Chapter 88

Tang Mianmian asked with a conflicted expression, “Is this the legendary death by swallowing gold?”

Xiao Tangqiu, “…Only dying after swallowing so much is also pretty difficult.”

Duan Hongzhen directly kicked the chest over. But because the corpse filled the entire chest, it stayed firmly packed inside even when the chest fell over.

Duan Hongzhen looked around from Tang Mianmian to Xiao Tangqiu, then turned to look at Fei You and Zhang Zuo, “Hey, you two, get the corpse out of the chest.”

Fei You and Zhang Zuo turned pale and immediately wanted to shake their heads to refuse. But when Duan Hongzhen raised his brows, they still obediently ran to pull out the corpse. As newbies, they didn’t have much choice.

After a while, the body was finally freed.

Duan Hongzhen stretched out his foot and stepped on the corpse’s belly, “It’s hard, there’s probably also gold coins inside.”

He did not hesitate to use a knife to divide the corpse into two. As expected, the corpse was filled with gold coins and all the internal organs were gone.

Tang Mianmian stroked his chin, “Are these the lost treasures?”

Duan Hongzhen scoffed, “Do you think it’s possible to be that simple?”

Xiao Tangqiu suddenly keenly noticed something. He overcame his inner discomfort and reached out to fish out a ruby ​​ring from the pile of gold coins.

It was an ancient ruby ​​ring with a huge ruby ​​inlaid in the center. The ruby was crystal clear, crimson in color, and sparkling with dazzling luster.

“Wow! What a big ruby!” Tang Mianmian’s eyes flashed, “How much is this worth? I really want to wear it!”

Xiao Tangqiu’s mouth twitched, “This was dug out from the corpse. You want to wear it?”

Tang Mianmian, “…Nevermind.”

“Huh? What kind of ring is this?” Duan Hongzhen took a look, “Could it be an important clue?”

Xiao Tangqiu stared at the ruby ​​ring and felt something was wrong, but he couldn’t tell what.

They didn’t find anything other than the gold coins and the ruby &#k200K;&#k200K;ring, so they moved away and took the key to find a room that could be opened.

The interior of the cabin was not big. Other than the place where the sailors sleep, there were only a few rooms left. After trying them one by one, they finally found the only room that could be opened with the key.

“It’s opened!” As soon as Duan Hongzhen pushed the door open, a cloud of choking dust hit their faces, “This is the kitchen. Looks like that guy just now really was a cook.”

Xiao Tangqiu walked into the room and saw that it was indeed a kitchen. It was filled with dust everywhere and there was an extremely strange smell.

“Is this really a kitchen? There is nothing here!” Tang Mianmian looked around. “Where are the vegetables? The fruits? The meat?”

“It’s been so many years, even if there was food, they would’ve rotten long ago!” Fei You cautiously put forward his own thoughts, “But it’s really strange, even if the food is rotten, something should be left behind? But it’s completely empty here! If it weren’t for some cooking utensils, it wouldn’t look like a kitchen at all!”

“Wait! There is a diary here!” Xiao Tangqiu took a few steps, suddenly finding a yellowed diary on the ground, and immediately bent over and picked it up.

The logbook they found in the captain’s room earlier didn’t contain any valuable information at all. This diary might be an unexpected clue.

“Wow! Qiuqiu, you have found an important plot clue again!” Tang Mianmian immediately leaned over, “Hurry and look! What’s written on it! Read it out loud!”

Xiao Tangqiu opened the diary without hesitation, and surprisingly could understand the words in the diary even though it was not in Chinese.

X year X month X day

Our ship set off. The captain got a treasure map. He said that if we can find the treasure, we can enjoy riches for the rest of our lives. Maybe we don’t have to go to sea anymore. I am getting older and it is indeed time to return to my hometown to get married…

Tang Mianmian, “…Returning to the hometown to get married is such a classic FLAG! I can already guess what will happen next!”

Xiao Tangqiu smiled, wasn’t this obvious. If nothing went wrong with this ship, then how did it become an empty ghost ship?

X year X month X day, the wind and sea is calm, nothing happened.

X year X month X day, the wind and sea is calm.

He turned the pages, skipping these meaningless and trivial entries and finally found an entry that was a little different.

