S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 69

Ghost Ship Murderer 33 – A Certain Ceremony

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Humans are, after all, land animals, and the turbulence and lurching caused by long periods at sea can cause discomfort.

According to the records of various maritime journals, the vast majority of people who died at sea due to non-accidents did not drown or die of thirst, but rather died of suicide because they could not bear to be seasick.

Zhan Zhao and the others were stuffed in the cabin, and after only a short time standing there, they were already experiencing seasickness, with Ma Han being the first to suffer.

Zhao Hu was also a little uncomfortable, but his face was not as white as Ma Han's...

Qin Ou also felt out of sorts all over, especially in his stomach.

Bai Yutang and Luo Tian showed no reactions at all, but the most surprising thing was that Zhan Zhao, who was usually the most physically unwell, was completely fine.

Zhao Jue was also fine, stroking his chin and observing the crowd.

"Hey, how much longer do we have, Brother?" Zhao Hu approached Qin Ou to look at the coordinates displayed on the computer, "If this goes on, I'm going to jump into the sea."

"It will take until at least the early hours of the morning according to the calculations." Zhan Zhao answered him lightly, "It will probably take another three to four hours."

"No way?!" Zhao Hu's mouth opened wide, and beside him, Ma Han's face turned several shades whiter.

"Hey, Xiao Ma Ge, will you still be able to pull the trigger later?" Zhao Hu was uncomfortable and dishonest, trying to provoke Ma Han.

Zhan Zhao smiled, "There's actually a very effective method to cure your seasickness."

Everyone was slightly stunned and they all looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao reached out and gently pointed to his head, "I can prevent you from getting seasick for the rest of your lives!"

Everyone subconsciously swallowed their saliva – It felt too dangerous.

After another half hour of suffering, Ma Han couldn't take it anymore and ran out. As soon as he saw the walls full of blood and the strong smell of blood hit him, he found a bucket and vomited.

One vomited, and the other couldn't take it anymore, Zhao Hu also went to vomit, and Qin Ou took a deep breath, "I've been on a ship before, and I never reacted this badly."

"It's because it's caused by the claustrophobic environment." Zhan Zhao looked at Ma Han and Zhao Hu who were walking back and asked, "Still want to suffer, huh?"

Ma Han waved his hand, indicating that it would affect his movements if he continued like this, so he could use whatever tricks he had, as long as he didn't faint.

Zhan Zhao smiled and stood up, seemingly very happy.

"How about one for each of us?" Zhao Jue suddenly suggested.

Everyone froze.

Zhao Hu and Ma Han understood and shook their heads together – No! We absolutely cannot be handed over to Zhao Jue!

Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Jue and narrowed his eyes – What are you trying to do?

Zhao Jue reached out and tugged at Ma Han's collar, "Come, come, you come with me."

Ma Han widened his eyes in surprise and looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhao Hu pulled Ma Han's arm, "No way, what are you going to do to Xiao Ma Ge?"

Zhao Jue tsked, "What are you afraid of, I'm not going to split him up. Come with me, I'll take you to play some fun games."

Ma Han shook his head firmly, he wouldn't go!

Zhao Hu tugged on him, "Don't abduct me CP! He's a virgin who has a girlfriend!"

Everyone rubbed their chins with the same motion – A virgin? That's impossible, Jiayi hasn't taken him after all this time?

Ma Han really wanted to kick him to death for talking such nonsense.

Bai Yutang looked back at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao seemed to be thinking about something and didn't stop him, but he didn't seem to support the idea, and was hesitant.

After a few moments of stalemate, Zhan Zhao asked Zhao Jue, "What do you want?"

Zhao Jue smiled, his smile meaningful and mysterious, his eyes, which were slightly long and narrow, were curved into two moons, and his long index finger lightly tapped his lips. These expressions and movements were originally somewhat playful and provocative, but when Zhao Jue made them, they were provocative, but also a little mysterious and eerie.

Zhan Zhao had studied some of Zhao Jue's seemingly ordinary gestures countless times and found that each of his movements was a linguistic symbol, carefully designed by him, hiding some kind of secret. The "shhh" gesture was highly suggestive and was one of the most inducing and stimulating gestures in human body language. Over the years, Zhan Zhao has deciphered many of Zhao Jue's movements, but he has never truly or completely deciphered his "shhh" gesture, what mystery is hidden in it?

