Chapter 127: The Sea of Wandering 20
Yi Ke did not answer. Instead, he continued to rinse the foam off his body and then wrapped him in a soft bath towel. Zhuang Ningyu sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the hairdryer buzzing in his ear. The scent of warm lemon bath gel wafted through the old cabin once again.
The statue was pure and holy, like clear moonlight. The sculptor had not imbued it with any lustful gaze, nor would it arouse any profane impulses in the viewer. This fact comforted Yi Ke to some extent, but only to a limited extent. Moreover, compared to the statue, he was more concerned about his lover who had rashly put himself in danger for the umpteenth time.
Zhuang Ningyu knew his worries, but opportunities during missions were often fleeting, leaving little time for deep deliberation. The sound of the hairdryer stopped. Zhuang Ningyu held the other’s hot wrist, but words stuck in his throat. Phrases like “it won’t happen again” probably wouldn’t be very effective in this situation, nor would they carry much credibility. Yi Ke knew this too, so he just gently pulled his hand away, tidied up the bathroom roughly, turned off the light, and lay back on the bed.
The sky outside had turned a mottled blue, with a narrow strip of pink in the east. Dawn was approaching.
Yi Ke closed his eyes, suppressing the irritation in his heart, frowned slightly, and turned over. However, someone squeezed into his embrace. The thin wooden bed, overwhelmed, made a harsh creaking sound. The noise was astonishingly loud, making it hard for him to pretend to sleep. A fuzzy head nuzzled his arm aside, and Zhuang Ningyu pushed against the bed with his feet, successfully settling himself into the most suitable position.
“…”
In the semi-dark cabin, a kitten-like kiss landed gently on his lips, carrying a cool, moist lemon scent. Yi Ke closed his eyes for a moment, then suddenly tightened his arms to pin the person back onto the bed, locking eyes with him in the hazy light. Zhuang Ningyu stroked his face with fingertips, his eyes like a pool of melting spring water, impossibly gentle.
The promised land given to only one person flowed with milk and honey. The believer knelt devoutly to touch the rose covered in dew. Yi Ke also leaned down, biting that soft spot amidst hot breaths, grinding back and forth, almost plundering all the sweetness and coolness between his lips and teeth at once.
“I’m sorry.” After the kiss ended, he hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear, “I’m not angry with you, and I know the choice you made was the optimal one, it’s just…”
“I know.” Zhuang Ningyu patted the back of his head. “It’s okay.”
The first ray of sunlight had shone in, landing on the pillow, somewhat dazzling. Zhuang Ningyu reached out to close the curtains but his wrist was grabbed by Yi Ke with a hint of panic, as if he didn’t want his lover to leave him even for this brief moment. His Adam’s apple rolled up and down. Hesitating for a moment, he still asked in a low voice, “Is my mentality and behavior very unqualified?”
Zhuang Ningyu chuckled: “It’s fine. You just go ahead and be angry. I’ll coax you anyway.”
Yi Ke laughed too, lowered his head and took a hard bite on his mouth, saying seriously: “Next time, no need to coax, just leave me be.”
Zhuang Ningyu shook his head: “Can’t bear to.”
Yi Ke closed the curtains and lay down holding him, his emotions stabilizing a bit. Zhuang Ningyu buried his face in his lover’s chest, relaxing completely in the familiar scent. Screaming ghosts and filthy skeletons were all blocked out of their dreams. Even that white statue, Zhuang Ningyu didn’t remember until he woke up at noon.
“How was it handled?”
“Rewrapped in white cloth, very exquisitely, and even tied with a bow,” Qing Gang answered. Without possession, the statue was just a statue, harmless. And because this Seransha looked so much like Captain Zhuang, no one was bold enough to suggest smashing it and throwing it into the sea—if anyone was to smash it, it should be Xiao Yi. Anyway, we definitely wouldn’t smash it.
“Where are Fu Dong and Song Qiaowei?” In the dining room, Zhuang Ningyu pulled out a chair.
“Last night, these two came to the deck, standing sneakily in a hidden spot until the Jellyfish Ghost exploded and the Sailor Skeletons were washed away by waves. Only then did they return to their room. Their expressions were priceless; it’s a pity the recorder didn’t catch it.”
