Chapter 110: Tail Ship 28
"Strange." Tong Mian was puzzled. "Isn't Will proud of this boat?"
He spent all his energy and efforts, and even though his wife and children were separated, he still stubbornly created this flying ship. For this, he buried his entire family with him. Although it was not directly caused by him, his family's lives were still used as sacrifices when the ship flew into the sky.
It can be said that Will's dream is this sternboat.
Leng Wenhan: "The baby lied."
Tong Mian: "This old guy! I guessed that it must be no good when he suddenly told a story. He tricked us all the way here from despair!"
Jiang Yuelu shook her head. "Not only did my father say that, the ship owner also made a similar comment about Will. The first possibility is that they discussed it and lied together."
Tong Mian pondered, "Although Gui is cunning and deceitful, they have obviously been enemies for a long time, and even their subordinates hate each other. Even if the blue-eyed baby has this intention, with the captain's temper, can he sit down and listen to him carefully? I don't think they can wear the same pants."
Jiang Yuelu: "The second possibility is that their memories are biased at the same time. Let me ask you, can ghosts tamper with the memories of their own kind and make them have completely different perceptions of something or someone?"
Tong Mian ah: "It seems... yes? Which class was it..."
Leng Wenhan has already started reciting: "It is better to protect yourself than to harm others. Tampering with memories is like changing the world, which is an act against heaven. If your life is not at stake, do not imitate it."
He finished reading it seriously, and Tong Mian shook his head repeatedly, "Good fellow... Aren't you in seclusion at home every day? How come you know so much about our lessons?"
Leng Wenhan: "There's nothing to do."
In fact, his life in that big house was boring. Apart from his brother Leng Jing, he rarely saw living people. His daily dealings were with messy little ghosts and the cold and damp underworld. When he was bored, he would find some books to read and listen to the academy's classes, just like attending classes with other students in a bright and clean classroom.
"Don't interrupt." Leng Wenhan glanced at him. Tong Mian raised his hands and said perfunctorily, "Okay, okay."
"...Since it is about changing the world, it is difficult for people without the ability to practice. Those with weak power can only see through illusions and dreams. Those with strong power can change the memories of thousands of people silently..."
Jiang Yuelu probably understood, "That is to say, the little ghost can't do it, but the big ghost can."
Leng Wenhan nodded.
On this ship, the old man and the ship owner are considered the first-tier ghosts. The only one who can modify their memories is the mysterious Lord.
But... why did he change this piece of memory puzzle? Will it have any impact on his layout? Didn't Will build ships because he loved ships? So why did he still build this flying ship?
Jiang Yuelu whispered, "'I don't want to stay here anymore.'" Could it be that he was forced to stay in the ghost den?
"Come and take a look." Tong Mian stood in front of the cabinet, "This cabinet is a bit weird."
The wooden cabinet was attached to the crack in the wall, but it had an extra square foot to support it.
"It doesn't look like Will's aesthetic." Jiang Yuelu flipped through the drawings and recorded, "His furniture is very exquisite, and he uses aligned structures as if he has obsessive-compulsive disorder. For example, the deck of this sternboat is a precisely cut circle." The five-legged cabinet really doesn't look like Will's style. And he deliberately placed it in his tool room.
Jiang Yuelu half-knelt on the ground and held Fang's feet.
Looking up at Tong Mian and Leng Wenhan, he began to try to rotate left and right.
No movement to the left, then to the right.
"Click——" The feeling that accompanied the sound was very strange, like a wooden Rubik's Cube coming together at the last moment, and the wall that was closely connected to the cabinet body cracked from the middle, like an automatic sliding door slowly retreating to both sides, revealing a cellar-like room, square and airtight.
"Good boy. He dug a secret room in his room? How insecure must he be? Isn't he trying to hide from his wife?"
Jiang Yuelu looked back at the table. After Naidongrong brought them in, she lay down sleepily and rested. She did not hear what Tong Mian said.
He turned back and stepped into the darkness. "Go in and take a look."
