Chapter 222: Scavenger (18) Self-deception, self-blindness...
At night, Gao Mengtang heard Wei Wei falling asleep beside him, so he quietly lifted the quilt, took a corpse oil candle, and left the Wuyun Base.
The base was built in the wilderness, surrounded by sparse woods. Gao Mengtang sat on the ground, leaning against a tree trunk, cupping his hands and carefully lighting a candle.
With a whoosh, I felt the warmth of the flame in my palm. The wax melted and dripped, but I couldn't see the flame. I touched the candle wick with my hand and immediately felt a burning pain.
Where's the ghost ship? I didn't see it.
Because he is on land and has no boat?
Gao Mengtang waited expectantly for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes...
Could it be that Yin Mingwu was lying?
He was a little unhappy and planned to go back and ask Yin Mingwu for the specific method of entering the ghost ship, so he blew out the candle and walked towards the base.
Maybe it was because he was too sleepy, but his steps were so light and each step felt like he was stepping on cotton. Gao Mengtang felt the ground undulating like waves.
He took an unsteady step and fell to the ground. When he got up, the salty and wet wind blew across his cheeks. When he looked up, he was already on the ghost ship. There was an endless black ocean all around him, and the lights of the city could be seen not far away.
System: "You have entered the special space [Ghost Ship]. There are no missions in this area."
Gao Mengtang turned around and found the ghost ship empty. There was no one in the cockpit. The button seemed to be pressed by an invisible hand and then popped up again, and the screen automatically switched the scene.
There was no one around, but I could hear light or heavy footsteps, faint whispers, and even the sound of a lighter being pressed.
"Is anyone there? Hei Shang, Hei Shang, are you there?" Gao Mengtang called softly.
There was no response, so he circled twice. The ship was not big and was exactly the same as the Snowstorm.
Gao Mengtang pushed open Lei Gong's bedroom. There were more Hei Yankai peripherals in the room. In addition to the bed, there were also a desk and a wardrobe. There were many fitness equipment on the floor, and a dumbbell was automatically raised and lowered.
"Hello?"
“…”
"Where are the black marketeers?" Gao Mengtang felt a little confused.
Suddenly, he thought of the corpse oil candle. After entering the ghost ship, the corpse oil candle did not disappear, and he was still holding it in his hand.
He lit the candle, held it up and shone it, and this time, he could see the "person".
Large groups of humanoid creatures were wandering around in the ship. Their skin was like melted wax, their facial features were half-melted, their whole bodies were slightly transparent, and their faces seemed to be smiling.
As the crew members passed by, they nodded and greeted each other, and their mouths opened and closed as if they were talking, but Gao Mengtang could only hear a series of unclear noises.
He used candlelight to illuminate Lei Gong's bedroom and saw a thin candle man lifting dumbbells with great effort.
The "people" on the boat could not see Gao Mengtang, nor could they touch him. When they came and went, they passed directly through his body. One person passed through Gao Mengtang's chest, made a door-pushing motion, and entered Lei Gong's bedroom.
He said something to Lei Gong, who put down the dumbbells and followed him out.
Gao Mengtang followed all the way.
The two men came to the restaurant. There were more people gathered here, around round tables, some of them raised their arms and gestured on the tables.
The sound of the lighter rang out again.
Gao Mengtang moved the candle away and saw that the table was spotless and empty. He chose a position that overlapped with the candle man, and followed his movements, with one arm moving back and forth on the table.
Soon, Gao Mengtang knew what they were doing: lighting the candles on the cake.
A intermittent melody sounded in my ears, like a birthday song.
The ghosts sat around the table and chattered. Their voices were so vague, like dream talk that would disappear when the sun rose. Gao Mengtang listened attentively, but could not hear anything.
"How many candles do you have?" An extremely clear voice sounded, which scared Gao Mengtang.
Gao Mengtang turned around and saw a tall, fat man standing behind him with his hands behind his back. He was wearing a white navy uniform, and there was a dark brown bloodstain on his chest.
"How many candles do you have?" the man asked again.
"One, one?" Gao Mengtang said hesitantly, "Are you a black marketeer?"
"What are the candles made of? They smell so good." The black marketeer did not answer the question, but just asked.
Gao Mengtang wanted to say "corpse oil", but when the words came to his lips, he felt something was wrong. It seemed like a birthday party was being held on the boat, and the candles in this space seemed to be inserted into a birthday cake.
Which kind person put candles made from corpses on a birthday cake?
The black marketeer said that the candle smelled good, but Gao Mengtang didn't think so. He was particularly sensitive to the smell of animal fats. The aroma of the corpse oil candle contained a hint of stench that was difficult to detect and even more difficult to ignore.
"I don't know what kind of candle it is." Gao Mengtang said unconfidently, "But, it might be soy wax and essential oil."
"Give me your candle," said the black merchant, "I need a candle."
Gao Mengtang handed the candle over, and the black businessman made a gesture to take it, but his hands were still empty, and the candle was still in Gao Mengtang's palm.
Then, the black businessman walked out of the fire and disappeared.
After searching for a while with the candle in hand, I finally saw the black marketeer sitting at the round table at the front, inserting candles into the cake as if performing a performance without a physical object.
"I heard that you can buy any product by paying a price." Gao Mengtang sat opposite him, "I want to trade with you."
"Trade? I prefer the term 'make a wish'," the black businessman muttered, staring at the non-existent candle in the middle of the table, "Today is my birthday. I'm happy that I can fulfill one of your wishes."
