S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 65

Ghost Ship Murderer 29  – Corridor of the Ghost Ship

---

After seeing the figure, Bai Yutang and Luo Tian took the lead and chased after it.

The others followed suit.

But after turning a few corners... the interior of this ship was like a maze, with crisscrossing corridors everywhere, and it was pretty much the same everywhere, with blood stains all over the floor, blood stains all over the walls, and the door numbers on the top of each door covered up by blood stains, so much so that every door was pretty much the same, and soon… the crowd was disoriented, and,

"Where's Yutang?"

Zhan Zhao asked Ma Xin.

Ma Xin looked back and forth, and found that there were only two SWAT team members left behind them, and the others had gone off to who knows where.

"I think I saw them turn right just now." Ma Xin scratched her head, they were at most a few steps slower, how could they have lost sight of them as they chased after them?

Zhan Zhao frowned and took out his phone to check – There was no signal.

The SWAT team had walkie-talkies, and when they turned them on, the other two SWAT team members said they were with Zhao Jue and Zhao Zhen, but they didn't know where they were, and they didn't see Bai Yutang or Luo Tian.

……

Zhao Jue yawned and asked Zhao Zhen, "Where's that kitten?"

Zhao Zhen spread his hands – He didn't see them.

Bai Yutang lost that Emilia and frowned. Turning back, he saw that only Luo Tian was behind him.

"Where's Zhan Zhao?" Bai Yutang asked.

Luo Tian turned back, "He was following just now... what?"

Bai Yutang looked around and frowned, patting the wall, "It seems like there's a problem with this place."

"Let's go back." Luo Tian was about to walk back when Bai Yutang stopped him, "Wrong direction."

Luo Tian opened his mouth wide... Can the front and back orientation be wrong?

"Look around, but don't turn any corners." Bai Yutang said and took a few steps forward, Luo Tian simply followed him closely.

After walking a few more steps, the two saw that ahead of them, the door of a room was ajar. When Bai Yutang opened the door, he could smell a faint smell... and couldn't help but frown – It seemed to be the smell of food, still fresh and not spoiled.

"Captain." Luo Tian pointed to the table.

Bai Yutang walked over to look, and saw two empty lunch boxes on the table, a few packs of mineral water in the corner, some newspapers and magazines, and a power strip.

Bai Yutang frowned, "Someone is living on the ship?"

"If it's Emilia," Luo Tian whispered, "I can understand eating, but newspapers and magazines, does she read them all? Why would she hide on a boat?"

Bai Yutang looked around for clues, "There isn't any trash, someone is giving her things and taking things away."

"The boat belongs to Stephen." Luo Tian asked, "Could it be him?"

Bai Yutang pushed the door open and looked out, he wanted to find Zhan Zhao, as having him look at the scene might be more helpful.

But just as he opened the door, something fell behind it with a clatter.

When Bai Yutang closed the door and looked back, he saw several pegs on the wall behind the door, and several fire axes hanging from them. One of them had been knocked by the door and had fallen to the floor.

Luo Tian knelt down to pick up the axe and saw that there was blood on the handle.

Hanging the axe back in its place, Luo Tian counted – Five pegs and four axes... one was missing.

Luo Tian lifted his head and looked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang's face turned ugly as he opened the door and walked out – He had to find Zhan Zhao and the others first, if that Blue Doll was really a murderous test subject as Zhao Jue had said, then Zhan Zhao and the others might be in danger. The main point was that the terrain here was complicated and once they were alone, they would be in even more trouble.

"Aiya..."

Ma Xin stepped on a tin can that had fallen to the ground and slipped and stumbled.

Zhan Zhao reached out to support her, "Be careful."

"There's writing on the wall!" Ma Xin reached out and pointed to the wall next to her, showing it to Zhan Zhao.

When Zhan Zhao looked over, he saw a series of numbers, which seemed to have been written by someone with a finger dipped in blood.

The numbers were randomly arranged, '47893', and where the '3' was written, there was a bloodstain running below it, as if the person who wrote it had run out of energy, or had simply died... So was the string of numbers finished? It's just five Arabic numerals… A password?

"Hey, Dr. Zhan."

Zhan Zhao heard Ma Xin call him and looked back.

He saw Ma Xin nervously grabbing his arm and looking around, asking, "Where are the two SWAT team members?"