Tong Mian whistled and said with a smile, "I've been waiting for you to say this. I can't wait!" He put on a very thick protective shield for himself, jumped into the secret room with a "whoosh", but accidentally hit something hard and rolled to the ground with a scream.
“My waist, ah ah ah… What the hell is this——” Tong Mian screamed in pain and turned around, but his eyes widened in disbelief, “… Oh my goodness.”
In the dark cellar, there was a wooden boat parked. It was neither too big nor too small, and the capacity was only enough for the three of them. The boat was unpainted, and it seemed that it had just been completed and was forced to hide here. There was no way to improve it later. The most bizarre thing was that there were no gaps between the wooden boards, and there were no nails. It was a whole piece.
This boat was made of only one piece of wood.
Jiang Yuelu thought, it must be a lush and strong tree.
Leng Wenhan's staff floated in the air, emitting a circle of light, and the texture of the wood appeared. Jiang Yuelu stared at it for a while, and suddenly said: "Don't you think it looks familiar? It looks like something we have seen before."
Tong Mian was about to climb over the boat, but when he heard this, he stopped, put half a leg on the fence, and touched the wood. "What can it look like? Don't all wood in the world look like this? This one is just hidden in the house and has not been exposed to wind and rain, so it looks a little whiter."
Leng Wenhan: "Desperately."
Tong Mian: "What happened to despair?"
Jiang Yuelu nodded: "Yes."
Tong Mian turned his head quickly, "Hey, hey, hey, what are you guys talking about? It feels really bad that everyone knows it but I don't, please!"
Jiang Yuelu: "Before we entered Dad's castle, we saw some wooden boxes with talismans on them. Remember? Drake and his men used them as fortress platforms for their positions."
"Those boxes." Tong Mian remembered, "I will never forget them even if I turn into ash. It's so inhumane. The talisman paper actually attacked the ghosts just because it was pasted on those wooden boxes. It's so awesome - could it be the makeup box of the Queen Mother of the West?"
"There are more than just these boxes."
Jiang Yuelu pondered: "When we were eavesdropping on the ship owner's plan, Drake used a piece of wood to hide him and me in the wine cabinet. Although we were in the same room with the ship owner, he couldn't smell us, and even if he opened the wine cabinet, he couldn't see us. The piece of wood was pried off the wooden box by Drake. How should I put it? It seemed to have played the role of 'a leaf blocking the view'?"
Tong Mian shook his head: "No. This is not right."
"You said that if you cover yourself with a leaf, you won't be seen by outsiders, and you won't be discovered... This is too mysterious. Take me for example, I use talisman paper because I have communicated with the gods on the talisman paper in advance. He gave me power, so I can use moves such as burning fire and thunder and lightning."
"It's difficult for a wizard to exorcise demons by himself. Even the genius Luoyinguan in front of you, who is rare in a century, can only go to the underworld and communicate with ghosts. This ability to go to the underworld was obtained by their Leng family who worshipped that god day and night for many years."
"In short... if we want to do something 'unconventional', we either have to pay a huge price or make a lot of preparations in advance. A piece of wood can simply wipe out your existence. I think... it's too abnormal." Tong Mian muttered, "Unless the rules of this world are rewritten."
Jiang Yuelu nodded, "I understand what you mean."
"But I heard Derek say a word. A very strange word."
Tong Mian: "What did he say?"
"Tree God."
"Ah?" Tong Mian and Leng Wenhan looked at each other, both in disbelief, "What the hell?"
"That's right. When he was discovered by the ship owner, he shouted these two words, 'Tree God'."
"He said, 'Don't worry, we have the tree spirit to protect us'... I thought it was very strange at the time. He was a ghost, why would he trust a god?"
“Unheard of…” Tong Mian muttered, and his eyes suddenly lit up. “Wait, but this makes sense. That piece of wood is like the talisman paper we use. It is the medium for wizards to communicate with gods, just like a ladder or a vine that goes straight to the sky. Only then can he borrow the power of gods!”