Bai Yutang stared at the tablet and decided he couldn't let Ma Han take any chances, and spoke out to stop it, "Don't play around with my team, split your own people."

Zhao Jue pouted and muttered, "You guys asked for it yourselves, don't blame me when the time comes."

Everyone looked at each other, and Ma Han asked him, "What do you mean?"

Zhao Jue turned his face away, with an obvious expression – Unhappy! Not telling you!

Zhan Zhao gestured to Zhao Hu and pointed to the next room.

Zhao Hu followed him over, asking as he did so, "Are there any side effects, Dr. Zhan? Will I turn into a duck or a fish?"

The corners of Zhan Zhao's mouth twitched and he slapped him on the head, "If you want to turn into a duck or a fish, go to Zhao Zhen!"

Zhao Hu rubbed his head and followed Zhan Zhao into the room.

Qin Ou indicated that he was queuing up, he too couldn't stand it any longer.

Ma Han stood in the doorway, looking at Zhao Jue and then at Bai Yutang.

"What do you want to do?" Ma Han walked over and asked Zhao Jue.

Everyone looked at him.

Bai Yutang also looked up, "Keep Cat's golden words in mind."

Zhao Jue was curious, "What golden words?"

Bai Yutang laughed, "Don't believe anything Zhao Jue says."

Zhao Jue's eyelids twitched as he listened, and he rubbed his eyes and ground his teeth, "You'll regret it when the time comes."

Bai Yutang ignored him and continued to look down at his tablet.

"What does curing seasickness have to do with whether we'll regret it or not?" Ma Han asked.

Zhao Jue smiled, "Sniper, of all the people in SCI, you're the most kind-hearted."

Everyone looked at Zhao Jue.

Bai Yutang was puzzled, "Based on what?"

"He never speaks ill of me!" Zhao Jue spoke in a serious manner.

Everyone was silent for a moment and replied, "That's because he doesn't like to talk."

Ma Han nodded in agreement.

Zhao Jue waved his hand, "As a reward, I've decided to give him a gift!"

......

Ma Han asked, "What kind of gift?"

"Since it's a gift, of course it's going to be a surprise? Surprise!" Zhao Jue gestured with his fingers.

Ma Han thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay."

Everyone was surprised.

Bai Yutang looked at him, "Are you sure?"

Zhao Jue narrowed his eyes, tsking twice, "Smart man."

After saying this, Zhao Jue stood up and led Ma Han to another room.

The door to the other room opened and Zhao Hu came back feeling alive, not dizzy or nauseous anymore. Although Zhan Zhao only whispered a few words in his ear, his seasickness had indeed been cured. He wondered if Zhan Zhao's magical mouth could cure other illnesses, it would be amazing if it could.

Zhan Zhao entered the room, looked around and found that Ma Han and Zhao Jue were no longer, and couldn't help but frown, "Did he really go?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "Ma Han volunteered. They just left, should we stop them?"

Zhan Zhao gently waved his hand.

"Are you sure we don't need to?" Bai Yutang was a little worried, "What if Zhao Jue splits Ma Han or implants some kind of strange personality into him?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head, "He shouldn't."

Bai Yutang was still a bit uneasy, but he heard Bai Ye's voice come from the other side, "Don't worry, there will only be benefits, no harm."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, feeling slightly more at ease.

......

Ma Han was taken to the next room by Zhao Jue and wondered what he was trying to do. This was the first time he had been alone with Zhao Jue.

"Don't be nervous." Zhao Jue moved a chair over for him to sit down.

Ma Han sat down.

Zhao Jue looked him up and down, with a look that resembled that of looking at a piece of meat on a chopping board.

"What do you want?" Ma Han looked at him.

Zhao Jue smiled, "I've wanted to try this for a long time." With that, he took out a very thin chain from his pocket, with a black cross pendant hanging from the end of it.

Ma Han looked at the necklace in disbelief.

He could see that in the middle of the black cross, there was a sesame seed-sized blue gem inlaid. It was diamond-shaped, but crooked and a little odd looking.

