Ch 22 - A crowd of evil spirit lines up to confess to me

Chapter 22

After Gu Wuji had finished reading, the topic of this book was then shared with the other people.

However, he also did not speak out the matter of the veined pattern on his arm, after all there are things that can and can’t be said, which was still very clear in Gu Wuji’s mind.

The other people, especially the few people in Zheng-ge’s side, couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed in their hearts. They themselves were the first to express that they didn’t want to associate with Gu Wuji, but now here he was sharing the information he had gotten to other people.   

They didn’t even have the courage to refuse it, after all, knowing a little bit more of information about the copy, was tantamount to having a little more chance of surviving, who would be willing to let go of their own lives?

“This book seems to have been taken out from the library in this ship, and should have initially been found by us……even though this trouble has been avoided now, but I think we must still head over to take a look in the library later.” Jiang Ling said.

The other people nodded their heads, the library is always a place to head to in order to look for clues.

Gu Wuji then said: “Since the captain knows the previous incidents that happened to this ship, what reason is he coming here for? He couldn’t possibly be coming here to court death, right? All the actual facts of this, even if it wasn’t his leadership, will probably also have an important connection with him.”

“But why would he do this kind of thing in the end? Is there benefits related to this motive?” The woman in Zheng-ge’s side spoke, the other people immediately threw a disapproving gaze towards her.

“Probably.” Gu Wuji took out his cellphone, looking at the things that had just been recently searched for a while, truly feeling very grateful to the signal that had always been good on this ship, “This book has already been published a long time ago, and attracted a lot of people’s attention at that time. But it was also because of this, that caused the author to be accused and humiliated by the remaining family members of the people who had disappeared before, feeling that he was misleading the public opinion with nonsense, the other people also believed that this was only a passing and short-live enthusiasm of the author, and that the things written was completely lacking any credibility.”

The author after that vanished without a trace, the time of reappearance, was exactly on this ship, and had already become the captain of this ship.

“Could it be that he wants to prove that his standpoint was correct, so he did this kind of thing? Even letting a group of people come on board to be witnesses?” Jiang Ling knitted his brows, “But is his conjecture of this matter really correct? In the end, where did this confidence of his actually come from?”  

“This place is after all, already a haunted copy, the thoughts of the people cannot be theorized with the thinking of a normal person.” Zheng-ge in the end still said this sentence.

“To actually know what is going on, everything should be fine if we wait until this evening to go and ask the person involved.” Gu Wuji stated.

The other people when thinking of this evening’s banquet, had a somewhat complicated mood, while feeling that they could get even more closer to the actual truth’s of this ship, but on the other hand was also very anxious that something terrible might happen during the banquet.

After all, this ship to speak of is still a haunted ship……

Auston, on the other hand has already regained his consciousness.

With regards to the previous incident of his sudden fainting, Auston remained indifferent, believing that this was merely because he was too anxious to hurry up and explore this morning, that he had not eaten enough, in addition to the storeroom being excessively cold which only consumed too much of his physical strength.

“How can there be ghosts in this world? You mustn’t be too paranoid.”

The other people felt very unlucky within their heart, if this guy had been placed in a movie no one would know how many times he would have already died!

As a matter of fact, regarding this copy, if it were not for such a player like Gu Wuji, he would have already been a ghost now.

“There’s still time in the afternoon, we’ll continue to explore after eating our meal.” Auston was a person worthy in courting death by recklessness, the efficiency of courting death could astound people.

The other people opened their mouth to persuade, but Auston didn’t listen to it at all, they then remembered that the other party was set as a person who was unwilling to listen to other people’s words, and started to feel that it was better to let go and allow this guy die to earlier.

“Auston-shaoye, don’t you need to have a rest right now?” Gu Wuji who was at the side started speaking, “Isn’t there still a banquet this evening?”

“It doesn’t matter if I don’t go to that banquet……” Auston while saying this, saw the smile on Gu Wuji’s face gradually disappear, his heart for some unknown reason felt flustered, with an allusion that if he continues this something bad was going to happen, so he immediately corrected his words: “That’s right, there is still a lot of time anyway, there’s also no problem in going to see it later, it better to conserve strength and store up energy now.”