"You were able to hide not because of the piece of wood, but because his god was able to work!"
There was silence for a long while.
"Drake also let me use that piece of wood." Jiang Yuelu suddenly said.
His gentle voice was like dew, falling drop by drop into the silent room.
"I saw a big tree. Very tall, lush, and ancient. It suddenly appeared as if it was connected to my spirit, but it disappeared immediately. Even Drake, who was closest to me, didn't notice it..." His voice was faint, as if he had returned to that moment of confusion and emptiness. In the end, he could only use force to pull himself out.
Jiang Yuelu took a deep breath and found his voice again, "...Ghosts, can they become believers of God? Have you ever heard of such a thing in the academy?"
Tong Mian shook his head, "Not only does the academy not have this, it's also unheard of in history."
Jiang Yuelu looked at Leng Wenhan again, and he shook his head as well. Luo Yin Guan was a special existence that was closest to ghosts and closest to gods. He could sense the indifference of gods looking down on the ghosts, and he could also feel the desire and disgust of the wandering souls lying on the ground for gods. The two seemed like the two ends of yin and yang, unable to blend and reconcile. How could one of them worship the other?
"Don't forget, in addition to Drake on this ship, this 'Tree God' has two loyal followers - Ji Hongcha and Qin Xue." Jiang Yuelu reminded them not to forget what happened in the last exam room. The word "tree" frequently appeared in the private discussions of the dean and vice dean, which was enough to show its importance.
"However, that is something we will study later. Now let us study this small boat hidden in the secret room." As he said that, he walked forward.
Although it was called a small boat, it wasn't actually that small. It was more than enough to carry the three of them.
And unlike a makeshift canoe, it has all the necessary parts, including a sail and a rudder.
There's even a little cabin.
Tong Mian stretched his head over and took a curious look. "It's quite clean."
They looked around the cabin but found nothing. Jiang Yuelu stared at the plain single-plank bed for a long time, then walked over and lay down. After searching for a long time, he pulled out a metal box. His movements were so smooth and fluid that Tong Mian was surprised. "You are so skilled. Have you been here before?"
Jiang Yuelu: "I know where to hide the things."
He shook the metal box and put it on the ground. Leng Wenhan and Tong Mian stood on its left and right like guardians. The three of them stared at the buckles on the box.
As a switch for a closed box, it is really too simple.
It even seems like the designer set it here specifically to reduce the difficulty of opening.
He pushed it slightly and the buckle loosened, and he pulled open the iron lid of the box, revealing a box full of banknotes stacked up in piles.
But Jiang Yuelu soon discovered that the color of the banknotes was not right.
"This is paper money." Tong Mian said, "Yinsi money, also called buried money, is the universal currency of the underworld."
"The ancients believed that coins could communicate with gods and ghosts. These coins originally had the meaning of warding off evil spirits and bringing good luck. Later, people offered them in large quantities to the dead. They hoped that their deceased relatives and friends would also have no worries about food and clothing in the underworld."
"That's true."
"The Ghost City has always used the underworld money as the common currency. Oh, right, now we have to mark a place." Tong Mian pointed at the ground, "Luckily, it's the place we came back to. It's strange, it's obviously a market formed by many ghosts, but it's the only Ghost City that doesn't use paper money as currency."
Jiang Yuelu immediately thought of it, "In that case, this ship must have come from another ghost city."
"Well, even if the tail boat came, this box of paper money would be useless. It's strange, why did you come here anyway?"
"Go away." Leng Wenhan suddenly expelled Tong Mian.
"ha??"
He was too lazy to talk nonsense with Tong Mian anymore. With his hands like sharp blades, he cut open the upper layer of the iron box and pulled out a document folded into a square from the interlayer.
Handed it over to Jiang Yuelu.
He smiled and rubbed Leng Wenhan's head, "Well done." Tong Mian muttered beside him, "I've never seen you praise me for my work..."
Jiang Yuelu picked up a corner of the square file. Through the thin light outside the secret room, she could see words and pictures inside. "It looks like a file that they don't want outsiders to see. It's hidden so deeply."
