EBE Chapter 205 Falling into the Sea
Chapter 205 Falling into the Sea
The ship's log states that the tools for refining whale blubber only appeared on board in the fourth year, and Yan Xun and Gu Jia went to the refining furnace area in the middle of the Terror Ship.
Perhaps because they hadn't encountered any whales yet, there were no crew members here. Although there were some hard-to-clean marks on the ground, the stench in the room wasn't obvious.
Contrary to what Qin Ke said, the refining silo didn't smell bad.
At least in Yan Xun's understanding, this place on the whaling ship shouldn't be this clean.
Yan Xun looked at the boiler specifically used to melt whale blubber and asked, "Did they return without catching many whales last time?"
Otherwise, after years of use, the room wouldn't be so clean; there would be thick, sticky residue on the floor and a stench that would never disappear.
In his last diary entry, the captain did mention that the whales wanted to kill them.
Based on the account of the Colombo capsizing, it is likely that a whale capsized the Terror in unfamiliar waters, causing many crew members to fall into the Sea of Evil.
The diary also mentioned—
"They are possessed by evil spirits."
Yan Xun originally thought it was referring to whales or dolphins, but now it seems it might be referring to the crew.
"You said in the diary that they reached unfamiliar waters," Gu Jia thought for a moment and then asked, "Could it be the area where the ice wall is located?"
"Maybe?" Yan Xun wasn't sure either.
The diary reveals too little.
Perhaps the captain was worried about discovering too many secrets, because he wrote many things very vaguely.
For example, it was never mentioned who the "he" staring at him was, although Yan Xun now thought it might be the portrait in his captain's room.
The two circled the refining room several more times, but still couldn't find any crucial clues.
But perhaps they had lingered there for too long, because Yan Xun first heard footsteps, and then someone coughed impatiently a few times.
He turned around and saw Will standing in the doorway—the same gruff, brown-haired crewman from the beginning of the game.
What are you doing here?
He looked at Yan Xun and Gu Jia impatiently, "I don't remember saying that this place needed to be cleaned up."
“I just want to see everything on the whaling ship.” Yan Xun seemed a little flustered, and he looked at Will. “I’m leaving now.”
Will stood in front of the door, looking at Yan Xun and then at Gu Jia.
Finally, he said to Gu Jia, "You go first."
“I have something to say to you,” he said to Yan Xun.
Gu Jia didn't leave immediately. Instead, he glanced at Yan Xun and saw Yan Xun nod at him before he left.
Will glanced at him again as he left, and only after Gu Jia's figure had completely disappeared did he say to Yan Xun, "It seems you're getting along quite well with these newcomers on the ship."
He never seemed to like Yan Xun very much, I wonder if it was because of Ke Lun.
Yan Xun acted just as woodenly as when he first entered the instance. When he heard Will's words, he just touched his hair, as if he felt embarrassed. "He's very quiet."
Yan Xun said, "I don't have many friends."
Will made a stop gesture, seemingly impatient to hear this.
“In a few days, we’ll see the whales,” Will said. “Then you can go and see the furnace all you want, and I’ll get you a job here.”
Everyone knows that the dirtiest and most tiring work on a whaling ship is done in places where whale blubber is extracted, so Will's words were hardly well-intentioned.
He walked over to Yan Xun.
He was a big guy, and standing next to Yan Xun was very intimidating.
He reached out and tapped Yan Xun's chest. "If you're angry, be angry about why Corin brought you onto this ship."
“It was my request,” Yan Xun hurriedly stated, “I’m really short of money… so…”
"Ha." Will looked down at Yan Xun, as if amused by the man's foolishness.
Do you know how high the rookie mortality rate is on the Terror?
He questioned Yan Xun's naiveté, "Not many newcomers can survive on the Terror." He told Yan Xun, "If you die on the Sea of Evil Spirits," he smiled sarcastically, "remember to settle the score with Coron."
Will was about to turn around when Yan Xun called out to him, "Will."
The brown-haired man turned to look at him.
Have you seen the portraits in the captain's cabin?
Yan Xun asked.
“Something strange happened while we were cleaning the captain’s cabin today,” he said, looking at Will. “Can we talk about it?”
Yan Xun hadn't originally planned to ask Will this question, but in the conversation just now, he could sense that the other person seemed to be reminding him of the death rate of newcomers on the Terror Ship, and vaguely implying that he should be careful of Coron.
Will sent Gu Jia away just now, most likely not because of Colin.
