ATPnovel Chapter 448 Are You Kidding Me?
Chapter 448 Are You Kidding Me?
Yu Lin Hong's laughter fell into the black water. The wet black ship sign that was originally covered by the account name in front of the dock suddenly sank. The three words Yu Lin Hong, along with the Soul Nail Array pattern, were swallowed by the water. Even the cold red blood ash on the edge of Mo Cheng Yue's palm was dragged out.
Shopkeeper Hu pressed the white paper lantern closer to her chest, the silver hairpin still pressed against the base of the red line under her seventh eye. She didn't dare look at the ship's nameplate, only staring at the box lid as she asked, "What does she mean?"
Mo Chengyue pressed down on the Rain Flower Sword with his left hand, while his right palm was still hanging outside the door. The blood-stained red patterns on his palm glowed with a wet red sheen. He looked down at the water stain on the Yin Xin Pendant that had been stained with red, and his face finally darkened.
"It means that the accountant I just hired may have received a red envelope from her."
Shopkeeper Hu slowed down his movements as he was picking out the thread, and the tip of the hairpin was almost covered in black liquid.
"Don't try to scare me with those kinds of words."
"I also hope it was just to scare you."
Seventh Eyes lay on the edge of the wrecked ship. The thin threads under her red wedding dress had been loosened by the black water, and half of her disfigured face slowly lifted up, revealing the soft, youthful voice of the girl once again.
"Sis, you see, even he makes mistakes sometimes."
Manager Hu did not take her; he simply tucked the small box tighter into his chest.
Mo Chengyue said, "Don't listen to her."
Manager Hu gritted his teeth and asked, "Then who should we listen to now?"
"Listen to Ah Sui."
Inside the Soul-Sealing Box, the old silver light was protected by the lamplight, and the fine light on the talisman flickered. Ah Sui's voice squeezed out from the crack in the box, so soft that one dared not breathe too much.
"There are people... at the bottom of the boat."
Shopkeeper Hu's hand, which was holding the silver hairpin, stopped at the base of the red thread, and his shoulder, which was originally pressing down on the lampshade, slumped down.
"Ah Sui, who are you talking about?"
Mo Chengyue immediately said, "Don't ask who it is, ask her if she can say more."
Manager Hu swallowed the second half of his sentence and lowered his head to approach the box lid.
"Ah Sui, if you can talk about it, talk about the bottom of the boat."
The silver light from the small box traced a circle around the edge of the Soul-Sealing Talisman, and Ah Sui spoke haltingly.
"Someone is pushing the boat from the bottom."
Seventh Eyes gave a cold laugh, and taking advantage of Manager Hu's distraction, the thin thread under the red wedding dress rewound to the base of the red thread under his eyes.
"She's confused. Of course there's water at the bottom of the boat, so where would anyone come from?"
Mo Chengyue drew a line with the tip of his sword along the talisman ash, blocking the thin lines, and then used his left hand to press the Yin Xin Pendant into his clothes.
"Even if she's confused, she's cleaner than you."
The seventh eye stared at the blood-stained inscription on his palm, and half of the old silver aura in the eye was swept back by the black water.
"You borrowed this darkened boat to check the accounts, and now that the boat is about to dock, you're still being stubborn?"
Mo Chengyue looked towards the door.
The unlit boat had no lights on and no more writing on it, yet its hull glided from the black water toward the abandoned dock. The bow didn't hit the threshold; instead, the dark shadow of the hull slid along the rotten planks.
As the ship's hull drew closer, the wooden planks inside the dock, which had been dry, began to turn black, the gray lines of the talisman were broken by water bubbles, and the outer edge of the dock formation collapsed inward in circles.
Manager Hu also noticed the change in the ground and turned pale.
"Is it coming ashore?"
"It's more troublesome than getting ashore."
"How so?"
"They want to classify this place as ship planks."
Shopkeeper Hu pressed her fingertips against the box lid, the lamplight shielded in her arms, its light not falling to her feet.
What would happen if it were judged to be ship planks?
Mo Chengyue pulled the Yuhua Sword halfway out of the talisman ash and pressed it back into another gray line.
"If you're on the deck, even if you don't board the ship, you're still considered on board."
The seventh eye laughed, his soft voice tinged with a damp, cold tone.
"Sister, did you hear that? If you stand here protecting the box, you will return to the ship."
Shopkeeper Hu said in a low voice, "Shut up."
"You can tell me to shut up, but the guy at the bottom of the boat won't."