"...Well, let me make a wish." Gao Mengtang closed his eyes and acted pious. "I hope that Wei Wei, with ID card [101 Nine Thousand Years Old], the deputy leader of Yue Fan, my friend, was once the [101 Purification Master], the chief of personnel of Heigu..." He listed several identities in one breath, fearing that he would make the wish for someone else.
"I want the scars on his face to go away."
After making the wish, Gao Mengtang opened his eyes and found that the black businessman was staring at him. His cloudy, waxy eyes had a sinister aura like a dead object.
Gao Mengtang: "Is this okay? Can you fulfill my wish?"
The black businessman didn't blink, his melted eyelids covering half of his pupils. "It's not an excessive wish, but Wei Wei's face was corroded by the blood of the dead, leaving scars. It's not easy to treat it."
All of this is as bizarre as a dream. Why does the black businessman know so much? What was his identity when he was alive?
"What do you plan to exchange for it?" asked the black businessman.
Gao Mengtang thought the other party would make an offer, so he hadn't thought about this question when he came in. He hesitated for a few seconds: "I don't know what you need. Maybe you can transfer the scar on Wei Wei's face to my face?"
Hearing this, the black businessman suddenly laughed: "That won't do."
"Huh?"
"I am a black marketeer," he said with a smile, a wax bubble gushing out of his mouth, "What you give me must be more than what I pay."
"Then what do you want?" Gao Mengtang suddenly felt a little scared. If the price was his life or something, then he would have to think about it again.
Black businessman: "How about giving me your carefree and carefree life, or to be frank, your ability to deceive yourself and blind yourself?"
Gao Mengtang became unhappy when he heard this. How could he have deceived himself and blinded himself?
"Blind man, are you unable to see clearly, or... do you not want to see clearly?" the black businessman asked with a smile, "If you don't look at it, does it mean it doesn't exist?"
Without warning, Gao Mengtang thought of what the system said to him when he first entered the game:
"Your identity is [000 Blind Person]"
“The only way to escape suffering is to not see suffering.”
Gao Mengtang suddenly felt ominous: "I..."
"Exchange?"
"……Change."
"Well, your wish will come true." The black businessman continued to look at the empty table, crossed his fingers, and made a gesture of blowing out the candles.
The corpse oil candle in his hand went out, and Gao Mengtang returned to the grove. He stood quietly for half a minute before he remembered what had just happened.
In the dead of night, everything was silent, and even the wind made no sound.
He returned to the bedroom, Wei Wei was sleeping with his back to him, Gao Mengtang gently lifted the quilt and looked at his left face. The skin was very smooth, and he didn't know if it was a disguise or the scar had disappeared.
Forget it, let’s go to sleep first.
That night, Gao Mengtang had a very strange dream... He even suspected that it was not a dream, but a physical hallucination.
It was pitch black all around, without a single ray of light. He couldn't see his own fingers, and when he reached out to touch, he felt cold walls all around him.
All night long, he kept going up and down stairs, pushing open a creaking metal door. He never stopped.
When I wake up in the morning, I feel more tired than after a sleepless night.
"Good day, Mr. Blind." Wei Wei had already gotten up and was leaning against the bay window smoking.
Gao Mengtang rubbed his eyes, the blueberries that protected his eyes were no longer effective, and his vision was blurry. When he looked at Wei Wei, he found that his figure was exceptionally clear.
It was daybreak and it was pitch black outside the glass. A lamp was on in the room and Wei Wei's shadow was reflected on the glass.
The shadow was pale and thin, with narrow shoulders and a thin neck. He was wearing a black cloak, with his head lowered, and holding a black tower lantern in his hand.
Gao Mengtang had seen that shadow - the statue of the Eleventh Wise King.
He rubbed his eyes, and the shadow disappeared, and Wei Wei's figure also became blurry. Gao Mengtang picked a blueberry, chewed it, and his vision became clear again. He seemed to see the shadow of Xian Wang Eleven flashing past the other side of the glass.
"Good morning, Avi," Gao Mengtang yawned, "Um... um... how's your face..."
Wei Wei blew out a smoke ring and said, "Who hasn't left some scars after experiencing life and death? Don't worry about it."
But Wei Wei cared a lot.
He will blame me because I insisted on using his body to enter the snowy shipwreck.
Wei Wei even thought about killing me because his ID card was transformed from the soul of the eleventh virtuous king. He was the chosen one, and the system, that is, the thirteenth virtuous king, hoped that Wei Wei would ascend the throne and become the fourteenth virtuous king.
These thoughts appeared in Gao Mengtang's mind without warning, which scared him.
He never assumes ill will about others, nor does he try to find out the dark side of others, especially his best friends.
He calmed himself down and forced himself to divert his attention: "Avi, I want to see your scar... I mean..."
Wei Wei turned his head towards Gao Mengtang, looking out the window and smoking, his brows slightly frowned.
He blamed me for constantly exposing his scars. Gao Mengtang couldn't help but think that he just frowned... Stop! Don't be too sensitive!
Wei Wei put down his pipe and rubbed his left cheek with his fingers: "It's just a scar, what's so good about it..."
His fingers suddenly stopped and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"The scars have disappeared." Wei Wei said, "This is true. I didn't use any disguise."
Gao Mengtang was stunned for a few seconds, then smiled and said, "Really? That's great!"
But he soon thought of the black businessman's words: To put it bluntly, how about giving me your skills of self-deception and self-blindness?
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