Tong Mian agreed: "He probably didn't want the person who took the box to find it. He hid it in the iron sheet. He really could have made it. If it weren't for Leng Wenhan's pair of big laser cannon eyes scanning back and forth, we wouldn't have found it at all... Uh."
He turned around and said earnestly, "Sister, I have to tell you something from the bottom of my heart. You should just go back to being a girl and stop wearing this disguise. If you keep going like this, I will really treat you as a brother and I will say anything insolent to you."
As Leng Wenhan listened, his expression changed from “0.0” to “=.=”.
"What a perfunctory response." Tong Mian sighed, turned around and asked Jiang Yuelu, "Boss, how is it? Have you figured out what this confidential document is?"
Jiang Yuelu had already opened the folded documents.
"Is this... a blueprint for shipbuilding?"
Tong Mian tilted his head and looked at it for a long time. "My shallow knowledge of design tells me that this seems to be the ship under our feet? Wait, was it designed by Will himself?"
Leng Wenhan said nothing.
He could tell that what Jiang Yuelu showed Tong Mian was a blueprint. But the thickness of the folding block just now was obviously not something that could be achieved with a single blueprint.
He must have his reasons for doing this, so he didn't say anything.
"Looking at the date, it was built one after the other." Jiang Yuelu added.
"That explains it. The tail ship started using happiness to settle accounts after the city lord came here. According to my father, it had been soaking in the sea before that."
"At that time, the Will family had already died. So when they were alive, it wasn't strange that they left a box full of banknotes on the ship. They must have spent money when traveling between ghost dens."
Leng Wenhan: "What my father said is not credible."
"I understand, I understand. You think their character and ability are questionable. But if you want to completely deny the information we got from them, we can't discuss it further now." Tong Mian spread his hands.
Jiang Yuelu raised her hand and made a pause gesture, "Okay. Let's make one thing clear first."
He drew a horizontal line in the air with his hand. "This line is the time when we arrived on the ship. Anything we heard before this time should be viewed with suspicion. What happened after this time is what we saw with our own eyes, so it is fairly credible."
"No objection?"
"No." They said in unison.
"Well then." Jiang Yuelu looked at them. "Let's go all out. If you want to doubt what dad said, you might as well doubt it thoroughly. Was the stern ship really sinking in the sea before? Was Will willing to fight for the ship's survival? These all need to be questioned."
"Tong Mian is right about one thing. The Will family must spend money when traveling between ghost cities. So it is reasonable for him to reserve a suitcase full of banknotes. Then let's make a bolder assumption - what if they are not traveling between ghost cities, but are in a ghost city that is completely different from the tail ship, and they must carry banknotes with them at all times?"
Tong Mian opened his mouth, "You mean..."
In the secret room, there was only Jiang Yuelu's overly calm voice.
"What if there has been more than one ghost city here?"
His words seemed to have opened Tong Mian's head, making him and Leng Wenhan unable to recover for a long time. They were shocked for a long time before they thought of retorting. But at this time, a sob sounded outside the secret room.
"Who's outside?"
The milky white little jelly had slumped shoulders and was sobbing, unable to answer.
"Rongrong?" Jiang Yuelu walked over. "What's wrong with you?"
Rongrong floated onto his palm, curled up into a ball, and sobbed, "I remembered a lot of things... some, I forgot... but when I saw it, I remembered..."
"See it?" Jiang Yuelu thought: "Are you talking about this boat?"
Rongrong wiped her tears, no longer lingering on the warmth of his palms. She floated over his shoulders, swayed and fell onto the deck. Seeing the iron box full of banknotes, she could no longer hold back her tears. "This is Dad's box. He always carried it with him, but later I couldn't find it anymore... I thought it was lost."
She rubbed against the back of the box like a little snow fox, and finally found a familiar mark in the corner.
