Chapter 39: Finally Setting Sail!
The sea breeze blew their hair into disarray, and the incessant shouts of the boatmen around them filled the air.
Lin Yan glanced around nearby, feeling that the scene’s special effects were comparable to a big-budget Pirates of the Caribbean movie. If a monster was added later, it would be perfect.
Only when Wu Yong extended his hand in front of him did he snap back to attention: “Hello, I’m Lin Yan, and I’m also the consultant you invited.”
As soon as he said this, he felt like he had transcended. He was a consultant now! Even though he wasn’t qualified for it, he was still a consultant! He was no longer his ordinary self! From here on, he would become powerful and wise, heading toward the peak of life! Cough, he seemed to have mixed up the lines, but at least he was someone with a bit of status now. At the very least, the person in front of him seemed pretty respectful of them?
No, why did the name Wu Yong sound so unfamiliar? Wasn’t he the one who didn’t go down into the tomb with them later? Wu Yong, useless? Was Third Uncle too lazy to think of a name and just made one up? Was such an extra’s name really okay?
He gave Wu Yong a strange look and silently mourned for him in his heart for three seconds.
If he remembered correctly, he vaguely recalled that after Wu Xie and the others came up from underwater, all the people on the boat had disappeared, probably a bad omen.
Wu Xie caught his strange gaze. After Wu Yong smiled at them and went off to get busy, he came over: “What’s wrong? Why are you looking at him like that?”
Lin Yan was silent for a moment. If he directly said that everyone on the boat except the two of them would end up dead, wouldn’t that be too cruel? What if Wu Xie found out and tried to save them? If they all went down then, they wouldn’t be able to handle things on the sea.
He mumbled, not daring to meet Wu Xie’s eyes, and scratched his head: “Nothing, just have a bad premonition that something’s going to happen to them.”
Wu Xie’s expression turned serious. He now fully believed in Lin Yan’s “prophet”-like prophecies: “Is it something that will happen if we set sail now?”
Lin Yan shook his head: “I don’t know, but without us there.”
Wu Xie thought for a moment: “Without us there, that means we’ve already gone down into the tomb. They’ll stay up above as backup? Something happens at this time, a storm?”
Lin Yan shook his head again: “Not a storm, the boat’s still there, but the people are gone.”
Wu Xie was puzzled: “Just the people have something happen, but not the boat? The only thing that could happen at sea is a storm.” Suddenly, he thought of the notorious sea force, getting goosebumps, his voice laced with deep fear: “Could it be pirates?”
He and Lin Yan exchanged a glance, Lin Yan’s eyes mirroring his own bewilderment and helplessness.
Pirates? But Third Uncle didn’t seem to write about that? He didn’t even know if this group lived or died. Maybe they just left the boat and walked away? Lin Yan tried to comfort himself, but for some reason, he always felt that none of these people survived.
It was their first time setting sail, and Wu Xie was extremely excited, almost climbing over the railing to look at the scenery outside. Lin Yan was different.
He was seasick.
Wu Xie looked at Lin Yan with disdain: “You say you’ve got such an awesome thing, and your physique has improved, so how are you still seasick?”
Lin Yan felt so uncomfortable he didn’t even want to speak, so he just rolled his eyes at him, his eyes conveying one sentence: This thing is from the Shu Region, are you sure it works on seasickness?
Wu Xie poked his arm: “Hey, didn’t you say your five senses have improved a lot, and your physique is much better? Logically, I’m not seasick, so you shouldn’t be either?”
Lin Yan thought for a moment, then rolled his eyes at him again: Probably because my senses are too sharp, I can’t adapt to the high-speed motion of the boat! No physique is good enough for that!
Wu Xie nodded thoughtfully: “So this thing has its pros and cons. But given your situation, you couldn’t handle roller coasters or drop towers? What about bungee jumping? You probably can’t dive either? We have to go down when we find the tomb.”
Lin Yan shook his head and gave him a look: I don’t know either. If it really doesn’t work, I’ll just wait on the boat for you to come up?
Wu Xie thought about it: “No, it’s too dangerous for you to stay up top alone. What if that company’s people take you hostage? I think A Ning would be right at home doing something like that. You still have to come down with me.”
Lin Yan weakly twitched his mouth: Big brother, look at how seasick I am. If I go down, are you sure it won’t kill me?
Wu Xie thought seriously for a moment. Soon Lin Yan saw his eyes light up, as if a little lightbulb had lit up over his head: “Got it! When the time comes, put on the diving equipment and come down with me. If you can’t make it, I’ll knock you out and drag you through swimming, problem solved?”
Lin Yan rolled his eyes almost to the sky. Good grief, does everyone think they’re Zhang Qiling, wanting to give him a chop to the neck? When did Wu Xie pick up this habit? He hadn’t even spent much time with Zhang Qiling, and certainly less than with him! What kind of people are these! He used to think Wu Xie was normal when reading the book, but now he sees he’s not normal either! Fatty is more reliable—at least Fatty wouldn’t chop him!
It was just too much!
Lin Yan wanted to grab his neck and roar: Protagonist, your character setting has collapsed, you know that! But seasick, he was powerless despite wanting to.
Turning his head, he saw Wu Xie still looking at him, his serious expression telling him: Wu Xie was very serious now! He really wanted to give him a chop!
