I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

"Do you have time in a month? Early July, I mean the time when you go abroad."

Feng Yu asked.

"Going abroad? Where are you going?"

Lu Ban asked subconsciously.

"Western Pacific."

Feng Yu thought for a moment, then spoke.

Are you aware of the Stars cruise ship incident?

"Is it the one that got stuck in the typhoon and eventually caught fire?"

Lu Ban immediately recalled the news reports he had seen before.

The cruise ship, carrying many tourists from Jiangcheng, encountered a typhoon in the western Pacific Ocean and was stranded on an island called Pohnpei. It eventually caught fire due to an accident, causing considerable casualties. Many of the tourists had only returned to China at the beginning of this year. Lu Ban had previously met a tourist who had suffered a mental breakdown due to a traumatic experience at the Jiangcheng Mental Hospital.

"A ghost ship has appeared in the western Pacific Ocean. According to the descriptions of the fishermen who saw it, the ghost ship is exactly the same as the Starship, which was destroyed by fire and sank to the bottom of the sea. However, there is no one on board. When the ship appears, it is surrounded by thick fog and sometimes there are big waves. No fishermen have ever boarded the ship. However, in the weeks following the report of the ghost ship, two fishing boats went missing and more than ten fishermen disappeared."

Feng Yu explained briefly.

"Why are they so sure it's the Star? Maybe it's some other ship, and the fishermen made a mistake?"

Lu Ban was curious.

"Although the ship has the words 'Stars' written on it and there are photos to compare, if you ask me, because I have boarded that ship before, I can confirm that it is the Stars."

Feng Yu said it casually.

"Your wound is because of this?"

Lu Ban wasn't sure if it was appropriate to use "wound" to describe Feng Yu's change.

"That's one way to think about it."

Feng Yu nodded, and then continued.

"The Starship may have become an anomaly in this world. By exploring its origins, we can gain more knowledge about this world, or rather, the Silent Land."

"A ghost ship..."

Lu Ban pondered to himself.

Ghost ships are a classic scene in horror movies. Whether it's the terrifying cruise ship that can trap people in an endless loop, the cruise ship that once severed the bodies of a deck of people with a single cable, or the elusive Black Pearl, ships drifting on the vast ocean always give people a mysterious and eerie feeling.

So perhaps all the mysterious rumors in the world are not unfounded, but rather projections of some strange phenomena over the years. Since the horror movie theater is real, it is normal for the ghost ship to possess the Starship.

Understanding the true causes and processes of the strange phenomena is also part of protecting this world for Lu Ban. After all, even without other pollution from other realms, the strange phenomena inherent in this world can still harm others. If left unchecked, perhaps one day in the future...

"No problem, I'll arrange the time."

Lu Ban agreed, saying that he could now delegate most of his work to the company and focus on studying and exploring the world. He could easily travel to the Western Pacific for a week or two.

"Well then, I'm really looking forward to our first trip together!"

Feng Yu blinked, and Lu Ban saw something resembling tentacles flash across her eyes.

Chapter 289 It's Here

"According to the investigation report on the Stars, the Stars departed from Yangshan Port on October 15, 2020, with an estimated journey of 21 days and 1 month. During the journey, it will pass through ports such as island nations, the Solomon Islands, and Australia, and finally arrive in New Zealand. This voyage is quite rare, with ocean scenery as its main selling point."

"However, ten days after its departure, the Stars encountered a rare storm in the western Pacific Ocean and was forced to dock at Pohnpei Island, north of the Solomon Islands, to wait for the storm to subside."

"During the long and unusual storm, the Star suffered multiple accidents, including a serious fire on November 21, which caused the ship to list and take on water. It sank to the sea a week later after all efforts to save it failed."

"The passengers on board returned home by flight in January after the off-season storm in the Pacific Ocean had completely subsided. A considerable number of the passengers developed varying degrees of mental health issues, and the cleanup work on the Star is still ongoing."

Lu Ban saw the publicly available investigation report on the Qunxing incident.

He recalled that during the storm, the passengers of the Starship seemed to have filmed some videos of islands and city ruins in the storm.

Lu Ban searched online and found that most of the videos had become invalid over time. However, on old video websites, someone had left behind an archive of the screen recording.

He watched the videos again carefully.

Amidst the raging wind and rain, one could indeed see the shadows of some buildings. These buildings were mostly towering spires with a bizarre style that did not belong to this era. In fact, Lu Ban did not see any architectural style from any era in these buildings. They existed there as if they were art and aesthetics born from this world, like a black dot on a white sheet of paper, distorted and unnatural.