“He wanted to use the Jellyfish Ghost to take away the Prophet’s authority.” Zhuang Ningyu rolled up a slice of carrot with a fork and put it into Yi Ke’s plate, asking, “Is there any other information about the Prophet in the data package?”
“No, all role cards only have a most basic setting.” Yi Ke didn’t like carrots much, except those given by his wife. He crunched on it and answered, “This game grants very few initial skills to characters, so the strength of ability and combat power should depend entirely on the accumulation of items later on.”
There were countless item cards in the data package, but they were not well-associated with specific role cards. There were also many useless cards, duplicate cards, and deleted cards. It was unknown where the investigation team scraped together this mess, yet they still named it the “Refined Version.” Other colleagues initially thought about browsing through it together, but after a couple of pages, they got dizzy and turned to praising Xiao Yi—worthy of being the top-tier handsome guy who could pursue Captain Zhuang!
“I always felt prophecy should be an active skill—”
“Eye of Destiny!”
Before Zhuang Ningyu could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Yi Ke. A sudden flash of inspiration hit his brain: “There is an item card called Eye of Destiny, shaped like a crystal ball. Could it be related to the Prophet?”
[Eye of Destiny] If mortals wish to capture the trajectory of the future, they must go to the Tranquil Sea and find the prying eye there.
It sounded very much like the configuration for a Prophet, but the problem was, no one on the scene knew where the Tranquil Sea was. And the monster captain and first mate steering the ship, according to Qing Gang’s check, had disappeared. Now the ship’s course and power were entirely determined by the mermaids attached to the bottom of the ship.
“The mermaids should know the location of the Tranquil Sea. After all, they are, um, how to say, local fish?” Zhong Mu said. “But if the King has joined forces with the mermaid clan, as allies, it should be hard for them to cooperate with us, right?”
Qing Gang suggested: “Maybe Xiao Yi can try to beat them into submission?”
Convincing people with martial virtue was the most common trick and routine of the Order Maintenance Department. With the poetry anthology, Yi Ke could indeed launch effective attacks on the mermaids at the bottom of the ship, but… he said uncertainly, “I feel like given the IQ of that clan, they would be beaten away, beaten to death, but probably wouldn’t be beaten into leading us to the Tranquil Sea.”
Leaving other things aside, communication was the first problem. As the person who had the most “dialogue” with the mermaid clan these days… being chased and howled at with “Princess” counted as dialogue, right? Qing Gang volunteered: “I’ll try when the time comes!”
Yi Ke looked at Zhuang Ningyu.
Zhuang Ningyu nodded: “Trying is fine. Anyway, there are plenty of mermaids in this sea, a renewable resource.”
Feel free to mess around.
The mermaid clan at the bottom of the ship probably didn’t expect that even though they were hiding, they would get headshots from the poetry anthology again in broad daylight. They widened their eyes in horror, holding their heads and fleeing rapidly! Mermaids detached from the bottom of the ship one after another, causing the hull to shake violently. Fu Dong and Song Qiaowei, who were inside the cabin, were caught off guard and both fell from the sofa, landing in a very un-“superior” embarrassed posture. Waves hit the porthole one after another. Black flocculent matter kept bubbling up from the seabed, and the fishy smell instantly enveloped the entire ship!
“What’s going on?” Song Qiaowei steadied herself holding the table. She looked at the mermaid clan suddenly emerging on the sea surface, watching those greasy, huge fish tails slapping together “papapa,” like dense, ugly catfish crowding the river during flood season, making people’s hearts palpitate.
No new text appeared on either the King card or the Queen card. This turmoil came without warning. Fu Dong wanted to go to the deck to check, but ran into two action team members as soon as he opened the door.
“Sorry, performing official duties. Please stay in the cabin and do not move.”
Last night he was enjoying the expansion of royal power, and today he was slapped in the face. Fu Dong’s facial muscles twitched slightly, and finally, he closed the door backhanded.
