Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 209 Mirror Sea Prison
Below the sea surface, or rather above the sea surface below the sea surface, the Valkyrie and the Thorn remained stationary, completely unaware of any wind or waves. It was so quiet that the crew of the two ships could even communicate directly on the deck without any problem.

Even so, the people on both boats tried their best to remain quiet—until they were certain it was safe.

Inevitably, everyone's attention was drawn to the lighthouse emitting a scarlet glow in the distance.

This lighthouse wasn't built on an island or reef; it looked as if it had emerged from underwater.

"There's bad news."

Yun Ji leaned close to Cheng Lang's ear and whispered, "The vine demons are all asleep and can't be woken up at all."

Surprised, Cheng Lang exchanged a glance with Yun Ji and looked at the deck. Just as Yun Ji had said, all the vine demons were lying on the ground.

He subconsciously glanced at the Thorn Ship not far away. At this moment, Shenba was holding a wooden figure in one hand and waving it around. Unfortunately, the wooden figures were like puppets and did not react no matter how he shook them.

Not only did the wooden figure not react, but Yavso was already shaking the shoulder of a half-sailor female sailor of the ray race, and Yavso even slapped another half-sailor female sailor across the face.

The crisp sound of the slap sent a shiver down the spine of Cheng Lang on the ship, but the female sailor didn't react at all.

"The second piece of bad news"

Yun Ji spoke at this moment, her voice rising slightly because the slap hadn't caused any trouble, "The time on the treasure map is almost up."

"Put down the small boat"

Cheng Lang looked around as he spoke, picked up a curved knife, and said to the other side, "Let's row across!"

"give it to me!"

As Shenba spoke, he dragged a boat into the calm sea.

“Look at the sea!” Yafso pointed out, “There are no ripples!”

Following the other person's suggestion, everyone looked over and, sure enough, there wasn't even a ripple around the small boat.

"Mr. Gerta, would you please stay and guard the ship with Yavso?" Cheng Lang said loudly.

"I want one too"

“You stay here,” Yun Lan said. “Mr. Gerta alone can’t hold both ships.”

"Yavso, throw out all the spores if necessary."

Cheng Lang cautioned, "Let it cause as much trouble as it can."

“I’m good at this!” Yavso immediately agreed, as she happened to have some new varieties she wanted to try.

Just then, Shenba also grabbed a cable and slid onto the small boat.

Once Yun Lan had climbed the rope net onto the small boat, he immediately rowed to the Valkyrie's side and picked up Yun Ji and Cheng Lang.

"That direction!" Yun Ji pointed in a direction and said, then stuck the treasure map on Shenba's back.

"Hopefully we'll have a chance to get back on the ship."

Shenba uttered some rather inappropriate nonsense, and then the four of them each took an oar and began paddling under Yunji's command.

"Gentlemen and ladies..."

Sitting between Cheng Lang and Yun Ji, Yun Lan rowed and said, "I think I know where we are."

"Mirror Sea?" Yun Ji asked without turning her head.

"Looks like you guessed it too."

"What is Mirror Sea?" Cheng Lang and Shenba asked in unison.

"Who can explain this?" Yun Lan asked.

“Come on,” Yun Ji said. “I bet you have more relevant records than I do.”

"Simply put, Mirror Sea was a prison used to detain criminals of the sea race during the era when the sea god ruled the star sea."

Yun Lan said, "But unlike the prisons on the other side of the sea in the conventional sense, the sea monsters or siren thrown into the Mirror Sea do not die, and they are not even tortured."

“Then there must be a punishment more terrifying than death or torture,” Cheng Lang said.

"yes"

Yun Lan nodded. "It is said that the sea monsters or sirens imprisoned here are confined in the bubble cells of the underwater volcano by the coral bone prison and fall into a deep sleep."

They experience nightmares repeatedly in their sleep, and the negative emotions these nightmares generate become nourishment for the coral skeletons.

At this point, Yun Lan sighed, "The more abundant the nutrients, the more secure the coral bone prison becomes, and the more terrifying the imprisoned prisoners will experience."

