Chapter 29: CH 28.1

Chapter 28 - Dusk Cruise (10)

Inside the death painting exhibition hall.

The group gasped when they saw the painting that Chi Nan threw into the sea hanging intact on the wall.

“What is going on here?” Even though Hei Cha was familiar with Chi Nan, he was still shocked at this moment. He looked at Chi Nan with surprise. “What type of magic have you done?”

“I’m just seeing if these paintings can be thrown away.”

Several veteran sleepwalkers finally understood and instinctively looked at the empty frame in the corner.

“There  is another possibility.”

Ye Chang raised his hand to take off the painting that had just been restored. Then he slammed the painting against the ground. He saw that it wasn’t broken and stepped on the painting. The round sound coming rang out through the death painting exhibition hall.

The group stared with amazement. Ye Chang smiled slightly, his expression still gentle and easy. “Sorry, my actions might be a bit big. I’m also doing an experiment.”

Everyone, “......”

These two boys from 303 weren’t normal, right?

Was there no dignity in the stomped upon painting as a horror work?

Ye Chang saw that this painting couldn’t be broken or torn. He thought about it before politely asking the woman with a big chest. “Can you lend me a lighter?”

The woman understood, took out the lighter and threw it over. “Don’t be so polite.”

“Thank you.”

He took the painting out of the frame and tried to set it on fire with the lighter. as the heat wave spread, the painting was quickly ignited. However, it burned for less than three seconds before it seemed like the fire never appeared. After a while, it disappeared without a trace and the painting was intact without any traces of being burned.

“It seems that in addition to being thrown away, there is no way to destroy the painting.” Ye Chang concluded once his experiment finished.

Chi Nan nodded. “So the missing painting is still on the Dusk Ship. It is just hidden.”

Hei Cha got a headache from the two direct and brutal people and raised a hand to his forehead. “...If the experiment failed, what would you do if the painting was really thrown into the sea or burned?”

Chi Nan was innocent. “I would pay for it.”

Ye Chang didn’t care. “I would pay for it.”

The two men spoke in unison. They were taken aback before their eyes met.

Finally, Ye Chang smiled and Chi Nan pursed his lips.

The woman took back her lighter and lit her cigarette. “I guess that the two of you can’t afford to pay for it. You will just have some favorability deducted.”

Hei Cha looked at Chi Nan with a complicated expression and whispered, “You can relax a bit. currently, your favorability is in the negatives. Doing this...”

Chi Nan was serious.

“So why did the captain hide this painting?” The red-haired youth looked at the painting that was still intact and then the empty frame in the corner.

Ye Chang replied, “If I am going to hide something, there are three possibilities.”

“The first reason is that it is so important to me that I am reluctant to expose it to others. Secondly, its existence makes me sad, ashamed or other negative emotions. I don’t want others or even myself to see it.”

“The last reason is... it will expose my secrets.” Ye Chang pushed up his glasses and rubbed his pocket watch in his pocket.

His body temperature was so low that despite holding the pocket watch, the pocket watch was still cold without the slightest temperature.

“What reason do you think the captain has?” Ye Chang asked Chi Nan.

Chi Nan thought about it. “The Dusk Ship can embody fear. I think it should be the second or third possibility.”

He paused before adding, “It is also possible that the second and third possibilities are overlapped.”

The woman with a big chest suddenly smiled. “So the captain is hiding his fear.”

“If we can find his painting, let the captain remember his fear and then use the Twilight Ship’s ability to embody fear, perhaps we can break the dream,” Chi Nan suggested.

In other words, find the old captain’s fear and repay it.

The woman looked out the window at the sunset that was only one-third completed. She threw her cigarette on the ground and stepped on it to put it out. “Let’s go. What are you waiting for?”

Inside the banquet hall.

The only ones present were the middle-aged man, the seven corpses and the NPC staff member standing silently beside the corpses.

The huge banquet hall looked empty and cold. In the silence, there was only the occasional sound of waves hitting the deck and intermittent, strange music similar to a music box. The gentle and peaceful melody caused sleepiness.

The middle-aged man yawned a few times before suddenly becoming alert. He was a veteran sleepwalker and was well aware that being sleepy in this situation was very dangerous.

He didn’t dare sit down in order to refresh himself. He paced back and forth in the hall while his mouth moved in a dirty manner. “Wait for me to kill you guys after I go out! What pretense is this? This is the fucking Nightmare World! Why care about others? Taking the clues I found out and pretending to be the Virgin Mary! They are a bunch of dead white lotuses!”

Suddenly, he walked up to the staff member and shouted, “Hey! You go and open the door for me!”

He remembered that there was a bunch of keys hanging from this staff member’s waist.

Unexpectedly, the staff member just bowed his head and said, “I’m sorry, Sir. The door of the banquet hall is locked from the outside and can only be opened from the outside.”

The middle-aged man exploded and cursed. “Can’t you fucking think of a way for me?! I want you to open the door for me immediately!”

The waiter answered in an unhurried and slow voice. “I’m sorry, I really can’t do anything.”

“Aren’t you a low level NPC? Don’t you even have a basic brain? Stupid!” He was the only one left in the banquet hall so he released his anger at the NPC who had no emotion and thinking ability. “Can’t you contact other staff members or the captain to open the door for me?”

“Sorry, no.”

“Then can you stop this ghostly music? It is bad to listen to and makes me sleepy!”

