Chapter 86 In a dream, a peacock spreads its tail feathers against the mountain...
After gaining superpowers, animals develop a great deal of intelligence, with the most advanced ones even able to communicate simply with humans.
The smooth passage of naval vessels requires the protection of marine creatures with supernatural abilities; in return, humans also need to provide them with assistance.
Currently, the shipping routes and vessels belong to the Yu family of the Second Continent.
The large supermarket in the suburbs that Shan Ran once visited was owned by the Yu family.
In the past, such a large business would definitely have belonged to the First Continent, or at least one of the other seven great families or several centuries-old families.
However, there is now too much fog on the First Continent, leaving limited living space for people, let alone the establishment of such a large new shipyard.
Moreover, Yu Kunyao, the head of the Yu family, is a dual-type ability user, possessing both water and orca abilities, making him the most naturally suited to be an underwater superhuman.
It is said that he recently reached Level A, and he is the one who mainly leads the communication with marine life.
The second continent is located in the middle, and its geographical location is the most convenient.
With favorable timing, location, and people, the Yu family secured the major deal with HNA.
After the ship docked, people began to have their tickets checked and board the ship, while cargo was also being loaded onto it.
While Shanran was queuing, a group of goods passed by her, and she noticed the markings on the boxes.
She turned and met Rhine's gaze, only to find that he had seen it too.
That's the mark of the Ram family.
This is nothing unusual; the family businesses of the seven great families are spread all over the world.
The building in District 5 that Sam used as his headquarters was owned by the Solomon family.
Before the apocalypse, many people and goods were stranded on other continents, and after the opening of the sea route, various exchanges were normal.
Shan Ran just heard something unusual.
One of the boxes made a faint, irregular "thump-thump" sound.
If it weren't for Shan Ran's exceptional hearing and her keen interest in those families, she wouldn't have noticed at all.
After a few brief "thump-thump" sounds, there was no more sound coming from inside.
Shan Ran only looked away after the workers had carried the boxes away.
"Did you hear a sound coming from inside the box just now?" Shanran asked Rhein to confirm, unsure if she had misheard.
Rhine frowned. "I heard it. It wasn't clear. It could have been caused by the item sliding during transport, but it could also have been a living thing."
A living creature?
The box is big enough to fit two people.
Could there be a person inside?
If you use cargo boxes to carry people, then you are treating people as cargo.
Even now, with transportation between continents so difficult and precious, people still risk their lives to transport people to the third continent.
What could it be?
The first thing Shan Ran thought of was the Colosseum.
Kunwu Yecheng learned that the mastermind behind it all was the Smith family from the Second Continent, but the weapons belonged to the First Continent.
Such a quantity of weapons must be backed by people from the First Continent.
The Smith family is not a small family; providing them with assistance will only increase their influence.
Could it be one of those seven families?
Or perhaps, it's the Ram family?
Of course, these are just Shanran's guesses. It's possible that there's nothing inside, just the sound of objects sliding.
Shanran and Rhine quickly found their room, a second-class room, neither particularly good nor bad, and not too conspicuous.
The ship has a total of five decks. The first deck has a restaurant, activity room, staff lounge, etc., while the second and third decks are third-class rooms, with four people per room.
The fourth floor has second-class rooms, and the fifth floor has first-class rooms and VIP suites.
Currently, the universal currency worldwide is crystal cores. In addition to crystal cores, barter is also possible. A few super-large bases will have their own exclusive points currency, such as the safe zone.
Shan Ran looked at the number [404] on the doorplate and pursed her lips speechlessly.
"Ranran, what's wrong?" Seeing that Shanran's expression was a little off, Rhine asked with concern.
"It's nothing," Shan Ran chuckled softly, unsure how to explain, so she simply remained silent. "Let's go inside."
"Huh? Miss, haven't we met somewhere before?"
A slightly frivolous voice came from the side.