“That’s great then.” Gu Wuji nodded his head, and even reached out to pat Auston’s shoulder, “Auston-shaoye really has a lot of ideas.”

Auston did not know why, but there was actually a sense of being praised and a very honored feeling, he immediately seized this opportunity to say, “It just so happens that I have clothes prepared to send you for this evening’s banquet, so that other people won’t think that I, Auston, have a poorly dressed bodyguard.”

The Western-style jacket that Gu Wuji had on previously was given to that female ghost dressed in white, he was still wearing a dress shirt until now, even though it can still be described as very stylish, but it was after all not very formal.

Other people: “……” Who on earth is the employer, ah! Doesn’t this Auston-shaoye lack even a bit of resolve? In addition, why was there also a feeling that he is very conscientious in currying favor with Gu Wuji?

…………

……

Time quickly passed, this evening’s banquet had commenced inside one of the halls in the cruise ship.

Upon arriving to the location, several players took a gasp of cold breath.

Inside the wide and luxurious hall, were food carts filled with culinary delicacies all over the place, that were provided for the tourist to enjoy at any time. For the purpose of this banquet, everyone was also finely dressed, dressed in all kinds of gorgeous formal attire, at this moment, all of them were eating food while laughing and conversing cheerfully.

At first glance, this seemed like an ordinary banquet, but with a closer look, a lot of people in the crowd were very strange.

There was a person with an unnaturally twisted arm, which had clearly been broken, but he actually continued eating using this pair of hands, without even having a little bit of discomfort.

There were also several tourists that had previously been crushed to death by the chandelier, and was now also replaced with faces that had been altered beyond recognition, that still mingled within the crowd.

Rather than saying that this was an ordinary banquet, it would be better to say that this was already a banquet between ghosts and people. The players didn’t even dare to imagine, how many people had actually died these past few days, the accident rate aboard this ship has already reached an abnormally high level, but apart from them, the rest of the tourists were totally unaware of this, completely oblivious of how frightening the surrounding people around them had become.

“It really isn’t even a bit interesting at all.” Auston said with a displeased tone after he came in, “This is such an ordinary banquet, being here is just a waste of time, it would still have been better for me to go and explore the locations which were reportedly said to be haunted.”

The other people looked around those tourist who had an eerie facial feature for a while: “……” Which other haunted places have much more ghosts compared to here?

Even though there were a lot of ghosts in this place, but apparently because of some kind of binding rules, there were also no intentions of attacking the players, so everybody was forced to muster their courage and go in.

This banquet was an important event written on the pamphlet, there will certainly be important clues, which they must absolutely not miss.

Just at this time, one person by the side noticed Auston, while holding a glass of wine promptly came over to cordially greet him, he also outstretched his hand with the intention of shaking Auston’s hand.

If it wasn’t because his facial complexion looked very pale, with one eyeball hanging out from his eye socket, which made the whole individual look like he had just died from an accident……everyone would have felt a bit of ease.

Auston only gave a casual look towards this guy, even though he felt very disinclined to socialize with these people, but the basic etiquette must still be observed, so he immediately reached out his hand.

Everyone suddenly became very scared and edgy, the side task was to protect Auston, in this kind of circumstance, if Auston would really shake hands with this ghost an accident might really happen, ah……

Even though the ghosts cannot take the initiative to attack other people, but having close contact like this, just thinking about it was very problematic, ah! Even if there was still no problem this time, but the problem was, what if there would be a sleep paralysis directly after this.

Just as both people’s hands were about to touch, Gu Wuji immediately went forward standing in between the two people, while simultaneously extending his hands to grasp each extended hand.

The surroundings immediately went quiet for a moment.

The rest of the players looked at Gu Wuji with a startled expression, they deeply felt that Gu Wuji really felt true love towards this Auston-shaoye! So he would protect the other party at all cost like this.

Jiang Ling looked at Gu Wuji, his eyes had once again contained a bit of gentleness, he remember his friend again at this time……

Moreover, Gu Wuji at this time, should certainly not be doing this kind of thing for the sake of protecting a ghost again!

