Chapter 299: The Nonexistent Twenty-Third Person (2)
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
She turned to look at Liu Lanqing, but she realized that Liu Lanqing was completely distracted, as if she didn’t notice what they were talking about. “Qing, what are you doing?”
Liu Lanqing suddenly turned to Captain Song and asked seriously, “Captain Song, just now, you said… how many people have arrived?”
Captain Song frowned slightly. “Twenty-three people. Why?”
“23, 23…” Liu Lanqing’s eyes suddenly turned sharp. “Fan Xiaopeng! Quick, close the door immediately!”
“Yes!”
Fan Xiaopeng subconsciously replied. He was in the Noble Realm to begin with. He quickly ran to the door and closed it.
It happened suddenly, but Captain Song and Ling Shuangxue could’ve stopped her. They both looked at Liu Lanqing, indicating for her to explain.
Liu Lanqing’s expression was solemn, and her voice was low and serious. She raised her hand and pointed around at everyone who walked out of the cabin. She said, “I’ve already counted three times just now. No matter how I count, there are only 22 people in our group!”
Ling Shuangxue blinked. “Could it be that you forgot to count yourself…”
She then swept her gaze over and counted them one by one.
After counting once, Ling Shuangxue’s expression changed slightly.
Captain Song’s expression was even more solemn than hers. He first said to the doctors, “Come back first!”
Then, he said to the few silver-armored ship soldiers behind him, “All of you, count them together!”
“One, two, three… twenty-one, twenty-two! Only twenty-two!”
Fan Xiaopeng saw that Liu Lanqing, Ling Shuangxue, and Captain Song had serious expressions and muttered, “One is missing. Perhaps we counted wrongly just now?”
“Impossible!”
Liu Lanqing and Captain Song said in unison.
Captain Song said in a deep voice, “If it said 23, it’s 23. There’s no mistake…”
He maintained his calm on the surface, but he was already extremely vigilant in his heart.
No one knew better than him that the divine turtle’s detection could not be wrong. If there were 23, there were 23.
However, there were only 22 people here!
“Everyone, be on guard!”
Captain Song shouted in a low voice, and a powerful aura rose from his body. He was even more unfathomable than Liu Lanqing and Ling Shuangxue.
Ling Shuangxue and Liu Lanqing’s expressions were also ugly. “It’s him, it’s that thing…”
Captain Song immediately asked, “What is it? Do you know what’s going on?”
Liu Lanqing recounted the strange dissipation of the Dark Shadow Skins they encountered when they came out of Ding’an City.
At the same time, she also told him how she had deliberately been on guard before entering the cave and the cabin to prevent anything from sneaking in.
“I didn’t expect that even though I was on guard twice, that thing actually followed me…”
Captain Song’s expression was solemn. “Everyone, listen up. Search this place completely and don’t let go of any corners!”
As for himself, he walked to the wall and pulled open his sleeve. He pressed his arm against the crack in the stone bricks and closed his eyes.
The ten silver-armored soldiers immediately began to move.
Liu Lanqing and Ling Shuangxue also said, “You guys help search too!”
The room was not narrow, but as there were a lot of people, it immediately became crowded. More than 30 people worked together and soon searched the entire space.
“No, there’s nothing…”
This outcome was not out of Liu Lanqing and Ling Shuangxue’s expectations.
“The door was closed too late…”
At the same time, Captain Song retracted his hand. He looked rather tired and said in a low voice, “If something really sneaked in, it’s no longer here. There are only 36 people here now.”
Liu Lanqing and Ling Shuangxue’s expressions turned even uglier. The additional one must have already entered deeper into the ship!
A mysterious person who was invisible to the naked eye and might not even be human had entered the cabin?
Captain Song slowly said in a low voice, “At least, that thing is not a demon…”
Suddenly, Fan Xiaopeng, who was standing at the door of the diving cabin, exclaimed, “Issuer Liu! Those two Mud Fruits are gone!”
“What!”
Liu Lanqing leaped to the door of the diving cabin and looked inside. The two Mud Fruits that were originally inside had disappeared!
These two Mud Fruits were removed by Liu Lanqing and Ling Shuangxue before they left the cabin. She knew the process well and knew that there was an extremely important investigation, so she removed them in advance.
Now, the Mud Fruits were gone!
“That’s not right…”
Liu Lanqing was even more surprised. She had been in a hurry just now and had not thought of this. But now that she thought about it, she realized that something was wrong.
Why hadn’t the Mud Fruit been detected?
Mud Fruit. This was clearly strange and demonic. How did they escape detection?
However, the disappearance of the Mud Fruits made her heart suddenly calm down.
Because she suddenly thought of more things through the Mud Fruit.
Who was the first to discover this Mud Fruit that would not hurt anyone and was extremely special and would even starve to death?
Why would this invisible thing open a path for them?
There were 23 people, but there were no demons?
A sudden increase in strength that was terrifyingly powerful but could not be explained?
Also, in that small underground world, after all of them fainted, who hid them in that depression in the ceiling?
And what was that terrifying, deep, and wail that resounded through the entire underground after they woke up?
If all those mysteries were related to the same person, then all these mysteries were definitely related to him too.
“Is it you? Lin Yan? Or is all of this related to you?”
Outside the tightly shut cabin door, Lin Yan listened carefully to the commotion inside before turning around and walking out.
Outside the stone cabin was a passageway paved with steel plates. The wires and pipes above were all made of iron, just like the internal structure of a ship’s cabin in his previous life. Moreover, the steel plates here had no gaps, nor were there any small openings like valves inside. They were completely sealed.
“The cabin inside was probably built this way because the water would corrode the steel, so it used black gold stones.
“The other cabins outside are completely sealed.
“It seems that they really built a series of cabin structures inside this divine turtle. I wonder how they did it…”
As he walked, he patted the two Mud Fruit clones on his body and activated his blood energy to feed them carefully.
“Feeding my clones with my blood energy gives me the illusion that I’m cutting off flesh to feed myself…
“However, the Mud Fruit clones are too big and not easy to carry. I can give it a try when I’m free and see if I can make them return to the smallest appearance at the beginning…”
Recalling what happened in the cabin just now, Lin Yan couldn’t help but praise Liu Lanqing. Her vigilance was too strong!
When the old man surnamed Song reported the number 23, Liu Lanqing immediately began to count heads.
Lin Yan knew that something was wrong when he saw this. He quickly rushed into the diving cabin and pasted the two Mud Fruits on his body before leaving.
As expected, as soon as he left, Liu Lanqing ordered Fan Xiaopeng to close the door!
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and was not sealed inside.
As for why the Mud Fruit clones were not discovered by the divine turtle, Lin Yan guessed that the Mud Fruit clones were essentially not a true life form, but a flesh puppet. Therefore, they were mistaken by the divine turtle as inanimate objects and avoided detection.
“Next, I’m afraid they’ll have to search thoroughly. I’m not familiar with this place at all. It’s a little troublesome. It’s best if I quickly lay out my clones and familiarize myself with the path so that 1 won’t really be blocked…”
After all, Captain Song seemed to have the ability to communicate with the divine turtle to investigate. If he was not careful, he might really be blocked or locked up.
Thinking of this, Lin Yan sprinkled out clones.
“Oh, oh, oh! Little people! So many little people! Big Brother, are you in labor?!”
Suddenly, Old Qin’s voice sounded again. He was also shocked.
Only then did Lin Yan realize that Old Qin had not said a word since he entered the water!
Could it be that he had thought of something again?