Zhan Zhao was slightly taken aback and looked around again... Apart from the two of them, there was no one else.

Zhan Zhao frowned – Is this place an evil door? Isn't it too outrageous, the moment you turn a corner, you disappear? Zhan Zhao thought about it and suddenly looked at the opposite wall, there was a bloodstain that caught his attention... it was a straight trail of blood.

One side was smooth and the other side was splattered with blood.

After staring at it for a long time, Zhan Zhao frowned deeper and instructed Ma Xin, "Follow me closely, don't be left alone."

"Oh!" Ma Xin nodded repeatedly, thinking that if she was alone in this place, she would die of fright, and that Uncle didn't know where she was.

Zhan Zhao led Ma Xin to that trail of blood, looked up at the trail of blood that was split vertically, reached out, and gave the wall a gentle push... The wall did not move.

After thinking about it, Zhan Zhao took Ma Xin up a few steps forward, turned a corner but didn't go far, and looked back... to see that the wall had suddenly moved backwards.

He hurriedly took a step forward with Ma Xin, and it felt like the entire floor moved gently to the other side... Soon, the corridor they were facing was joined together with another corridor.

"No wonder we got separated!" Ma Xin was dissatisfied, "It's the same as a train changing tracks! One party turns, and when the other party turns the corner, they don't realise they've gone down a different corridor! It's amazing we could find it."

"This corridor is designed to keep people dispersed and lost." Zhan Zhao whispered, "There is usually only one reason to disperse a large group of people."

Ma Xin's face went a little white, "She wouldn't be trying to..."

"This is definitely not a simple ferry, it's a carefully designed maze." Zhan Zhao whispered, "The tickets on the floor, the corridors that change tracks, it's more like a haunted house at a carnival."

"Do you think that this is one of the tourist projects that Stephen and the others made?" Ma Xin was surprised.

"If the ship is out on the open sea, and they let this replica Emilia out silently, pretending to pass by their ship, then it would really be an adventure," Zhan Zhao reached out and gently touched the wall, "This maze is like a horizontal seesaw, if we change on one side, the other side will also change. If we get trapped, it won't be easy to get out."

"Then since it's fake, the Emilia who just ran past should be fake too, right?" Ma Xin asked in a whisper, "A carnival, there has to be a clown."

Zhan Zhao frowned and shook his head, "Look Ma Xin, there are three possibilities now."

"Which three?" Ma Xin asked.

"First, Stephen knows the ship exists and he arranged everything, it's a carnival and the Emilia we saw was the clown."

Ma Xin nodded – Aiya, a happy ending for all!

"Then she should be a paid employee, so why didn't she withdraw when everyone else did?" Zhan Zhao asked Ma Xin, "The ship hasn't set sail yet, and she doesn't need to perform here so soon, does she? If it was a rehearsal or a warm up... seeing so many police officers, why didn't she approach?"

Ma Xin opened her mouth.

"The most important thing is," Zhan Zhao added, "there was no electricity here when we came down."

Ma Xin gulped and a chill ran down the back of his spine.

"The second possibility is that Stephen and the others didn't know about the existence of this ship." Zhan Zhao whispered, "Once the ship goes out to sea and the Emilia appears, with Stephen and his group's grudge against Emilia and the nature of this group of rich and handsome people who are not afraid of the sky and the earth, would they not get on board?"

Ma Xin nodded, "When the time comes, they'll be scattered and then they'll be dead!"

"The last possibility," Zhan Zhao said, "Stephen knew about the existence of this ship, but Emilia wasn't arranged by him."

Ma Xin blinked, "Did she sneak in herself?"

"Either way," Zhan Zhao said lightly, "this Emilia is up to no good."

The more Ma Xin thought about it, the more terrifying it was, "Cell phones have no signal and she has already seen us. Right now, we have a flashlight in our hands, the flashlight will last for a while, and we can use it to hit people..."

Just as Ma Xin thought about this, she suddenly heard a 'pop'.

The lights went out, and the surrounding area was instantly dark.

Ma Xin was startled.

Zhan Zhao frowned – The other party was obviously accustomed to the darkness, did their eyes also change? Or did they have night vision equipment?

"It's so dark." Ma Xin was nervous.

Zhan Zhao laughed, "Aren't you ferocious, yet you're still afraid of the dark?"

Ma Xin was helpless, how could Zhan Zhao still have a sense of humour at this time? Isn't he too fearless...

