Chapter 040 Chapter 40

"You... are still alive?" A crew member approached cautiously.

Tong: “Ah?”

"Why are you in the sea?" the man asked again.

The boy with vertical pupils ignored the crew member who asked the question, but scanned the people on the boat, and finally his eyes fell on the captain of the ship, Xia Guo: "You are the boss, right? Is there any food?"

Xia Guo finally came to his senses: "Yes, of course."

The captain immediately asked the boy to cook. The boy was full of questions, but finally he decided to obey the captain's decision and walked into the cabin.

The boy walked out of the pile of fish, rubbing his stomach, and followed his friend into the kitchen in the cabin, muttering that he was very hungry. The fishing boats fishing near the coast were not big, and if the voices in the cabin were a little louder, they could be heard on the deck.

Several people from Xia State clearly heard the conversation between the man and the boy, as well as the sound of rummaging through drawers.

"Don't bite it, it's raw."

“Why are they all fish?”

"This is the sea, and the main thing we eat is fish."

"Whatever. I'm so hungry."

"That one is for sale! You eat these little fish."

"No, I want this."

"Wait, this is expensive—"

On the deck, Jiang Xiaomao asked Xia Guo: "Captain, don't we need to stop him?"

Xia Guo shook his head: "Don't worry about him, let's pack this batch of newly caught fish first."

As soon as he finished speaking, the guy came out of the cabin in a hurry: "Captain, that guy ate several of the valuable fish we caught, even the big yellow croaker."

Xia Guo's hand holding the plastic frame trembled for a moment, and finally said to his partner: "Let him eat whatever he wants, don't worry about it."

"Captain?"

Xia Guo waved his hands.

Seeing that the captain had no objection, the gang members did not say anything either. Anyway, they would leave after their last trip. Even Xia Guo himself did not expect to make much money on the last trip out to sea, so what they were paid as employees were wages, not profit sharing. It would not hurt to have their money even if there was a loss in the fishing.

Perhaps because the boy was dragged into the fishing net and took up too much space, the fish caught this time were very few, so they were packed into several boxes and frozen. Several crew members worked together to send the boxes to the freezer. When passing by the kitchen, I saw the boy with vertical pupils sitting in the corner, holding a fish half an arm long and eating it raw. There were many fish bones piled around the boy.

A crew member passed by Tong and whispered to his companion: "Is this kid crazy? Why is he eating raw food?"

"I don't know. Who cares? We just need to do our job well."

"Yeah, that's true."

The crew walked past the boy and continued to do their work.

The work on the fishing boat is not easy. This time, they didn't catch much, so everyone started to get busy lowering the nets again, adjusting the course, and heading to the deeper sea.

During this time, the crew passed by the cabin kitchen several times. Every time they passed by, they would see the boy chewing a fish. The fish bones at his feet had piled up into a small mountain. There was only ice cubes left in several plastic baskets that held the fish. Someone walked up to collect the empty plastic baskets and ice and cleaned up the fish bones. When the crew was cleaning the floor, Tong didn't even look at him, she just lowered her head and concentrated on eating.

The crew member glanced at Tong, his eyes twitched, and after cleaning up, he walked to Xia Guo and said, "Captain, he has been eating for several hours."

Xia Guo said "yes" vaguely.

"Captain, is that...really a human?" a crew member whispered.

Xia Guo didn't say anything. The reason why he allowed the young man to eat the sea fish he caught was because he had the same doubt.

The fishing net that caught the boy was dragged under the sea for several hours before it was pulled up. Judging from the boy's position among the fish, he must have been hanging in the net for more than two hours. It doesn't look like a human being to be alive after being in the sea for so long.

Fishermen who hang out at the port all year round usually don't pay attention to Internet hot searches, nor do they use computers, so they are completely unaware of the strange live broadcast. Xia Guo didn't know what was so strange, he just thought the boy was a mermaid.

He had no hope of making money on this last trip; he just wanted to put an end to his career as a fisherman over the past decade. There was no need to risk his life against the Sirens for a few fish.

So, forget it, let him eat it.

"I don't know, don't ask too much." Xia Guo said, "Don't get close to him."

The crew member nodded: "I know."

When the sun set and dyed the sky orange, Tong finally stopped eating. This meal ruined more than a dozen boxes of fish on the boat. He burped with contentment, then lay down and fell asleep.

When other crew members passed by the boy, he never even opened his eyes to look at them.

As the night deepened, the fishing boat cast its last net for the day and did not raise it until the next morning. After putting down their work, Xia Guo and the crew went to sleep. Of course, two people would be on duty at night to prevent any emergencies. The first crew member on duty happened to be the new crew member Jiang Xiaomao and a crew member named Tang.

Captain Tang has also been at sea for more than ten years and is very experienced. While on duty, he told Jiang Xiaomao about the emergencies that might occur at sea at night.

Not only must we always pay attention to the weather, but we must also keep an eye on the equipment to ensure that the ship's route does not deviate, the ship's signal lights cannot be extinguished, and we must pay attention to the signal lights of other ships that may appear to avoid collisions, etc. Tonight is Jiang Xiaomao's first night shift, and it's always right to say a few more words to newcomers.

Jiang Xiaomao listened carefully and nodded from time to time in response.