Upon hearing this, Shan Ran frowned slightly, alarm bells ringing in her mind. Rhine, standing beside her, tensed up, his muscles clearly bulging through his leather jacket.
With one hand in his pocket, Shan Ran was ready to pull out a weapon from his spatial storage at any moment. Several ways to take someone's life while avoiding the ship's crew flashed through his mind.
The air around them seemed to thin out because of the tense atmosphere.
Turning my head to look, I saw that the speaker was a young man in his twenties, with long, black curly hair, a handsome face, and a pair of almond-shaped eyes with upturned eyelids, his gaze both affectionate and languid.
He was wearing a dark green V-neck satin shirt, with the collar slit down to his chest, revealing a large expanse of wheat-colored skin and faintly visible, well-defined abdominal muscles.
He had a smile on his face, the corners of his mouth turned up, and his red lips were glistening with moisture.
When the girl looked over, the man's eyes lit up. He leaned against the wall with one hand and brushed his hair with the other, revealing his smooth forehead.
At this moment, Shan Ran had only two words in her mind—"So sexy."
The flamboyant man chuckled, his deep, alluring eyes fixed on Shan Ran. "Miss, I'm sure I've seen you in my dreams, that's why I recognized you the first time we met."
Mountain Dye, Rhine:........
The two of them finally relaxed, exchanged a glance, and had the same thought: they had encountered a lunatic.
Shan Ran didn't speak, but gave a polite smile, opened the door and went into the room.
"Hey, miss, could you give me your contact information...?"
The door slammed shut, cutting off the man's unfinished words.
After entering the room, Shan Ran first used her supernatural abilities to check the room and, after confirming that there were no surveillance cameras, checked the two people's phones to strengthen the information defense system.
After traveling all night, both of them were exhausted and took off their goggles to catch up on sleep.
I slept straight through until night, and when I opened my eyes, it was already dark outside.
It would take the ship eight days to reach the second continent.
The windows of third-class rooms are closed, while second-class rooms and above have balconies.
The balcony of Shan Ran's room is small, only big enough to fit a chair and a small coffee table.
The sea was dark and gloomy at night, especially the distant sea, which looked as thick as spilled ink.
The sea surface is turbulent, and the deep waters are equally restless, harboring countless strange and monstrous beasts.
Because of the lack of light, deep-sea animals grow wildly, and the monsters that appear in the sea will only grow more exaggerated.
There were a few shimmering spots on the sea surface around the ship; these were marine creatures that had reached an agreement with humans.
Most animal superpowers are physical enhancements, and some even grow extra parts, such as light-emitting organs similar to searchlights.
By the light, Shanran saw human figures in the surging sea.
Most of them were aquatic creature ability users, who had created animal limbs in the sea and were fighting against the monsters in the water. The marine creatures next to them were also busy, working together.
There are also some who still retain human bodies but can move freely underwater; these are definitely water-based ability users.
This was the first time Shan Ran had witnessed so many battles between marine monsters and humans. Out of curiosity, she leaned forward from the railing, her eyes glued to the dangerous yet thrilling underwater battle.
"These people are the guards of the Yu family's ship."
Shan Ran turned her head and saw that the one speaking was the flirtatious man with peach blossom eyes who had been acting provocatively at the door during the day.
The man lived in room 405 next door and was standing on the small balcony, smiling at Shan Ran.
Hearing the noise from the balcony, Rhine also came out and stood in front of Shanran.
At this moment, Rhine had already put on goggles, but Shanran had not. He subconsciously covered the girl to prevent her from being recognized.
The man with peach blossom eyes spread his hands to show his innocence. "Brother, I didn't mean anything by it, nor did I disrespect that lady. I just saw that she was interested in the battle below, so I took the liberty of explaining it to her."
Rhine really wanted to retort, "Who said we're brothers?", but considering his current disguise, he could only hold back.
"A ship escort team?" Shan Ran was indeed very curious.
The balcony was dimly lit, and Shanran, hiding behind Rhine, wasn't afraid of being exposed, so she asked directly.