At first glance, Lu Ban didn't have such a strong feeling, but now he is almost certain that these buildings are not human creations, but rather the halls of some strange, mysterious, and indescribable existence.

As for the Starship accident, Lu Ban believes it may have been caused by something strange.

He reviewed some interview materials, mostly from the captain, crew, and passengers. Because the accident was already quite serious, there were many speculations and conflicting opinions. Some people thought there was a mutiny among the crew, some thought it was a robbery orchestrated by the captain, and some even had wild ideas, saying it was haunted.

In fact, the testimonies of these people are contradictory.

For example, Lu Ban saw a clip of First Mate Zhao Liren being interviewed.

"...At the time, I told the captain that there was a problem with the equipment in the engine room and that we needed to do some maintenance, but the captain didn't seem to care much and didn't agree to my request. As a result, the equipment in the engine room malfunctioned two days later, leading to a fire. No, I'm not saying the captain did anything wrong, but his behavior at the time seemed really uncalm to me. Even as the fire spread, he didn't take any effective measures. I've known the captain for several years, and he's not that kind of person. Something must have affected him. Maybe there were too many unexpected events on this voyage, and the pressure overwhelmed him..."

In this scene, the first mate believes that the captain's inadequate response was the main cause of the accident, which seems quite reasonable.

But according to one tourist, things are different.

"...Those crew members were particularly fierce. At first, they wouldn't let us walk around the ship freely and locked us in our rooms like prisoners. We could only come out for some fresh air when we were eating. Especially during the days when the storms got worse, I felt like the whole ship was about to sink. I never met the captain, but the first mate spoke to us. He was very stern and seemed to have encountered something. He had very dark circles under his eyes. Things only got a little better after we docked and disembarked. We didn't even notice the fire because the storm was so strong, so very strong."

According to him, the first mate restricted their movements, guarding them like a jailer, and acted somewhat neurotically, quite unlike the calm demeanor he described.

"...These crew members are all taciturn and don't like to talk. They weren't like this at first. Since the storm started, they have become much more serious. I can understand that a storm like this at sea is very dangerous and shouldn't be joked about. However, they seem to have become different people after experiencing the storm. They have become much more repressed. For our safety, the crew members told us not to move around. I can understand. I talked to one of the crew members. He said that the situation was hopeless and that the ship might be lost. At the time, I thought he was just trying to scare us. But who knew that after we went ashore, the ship caught fire some time later. Fortunately, we were all in a hotel in the port at the time. It seems that some crew members were burned to death on the ship? I'm not sure."

Some tourists presented a different picture. The crew members seemed to have changed their ways because of the severity of the storm, and the restrictions on personal freedom were for safety reasons.

Lu Ban then saw the interview with Captain Johnson Gustave.

This is a German man with a full beard, who looked very haggard during the interview.

“I have answered these questions many times. The storm we encountered was unprecedented. Therefore, I had to ensure the safety of all crew and passengers, which is why I kept them in their rooms. Yes, that’s right. Some crew members developed mental health issues due to stress. I had the ship’s doctor give them medication. At least when we docked at Pohnpei Island, everything was not serious.”

"What's really serious is that after we got to the island, the people there were very strange. I can't explain it, but sometimes they would stand in the harbor, in the storm, and make some strange worship gestures towards the eye of the storm. Some islanders even sneaked onto the boat. I don't know what they were up to."

“I walked around the island and saw many strange statues. On the mountain in the center of the island, there seemed to be an ancient temple, all related to primitive beliefs.”

“Those statues look like octopuses, or some kind of mollusc and human hybrid. I know that the natives of the sea always have a strange worship of sea creatures, but those statues give people a very uncomfortable feeling. Although that temple is damaged, for some reason, every night when you look up at the mountain, you can always find it at first glance, just like it emits a ghostly green glow.”

"Later, when the fire broke out, the people on the island did not participate in the rescue. They just stood in the rain, on the dock, making a worship gesture towards the burning cruise ship. I swear, I have never seen such a bizarre worship gesture. I even suspected that these people were possessed by some kind of monster."

"But in the firelight, I seemed to see something rise from the ship and flow into the storm. It's hard to describe the feeling. I think maybe my mind is not quite right. No, it should exist. It was there. I knew it was coming. I'm sorry, I don't know how to say it. When the Stars sank, I felt that it truly came to life. We were all witnesses to its birth."

