In that terrifying darkness, a dazed Xia De vaguely heard singing accompanied by the sound of waves.
And when he woke up again, everything around him seemed to be swaying. Raindrops falling from the sky hit his back, and the biting wind made him shiver.
“Oh~”
The headache had not yet subsided, and simply opening his eyes caused a throbbing pain in his temples.
He rolled over and sat up, taking off his mask and breathing heavily. Looking around, he was currently on the dirty deck of an old ship, everything around him was dilapidated beyond compare.
Looking up, a terrifying, soul-stirring black vortex was actually inverted high above his head, and the primitive fear of that the moment almost made Xia De cry out.
Looking around, this was undoubtedly still the sea. The ship floated on the turbulent sea, surrounded by the ocean in a thunderstorm on all sides. The deep darkness seemed to devour everything from afar, and the sound of huge waves made one's heart tremble uncontrollably. Because there was no light, the sea presented a thick black color, and beneath this black sea, there seemed to be an even larger and darker terrifying thing swimming. Xia De only glanced at it before immediately retracting his gaze.
If it were a more timid person, they would probably have fainted upon seeing this scene around them. And even though the Outsider had seen many things in this world, he still could not fully control his panic at this moment. This was humanity's most primitive fear of the deep sea and darkness, not to mention the whisper element in the space, constantly trying to erode the soul.
“Are you still there?”
【I am always with you.】
The familiar voice sounded, and Xia De immediately felt much more at ease. However, Miss Princess was not visible on the dim, dilapidated deck, nor was anyone else.
“But how could I encounter such a thing right after leaving?”
【Simply put, the power on this ship is very similar to the curse on that girl who clearly has red hair but dyed it golden.】
“Was this ship attracted by the mermaid's song curse on Miss Princess?”
Thinking of this, Xia De frowned in the rain, looking around. The swaying, dilapidated ship seemed to be lost in a dark and terrifying sea, and there was only Xia De, a living person, on board.
【No, she is not that important. The curse only resonated with the pirate ship of the same origin, which is why she had a reaction.】
“So, the Mermaid statue and this pirate ship are really different steps of the same ritual, and we just happened to stumble upon this ship? How could there be such a coincidence?”
Xia De barely maintained his Balance, recalling Miss Princess's last words, and looked through the rain at the entrance to the cabin.
He reached out and checked his belongings, confirming that nothing was lost, and then stumbled, almost falling again, due to the violent rocking of the deck.
“Speaking of which, since there's no light source around, how am I seeing the deck so clearly?”
Thinking of this, he looked down at his wrinkled hands, which were soaked in water. Just like when the darkness box went out of control, it was Xia De himself emitting light. The Moonlight glow emanated from his body, not bright, but at least it prevented him from being completely swallowed by the darkness.
He reached out and wiped the rain from his face, not daring to observe the terrifying sea above or around the ship anymore:
“Besides the whisper element, are there any other abnormal things nearby?”
【Not for now, but this ship is trying to assimilate you, to keep you here permanently.】
“I haven’t felt it.”
Dense raindrops hit his skin; he couldn't stay in the rain for too long.
【Attempting to assimilate any divine being is the most foolish act. You don't feel it because it has no effect.】
“Understood.”
He clenched his fists. Due to hypothermia, his condition was not good. Miss Princess said he couldn't leave this ship, and Xia De didn't dare to jump into the sea in such a strange sea area, so it was better to find a place to shelter from the rain first.
The swaying ship creaked, as if it would fall apart the next second. Smelling the ocean, Xia De stumbled towards the entrance of the cabin on the deck. He did not intend to create too much light in such a strange environment, so he only used the faint glow from his fingertips to illuminate his surroundings.
The dilapidated deck was being pelted by dense raindrops, and wooden boxes and some cargo were piled in the corner. Occasionally, he could still see black stains that even the rain couldn't wash away, and the Blood Echo told Xia De that most of them were bloodstains.
There were no living people on the ship, but there were quite a few corpses. Those corpses had long turned into white bones, sliding on the deck due to the ship's tilting. Xia De was very worried that the skeletons would suddenly rise, but until he touched the rusty iron door leading to the cabin, he was still the only one moving on the ship.
The iron door seemed to have been violently struck from the inside in the distant past. The deformed door was stuck in the door frame and could not be pushed no matter how much force was applied. Xia De could only summon the silver greatsword, slash it a few times, and break the iron door.
The sound of metal falling to the ground was drowned out by the raging rain and thunder, and the black entrance, which seemed to devour souls, opened, and a strong stench surged from inside the cabin.
