"After our investigation, it is basically certain that Mr. Zhao Jie's disappearance was most likely due to his accidental fall into the water on the deck last night. We once again remind all passengers that for your safety, please do not go on the deck at night. Feel free to move around.”
Soon, the crew members of the Astrologis issued an official announcement stating that it was just an accident, which calmed the nervous passengers a little.
Most people were just making a false alarm, it was not just that there were dangerous people on the ship, but some people were talking about it and pointed the finger at Mei Ji, the astrology girl, thinking that she was the person who brought about the unknown.
After all, Zhao Jie was the only one who extended a helping hand to Mei Ji yesterday, but as a result, this is what happened today.
The calls for Mei Ji to be imprisoned are getting louder and louder. The crew member responsible for security, forced by everyone's strong request, can only issue a notice to the astrology girl. Before arriving at Thousand Islands today, she must be placed under house arrest in her room. She is not allowed to come out.
In this regard, Mei Ji did not resist at all, or rather, the current astrology girl was completely confused.
While Meiji was being escorted away by the samurai on the ship, the wolf cub heard the trembling voice mumbling to herself in the girl's mouth.
"Why... I obviously succeeded in changing my destiny for the first time, but the result was..."
"Could it be...could it be that fate really shouldn't interfere..."
"If I hadn't suggested him to go to the bottom warehouse yesterday...if..."
Liao Zixuan could see the painful look on Mei Ji's face, and combined with the words from the girl's mouth, all the clues showed that Zhao Jie's disappearance did not seem to be that simple, but the attitude of the samurai on the ship was very abnormal, as if he was going there deliberately. To cover up something, they didn't even interrogate Mei Ji, who was highly suspected.
In addition... such a big thing happened. The little wolf cub looked around, but he did not see the figure of Luzi, the current biggest person in charge of the Astologis.
etc.
Liao Zixuan suddenly thought that in his "second" experience, Zhao once told him that Luzi had brought in a large amount of goods during his stay at Akabane Port, and the reason why Zhao Jie wanted to get close to Vivian was, That is to say, to find out what this batch of goods is, so that I can follow the trend and buy it and make a lot of money.
Combined with what Mei Ji said to herself just now, she suggested that Zhao Jie go to the bottom warehouse...
Could it be that Zhao Jie really discovered something in the warehouse on the ground floor last night, which led to the "disappearance"?
Something's not quite right...
After this appearance, the number of passengers on the deck suddenly decreased. After hesitating thoughtfully, the little wolf cub finally did not choose to return to the door of Vivian's room and continue to squat. Instead, he set off towards the Astologis. Go to the bottom.
Today is already the third day of the voyage, and it is also the last day. Maybe they will arrive at Thousand Islands in the afternoon, and naturally there will be no night, so he does not have to worry about triggering the "night attack" plot, and based on the experience of the previous two days It seems that as long as Vivian doesn't go out, everything will be fine. His guarding is actually a bit redundant.
So taking advantage of the last half day, Liao Zixuan decided to do a little investigation.
When the little wolf cub arrived, he found that the cargo passage leading to the bottom of the cabin had been blocked, and was strictly guarded by three or four crew members.
In desperation, the little wolf cub had no choice but to choose another way, going to the bottom of the cabin, where the coolies lived.
Squeak...squeak...
The old and cracked floor made a shaky sound after the wolf cub stepped on it. It was not that the wolf cub was heavy, but that the wood here was really bad, extremely damp, and most of it was corroded.
The bottom floor of the ship was originally a cargo hold, but a small space was forcibly opened up to load coolies.
Yes, the little wolf cub only chose to use "loading" to describe it after he actually arrived here.
Because anyone who has seen what this place looks like will never say that this is a place where you can "live".
The first is the light, which is extremely dim. Only the faint light coming from the first floor through the gap in the ceiling prevents the place from being completely shrouded in darkness.
Secondly...