"what is it?"

The reporter asked curiously.

"It is...it is...it is the stars, it is the stars, it is coming, it will be coming soon!"

Captain Gustave became hysterical, and the interview was forced to stop.

Lu Ban witnessed the captain's ultimate fate. After giving an interview, he recuperated at home and drowned himself in his own washbasin a month later. It is said that when he died, both of his hands were twisted behind his back, pressing down on his head as if those hands were forcibly holding him underwater to prevent him from lifting his head.

He drowned himself!

Chapter 290 Pohnpei Island

Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for a person to drown themselves. When the head is submerged to a certain extent, the body will instinctively struggle and thus get out of the water.

Therefore, it takes a lot of strength to hold someone's head down and drown them, because that's when a person's struggle is at its strongest.

However, Captain Gustave drowned himself by holding his own head down.

This is really bizarre.

Lu Ban did some more research and found that among those who experienced the Starship incident, the proportion of mental illness, self-harm, and suicide was quite high. Some experts believed that the oppressive atmosphere at the time led to the development of mental illness. Some victims' families also organized protests, trying to obtain more compensation from the cruise ship's owner. Some were found to be fraudsters faking mental illness after examination, which made the whole thing even more confusing and uncertain.

As for the rumors about the ghost ship, they started circulating some time ago. Lu Ban found some suspected film and television materials, photos, etc., but some of them looked fake and were photoshopped. Others were hard to tell whether they were real ghost ships or just disguised photos of the Starship.

The legend of the ghost ship is popular mainly because the Stars incident has too many suspicious points, and it has not attracted much attention in itself.

The film production is continuing smoothly. During this time, in addition to studying film, Lu Ban has also taken the opportunity to learn about the culture, beliefs, history, and geography of the areas surrounding the Pacific Ocean.

Pohnpei Island, located in the western Pacific Ocean north of the Solomon Islands, is a volcanic island. On the island are the Nanmadol ruins, dating back 7,000 years. These ruins are composed of huge basalt columns, each weighing between five and fifty tons. At that time, it would have taken 600 years just to quarry such columns, and at least 1,000 years to transport and build them. It is hard to imagine how these structures were completed.

After all, this structure, whose construction difficulty is close to that of the pyramids, was not located in the vast desert of the Egyptian kingdom, but on a small island. The lack of manpower alone made construction extremely difficult.

Furthermore, among these sites, there are architectural remains dating back to 200 BC. The newer buildings were constructed on the remains of these structures, and the architectural styles of the two are very different, seemingly originating from two completely different civilizations. However, according to the records on the island, only the Chaudreil people ever lived there.

According to local legend, the megalithic structures on these islands originated from a powerful sorcerer who could manipulate objects, causing these giant stones to fly here and automatically form the structures.

In a documentary from the 1990s, researchers tried various modern methods, but all failed to move these megaliths. There were even stories of soldiers who broke into the tombs in the ruins during wartime, only to die the next day.

In short, the island itself is quite mysterious, so it wouldn't be surprising if something happened there.

In early July, all universities and colleges began their summer vacation, but the business hours of Jiangcheng University Back Street remained unchanged. There are several residential areas nearby, and even without students, the residents of the neighborhoods often come here to spend money, which is enough to support the business owners' operating costs.

Moreover, there are still some students staying on campus, so it's not exactly deserted.

Every year around this time, campus ghost stories start to circulate again. Fortunately, this year, Jiangcheng University's graduation went smoothly, unlike last year when a student committed suicide by jumping off a building.

Lu Ban packed his things, sent messages to a few acquaintances, especially asking Qin Tiantian to keep an eye on everyone and tell them not to work too hard, and then arrived at Jiangcheng Airport.

The weather in Wuhan in July is already very hot and humid; it's hard to imagine life without air conditioning.

Feng Yu was wearing a sea-colored dress, looking no different from the other tourists at the airport who were about to go on vacation. Whenever this happened, Lu Ban would forget that she wasn't human.

Where is your luggage?

Lu Ban asked.

"Your luggage has already been checked in. You should hurry up and get your boarding pass too."

Feng Yu pointed to the area for checking in luggage and getting boarding passes.

Lu Ban put his luggage into the machine.

The young lady at the check-in counter had a smile on her face, but when she saw the X-ray in the security check, her smile suddenly froze.

"what is this?"

She pointed to a long rod-like object in Lu Ban's box.

"This is a crowbar."

Lu Ban answered without hesitation.

Why bring a crowbar when traveling?