"There are fewer fishing boats going out to sea now," said crew member Tang. "In the past, we often encountered other fishing boats at night, but now we may not encounter one for several days in a row. There are very few fishing boats in this sea area now."

The bearded crew member Tang added: "Not many people are willing to do this business now, unlike before. You didn't catch up with the good times."

Jiang Xiaomao agreed with a silly smile and said nothing.

Being on duty at night was a very boring thing. Captain Tang was sitting in the cabin and yawning constantly. Jiang Xiaomao went to pour him a glass of water and handed it to him.

Captain Tang took it and drank it all, then continued on duty while forcing himself to be alert, but for some reason, his eyelids kept drooping.

"Go to sleep if you're tired." Jiang Xiaomao said as he sat next to him, "There's less than an hour left before the shift change. I can handle it alone."

Captain Tang showed hesitation on his face. Finally, he stood up and looked out the window. The stars in the sky were very clear and there were no clouds in the sky. There could be no wind or waves.

I took another look at the equipment on the ship and there was nothing wrong.

"Okay, I'll leave it to you, Xiao Jiang." Tang waved his hand, "If there's a boat coming this way and you don't know how to avoid it, wake me up. Call me if you have any other questions."

Having said that, he climbed into the cabin, lay down on his bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

Not long after Captain Tang went in, a burly man came out. He was another new crew member, Dou Wen.

The people who were supposed to take over the shift in an hour were Dou Wen and another crew member.

"Where is that person?"

Dou Wen replied: "Dead asleep."

Two sleeping pills, all night long, relaxing.

"What should we do next?" Jiang Xiaomao asked.

Dou Wen sneered: "What else can we do? According to the plan, throw everyone into the sea to feed the fish."

"Are you sure we won't be discovered?"

"What did you find?" Dou Wen said, "The captain of this ship spread the news three months ago that he was going to sell the ship and return home. The crew members working here are not locals. Even if they suddenly disappeared from here, they would not be discovered immediately. By the time their families find out and come to look for them, it will take at least half a year. In half a year, we would have already fled abroad."

"Going abroad..."

Dou Wen was getting impatient: "Now that we're on board, don't tell me you're quitting. Labor is not here to earn money from the crew's hard work. Besides, do you think that person will allow the two of us to stop suddenly?"

Jiang Xiaomao was persuaded. He gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll go drive the boat."

From the beginning, Jiang Xiaomao and Dou Wen were not novices. They had worked as boatmen in other places before and knew boats very well.

"By the way, what about that guy?" Jiang Xiaomao turned to ask Dou Wen, "The guy who was pulled out of the sea, I think he is a bit weird, is he really a human being?"

"If not human, what else could it be? A mermaid?" Dou Wen laughed, "Don't tell me you believe in that kind of legend. Throw them all into the sea later if you're worried." The man gestured at his neck.

Jiang Xiaomao: "I can't do that. You have to go."

"I'll go if I want." Dou Wen walked into the cabin, looking for the boy. "A fish filleting knife will solve the problem. Hmm?"

I looked around, but didn't see the boy.

Were you lying here sleeping just now?

Where are the people?

Dou Wen scratched his head, and just as he was wondering, he saw the young man curled up in the corner of the cabinet behind him, with his head tilted, sleeping soundly in the cabin.

Was this person...here before?

It seemed that he glanced here when he entered the cabin, but didn't see anyone?

Maybe I remembered it wrongly.

Dou Wen took out a big knife, quietly walked to the boy's side, aimed at the boy's throat and cut it down suddenly. Blood splattered on the man's chest and clothes.

"Oh, what a sea monster." Dou Wen sneered, put down the knife, dragged the young man with a strangely bent head out of the cabin, picked him up and threw him into the sea.

There was a splash of dark waves.

Dou Wen sneered, entered the cabin, picked up the fish-cutting knife, and planned to quietly kill off the others in order.

Then when he picked up the knife, Dou Wen saw a pair of feet next to the handle.

The sneer on the man's face froze, and he looked up along the legs until he saw the boy's face.

The boy with slightly long hair still maintained the same posture as before, sleeping soundly.

Dou Wen was so frightened that his back started to grow hairy. He sat down on the ground and stared at the boy with wide eyes in fear.

The boy smacked his lips, as if savoring the meat he had eaten in the afternoon.

The regular rise and fall of the chest indicated that this was a living person.

But...how could that be?

He had clearly already taken action and thrown it into the sea.

Could it be an illusion, and everything that happened before was just a delusion in his mind, and he actually did nothing?

Dou Wen lowered his head in disbelief and looked at his chest. The blood spots that splashed onto his clothes were bright red and seemed to be still warm.

This……

Dou Wen gritted his teeth, picked up the knife and stabbed forward fiercely.

There was a "whoosh" sound. Because he was closer this time than before, blood spurted onto Dou Wen's face when he put away the knife.

The warm body was dragged out and thrown into the sea. Dou Wen stretched his neck to look at the sea surface and made sure he saw the splashing waves when the body fell.

Very good, solved, completely.

Dou Wen heaved a sigh of relief and walked back to the cabin again. Looking at the young man sleeping in the corner, the man's expression gradually became grim.

Why are you still here?!