high fever and could not get up. Hu Bing was not much better, but he could still get up and walk around.

Shi Xiaoyin also developed a low fever. Except for Xie Liang, the few living people also had fevers, and the disease was spreading like a plague. Xie Liang was very surprised why he was the only one who was fine.

The ship had already docked at the edge of the island. The sea was now silent, without a single ripple.

Shi Xiaoyin said to Xie Liang in a somewhat melancholic tone, "The beautiful bride is dead. Last night I saw the mermaids throw her into the sea, and the two paper figures were thrown in with her. They both disappeared into the seabed."

"Well, the bride as a sacrifice is gone, and the things in the cabin are not treasures. We can only act according to circumstances." Xie Liang said.

Shi Xiaoyin looked somewhat remorseful and regretful: "Perhaps our main mission is to ensure that the bride survives."

"How can we protect her? Didn't you say she had a terrible cough? There's no medicine on board. Besides, there are many strong people among the Adventers, but now they are sick or dead. There's nothing we can do about it."

Xie Liang glanced at the dark cloud-covered sky and continued, "That young man was only thinking about revenge from the beginning to the end."

"Our only clue is the word 'sacrifice'. I can't think of any other possibilities. I also don't know what role those mermaid sailors play on this ship."

Xie Liang suddenly seemed to recall an earlier thought: "What if these mermaids were the boy's slaves? They ate the boy's bones that were thrown from the boat and were cursed by him. He then drove these mermaids to take revenge on the village, including spreading plague and demanding money."

"If that's the case, they must also want to break free from the curse. They might be on the same side as us."

"Well, it's very likely." Xie Liang said.

Shi Xiaoyin didn't say anything else, but lowered his head, as if thinking about something.

After a while, she suddenly seemed to have figured something out, raised her head and gave Xie Liang a big, inexplicable smile.

Xie Liang: ...