But at least the ship wasn't leaking, and the inside of the cabin was relatively dry. The ship probably belonged to the fifth epoch and had no steam power system, so it was impossible to find important rooms by relying on the pipes on the walls.
Stepping onto the creaking floor and entering the cabin, then making the sword in his hand temporarily disappear, Xia De bent down and used his fingers to illuminate the recessed door panel lying on the moldy floor. The side of the door panel that was originally facing inward not only had traces of being struck by immense force but also dozens of sharp scratch marks. The Blood Echo's observation showed that there were traces of blood in the scratch marks, indicating that these were very likely marks made by hands forcefully grabbing something.
“What exactly happened here?”
His heart jolted, and he suddenly looked up. The silver glow illuminated the floor in front of him. On the dilapidated floor covered with disgusting moss and dust, Ashes suddenly rose, and then a rotten humanoid figure made of Ashes rushed straight over.
“Not a hallucination, is this an undead?”
The Moonlight in his hand slashed forward, and after splitting the undead made of Ashes, it flew straight along the cabin to a more distant place. It was also by this light that Xia De saw that, except for the area near the exit, the entire cabin corridor was covered in a dark black blood.
Human bones and remains were scattered everywhere, and the doors leading to the surrounding rooms in the cabin were blocked by dilapidated furniture and bones. The scene before him seemed to indicate that a horrifying massacre had once occurred inside the cabin in the distant past.
The headache grew stronger. The ship itself was affecting the minds of those who entered, which was one of the characteristics of high-danger relics.
He wanted to continue forward and search for more clues inside the ship. But at this the moment, a slight sound came from beside him. Xia De immediately looked to his left, and by the faint light of his finger, he could vaguely see a picture frame behind the thick wall fungus, and the sound was coming from inside the picture frame.
He frowned, carefully using the pen he carried with him to peel back the disgusting outer layer of fungus, revealing the picture frame itself, which contained dozens of black and white photos of varying sizes.
“So photography also existed in the fifth epoch?”
Most of the photos in the frame were severely faded, and only blurred images of daily life on the ship could be discerned. But only the single portrait in the very center seemed untouched by time, a short-haired, high-nosed man with an eye patch looking at Xia De from the photo.
The calm expression frozen in time slowly changed as Xia De observed it. The corners of the slightly faded face gradually curved upwards until they stretched into an angle that a normal person could never achieve. The originally still eyeballs suddenly rotated at this the moment, and the dull gaze regained the look of a wisdom being. Those eyes truly looked at Xia De:
“Intruder!”
Amidst the chilling roar, that face, engulfed in thick black mist, transformed into a terrifying skeleton and rushed out of the photo.
“Silver Moonlight.”
An extreme burst of light erupted from his fingertips for an instant, so bright that it even caused the ship itself to vibrate. When the light extinguished the next second, Xia De's fist shattered the glass of the picture frame, and ignoring the piercing pain in his palm, he grabbed the haunted old photo.
When he pulled his hand back, the old photo actually flew out of his hand. It slid upwards along the yellowish-green mold on the wall, as if trying to find a seam in the wall to escape. But when the photo flew to the height of Xia De's chest, the glowing holy silver sword tip pierced through, piercing the fragile photo and directly impaling it, nailing it to the wall.
The Moonlight Greatsword illuminated the wall, and the green fungus quickly retreated from the area illuminated by the sword like a living creature, while thick black smoke, like fire, continuously emerged from the point where the blade touched the photo. A sharp scream came from the photo, and the distorted, deformed sound made Xia De, who was already suffering from a headache, even more annoyed, but he ignored it.
“I surrender!”
Finally, a voice came from inside the photo, and like the previous “Intruder,” it was actually using the contemporary language.
Xia De waited a few seconds, then grabbed the photo with his left hand and pulled out the greatsword with his right. At this point, a black hole, as if burned, had appeared in the center of the photo, and the man with the eye patch in the photo was squeezed to one side, allowing himself to appear entirely in the photo, with his hands raised high in the photo.
“If you dare to run, you won't get another chance.”
Xia De said, tightening his left hand holding the photo. He had been worried that the other party wouldn't understand what he was saying, but fortunately, the person in the photo understood:
“How is that possible? How can you still maintain a clear consciousness here?”
The voice was hoarse and strange, and at the same time, the image in the photo flickered constantly. Most of the time it was the man's image, but at certain the moments, it was clearly a monster with a mixture of fish and human features in the photo.