"According to the investigation report on the Stars, the Stars departed from Yangshan Port on October 15, 2020. The trip is expected to last 21 days, nearly a month. During this period, it will pass through ports such as island countries, the Solomon Islands, and Australia, and finally arrive in New Zealand. This voyage uses ocean scenery as its main selling point, which is quite rare."

"However, ten days after its departure, the Stars encountered a rare sea storm in the western Pacific Ocean and was forced to stop at Pohnpei Island, north of the Solomon Islands, to wait for the storm to subside."

"During the long and unusual storm, the Star suffered several accidents and on November 21st, a serious fire broke out on the ship. The hull tilted and took on water. After a week of unsuccessful rescue efforts, the ship sank into the sea."

"In January, after the unseasonal storm in the Pacific Ocean completely subsided, the passengers on board took a flight back to China. Among them, a considerable number of passengers developed mental problems to varying degrees. The aftermath of the Stars is still ongoing."

Lu Ban saw the investigation report on the Stars incident that could be made public.

He remembered that during the storm, the passengers of the Stars seemed to have taken some videos of the islands and urban architectural ruins in the storm.

Lu Ban searched the Internet and found that most of the videos had become invalid due to the passage of time. However, on the old video website, someone had left an archive of secondary screen captures.

He re-watched the videos carefully.

In the storm, one could indeed see the shadows of some buildings. Most of those buildings were tall spires with a strange style that did not belong to this era. In fact, Lu Ban did not see any architectural style from any era in these buildings. They existed there like art and aesthetics derived from this world, like a black spot on white paper, distorted and unnatural.

The feeling was not so strong when he first saw it, but now Lu Ban is almost certain that these buildings are not created by humans, but the halls of some strange, mysterious and indescribable existence.

As for the accident of the Stars, Lu Ban thought that this might have been caused by something strange.

He looked through some interview materials, most of which were from the captain, crew members, and passengers. Because this accident was actually quite serious, there were many speculations and different opinions. Some people believed that a mutiny had occurred among the crew, some thought that the captain had directed the crew to rob the passengers, and some people had wild ideas and said that it was haunted.

In fact, the testimonies of these people are also contradictory.

For example, Lu Ban saw a clip of First Mate Zhao Liren being interviewed.

"…At that time, I told the captain that there was a problem with the equipment in the engine room and that maintenance was needed, but the captain didn't seem to care and didn't agree to my request. As a result, within two days, the equipment in the engine room malfunctioned and caused a fire. No, no, I didn't say that the captain was wrong, but I didn't think he was calm enough at the time. Even if the fire spread, he didn't take effective measures. I've known the captain for several years, and he's not that kind of person. Something must have affected him. Maybe there were too many unexpected events during this trip, and the pressure overwhelmed him…"

In this clip, the first mate believes that the captain's inadequate response was the main cause of the accident, which sounds reasonable.

But in the words of a tourist, things turned out differently.

"...the crew were very fierce. At first, they didn't let us walk around the ship freely. They locked us in the room like prisoners. We could only come out to get some fresh air when we ate. Especially in the days when the storm got worse, I felt that the whole ship was about to sink. I didn't see the captain, but the first mate spoke to us. He was very stern. He seemed to have encountered something and had dark circles under his eyes. It was not until later, when we docked and disembarked, that things got a little better. We didn't notice the fire at all because the storm was so strong, so strong."

According to him, the first mate restricted their movements and watched over them like a jailer, and behaved a little neurotic, which was completely different from the calm state that the first mate himself described.

"...These crew members are taciturn and don't like to talk. They were not like this at the beginning. Since the storm started, they have become much more serious. I can understand that such a storm at sea is very dangerous and we shouldn't joke around. But they seem to have become different people after experiencing the storm. They are much more depressed. For our safety, the crew asked us not to move around normally. I can understand that. I talked to a crew member and he said that the current situation is very desperate and the ship might be lost. I thought he was trying to scare us, but who knew that after we landed for a while, the ship caught fire. We should be thankful that we were all in the hotel at the port at the time. It seems that some crew members were burned to death on the ship? I'm not sure."

Some tourists presented a different view. It seemed that the crew changed their mind because of the severity of the storm, and the measures restricting personal freedom were also for safety reasons.

Lu Ban saw the interview with Captain Johnson Gustav again.

This is a German man with a beard, and he looked very haggard during the interview.

"I have answered these questions many times. The storm we encountered was rare in history. For this reason, I had to ensure the safety of all crew members and passengers, so I asked them to stay in the room. Yes, that's right. Some crew members on the ship had mental problems due to stress. I asked the ship's doctor to give them medicine. At least when we docked at Pohnpei, all problems were not serious."

"What's really serious is that after we got to the island, the people on the island were very strange. I can't explain it. Sometimes they would stand at the harbor, stand in the storm, and make some strange worship gestures facing the center of the storm. Some islanders even sneaked onto the boat. I don't know what they were trying to do."

"I walked around the island and saw a lot of strange statues. There seemed to be an ancient temple on the mountain in the center of the island. They were all primitive beliefs."

"Those statues look like octopuses, or a mixture of some soft-bodied creature and human. I know that the natives of the sea always have an inexplicable worship for the creatures in the sea, but those statues give me a very uncomfortable feeling. Although the temple is damaged, I don't know why, every night when you look towards the mountain, you can always find it at first sight, just like it emits a faint green fluorescence."

"After the fire broke out, the people on the island did not participate in the rescue. They just stood in the rain, on the dock, and made a gesture of worship towards the burning cruise ship. I swear, I have never seen such a weird worship gesture. I once suspected that these people were possessed by some monster."

"It's just that, in the firelight, I seemed to see something rising from the ship and flowing into the storm. It's hard to describe that feeling. I think maybe my mind is not normal. No, it should exist. It is there. I know it is coming. I'm sorry, I don't know how to say it. When the Stars sank, I felt that it really came alive. Each of us is a witness to its birth."

"what is it?"

The interviewing reporter asked curiously.

"It's...it's...it's the stars, it's the stars, it's coming, it's coming soon!"

Captain Gustave became hysterical and the interview was interrupted.

Lu Ban saw the captain's final outcome. After the interview, he rested at home. A month later, he drowned himself in his own washbasin. It is said that when he died, both of his hands were twisted behind his back, pressing hard on his head, as if the two hands were forcibly pressing him into the water and preventing him from raising his head.

He drowned himself!