I Wasn't Born Lucky

Xie Zeqing looked at the cat. Xiao Li didn’t pick up the chocolate at first. He just looked down at the kitten. Then the kitten used its paws to push the chocolate forward. It was quite firm. The coldness and deepness in the two eyes, which was magnified by the dim light, didn’t fit with its cat-like appearance. The cat acted like it could do this the whole day if it didn’t eat.

Xiao Li and the kitten looked at each other for a moment. He scratched the cat’s chin, picked up the chocolate and ate it.

The other people who were a bit hungry, "..."

They wanted to eat as well! Xie Zeqing wondered, "What is the situation? Is it your cat?"

The kitten heard this and sat in front of Xiao Li, wagging his tail. Xiao Li corrected Xie Zeqing. "No, he was on board the ship and I fed him some seafood."

His words changed ’Shock! A cat is giving his secret lover something to eat’ into ’Primary education textbook: Cat Repaying a Kindness’. The kitten dropped his head with disappointment. Xiao Li patted him on the head and looked at the room where they had fled to in a panic.

This room was significantly better than the last one. It wasn’t comparable to the previous luxury cruise ship but compared to that bunk bed dorm, it was considered a rare and spacious room. This was apparently the room of the ghost ship’s captain or the VIP room. There was a thick mattress on the bed, a sea map on the wall, a compass in the cupboard, a globe and a strange little Indian man statue. Xiao Li headed to the cupboard and rummaged through it but didn’t find anything special.

Qi Xiaoxiao smiled and lifted the bed. She was checking the drawers when she suddenly said, "Did we fall into a misunderstanding?"

Xie Zeqing was originally standing a the door and staring at them coolly. He heard these words and his body straightened. "What misunderstanding?"

"Our mission isn’t to find out the truth of the ghost ship. It is to find the ghost and destroy it. Then we can return to reality."

Wei Lige listened very seriously and opened his mouth. "Yet we haven’t found the ghost. The water ghost and skeleton ghost didn’t seem like the main ghost that would haunt us the entire time."

"Of course. If I was going to choose, I would pick the water ghost. We are surrounded by the sea and that one is definitely the most ghostly." Wei Lige added.

Qi Xiaoxiao habitually played with the Buddha beads around her wrist and denied Wei Lige’s words. "No, I mean the ’ghost’ is just a proxy. The mission description uses ’it’ and there is no mention of a ’ghost. Then perhaps this ghost isn’t the type of ghost we are familiar with but a symbol."

Xie Zeqing touched his chin. "You mean, the ghost is... an item?"

"I’m just saying, I think the ’ghost’ is this ship!" Qi Xiaoxiao uttered the last word with an accent. "Think about it, from a luxury cruise ship to a ghost ship, this all happened at sea. It is because it is the sea that we can’t escape and get rid of this ghost ship. Only by finding ’it’ and destroying ’it’, can we get rid of ’it’!"

Wei Lige asked, "Then how do we destroy the ship?"

Qi Xiaoxiao replied, "Set fire to it and burn it."

The other people were uncertain. Xie Zeqing told her, "If we are going to do this, we must be 100% sure we are right or we will die at sea."

"I know. This is a bet using my own life which is why I haven’t said it before. Still, I think this is the most likely guess." Qi Xiaoxiao paused here and glanced at Xiao Li, who had his back to them the whole time. "Moriarty, what do you think?"

Luo Shan was listening to them talk but couldn’t understand the words about the task. Her fingers were tangled together as she followed the eyes of the reincarnators to Xiao Li. Xiao Li was standing in front of the cupboard, his fingers flocking over the top of the wooden cupboard where there were words carved with a knife. 【 All I want is eternity. 】

Xiao Li knocked on it with his knuckles and turned back. He didn’t align himself with QI Xiaoxiao and just said, "Look again."

Xie Zeqing pushed him aside and read the words on the cupboard. "Is this person a theatre fan? You jump, I jump."

They left the room and returned to the corridor. Under the light of the flashlight, the corridor was a mess.

The fish creatures had damaged the ghost ship. Fortunately, the bottom of the ship wasn’t broken and seawater hadn’t poured in. The hull was still steadily moving through the sea. Occasionally, waves hit and the hull was carried by the waves.

