Chapter 111: Backup Plan
He carefully felt around, and the lingering foghorn sound by his ear seemed to have disappeared as well.
Not only that, even the chilling wind that had been blowing nonstop had stopped at this moment, and the sea that had been surging with waves just now suddenly became calm and still.
But the surrounding air had become oppressive, as if a more violent storm was brewing.
From that sudden sense of crisis, it seemed that the influence of this storm would not be small.
“Did we shake it off already?” Zhang Qian tore off the ghost hand and looked back at the hazy mist.
There was no longer any sign of the cruise ship there.
Although the ship had disappeared, the surrounding environment had become even more blurred. Xu Zheng had long since become blind despite open eyes, barely able to make out the floor.
And although Zhang Qian could enhance his vision through true qi, the supernatural power contained in this smoke and fog blocked his probing. Even eyes wrapped in true qi couldn’t see through it.
As for farther away, it was completely pitch black.
However, he was still much better off than Xu Zheng; at least he could still see the lantern hanging to the side.
Zhang Qian walked to Yue Linhai’s side and found him frowning, not knowing what thing he was thinking about.
If this ship was truly sealed by the old house owner, Yue Linhai should have some clues.
“Yue Linhai, do you know what that thing is?”
Zhang Qian asked, “Why did it suddenly appear? Is it a fierce ghost invading from the outside world, or a supernatural imprisoned by your father before?”
“It is indeed a fierce ghost imprisoned by my father, but it shouldn’t be appearing at this time…” Yue Linhai leaned on the railing, his face grave as he looked at that pitch black space.
It had just experienced resurgence and already broken through the means left by that old man; this ghost ship was even more terrifying than he had imagined.
“In fact, this entire sea area exists for this ghost ship. Even my father had no way to directly imprison it and could only suppress it along with that space.”
“But my father once said that, barring accidents, this ghost ship should sleep in this sea area forever. Could something have gone wrong…”
The surrounding mist was gradually thickening. Not only was the sea area to the right invisible, even the sea surface to the left was starting to disappear.
The ghost ship’s power was resurging, and it wouldn’t be long before it completely corroded this space.
In the gap while Yue Linhai was muttering to himself, even the corridor under their feet was enveloped in thick mist, making it almost impossible to see the path ahead.
The instant when the thick fog was about to completely corrode this space.
A mass of pale light source suddenly lit up diagonally above Zhang Qian, but this light was quite weak and couldn’t penetrate the mist, appearing only as a hazy light ball.
Zhang Qian couldn’t even make out what thing was emitting the light, let alone see the surrounding environment by means of the light mass.
However, from this position, he could guess that the light source came from those pale white paper lanterns; he just didn’t know what effect they had.
Relying on memory, Zhang Qian looked toward the mist at his side. “It seems your father also anticipated this situation. Do you know what effect these lanterns have and how long it will take for them to work?”
“They are already taking effect. As you can see, the effect of these lanterns is merely illumination.”
Yue Linhai’s voice didn’t become relaxed because of the lanterns’ appearance. On the contrary, the instant he saw the lanterns, his heart sank halfway.
He hadn’t expected the situation to really be this bad, to the point that even the final escape means had automatically activated.
“Illumination? Merely illumination?” Zhang Qian said in surprise.
“Yes, anyone in this mist will get lost, and at any moment they might fall into the sea if not careful—no, they would fall into the ghost ship.”
Yue Linhai said gravely, “But these lanterns can still show us a path to survival. As long as we follow the light, it won’t be long before we can leave.”
“Only escape means left…” Zhang Qian muttered.
A place imprisoning this kind of fierce ghost actually had no other safety measures left behind.
If it was just confidence that the ghost ship wouldn’t escape, then the old house owner wouldn’t have left behind escape means.
It could only mean that, in the old house owner’s view, once the ghost ship broke free, the people in this space only needed to consider escape, with not even the slightest chance of resistance.
“Ordinary means wouldn’t work either.” Yue Linhai said.
“Back then, imprisoning this ghost ship relied on perfect timing, terrain, and human factors, plus a full four top-tier ghost controllers to barely manage it. There shouldn’t be any items that could instantly give us strength like theirs, right?”
“Then shouldn’t we leave sooner? If it’s just worry about falling into the sea surface, can we grope along the railing?” Xu Zheng didn’t act rashly and planned to hear Yue Linhai’s opinion.
After all, he definitely had a reason for not doing so, and Xu Zheng just wanted to confirm.
“Heh… Even special items like the white paper lantern crafted specifically, which can slightly influence the mist, this ordinary bridge has no resistance against the ghost ship.”
“You can go touch the railing you mentioned and see if they’re still there.”
Even without seeing Yue Linhai’s face, the mocking tone could be heard in his voice.
Although he was also in danger, people always had to seize the fun in time.
Hearing this, Xu Zheng had the fierce ghost behind him extend a few strands of hair, probing by drifting around for a while.
He felt a chill in his heart; the railing was really gone. If he really took the railing as the boundary, it would probably only take a few steps to fall into the sea.
Moreover, if even the fence was like this, who could guarantee that the floor about to be stepped on wouldn’t suddenly disappear?
“It’s indeed gone. So what should we do now?” Xu Zheng asked.
“Wait, wait until the white paper lantern illuminates a path. Before that, I won’t move randomly. Of course, if you’re not afraid of dying, I won’t stop you.”
After Yue Linhai finished speaking, he quietly stood in place without attempting other means.
Most of his abilities were related to the surrounding environment. If he really used them near the ghost ship, he probably wouldn’t even have time to act before dying on the spot.
As for using vision to find places not affected by the supernatural, Yue Linhai felt he hadn’t lived enough yet and didn’t plan to court death.
Interpreting the ghost ship—even without full resurgence—was enough to make his brain explode.
It was a pity he hadn’t inherited all of that old thing’s abilities. Even facing death, he still prepared to take the fierce ghost into the coffin.
Yue Linhai cursed inwardly. If he had the old house owner’s abilities, not to mention fighting back, at least he could retreat calmly.
The surrounding mist was getting thicker and thicker.
Soon, it reached the point where he couldn’t see his own hand five fingers ahead.
Looking out, the entire world was a hazy gray, unable to even distinguish up, down, left, or right, only able to judge by feeling.
But that lantern was still unaffected. Its light was unremarkable, yet showed no sign of dissipating.
