Dream Number (III)
Xu Wei looked at the woman who was squatting in an ambush posture, covering her left shoulder.
The other party frowned: "What are you going to do?"
"What?" Xu Wei raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you break into my room and steal things first? Why are you asking me now?"
Blood was dripping from the woman's hand that was pressing on her left shoulder, and the smell of blood in the air became stronger.
"Damn it," she said angrily, looking up at him, "I didn't steal anything."
Xu Wei: "You mean, you went to great lengths to break into my room just to steal the washed strawberries I put on the counter?"
"That's not the case," the man sat down on the ground in frustration and explained angrily, "Someone was chasing me, and I was forced to hide inside. I was really, really hungry..."
The tail end of her words was drowned out by the sound of footsteps outside the door. Someone was walking towards here. Xu Wei hurried into the room and closed the door gently.
The next second, the woman who had been squatting on the ground with an angry look suddenly stood up and rushed towards Xu Wei.
The elderly lady calmly raised the knife and put it to her throat.
"Although I'm old, I still know where the weak spots of a person are." She stepped sideways to avoid the opponent's sweeping kick. "Do you want to try?"
Although this man looks powerful, he is not very strong, and his moves are not new enough. Even if he is not injured, his fighting ability is probably not very good. Although Xu Wei is bound by this body, his fighting skills are still there. It is not difficult for him to predict the opponent's movement and hit the vital point.
The woman stopped immediately and dared not move.
Xu Wei: "Take out what's in your pocket."
silence.
“I don’t want to repeat myself a second time.”
The blade against the throat slowly pressed down, breaking the skin, and fine beads of blood flowed out.
The contents of the pocket were finally presented.
Xu Wei didn't take it. He looked at the USB flash drive in her hand and said sarcastically, "I see. You must be some kind of commoner who hates the rich. You sneaked on board to steal the rich's secrets so that you can sell them, right?"
"You know nothing!" The woman became excited and was about to get angry again: "A bunch of drunkards! You are just enjoying the old things. Just wait to die on this boat!"
"Stop, stop, stop," Xu Wei pressed the cold blade of the knife against her neck, stopping her. "Calm down. I only said you should. After all, you are a thief in front of me, and I don't have a good impression of you. I shouldn't guess that you are an agent carrying out a secret mission? An agent who can't even beat an old woman?"
She fell silent again.
"So, who are you?"
"Why should I tell you?"
Xu Wei didn't care: "That's fine. If I shout now, the patrolling crew will come. I should be able to hand you over in exchange for a few boxes of fresh strawberries."
"You!" she glared.
Xu Wei relaxed his strength, tilted his knife-holding hand, and the remaining blood on the blade slowly fell: "Since you came up secretly, you probably know the structure of the cruise ship very well, and you should know who can live in the VIP area... I can not only buy the presidential suite with a great view, but maybe I can also buy your life."
"Is that so? Miss Thief."
The utility room fell into silence.
It was obvious that the thief lady was extremely angry, but she was also afraid that her words might come true.
In fact, Xu Wei had no idea what the background setting of this world was, so she could only make up stories. Fortunately, the other party was actually a illegal immigrant. In more serious cases, he was an illegal immigrant on the cruise ship, a person who theoretically did not exist. If she was really powerful and influential, she might really be able to buy his life.
She observed the Miss Thief.
He had an ordinary Western appearance, with red hair and some freckles on his face. He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. He could not hide his emotions very well. His clothes were a little worn but very clean, and he did not look like someone who bought new clothes every season.
After a moment's silence, Xu Wei broke the subtle silence and asked, "Do you want to come back to my room and treat your wounds?"
The other party looked up in surprise, as if he didn't understand why he was suddenly speaking such caring words after threatening her just now.
"You probably have nowhere to go on this ship. Don't blame me for not reminding you. Every night at 10 o'clock, the staff will clean up the work area as usual. You can't leave after the crowd disperses." Xu Wei put the knife in his arms with a calm expression. "It's up to you whether you leave or not. No matter what your purpose is, I just don't want to see an underage child being caught by the guards tomorrow and handed over to the coastal police station."
She turned around, as if not worried at all about being attacked from behind, turned off the lights, and walked out the door.
The utility room fell into a blurry darkness again.
Xu Wei walked out of the door with his hands behind his back. There were fewer people in the corridor. The tourists had almost finished digesting their food and were returning indoors one after another.
After a while, footsteps were heard beside me.
She chuckled.
When Xu Wei returned to the suite, Shaya had also come back. Corey had a big black eye on his left eye, and was squatting beside her, trying to coax Shali earnestly.
Li Xia leaned on the sofa, fixing the wheel of the wheelchair impatiently, while Lu Fanye and Fu Fenglou were counting their belongings in a methodical manner.
Xu Wei took off the clothes covering the person next to him and said in a more familiar tone: "Go, Karina, you should know where the medical kit is."
The poor thief ran towards the locker with gritted teeth, facing the sharp gazes of the people in the room.
Xu Wei turned on the sink faucet to clean the blade and wiped it carefully with a clean handkerchief: "This... is the thief lady from before."
