Chapter 15: Escaping the Ghost Ship (II)

“I’ll go get the key. You stay right here, don’t move!” After he finished reading the note, Luo Jian made Feng Yu Lan hold tight onto the railing and stand at edge of the crow’s nest, near the net rope. Thereafter, Luo Jian crouched down beside the remains buried under the sails and slowly reached out to remove the cloth.

Under the piece of cloth was a disfigured corpse that was completely rotten; it was no different from the dead bodies inside those boxes. Nonetheless, Luo Jian’s whole body sagged with relief the instant he saw this corpse. “The guardian of the key is filled with deep loathing and enmity against the both of you.” That one sentence written on the note that Luo Jian read naturally made Luo Jian imagine all of the possibilities that could arise, such as the Stalker he unexpectedly encountered in the first chamber; it was dead but it suddenly came back to life and gave him a fatal blow while his guard was down. This kind of unantic.i.p.ated attack was the most fearsome to anyone.

So after seeing this horrendous, rotten corpse, Luo Jian breathed a sigh of relief instead. He then began to search through the other’s pocket to find the key. He couldn’t care less about the rancid stench or the squirming maggots, as he had already become accustomed to such scenes when it came to these dead bodies. In fact, he even became somewhat used to fighting and killing, as well as remaining cool-headed in such circ.u.mstances. Although Luo Jian might not have been aware of this, Feng Yu Lan obviously felt an slight change in Luo Jian.

Only under the most life-threatening and oppressive situations would an otherwise ordinary person instantly transform into a fierce soldier who wouldn’t even blink an eye at the world’s destruction. But whether this change was for the better or the worse was still unknown.

Luo Jian’s fingers eventually touched the key hidden deep inside in the dead bodies’ pocket, but just when he was about to pull it out, something horrifying happened! Luo Jian didn’t have any time to prepare before a white skeletal hand aggressively caught his arm! Sheer pain shot up through his wrist!

Luo Jian’s widened his eyes in horror. He gasped at the unbelievable sight of the dead body before him. This decomposed corpse was actually moving! The carca.s.s that was only a pile of bones, sc.r.a.ps of rotting flesh, bobbed its skull awkwardly and unsteadily made its way up; the hand grasped his arm firmly, and the rickety bones issued a grating sound!

Both Luo Jian and Feng Yu Lan cried out from seeing this abnormal scene. “f.u.c.king h.e.l.l!”

Luo Jian started freaking out. Distressed, he tried drawing his hand back, but unexpectedly, the strength of this skeleton astonished Luo Jian. No matter how hard he pulled back, the bone hand still firmly gripped Luo Jian’s wrist. At the same time, its body slowly sat up straight. A faint green light glinted within those two bottomless, dark holes on its skull, fixing its gaze on Luo Jian.

Luo Jian was overcome by terror; gooseb.u.mps appeared all over his body. Holding the knife in one of his hands, he ruthlessly thrusted downwards at the corpse’s arm, but the edge of the blade rang out the moment he hit it—Clang! It was as if he’d just slashed metal! He wasn’t able to cut down this seemingly fragile skeleton!

“What is this thing?! It’s so strong!” Luo Jian continued hacking at the body and constantly moved around. He immediately lifted his leg and ferociously kicked at the corpse’s stomach, but despite everything, the corpse persistently latched onto Luo Jian’s arm; still tenacious after death, it didn’t release its hold!

The dead body didn’t only grab Luo Jian’s arm; its other hand quivered and slowly approached Luo Jian’s hand, scratching at his fingers that were wrapped around the key. It seemed to want to take the key back from Luo Jian.

Luo Jian looked at the dead body’s movements, and that’s when the thought struck him. Taking advantage of the corpse’s blind spot, he opened his fingers and let the key fall straight to the ground. The corpse promptly loosened its grip on Luo Jian and kneeled on the platform to pick the key up.