He hurriedly shook his head: Aren’t you afraid I’ll forget to breathe and suffocate?
Wu Xie looked puzzled: “Wouldn’t a knocked-out person forget to breathe? You didn’t forget in the coffin, right? By the same logic, it works in the coffin, so why not in a wetsuit!”
Oh right, wetsuit!
Lin Yan temporarily forgot to discuss with this unreliable protagonist whether he could dive: Make sure to bring the diving equipment properly! Otherwise, going down and not having it to come up is very uncomfortable!
“What do you mean? Will the diving equipment disappear after we go down?”
Lin Yan nodded. Though he didn’t remember how it disappeared, he remembered the protagonist group coming up without diving equipment, nearly suffocating one by one, except Zhang Qiling!
Wu Xie rested his chin on his hand and muttered: “Diving equipment is so heavy. Once we’re down in an airy place inside the tomb, we’d definitely take it off and leave it aside instead of carrying it. That means we definitely can’t exit from the entry point and must find another exit? And it’s one-way only, so that’s why we come up without diving equipment? Lin Yan, did you see it again?”
Lin Yan was stunned for a moment, then nodded.
What else could he do besides nod? He basically remembered nothing, and Wu Xie had already deduced the specific possibilities. All he could say was, this guy’s mind was naturally sharp. How come he couldn’t think of it?
But he glared fiercely at Wu Xie. Didn’t he have any idea why it was one-way and needed another exit? It was all because of that cursed physique! Opening coffins always raises corpses, going underground always destroys tombs, the little expert at wrecking tomb—none other than you!
Wu Xie was baffled by his glare. What did it have to do with him? Which words of his had offended Lin Yan?
After a baffling eye contact, Lin Yan discovered that his usually foolproof eye contact couldn’t convey his resentment toward Wu Xie’s special physique at all.
Wait, why not! Did the thing in his head even control whether he could reveal character settings? It was already unscientific, but now it seemed even more unscientific!
Argh, even more annoying!
So, while Wu Xie was utterly confused, Lin Yan endured the discomfort and squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth: “It’s all because of you, wrecking one after another!”
“Huh?” Wu Xie was even more confused. “What did I wreck? The tomb? Lu King’s Palace was an accident. With corpse beetles, we had to burn them, or no one survives. It counts as an accident. How do you know this tomb will be wrecked too? Did you see it? Did I wreck it myself? Not blown up by me, right?”
Thinking that the equipment list this time really seemed to include a bomb, Wu Xie was a bit unsure: “It couldn’t really be me blowing it up, right? Is Third Uncle and them okay?”
Lin Yan was stunned. Damn! It really wasn’t him blowing it up; they were all accidents! But no matter how accidental, every tomb he entered got destroyed! All those coincidences linked together made it inevitable!
He shook his head with difficulty, his eyes signaling: Don’t worry, we’re all fine, including you and Third Uncle!
But inwardly grumbling: Fine is fine, but your Third Uncle from then on becomes the quest-giving NPC making you run all over the country. Thinking about it, it really felt like a lifetime ago. Just a few weeks, and he was involuntarily pulled into the plot, seemingly the core plot? The few hours, days, months described in the book, he had to experience personally, and those scant lines might take him a long time!
Damn! Could he fast-forward this plot! He didn’t want to be seasick here!
Remembering Wu Yong smilingly telling him it would take at least 12 hours to Yongxing Island, he felt utterly deflated.
After who knows how long, while he was seasick to the point of seeing stars and unable to sleep, Wu Xie suddenly came over and whispered: “Lin Yan, I might know why the tomb owner put the tomb in the sea.”
He tried to give Wu Xie some eye contact feedback, lest he think he was talking to himself: Why?
Wu Xie pointed at the sea and asked him: “What do you see here?”
Lin Yan glanced and shook his head: Nothing, what do you want me to see?
Wu Xie excitedly said: “Exactly! Nothing at all! No landmarks, no features. In that era without satellites or recorded routes, no one could find the tomb in this environment!”
Lin Yan shot him a sharp look, a bit impatient. He was seasick like this, and this guy was still beating around the bush instead of getting to the point!
“Cough.” Wu Xie felt awkward, coughed dryly, and his expression slowly turned grave: “This means we’ll have to, in just a few days, scan these few square miles of sea with our eyes at thirty meters underwater to find the ancient tomb—also a very difficult task.”
Lin Yan was confused: So?
Wu Xie gave an embarrassed smile: “Lin Yan, why don’t you prophesy the position to save us some effort.”
Heh! In your dreams! As if he knew!
After giving him a disdainful look, Lin Yan closed his eyes to rest. Just when Wu Xie thought it was hopeless, he still gave a hint: “Look for seafloor fissures!”
It wasn’t that he couldn’t give specifics; he really didn’t remember! Who knows how Wu Xie found it? Remembering the entrance was already good!
Huh, wait, did he forget something? Where did they encounter that ugly sea monkey? Ghost Ship? But now they’re not following the plot, A Ning isn’t even here, the sailing time is off—will they still encounter the Ghost Ship? If they don’t but A Ning’s group does later, will that boat still have living people? Won’t the plot completely collapse?
PS: There’s another chapter tonight.
