9pm, Communications Room.

When Jiang Luo arrived, Dan Nier was the only person in the communications room. The young man was absentmindedly fiddling with the equipment in front of him when he heard footsteps and immediately turned his head and said with surprise: Sir, youre here.

Jiang Luo takes off his jacket and slips it over his arm as he changes his clothes and walks over to Dan Nier and sits down. He props his head up casually, his black hair flowing like water on the table, his eyes seeming to have a silver lining, and he smiles, Good evening.

Dan Nier blushed slightly, Good evening.

Dan Nier is uncomfortable in front of Jiang Luo, who then asks him to introduce him to the equipment in the communications room. Dan Nier was very thorough, but his eyes were constantly glancing at Jiang Luo. Jiang Luo was unconcerned, trying unobtrusively to get a signal from the police boat, when he saw Dan Nier wiping his mouth at him.

Jiang Luo knows hes good looking, but not to the extent of making people drool.

He turned to Dan Nier and said, Dan Nier, how long do you have to be on duty?

Dan Nier, glass in hand, took a sharp sip of water as he watched, Im on duty until twelve, sir, are you sleepy?

Jiang Luo felt his eyes flickering to his arms and neck, and he tried to lift his hands, the smooth lines of his small arms, their skin firm, glowing like cold jade in the light.

Dan Nier swallows again and stares straight at Jiang Luos arm.

A very hungry look.

He glanced at the glass in Dan Niers hand, Are you thirsty?

Dan Nier smiled apologetically, Yes.

Jiang Luo put his jacket on without a word and gave up on the radio for the moment, Its getting late and I do feel a bit sleepy. Dan Nier , Ill leave you to it, see you tomorrow.

Dan Nier, with a reluctant look, said, Sir, you can stay a little longer.

Without waiting for Jiang Luos reply, he got up and said evasively, Im going to get a glass of water Mr., could you please wait until I return?

It was like having food handed to you when you were hungry. Jiang Luo didnt expect this, and with a raised eyebrow and a smile, he agreed. Dan Nier hurried past him and when the communications room was empty, Jiang Luo started to activate the radio, but the connection was busy. How could this be? Jiang Luo leaned forward and lifted the radio to see that the wires had been unplugged from the back.

Jiang Luos face darkened, and he left the communications room with a sullen, quick step.

The communications room is flanked by a row of sliding workrooms and a dormitory for the duty officer.

Jiang Luo passed by the duty officers dormitory, only to find that the door was not closed, but a gap was exposed.

It was dark inside the gap and a familiar smell of fish poured from within, immediately catching Jiang Luos attention. He looked inside the dormitory and the sound of snoring came out. Jiang Luo frowned and quietly walked into the dormitory.

There was only one person in the dormitory who was lying on the top bunk sleeping.

After a few seconds, the eyes adjusted to the darkness and were able to make out the layout of the room. Inside the dormitory, two bunk beds were placed against the left wall. Against the right wall are two desks, and in the faint moonlight, one can make out a desk lamp and a diary on the desk.

The sleeping man is on the top bunk by the door, the duvet wrapping him from head to toe, with only the sound of snoring loudly surrounding the room.

Jiang Luo walks gingerly to the desk and flips open the diary.

On the first page of the diary, the words Sailing Diary are written.

Jiang Luo scrolls down, and the first few pages are normal work entries, which Jiang Luo quickly scans through. But as soon as a few pages of the diary are gone, Jiang Luos face turns. He reads the contents for a few seconds, his brow furrows, and quickly flips through the remaining pages, only to find the same words on each one.

So hungry, so hungry, so hungry

What does this mean?

Why is it that the first half of the diary is normal and then the only words in the back are Im hungry?

Jiang Luo had to do it, but suddenly, he stopped abruptly.

For he suddenly perceived a point that was not right.

The snoring stopped at some point.

Jiang Luo turned his head with bated breath to see the man who had been sleeping on the top bunk by the door sitting up at some point. He was covered with a white quilt and his face was not exposed, but his body was turned around and was facing Jiang Luos direction.

Jiang Luos heart beat a beat faster as he cautiously prepared to make his way to the door, but there was another footstep outside the door.

Jiang Luo cursed in his heart for his bad luck and immediately looked around the room for a place to hide, finally crouching down and rolling on the floor to hide under the bunk bed.

He had just taken cover when he saw a pair of feet coming through the doorway.

The crews uniforms and shoes were all the same, but Jiang Luo recognised them as Dan Niers shoes. There were a few drops of oil on them, which Dan Nier had put on them when he was explaining the equipment to him in the communications room.

Dan Niers voice rang out, Sonja, did you see anyone leave through the door.

A voice came from the bed above Jiang Luo: I think so, I was asleep, but I smelled a fresh smell.

This one voice was strange, as if it had mucus in its throat and sputtered.

Dan Niers feet came up from the door to the table, he rustled as if he was undressing, Get up, its almost time for you to work.

Sonja said, I know.

The bed on Jiang Luos body shook violently, and the person in the top bunk must have been getting out of bed. Based on this frequency of the bed swaying, it was enough to see that the person was very strong.

Dan Nier walks to the bunk and sits down, still undressing, while Jiang Luo breathes calmly and tries not to make a sound.

