Jobtran picked up the warm water brought by the waiter, in which refreshing pandan leaves and sobering orange slices were thoughtfully placed, which were obviously the benefits of a good tip.
After taking two sips, I felt a little warm in my stomach, which dispelled some of the chill brought by those scenes.
Although the effect was minimal, it at least calmed down Jobtran's breathing.
Joe Butran thought about what the black man had said, but found that he could not remember what he looked like.
All I remember is a hearty smile and that casual laughter.
"A night full of passion and excitement..."
Joe Butran laughed bitterly and said self-deprecatingly.
He took out the small note handed to him by the girl Sif from his pocket and took a look at it. There was beautiful handwriting written in blue ink on the note.
"I live in Room 208. The moonlight is beautiful tonight, Mr. Jobtran. If you can't sleep, you are welcome to come and chat with me."
There was an air of ambiguity between the lines, and perhaps Joe Butran understood the black man's last laugh.
Joe Butran shook his head to get rid of his ungentlemanly thoughts, then he struggled to stand up and staggered back to the door of his room 369 like a drunk.
I patted my pocket and found that the key to the door was missing.
Jobtran thought back and thought that he rolled on the ground when the hallucination appeared and then fell to the ground.
Joe Butran had no choice but to return to the deck, but the deck was empty except for a drowsy security guard wearing a dirty coat that looked as if it had not been washed for more than ten days.
Joe Butran stepped forward and patted the security guard sitting in the security booth. The security guard raised his head as if awakened from a dream, and when he saw someone in front of him, he stood up and saluted subconsciously and reflexively.
"Captain, I'm definitely not being lazy!"
Joe Butran looked at the young security guard who was obviously caught by the security captain every day with a smile and said to him,
"Can you take a closer look?"
The young security guard rubbed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the person in front of him was not the security captain he respected.
“Thank you sir, if the captain finds out, I’ll have to do fifty push-ups again today.
Is there anything I can help you with?"
The young security guard relaxed and sat down and asked.
"I'm looking for my house key. I think I accidentally left it when I was here this afternoon."
Joe Butran pointed to the place where he had knelt and said.
“Oh, this is difficult.
Normally, when our guests lose their room keys, they can go to the housekeeping department to get a replacement, but the housekeeping department is off duty now.”
The young security guard spread his hands helplessly.
"Is it possible that your cleaning staff picked it up?"
Joe Butran asked anxiously.
"If we find it, we'll send it back to the housekeeping department, so... good luck tonight, sir."
The young security guard said angrily.
"Under the circumstances, do I have no other options except waiting until dawn when the housekeeping department opens?"
Jobtran thought anxiously, he didn't want to be on the deck exposed to the wind all night.
"Is there a place I can stay temporarily? A staff dormitory? Or even a storage room? Just give me a blanket."
Jobtran asked tentatively.
“There are clear regulations regarding the staff quarters, and guests on board are not allowed to enter.
Damn old Gary, he hooked up with a female customer last time and was caught by the captain.
Although it was a night of passion, there was a rule in the dormitory that guests were not allowed to enter, and violators would lose their jobs.
Sir, I really can't help you.
Can I lend you my coat if you need it?"
The young security guard was about to take off the dirty coat, but Joe Butran raised his hand to stop him.
"Thank you for your kindness. I think meditating in such a night sky and listening to the sound of the sea tide may be a good thing."
After saying that, Joe Butran said goodbye to the security guard and turned to leave.
In fact, the young security guard was a good person, but Joe Butran couldn't accept his coat that looked like it hadn't been washed for more than ten days.
Outside Room 369
“Oh my god Sif, what are you doing, you shameless girl.
You'd have to be crazy to knock on a single man's door in the dead of night.
I hope Mr. Jobtran doesn't leave a bad impression on me.
Oh my God, what if Mr. Jobtran thinks I'm a loose, casual, promiscuous woman
Sif changed into a comfortable nightgown at this time. Compared with the dress she was originally wearing, this silk nightgown was looser in style.
Wearing a pair of cloth slippers and without any extra clothes, Sif came to Room 369 of Jobtran's house like a possessed person and knocked on the door several times.