"You don't feel safe with me?" Zhan Zhao asked with a smile, "If Emilia shows up, I don't think I can beat her."

"I'm not afraid!" Ma Xin patted her chest, but she was not very confident, "We're both woman, and I've learned self-defence! And I'm taller than her! I'm wearing jeans and she's wearing a skirt, I have a ponytail and she has long loose hair, so she'll be at a disadvantage in a fight."

Zhan Zhao was amused by her, "She killed a boatload of pirates by herself."

Ma Xin was speechless.

Zhan Zhao reached out, "Give me your flashlight, hide behind me and don't come out, and no matter what you see later, don't say anything."

Ma Xin opened her eyes wide and looked at Zhan Zhao. After she had adjusted to the darkness, she could see a little bit of Zhan Zhao's silhouette, as well as his cat's eyes that could not be concealed in the dark.

Zhan Zhao said, "Don't be afraid, hold out for three minutes. It's almost been two minutes, someone will be here soon."

"Three minutes? Really?" Ma Xin was a little more at ease.

"There is no mechanism that Zhao Zhen can't break in three minutes, and Yutang won't lose me for more than three minutes." Zhan Zhao said calmly.

Ma Xin covered his chest – How manly!

At that moment, the sound of scraping metal and very, very soft, pa, pa... the sound of footsteps came from ahead, which seemed unusually eerie in this confined space.

Ma Xin looked at Zhan Zhao, who was in front of her, holding a flashlight in one hand and had his other hand in his pocket, and was inexplicably at ease – Although Zhan Zhao was not a particularly strong and powerful type like Bai Yutang or Luo Tian, he was very convincing when he said everything would be fine, and hiding behind him was quite reassuring.

With this in mind, Ma Xin opened her work box and took out some potions and a knife, ready to fight the "female ghost" later.

......

"A bullet?"

The police officer looked at Zhao Zhen blankly, "What do you need a bullet for?"

"Give me one." Zhao Zhen reached out and asked the SWAT team member next to him for a bullet, much the same way a child would ask an adult for a piece of candy.

At this point, he was also alone, and was left with a foolish but tall SWAT team member beside him.

The officer removed his clip, gave him a bullet and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Magic." Zhao Zhen took the bullet and put it on the ground, where it rolled to one side. Zhao Zhen followed it and felt for the corner of the wall. Within moments, he found a crack and pried it open with a piece of metal, and heard a sound of metal sliding. The SWAT team member was startled to find that the wall beside him had moved...

Zhao Zhen reached out and grabbed the rattling wall with one hand, and then the other side of the wall snapped away, and the two originally staggered corridors were joined together.

Luo Tian walked over from the opposite side, with Bai Yutang behind him.

Bai Yutang glanced at Zhao Zhen and the officer, and Zhao Zhen saw a bullet in Bai Yutang's hand, and the two of them came to a tacit understanding and continued to search without saying anything.

......

As the sound of footsteps got closer, Zhan Zhao felt Ma Xin's nervousness behind him.

...... At the far end of the corridor, a white figure appeared, with black hair hanging down over her chest and covering most of her face, a long white dress and bare feet, and holding a long fire axe.

It was hard to see in the darkness, so it was all the more terrifying.

Zhan Zhao turned the flashlight away and gently held it in his hand. He didn't hold it up, let alone shine it on the other side, but held it in his hand like a lantern, letting the cylindrical light sway, leaving fleeting circular patches of light all around.

With one hand in his pocket, Zhan Zhao slowly walked forward towards the white figure.

Ma Xin was startled and wanted to open her mouth to call out to him, but Zhan Zhao had previously instructed her not to speak and not to be afraid.

After thinking about it, Ma Xin followed, following behind Zhan Zhao and holding the scalpel in her hand.

Zhan Zhao's actions also seemed to be beyond the imagination of the person in white, and she stood there somewhat confused.

At that moment, Zhan Zhao opened his mouth and softly hummed a song with an odd tone.

Zhan Zhao normally did not sing, but his brain had strong control over all of his body systems, plus he had an extremely high talent for languages, so Ma Xin believed that his pronunciation was accurate, and Zhan Zhao seemed to be singing a song in German.

As Zhan Zhao sang, and his relaxed and lazy footsteps rang out, the woman in white actually took a step backwards.