The ship, having lost power, spun in circles on the sea, jolting violently. Huge waves hit the ship’s side with immense force, making terrifying noises. Song Qiaowei rushed into the bathroom to vomit wildly. Fu Dong also turned pale, trembling as he looked at the role card in his hand, hoping to catch a glimpse of a lifesaving driftwood!
And he finally got the driftwood, but it had nothing to do with the role card; it was all thanks to the action team members taking over the cockpit. The motor churned the waves. The last mermaid swam as fast as a flying arrow. Seeing the roar being left further and further behind, before it could breathe a sigh of relief, a sudden pain hit the base of its tail!
“Splash!” The whole fish flew up!
Du Bai held a huge… let’s call it a fishing rod, temporarily assembled by Qing Gang using the toolbox on the ship just now. The sharpened steel bar penetrated the flesh and bone above the hard scales. No matter how desperately the mermaid struggled, it was stubbornly dragged back and smashed heavily onto the deck!
The mermaid let out an angry roar but fell silent upon seeing the poetry anthology in Yi Ke’s hand.
Caught it. Du Bai looked at Qing Gang. You, go communicate.
Qing Gang rubbed his fists, brewed some emotions, and then chanted in a thick voice like a macho man’s throat singing: “Tranquil Sea!”
Other colleagues’ expressions stiffened. Du Bai gripped the fishing rod tightly. Zhong Mu pinched the railing. Alice bit her lower lip. Even Ye Jiaoyue raised her hand to press her forehead.
The mermaid had no reaction. As Zhuang Ningyu guessed before, their IQ wasn’t enough to understand cooperation outside the original settings.
Qing Gang adjusted his pronunciation again: “Tranquil—”
“Okay.” Zhuang Ningyu patted his shoulder. “Let’s stop the spell chanting for today. We’ll think of another way.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the poetry anthology in Yi Ke’s hand smashed the mermaid into sand and water. Qing Gang couldn’t stop it in time, so he had to give up the idea of trying a few more times with a pinched voice, asking, “What’s the other way?”
There was no map in the cockpit. Two colleagues were just responsible for stabilizing the ship, also waiting for Zhuang Ningyu to determine the course. The mermaid clan had fled completely. This ship was currently just like the name of this Rule Zone, falling into wandering after getting lost.
Zhuang Ningyu took out a new item card from his pocket: “Rely on this.”
Obtained just last night. When the Jellyfish Ghost exploded, this card immediately fell into his palm.
[Jellyfish Ghost] The clumsy imitator covers its face in shame. Its soul and those sailors will forever serve the God of Beauty.
The skeleton crew had nothing to do with the King and Queen, let alone an alliance contract. They were simply bewitched by the beauty of Seransha, so they were very useful. Half an hour later, watching the skeleton crew diligently pushing the cruise ship with “heave-ho” and clashing into each other with “clatter clatter” noises, Qing Gang sighed deeply: “Love brains are good, love brains are good ah!”
“What love brain, this is called lick… lick skeleton.” Alice corrected.
Whatever, the name doesn’t matter. Qing Gang appreciated the underwater labor force dragging the boat scene enough before remembering to ask Zhuang Ningyu: “Captain Zhuang, since you had this Jellyfish card, why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“To give you more practice opportunities,” Zhuang Ningyu answered. “How would you know without trying? What if you could really communicate with the mermaid clan? Wouldn’t you gain another skill? Although communication failed now, at least you memorized one more English word.”
Qing Gang thought about it and found it reasonable. But less than five minutes later, he turned and asked Zhong Mu: “Tran-what sea was it?”
Zhong Mu: “…I advise you not to force yourself.”
Fu Dong and his wife in the cabin still didn’t know what was happening outside, nor could they leave their residence. They could only see through the porthole the panic-stricken mermaid clan fleeing in all directions and disappearing quickly, followed by the influx of floating sailor skeletons, each with a mysteriously happy smile on their skeletal face. Two extremely disjointed scenes; even though Fu Dong and his wife racked their brains, they couldn’t reasonably connect them.
The motor efficiency of the skeleton crew wasn’t worse than the mermaid swarm, and they were even faster because they had no resistance and great strength. Occasionally looking up and seeing Zhuang Ningyu standing on the deck, their efficiency would instantly increase by 50%, “whoosh,” and a huge wave almost threw Qing Gang off the ship!
