Jobtran looked at Sif with a smile and said,
"I'm sorry, I forgot to explain it to you. Why don't you let the first mate tell it? My reasoning can't fully guess the full story."
Seeing this, the first mate Aldridge said slowly,
“That was thirteen years ago. At that time, the Cyclopes had not yet been converted into a commercial passenger ship. It was mainly used as a cargo ship.
On a stormy night like this one, we dropped anchor next to a small island in the Pacific Ocean.
The crew braved the heavy rain and strong winds to fix the long sails blown by the wind. Everything was a daily life on the ship until the captain found a woman lying on the beach from the lookout. A naked woman.
At this point, First Mate Aldridge's eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed to hold a kind of hatred for this memory.
Everyone listened quietly to what happened that year, and when they saw Aldridge gritting his teeth, they could feel the pain he had hidden in his heart for many years.
“Since the captain sent people to rescue her from the beach, we discovered that she was actually a stunning beauty.
Looking back now, her initial appearance was actually more seductive than those upper-class socialites.
Pure, delicate, fair skin, and a well-proportioned figure, looking at that face will make people want to protect and possess this woman from the bottom of their hearts.
We are all rough guys on this boat, so I don’t need to tell you what happened next, right?”
Seeing Sif's contemptuous look, Aldridge laughed at himself.
“The woman did not put up any resistance at first, but actively complied with our bestiality.
A few hours passed and all the men on the boat were satisfied, but a few bold lunatics among them even wanted to kill people to silence them.
They took advantage of us being drunk and dumped this woman into our fresh water tank, where they wanted to drown her."
"When you sobered up, you found a monster in the water tank, right?"
Job Tran asked.
"No, it's not that simple."
Aldridge sighed, snatched the cigarette from Jobtran's hand and took a deep puff.
“She escaped from the tank and killed one of our guys.
I still remember that woman who turned into a monster with a fish head, covered with scales, let out a terrifying scream from her mouth, and tore our colleagues into pieces with her webbed hands.
She bathed in the blood rain, and her empty eyes revealed mockery and enjoyment.
At that moment, we realized that this monster was on the beach on purpose and we were the food for the table.”
Hearing this, Joe Butran looked at the first mate with a look of pity and patted him on the shoulder.
"You're next, right?"
First mate Aldridge turned pale. Jobtran's words hit the nail on the head. This was exactly what he feared.
Seeing that the first mate was frightened by his words, Joe Butran shook his head.
"Go on, and tell me as much as you can, if you wish to live."
Upon hearing this, Aldridge's knees softened immediately, and he knelt on the ground, hugged Joe Butran's thighs and cried,
"Mr. Detective, I want to live! Woohoo!"
Joe Butran pushed Aldridge with a look of disgust and winked at old Gary.
"Hey! I'm only wearing a bathrobe! Don't get too close!"
Seeing this, Old Gary stepped forward and pulled away the first mate who was kneeling on the ground. The 1.9-meter-tall man was crying like a child afraid of thunder, but he hugged Jobtran's thighs with great strength.
"First mate, cheer up, you haven't finished yet."
The shrewd old Gary guided the first mate to let go and let him continue talking.
Aldridge was helped up by old Gary, and leaned against the long table and wiped his tears.
"Excuse me, I'm just too scared."
"It's human nature. Give me back the cigarette."
Jobtron rolled his eyes and snatched the cigarette from the first mate, only to find that only a cigarette butt was left.
Annoyed, Jobtran pressed the cigarette butt on the table and extinguished it, then lit another cigarette from the box and puffed away happily.
"Keep going, I need every detail."
"We had a thrilling close combat with the monster. The current security captain chopped off her spine with the last blow. She fell in a pool of blood, but I remember clearly that her blood was dark green.
We placed her body in the barrel shown in the photo and celebrated our survival with a binge of drinking and taking this photo after we got ashore.
Who knew that this accident was not the end, but just the beginning.
A black spiral mark gradually appeared on our heels, like a tattoo.
