Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 217 The Heart Thief of the Windless Belt

On the Sea of ​​Despair, after the Valkyrie and Thorn took turns sailing day and night, it was still unknown how far they were from their destination. But what they were currently encountering was a strange and eerie windless zone.

This doldrums area is so large that it almost exceeds the range that telescopes can observe, yet it is also unusually "busy".

The reason is simple: as far as the eye can see, boats are floating everywhere.

Most of these boats had canopies made of canvas that provided shade and fresh water collection on the deck, and fishing rods were fixed to the sides of the boats.

But as the dragonfly's fins moved, they didn't see a single living person.

"Should we go up and take a look?" Yun Ji asked.

"Let's go up and take a look."

Before Cheng Lang could finish speaking, Yun Ji turned and ran to the top of the mast. Halfway up, she caught the feather pendant in her mouth, then spread her wings at the highest point and glided to the top of a sailboat not far away, where she began to circle before finally landing on the mast.

Almost simultaneously, the Silver Queen also stopped waving her dragonfly fins, while Yun Lan, who was on the same ship, waved her hand to create a thorny walkway between the Valkyrie and the ship that Yun Ji had boarded.

In just a short while, Yun Ji, who was the first to board the ship, had already sent out a safety signal. Upon seeing this, Shenba rushed onto the plank road ahead of Cheng Lang, carrying a large scythe.

Reassured, Cheng Lang handed over the task of guarding the ship to Yun Lan and the others, and then walked onto the boardwalk and boarded the sailboat that had been stranded there for who knows how long.

"All the sailors on board are dead."

As Yun Ji spoke, she emerged from the cabin. "Some committed suicide, others had no visible wounds. Food supplies are gone, and so is fresh water. But the strangest thing is that the ship's core has disappeared."

"The ship's core has disappeared? What kind of disappearance?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

"The ship's core chamber was dismantled, no, it should be said that it was rammed open."

As Yun Ji spoke, she led Cheng Lang and Shen Ba into the cabin. "Besides that, we didn't find Poseidon's Blood or armor pieces, but we did find valuables like gold coins, and they had clearly been ransacked."

As she finished speaking, Cheng Lang and Shenba also saw the mummified corpses throughout the cabin, as well as the signs of disturbance she had described.

"What's rather strange are these skeletons."

Yun Ji stopped at the door of one of the cabins and pointed with her dagger at a bone in the neck of the skeletal corpse that no human had, saying, "This is a hybrid, a hybrid of human and sea monster."

As she spoke, she took a few steps forward and pointed into another cabin door, saying, "The corpse here is a siren."

Cheng Lang frowned as he glanced at the few remaining scales on the mummified corpse.

"I don't see anything strange about it?" Shenba asked, bewildered.

"A calm wind cannot trap a siren."

Cheng Lang reminded them, "Not only can the windless belt not trap them, but they probably won't die of thirst either, right?"

“But they still died on this ship,” Yun Ji added. “I don’t think it was just because they were all loyal.”

Let's go check out the ship's center chamber.

Cheng Lang glanced one last time at the jewel-encrusted dagger beside the siren's corpse, then continued walking, "While I'm at it, I'll look for the logbook or something."

"Come with me"

Yun Ji quickened her pace slightly and led the two of them into the cabin, where they found the empty center chamber.

Just as she said, the ship's center chamber was blown open, and there were a lot of wood fragments around it.

But most importantly, the ship's core is indeed gone. However, lying beside the pool containing the core is a skeleton holding a scimitar; judging from his clothing, this person was most likely the captain of this ship.

"Go, go."

Cheng Lang turned back, saying as he walked, "Let's see if the other ships are like this too."

"Shouldn't we look for any spoils on this ship?" Shenba pressed.

"No rush, let's deal with the heart thief first."

Cheng Lang warned, "Be careful underwater. Since the siren and the half-siren would rather die of thirst and hunger on the ship than go into the water, the danger must come from underwater."

"Aren't we just leaving?" Shenba asked, puzzled.

"I'm afraid leaving from here won't be so easy."

As Cheng Lang entered the captain's cabin, he said, "Let's figure out a way to prevent our ship's core from being stolen first."

Upon hearing this, Shenba involuntarily tightened his grip on the large scythe in his hand.

The three of them went into the captain's cabin and searched it thoroughly, but in the end they returned to the deck empty-handed.

They did find the logbook, but it was so moldy that it was impossible to read what was written on it. Strangely, the entire logbook still had salt stains left from the evaporation of seawater.

"Let's go back first." Before Cheng Lang finished speaking, he had already jumped onto the thorny walkway and returned to the Valkyrie.

While walking towards the conference room, Yun Ji briefly described what she had seen on the ship.

"Everything appears normal beneath the water."

