Xie Zeqing squinted at him and sighed in an exaggerated manner. "Why do you think so?"
The face on the steering wheel stared straight ahead with deep contempt in his eyes. "How can there be a bug buzzing in my ear, saying something I can't understand? I will order the spirit of the cards to make a big sweep of the ship later."
Xiao Li stated, "Don't do it another day. Now is fine."
After several previous experiences, Captain Stern had developed a sense of vigilance towards the man in front of him. "What do you want to do?"
This human seemed interested in the playing cards.
The face looked at Xiao Li and his eyes changed. At first, it was the scorn of the winner. Later, it turned into fear once alcohol was poured onto him. Finally, it became the look of a competitor. "Do you want to pry away my men?"
A captain couldn't bear the betrayal of his men and the poaching of an enemy.
Xiao Li said, "I can't afford to pry him away. His social security fund is too high. Look at you. You only have a face to lose."
The face wondered, "...You aren't done yet, are you?"
Xiao Li saw that the captain didn't get the focus of his words and he lightly clicked his tongue. He flicked his right hand and cut into the side of the wall with a sharp scalpel, digging out a small piece of wood from it. The corrosion of the walls in the captain's room was more severe than the outside world. It was like sulphuric acid had been poured over it.
The face on the steering wheel immediately shouted, "Stop! Lowly insect! Are you a f*king excavator? Don't destroy my ship in front of me!"
The blood and flesh tentacles outside the door had been silent for a while. Now that Captain Stern released his killing intent, it once again started banging on the door. The door lock was shaking under the monster's constant impact. Wei Lige tried to lean his body against the door but he couldn't resist the huge force outside. More and more blood poured in.
"Moriarty, the door isn't going to last." Qi Xiaoxiao shouted towards Xiao Li. "Don't waste time chatting to him. Our task isn't to find out the truth of the ghost ship. It is to destroy 'it'!"
Xiao Li made an 'I know' gesture to her.
The face was furious. It seemed to be really angry at Xiao Li's behaviour of destroying the hull. The nostrils flared outward, forming two small black holes that seemed to suck in people.
Xiao Li placed the piece of wood in front of the face's nose.
The face wrinkled. "Take it away! It smells!"
"...You don't feel anything other than the smell?"
"How come this bug is talking so strangely?" The face was impatient. "Is this your way of hitting me? You want to kill me by asking questions?"
Xie Zeqing, "......"
This face was also very strong in talking rubbish.
"Your eternity is through the rotting wood then your ghost ship should also be frozen in time. Even the tea was warm when we entered the sailor's room." Xiao Li wasn't affected by the other side's trash-talking as he waved the piece of wood in his hand. "Then how can the hull be rotting so badly?"
The face froze for a moment.
"An eternal decaying ship. This isn't really eternity and the outside isn't really the sea." Xiao Li's eyes shifted from the steering wheel to the glass window in front of him. Outside, waves were still raging and a full moon hung in the sky. Even the feeling of seasickness was so real.
"T-This can't be!" Xiao Li's words were like a heavy hammer that beat the face senseless. "No way, boy! I am more familiar with the sea than you!"
"Moriarty, you mean, we're not on the say? It is an illusion?" Qi Xiaoxiao couldn't help interjecting.
"It isn't an illusion." Xiao Li turned to the steering wheel. "Maybe you can ask your card spirit."
Captain Stern's face twisted up and he slowly spat out a brief spell from his mouth, like Latin. It was vague and no one could hear.
Bang!
The door was slammed open by the flesh and blood tentacle monster. Its tentacles flew all around its body as it stood at the door and stared at the people in the room. However, the blood swamp in the corridor didn't flow in with the opening of the door. It was as if an invisible force was resisting it.
The man who distributed cards to everyone in the ballroom of the East Mermaid cruise ship suddenly appeared in the captain's room. He was like a real gentleman as he bowed slightly towards the steering wheel. "Lord Stern."
The face on the steering wheel pointed at Xiao Li with his chi. "See? He is so respectful to me. This is the truth."
The man turned to Xiao Li and smiled. "Moriarty, you are very impressive. You pulled out the little joker card and I said that if you cherish it as much as your life, you won't regret it."
For his opening remark, Xiao Li returned the same goodwill. "A demon whose name is unknown, your means have also left a deep impression on me. Fang Qi is far worse than you. By the way, that cup of tea wasn't very delicious. I suggest that you change to milk tea in the future. This doesn't need any techniques."
The man, "......"
"Wait, why don't I understand what you are saying?" The baffled Xie Zeqing interrupted.
