Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 244 - 164: Ship Spirit

Chapter 244: Chapter 164: Ship Spirit

"You mean you didn’t get sailing syndrome, but there really is a strange thing that came aboard the ship?"

A quarter of an hour later, Duan Mingyuan rushed to Tang Qianqian’s room upon hearing the news and even brought along the caramel pudding that was placed at the door of her room.

Tang Qianqian was completely hidden under the blankets, trembling and showing only her head.

The blanket looked bulky, likely hiding a Li Hua cat inside.

She wasn’t like those heroines in horror movies who, upon hearing mysterious noises, would go out to investigate like a fool and then, at a dark corner, encounter an evil spirit and end up flayed and skinned. Following Mr. Mingyuan’s guidance, she dialed his number at the first sign of trouble.

To ensure utmost safety, before Duan Mingyuan arrived, she and Li Hua both hid under the blankets.

According to "Evil Spirits Law Code Article 71", no evil spirits may attack people under blankets, nor may they use any means to forcibly uncover the blankets. Once humans hide under the blankets, they should abide by the "Unity of Human and Blanket" principle, with serious offenders subject to life imprisonment.

"Absolutely true, Mr. Mingyuan, do you have caramel pudding in your hand?"

"Mhm."

"How about... you have a taste?"

Duan Mingyuan, though befuddled, complied.

The taste was that of caramel pudding, with a sweet hint of rose flavor—Jiuyue’s special edition pudding, a major dessert during interstellar travel.

Upon seeing Duan Mingyuan eat a pudding in front of her, Tang Qianqian finally emerged from the bed covers.

But Li Hua’s mental state was very unstable, so she decided to continue resting under the blankets for a while.

"Assessment complete, I definitely didn’t get sailing syndrome, there is definitely something strange on this ship!"

With Duan Mingyuan present, Tang Qianqian spoke with more confidence.

An evil spirit, right?

If it’s bold enough, let it come and confront Mr. Mingyuan!

Duan Mingyuan pondered. If Tang Qianqian’s judgment was not off, then this girl possessed a natural insight for impending danger, akin to a Pokémon’s Precognition Ability—she would tremble and issue warnings when there was danger in the vicinity.

Even during his last comprehensive inspection on the Ranger, he didn’t notice the presence of anyone else but them.

However, the two caramel puddings at the door made it seem like whoever it was didn’t come with ill intentions, but rather seemed to want to befriend Tang Qianqian and Li Hua.

"Let’s go check out the place you mentioned," Duan Mingyuan said.

The source of the strange noises was the kitchen, much like rats at night, sneaking into the kitchen to steal food after the crew had gone to sleep.

This time’s search was also fruitless. Holding her notebook, Tang Qianqian said that there were three fewer caramel puddings in the fridge, two of which had been placed at her room’s door, and the third was now missing.

"It’s definitely hiding."

Tang Qianqian rummaged through the kitchen cabinets and drawers, not missing a single one. During their last comprehensive search, they had treated the other party as human, but after living on the ship for a few days, she began to suspect that it could be a monster like a rat or an insect.

There existed all sorts of monsters in this world, and Li Hua had explicitly told her that there were rat spirits on Blue Star as well.

But nobody likes rat spirits; you usually only find them in the filthiest, darkest corners.

"Or perhaps, our approach to searching is wrong."

Duan Mingyuan seemed lost in thought.

Just as Tang Qianqian had thought, this was a world filled with monsters, evil spirits, and extraordinary beings, yet they continued to search as they would for humans.

He checked the Ranger’s life energy fluctuations until he discovered an unusual spot in the northwestern corner of the kitchen.

Duan Mingyuan approached the open space near the kitchen counter. Though the floor seemed indistinguishable from its surroundings, the life energy at this spot had a breach, as if someone had dug up the floorboards and then fit them back into place.

He bent over and felt around on the floor for a moment, then opened a hidden door under Tang Qianqian’s astonished gaze.