The kitten originally wanted to go into Xiao Li’s arms and follow him. However, Xiao Li put him back in the room. The kitten was caught twice and finally had to lie down and watch Xiao Li.

The moonlight came in through the broken plank, spilling all over the ground like frost falling. Xiao Li held a flashlight and didn’t directly go forward. Rather, he took the road. In addition to some traces left by the creatures, the bones he had thrown to the ground weren’t taken away.

He leaned over to pick up a bone. The moment he picked it up, he found that it was different. The original white bone had been smoothly white. Now the white bone was slightly corroded and potholed, like it had been watered with a bit of sulfuric acid. The green blood that the fish creature hit by the bone shed was next to the bone but now it was 10 centimeters away.

Xie Zeqing saw that he didn’t move and impatiently urged him. "Moriarty, what’s wrong with you? Is this bone so good-looking? Do you have a bones fetish?"

Qi Xiaoxiao thought differently and asked, "Did you find any clues?"

Xiao Li held the bone and said, "The position has changed."

Xie Zeqing said, "Then the position changed. Why think so messily? What if that group of monsters kicked it while walking?"

"Someone... his hiding in the dark?" Qi Xiaoxiao thought about it. "They moved this bone while we weren’t paying attention."

Wei Lige added, "This alone doesn’t mean anything but we should be more careful."

Luo Shan hadn’t spoken since Qi Xiaoxiao mentioned the task. However, she walked closer to Xiao Li compared to her previous closeness to Wei Lige.

Xie Zeqing said, "I said don’t think too much. Let’s hurry forward. I am seasick from the sea swaying. I suspect that this ship deliberately wants to drown us."

It might’ve been unreasonable if Xie Zeqing said this before but now he was justified. This part of the sea was becoming less calm. The waves were higher than before and kept on beating at the ghost ship.

Xiao Li put away the bone and stepped forward. As they disappeared against at the end, a white bone followed them from far away. The legs and right hand had been restored to their original state as it walked along the road. It was only the last left arm bone that was still in Xiao Li’s hands. It had to follow them, waiting for the opportunity to recover the bone.

The reincarnators walked forward for some time but they hadn’t reached the captain’s room. Xie Zeqing looked back and forth at the road ahead and back. "If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m not sensing a ghost, I would think we’ve encountered a ghost wall."

Wei Lige agreed. "It has exceeded the normal length of the ship. This ghost ship looks broken and small on the outside. How can it be so long inside?"

Xiao Li recalled the previous road. He held the scalpel in his hand and drew a map of their path on the wooden wall. "This is the route we have taken."

It wasn’t so much that the route was long, it was more curved. Interestingly, the route they took curved back and forth but it was always going forward and they weren’t walking in circles. The reincarnators looked at the map drawn by Xiao Li and were collectively silent.

Qi Xiaoxiao listened to him speak and didn’t interject. Xie Zeqing wanted to endure it but in the end, he couldn’t bear it anymore. "You were drawing the route? I thought it was hair..."

Xiao Li held the scalpel, inserted it in the wall and created a heavy scratch, cutting off the route. "Okay, since we are going forward, continue."

The intimidated Xie Zeqing, "......"

Luo Shan saw Xiao Li’s mood and since she still had the action of Xiao Li saving her in her mind, she whispered to him, "I think the road map was very clear."

Xie Zeqing wondered, "Are your eyes confused?"

Luo Shan replied, "I-I was just telling the truth."

"Really? Touch your conscience and say those words again."

"......"

Xiao Li ignored their noise. He walked in front and wiped the scalpel with his sleeve. Compared to when it was summoned from the little yellow book, the scalpel was now stained with green mold and wood chips due to Xiao Li’s actions.

It was strange that when the luxury cruise ship had just turned into a ghost ship, Xiao Li had cut the wood. At that time, the wood was ’fresh’ and not rotten and soft like it he drew the road map. There seemed to be a film layer on the outer layer of the scalpel. It didn’t erode into the interior and Xiao Li could see something slightly in the light.

He turned the scalpel and the side of the knife reflected Xiao Li’s face, as well as something that shouldn’t exist. Something was rolling towards them from the distance, getting closer and closer.

The author has something to say:

Ghost ship: Wait, is there a small bug scribbling on me? Even if it is drawn, how can the drawing be so ugly? What is the meaning of drawing a bowl of snail powder? Oh, you are beating up a 100 year old ship.