However, doing this kind of strange thing, yet Gu Wuji was facing this like it’s a matter of course, it’s as if things must happen like this, then smiled to the ghost at that side and said: “Auston-shaoye does not like having contact with outsiders, so it’s up to me to represent him, you don’t need to mind about it.”    

That ghost and Auston became stunned and yet felt like it was very reasonable, even though Auston felt that he didn’t have this kind of problem, but he really didn’t want to shake hands with this guy in front of him, so he immediately sent an appreciative glance towards Gu Wuji’s direction, feeling that it was really worthwhile to invite a bodyguard to come here, so he gave him a meaningful glance.

The ghost then left after exchanging a few customary greetings with Auston, after all, they did not have any friendly relationship, and was only due to some business relationship with the family of Auston.

“Are you alright?” Jiang Ling who had always been indifferent before, moving closer at this time, although the tone was still very awkward, but it can be seen that his attitude was already much better compared to before, “Coming in contact with ghosts like this, who knows what could actually happen, do you feel alright?”  

“There’s no problem, it’s a regular matter.” Gu Wuji said, then like recalling something also added another sentence, “The hand just doesn’t feel very good.”

The other people momentarily brought forth a feeling of being too tired to complain.  

If it had been before, other people may have thought that Gu Wuji was just an exaggerating pretentious prick, but after the incident of Gu Wuji rushing forward to hug that dead body before, they had been unconditionally convinced with the words of Gu Wuji, while simultaneously feeling a deep admiration.  

At this time, loud noises were suddenly heard coming from the second floor, everyone raised their heads to look up, and saw a middle-aged man appear on the second floor having a somewhat imposing expression, it can be seen from his attire, that the other party must be the captain of this ship.

When the captain looked towards the tourists direction, an amiable smile was shown, and then he greeted everyone. From time to time, sounds of voices expressing gratitude to the captain for inviting them in this luxury cruise ship could be heard coming from the tourists.

Several players became silent, are these people especially expressing their thanks to this ship’s captain for sending them to their death?   

But fortunately, this captain at the very least was still an ordinary living person, or at least he appears like an ordinary living person right now.

The captain at this time also saw Gu Wuji with the guidance of a staff member, and immediately came over enthusiastically, “You are really that very courageous and kindhearted person, it’s really thanks to you, otherwise we will certainly have a complicated incident on board.”

“Captain, it’s really nothing much, it was only appropriate for me to help a person, that’s all.” Gu Wuji looked at the captain for a while, just like observing for something, then directly started speaking, “I have several questions I want to ask the captain, may I?”

“Of course, there’s no problem at all.” The captain said it in such a straightforward way, that there was completely not even a bit of semblance relating him with the vicious person behind the scenes.

“Why did you want to be the captain of this ship?” Gu Wuji asked this kind of question, while casually taking out the book he carried in his arm, placing it in front of him, letting the other party clearly see the cover and title of the book.   

Zheng-ge and the other people were so frightened that their complexion paled, this Gu Wuji was also too brazed, ok! This was simply a threat, alright!

After all, the tourists on board were simply unaware that there was a lot of unexpected accidents that had previously happened on this ship, if they had known this, apart from Auston, this kind of candidate in courting death, where would there still be people willing to stay behind? It was estimated that this kind of voyage will end just like this.

*a lot of moths

However, will the copy allow it to end like this? Maybe it will cause the horrifying latter half of the plot to shift forward and appear in advance.

No, no way, Gu Wuji must certainly be aware of something behind the scenes, so he will do this kind of thing, right, it must certainly be like this.

These teammates had already given up on thinking, and only wanted to mindlessly believe in Gu Wuji’s way of doing things.

After Gu Wuji’s voice had fallen, the surrounding noises seemed to suddenly fall silent for a moment, those blank faced ghosts around them turned their heads, their eyes were fixedly staring at him, that made the people’s scalp tingle.

However, Gu Wuji didn’t feel even a little bit of nervousness at all, and only looked at the party in a calm and collected manner.