“It’s a vicious cycle,” Cheng Lang sighed.

"Yes, it's a vicious cycle."

Yun Lan said, "It is said that those who are imprisoned in the Mirror Sea are all those who had the potential to become the Sea God, but were sent here by the Sea God before they could become the Sea God."

"It's time to turn right."

Yun Ji reminded them, and everyone immediately stopped using the right oar and worked together to steer the small boat around.

As the small boat continued to move in the direction indicated by the treasure map, Cheng Lang asked while rowing, "Where did all this information about Mirror Sea come from?"

"The Pirate Library of Pirate City"

Yun Lan said, "Deep underground, there is a book called 'The First Half of the Life of the Sea Driver,' which is Panini's memoir, and it contains records about the Mirror Sea."

So, Panini is actually a cultural octopus?

While lost in thought, Cheng Lang subconsciously thought of another question: "So who left this treasure map? Or rather, what kind of treasure is hidden here?"

"I'll probably only know when we reach the finish line."

Yun Ji picked up the conversation and reminded them, "It's time to turn left."

Next, following the guidance of the treasure map, the group rowed the boat with all their might, turning left and right on this eerily calm sea that was completely still, even turning back in the direction they had come from.

Finally, after they made one last left turn following the treasure map, the sea in front of the small boat vanished instantly, replaced by a cluster of black islands covered in volcanoes and a wave of intense heat.

As far as the eye can see, the craters of those volcanoes are covered with large areas of coral.

These corals are so beautiful, with their iridescent colors, that they look as if they were inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

But amidst the beauty, they could clearly see that each of the corals contained a bubble of varying sizes, and within each bubble lay a figure emanating a terrifying aura.

"them."

"That's right"

Yun Ji sighed, "They were all beings who had the potential to become sea gods, but after being imprisoned here, they never had the chance to wake up again."

"What if we break those corals?" Cheng Lang asked.

“If you smash those corals, they will die in the nightmare as well,” Yun Lan said. “There are no exceptions.”

"What would happen if we sent Poseidon here?" Cheng Lang asked.

Nothing will happen.

Yun Lan gave a disappointing answer, “I asked Panini the same question. Those coral skeletons are not only useless to Poseidon, but they also only obey the sea god’s commands.” “There is no new sea god yet, so they still obey Poseidon’s commands,” Yun Ji added.

“What if Poseidon ordered the corals to release the prisoners inside?” Cheng Lang continued to ask.

“They will survive, but I suspect even Poseidon doesn’t know whether they will choose to submit or perish together.”

Yun Lan asked, "Should we continue?"

"Go, go."

Before Cheng Lang could finish speaking, Shenba, who was sitting at the very front, was the first to disembark and step onto the shore covered with black basalt.

After failing to retrieve the whip or even summon the invisible whip cord, the four turned their attention to the few man-made objects on the not-so-long coastline.

Besides several small boats, there were also two intact wooden boats.

No one knows how long the two ships have been here, but they are completely undamaged.

Let's go check out those two boats first.

As Cheng Lang spoke, he walked toward the nearest boat.

This boat looks smaller than the Valkyrie, and judging from the wooden oars sticking out of the boat, it was probably rowed here in the first place.

"The countdown on the treasure map has started."

At this moment, Yun Ji spoke up, then took out her pocket watch and, after comparing it with her own, said, "It keeps the same speed as my pocket watch. If the watch on the treasure map doesn't speed up, there are only 60 hours left until the countdown ends."

"It seems that whatever we do, we have to finish within 60 hours. I don't want to know what will happen after the countdown ends."

"Let's go check out the ship first."

As Cheng Lang spoke, he had already climbed up the rope net on the side of the boat.

Seeing this, the other three immediately followed and climbed onto the boat with Cheng Lang.

As expected, there was no one on the ship—no, there were no living people.

In the conference room next to the captain's cabin, a fresh, lifelike corpse sat in a chair.

There was a charred bullet hole in his chin, and a flintlock pistol lay scattered at his feet.

On the table in front of him, besides a roll of parchment, there was a glass of fruit wine.