When the spiral finally expands into a circle, something incredible will happen.
I still remember that Gary's cousin, Demps, who was an excellent swimmer, drowned in a two-meter-deep swimming pool.
Aldridge slowly recounted various unexpected events, and behind these words were the deaths of lives.
As Jobtran listened, he tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table.
Sif was already stunned by what she heard, while old Gary sat down against the wall, wondering what he was thinking about.
“Have you ever heard of any visions before every accident happened
For example, a woman's shadow, laughter, and hints of blood?"
asked Joe Butran.
"I heard that someone saw a woman wandering around on the ship. The older crew members left or died one after another. Only four of us, the second mate, the captain, and the security captain, are left from the first crew."
Aldridge said with a wry smile.
“That’s where the mermaid legend comes from, I understand.
Let's go, there will be no further progress if we stay here."
Jobtran pulled out the hull structure diagram from the cylinder under the long table, took a look at it, memorized the entire diagram deeply in his mind, and walked to the door.
Jobutran stretched out his right hand and gently touched the door frame. There were slight scratches on the rough wooden door frame. At first, Jobutran just thought it was the traces of wiping, but now he has other ideas.
"Come here Sif."
cried Joe Butran.
Sif walked obediently to Jobtran, but was caught off guard and carried on his shoulders.
Sif was a little uncomfortable with the sudden loss of balance. She blushed and asked,
"What are you doing?"
"Don't move. Be good. It will be all right soon."
Jobtran carried Sif from the door to the outside, and when she was leaving, Sif's sleeve rubbed against the door frame.
After leaving, Jobtran put Sif back on the ground.
"It's just a little experiment, don't mind. Let's talk while we walk, follow me."
Joe Butran walked in front according to the guidance of the hull structure diagram in his mind, and old Gary walked at the end and gently closed the door of the captain's room.
“To save time, let me guess what the captain and the security chief were arguing about.
The security captain sensed something was wrong and seemed to be attacked by what you call a curse, so he came and blamed the captain for provoking that strange woman.
The captain angrily defended himself, saying that he was just doing it out of good intentions, and that the first person to attack was not the captain himself, but the ruthless and evil-minded security captain, right?"
Joe Butran confirmed with Aldridge as he led the way.
“Although it’s not the actual words used when the two of them were arguing, the content is similar.”
Aldrich nodded, indicating that Jobtran's reasoning was correct.
"Then let me continue to guess whether the security captain claims that he will solve this curse alone and kill that woman again.
Your captain took out the musket from the ballast and followed, but you, being a coward, did not dare to go with him and returned to your room alone?!"
Joe Butran's tone became heavier and heavier, then he stopped, suddenly turned around and looked at Aldrich and said.
Sif, who was following Jobtran a few steps behind her, was startled by Jobtran's turning back, but Aldrich's reaction was much more exaggerated than Sif's.
The fishy yellow liquid flowed from his trouser legs onto the ground. The 1.9-meter-tall giant was so scared by Jobtran, who was a head shorter than him, that he wet his pants.
Joe Butron saw Aldridge's reaction and sighed.
"trouble."
Sif complained.
"Why are you scaring people?"
"What do you say, old Gary?"
Joe Butran asked old Gary who was distracted.
"Only two people have the key to the captain's cabin. Are you suspecting the first mate, Detective?"
Old Gary scratched his head and answered to Joe Butran, who was holding a cigarette.
"Dealing with smart people is worry-free."
Joe Butran said with emotion.
As soon as these words came out, Sif pouted, snorted and turned her head away.
Despite this, Sif followed Jobtran quietly.
“No, it wasn’t me.
I have no reason to hurt them.”
Aldridge defended himself in a panic.
“Of course, but you lost your keys, that’s why you’re so flustered.
Don't tell me you still have the key to the captain's cabin, that's obviously a lie.
And your guilty conscience just proves that my reasoning is correct."
Jobtran walked straight ahead without even looking back.
It didn't take long before they reached the deck via the stairs, and at the other end of the deck was where the fresh water tank was located.