The man in room 405 nodded. "The escort team cooperates with marine life along the way to hunt down nightmare beasts. They are all water-based or underwater creature-based ability users. The cores of the nightmare beasts they kill belong to the humans, while the corpses belong to the marine life."
By the way, if you're a Water-type or Aquatic Animal-type, you can sign up for the temporary escort team; some of the people below are on that team.
"A temporary guard team?"
"Passengers can sign up after boarding the ship. There are no special requirements. Basically, anyone with relevant superpowers can pass. However, they are responsible for their own life and death. Unlike regular employees, there is no compensation if they die."
The ship's crew members are provided with food and accommodation, receive a salary, and can enhance their superpowers. The job is highly sought after, and the selection criteria are quite high.
Some people who were not selected bought their own tickets to board the ship and signed up to become members of the temporary escort team. These people were basically all single-type aquatic creature abilities. Without the support of aquatic abilities on land, their abilities had almost no room to be used, so they simply took the risk.
Once on board, they were like fish in water. Although the tickets were expensive, eight days was a long time. If they worked hard, they could not only cover the cost of the tickets but also have a considerable surplus, enough to support their families.
Shanran nodded knowingly. She had no intention of going down, nor did she answer the man's question, tacitly acknowledging that she did not have the ability to go into the water.
The man didn't ask any more questions, but continued to pose and flirt, trying to exude his charm and attract Shan Ran's attention.
Of course, these harsh words came from Rhine's mouth.
Having known Meng Xin for a long time, Shan Ran had even picked up his way of speaking.
She didn't take that person seriously.
Unexpectedly, that very night Shanran dreamed of the man in the next room!
At first, Shanran didn't realize she was dreaming, but after entering and exiting the illusion of the other world twice, she became quite sensitive to these unreal things, so she realized that this place was not reality.
But strangely, she doesn't usually think she's dreaming when she's dreaming.
Shanran was confused. She guessed that this might not be a dream, but an illusion created by someone.
It was rather strange, so Shan Ran remained calm, looked at the smiling man in front of her, and stopped herself from saying what she was about to say.
The man had just asked her name, and if Shan Ran hadn't reacted in time, she probably would have revealed her real name.
Even in her dreams, she remained vigilant.
"My name is...Mary."
The man in my dream hadn't changed much, except that his clothes were more expensive and of higher quality.
The slit at the chest is also larger.
Shan Ran remained completely unchanged, dressed exactly the same as she had during the day, with red hair and even goggles covering half of her face.
In the dream, the two were shopping, seemingly in a large shopping mall before the apocalypse.
The man put his arm around Shanran and walked into a luxury store. Pointing to the clothes, bags, and shoes in the store, he waved his hand and said generously, "Baby, take whatever you like. If you like it, I'll even rent out this store for you!"
Yamaran: .......
A friendly shop assistant came over to serve Shanran, but Shanran remained unmoved. She turned to look at the man and asked, "What's your name?"
The man paused for a moment, but quickly put on a smile again.
“Darling, my name is Yuan Yu.”
"Yuan Yu?"
The man took Shanran's hand and wrote his name in her palm.
The dream felt incredibly real; Shanran even felt a tingling, itchy sensation in her palm.
In that instant, her mind went blank, her consciousness gradually blurred, and she almost fell back into the vortex of dreams, forgetting where she was.
Shan Ran frowned slightly, picked up a piece of clothing at random, said "I'll try it on," and then walked into the fitting room.
Having just nearly lost consciousness, Shan Ran dared not have any more contact with Yuan Yu.
She didn't know the underlying principle, but she was certain that the more contact she had with men, the more dangerous it was for her.
Shan Ran sat in the fitting room, trying to use her supernatural abilities.
It's useless.
There's no way to use superpowers.
She ventured into her own mental world, and thankfully, all eight orbs of light remained inside, albeit in a state of sleep.