But how could the sluggish movements of a corpse be faster than Luo Jian? Luo Jian swiftly kicked the skeleton’s hand with his foot, bent down, s.n.a.t.c.hed the key away, and immediately tossed it to Feng Yu Lan. The key was nearly swept away by the powerful wind’s gust, but Feng Yu Lan nimbly caught it, and without having to be instructed by Luo Jian, Feng Yu Lan quickly hopped down from the observation deck and stepped on the net rope to climb down.

The corpse abruptly rushed over, and this time, it seemed to have gotten faster! Just when Feng Yu Lan placed one foot down on the net rope, it lunged forward and grabbed onto the corners of Feng Yu Lan’s clothes! Luo Jian was even more alert. He darted and jumped on the back of the dead body. Though the corpse’s strength was immeasurable, its balance was lacking. It tumbled backwards, and Luo Jian pinned it to the ground with his foot. But its bony hands still clung tightly to Feng Yu Lan’s clothes. Feng Yu Lan was caught by it and was also dragged backwards!

Luo Jian didn’t stop moving. Without pausing, he held Feng Yu Lan back with one hand, and he used his other hand, which held the knife, to skillfully cut the hem of his clothes that the corpse wouldn’t release.

“Go down!” Luo Jian thundered at Feng Yu Lan and then fiercely lifted Feng Yu Lan and shoved him directly off the observation deck. Feng Yu Lan shrieked in fright from this action; he narrowly grabbed the net rope as he fell, then furiously yelled at Luo Jian.

“Ah! Luo Jian! You murderer1!”

Luo Jian ignored Feng Yu Lan’s yelling and focused all of his attention on the dead body in front of him. This corpse seemed to have realized that he wouldn’t be able to retrieve the key. Completely angered, it opened it jaws wide, directed a deafening roar to Luo Jian, similarly to how beasts roared at their enemies, and launched itself right towards Luo Jian!

Luo Jian knew this thing’s strength was great and its bones, hard. Recklessly fighting it was futile. The best option was to push it into the sea.

The platform was very high, and the sea’s winds were powerful; with the wind, the probability of pushing it down into the ocean was very likely. Most of the flesh on its body was decomposed and gone, and all that mainly remained was a white skeletal frame, meaning that it was quite light, perhaps even lighter than half of the weight of an average male. And that, coupled with these strong winds, made it quite possible for it to be blown away.

Luo Jian, who had made up his mind, timely avoided the corpse’s attack. And once it was near the edge of the observation deck, he forcefully kicked out his foot. This action exhausted all of his strength, but as a result, the corpse was flung upwards. The wind was still blowing strong, and it soon carried the dead body into the air. But annoyingly, this hateful corpse, which obviously couldn’t be anymore dead, was still intelligent. In the middle of falling, it suddenly stretched out its bony arms and clutched Luo Jian’s foot—well, more accurately, his shoe.

“f.u.c.k!” Luo Jian only had time to shout one word before he was dragged down by the corpse, directly falling from the observation deck alongside the other.

In his daze, he seemed to have heard Feng Yu Lan anxiously cry out his name.

During the fall, Luo Jian abandoned his own shoe, and the corpse flew into the ocean with his shoe. Unfortunately, Luo Jian’s wasn’t light at all, so he wasn’t blown into the waters by the sea breeze. He dropped straight down towards the deck! Luo Jian estimated that the height of the platform above was about as high as the third floor of a building, so although he probably wouldn’t die from the fall, a couple of broken bones were inevitable.

Luo Jian knew there was no way out of this; he could do nothing but close his eyes and meet his fate.

However, the expected pain never arrived, because a second before he crashed against the ground, Luo Jian felt himself being caught in someone’s arms.

This was no trivial matter. Everyone knew that when an object fell, it had an impact force. The greater the height the object fell from and the heavier the object was, the greater its force. Even a light egg in free-fall would be harder than stone, let alone Luo Jian whose weight and height were those of an average adult male. Rashly running up to catch the falling object or person with one’s hands will undoubtedly result in fractures and broken hands!