There are two fresh water tanks on the ship, which are fifteen meters apart. Each tank can store enough fresh water for the entire ship's crew to use for twenty days.
The two water tanks looked like two dark mountains on this rainy night.
Jobtran wrapped his bathrobe tightly around him and said to Sif helplessly,
"Looks like I need to change into a bathrobe when I get home."
Jobtran stood in front of the two water tanks, looking at the two tanks with the same specifications and sizes with annoyance.
“The heavy rain will take away a lot of traces of activities, so we can only come one by one.”
Jobtran murmured to himself.
"Hey, old Gary, can you and Sif check the left one, while Aldridge and I check the right one.
Remember to open it and take a look.”
Joe Butran conveyed the order to everyone.
"No problem old man, you can rest assured in old Gary."
Old Gary volunteered to answer.
Then Old Gary took Sif to the water tank on the left.
There is an escalator next to the water tank, and you can only reach the top of the water tank by climbing up the escalator.
"Ladies first."
Old Gary made a pompous gentlemanly gesture and said this to Sif.
"Oh, maybe there's a surprise waiting for me up there?"
Sif responded unhappily, but took the initiative to climb the stairs.
"No matter how surprising it is, it's just a dead body at most."
Old Gary muttered to himself, then followed Sif up the escalator.
On the other side, Aldridge stood trembling behind Jobutran. Seeing that Jobutran was slow to act, Aldridge did not dare to act on his own.
Joe Butran saw that there seemed to be traces of blood on the escalator of the water tank on the right, so he chose this side for investigation.
Although he knew that there would be nothing to be found at the water tank on the left, Jobtran needed a reason to get the two men away.
"Aren't we going up?"
Aldridge asked.
"I won't climb up until you explain clearly."
Jobtran replied calmly.
"I know very well that you are hiding something from me.
And you should know in your heart, Mr. First Mate, don't force me to uncover your ugly cloth."
Even though it was raining heavily, Aldridge could still hear every word that Joe Butran said over the sound of the rain.
"Hurry up, there's not much time left. I don't want to get sick on the boat because of the rain. I don't know if your ship's doctor can be trusted."
Jobtran urged.
"In that case, Mr. Detective, what I am about to say may open your eyes. You may even completely disbelieve me, but what I say is true."
Aldridge said carefully.
"Go ahead. I'm listening."
Joe Butran replied without any reaction.
"This is the water tank where we held that woman captive."
"I know that. Go on."
"At first they just wanted to drown her, but after she transformed in this tank...she gave birth to a child."
Aldridge said seriously.
“Her tummy was flat at first, but after what happened, it swelled up like a balloon.
This is one of the reasons why some people suggested silencing them.”
Aldridge spoke softly about the terrible things that had happened on the ship in the past, while Jobtran frowned.
"And the baby?"
asked Joe Butran.
"Gone. The last person to see the baby was the captain."
Aldridge replied.
“Damn, I finally figured out what happened.
Now, move your asses and get your security captain out of the water tank.
I’ll explain it later.”
Joe Butran said with a sigh.
"Are you sure the security captain is here?"
Aldridge asked in surprise.
“If you don’t believe me, go up the escalator and you will find bloody handprints.
On the top layer of the water tank, the upper cover should be open.
Your security captain should be floating in there, sleeping forever."
Jobtran raised his hand impatiently and said.
"But I can't salvage him by myself. This water tank is ten meters high. I need your help."
Aldridge helplessly asked for help from Joe Butran.
"See the rope on the ground to your right? Make a slipknot. I believe you are very skilled at this skill after living on the boat for so long.
Don't let me down, go ahead, Mr. First Mate."
Jobtran pointed to the rope on the ground and walked towards the water tank on the left.
"Did you find anything?"
"No."
The two people on the water tank answered loudly.
"Then come down."
At the same time, Odrick stood in front of the lid that had been opened long ago and screamed like a pig being slaughtered.
“Ahhhh!”