Li Xia glared angrily, as if he wanted to stare a hole in Karina's back: "You have to compensate me for my wheelchair, now it can't be repaired!"
Karina pretended not to hear and focused on treating the wound.
Xu Wei sheathed the knife and placed it on the table. He walked slowly to the sofa and found a comfortable place to sit. Then he came to the rescue: "Okay, Li Xia, she is only fifteen years old. She is still an underage girl and doesn't know much."
She took out the USB flash drive from her pocket, and Lu Fanye and Fu Fenglou immediately went to the side to get the computer: "At least she brought new information. Here, you can't find it - there is information about this ship, and some of Howard's information."
There was a video and several documents in the USB drive.
The video was shot last night, and the picture is not very clear. The person who filmed it followed a strange bearded man all the way down from the commercial area to the bottom of the ship. The shaking picture passed through a security door and came to a dark place like a basement. The space here was open and dark red. A huge hook was hanging from the top. On the hook hung blood-red unknown □□, some of which were dry, and some were dripping with fresh blood. There were also strange noises in the background, like some animals were calling.
The only living person in the video, the bearded man, took a few steps towards a bleeding hook and then stopped moving, his figure half hidden in the shadows.
The photographer found a corner, squatted down, and zoomed in.
It was silent.
The bearded man turned his back to the camera, motionless like a sculpture, as if he were a dead object.
Suddenly, the cameraman's breathing became rapid and he retreated in a hurry. The camera became dizzy and there were cries of pain. After a loud bang, the camera fell to the ground.
The camera was still filming. In the blurry picture, the bearded man's body seemed to be exploding and something was constantly scratching.
Soon, the shaking picture came into focus and the camera was quickly flipped to the other side. In the picture, a strange boy was lying on the ground, his life or death unknown. Judging from his height, he looked very much like the person who had just taken the photo.
A pair of leather shoes steps into the camera.
"Ah, there are those annoying little bugs," the male voice sighed.
Howard.
Everyone reacted immediately.
"Sir," a rough and hoarse male voice came closer, "I'm sorry, I didn't see him."
"Just so you know," Howard said nonchalantly, "Go and deal with it."
"yes."
The bearded man walked towards the little boy, picked him up like a pig or sheep to be slaughtered, and carried him out of the picture.
"As for this..." Howard's rhythmic voice suddenly became louder, as if he was very close to the camera.
"Let me see what else interesting I've photographed."
A face suddenly appeared in the center of the screen. Li Xia was not paying attention and was frightened by the sudden enlargement of the face. She screamed and hugged Corey.
Howard's handsome face reflected on the screen looked extremely strange at this moment. His pupils turned completely crimson. He stared at the screen, as if he was staring at the people outside the screen, with a crazy smile on the corner of his mouth.
He raised his eyebrows frivolously, and his deep red pupils locked onto her.
"Oh~ it's you guys."
"Have fun, fellow...tourists."
After the video was played, Li Xia patted his chest as if he had survived a disaster: "I give up. How could you kill me so close without telling me?"
Xu Wei was helpless: "I haven't seen it either."
"What about you? Don't you remind her?" He went to cause trouble for Karina again.
The party being questioned covered the wound that had just been treated and remained silent.
Lu Fanye: "So, this little boy is your companion on the ship, and you are all here to investigate something?"
Karina nodded silently.
Compared to the aggressive Li Xia, she was obviously more accustomed to the little boy with a delicate face and a cold voice.
Lu Fanye then continued: "The matter you are investigating..."
Karina suddenly covered her face and collapsed, "The damn Howard has captured our companions from the orphanage. He wants to kill them all and use them as sacrifices to their ship god."
The amount of information suddenly increased.
Corey was concentrating on reading the document. "The Howard family has been obsessed with ships all their lives. It is well known that they are so passionate. It is rumored that their family has been able to prosper for a long time because they have the protection of the god of ships. Twenty years ago, the Howard family encountered a major crisis, but they survived the severe sea disaster. So there are rumors that this time the Dream is going to replicate their past methods."
"What shipwreck?"
"It is said that a large ship carrying more than 500 crew members was traveling along a designated route, but it suddenly disappeared. The rescue team still couldn't find any clues about such a large ship. It is said that it was dragged by a sea monster into the seabed where the detector could not detect it."
Fu Fenglou frowned, "Isn't the legend of the sea monster a sacrificial act performed by the countries adjacent to the sea to bless good weather and good harvests in the next twenty years? How did it get involved with Howard again?"
Corey shook his head. "No, these are two stories, or two speculations about the shipwreck. Most people believe that the shipwreck was caused by a sea monster. Because there has been no sacrifice for a long time, the sea god sent the sea monster to warn the world. The ship was just an unlucky one that accidentally sailed in the target sea area. A small number of people who have heard of the Howard family speculated that the shipwreck might have been caused by human factors. Of course, they don't know the specific way to change their family's luck by sacrificing hundreds of lives."
Shaya: "After talking for so long, it's all just speculation."
The only evidence left is that video without a beginning or an end.
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