As Zhan Zhao continued to walk forward, his singing voice was not prominent, and it gradually turned into fluent German speech. It was unknown what he was saying, but it seemed like he was reciting some kind of poem, or recounting a long passage, and as Zhan Zhao moved, he saw that the white-clothed person suddenly relaxed her hand... and the axe fell to the ground.

"Yaaah!"

As Zhan Zhao got closer and closer, the woman in white suddenly clutched her hair and let out an astonishingly high-decibel scream, then turned around and ran.

Standing still, Zhan Zhao suddenly pulled Ma Xin back a step and saw a bullet roll out from a crack in the wall.

Zhan Zhao and Ma Xin felt the ground beneath their feet move as the wall was forcibly pulled to the other side.

"Cat!"

Bai Yutang rushed in and pulled Zhan Zhao over to check if he was injured.

Luo Tian also rushed to look at Ma Xin, "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No..." Ma Xin was still in a daze, looking at Zhan Zhao who seemed to be perfectly fine… What did he just do? Why was the "female ghost" scared away?

"You're not injured, so who was the one screaming just now?" Luo Tian just heard the woman's scream, it was heart-wrenching and he was so shocked that his heart nearly jumped out of his chest, thinking that Ma Xin had been slashed.

"It's..." Ma Xin didn't have time to answer before a second miserable scream was heard.

Zhan Zhao looked around, "Zhao Jue isn't here?"

Zhao Zhen spread his hands, "Lost or ran away on his own."

"It seems that the female ghost has been caught." Zhan Zhao said, poking Bai Yutang, "Let's find Zhao Jue, before he scares the girl to death."

Bai Yutang and Zhao Zhen proceeded to find the mechanisms using the same method as before.

In fact, the principle of the methods Bai Yutang and Zhao Zhen used were the same. The key to the mechanism in the corridor of the ship was the "slope". Zhan Zhao and Ma Xin stood in the same place and pulled the wall, but the wall did not move because they were stepping on it. As soon as the two of them moved away and the external force disappeared, one side would pop up on a slope, tilting the corridor so that one side would slide to the other. Every time someone walked past, the side of the floor that was under the weight would pop up on the slope, so the corridor would slide to the lower side. This is what causes the path to be different each time someone walks through. By placing the bullet on the floor and watching where it rolls, there is bound to be a seam on the low side. If you pull it away and move it back to its original position, you will have the path that the other person took.

Without much effort, the group found Zhao Jue in the pitch-black walkway.

At that moment, the scene in front of him was somewhat bizarre.

They saw Zhao Jue crouching, holding his chin in his hand and tilting his head. In front of him, the "female ghost" in white was kneeling on the ground, crying and rubbing her eyes, with a fire axe in front of her, weeping like a little girl.

"They don't look dangerous at all." A SWAT team member asked Bai Yutang, "Is she just a kidnapped student?"

"Not dangerous?" Bai Yutang laughed, "Look at the lines on her arms."

The SWAT team members all subconsciously looked over and took a look... and couldn't help but draw a cold breath.

The girl was thin, of course, it just seemed that, to be exact, she should be very lean.

It's very difficult for women to develop particularly pronounced muscles, and most women who compete in bodybuilding competitions and develop bulges are injected with hormones that can do serious damage to their bodies. However, this "female ghost" had clearly defined muscles on her arms, which were not caused by hormones, but by years of intense combat training, and in addition, her miserable white skin and the scars on her body were shocking to the eyes.

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "What's the next step?"

Zhan Zhao spread his hands, "Take her back and find the person who kept her here."

When they returned to the deck, Bai Yutang took out his cell phone and frowned... In the short half hour without signal, the phone rang a dozen times, and they were all from Bao Zheng, who probably had an urgent matter.

Bai Yutang hurriedly dialled the phone, and before he could open his mouth to explain that there was no signal just now, he heard Bao Zheng say, "Lin Ruo has disappeared!"

"Disappeared... What does that mean?" Bai Yutang frowned – Hadn't he been taken home by his father and put in lockdown? Did he run away or did he go into hiding like last time?

"The bodyguard at the door of his room died, he's gone, his studio is in disarray and it looks like he was forcibly kidnapped." When Bao Zheng finished speaking, Bai Yutang's face turned grim – Who had taken Lin Ruo?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: June 24, 2023 by Angel

Edited: July 7, 2023 by Angel