The little wolf cub waved his paw in front of his nose. He had just taken a few steps inside when a smell that hit his face had already surrounded him.
Because it is a cargo cabin modification, there are of course no windows here, let alone ventilation and air flow.
Even if it is a normal room, if it is not ventilated for a few days, the smell will be very strong inside the room, let alone the bottom warehouse where the coolies are loaded.
After a tiring day, the smell of sweat stains all over the body, the rotten smell of leftover food, and the musty smell covered with moss stains. After these various smells are mixed together, they finally form this kind of smell, which makes it almost difficult to stay and take a few breaths. Will feel dizzy.
Not to mention, there is this damn swaying feeling of the sea water. It seems that the "Heart of the Sea" power of the Astorogis only takes care of the top three layers, and the bottom layer is not within its protection range.
No wonder...
Liao Zixuan recalled that during the "first" experience, Zhao Jie mentioned this place to them. At that time, he described it as like a pigsty, not a place for people to stay at all.
It can be seen from the mental state of the coolies around them that most of them are very depressed, with no light in their eyes. They are thin and tattered. They only respond when their names are called by the overseer warriors who come down from the first floor. , only to wake up from the sluggishness and start to move mechanically.
But even so, the overseer samurai will use these lowest-level coolies as sandbags to vent their temper. If they make a slight mistake or make the overseer unhappy, they may starve for a whole day.
no way.
In fact, from the living conditions of the people at the bottom of each country, we can see the degree of governance of the country's gods. It is obvious that even a ship of this level, the Astorogis, has such a shadow corner. You can imagine the entire Thousand Islands.
well...
Shaking his head and sighing, the little wolf cub also walked to the end of the coolie activity area, which was connected to the cargo hold.
It can be seen that this place is also sealed as expected, but compared to the main road, there is no handle for the crew samurai. After all, no samurai can bear to stand guard in such an environment.
Even the sealing method was very perfunctory. They just blocked the passage with a few wooden boards, hammered in some nails, and that was it.
The gap between the sealing boards is definitely not big enough for a human to fit through, but for a little wolf cub.
It's not that difficult.
The little wolf cub had just bent its hind limbs slightly and made a gesture ready to jump. However, a second later, a hand suddenly stretched out from behind, stopped the little wolf cub's body midway from taking off, and picked him up.
"You can't go there."
A hoarse female voice sounded.
It is not difficult to tell that the owner of the voice is actually not very old. It is only because of an injury to his throat that the timbre is distorted.
As for such a unique sound, the little wolf cub had only heard it made by one person on the ship.
He turned around sharply.
What appeared in the little wolf cub's sight was a face covered with bandages, and the only exposed eye revealed to the little wolf cub now was...
care?
Because of this, when the little wolf cub noticed someone approaching from behind, he immediately restrained himself. His instinctive stress reaction allowed him to let the other person hug him.
And corresponding to An Yan at this moment...
It was this little gray-haired puppy that was held high by her hands and looked like it had been hungry for countless days. It was listless and had gray hair. It didn't struggle or resist, and just followed her...
Mengmeng looked at each other.
"You want to find something to eat, right?"
An subconsciously, and even she didn't know why, hugged the little wolf cub that she accidentally encountered in her arms.
She poked the cub's nose with her finger.
"Remember from now on, there are sealed wooden boxes over there. There won't be anything to eat. If you get lost in there and can't get out, you will starve to death inside!"
"Besides, I don't know what happened over there last night. It seemed like there was a thief. As a result, someone came in the middle of the night and specially sealed our area. In short, it is very dangerous there. You are not allowed to go there in the future. Do you understand?"
An was very serious in teaching this little puppy that was running around randomly.
But as soon as she finished speaking, she shook her head, wondering what was wrong with her and why she was talking so much. How could a stray puppy on a boat understand her words.
Or...
Are you so lonely that you have to talk to a stray puppy?
After thinking of this, An's eyes dimmed a bit.