Strangely, the fruit wine still exuded a rich aroma.

Gently picking up the parchment and unfolding it, Yun Ji exclaimed in surprise after a quick read, "This ship is the Black Powder exploration vessel. It arrived here approximately... let me calculate... about 126 years ago."

"How is this possible?!" Shenba said, already picking up the glass of fruit wine.

"lay down"

Cheng Lang and the other two were startled and quickly stopped him, while also looking around warily.

Only after confirming that nothing had changed did Yun Ji tap Shenba on the back of the head as he put down his wine glass, saying, "Don't touch anything!"

"I swear I won't move again," Shenba quickly promised, rubbing the back of his head.

Seeing Cheng Lang and Yun Lan look over again, Yun Ji looked at the parchment and said, "This person is the navigator of the Black Powder. He waited here for a full 94 years!"

"How many years?!" Cheng Lang exclaimed in surprise.

“I didn’t miscalculate, it was indeed 94.”

Yun Ji said, "According to this suicide note, his captain and the other sailors went to explore the island according to the treasure map."

They agreed to return before the countdown on the treasure map ended, but he waited a full 94 years, and they never came back.

"How did he survive?" Yun Lan pressed.

"He said that after the 60-hour wait was over, he had no way to leave the ship, but he had never felt hungry or tired in all these years, and he had never even felt lonely."

"In that case."

"But he's had enough of that kind of life."

Yun Ji said, "In his suicide note, he said that he was confident he could live another 94 years on this ship, but there was no need for it, so he chose to end it."

He also mentioned that his captain told him everyone who came here according to the treasure map could only leave after finding the island's treasure, but no one knew what the treasure was.

"Let's go check out another boat," Cheng Lang said, already preparing to leave.

"No need to go."

Yun Ji shook the parchment in her hand again. "According to what's written here, they went to that ship and looked at it. That ship was decades older than theirs, but there was nothing on it."

After a brief pause, Yun Ji continued, "Furthermore, it also says that all the wealth of their ship was in the ship's center chamber, but because the ship's center disappeared, the center chamber also disappeared, and that wealth can no longer be found."

"Then let's not waste any more time," Shenba urged. "Let's hurry to the island!"

"Not urgent"

As Cheng Lang spoke, he had already left the cabin. "Let's find the ship's logbook first; maybe there are some clues there."

"Shenba, come with me to another boat and see if there are any other clues," Yun Ji said, already drawing a long, sharp dagger from her lower back.

"no no no"

Cheng Lang refused, saying, "We shouldn't separate now. According to my experience, separating at this time will definitely lead to accidents, especially since Yun Lan and I have lost the abilities given to us by the ship's core."

"Alright"

Yun Ji was unusually decisive: "Shenba, open the door."

"Look at me!"

Shenba rolled up his sleeves, ready to ram the door, but Yunlan and Chenglang pushed it open from the left and right.

Slightly embarrassed, Shenba scratched his head and drew the scythe from his waist.

Unfortunately, the sickle can no longer grow as big as it used to.

Scratching his head again, Shenba followed Yun Ji into the captain's cabin, glancing left and right before pointing to a spiked club against the wall.

After the latter nodded, he immediately picked it up with great joy and began to wave it.

Meanwhile, Cheng Lang and his two companions also began their search and easily found the ship's logbook in the drawer.

The task of deciphering the message was still left to Yun Ji, while Cheng Lang and Yun Lan continued their search in the not-so-spacious captain's cabin.

"Look what I found!" Yun Lan said with delight.

Subconsciously turning their heads to look, Cheng Lang and Shenba were startled to see a long wooden box in the direction Yun Lan was pointing.

There was nothing else in this box but Ironblood Cores! Just as many Ironblood Cores as there were in the Valkyrie's captain's cabin back then!
"We're going to get rich," Shenba muttered, swallowing hard.

“In the era of this ship, Iron Oak Blood Cores weren’t considered particularly valuable,” Yun Lan sighed.

"We need to take these things out of the country; only then can they be considered treasures," Cheng Lang said with deep regret, once again hating his past ignorance.

(End of this chapter)