Zhao Jue took the necklace and dangled it in front of Ma Han's eyes, whispering, "What do you think of when you look at this cross?"

Ma Han thought about it...

"Don't think, just answer whatever I ask you." Zhao Jue didn't forget to make an analogy, "Don't think of yourself as a human being, think of yourself as an animal and let your instincts loose."

"Death."

"Hmm, you think of death when you see a cross." Zhao Jue nodded and waved the cross gently. All of Ma Han's attention was focused on the dancing bit of blue, as though...

"What are you thinking about?" Zhao Jue then asked again.

"Water."

Zhao Jue took the necklace and spun it around, "What are you thinking about?"

"Light."

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

"No."

"The person you trust most?"

"Captain."

"The person you hate the most."

"None."

"The person you want to kill."

"None."

"The person you want to protect."

"Many."

......

Gradually, Ma Han went into a kind of semi-sleep, and his eyes began to lose focus.

Zhao Jue reached out and gently stroked his head, "Just like a puppy."

Ma Han didn't stir.

"The process might be a little painful." Zhao Jue put away the necklace and whispered in Ma Han's ear, "But it is necessary to complete the ceremony! You have great endurance and are not as gifted as Bai Yutang who would reject the experiment, you are the most suitable candidate, so... hang in there!"

……

Time passed little by little.

Zhan Zhao also gave Qin Ou a quick hypnotic treatment to cure his seasickness, but the door to the next room was still closed.

Bai Yutang looked at the time and winked at Zhan Zhao – It's already been twenty minutes!

Zhan Zhao also wondered what Zhao Jue was up to, taking so long?

Another ten minutes passed, and just as Zhan Zhao couldn't hold back any longer, the door to the next room opened and Zhao Jue slipped back in.

"Where's Ma Han?" Bai Yutang asked him.

"Dead." Zhao Jue replied casually.

Everyone's mouth opened wide, and Zhan Zhao hurled a pillow at him.

Zhao Jue dodged... just as Ma Han walked through the doorway, he was rubbing his neck and didn't seem to be quite awake. As a result of this, he didn't know what was going on and was hit head-on by the pillow that Zhan Zhao had thrown.

Embarrassed, Zhan Zhao hurriedly retrieved the pillow and stuffed it into Zhao Hu's hand.

Zhao Hu threw the pillow away and went over to check on Ma Han's condition.

Ma Han was rubbing his neck, and was no different from before.

Zhan Zhao went over and looked at his eyes... Ma Han didn't show signs of being hypnotised, just...

Bai Yutang noticed that Ma Han's hair was wet, as if he had sweat a lot.

"An illusion?" Luo Tian frowned slightly, "How come it seems like he's thinner than he was a moment ago?"

Zhao Hu circled around Ma Han, "He has lost weight, about three pounds, the waist of his trousers are loose." Saying that, he reached out and tugged, "Oops, it turns out he's gone on a diet!"

Ma Han, on the other hand, looked blank, he didn't feel anything and didn't know what had happened.

"Do you feel tired or sore anywhere?" Zhan Zhao asked him.

Ma Han shook his head, but his body was sticky and appeared to have sweat a lot.

"Change your clothes, you're going to catch a cold like this." Zhao Hu said.

But everyone looked at each other – Where was there any clothes?

At that moment, Xiao Mi suddenly stood up, ran to the front of the closet and opened it.

Everyone watched her actions.

They saw her take out a bag from the closet and hand it to Ma Han.

When Zhan Zhao opened the zipper of the bag, he saw that inside were some men's clothing and underwear, all brand new and conveniently packed, as if they had been bought from a convenience store.

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

Bai Yutang then asked, "Why do you have these things?"

"Brother gave them to me." Xiao Mi replied.

"Who is your brother?" Bai Yutang asked.

Xiao Mi thought for a moment, seemingly figuring out how to answer.

Zhan Zhao fished out Bai Yutang's smartphone and asked Jiang Ping to send a copy of the photos of all the people involved, then showed them to Xiao Mi one by one.

Xiao Mi sat on the chair, looked at the photos one by one, and finally, reached out and pointed at one person, saying, "Brother."

The crowd gathered around to look at them, and they were all a little confused – Why was it him?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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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: July 3, 2023 by Angel

Edited: July 7, 2023 by Angel