Yi Ke grabbed Zhuang Ningyu and shielded him in his arms. Seawater failed to wet his windbreaker, so only Qing Gang got hurt again. With no one to protect him and no windbreaker, he became the only drowned rat among the deck trio. Zhong Mu leaned against the corridor wall with arms crossed, showing no sympathy upon seeing him: “Remember this, be less of a third wheel next time.”
Outside the Rule Zone.
In the port of Country G, there have been many new “guests” in recent days. Originally, everyone gathered here to find Fu Han, but now Fu Han and his bodyguards were still missing, and Fu Dong was trapped inside too. Two sons met with mishaps successively, and the company became an empty shell. Father Fu fainted on the spot and was taken to the hospital. Later, a large group of people from the Fu family came, but each harbored ulterior motives, helping nothing but adding chaos.
As for the two private rescue teams, there has been no news so far. The bosses of the rescue teams and the families of the missing persons have rushed over one after another. For a time, hotel prices at the port soared more than ten times.
More chaotic than the bustling crowd were various rumors. Tens of thousands of netizens around the globe were discussing this bizarre Rule Zone. Fu Dong and his wife arriving directly in the high seas of Europe from their home in China thousands of miles away sounded like a wonderful future where the Anywhere Door became reality. Thus, a fierce war of words regarding the positive and negative impacts of Rule Zones on the world started again!
This scene was not what the Chinese government wanted, nor what other major powers wanted. The “Monolith” project to completely drive Rule Zones away from Earth had been quietly launched for a long time. From bustling cities to remote deserts, from cold polar regions to the hot equator, countless computers and scientists’ brains were running at high speed synchronously. Massive data like vast nebulae were just waiting for the final moment of completion!
At such a time, all leading major powers wanted only stability, maintaining the existing stability. But unfortunately, because of Fu Dong and his wife’s “Anywhere Door” incident, netizens’ attention focused again. And in the newly stirred discussion, the “pro-benefit faction” overwhelmingly gained the upper hand!
Someone was obviously manipulating public opinion behind the scenes. Although the other party hid well, based on the most basic and simple logic, one only needed to think about who would benefit.
The Invisible Giant was like a huge old tree. After years of development, its roots had long penetrated deep underground, spreading madly in all directions, greedily absorbing the last nutrients.
…
Inside the white mist.
Midnight. The mermaid clan still didn’t come, and no new trouble appeared. A blood moon hung in midair. The skeleton crew was still rowing tirelessly “clang clang.” Two colleagues from the Capital team on duty leaned on the railing, lamenting Captain Zhuang is indeed Captain Zhuang; commanding monsters takes only a look for a hundred kilometers, more fuel-efficient than Japanese cars.
Inside the cabin, Yi Ke raised his hand to close the curtains, blocking the skeleton heads outside the window that boldly tried to stack on top of “colleagues” to peek. Zhuang Ningyu sat on the sofa holding the laptop, wanting to search for items of other characters by keywords. King—the scepter was already his. He then input “crown,” “royal sword,” “cloak,” “ring.” After reading them one by one, he input “Imperial Seal.” Yi Ke caught a glimpse and laughed, teasing: “That’s not the King’s, that’s yours.”
Zhuang Ningyu didn’t take the bait. He put the laptop aside and stretched hard backwards. Yi Ke took the opportunity to lean over and kiss his exposed belly. Zhuang Ningyu shrank back from ticklishness: “Go sleep your sleep!”
“Not sleepy. Will watch with you a bit longer.” Yi Ke squeezed over, forcibly fitting himself precisely into the small sofa, wrapping his arm around his waist. “Wifey, why are you so amazing?”
“Amazing where?” Zhuang Ningyu patted the head rubbing against his chest and asked amusingly.
Yi Ke didn’t answer, but just amazing. For example, his throat had always been bad before, but after taking the King’s scepter in the Rule Zone, it healed immediately! This shows my wifey is indeed the chosen Emperor! Kiss, kiss. He sat up spiritedly, holding the person and kissing repeatedly, an animated cartoon style intoxicated kissing. Zhuang Ningyu’s face was covered in saliva. He pushed twice but couldn’t push him away, turning his head and scolding laughingly: “Don’t copy U-shield… stop it… alright alright… I’ll accompany you after leaving the Rule Zone… The ship stopped!”