Luo Jian’s first thought was that perhaps Feng Yu Lan somehow climbed down, rushed over and caught him? However, the moment he opened his eyes, he was stunned speechless.

It wasn’t Feng Yu Lan. But this person’s face was extremely familiar. So familiar that Luo Jian simply wanted to scream!

It was the very Stalker he met in the first chamber!

The beautiful man’s blood-red eyes unblinkingly gazed at Luo Jian. Luo Jian was so frightened; he choked on his breath and frightfully trembled in the other’s arms. Even fighting with the monster and ‘dancing’ with a corpse at a high alt.i.tude didn’t leave him scared. But before this Stalker, Luo Jian was petrified; he was terrified to death.

He couldn’t understand why he was so afraid, but being stabbed with a knife most likely left him with psychological traumas. Regardless, this situation right now was extremely discomforting. Luo Jian instinctively struggled to get out of the other’s embrace, but the Stalker only tightened his hold on him.

The storm at sea seemed to have calmed down slightly. But Luo Jian felt that the other person’s face was a bit too close. Those alluring crimson eyes and attractive face made his heart race; his emotions ran wild, and his heart pound violently against his chest. He interpreted this strange reaction as his pure fear intensifying, and so he struggled even more.

But the other’s next action made Luo Jian freeze and settle down.

It wasn’t exactly a big deal. The other person merely lowered his head and pressed his tongue against Luo Jian’s lips, licking him. The temperature and moist sensation immediately made Luo Jian jerk backwards; his body was stiff and motionless. To Luo Jian, this man’s clinging felt similar to a snake wrapping its body around its victim. The more he struggled, the tighter the other would cling, and eventually, the other would strangle the life out of Luo Jian.

Luo Jian didn’t dare move a single muscle, but Feng Yu Lan couldn’t manage so much. He hurriedly climbed down from the rope and ran straight towards Luo Jian’s direction. Seeing Luo Jian in a stranger’s arms, he immediately thought Luo Jian was entangled with another monster, and he readily picked up a broken plank off the deck. At this moment, the cowardly Feng Yu Lan was peerlessly heroic. He courageously rushed forward, and his target was precisely the Stalker.

However, this level of attack didn’t pose a threat to the Stalker. At last, he loosened his grip on Luo Jian and smashed the board that flew towards him with one hand. But because of this, Luo Jian gained his freedom. Staggering to his feet, he sprinted towards Feng Yu Lan and dragged Feng Yu Lan away by his hand.

He didn’t turn his head around once and just ran to the entrance of the ship’s hold.

The Stalker didn’t chase him. He just stood still and thoughtfully stared at Luo Jian’s figure as the two individuals disappeared through the doorway of the ship’s hold.

The hold of the ship was dark, but since an oil lamp hung from Feng Yu Lan’s waist, the situation wasn’t entirely bad. The two people ran for a long, long time. In the end, they were confused; they didn’t know which door they had opened or which room they had entered. Luo Jian just slammed the door shut and securely locked it, then sat on the floor with Feng Yu Lan, panting and inhaling as much air as possible.

“That…who was that man just now?” Feng Yu Lan hesitantly questioned. He was completely bewildered.

Luo Jian felt awkward, as he didn’t know how to answer this question. He thought for a while, then briefly responded, “Not a good person.”

Feng Yu Lan squinted at Luo Jian; his face was filled with doubt and suspicion. He continued, “But I just saw the two of you kissing…”

“Nonsense! Are your eyes on the back of your head?! Whatever you saw was just an illusion!” Luo Jian’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. His entire face flushed a deep red and he outright denied everything.

“But I clearly saw…” Feng Yu Lan didn’t get to finish his sentence, because he was immediately tackled by Luo Jian. Luo Jian curled his fingers, slowly approached Feng Yu Lan, and mercilessly began…tickling his body!

In the end, Feng Yu Lan giggled, gasped for air, and rolled around the ground, wholly distracted. Luo Jian had successfully diverted his attention.