Darkness lay beyond the hidden door. From this angle, she could vaguely see stairs leading downward.

The thought that she might have been living on the Ranger with a monster these past few days, unsure if the monster had crept into their room to do something while she and Li Hua slept, suddenly made Tang Qianqian feel very unwell.

She took out her phone and turned on the flashlight.

Tremblingly, she followed behind Duan Mingyuan.

This was a space that theoretically shouldn’t exist, at least it wasn’t marked on the blueprints the Third Prince had provided them.

The space beneath the stairs was extremely cramped, and the air seemed to be filled with a faint scent of caramel pudding.

It looked no different from a storeroom. Tang Qianqian quickly rounded the corner, shining her phone’s light into the innermost corner, mentally bracing herself to face a ferocious monster.

However, what met her eyes was a girl with long, straight black hair dressed in a school uniform.

The girl sat huddled in the corner, hugging her knees pitifully.

Trapped in the corner by the two of them, she did not resist but simply lifted her head to look at them. After a short silence, she suddenly spoke in a voice devoid of emotional fluctuations, like that of a robot, "Duru Duru, I am the ship spirit of the Ranger."

"So it turns out to be the ship spirit of the Ranger; that clears up the misunderstanding," he said.

Hearing the girl speak like that, Duan Mingyuan immediately relaxed.

"Clear up my foot! Senior, look at her, does she look anything like a ship spirit to you?"

Tang Qianqian complained that she had recently found out that even though Senior Mingyuan normally seemed impassive and hard to get along with, he seemed to have a unique sense of humor in some inexplicable situations.

To put it simply, he was like a dry-witted comedian.

When he proposed the name "Merry" in front of a group of experts, Tang Qianqian couldn’t help but hold Duan Mingyuan in high esteem.

And now, the senior actually believed in the existence of the ship spirit outright.

Just like Qiao Ba.

Could it be... Senior was trying to embrace his identity as a "ship doctor" recently?

As for this long-haired black girl, although it was uncertain where she came from, she was definitely not the ship spirit but rather a high school student who had skipped classes.

Tang Qianqian was very familiar with this, as she had once been a truant herself and understood the mindset of this type of individual very well.

"Spill it, which school did you escape from?"

"...Yunlong City First High."

"Yunlong City First High? You mean the Yunlong City First High?"

The girl with the long black hair silently nodded, her natural red pupils always seeming vaguely familiar to Tang Qianqian.

First of all, the Imperial Court is currently not open to the public, so the fact that a student from Yunlong City High School No. 1 could sneak into the Imperial Court is incredible in itself.

She continued, "What are you doing on the Ranger?"

The girl with long black straight hair bowed her head, fumbled in her backpack for a while, and took out a crumpled 50 Bei cash from the left side pocket, handing it to Tang Qianqian.

"What does this mean?"

"It’s for the ticket."

Tang Qianqian was at a loss for words.

In this day and age, someone thought they could buy a ticket for space travel for just 50 Bei? Could this be the real-life version of "I’m a student, could you give me a discount"?

When she thought about it, the three caramel puddings she had eaten earlier together cost that amount.

That was the masterpiece of the Imperial Court Chef’s personal disciple, Jiuyue, and with the addition of the Fox Demon’s identity, it wouldn’t be a problem to hype up a single pudding to sell for several thousand Bei. There was no shortage of rich people in the Imperial Court these days.

Ever since the last auction, many people had been obsessed with the Fox Immortal Miss, constantly inquiring with the auction house when she might make another appearance.

The holographic advertisements at the Imperial Court train station platforms had been replaced with shots of Jiuyue, and upon their arrival in the Imperial Court, they had noticed a crowd of people staring up at the projection of Jiuyue, nearly going mad. These people had formed a support group for Miss Fox Immortal, and it was said that influential figures within the Imperial Court had also joined.

It was just unfortunate that the minister had fallen to his death; otherwise, he would have been the perfect leader for the support group.