“This is a very simple matter, I can naturally tell you the answer.” The captain’s smiling expression disappeared, the eyes also had a change, which obviously held a bit of fear towards Gu Wuji, “I think we can discuss this upstairs, put this book away first.”

“Certainly.” Gu Wuji placed the book away, “Then can my friends go with me then?”

Several people behind him suddenly felt countless sights falling on their body, and was momentarily full of pressure.

The captain swept a glance towards several people behind Gu Wuji, then finally said: “It’s not a problem. But, don’t you need to leave someone to protect your employer?”

This sentence was also practically filled with implicit threats.

“Then I will only bring one person with me.” Gu Wuji turned his head, his sight then fell on Jiang Ling’s body.

Jiang Ling nodded his head, taking several steps forward.

The 2 people along with Zheng-ge did not know why a sense of loss had emerged.

Soon after, the captain also apologized to the rest of the people, saying that he had something to talk with his crazed fans, then headed upstairs together with Gu Wuji and Jiang Ling.

Gu Wuji and Jiang Ling came to the captain’s quarters, Gu Wuji had payed careful attention to the surroundings along the way, remembering the path towards this place.

After entering the door they suddenly realized, that the vicinity inside was very dark, and was only lighted with a single oil lamp. The bookshelves on the place, had a lot of thick books in it, a small number of the books looked old.

The captain let the other two people sit directly opposite of him, Gu Wuji efficiently noticed a thick notebook on the table, which also had a fountain pen lying beside it, “This is?”

“Since you have seen that book, it must have been clear that I was once a writer.” The captain stated, “Although I have already changed my profession due to certain things before, but I have always wanted to write when there’s nothing to do, there’s also a lot of interesting things when sailing on the sea, I write them down when I’m free.”

Gu Wuji and Jiang Ling suddenly became aware of something, since the captain is still writing a diary, then that diary must certainly be a very important thing, maybe all the actual facts can be known after it has been obtained.

Gu Wuji, at this moment wanted to directly get his hand on it. The captain seemed to have seen through their thoughts, “You better not get too excited, even though you left some people outside to protect that little shaoye of the Auston family, after all, a few people can’t be better compared to others with real guns and live ammunition in hand, right?”

Hearing this, Gu Wuji was forced to let go of this train of thought.

Jiang Ling at the side saw the subtle changes in Gu Wuji’s actions, and only then did he suddenly realized that the other must have wanted to be hands on with the captain just a moment ago, which made him shocked.

“I know, you must have discovered this book by chance, and felt that you must have been deceived in coming here.” The captain said, then heaved a sigh, “As a matter of fact, the things are not what you think, although I was indeed interested in this ship in the beginning, which was certainly because of those past tragedies, but after actually getting in touch with it, I had been moved by this ship’s charm……looking at each of it’s design, it’s so perfect. Even after passing through so many years, is just an addition to it’s increasing elegant atmosphere.”

Gu Wuji: “……”

“I believe it’s wrong for people to be unwilling to voyage on this ship just because of some prejudice, it’s just an ordinary cruise ship, I just want to reveal it’s charm!” The captain said, “As for those rumors, it’s certainly true, but all those things happened in the past, and everything that happened had a scientific basis.”

Gu Wuji had a great impulse to call the police, even though he felt like the captain was just looking for an excuse, but the other party’s fanatical expression can actually make people feel very convinced.

“That cult that was mentioned in this book, how did that also come about?” Gu Wuji asked.

The captain said: “That is nothing but completely nonsense, besides, even if it really exist, what can a fictitious religion actually do this ship now? I was also too young at that time of writing that book, but now, everything had already passed, even that religion has already ceased to exist.”

Gu Wuji did not speak a word, and because of the captain’s words, he was actually even more convinced that the things which happened aboard this ship were because of that cult’s doing.

After all, that veined pattern on his hand was not fake, there was still that strange dream yesterday night.

That light and simple answer of this captain were even filled with concealment……maybe the other party was now a believer of that cult, and the tourist on this ship are the sacrifices he prepared to offer to the god of his faith!

“Do you still have any questions to ask?”

“Nothing more.” Gu Wuji shook his head.

