Chapter 239: Central Hub
Awesome.
Looking at Yue Linhai, who appeared calm as if he had just done something trivial, Zhang Qian quietly gave him a thumbs up.
No wonder he’s a Republic of China Era Big Shot; even showing off is so natural.
Sealing off an intrusion from someone at the same level while in a near-death state, and doing it with time stop no less—it sounded as easy as eating a bowl of rice in Yue Linhai’s mouth.
Glancing at the captain standing at the bow of the ship, Zhang Qian quelled his impulse to go take a look.
Supernatural matters are unpredictable; time stop is powerful, but if the captain carried some curse, it would be trouble.
Without Yue Linhai’s protection at that time, he would likely fall into danger, and it wasn’t worth risking his life for a bit of curiosity.
Anyway, Zhang Qian had already memorized the captain’s height and attire, so he could definitely recognize him if they met again; he wasn’t worried about mistaking someone later.
Although he still had many doubts, considering Yue Linhai had said it could only pause for a limited time, Zhang Qian first asked: “Senior, how long can you control him now? I have some questions I want to ask you, if that’s okay.”
Yue Linhai pondered for a moment: “If it’s just controlling this phantom, I can hold on until I die of old age. But I have some things to do soon, so if you have questions, ask them quickly.”
Hmm… not long, holding on until he dies of old age.
Zhang Qian was noncommittal about this; he was already numb to it.
Rather, what Yue Linhai mentioned about having things to do soon was probably because he was already on his way to Da Dong, and some unfilial son was likely about to get beaten.
Speaking of which, that Little Linhai had also stolen half of the power, yet the sense of oppression was far less intense than from the old man in front of him.
For example, time stop and that ability to suppress thick fog with a casual raise of the hand—he didn’t seem to have demonstrated those…
No, it wasn’t that he hadn’t used them; maybe Zhang Qian just hadn’t noticed.
Zhang Qian touched his chin and suddenly realized how that guy’s oddities were achieved.
The first time, when he and Xu Zheng launched an attack together, it probably wasn’t any illusion but was resolved by time stop.
Time stop to dodge skills was one thing, but before the time stop ended, he even moved them back to their original positions—this guy really knew how to play.
That kind of operation was somewhat understandable, but as for the later ones…
Walking during time stop to pretend he had teleportation, using time stop to block things to pretend he had storage space, moving others’ positions during time stop to pretend he could use illusion…
It was flashy, but somehow, using time stop like this felt a bit embarrassing alongside Little Linhai.
It was impressive at the time, but now that he knew the truth, his image in Zhang Qian’s mind completely collapsed.
Following the joyful weirdo persona, he now had an additional layer of clown identity; who knew how such a person could steal Yue Linhai’s supernatural power.
Was it really because he let his guard down around close kin?
But no rush to ask about that now; Zhang Qian was indeed interested in the Republic of China Era Big Shot’s dark history, but the ghost ship was still the top priority.
The urgent task was to first leave the library, then find a way to locate the captain.
So Zhang Qian asked: “Senior, you should know I’m in the ghost ship’s library now; is there any way to leave this place?”
His initial plan was to knock over a bookshelf and see if he could walk straight out, but now that he’d met this enthusiastic big shot, he might be able to get the pattern for free.
Yue Linhai thought for a moment: “I don’t know the situation after the anomaly, but before the anomaly, you just needed to open the corresponding book to go to the corresponding area.”
“There are many types of books in the library. The most numerous are ordinary books, which are mostly folk tales collected from the populace; the second most are like the one you opened, depicting supernatural methods that restore or record scenes from history; the third type are books corresponding one-to-one with other areas, equivalent to keys—opening them leads to a similar situation as now, but you enter the corresponding area with your real body.”
“Banquet hall, deck, lookout tower… most places should be accessible.”
Hearing this, Zhang Qian was somewhat surprised; this pattern was so simple…
More importantly, the library connected to many places; it wasn’t a linear space like before but more like a hub leading to various different locations.
He might even be able to go straight to the captain’s cabin to find the captain…
Zhang Qian quickly followed up: “Is there a good way to find the third type of books? Do they all look different?”
“It’s said there’s something like a librarian in the library; to find a book, you just write it down and give it to it. But you probably haven’t encountered such an existence there, right?” Yue Linhai said.
“No.” Zhang Qian shook his head firmly. “After I entered the library, there were only endless bookshelves; I didn’t see a single figure, and it got me lost.”
If there really was a librarian, it would be very easy to find; no way it wouldn’t appear after half an hour of wandering.
Either it was already dead, but based on the earlier audience and passenger situations, it was more likely corroded by a fierce ghost.
That meant there were enemies in the library; it wasn’t as peaceful as it seemed. Zhang Qian had just been behaving cautiously and hadn’t triggered an attack yet.
As for the pattern… Zhang Qian thought, either damaging books triggers an attack, or speaking does.
Conveniently, he hadn’t done either, so he’d stayed safe the whole time.
“If there’s no librarian, you’ll have to rely on luck…” Yue Linhai glanced at Zhang Qian. “Or you could rest in the library for a bit and wait for me to find a chance to get you out.”
“I want to meet the captain.” Zhang Qian felt a momentary temptation but quickly refused Yue Linhai’s offer.
He could tell Yue Linhai lacked full confidence against the ghost ship, and such an attitude basically meant he had few ways to deal with it.
This was even when the ghost ship hadn’t fully broken free; once it escaped restraint, it would be even harder for Yue Linhai to take it down alone.
It wasn’t that he doubted Yue Linhai’s strength.
Mainly, this guy had been half-dead not long ago, with half his power stolen; though Yue Linhai showed no signs, Zhang Qian felt his strength was definitely not at its peak.
The most obvious sign was that half-rotted body; normal ghost controllers wouldn’t have such a wretched state.
Puzzle piece scattered—that sounded easy, but it didn’t mean it was trivial.
Though Zhang Qian didn’t understand big shots, he understood alchemy.
Even merging two fierce ghosts was so difficult, adding or removing a bit of supernatural power could cause collapse, let alone however many fierce ghosts were in Yue Linhai’s body.
Zhang Qian could choose to bet on Yue Linhai solving this, but his personality wouldn’t allow it.
He had to call in Luo Wensong as backup, lest Yue Linhai couldn’t hold it together.
