"What do you mean your residence was invaded last night?" Zhang Heng asked Vincent who looked a little nervous across the desk.
"Honestly, I don't know exactly what happened. I went to bed early last night. In the middle of the night, I opened my eyes in a daze and saw the window wide open. A black figure stood by my window with his back to I was looking for something in the cabinet."
"How do you know he is looking for this?" Zhang Heng asked, pointing to the book of love poems brought back from Clark's ship on the table.
"Because he turned my bedroom upside down, I got thirty-three Spanish gold coins from this trip and put them in the cabinet, but he didn't touch them. There was still some change on the table, not a penny less. He just I took the supply record and the cargo list from the bookshelf, but I put this book of love poems under my pillow."
"Wait, why did you put this thing under the pillow?" Annie raised her eyebrows.
The young ship's doctor's face turned red and he opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word for a long time.
Zhang Heng sensed his embarrassment and took the initiative to change the subject and asked, "Have you seen his face?"
Vincent nodded when he heard the words, with a look of fear on his face, "He is not a human being. His clothes are wet, as if he had just been fished out of the water. There is also a strong fishy salty smell, and the water drops It dripped onto the ground along his sleeves and trouser legs, and there were seaweed and shells hanging from his hair and clothes."
The young ship's doctor couldn't help but tremble again as he recalled the terrifying scene before, "I pretended to still be sleeping, but secretly opened my eyes a crack and saw his hands and the side of his face, which were covered with scales. , then he seemed to have noticed me, turned around and grinned at me, and I was so frightened that I fainted. When I opened my eyes again, it was already dawn, and I ran out of the house quickly."
After speaking, Vincent took out three notebooks from his body, "Actually, I have almost translated these things, and only a few pages of supply records are left. I'm sorry that I didn't protect them."
"No, you've done a great job. You've worked hard during this period." Zhang Heng took the note and said, "I have another unkind request. Can I go to where you live and take a look?"
"Of course." The young ship's doctor nodded, "You are welcome to be our guests."
The three of them arrived at Vincent's residence. It was a small wooden house, but it was enough for one person to live alone. There were many plants planted nearby, including some rare species on the island. Zhang Heng thought about it. When Leigh introduced Vincent, he said that he liked botany.
The walls of his house were covered with vines, which looked beautiful. Next to it was Billy's house, separated by a fence.
The helmsman of the Jackdaw was walking in the yard with his two-year-old daughter in his arms. He saw three people coming from not far away, said hello, handed his daughter to his wife, and then left. Come over.
"That's why you came here."
"Can you wait for me?" Vincent opened the door and glanced at Anne beside him, a little embarrassed.
"This is your home, you have the final say." Zhang Heng said.
A look of gratitude appeared on the young ship's doctor's face. He slipped in through the crack in the door and closed the door as fast as he could. After a while, there was a clanging sound inside.
Taking this opportunity, Zhang Heng asked Billy, "You live next door to him. Did you notice anything unusual last night?"
The latter shook his head, "I will sleep very hard as soon as I return to land. I didn't know what happened until he knocked on my door in his pajamas this morning. The child was indeed frightened last night. I also I’ve never seen him look so panicked.”
After hesitating for a moment, Billy asked again, "Do you think this matter is related to the ghost ship?"
"I'm not sure yet." Zhang Heng thought of the strange storm the Jackdaw encountered on its way back to Nassau. Various signs indicated that they had indeed encountered a supernatural phenomenon. From this point of view, the owner of the ghost ship wanted to Getting his things back was the most reasonable explanation, but for some reason he always felt that something was not quite right.
That’s why I proposed to come to Vincent’s house to take a look.
After a while, the young ship's doctor reopened the door and invited the three of them to go in with some embarrassment.
During this time, Vincent had also cleaned up the living room. He also dug out a bag of tea leaves and soaked it in water, but Zhang Heng didn't bother to drink it.
The three of them walked into the young ship's doctor's bedroom. The first thing they saw was the dense plant specimens and sketches on the wall, followed by the clothes and boots scattered on the floor.
Vincent looked a little embarrassed. He hadn't had time to clean up the place, but for a bachelor, his bedroom was actually not too bad. Zhang Heng had seen much worse dormitories than this when he lived on campus.
Zhang Heng just glanced at the plant specimens and turned his eyes away from the plant specimens. Then he squatted down and touched the floor with his fingers. There were water stains on some of them before, but they were still a little damp now. They should be the uninvited guest. Places where you stay for a long time include cabinets and in front of the bed.
In addition, Zhang Heng also picked up two small pieces of shells and a piece of scale on the ground, which seemed to confirm the story told by the young ship doctor. As for the fishy and salty smell, it had been weakened a lot due to ventilation.
Zhang Heng walked to the window again. This was also the place where the uninvited guest came and left. There were two pots of unknown plants placed on the window sill, but one of the pots was knocked over. Below was a small garden.
"Is that okay?" Zhang Heng glanced at the young ship's doctor. After getting the latter's permission, he climbed up the window sill and jumped into the garden from here.
Zhang Heng tried to step on the soil under his feet twice, "How often do you usually water it?"
"Well, once a week, I'll ask Nettie when I go out. She last watered her five days ago."
Nettie is also Billy's wife and helped Vincent a lot after he moved here. This is why Vincent was willing to work as a ship's doctor on the Jackdaw after Billy asked.
Zhang Heng walked around the garden and saw several residents nearby, so he and Annie visited them one by one. Unfortunately, they did not get any useful information. Vincent's residence was invaded late at night, when everyone was usually asleep, and no one saw the suspicious figure described by the young ship's doctor nearby.
We had lunch at Billy's house, and Vincent was still in a daze. Apparently what happened last night had a great impact on him, until the young ship's doctor got Billy's permission and agreed to let him stay at his house. It took two days for me to show my gratitude and cheer up a little.