"It's so late, Mr. Jobtran must be asleep."
Sif persuaded herself like this.
Sif, who was originally full of expectations, felt a little disappointed for some reason when she heard that no one came to answer the door.
Sif felt a little depressed. She didn't seem to understand what was wrong with her, but Jobtran was always in her mind.
The black man who was drinking with Job Tran in the restaurant stood in the shadows at the corner, looked at the lost Sif, and said softly,
"Since you are unhappy, why don't you go get some fresh air?"
Sif's eyes became empty, the black man's words were echoing in her ears, and she couldn't suppress the desire in her heart to get some fresh air.
"Yes, let's go get some fresh air. Where can we get some fresh air
Yes, let’s go to the deck and enjoy the fresh air.”
Sif seemed to have become a puppet being manipulated, walking towards the deck as if possessed by a ghost.
The young security guard continued to doze off after Jobtran turned and left, but he vaguely saw Sif's figure walking past the security booth and then disappearing around the corner.
He was startled, covered his mouth, held his breath, and said to himself excitedly,
"Oh my God, ghost girl, ghost girl, please don't kill me.
Damn it, what old Gary said was not a legend, it was true! It was true! "
The young security guard curled up his body and hid under the table of the security booth, shivering. The sea breeze blowing in from the window made him feel cold to the bone.
“Damn it, damn it!
What did old Gary say? I remember!
The Cyclops is a cursed ghost ship!
Once cursed for killing a mermaid, oh my god!
So what I just saw was the ghost of a mermaid? ? "
The young security guard thought in panic.
——
Jobtran found a spot on the deck where the wind was less intense and sat down cross-legged with his back against the wall.
The starry sky at night is particularly charming, but the brilliance of the stars is nothing compared to the brilliance of the left crescent moon.
Jobtran looked up at the beautiful starry sky, but he could not feel any appreciation for it.
The stars flickered, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, and occasionally a few meteors streaked across the sky, but Jobtran felt that none of this gave him a sense of reality.
He pulled his coat tighter, and only the warmth it provided made him feel as if he were still alive.
During the night the temperature on deck had dropped to three degrees Celsius, any lower and close to freezing; this was the reading on the deck thermometer, accurate and unmistakable.
If exposed to such low temperatures for a long time, people with weaker bodies may suffer from hypothermia and shock, while those with stronger bodies may catch a cold.
Jobtran activated the spell of the Holy Light Church and summoned a ball of white holy light in the palm of his hand.
The holy light brought him a hint of warmth, but at the same time it consumed his physical strength.
After Sif walked onto the deck, she woke up from her hypnotic state. The sea breeze blew on Sif, who was lightly dressed, and she couldn't help but shiver.
"Why, what am I doing here on deck?"
Sif thought doubtfully.
She looked up at the beautiful starry sky and exclaimed in amazement.
“You don’t see this kind of beauty in the city.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a white light coming from the corner of the deck. Out of curiosity, Sif slowly approached that direction.
Sif was surprised to find that Jobtran was holding a ball of white light in his hand.
"Oh my god, Mr. Jobtran, I didn't expect you were a magician."
Jobtran looked up suddenly and found Sif's head sticking out from the corner of the wall, looking at him in surprise.
Jobtran stopped supplying power and crushed the holy light in his hand into beautiful little spots of light that then dissipated.
"White phosphorus and vaseline, you can do it too."
Jobtran immediately thought of a reasonable explanation and explained it to Sif who suddenly arrived.
"Oh, are the will-o'-the-wisps in tombs in novels also based on this principle?"
Sif seemed to forget about the cold and asked curiously.
Jobtron nodded and took a look at Sif's current attire.
He stood up, took off his coat and put it on Sif's shoulders.
"It's cold at night."
Joe Butran said softly.
Sif lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Mr. Jobtran, what are you doing here? You can practice magic in the room, right?"
At this time, Jobtran was very embarrassed and scratched his head a little embarrassedly.
"The room key is missing, and the housekeeping department has to open the door tomorrow morning, so..."
Sif immediately understood Jobtran's predicament, but she found it very funny when she thought about it, so she burst out laughing.
