Chapter 16 The Mysterious Boy
"Ahem... But then, every two years, the ship would appear. Every time, many people in the village would die, and the symptoms were exactly the same as the original plague. Ahem... The fortune-teller speculated that the boy didn't like the offerings, which is why the ship appeared again."
The bride coughed up another mouthful of blood, and Shi Xiaoyin had a premonition that she wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer in such a bumpy ride.
"Every time a ship appeared, the village chief would plunder the village's gold, silver, jewelry, and fine clothing and send them aboard. He would then ask a witch to perform a ritual to send the ship away. The villagers would pray that the young man would like these offerings and that the plague-carrying ship would never appear again. Ahem..."
The bride spoke with great difficulty, and the paper doll beside her patted her back gently to help her relieve the tremors caused by her cough.
"Later, the village grew increasingly poor, and the witch doctor passed away. Ahem... the village chief then invited the witch doctor's junior sister—the old lady you saw when you boarded the boat. She calculated that if the boy were still alive, he would have already reached marriageable age... In the years that followed, a bride was added to the list of items sent aboard the boat. Everyone assumed it was because the boy hadn't found his ideal bride, which was why the boat kept showing up on time. This time, they chose me. I was dying anyway, so it didn't matter where I died. The witch doctor also calculated that this wedding must have bridesmaids, and the more the better..."
"Well...but the village is full of people dying and sick, and there are only a few people left. No family has any extra people to board the ship and die..."
The bride paused, took a breath, and continued, "The village chief came up with the idea of hiring an uninformed outsider to escort the bride, so... ahem... you were tricked into boarding this ship. We will all die—either on the way to the Silent Sea, or... ahem... on the 'Silent Island', the ship's final destination... ahem..."
Shi Xiaoyin didn't speak immediately after hearing this. She felt that there must be a way out in the small world. It just depended on whether the descender could complete the task and open the vortex door that symbolized the way out.
"So, if there's no offering on board that the young man likes, we'll all be dead?"
"Yes, that's all I know."
Shi Xiaoyin looked at the paper figurine next to her and said, "This paper figurine..."
"This is the maid that the witch gives to the bride. Every bride who comes aboard will have one."
Xie Liang ran until he was sweating profusely, feeling like his soul was about to float away. He led the mermaids out of the chimney of the lower hold. He ran back and forth around the side, stern, and bow of the ship. Just as he was about to be caught, the mermaids suddenly stopped at the railing on the deck—they noticed that the human skin hanging on the railing was gone.
Xie Liang really couldn't run anymore. Fortunately, they didn't chase him anymore. If they had, he would have been caught by them in no time, and then chopped into meat paste and cooked for other descenders to eat.
At this time, the mermaids were busy taking the human skin hanging on the mast, and Xie Liang took the opportunity to hide in the narrow passage on the side of the ship.
Three mermaids were climbing up the mast, while the rest were waiting under the deck, waiting for the mermaids climbing above to take off their skin. They seemed to have completely forgotten about Xie Liang who they had just been chasing.
Xie Liang was breathing heavily at the edge of the narrow path, secretly watching them. He estimated the time and thought Shi Xiaoyin should be almost there, but he was still worried.
The three mermen quickly climbed up the mast, pulled off the five human skins hanging there, and then began to climb down. The mermen standing below followed the smell and retrieved two human skins from the edge of the boat.
Shi Xiaoyin must have taken the remaining two. The mermaids immediately put on the human skin, transforming back into sailors. They followed the scent to the second-floor cabin.
Xie Liang wondered if Shi Xiaoyin had come out of the bride's boat room. Without even taking a few breaths, he quickly climbed up the stairs to the second-floor boat room - he was afraid that the sea monster would go up and catch Shi Xiaoyin.
Just as they reached the corner of the stairs, there was a dull thud and the two of them collided head-on.
"Hiss...what are you doing!" Shi Xiaoyin covered his forehead which was hurt by the collision and shouted in a low voice.
Xie Liang was frightened by the sight of her wearing human skin. He thought he was going to be caught by the mermaid monster. Only after hearing Shi Xiaoyin's voice did he realize that the mermaid in front of him was Shi Xiaoyin.
Xie Liang was nearly knocked down the stairs by her. After stabilizing himself, he breathlessly said, "Hurry, hurry up! Take off your skin and throw it away. They can smell the scent of human skin and find you."
Shi Xiaoyin immediately tore off the human skin and threw it into the deep sea behind the stern. When the two returned to the first-floor ship's corridor, they heard harsh footsteps coming from the rooftop. It was the mermaids walking around in the second-floor ship's room.
Shi Xiaoyin dragged Xie Liang into the empty room where the human skin was hidden. When they wanted to take it out to dispose of it, they found it was gone—probably taken by the mermaids. Fortunately, she had left the bridal chamber early, otherwise they would have run into them.