As everyone entered the conference room, the magic mirror projected the underwater scene onto the wall. Because there was no wind or waves, the view below the surface was fairly clear; however, the seawater was too deep for them to see the seabed.

“Didn’t you notice something was wrong?” Yun Lan said. “It’s too clean here; you can’t even see a fish.”

"Keep a close eye on the underwater environment, the sea surface, and the sky."

Cheng Lang made sufficiently cautious arrangements: "Yun Lan, have your sailors come and assist in searching the ship, look for any clues, and take away anything of value."

Also, Yavso, prepare enough spores so the sailors can use spore bottles to make traps before leaving those ships. There are definitely people following us; they'll surely board the ships to check.

After everyone agreed, Cheng Lang added, "Have Tinissa bring her Lyretail Fishman Orchestra over, at least to ensure we won't be hypnotized."

"I'll arrange it right away," Yun Lan said, already running into the cabin.

Soon after, the ray sailors and the harptail fishman band rushed onto the deck and started working. Even the long-absent big cat Night Demon jumped out to watch the fun and summoned the armored knights and two-faced undead to guard the deck.

"Has Lord Ye Di discovered something interesting?" Cheng Lang asked the large cat sitting on a wooden barrel.

"A fish, a very fat fish, slurp!"

Big Cat Night Di licked his lips. "Don't worry about me, just go about your business. Also, tell those singing water rats to be louder."

Thank you for reminding me.

As Cheng Lang spoke, he glanced at the Magic Mirror, who was standing respectfully to the side, and the latter quickly relayed the reminder.

Soon, amidst the songs and music of the Qinwei fish people, the sailors, led by Shenba, began their busy scavenging and setting up various tricky traps.

But this doldrums area is so large that there are probably at least a thousand ships anchored here.

However, after this looting, they found far fewer valuable items than they had imagined. Moreover, many things on the ship were severely corroded and rotten, and there was no written record of what had happened there.

"Don't waste your time."

Cheng Lang said, "I bet this place has already been looted. Let's keep going in."

As the order was given, the sailors returned to the deck, and the Valkyrie's fins, manipulated by the Silver Queen, began to paddle, propelling the ship, whose sails had already been lowered, slowly into the depths of this calm sea.

During the occasional stops, the sailors would randomly select a few ships to inspect, but the ships they encountered along the way seemed to be no different from each other.

Just as the sun was about to sink into the sea, the magic mirror floated to Cheng Lang's side. "Captain, the tail has indeed appeared, and there are many of them."

"a lot of?"

“Hundreds of ghost ships,” the Magic Mirror replied.

"Gather the sailors and return to the ship immediately. Silver Queen, summon the mist and accelerate forward," Cheng Lang immediately issued the order.

"As you wish"

The Silver Queen responded with a rustling of her skirt. After all the sailors returned to the ship, she immediately summoned a large amount of mist to cover the surroundings, and then manipulated her dragonfly fins to accelerate.

Without a doubt, even if the ghost ships behind them didn't notice their ship, they did notice the fog.

But compared to these, the sudden disappearance of the wind and ocean currents, as well as the sailboats around them that were motionless on the sea, also made them more vigilant.

The ghost ships did not hesitate for long before each took out a huge oar, and the undead sailors rowed after them.

At the same time, the ghost fleet also spun out several ships to approach those ships that had lost their hulls.

Soon after, glass jars containing spores exploded, along with strange mushrooms that multiplied and grew rapidly, and a meager, or even nonexistent, harvest.

This ghost ship fleet is now certain that the only reason they were able to catch up here is because the Valkyrie ahead wasted too much time collecting valuables.

Catch up with that ship, kill the mushroom-growing elf and claim the bounty! And while you're at it, steal the treasure he's collected!

Faced with these numerous temptations, the ghost fleet abandoned its treasure hunt and instead rowed its oars with even greater fervor, beginning a contest of endurance.

"They've caught up," the Magic Mirror said respectfully in the Valkyrie's conference room.

"Let's see how long they can run."

Cheng Lang yawned. "Mrs. Silver Queen, thank you for your trouble. If the Dragonfly Fin and the Heart of the Ship get tired, please send someone to let us know so we can switch to the Thorn for a while."

"Leave it to me," the Silver Queen replied with a smile.

"The undead sailors shouldn't be exhausted to death, right?" Shenba asked with a wide grin.

"No, but it will fall into a deep sleep."

As Yun Lan spoke, she looked at her sword sheath and said, "Why don't we let Xiao Bao go rowing too?"

You should be nicer to him.

"Or we could just hide it on any ship and let it ambush those ghost ships," Yavso said.

“It’s not much better.” Yun Ji shook her head helplessly.

(End of this chapter)