The little harpy eagle and Q Xiaoran were both asleep, with a row of zzz above their heads, and even the lake water and fireballs were still.
Now, Shan Ran was even more certain that she was dreaming.
Without hesitation, she stretched out her tiny, spirited hand and poked around inside the fire for a long time until she finally got it moving.
The fireball, awakened by the noise, was very agitated; it seemed as if a mouth was shouting and roaring inside!
Shan Ran followed the same method and woke up the small door in the space as well.
"Baby~ Darling Mary~ How did the clothes go? Do you like them? If you do, buy them all. Your dear boyfriend is rich~"
Boy friend? ?
Shan Ran almost laughed out of anger.
This person is shameless.
Just then, Yuan Yu's voice came from outside the fitting room. His voice was lazy, and because he deliberately tightened his throat, it had a slightly sticky smell, which gave Shan goosebumps.
She had some vague guesses in her mind, but she couldn't think about them too much. The more she thought about them, the more confused she became, especially after hearing Yuan Yu's voice. Her head felt like it was filled with a lump of paste.
Shan Ran gritted her teeth, muttered a curse under her breath, and without even opening the door, used teleportation to throw a fireball outside.
"Baby, are you alright... Ouch, my hair!!!"
Shan Ran kicked open the door that had been burned through, and walked out aggressively, only to see Yuan Yu standing outside.
His head was burning fiercely, his hair was on fire, and he was slapping his head in a sorry state while howling and screaming. He was no longer the dashing young man he had been before.
A strange dream, the pain felt very real.
Shan Ran's mind was a complete mess, unable to think much, and she simply followed her most prominent inner thoughts.
Let's beat this guy up.
That's exactly what she did. She wasn't afraid of her own fire, so she punched the burning head again and again until the other person begged for mercy.
"Ouch...ouch...Mary! Miss Mary, Aunt Mary, please stop hitting me, please stop, I was wrong..."
"What did you do wrong?"
"I....."
However, before the other party could answer, Shanran woke up.
As dawn broke, Shanran squinted at the bright light and it took her a while to regain her senses.
My head is throbbing, and my knuckles still hurt a bit, like I just punched someone.
The memory of dreams is very short, only the part after waking up.
It's easy to imagine that if Shanran hadn't been so familiar with the illusion, she wouldn't remember anything after waking up. Even if all her secrets were discovered within the illusion, she wouldn't have noticed anything.
This must be an extremely rare superpower, so rare that there are no related records online.
Seeing that Shanran's expression was off, Rhine came over to ask her what was wrong, so she told her everything about her dream and her guesses.
Although Rhine was very angry, he remained calm and analyzed the situation.
"He recognized who you were?"
Shan Ran shook her head. "It doesn't seem like it. If it entered the dream because it recognized me, the scene wouldn't be like that, and the purpose wouldn't be to take me shopping. That behavior is more like..."
"A peacock spreading its tail feathers," Rhine scoffed.
"Hmm, that's somewhat true," Shan Ran clicked her tongue. "But if it's only our first meeting, and he just shows up in my dream like that, isn't he out of his mind?"
Rhine smiled. "That's what I meant too. He's got something wrong with his head. We should stay away from him."
That being said, no matter how big the ship is, the space for movement is limited. They saw Yuan Yu again at the restaurant at noon.
The ticket includes three meals a day. Although they are not particularly delicious, the ingredients are fresh, so passengers generally choose to eat on board.
Even though there's plenty of food in the space, Shanran doesn't mind eating too much and always chooses to have all three meals at the restaurant.
Yuan Yu changed into a burgundy shirt, still with a deep V-neck and a low slit, revealing his abs unintentionally as he moved.
He was sitting at a round table, chatting happily with a young woman. He had a bright smile on his face, and his eyes were lingering. His eyes seemed to have a pair of hooks as he stared straight at the woman beside him, causing a blush to gradually rise on her face.
Shan Ran and Rhine exchanged a glance and exchanged a few words in silence.
