Chapter 1 The Soldier

A soldier in naval uniform entered, carrying a gas lamp in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The dim captain's cabin was bathed in a warm, fiery glow.

He moved the gas lamp, his gaze sweeping across the captain's cabin. Finding nothing amiss, he retreated.

The warm lamplight and footsteps gradually faded away. Zhang Yuanqing ended his Night Tour and looked again at the desk drawer. The desk had two drawers, one with a copper lock, the other without.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Yuanqing opened the unlocked drawer. Inside were telegrams between the Sea Swallow and the Irish United Nations Naval Headquarters.

Annoyingly, the telegrams were encoded, which Zhang Yuanqing couldn't decipher.

Although Lingjing has an automatic translation function, converting languages and scripts into your native tongue, encoding is part of the dungeon's decryption and not covered by the automatic translation.

Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a long time, then used Star Escape, transforming into starlight and disappearing.

A few minutes later, starlight reappeared in the dark captain's cabin. He had returned, now holding a codebook.

He had found it in the telegraph room.

In this era, telegrams used codes, divided into "general codes" and "special codes." The former used well-known Morse code, while the latter was often used in wartime, temporary and self-created. Without a codebook, they were difficult to crack.

Although the Sea Swallow was on a secret mission, it wasn't wartime, so no one would be intercepting telegrams. Zhang Yuanqing guessed the telegrams used standard Morse code. If it was a "special code," the decryption difficulty would explode.

He sat at the desk in the dark captain's cabin, leafing through the manual, deciphering the telegrams. Half an hour later, Zhang Yuanqing completed the work and understood the contents.

August 14th, "Sea Swallow is proceeding smoothly, over!"

August 16th, "Sea Swallow encountered a mermaid attack, two crew members sacrificed, over!"

August 18th, "Sea Swallow is proceeding smoothly, over!"

August 25th, "Successfully salvaged extraterrestrial object, Cardinal sealed it, Sea Swallow preparing to return, over!"

August 26th, "Sea Swallow is en route home, all is well, over!"

The telegrams were sent every two days and were brief. Naval Headquarters' replies were also short, usually "Received," "Understood," "God bless," and similar greetings.

Only on the 25th, the day the pollution source was salvaged, did the Sea Swallow send an extra telegram.

The last telegram was on August 30th, the fourth day after salvaging the extraterrestrial object. Telegrams stopped on August 30th… Zhang Yuanqing frowned. "Were the subsequent telegrams hidden, or did James stop sending them to headquarters after the 30th?"

The telegrams were so frequent before the mission was completed, but after it was done, he stopped sending them?

The Lingjing introduction stated that the Sea Swallow disappeared mysteriously on its return journey. James unilaterally stopped communicating with Naval Headquarters.

Mysterious disappearance, the first hint.

But why would James do that? Zhang Yuanqing couldn't figure it out. Also, the more he looked at the telegrams, the stranger they seemed. Something felt off.

After a moment's thought, he realized the problem.

The Sea Swallow set sail on August 12th and successfully salvaged the extraterrestrial object on August 26th, a process that took fourteen days. However, during the day, when Zhang Yuanqing asked Captain James when they would arrive at port, James always answered: fifteen days.

Today is September 4th. At fourteen days each way, they have five days left to reach port. So, the main quest is to survive for five days.

The details matched up.

In short, Captain James terminated the telegram communication and lied about the return time. There must be something wrong with him.

Zhang Yuanqing tidied up the telegrams, put them back in the drawer, and looked at the other drawer, the one with the copper lock.

Without a doubt, there was something more important here.

Now that he had clarified the background of the dungeon and knew about Captain James's problem, the next step was clear: find out the reason for Captain James's strange transformation.

This information was likely hidden in the desk drawer. Zhang Yuanqing stared at the copper lock, hesitating. It would be easy to break the lock, a simple yank, but he worried that such an act would trigger a negative chain reaction.

Now he could confirm that the Spooky Cruise Ship was an exploration-type S-rank dungeon. Information needed to be discovered by the Lingjing Xingzhe themselves. This kind of fancy dungeon often meant that danger lurked in the exploration process.

A mistake in exploration, and the crisis would arrive instantly.

Zhang Yuanqing opened his inventory and glanced at the Purple-Gold Suit. It was covered in a layer of darkness, indicating that it was unusable.

Better to be cautious… he muttered to himself, choosing to follow his heart's will.

In a level six peak S-rank dungeon, even a dual-class level six like him could be in mortal danger if he couldn't use Overlord items.

Moreover, this was a First District Mad Alchemist dungeon. Zhang Yuanqing's items and skills didn't counter aberrant power.

There was a saying among Lingjing Xingzhe: "When you get arrogant, you're not far from death."