"Then why don't you come to me?"
After Sif finished speaking, she realized how suggestive her words were, and her face turned red all the way to her ears.
This sentence sounded like a nagging woman complaining about her husband, but Joe Butran didn't care at this time.
"Ahem, as a gentleman, it is not in line with my principles as a gentleman to rashly stay in a lady's room on the first day of our acquaintance."
Joe Butran coughed twice and tried his best to explain.
"So you would rather stay on the deck, feeling the cold sea breeze, than come to me for help
Mr. Jobtran, you are being disrespectful to a lady."
After hearing that, Sif put her hands on her hips angrily, looking like an angry puffer fish, but much cuter than the stupid puffer fish.
"I don't care about you. You only have one chance. Come if you want."
Sif said with a red face, and then she trotted off, stopping and starting, towards her room.
Jobtran had originally planned to insist on spending the night on the deck, but with a cold sea breeze and the raindrops that suddenly hit the deck, Jobtran gave up the idea.
Sif looked back and laughed out loud when she saw Jobtran, who was soaked from head to torrent of rain.
With a dark face, Jobtran walked into the covered corridor, shook off the water droplets on his body, and then followed Sif as if he had made a great decision.
"You win."
After hearing this, Sif assumed a victorious attitude and arrogantly made a scissors gesture to Jobtron.
Jobtron reluctantly followed Sif into her room.
"Let me make it clear first. I'll sleep on the sofa."
As soon as Joe Butron entered the room, he took off his wet shoes and socks and said so.
"Of course, I picked you up from the deck, just like a stray cat from the street.
How can I let you get into my bed without cleaning you up and training you?"
At this moment, the nervous Sif once again realized how ambiguous her words were, and immediately explained in a panic,
"What I said is, go to my bed and sleep!"
"oh?"
Jobtran cast a meaningful look at Sif, with a beautiful curve at the corner of his mouth.
"Ah, you're annoying. Go take a shower. There's a bathrobe in the bathroom."
Sif seemed unhappy with Jobtran who was soaked from head to toe by the sudden heavy rain, so she pushed Jobtran into the bathroom forcefully.
The ship is equipped with 24-hour hot water supply, but it is just a simple shower, not a bathtub. After all, fresh water is a relatively precious commodity on the ship.
Jobtran closed the door, took off the shirt that was stuck to his body, wrung out the water from the shirt, and hung it on the edge of the shower curtain with a hanger.
Jobtran turned on the faucet and warm water of just the right temperature sprayed out of the shower head.
After taking off his clothes, Jobtran hastily rinsed his body with warm water. He suddenly felt a sense of absurdity and incongruity.
"The whole thing seems to be manipulated by someone. Everything happened by coincidence."
The water droplets from the shower took away the chill from Jobtran's body, but he began to panic inside.
This feeling of having your fate manipulated is extremely strange, and only when you are deeply involved in it can you discover any clues.
"Think carefully, think about every detail, the details you observed, Joe Butran, you can do it, you still remember it."
Joe Butran leaned his hands on the wall, thinking carefully.
“The sudden hallucination, the sudden fainting, the sudden appearance of the girl, the sudden appearance of the black man, and the words of the black man.
The black man had said that it was a night full of passion and excitement, was that the key
No, maybe even earlier.
"Job Tran thinks! Thinks with your heart!"
Jobtran remembered Umr's words, the characters in the play, the guys with bad taste, the coincidental arrangements, and the familiar techniques.
"Hastur, the Yellow King! Is that black man Hastur
No, Hastur, the King in Yellow, loves yellow clothes, and the black man is wearing a black tuxedo!
Who is the identity of that black man
Why do we have to arrange it this way
If I were the mastermind, what would I do
Put yourself in his shoes, Joe Butran! "
Jobtran's thoughts bounced along with the water droplets from the shower head, splashing on the bathroom floor.
"Joe Butron, you are just a chess piece on a huge chessboard, so how many operators are there behind you?"
Joe Butran opened his eyes, and it seemed that the truth was right in front of him.
One shower head, three water jets, and countless water droplets.