However, before An Xin could finish laughing at herself, the next second, her eyes widened and the light lit up again. Although her face was wrapped with a bandage, she could still see that the other party's small mouth was covered under the bandage. Open wide.
Because An only saw...
The puppy in her arms turned out to be...
He nodded gracefully! ?
From the puppy's eyes, An could even see an expression of "I know I was wrong, thank you!"?
After a few seconds of shock.
It was as if I had discovered a new continent.
"You...can you understand me?"
An's eyes flashed with excitement. She took the cub's front paws out of her arms, held them up high, and kept looking left and right, full of excitement and novelty.
And the little wolf cub...
Liao Zixuan was actually sweating in his heart.
This... this unexpected development was something he had not expected at all, but looking at An's appearance now, it seemed that she no longer smelled the witch scent belonging to Vivian on her body like in the previous two experiences?
Or...
Because he didn't stay with the little girl for the past two days and stayed outside the door, so the smell on his body became lighter?
But anyway.
At this moment, the posture shown by An can be said to have subverted Liao Zixuan's inherent image, and it is another side.
Seeing this familiar person's stupidity, this familiar person's surprised look after seeing that she could understand people's words, was exactly the same as the little girl back then!
This time Liao Zixuan didn't nod anymore. Just in case, he continued to pretend to be an ordinary wolf cub... a puppy is good, at most it has some intelligence.
An looked at the wolf cub who looked at her blankly, her surprise quickly faded away, and she felt a little lost and relieved at the same time.
Now that she came back to her senses and thought about it carefully, indeed, if this little puppy really nodded and understood people, then she would have to be careful and think too much.
but now...
"You must be hungry, um... let me look for it."
After An put the little wolf cub in her arms, she began to fumble around with her hands. After groping several times, she finally took out a carefully wrapped cloth bag from the inside.
When the little girl opened it, the little wolf cub found that...
A piece of blackened cake.
It's this kind of black pancake, and I don't know what materials it is made of. Ke An's eyes still flashed with pain, but she quickly broke the pancake in half and put the inside One piece was handed to the little wolf cub.
"Come on, eat quickly."
Well...
Liao Zixuan looked at the black cake in front of him. He had indeed not eaten for three days and his stomach was growling, but for this kind of food...
Maybe because he saw it, the little wolf cub subconsciously felt reluctant and disgusted. An's low voice sounded, and she pursed her lips and said:
"Sorry, I...that's all I have."
"If you don't want to..." An said, about to take back half of the black cake in disappointment.
But the next moment.
Fight!
This should be a perfect opportunity to get to know "An" more. In order to gain more favor, he would have to swallow whatever An brought out!
So the little wolf cub stopped An's half-retracted black cake with his paw, and then stuffed it into his mouth.
Just hear...
Bang... Bang!
It’s hard to imagine what ingredients are in a piece of black cake when it makes a “crack” sound.
But anyway...
The little wolf cub wolfed down half of the black cake that An handed him.
But An couldn't tell. After all, although the little wolf cub ate very quickly, it almost had the word "unpalatable" written on its face. Such a contrast made An couldn't help but laugh. come out.
This was also the first time that Liao Zixuan heard An's laughter.
It's hoarse, but...I don't know why, but it sounds very nice.
Subsequently.
An's hand touched the little wolf cub's head.
I don't know why, but in just a few minutes from the first sight to now, An has become more and more fond of this stray puppy she met by chance.
"This is the first time we meet, please give me some advice. My name is Vivian, what is your name?"
"Well...I forgot that you can talk. You look so pitiful and you don't look like you have a master. Then I'll make the decision without permission and give you a name!"
At the end of the dark bottom floor of the cabin, An, dressed in rags, huddled in the corner holding a tired wolf cub that had not slept for three days and two nights. She stroked the wolf cub's hair and fell into thought.
"What should I call you?"
"Um..."
That is, after two or three seconds.
"Yes!" An's happy voice sounded.
"Looking at how dark you are, then I'll call you...Xiao Hei!"
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