Yi Ke stopped his hands: “Ship stopped?”
The ship really stopped.
Because the Tranquil Sea had arrived.
No longer needing the skeleton crew’s lifting and fixing, the cruise ship could float steadily on the sea surface. The Tranquil Sea lived up to its name; it was indeed as quiet as a huge dark blue gem. The blood moon had long receded, turning into a sky full of stars, reflected on the smooth gem surface, twinkling and extinguishing, beautiful like an illusion.
“It’s so beautiful here,” Alice said. Because it was too beautiful, she even checked her protective wristband. Experience from multiple operations taught that the more beautiful and bizarre things were, the more dangerous they often were. But this time seemed to be an exception because the environmental pollution index detected by the wristband was 0.
“Is that flashing thing underwater the Eye of Destiny?” Alice pointed not far away. “At that vortex.”
“Should be.” Round, brilliant, light flowing, looking very much like a crystal ball.
Du Bai changed the top of the fishing rod used during the day into a net, preparing to scoop out the crystal ball. Unexpectedly, that thing looked shallow, as if floating on the water surface, but once actually trying to scoop, it couldn’t be touched at all.
“Forget it. Such a thing couldn’t possibly be handled by your low-end crab-scooping equipment,” Qing Gang said.
Zhuang Ningyu tried asking the skeleton crew to fetch it, but they hesitated and refused to step forward, their upper and lower jaws chattering wildly, fully utilizing the only part of themselves capable of expressing emotions.
“They are afraid?” Zhong Mu saw the clue. Monsters born in the sea are afraid of the sea?
“I’ll go down and check.” Ye Jiaoyue tied a rope to her waist. She was the Prophet and must get her own item.
Zhuang Ningyu nodded, reminding her: “Safety first.”
Ye Jiaoyue grew up by the Jincheng River. It was said she learned to swim before walking. She was excellent in water and had experience in multiple underwater missions. Going into the sea wasn’t a problem. The skeleton crew was originally floating around the ship. Seeing she seemed to be going into the sea, they immediately showed terrified expressions, holding their wide-open chins with their hands.
“Captain Ye, ready,” Zhong Mu said.
Ye Jiaoyue changed into a special diving suit, gripped the safety rope tightly, and slowly descended along the slippery hull toward the sea surface. But before her feet touched the seawater, she stepped on a hard head first. The skull rolled into the sea with a “gurgle,” then was picked up by a companion and put back. They didn’t disperse; the intention was obvious: trying to stop Ye Jiaoyue from continuing into the sea.
Qing Gang: “What to do? I actually saw a very honest and simple expression on their faces.”
They were so annoying last night, like bedbugs, chopping “crack crack” endlessly, but today they instantly became cute. It shows whether human or monster, the most important thing is to follow the right leader!
Ye Jiaoyue took a deep breath, bypassed the skeleton sailors, and jumped, submerging her whole body into the sea!
Cold seawater flooded over her body. Ye Jiaoyue opened her eyes. Through the diving goggles, she actually saw a scene as brilliant and beautiful as a kingdom of gems. Her brain felt like it received a high-quality “massage,” and she instantly became intoxicated and light-headed! However, this intoxication and light-headedness lasted less than 0.5 seconds. After 0.5 seconds, she sobered up and heavily pressed her protective wristband!
Red warning lights flashed violently underwater. Two team members quickly pulled Ye Jiaoyue up!
“Cough cough.” She took off the diving goggles, her brain still immersed in the dizziness just now. It took a full half minute before she spoke with lingering fear, “Mental pollution.”
“Understood.” Zhuang Ningyu looked at the mental pollution index on her wristband; it had gone off the charts. The worlds above and below this sea area were completely separate. Even Ye Jiaoyue couldn’t go down, let alone other team members. He stood up and said, “I’ll go.”
Yi Ke frowned.
Zhuang Ningyu patted his arm. Be good.
