Chapter 1 At a Loss

At that moment, Jia Wenjun, unaware of Anna's thoughts, looked anxiously at Anna, who was sitting silently in the captain's cabin, and urgently asked, "Sister Anna, did you contact maritime rescue? When did they say they'd arrive?"

Anna seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. She slowly raised her head and said, "I couldn't get through. There's no signal here."

Jia Wenjun was somewhat incredulous. "If the cell phone doesn't have a signal, doesn't the yacht have a distress device? Why haven't you sounded the foghorn to send out a distress signal yet?"

She assumed Anna had already contacted maritime rescue since she hadn't pressed the button. She didn't expect that after so long, Anna would just sit quietly in the captain's cabin, doing nothing.

"Sister Anna, now there's one death and one missing person on board, and the boat is taking on water. I don't need to tell you how dangerous and complicated the situation is. We need to quickly find a way to call the police and request assistance and search from the coast guard."

Seeing her anxiety, Anna finally said with a look of defeat, "The ship's distress device has been sabotaged."

After saying that, she suddenly raised her head and looked coldly at Jia Wenjun, "Last night, I asked you and Gong Dalong to check the anchor one last time before going to sleep, and you agreed. But just now, I saw that the anchor was raised in the middle of the night last night. That's why the boat drifted here and crashed into the reef."

Anna paused, her sharp eyes piercing straight at Jia Wenjun. "Only the three of us on this ship know how to raise and lower the anchor. I went back to the cabin to sleep a long time ago, and Lili can prove it. Gong Dalong also has Hao Jianing to vouch for him. Shouldn't you explain this to all of us?"

After hearing Anna's words, Jia Wenjun felt a sinking feeling in her heart. "I did check all the equipment last night, and it was fine before I returned to the deck. Hu Sixiang and Dean Bai were still there at the time. I felt unwell, so I went to the stern to vomit. Zhao Di also went to the stern to use the restroom."

Anna looked at her coolly. "Then where's Zhao Di? Where is she now?"

Jia Wenjun hesitated. "She... I'm also looking for her. I haven't seen her since I woke up."

Anna stood up, her eyes filled with vigilance. "In other words, you were the last person to see her."

Jia Wenjun understood the implication in her words. She took a deep breath. "Sister Anna, Dean Bai, Hu Sixiang, and Lu Maowang were all on deck at the time. They can all testify for me. Hu Sixiang even asked me to help Zhao Di to the stern to use the restroom, but Zhao Di didn't want me to help her, so I went ahead myself because my stomach was also very upset at the time. Sun Jiaojiao was occupying the restroom, and I had nowhere to vomit, so I could only go to the stern. Who knew that after vomiting, I became drowsy and fainted? When I woke up, it was already the next morning, and Zhao Di was nowhere to be seen."

When Jia Wenjun woke up, she was only concerned about the ship hitting the reef and thought Zhao Di had gone back to her room to sleep last night. Now that she had searched the entire ship and couldn't find her, she realized the seriousness of the matter.

Especially when she remembered the cry for "Help!" that she had heard in a daze.

She hesitated for a few seconds and told Anna about how she seemed to have heard Zhao Di calling for help when she was about to faint.

After hearing this, Anna felt a chill. If this was true, then someone was deliberately trying to kill people on her ship. And at this moment, the murderer was still on the ship, observing everyone, and she, like everyone else who was unaware, had no idea who this murderer hiding in the dark was or whether there would be any further actions.

Anna was worried and scared. She thought this trip to sea would purify her soul and be rewarding, but she didn't expect one unlucky thing after another. Gong Dalong was dead, and if something happened to Zhao Di again, wouldn't she also be unable to escape responsibility?

Anna's brow furrowed even tighter. "Did Hu Sixiang and the others see Zhao Di come back?"

"I don't know. I have to go down and ask them." Jia Wenjun said, wanting to go down and ask Hu Sixiang for clarification.

She hadn't thought that Zhao Di's disappearance would be related to her, but Anna's words had sounded a warning. She was the last person to see Zhao Di, and if no one could testify for her, and if something really happened to Zhao Di, then she would be unable to clear her name.

Fortunately, there were still three witnesses at the time. Thinking of this, Jia Wenjun felt a little relieved.

Anna paced back and forth anxiously. "No, we have to immediately mobilize everyone on the ship to search again. Zhao Di is reckless. Maybe she's still angry about yesterday's events and is thinking of hiding today, making us all anxious and frustrated."

"If I find her, I'll fucking kill her!" Anna cursed fiercely as she walked downstairs.

Jia Wenjun could understand Anna's mood at this time. To make a Buddhist say words of killing... yes, that's Zhao Di.

The two women, each with their own thoughts and equally worried, walked downstairs one after the other. Just as they reached the staircase, they heard Hao Jianing's heart-wrenching voice from inside the cabin room, "Someone, come quick! It's a zombie!"

Jia Wenjun and Anna were both stunned in place. Hao Jianing's voice was so loud that everyone on the deck outside heard it, and everyone's expression changed drastically.

People like Teacher Lin and Lili, who were timid, immediately hugged each other, chanting "Amitabha" in fear.

Sun Jiaojiao was a little braver, but she didn't dare to go either. After all, she was pregnant, and if she got scared and lost the baby, everything would be in vain.

Nao Nao didn't know what a zombie was, but when he heard his mother's cry, he wanted to rush in.

Old Man Wang reacted quickly and grabbed him. "Don't go in, little one. Wait here!"

"My mommy is inside!" Nao Nao twisted, trying to break free from the old man's grip.

"Nao Nao, listen to Grandpa Wang. Uncle Bai and Uncle Lu will go in first to see what's going on. Don't worry, we'll bring your mommy out safely." After Bai Mashan finished speaking, he glanced at Lu Maowang, who was still stunned.

Although Lu Maowang was burly, he was also very reverent towards ghosts and gods, so he didn't dare to take the initiative to say he wanted to go in.

Now that Bai Mashan had called him out, he couldn't refuse anymore. Thinking that it was broad daylight and he wasn't alone, he reluctantly followed Bai Mashan towards the cabin.

Anna stood at the top of the stairs, her heart pounding, and she didn't dare to take another step forward.

Logically speaking, she, a Buddhist, shouldn't be afraid of these things, but at this moment, she had a guilty conscience, so she didn't dare to go down.

Jia Wenjun was an atheist, and she didn't believe in any unscientific phenomena. Without any hesitation, she ran towards Hao Jianing's room.

With a "bang," Jia Wenjun kicked open the door of room 7 and saw Hao Jianing cowering in the corner, shaking like a sieve. She was so frightened that she couldn't utter a coherent sentence.

"Ghost... there's a ghost!" Hao Jianing said, screaming again. She was so scared that her whole body was limp, and she couldn't even crawl out. She could only bury her head in her arms.

Jia Wenjun looked at the bed. The "corpse" that she had covered with a thin blanket was now wriggling slightly. As the movements grew larger, the blanket fell off, revealing Gong Dalong's face, which was pale from suffocation. At this moment, he was staring with bloodshot eyes, gasping for air, and his facial muscles were twitching, making him look particularly terrifying.