X year X month X day,

Today the captain told us that we will reach the destination on the treasure map soon. I am very happy. If I find the treasure, I can take the money back to my hometown to open a tavern and marry a beautiful wife. The captain said to me that although my cooking skills are average, my grilled fish is not bad. Maybe I can open a tavern specializing in grilling fish in the future.

“Another one! Double FLAG! They’re finished! And then something must have gone wrong with their ship!” Tang Mianmian swore.

Xiao Tangqiu continued to turn the page.

X year X month X day, we found the treasure!

Tang Mianmian, “…What?! They found it!”

Xiao Tangqiu flipped the page.

…The captain promises to give each of us a large sum of money and everyone is crazy happy. To celebrate finding the treasure, we are going to have a grand banquet. The captain said that the banquet will last three days and three nights!

Tang Mianmian widened his eyes in shock, “That’s impossible! According to the cliche, they shouldn’t have found the treasure!”

“Maybe something happened after finding the treasure,” Xiao Tangqiu was calm and flipped some more only to see that the next few diary pages were blank. It seemed that this guy really was drunk for three days and three nights. It was only three days later that some scribbled writing appeared in the diary.

…

Something went wrong on the ship. A lot of food disappeared, as did the gold that the captain gave to the crew. Everyone says that there must be a thief on the ship and everyone is starting to panic…

Tang Mianmian nodded, “Human nature is greedy. It’s normal.”

Xiao Tangqiu also nodded. He flipped again but the following entries were not dated and there were large blanks and empty pages between occasional scribbles and inexplicable graffitis. The words were all scrambled around and impossible to read. After turning a few pages, he finally saw a line of words he could understand.

There is less and less food on the ship and more and more people’s gold is gone. And we can’t find the way home… My gold is gone! Who stole my gold? I’m going to kill him!

“Can’t find the way home?” Tang Mianmian touched his chin. “What does that mean? They lost their course at sea?”

The following handwriting got more and more scribbly and it was obvious the writer got more and more manic. Xiao Tangqiu could imagine that this group of pirates lost their course on the sea, but the food was constantly decreasing, and the gold they finally found was also missing… but he didn’t feel sorry for these guys at all.

There is no food on the boat. Everyone is starting to riot. The captain is about to lose control of the scene. I secretly hid some food. I don’t want gold anymore. I just want to go back alive…

Tang Mianmian showed a knowing expression, “Oh-hoh, something really happened.”

Then came a few more blank pages, and then another few pages of scribbled graffiti. Finally, Xiao Tangqiu turned to the last page of the diary.

It’s all his fault! It’s all his fault! He brought a curse to our ship!

Then came a crazy string of curses. At the end of the diary was a large pool of black stains that looked like dried blood.

“…That’s it, it ends here.”

Tang Mianmian stroked his chin, “He? Who is he? The captain?”

“It might be the captain but it also might be someone else,” Xiao Tangqiu went through the diary again. “This guy should really be the cook. After the food shortage incident on the ship, he secretly hid some. The food might be hidden in the kitchen, or it might be hidden elsewhere.”

Duan Hongzhen scoffed, “Those sailors who were about to starve to death must have desperately searched for food in the kitchen. How could he hide food in the kitchen?”

Xiao Tangqiu paused, “That’s true, it might be hidden somewhere else. But where can it be?”

At this moment, Fei You, who had been silent, cautiously asked, “Don’t you think it’s weird? Even if this guy is the cook, no one on the boat has any food. Maybe even the captain had no food. So how could he have food to secretly hide?”

Duan Hongzhen raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

Zhang Zuo thought for a moment, “It might be grilled fish? Doesn’t he often mention grilled fish in his diary?”

Fei You shook his head, “There are fish everywhere in the sea, how could these sailors not know? Also, what did this guy mean by the curse? Is it possible that they fell into desperation because they couldn’t find the course nor could they catch any fish, so he thought it was a curse?”

Xiao Tangqiu frowned, “It is true that the sea may lack freshwater resources, but there shouldn’t be a shortage of food for a group of experienced pirates…”

Tang Mianmian blinked, “So you mean…”

Xiao Tangqiu and Fei You nodded, “Yes, the food this guy found may not be food at all, but…”

At this moment, Duan Hongzhen suddenly kicked over the trash can in the corner and something rolled out. Zhang Zuo’s expression changed, and he sat down on the ground, covering his mouth and retching-

A dozen or so bloody severed fingers rolled out of the trash can and a rancid stench rushed over them.