"A semicircle, the incomplete sun, this is my father's boat." She fondly stroked the semicircular mark, above which there was a thin wavy line. "The vines on the circle are the mercy of the gods, this is my mother's home. And these two small dots are me and my brother..."
"Dad always said that his previous mark was just a simple semicircle, meaningless. When he was worried about it, he went to find his father, my grandfather. He told him not to worry..."
…
On the shore, there was a "bang bang" sound of iron plates hitting each other.
The middle-aged man, smoking a huge pipe, patted his dejected son and said, "Don't be anxious, Will. Come and see first. Is Dad's boat finished?"
There was a completed sailboat parked on the shore, and Will took a look.
Without thinking, he answered, "Of course it's done, it's all painted - ah! Why did you hit me!"
The middle-aged man was so angry that he blew his beard. "Does a ship become finished after it has been painted? No! The last coat of paint on a ship is always the color of the sea! It will sail to the sea, experience countless storms, and constantly meet all kinds of people."
"Maybe you'll meet a girl, maybe you'll be with her, maybe you'll have children... These can't be achieved by staying on the shore." His father waved his arm and pointed to the bright and brilliant ocean, "You have to go to the ocean, Will!"
…
The story at sea was like a legend, passed from one person to another. One afternoon when she woke up from sleep, she heard her father telling her mother about this old story, and then she told the story to the new people she met at sea.
"Later, my father really met the woman he loved while drifting on the sea, and he had a child with her. He understood what my grandfather had told him, and left his own mark with his own experience."
"He carved my mother's hometown on the semicircle. She said she came from a village where it always snowed, and everyone in her tribe believed in tree gods. So a long vine was left on the semicircle." Rongrong touched the wavy line, "and my brother and I were on their left and right..."
Rongrong looked at Jiang Yuelu and said softly, "But Dad was wrong."
“You won’t always find kind and brave companions in the vast ocean. There are more desperate and dangerous places than storms, gales, and terrifying fish.”
"There is no sunlight there, only eternal night and the moon. The sea there is either silent or turbulent, and is accompanied by a strong stench."
"I always thought it was the fish that was rotten..."
"I later found out that they had deliberately kept it a secret from me. They didn't want me to know that our family was already in danger." Tears flowed from Milk Jelly's eyes as if she was melting. "Dad didn't drive the boat into the ghost den by himself! He already has a wife and children. He was worried that we would be hurt by evil spirits. How could he go in just out of curiosity?!"
"He was forcibly taken in!"
"The lord who ruled this sea area at that time was impressed by my father's ability to build a ship, and also by the sacred tree that my mother brought back from her hometown. He wanted to turn the 'Heaven-reaching Tree' mentioned in the legend into a 'Heaven-reaching Ship'!"
This confession made Jiang Yuelu's heart beat like a drum.
Snow Village!
Tree god?
Rongrong's mother, is Ji Hongcha and Qin Xue old acquaintances?
"The sacred tree..." Jiang Yuelu couldn't control the pounding of his heart, "The sacred tree you mentioned, has it been turned into a stern ship?"
"So... it's not that the Lord will come back to make this sunken ship rise again?"
She shook her head repeatedly, "No. No. God, why don't you understand?"
Rongrong looked extremely sad, as if she was about to cry. "The Lord you are talking about is called Jin Muxi. He is not the evil ghost who captured my parents and turned them into a tailboat. He is my benefactor and my friend. He almost allowed my parents to survive... If it weren't for that cruel and disgusting villain leader who took the lead and became the Lord of this place, this place could have become the country of eternal happiness as he said!"
Tong Mian was confused after hearing this. "Duzhu, Jin Muxi, what...how many Duzhu are there?"
"Two." Rongrong said.
"There used to be two ghost cities here, and there were also two city masters."
"The current capital lord is called Jin Muxi. The one before... I don't want to mention his name, and I don't want to recall anything about him! He killed my family!" Rongrong said hysterically, then suddenly calmed down and laughed softly, "But there is one thing I can tell you happily."
"The former lord, that evil ghost."
"He was killed by Jin Muxi!"
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