"If I break the lock, James will definitely discover that someone sneaked into the captain's cabin at night, which might provoke him and bring the crisis forward. I haven't figured out what happened after the extraterrestrial object was salvaged. I should be secretly investigating, not doing things that leave traces."

Anyway, the main quest is to survive for five days. There was plenty of time. As these thoughts swirled in his mind, Zhang Yuanqing snapped his fingers and used Star Escape to return to his bedroom in the hold. The bedroom had a small round window, outside of which was the dark sea, its waves barely visible. Connecting the sealed extraterrestrial object in the hold with its aberrant creature powers, Zhang Yuanqing felt that a terrible danger and gaze were hidden beneath the black sea outside the window.

Captain James is acting strange, but what's his purpose? I still need to investigate…

"There are two factions on the ship, the navy and the Holy See's Lingjing Xingzhe team. Are the Holy See people in league with James? If not, as long as the two sides aren't companions, I have a lot of room to maneuver. I can recruit one of them as a teammate."

Zhang Yuanqing thought for a moment, then used Night Tour again, quietly leaving the bedroom, passing through the narrow dormitory corridor, and reaching the steps at the end.

He went down the stairs to the second sub-deck.

He was going to explore below the deck and define the Holy See team.

During the day, it was blocked off by the Holy See's knights. He hadn't clarified the dungeon's background then, so he hadn't chosen to fight head-on.

Now, based on the information he had, Zhang Yuanqing could roughly deduce what was in the hold.

The extraterrestrial object salvaged from the deep sea was sealed in the hold by the Holy See's Cardinal. Zhang Yuanqing decided to observe the Holy See's Lingjing Xingzhe in secret, and also see what that strange thing was.

He strode down the steps. Night Tour masked the sound of his footsteps. Soon, he arrived at the entrance to the hold. Two knights in silver armor, holding long crucifix swords, were still stationed there.

Zhang Yuanqing passed between the two knights. The meticulous knights were oblivious to the intruder.

The hold wasn't a dormitory, but a place for storing cargo. Dim gas lamps hung on the walls, illuminating the items in the hold: piles of food, fishing gear, damaged lifeboats waiting to be repaired, and spare parts for the ship. It was like a cluttered storage room.

As soon as Zhang Yuanqing stepped into the hold, he felt a strange悸动 (jì dòng, palpitation), as if he was being watched. This aura, this feeling, evil power… Zhang Yuanqing frowned. Was it the aura emanating from the extraterrestrial object?

Using the piles of debris as cover, he cautiously explored forward. After walking for a dozen seconds, he suddenly heard a "thump thump" sound like a heartbeat coming from the distance.

At the same time, flickering candlelight appeared behind a small mountain of flour bags a dozen meters ahead.

The heartbeat was coming from behind the candlelight. What kind of heart makes such a loud sound…?

Zhang Yuanqing cautiously moved forward, approaching the flour mountain.

Just then, he heard a "whoosh" of wind, followed by a sharp whistle from the left.

Without thinking, Zhang Yuanqing dove forward, narrowly avoiding a wind blade that slashed past his left side.

"Who's there?" a clear, sweet female voice shouted.

A wind mage found me? Zhang Yuanqing turned and ran, while also turning his head to look to the right. Ten meters away stood a beautiful young woman in a white nun's habit.

Golden patterns were embroidered on her chest, collar, and cuffs.

She had beautiful blond hair, green eyes, an oval face, a high nose, and delicate features.

The wind mage in the white nun's habit continuously waved her hands, creating wind blades to chase after the fleeing enemy.

Although she couldn't see the intruder, she could sense the enemy's position and speed through the feedback of the air currents. Each wind blade strike was incredibly precise.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing decisively avoided the second wave of wind blades, hid behind a damaged and cracked lifeboat, and unhesitatingly used Star Escape, leaving the hold.

He immediately used Star Escape. Brilliant starlight appeared, then dissipated.

The wind mage in the white nun's habit frowned, looked around, and carefully sensed the area. She discovered that the intruder had vanished into thin air.

"Isabella, what happened?" an old voice came from behind the flour mountain.

"There was an intruder!" the nun named Isabella replied, her voice as melodious as a lark's.

"But he suddenly disappeared," she frowned.

"A wraith?" the old voice said.

"I didn't sense a wraith's aura. But if it was a wraith, you wouldn't be able to sense it.

Only a wraith could sneak in here silently, bypassing the knights.

"It's not a wraith, it's a human. He can turn invisible and knows some kind of teleportation technique. He teleported away when the starlight appeared," Isabella explained.

"Starlight? Invisibility?" The Cardinal, with his vast experience and knowledge, pondered for a long time. "I've never heard of such skills… Tell Captain James about this and let him handle it."