As I walked out of Yang Hanxue’s room, I kept replaying his words in my mind, trying to decipher their meaning.
He was definitely planning something; otherwise, he wouldn’t have said those things to me.
But what was it he intended to do tonight?
Carrying my doubts, I returned to my room. Song Bing, upon seeing me, checked the doorway before closing the door.
I knew he had something to tell me, so I decided to hear him out before discussing what Yang Hanxue had said to me.
“I think I have a pretty good idea what’s going on…” Song Bing whispered. “If my suspicions are correct, all these strange occurrences are man-made…”
“Who?” Bai Hanyan leaned in and asked.
Song Bing didn’t directly name the person. Instead, he began to explain his reasoning: “In the past few days, people have been having accidents one after another. But have you noticed, all the people who’ve had accidents seem to be Captain Xue’s men…”
Hearing this, I immediately understood what he was implying. However, I didn’t interrupt him, choosing to let him continue.
“Mr. Xiang, do you remember what Old Yuan told you earlier, that the crew members on the ship were not getting along?”
I nodded.
“Then, who do you think benefits the most from these events?”
As expected, Song Bing and I were thinking along the same lines!
In fact, the moment Yang Hanxue spoke those words to me, I had already figured everything out.
Although some of the finer details were still unclear, considering the overall situation, it was highly likely that he himself was behind these staged hauntings!
This Yang Hanxue was truly not simple. I hadn’t expected him to use us as pawns!
The ghost fog and the supposed possession were all fake. Yang Hanxue’s objective was merely to confuse everyone, weaken Captain Xue’s influence, and secretly deploy his forces.
Everyone had been on edge for the past few days, and Captain Xue was likely bewildered at this moment.
It was the perfect time to make a move and seize control of the ship!
However, there were still many things I didn’t understand. How did Niu Gang disappear? What was the deal with A Jiang’s possession? And what exactly was hidden in Bai Hanyan’s room?
But I knew that all these questions would be answered tomorrow.
Once I had figured it out, I felt a sense of relief.
Seeing my reaction, Song Bing seemed to understand that I had grasped his meaning. We exchanged a knowing smile.
I said, “Brother Song, I can finally get a good night’s sleep tonight.”
He smiled and replied, “You sleep in my bed, I’ll just catch a nap on the chair.”
Bai Hanyan, watching us, looked puzzled. “What are you two saying without words? I don’t understand anything. You’re saying this is all man-made? Who?”
“You should get some sleep, and you’ll know everything tomorrow,” I told her.
“Why can’t you tell me now?” Bai Hanyan asked. “We’re all on the same boat!”
“It’s hard to explain right now,” I said with a wry smile. “Just go to sleep.”
With that, I stood up, walked to Song Bing’s bed, stretched, and lay down.
Bai Hanyan was still upset. She gritted her teeth and glared at me. “You’re something else, Xiang Fei. You won’t tell me, will you? There’ll be a day you need me!”
With a cold snort, she huffily got into bed.
In the middle of the night, I vaguely heard several gunshots. However, due to the loud sounds of the waves and the ship’s machinery, these gunshots were quickly drowned out.
It seemed Yang Hanxue had already made his move, though I wasn’t sure if he would succeed.
I didn’t dwell on it further, rolled over, and continued to sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, Bai Hanyan was sitting by my bed with dark circles under her eyes. “You’re finally awake. Did you hear anything last night?”
“What sounds?”
“Outside! There were gunshots… and in the room next to mine, people were talking, and there were footsteps…”
As she spoke, she swallowed. “Xiang Fei, do you think some evil spirit got on board?”
I chuckled. “And what do you think it was? A water ghost? Or a sea monkey?”
“I’m being serious!” Bai Hanyan said, clearly annoyed.
“Whatever it was, we’ll know once we go out and look, won’t we?”
I got out of bed. Song Bing had just finished washing his face and emerged from the bathroom.
Pushing the door open, I was the first one out. The hallway was as usual. I peeked into Bai Hanyan’s room, and there was nothing out of place.
As I reached the door leading to the deck, a ray of sunlight streamed in from outside, quite dazzling.
Pushing open the half-closed cabin door, I saw a clear blue sky and vast sea, a stark contrast to the gloom of before.
A few crew members were washing the deck. I noticed some bloodstains on the deck that hadn’t been fully washed away.
A faint scent of blood lingered in the air, but it was quickly dispersed by the sea breeze.
Yang Hanxue and Old Yuan stood at the bow of the ship, smoking and talking.
“Wow! The fog has finally cleared!” Bai Hanyan exclaimed, turning in a circle on the deck with her arms spread wide.
Old Yuan turned to look at us and walked over. “Miss Bai, Brother Song, let me take you up for breakfast. We’ve specifically stewed longan and eggs today.”
Bai Hanyan’s ears perked up. “What else is there?”
“Whatever you want to eat, I’ll have the chef make it for you.”
“That’s great! I’m getting tired of eating plain congee every day,” Bai Hanyan said, grinning.
“Then let’s go up first. The captain has something to discuss with you, Brother Xiang.”
Bai Hanyan glanced at me and then followed Old Yuan to the dining room.
Once they had left, I unhurriedly walked towards Yang Hanxue.
Standing at the bow, the sea breeze was invigorating, and the boundless ocean was full of mystery.
I wondered how many souls had been swallowed by this sea last night…
“You’ve probably figured most of it out, haven’t you?” Yang Hanxue asked, looking straight ahead.
“I’ve figured out most of it, but there are still some details I can’t quite grasp.”
“Such as?”
“Such as Niu Gang…”
Yang Hanxue smiled. “He’s my man.”
Upon hearing this, I was taken aback, then I burst out laughing. “If that’s the case, then I understand. You used us as pawns. How do we settle this debt?”
Yang Hanxue turned to look at me. “Do you remember when you came to me with the Youxian Pillow? You said you wanted to be friends with me. Since we’re friends, shouldn’t we help each other?”
I smiled. “Becoming friends with you comes at too high a price… You should have told us your plan in advance.”
“Tell you in advance?” Yang Hanxue chuckled. “If I had, would you still have boarded the ship?”
I pursed my lips and smiled. “Why do you assume I wouldn’t have?”
He paused for a moment and exhaled a puff of smoke.
“Didn’t you say friends should help each other?” I asked. “In that case, if you had told me, I wouldn’t have refused.”