—See? That person can show off his feathers to anyone.
—Ha, promiscuous. I'm not like that guy.
Yuan Yu caught a glimpse of this side out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to look over.
The moment Yuan Yu's eyes met Shan Ran's, he froze, then trembled and quickly turned away, covering his face with one hand, looking as if he was afraid of being recognized.
He changed his demeanor instantly, from a carefree playboy to a cautious, timid little quail.
Shan Ran was amused.
She suddenly felt like teasing this person.
So Shanran and Rhine walked together toward Yuan Yu's table.
Is anyone here?
The restaurant is not very large, and the tables are quite close together. It is generally for guests who stay in first class or lower. For guests in the luxury suites, the meals are delivered directly to their rooms.
Yuan Yu struck up a conversation with a woman in her thirties. She had an ordinary appearance but a good temperament and was probably from a prominent family.
She shook her head. "It's just the two of us. You can sit down."
After thanking him, Shan Ran sat down next to Yuan Yu.
Yuan Yu, standing to the side, didn't move his hips, but turned his entire body to the other side, covering his face with both hands and slowly stepping out with one foot, ready to run away at any moment.
Suddenly, a hand landed on his shoulder, making him tremble even more.
"Hey? Brother, is that you? What are you doing here? Your wife is looking for you!"
Yuan Yu:...
Rhine: Pfft!
The woman next to me slapped me across the face. "What sister-in-law? You have a wife? You have a wife and you're still trying to seduce me? Bah! Shameless!"
After slapping her, the woman stood up and walked away, but after taking two steps, she came back, picked up her tray, and left together.
Before leaving, he kicked Yuan Yu again.
The woman was also a superhuman. Although she didn't use any superpowers, she was very strong, and Yuan Yu's cheek instantly turned red.
He was stunned by the beating, and only when the woman's figure was no longer visible did he slowly turn around and look at Shan Ran.
He went up the mountain and put on a playful smile.
Yuan Yu finally understood that Shan Ran had completely retained the memories from her dream.
His lips trembled, and with a mournful face, he tried to kneel down and beg for mercy.
Shanran took his arm and helped him up just before his knees hit the ground.
"Don't kneel down so quickly, I just came to ask you some questions."
"Sister, that's a superpower, a mental one. It allows me to enter dreams and create dreams to pull others in. Once inside, the person can't use their superpower for the time being. I can harm people in dreams, and when they wake up, their mental world will be affected. Their superpower orb will have problems, and in severe cases, they may become a vegetable or brain dead."
Shan Ran was stunned by this long string of words.
It took her a while to realize what was happening. She looked at Yuan Yu, both amused and exasperated, and asked, "Are you done?"
Yuan Yu glanced at her furtively, then quickly lowered his head, still looking dejected and listless, confessing everything without any thought of resistance.
"I really didn't do anything to you. It's you who hit me, and it still hurts..."
Shan Ran scoffed, "Did you not do it to me? Or did you not have time to do it to me?"
Yuan Yu was speechless for a moment, unsure how to respond, so he simply covered his head and cried out in pain.
Shan Ran slapped his hand away and carefully examined his face.
The man was forced to reveal his handsome face, which was originally charming and flamboyant, but now looked stifled and aggrieved, as if he had been greatly bullied.
"If there's no injury, where does it hurt?"
Yuan Yu pursed his lips, "The injuries in the dream won't be carried out, but the pain is still there. It's not physical pain, but pain transmitted through the spiritual world."
The way you hit me last night and burned my hair caused me immense emotional distress. I'm really in pain, sister.
“I am not your sister.”
"That's my great-aunt!"
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Author's Note: Thank you to the lovely readers for the nutrient solution: God and Her, 75248835
Ranran will not acquire Yuan Yu's superpowers; she only treats him as a subordinate.
The author's motto is: Completely virgin male, pure in body and mind, and avoid contact with other females! [Go for it!][Go for it!][Go for it!]
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