The voice was sharp and hoarse, much like the dark figure on the ship earlier. I turned to see one of the burly men leap onto our small boat!
Silence fell upon the boat. In the darkness surrounding us, the man’s figure flickered in and out of the spotlight, like a man-eating beast quietly watching its prey.
Qi Xinxin and Qi Qiaoqiao were stunned, frozen in place. I suspected that if they made any other move, these two would have fainted from fright.
I glanced back at the woman from the company. Her small face was pale, and blood had seeped out from her wounds, perhaps from exertion.
She was even less of a help! I couldn’t count on her for anything. She was lucky to survive in her current state.
With things as they were, a fierce battle was inevitable between me and the burly man before me. I held my breath, concentrating, and drew the dagger from my waist.
Time ticked by slowly. I stared intently at the burly man, shrouded in shadow, daring not to relax for a moment. What struck me as odd was that since he boarded, the burly man seemed to have frozen, utterly motionless.
What, did he lose Wi-Fi signal after drifting too far from the ghost ship!
Seeing the burly man’s silence for so long, I retreated a couple of steps, took the revolver from the woman’s hand, aimed at the burly man's chest, and fired with all my might.
Bang!
I watched with my own eyes as the bullet pierced the burly man's chest, yet it seemed to have caused no damage. The burly man remained standing like an iron tower, unyielding.
What in the world was this thing? Bullets couldn't even harm him?
I felt a bit numb, regretting my decision. If I had known I'd encounter such a thing, I would have brought more garlic and crosses.
Then, with a Bible in one hand and the Tao Te Ching in the other, a cross hanging from my chest, which demon or monster in this entire world wouldn't show me some respect.
In a flash, my thoughts wandered. Suddenly, Qi Qiaoqiao cried out.
"Light, light!"
Huh?
I hadn't noticed before, but with Qi Qiaoqiao's reminder, I suddenly realized that, unknowingly, we could now see the moon!
The clear moonlight dispelled the darkness and shone directly onto our boat, as if draping our small vessel in a cloak.
At some point, we had sailed out of that eerie sea of fog!
I raised my hand in disbelief, trying to catch the ethereal moonlight. Only those who have lost light truly understand how exhilarating this moment is!
If not for the trouble still before me, I would have loved to lie on the boat, gazing at the starry sky, and sleep without waking.
"Drunk, I knew not the sky was water; the whole boat, a dream, pressed by the river of stars." When I read this poem as a child, I couldn't grasp its meaning. It's only now that I realize the emotions I wished to express were already articulated by the ancients thousands of years ago.
I forcibly suppressed the excitement in my heart and slowly approached the still motionless burly man.
It was strange, really. Now that moonlight bathed the sea, it still couldn't illuminate the burly man's face.
The darkness on his body seemed to solidify, slowly dissipating like mist.
By the time I reached the burly man, he had transformed.
His once muscular body had withered, and a stench of decay emanated from him.
I stared blankly at his hollow eye sockets, a heaviness settling in my heart.
Damn it, everything we saw earlier was indeed an illusion. But how did that ghost ship manage it? This mummified corpse before me looked like it had been dead for many years!
I cautiously poked the mummified corpse with my dagger. It felt weightless and toppled over onto the bow of the boat.
Seeing that the creature was thoroughly dead, the two sisters, who had been on edge, suddenly collapsed onto the ground as if their bones had been removed.
Qi Xinxin began to cry uncontrollably, as if releasing all the fear she had endured these past few days. It was understandable; at fourteen, she should have been in class studying, yet here she was, adrift at sea.
I held Qi Xinxin close, a pang of sympathy in my heart, letting her tears dampen my shoulder.
"It's alright, it's alright. We'll be home soon."
I patted Qi Xinxin's shoulder and whispered words of comfort in her ear.
After entering the fog, I had already prepared myself for death. I never expected heaven to still favor us, allowing us to pass through this ordeal.
They say that great disasters often bring great fortune. After this experience, will we become luckier?
After comforting Qi Xinxin, I stood up to tidy up the aftermath.
After all, this boat wasn't large to begin with, and with a mummified corpse lying on the bow, it was quite unsettling. No one would be able to sleep.
I found two scraps of cloth to use as gloves, to isolate myself from the corpse. With a heave, I intended to throw the mummy into the sea.
Unexpectedly, at that moment, a sinister voice sounded in my ear.
"Return, this is your destiny..."