Chapter 124: Commence Operation
In the silent room, Zhang Qian stared at the two envelopes, feeling somewhat hesitant.
He had no memory of anything related to supernatural events, so he couldn’t be sure what effect this envelope had.
What if the envelope was some kind of item, but it would become ineffective the moment it was opened? Then his act of opening the envelope would be no different from courting death.
“But now there’s a serious lack of various information. Normally speaking, there must be a letter inside the envelope, and the letter is a good chance to obtain clues.”
“Moreover, according to the previous deduction, just one letter is enough to give to the captain, but there are two here, and the quantity doesn’t match at all…”
It couldn’t be that both letters are for the captain, right?
This deduction concerned his own life, so Zhang Qian didn’t dare to make such a frivolous judgment.
If he casually took the letter to find the captain like this, and it turned out the letter was actually information sent to him by someone else, then there would be big trouble.
The crashing waves surged sporadically, as if urging Zhang Qian to make a decision.
“It’s still more reassuring to open it and take a look.”
After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Qian decided to be more cautious.
Delivering the letter to the captain was just a deduction with no evidence to support it for the time being, but the existence of unknown dangers on the ship was solid information—running around randomly could very likely provide a meal for the fierce ghost.
“After reading it, I can put it back properly; it probably won’t show any signs.”
After all, neither of these two envelopes was sealed shut; the flap was just stuck onto the envelope without being reinforced with glue or anything like that.
It was unknown whether it was because they were confident the contents inside wouldn’t spill out, or because there was nothing inside at all.
Holding his breath, Zhang Qian’s hand slowly reached toward the flap of the envelope.
As the distance between his fingertip and the envelope grew shorter, he also focused his spirit, fearing any sudden change.
Suddenly.
Right at the instant when the flap was about to be lifted at one corner.
Zhang Qian seemed to be shocked by electricity; his whole body jolted, and his hand unconsciously left the envelope.
But after carefully feeling it, there was nothing uncomfortable about his body, and there were no signs of electric shock on his fingers.
This electric-shock-like sensation wasn’t from the envelope, but originated from Zhang Qian’s own body.
“Once opened, you will die…”
This thought suddenly appeared in his mind.
Just like how spiritual animals can seek advantage and avoid harm, Zhang Qian also received some kind of intuitive warning.
He felt his life was in jeopardy, like a glass bottle hanging from a cliff by a thin rope—as soon as there was any change, it would fall to the valley bottom and shatter into a pile of fragments.
This letter was that rope, very likely concerning his life and death.
As for the other letter, touching it didn’t give that feeling.
Probably because Zhang Qian no longer intended to really open it.
“I thought I could collect some clues…” After sighing, Zhang Qian had no intention of trying again.
He decided to trust his intuition.
Although that feeling came abruptly, if he couldn’t even trust himself, then there would be nothing trustworthy in this world.
“But the result is still pretty good; at least it can be confirmed that these two letters are unusual and probably related to the supernatural.”
“Moreover, the letter isn’t for me, yet I brought them in, which means my previous deduction was correct: handing the letter to the recipient on the ghost ship is the purpose of this trip.”
“I don’t know who wrote this letter; they didn’t even write the recipient…”
The space on a ship is so vast; searching room by room would take forever.
This ghost ship is no good place either; he’d probably be made a meal by the fierce ghost before finding the recipient.
“I didn’t leave any clues before the mission either, so doesn’t that mean the recipient’s characteristics are very obvious and don’t need any guidance?”
“Let’s go try to find the captain first; at least he should be the most special existence on the ghost ship…”
After making up his mind, Zhang Qian didn’t set off immediately.
There was one last thing to do.
“Candle… I don’t know what effect it has.”
The candle that he brought onto the ghost ship definitely wasn’t ordinary, but its effect was unknown; if it couldn’t be used at the right time, it might have the opposite effect.
The current environment was still relatively safe, the perfect timing for an experiment.
After holding the crimson candle in his hand, there was no special feeling.
From the previous signs of use, it probably needed to be lit to take effect.
“Even if it’s an item related to the supernatural, does its method of use have to be so simple and unadorned?”
Click.
The gold lighter sparked a flame, easily igniting the candle’s wick.
An orange-yellow candle flame rose, its color similar to the chandelier light, yet the feeling it gave was completely different.
The light shining on a person’s body would make them feel icy cold, but this candle flame made one feel warmth.
Although the candlelight wasn’t very bright, it was clearly visible under the chandelier light, even dividing the light with a distinct boundary line.
He reached out and gently touched it; there was no physical object at all.
It seemed like an area propped up out of thin air by the candlelight.
“It seems to have isolated me from the external environment. If it can do that to the environment, I wonder if it can isolate the fierce ghost?”
Standing within the range of this candlelight, Zhang Qian inexplicably felt a sense of safety; even the tension he hadn’t noticed quietly dissipated.
Unfortunately, there was no other way to test its other effects right now.
But no matter what the specific effect was, as long as it could be confirmed harmless to himself, that was fine.
Observing the candle’s burning speed, it was a bit fast; if kept burning like this, it wouldn’t last long.
“I don’t know how long I’ll have to stay; better to use it when danger arises.”
He gently blew out the candle.
Zhang Qian stepped toward the doorway.
Before leaving, he took one last look at the mirror, confirming there was still nothing inside.
“Hope everything goes smoothly…”
The door wasn’t locked; pressing the door handle opened it with a response.
“Creak—”
The harsh screech echoed in the pitch black corridor, layers of echoes overlapping, sounding as piercing as if amplified by a loudspeaker.
A few beams of yellow light shot out from the doorway, shining on the closed iron door opposite.
Zhang Qian didn’t rush out; his hand stayed on the door handle, ready to close the door at any moment.
He stood quietly in place, listening carefully to the movements inside the corridor, not daring to miss any sound.
Moments later.
There was no sound at all.
Not bad; it seemed this sound hadn’t attracted anything strange.
He slightly poked his head out; since the door opened to the left, Zhang Qian chose to look to the right side first.
By the flickering light.
He saw a bottomless aisle, with iron doors of the same style on both sides of the aisle, though their states weren’t quite the same.