The girl with long black hair seemed to realize that the money was far from enough and timidly asked, "Can I pay in installments? I get a living allowance of 20 Bei a week."

"Do your family know you’ve come to the Imperial Court?"

The bad feeling in Tang Qianqian’s heart grew stronger. When she saw the look on the girl’s face as she shook her head, the foreboding feeling instantly peaked.

Not only was she truant, but she was also a runaway.

The girl with long black hair suddenly had an idea, a glimmer in her eye, "If I can’t pay in installments, I can cooperate with you to make a ransom call to my family."

"First of all, we’re not traffickers."

Tang Qianqian said, "Secondly, do you know what the destination of the Ranger is?"

Understanding the desire to run away from home due to a major dispute can be understandable, but running away from the planet was perhaps taking things too far.

"Mechanical Star."

!?

Tang Qianqian was again at a loss for words because, in fact, she didn’t know the actual destination of the journey either; Mr. Mingyuan had only received a sequence of navigation beacons.

She turned to Duan Mingyuan and asked, "Are we going to Mechanical Star?"

"Yes."

Duan Mingyuan nodded.

However, the briefing had only just been sent over tonight by the Shanqi Commerce Association. To avoid unnecessary trouble, the Third Prince had never disclosed any information related to the itinerary. Even most of the crew members of this interstellar flight didn’t know the destination of the planet, yet this girl who somehow snuck onto the ship knew the purpose of the voyage.

"I have to go to Mechanical Star for a reason; it’s my homeland."

The girl with long black hair said quietly, looking down, "Once we reach the destination, I’ll disembark and won’t trouble you again."

"You’re from Mechanical Star?"

Duan Mingyuan asked.

The dark door above their heads wasn’t created through ability or a barrier but with some sort of device that Duan Mingyuan had never seen before.

The girl with long black hair nodded.

"Were you and your parents driven out of Mechanical Star?"

The briefing they received had mentioned an overview of Mechanical Star.

It was a world with a vast disparity between rich and poor, where a minority of nobles almost controlled all the wealth and power of the planet. A rebellion had erupted within Mechanical Star decades ago, but was quickly suppressed by the support troops from the Chamber of Commerce. To assert their authority, the nobles executed all the rebels and banished all their relatives and friends from the planet, turning them into interstellar refugees.

Initially, all these people were meant to die, but out of benevolence, the Shanqi Commerce Association negotiated with Mechanical Star to spare their lives.

This story was often circulated as a news report throughout the universe to showcase the compassionate side of the Chamber of Commerce.

The reason for their briefing was simple.

Mechanical Star was a highly centralized planet, and its civilization and societal structure were different from theirs. The Commerce Association wanted every summit representative to not meddle in affairs while on other planets.

"Yes."

The girl with long black hair nodded.

"What’s your name?"

"Ling Long."

The girl said quietly.

The briefing indicated that after the suppression of the rebellion, Mechanical Star went through a period of terror rule, where everyone lived in fear for their safety, resulting in many baseless accusations and false charges among neighbors.

Duan Mingyuan understood the girl’s eagerness to return home, but he still had to warn her, "Even if you were treated unfairly, do you still want to go back? I must warn you beforehand, Mechanical Star today might be very different from what you imagine."

"Yes."

Ling Long once again nodded firmly.

"Why?"

Duan Mingyuan was puzzled, if Ling Long had run away from home, then surely her parents wouldn’t want her to return to Mechanical Star either.

"Because there is treasure buried there."

"Treasure?"

"When my parents were fleeing, they didn’t have time to take the treasure with them."

"They fled Mechanical Star?"

Duan Mingyuan’s confusion deepened, because according to the propaganda from the Shanqi Commerce Association, to evacuate the refugees banished from Mechanical Star, they had deployed five flagship vessels.

Those banished had left their homeland unharmed.

"Yes."

Ling Long said, "It seems that they were discovered by the guards while stealing the national treasure and had to flee without the stolen items in the rush."