“Sir, I don’t hear the music you are talking about.”

“You are making me fucking angry!” The middle-aged man ran out of patience and raised his hand to violently attack the staff member.

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The other person finally raised his head, the originally inorganic gaze filled with gentle pity. “However, I can prepare some afternoon tea for you so that you can calm down and be prepared to deal with the next journey.”

The middle-aged man’s hand stopped for a moment. He hadn’t slept that much for the past two nights. Yesterday, he didn’t have time to eat due to various emergencies. He was sleepy and hungry so he simply said, “Then you quickly go and get it for me. The tea must be thick and refreshing!”

The staff member nodded respectfully. “Yes, please wait a moment.”

Soon, the waiter filled the round table of the banquet hall with cold snacks and drinks. “Sir, afternoon tea is ready. Please eat.”

Then he poured warm black tea into the bone china cup.

The middle-aged man sat down unceremoniously. He first took a sip of the hot tea before sending the snacks to his mouth non-stop. He drank the thick and bitter hot tea with relish.

The waiter stood aside and added tea and water to him in a timely manner.

The taste of the snacks was very good and the tea also tasted expensive. Apart from the dead bodies in the banquet hall and the song in the air, everything was enjoyable. If only it was a real cruise holiday...

Strangely, his nerves that had tightened over the past few days gradually relaxed and his irritable emotions were tempered a lot.

The middle-aged man yawned again. This time, he couldn’t be vigilant anymore. He let his mind drift with the ethereal music. 

The cruise ship shook on the waves and there was singing... shake, shake... the regular slow shaking seemed like someone was whispering a lullaby in his ears...

He unknowingly closed his eyes and the tea cup he was holding fell to his feet, splashing tea all over the place.

It was quiet due to the thick carpet.

The stiff smile on the staff member’s face disappeared. He bowed down and picked up the fallen tea cup, carefully drying the tea stains on the carpet.

After a while, he looked up and spoke softly to the middle-aged man who was sleeping in the nightmare. “Good night and good dreams.”

His face was hidden in the shadow of the setting sun. For a moment, he looked a bit like Guo Xuan. Then the light and shadows moved and the outline was similar to Ah Xue.

He stood in the middle of the banquet hall. He could be anyone or no one. He was just an insignificant NPC.

***

“Listen. Do you hear a sound?”

At the same time, the group looking at the painting heard music.

“It seems to be coming from here.” The red-haired youth pointed in the direction of the deck.

Hei Cha murmured, “I think it is from over there...” He pointed in the opposite direction.

The woman with the big chest frowned. “The music should be coming from the sea.”

Hei Cha’s expressed eased hearing this. “The music is nice to listen to after so long. Could it be the legend of the singing mermaids?”

Then he yawned greatly.

The yawning was contagious. Soon, the red-haired youth yawned as well. He covered his mouth and muttered vaguely, “I’m suddenly so sleepy...”

“Yes... I haven’t slept well for two nights... I would love to lie down on a soft bed and sleep in a dark place.” Hei Cha yawned.

“No, it isn’t right! This is sleeping music!”

The woman with a big chest shouted vigilantly. She tried to tighten her nerves but she couldn’t help yawning, mist filling her eyes.

“I brought soundproof earplugs! Everybody, grab some!”

Hei Cha was worried about not  being able to sleep and had the habit of keeping soundproof earplugs. It just so happened that the convenience store of Zi City didn’t sell them separately. He could only take a large box. At that time, he thought it was too troublesome. He ever expected that it would come in handy at this time.

Hei Cha handed the earplugs to Chi Nan but Chi Nan shook his head. “I don’t need it. I slept well last night and I’m not sleepy.”

“......” Hei Cha knew that Chi Nan wasn’t being polite when he said he slept well. Thus, he intended to pass the earplugs to Ye Chang.

Unexpectedly, Ye Chang waved his hand. “I slept well last night. Thank you.”

Hei Cha, “...The two of you are really suitable for sleeping together.”

He put in the earplugs and barely cut off the hypnotic music. The surge of drowsiness was finally controlled. As their minds cleared, everyone became a bit afraid.

After all, one of the most important death triggers was falling asleep.

They had no way to control their fears. In contrast, it was simpler to stay away from sleep. Once they fell into a deep sleep, their fear would spread and become concrete. This was no different from suicide.

Only existences like Chi Nan, who had an absence of the concept of fear, could fall asleep on the Dusk Ship.

“What do you think?” Ye Chang asked suddenly.

Chi Nan shook his head. “What?”

“What do you think about this music?”

“It isn’t very good.” Chi Nan cocked his head and thought about it. “I’ve heard music a hundred times better than this.”

Ye Chang raised his eyebrow imperceptibly. “Huh? Where?”

Chi Nan answered truthfully, “The last instance and the Dawn Base.”

“Dawn Base?”

Chi Nan nodded. “Yes, the home of a dream maker.”

“Oh.” Ye Chang replied casually. “Are you familiar with him?”

Chi Nan squinted. “Who?”

Ye Chang’s eyes were hidden behind the lenses. It was hard to see his expression clearly but he seemed to be smiling. “The person you just said, the dream maker.”

“I’m not familiar with him.” Chi Nan paused slightly before saying, “I’m just a bit concerned.”

Ye Chang’s footsteps paused slightly. “Huh?”

“It’s nothing.” Chi Nan’s lips pressed together in a tight line and he didn’t intend to continue talking.

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