Xiao Li said, "You gave him the eternal life he prayed for but you didn't really give it to him. Putting him here and watching him toss people every day while acting superior, this means is very demonic."
The face wasn't stupid. He was just immersed in the madness of eternal life. Now he sensed something from Xiao Li's words. "Card spirit?"
The man originally had the mature and steady temperament of a Western butler. Now that Xiao Li spoke these words, a lazy smile appeared on his face. The demon who was the spirit of the cards wondered, "Ah, I was discovered? When did you find out?"
Xiao Li replied, "That cup of tea."
He continued, "From the moment the cruise ship turned into a ghost ship, I touched the wall and found that it was corroded, yet this corrosion couldn't be seen at all. You made the cup of hot tea in order to create the feeling that 'the time on this ship is frozen.'"
The man touched his chin. "I thought the cup of the tea was the finishing touch. Many people died before the tea and the next wave of people saw the steaming drink. It was a good theme."
"There was also the movements of the bones and they showed the same corrosion as the walls." Xiao Li rubbed his fingers over the damaged parts of the white bone. "At first, I thought the ship was alive. Then I saw the dace and I understood that eternity was fake. Everything here is fake."
The demon asked, "Oh?"
"Captain Stern prayed to you for eternal life. Perhaps you were bored or just a simple pervert. You turned him into what he is now but you thought this wasn't interesting enough. You transformed his ship into the present state and hid in the darkness, perhaps thinking of the day when he would find out."
The face was completely silent. He was no longer arrogant and asked after a long time, "Bee, if the outside isn't the sea then what is it?"
Xiao Li, "...Bee?"
"You are a bit more thoughtful than an insect. Your nature is a bee." The face explained. "Tell me, what is the outside?"
Xiao Li looked at the face. "The stomach."
"This is... the demon's stomach."
The sea wasn't the sea, it was stomach fluid.
"The red fat sea, no, the red monster. It isn't an ordinary evil spirit. It is a sacrifice. It is a sacrifice offered by outsiders to the demon and swallowed into his stomach. We felt like we were going around in circles when moving forward because we were walking in the intestines."
Xiao Li was able to recognize this because on the ghost train, Bloody Mary appeared and showed a sacrificial scene on the mirror. That scene that a sacrificial array that had been drawn.
Previously, Xiao Li waited for the flesh and blood monster and it showed the side of its face when going around the corner, revealing the same array engraved on its back side.
The demon clapped. "Your idea is good. Still, aren't you afraid that my exposing me, I will directly kill you?"
The clear sound of his hands joining together caused the glass window showing the sea to gradually change. Mucus emerged from the deep blue and the door, window and wall material also changed from wood to flesh and blood. The sensation was extremely strange.
"I'm not afraid." Xiao Li raised his hand and directly inserted the scalpel into the playing card, nailing it to the steering wheel as he smiled at the demon. "It is because I can walk out at any time."
Strangely, blood overflowed from the place where the scalpel was inserted into the card. A virtual shadow appeared above it, the scalpel inserted into its forehead and mouth open to let out a silent cry.
The demon's face changed.
"All the treasures and ghosts are false. The only thing real is this playing card." Xiao Li pulled out the scalpel and placed it against the centre of the playing card. "Is it your body or your offspring? Following humans, is it necessary to hide yourself among humans? Or... do you need to absorb human life?"
As he spoke, the scalpel moved down and got closer to the leg of the imp on the playing card.
The demon stopped him. "Enough is enough."
Xiao Li's knife stopped in the air. "This card is 'it'. The demon was with us."
The playing card was something the demon gave to everyone. It inherited the demon's overbearing nature and instinctively defended against other ghosts. Everyone regarded it as a spiritual device but it was actually the hotbed of the demon.
Then destroying it would complete the task and they could return to reality. He was saying this to the rest of the reincarnators.
"It is the seed of my power. I wanted it to be warmed by you for two days so it can completely absorb your life, killing you." The demon's red eyes stared with interest. "I have seen many outsiders but I have to say Moriarty, you are very interesting."
Xiao Li glanced at him and didn't speak. He slowly and thoroughly cut apart the playing card and waited for the task completion transfer.
The author has something to say:
One day, the demon thought of the hated Xiao Li and wanted to draw a circle to curse him.
The demon said, "Sacrifice one of my hairs to make Moriarty unlucky."
True Moriarty: ......
After many twists and turns, the demon found out Xiao Li's real name from the reincarnators and said, "Sacrifice one of my hairs to make Sherlock unlucky."
The true Sherlock Holmes: ???
Translator: Rainbow Reads