Shopkeeper Hu pressed the silver hairpin in her hand closer to the base of the red thread. The old silver scent made Seventh Eyes' face turn pale, but she didn't look at Seventh Eyes again, only asking Mo Chengyue, "Are there really people at the bottom of the ship?"
"have."
"You saw it?"
"I didn't see it."
"How did you know?"
"The boat is slippery, the water isn't pushing it, there's no black hand pulling it, and there are no signs. The only thing that can move the boat is the bottom."
Manager Hu pursed his lips tightly.
"A living person?"
"It doesn't look like it."
"dead?"
"It doesn't seem like it either."
The Seventh Eye replied coldly, "Collecting corpses from the bottom of the ship, of course, means corpses."
Mo Chengyue looked at her.
"You know quite a lot."
The seventh eye is slightly curved, and the red line is shrinking into the flesh.
"The red-light boats have been on the water for so many years, what kind of boats haven't they seen?"
Mo Chengyue said, "I let it slip."
The smile on Seventh Eyes' face vanished.
Manager Hu immediately asked, "What did she forget?"
Mo Chengyue stared at the approaching, unlit boat bottom outside the door, and used his left hand to push the talisman ash into a short wall to block the black water crawling towards the small box.
"She didn't say 'unlit ship,' she said 'corpse collection ship' first."
Manager Hu was taken aback for a moment.
The Seventh Eye said coldly, "Are you trying to trick me?"
"You cooperated quite quickly."
Yu Lin Hong's lingering regret rose from the blood-stained inscription in Mo Cheng Yue's palm, the crimson color wandering along the edge of the ink characters, and the sound coming from the black water.
"So what if you know?"
Mo Chengyue looked down at his right palm.
"I know you didn't build new ships back then, you only modified old ones."
Yu Lin Hong chuckled: "Old ships are easier to use, and old rules are still effective."
"You haven't changed properly."
"You can give it a try."
As Manager Hu listened to their conversation, his expression grew increasingly grim.
"Mo Chengyue, can she borrow it?"
"Can I borrow some?"
"So who owns it now?"
"The account book is old; she tampered with the boat's route, someone was pushing it from the bottom, and the sign could still be flipped before, which means it doesn't belong entirely to her yet."
Shopkeeper Hu secured the silver hairpin to the base of the red thread, his voice trembling with urgency as he asked, "So where's the tear?"
Mo Chengyue didn't reply to her immediately. He held the Yuhua Sword horizontally on the inside of the threshold with his left hand. The talisman ash under the sword was dampened by the dark shadow at the bottom of the boat, and the dry leaf line that had originally pinned down Manager Hu's shadow also began to curl at the edges.
The Seventh Eye chuckled softly: "There's no breach."
Mo Chengyue said, "The more eager you are to respond, the more it proves that there is something to it."
The seventh eye turned the black mud under the red wedding dress outwards, but the half-eye no longer looked at the small box, instead staring at the bottom of the boat outside the door.
Yu Lin Hong's voice came from the black water.
"Mo Chengyue, you just asked me about the accounting office, now that it's closed, who do you want to borrow from?"
If you can't lend it, then don't.
"Are you willing to part with it?"
"It's easy to get charged fees when you try to leverage someone else's services, and I'm on a tight budget."
Manager Hu was on edge when he heard this and almost laughed in anger, but he managed to suppress it.
"Could you please talk less about the budget?"
"cannot."
Why?
"I'm afraid of pain."
Shopkeeper Hu stopped scolding him and lowered his head to say to Xiao Xia, "Ah Sui, if you can still speak, tell your sister, what's there to be afraid of about that boat?"
Seventh Eyes immediately shrieked, "Don't let her talk!"
The red thread rose from under the seventh eye, trying to wrap around the half-eye. Manager Hu exerted force with his wrist, and the silver hairpin picked down along the gap in the water film. The old silver aura burned a faint white mark around the red thread.
"You're getting impatient."
Seventh Eyes said in a soft, girlish voice, "Sister, I'm afraid she'll break up."
Manager Hu did not look up.
"Ah Sui, don't listen to her."
The soul-sealing talisman inside the small box glowed with difficulty, and Ah Sui's voice was muffled by the sound of water.
"Coast Fire".
Mo Chengyue immediately looked at Manager Hu.
"What did she say?"
Shopkeeper Hu pressed her ear close to the box lid, the lamplight mostly blocked by her sleeve, leaving only a sliver of yellowish-white light to protect the talisman's surface.
"Ah Sui, say it again."
The old silver light in the box trembled along the edge of the talisman, and Ah Sui seemed to squeeze out two words with all her might.
"Coast Fire".