But Dan Niers movements suddenly stopped and he seemed to sniff the air, wondering, The smell of someone in the dormitory.

Sonja said, I smelled it too, and I thought I was wrong.

Jiang Luos eyelids fluttered.

In a few short sentences, he was sure that neither of them was human. Jiang Luos fists were clenched and his body was tense, ready to deal with the unexpected.

His eyes were fixed on the outside of the bed and the next moment he met a pair of glowing white fish eyes.

A monstrous human and fish-like head bends over the bed, mucus dripping from its head, and just stares in Jiang Luos direction.

Jiang Luo :

His whole body stiffened and he reflexively tried to roll out from under the bed. But in the next instant, he realised that the fish eyes seemed to see nothing.

The monster sniffed his nose and muttered, The smell is strongest under the bed.

It was Dan Niers voice, but at this point his voice had also become strange. It was also as if he was holding mucus in his throat, and as his vocal cords trembled, driving the muscles of his throat, the mucus dripped down even faster.

It reached under the bed, its hands still human, and Jiang Luo dived deeper under the bed to avoid his fingers. Dan Nier touches nothing, a look of confusion on its horrible fish face, and the other creature says disgruntledly, Ill do it.

As they speak, Jiang Luo has crept under another bunk.

Instead of continuing to hide under the bed, he crawled out from under it as quietly as he could without making a sound.

The moonlight illuminated the two monsters sprawled on the edge of the bed.

One was a black fish with long limbs. Smooth all over, with eyes protruding on either side of its head, it resembled a hybrid of human and fish, with slime dripping from its body, extremely appalling and disgusting.

Dan Niers appearance is also terrifying, with his head taking on the form of a fish and the rest of him looking like a normal human except for his head.

The fishy smell of fish came from them and Jiang Luo fought down the urge to retch and reached out to hold the bed. Instead, a handful of liquid clung to the sheets.

He looked sideways and it turned out that each bed was covered in a lot of this slime.

This room is inhabited by a crew that is not human.

Dan Nier , there doesnt seem to be anything under the bed.

At this point, one of the monsters said, Did you bring back the human smell when you returned?

I havent eaten anyone, Dan Nier pounded the ground, furious, and when I went back, the person was gone.

Bear with it, said Sonja, our work is tiring and unappealing, and its not our turn to eat meat yet. When the young fish hatch and finish giving the females to the rich, those fish-keeping vessels will be useless and well be able to eat them all. Hopefully we will succeed in hatching more fish this year, our eggs are too hard to survive and still only like to grow in peoples stomachs.

Out of a hundred fry not one will hatch that will survive the blood eels, and out of a hundred blood eels there is only one female. The civilians still dont have enough nourishment for their bodies, and from what they say, many of the vessels have died before the fry have hatched successfully, such useless humans.

Jiang Luo listens in silence, his brain almost hurting from the information contained in just a few words, and he does his best to reduce his presence by breathing lightly.

There was a gust of wind blowing outside the window.

The two monsters suddenly lifted their heads and sniffed in Jiang Luos direction, How strange, the smell is coming from there again.

Yeah, Dan Niers mouth drooled as he wiped it, gulping hungrily, its the taste of humans.

Jiang Luos heart felt bad, and the next moment, two monsters were approaching him. Jiang Luo quickly removed the zip from his jacket and threw it into another corner, and as soon as the zip hit the ground, the two mermaid monsters quickly lunged for the corner.

There was nothing there, and it didnt hurt that they were biting ferociously. Jiang Luo took the opportunity to run past them, pulled open the door and ran out.

The monster turned its head in the direction of the door, saliva slipping from its muzzle, The human escaped.

They followed the smell and rushed out the door.

Jiang Luo ran to the deck with a flourish. It was now late at night and there were no lights or people on the deck. The ghastly white moonlight hit the sea in sparkling waves.

The humanoids behind him are strangely fast and have a keen sense of smell. As they chased Jiang Luo, sweat poured from his forehead and he ran around a corner when a small hand suddenly reached out from the shadowed ground and tugged on Jiang Luos shirt.

Jiang Luo looked down and saw that it was Li Sha, the captains daughter. Li Sha took his hand and ran in the other direction.

Soon Li Sha led him to a closed door, which Jiang Luo and Li Sha opened together and got inside.

The moment he walked through the door, Jiang Luo felt like he had stepped on a sticky liquid.

He blushed and Li Sha tugged at him and whispered, Brother, dont talk. Just lie down and roll around on the ground, after you get covered in slime, they wont be able to smell you.

Jiang Luo did as he was told and then stood by the door with Li Sha in his arms and peered out through the cats eye warily.

Li Sha lies dutifully on his shoulder, without saying a word.

Outside the door, the skinless mermaid monster dragged its slime through the door. It kept sniffing the air in front of the door, and after standing there for a few seconds, it hesitantly left.

Jiang Luo sighed with relief as he sat down by the door, gathered Li Sha to him and asked in a low voice, Li Sha, where is this place? How do you know you can hide from monsters by getting covered in slime?

Li Sha tugged at her fingers and was silent for a moment before saying, Brother, this is my fathers room.

She tilted her head and looked at Jiang Luo, fearfully, Hes turned into a really scary look for some reason, and sometimes he drools at me. Its only when Im hiding here that he looks like he cant see me.