“Then we should head back as soon as possible, everyone waiting must be full of impatience.” The captain’s tone had also became very amiable, “But, the matter’s of this book must not be divulged, it would be troublesome if it caused some disturbances, you also shouldn’t want that kind of thing to happen right?”

“Of course.” Gu Wuji nodded.

There were originally a lot of ghosts aboard this ship, what’s the use of even speaking out this kind of thing? It would only cause nothing more than trouble, he simply did not think of considering this kind of thing, the purpose of bringing it was merely to threaten the captain, that’s all.

The captain left with them only after he had obtained Gu Wuji’s assurance.

Jiang Ling was truly relieved in being able to leave safely, he had been surmising a moment ago whether or not this captain was the final boss.

But now it seems, everything has not yet progressed up to the end, even if the captain was the final boss, he was also still being restricted by the rules, and was incapable of directly killing them for the time being.

Several people have returned to the banquet hall, everything was the same like before with no changes, this strange banquet was still proceeding as usual. However, something troublesome was happening on Auston’s side.

Auston at this time was standing with a knitted brow, and directly in front of him was a brown haired young man with a sneer on his face, this person was exactly Jack the one he cannot get along with.

“Auston-shaoye, it’s really quite unfortunate ah, it seems that your bodyguards are very unreliable, that when things happen, they would actually distance themselves from their employer.”

When these words were mentioned, the two behind Jack already had a sinister look, the bodyguard’s whose limbs were already abnormal approached Auston with several unhurried steps, they, no, they should be called it, the liquid from it’s mouth fell on the carpet, and issued a sizzling sound which made people uneasy.

Even though Zheng-ge and the others know of their own role, and was also aware that they must protect Auston, but, how could they go against two monster-like bodyguards, ah!

They’re just ordinary people, ok? Even if there was a bit of life saving props, but it was impossible to use it for npc’s like Auston, those two monsters were so terrible, that getting past this would certainly be a narrow escape!

Moreover, without knowing the reasons why, the security guards around this banquet seemed to be unable to see this scene at all, as they simply did not have even a bit of intention in coming over, on top of that, this corner was very far away and isolated, so the surrounding people were also unable to see this scene at all.

Auston had an unpleasant look, Jack simply felt smug, feeling that he had found this rare opportunity to regain a bit of his reputation from the body of this archenemy, when he still wanted to humiliate Auston again, the sound of approaching footsteps was suddenly heard.  

“What do you want to do?” a cold voice sounded, Gu Wuji finally came over at this crucial moment.

Seeing Gu Wuji appear before him, Jack was frightened enough and took several steps back, “You actually……came back so soon.”

He suddenly remembered what terrible things this bodyguard of Auston had done before, his two bodyguards upon confronting the opposite party completely lacked the strength to retaliate even a bit.

In fact, this time if it were not for him not seeing Gu Wuji’s presence, Jack simply wouldn’t have come over to pick a fight.

“Damn, let’s go.” Jack unexpectedly had the intention of leaving, the two bodyguards behind him was very unwilling giving Gu Wuji a glance, the protruding eyeball had already turned into a scarlet red color, taking in an intense indignation, obviously, after turning into monsters, it was convinced that it’s strength right now was absolutely able to deal with Gu Wuji.

As Jack was about to leave, he turned to see that both his bodyguards actually did not listen to his words, he suddenly became infuriated and said, “What are you still doing?”

Those two bodyguards whose entire body had already changed into a monster were pervading with killing intent, but because of some kind of restriction in the rules, it was unable to do anything to Jack, and must still listen to the other party’s words, so it could only turn around to reluctantly leave.

After Jack left the place and fled, Zheng-ge and the other people let out a sigh of relief, and couldn’t help but end up thinking of what Gu Wuji had done to Jack before, that could actually make the other party this frightened, fortunately, this kind of person was on their side.

Moreover, they only then realized, that when they see Gu Wuji, an unbidden feeling of security would actually burst forth from within……

He obviously looks like an ordinary pretty face, but Gu Wuji nevertheless gives people a feeling of a reliable big brother!

Raw word count: 6211

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t/n:  About the word counts I post...
3k - 1 wk
6k - 2 wks
10k and above - 2wks+

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