After Xie Liang listened to Shi Xiaoyin's story about the ship's past, he finally couldn't hold back the churning in his stomach and vomited some yellow water with a "vomit..."
"Are you okay?"
"It's okay... I just ran too hard, I'll be fine after a rest."
The intense run just now made his whole body sore and painful, almost falling apart. In addition, he twisted his ankle when jumping from the chimney. He didn't feel the pain when he was nervous, but now that he relaxed, the piercing pain began to attack him in waves.
He looked at the black stains on his white shirt, the spider webs tangled in his hair on his forehead, and the scratches on his hands. He knew without thinking that he must be in a mess at the moment.
Xie Liang was so tired that he didn't even want to move: "Uh... According to your speculation, the main task should be for the boy to find a sacrifice he likes. Now we can only pray that there is something he likes on the ship."
Shi Xiaoyin looked at him: "Are you okay? You don't look well."
Xie Liang thought that she must have asked this because she saw how dirty he was, so he replied, "It's okay... Is this all for tonight?"
Shi Xiaoyin looked at him and nodded.
After coming out of that room, the two walked towards their respective cabins.
At this time, the sky was already turning pale and the wind was making the sails whistle.
Hu Bing and Luo Bo were sitting on their respective bunks chatting, and were startled when they saw Xie Liang coming in covered in stains.
"Here, here's a towel, use it to wipe yourself," said Hu Bing.
"Thank you." Xie Liang took the towel and wiped his face casually, not caring whether it was clean or not, and climbed directly onto the bed to close his eyes and rest.
"Brother...Brother, he seems like he hasn't slept all night." Carrot whispered to Hu Bing.
Hu Bing raised his index finger and gestured to Carrot, whispering, "Shh... He must be trying to get everyone to go home early, that's why he didn't sleep all night. Let's not disturb him."
Xie Liang was sleeping in a daze, feeling pain all over his body, especially his ankles.
"Xiaoliang, you are hurt..." A whispering voice came into my ears.
He opened his eyes and found himself sitting on the bow deck with a man standing next to him. Xie Liang tried hard to see the man's face clearly, but he couldn't see it clearly.
"You are injured..." the man said again.
A breeze blew across Xie Liang's cheek, and he felt the fatigue and soreness in his body gradually disappearing.
The man slowly squatted down beside him, reached out and lifted up his sprained ankle and began to rub it. The man's cold fingertips pressed against his slightly warm ankle, and the strange feeling made him tremble.
Xie Liang wanted to retract his legs, but his body seemed to be frozen and unable to move.
"What's wrong? Don't you want me to touch you?" the man asked.
Xie Liang wanted to ask who he was, but no sound came out.
The man continued to talk to himself: "I miss you so much..."
The man who was rubbing his ankle would occasionally touch his calf, as if he was playing with something. Xie Liang got goose bumps all over his body from his touch.
After a while, the pain in my ankle disappeared, replaced by a feeling of lightness.
The man asked again, "Does it still hurt?"
Xie Liang wanted to shout, "It doesn't hurt anymore, take your hand away," but no sound came out.
The man seemed to know what he was thinking. He chuckled and stopped rubbing his thigh with his icy hand. Xie Liang felt as refreshed as soaking in a clear spring in the mountains on a summer day.
"Ding! Ding!" The bell in the hall rang and he woke up from his bed.
Was I dreaming? He lifted the covers and looked at his ankle—where it should have been red and swollen, it was now intact. He stood up, tidied himself, and walked towards the ship's lobby.
The sailors brought the food to the table one after another, with a hint of anger in their expressions.
Xie Liang counted and found that one sailor was missing - it was the human skin that was thrown into the sea last night.
Xie Liang was puzzled. Could it be that these mermaids couldn't move during the day without human skin? Could it be that they hadn't found the skin? No, their sense of smell was so keen, could it be that they couldn't leave the ship? If so, it meant they were cursed too. The broken bones of the young man thrown into the sea as bait must have been eaten by these mermaids.
Xie Liang collected his thoughts, frowned, and swallowed the unpalatable rice - not only did it smell sour, it was also half-cooked. Eating it felt like torture, but not eating would mean starvation. There was simply no solution.
The mutated Adventers had become chubby, swollen from head to toe like inflated balloons, so fat that their clothes were torn apart, revealing their skin covered with blue-green fish scales. They were gathered together, wolfing down the fish on the table.
Suddenly, a woman's scream was heard on the deck: "Ah! Dead people! There are dead people!"
When Xie Liang came out, he saw a woman lying on the deck and shivering. She was looking up at the mast with horror in her eyes.
Following her gaze, Xie Liang saw a horrifying scene: it was more like a skeleton than a dead person, with only the head barely intact. The torso below the head had been eaten clean by some carnivore, and the empty skeleton was hanging on the mast, swaying in the wind.
The people below were so frightened that they couldn't make a sound. Some began to retch, while others retreated and ran to the corridor - here, death was commonplace.
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