It's because, according to the instance's judgment, Gu Jia hasn't been to the captain's cabin yet, and there are some intelligence and warnings he can't know.
That's why the NPC Will made Gu Jia leave.
Sure enough, when Yan Xun mentioned the captain's cabin, Will, though impatient, did not refuse, but simply tilted his head and said, "Come with me."
He said to Yan Xun, "This is not the place to talk."
……
The conversation took place in Will's cabin.
He also lived on the upper bunk, while the lower bunk belonged to another player who wasn't in the room at the moment. Will didn't invite Yan Xun to sit down, giving him the impression that he should just finish speaking and get lost.
What did you find in the captain's cabin?
Will sat down and started rolling a cigarette. "I heard the captain was yelling that he was going to throw you all overboard." He put the finished cigarette in his mouth and looked at Yan Xun. "Did you anger the captain?"
“I only asked about the identity of the man in the portrait in the captain’s cabin,” Yan Xun said. “But the captain said there was no portrait in the room and that we were possessed by an evil spirit.”
Yan Xun looked puzzled. "But Corren said there is indeed a portrait in the captain's cabin."
Will lit a cigarette. "There's a portrait in the captain's cabin, of course."
He nodded.
“It’s just that the captain can’t see it,” Will mumbled, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “But we all saw it.”
“The portrait was in his room last year.”
Yan Xun looked at Will, appearing somewhat hesitant.
Will clicked his tongue impatiently. "Speak."
"...Wasn't it the captain who was possessed?" Yan Xun said in a very soft voice, his expression hesitant, as if worried that his words would anger Will and cause him to be thrown off the Terror.
“Ha,” Will laughed. “Who knows?”
He held a cigarette in his mouth and looked at Yan Xun. "He's the captain, after all."
"Who can question whether a captain is possessed by an evil spirit?"
Will muttered to himself, seemingly recalling what happened last year, “Last year, before we entered the Sea of Evil, a new crew member who was cleaning the captain’s cabin found a portrait in his room.”
"He quietly inquired with the crew members who had boarded the Terror with him, and the others also learned about the portrait in the captain's room."
"Everyone else has seen the portrait and is guessing who the person is."
"The captain eventually found out about this." Will looked at Yan Xun. "Guess what happened?"
"What."
“The captain said…we’ve all gone mad.” Will burst out laughing as he said this, probably finding it ridiculous. “There are no portraits in his captain’s cabin.”
"We're the crazy ones."
"Because we hadn't entered the Sea of Evil Spirits yet at that time."
“Every crew member goes to the church of the sun god to receive a blessing before boarding the ship, so no one talks about being possessed by evil spirits.”
Will looked at Yan Xun and said, "We suspect he's gone mad."
"That person was clearly his secret financier."
“He wants immortality…” Will stubbed out his nearly burnt-out cigarette on the table beside him. “He’s dreaming.”
“I’ve heard about that ice wall.” Yan Xun changed the subject back to the ice wall. He seemed like a complete novice, troubled by the unknown Sea of Evil Spirits, the eerie ice wall, and the captain’s madness. “We won’t go near the ice wall, right?”
"As long as the sun god protects us." Will made a praying gesture.
"Will the sun god help us avoid the ice wall?"
“The sun god will keep us away from storms and unknown waves…” Will looked like a devout believer. “As long as everything goes well, we won’t go to the ice wall.”
Purely a flag, Yan Xun thought.
"Colomb said the Terror capsized last year," Yan Xun asked again, seizing the opportunity.
"It's the whale's revenge."
Will seemed to be recalling the incident, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "...probably."
He closed his eyes and said, "We encountered a storm, we encountered whales."
"Then……"
He frowned, opened his eyes and looked at Yan Xun, "We've fallen into the Sea of Evil Spirits."
He scratched his head. "We lost a lot of crew members that time."
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have recruited inexperienced newcomers like you to the Evil Spirit Sea."
He began to tell him to leave, saying, "You've asked enough questions."
"Don't worry about things that have nothing to do with you."
Yan Xun knew that this was what the copy told him, and that Will wouldn't reveal any more information if he continued to inquire.
He nodded, and as he left the cabin, he suddenly seemed to remember something and asked a question.
"Koren also fell into the Sea of Evil Spirits?"
“All of us,” Will said impatiently. “Do you think any lucky one of us will survive a capsized boat completely dry and without falling into the water?”
Yan Xun then feigned being frightened by Will before fleeing his cabin as if running away.
……
Gu Jia was already waiting for him in the warehouse.
Yan Xun shared the information he had obtained from Will.
“Last time, they all fell into the sea,” Yan Xun said. “According to Coron, some of them died, while the rest returned alive.”
He now doubts Colin's claims.
Putting aside the danger level of the Sea of Evil, in such an environment, if a ship capsizes and falls into the sea, is it really possible for anyone to leave alive?
Unless someone was prepared before falling into the sea.
"Will said that with the protection of the sun god, there would be no storms or giant waves."
"That's not what the captain's diary says. In the fourth year, they came to the unknown sea because of a storm."
“There’s one more thing,” Yan Xun brought up a detail he hadn’t mentioned before, “The Whale Speaker did not bless Qin Ke.”
"No blessing?" Even though Gu Jia didn't like Qin Ke, she was still slightly surprised to hear this result. "What's the reason?"
“No need.” Yan Xun recalled the whale whisperer’s words, “He said that Qin Ke does not need a blessing.”
“It’s obviously not because his luck stat is too high that he doesn’t need a blessing,” Yan Xun said. “I feel there’s another reason. Perhaps we can ask the Whale Speaker again to find out.”
Gu Jia pondered for a moment, "I've thought of a possibility."
"what?"
“Could it be because he has other beliefs?” Gu Jia said, “That’s why Qin Ke doesn’t need to be blessed by the Whale Whisperers.”
Yan Xun recalled the silver moon coin that Gu Jia had discovered. But shouldn't the Whale Whisperer, who was also a member of the ship, immediately report the discovery of an unknown faith to Coron?
No, he remembered the man behind the whale whisperer, the man in the portrait.
This person is obsessed with the delusion of immortality, and most likely believes in some unknown thing. It's normal for the Whale Speaker to be used to this.
But these are all just their guesses. The best way would definitely be to directly ask the Whale Speaker, or find something to hold against Qin Ke. What Yan Xun cares about even more is the kind of writing that Qin Ke mentioned. He is certain that Wen Yuanzheng shouldn't know it, as if it's a secret known only to certain people.
Yan Xun thought for a moment, "I'll go keep an eye on it."
"Go to the captain's cabin, and then find an opportunity to probe the whale whisperer."
Gu Jia didn't quite agree. He felt that Qin Ke's attitude was subtle... and always gave him a dangerous feeling.
However, among all the people on the ship, only Yan Xun was able to get close to Qin Ke and extract some information.
……
Yan Xun searched the entire ship's cabin and finally found Qin Ke in the warehouse where supplies were stored.
The other person squatted on the ground, slowly counting the supplies in the warehouse. He was looking at the tobacco, seemingly calculating how long these things could supply them.
To be honest, the Terror Ship is treated much better than the whaling ships in history, perhaps because the instance only borrowed the instance and didn't intend to be too harsh on players in this regard.
Hearing the door open, Qin Ke, who was squatting on the ground, turned around. When he saw that it was Yan Xun, he was obviously surprised and wanted to greet him, but perhaps because he thought of Yan Xun's words before they parted, he fell silent.
Qin Ke turned around awkwardly, pretending not to see Yan Xun, and continued looking at the things in the storeroom.
"Gu Jia and I have looked through everything here; it's enough for us to use for two years." Yan Xun didn't care about Qin Ke's evasive attitude and went straight into the warehouse. He closed the door and squatted down next to Qin Ke.
"I'm sorry," Yan Xun said.
Qin Ke turned to look at him.
“I said I shouldn’t have said that,” Yan Xun said. “I was just feeling a little anxious because the mission hadn’t made any progress.”
"It's a very perfunctory excuse," Yan Xun thought, and he waited for Qin Ke's response.
Unexpectedly, Qin Ke seemed to accept his explanation. He lowered his head and pinched his fingers, saying, "I know."
"This task is indeed very difficult."
"The food is awful, the weather is cold..." Qin Ke said, looking at Yan Xun, "and it smells terrible here too."
Whaling ships certainly don't taste good. Even if the instance doesn't intend to be harsh on players, it doesn't intend for players to have a vacation.
Therefore, the entire whaling ship had an indescribable stench, mixed with a fishy smell, and you could feel some residual fat that had not been cleaned off when you walked on it.
"I know everything," Qin Ke rambled on, then looked at Yan Xun earnestly, "so I'm not angry."