The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 107: Disquieting Atmosphere

The stars in the sky sparkled, but the sea was covered in fog, and all the passengers on the ship were stranded around the deck and the top-level open-air swimming pool.

The room was in complete darkness; those originally staying inside came out, holding their phones and waiting for news in the corridor.

After a while, someone shouted, ’There’s a ship over there,’ and the crowd exploded in a hubbub because if someone’s vision could spot a nearby ship, it meant it was very close. The visibility at sea was low due to the fog, and if two ships were too close, there was always a risk of collision.

This time, the captain didn’t give an immediate explanation; the people sent below to inspect the ship hadn’t responded yet. The cruise’s lights went out, and the captain arranged to hang emergency lights on the ship’s top and railings. These lights somehow didn’t need electricity to operate.

Yet the ship the passengers noticed still came closer, not avoiding this malfunctioning cruise ship.

The captain used a loudspeaker to shout to the other ship, but that ship was silent, with just a red light shining on its mast.

The ship wasn’t using any power and drifted slowly, possibly having experienced a malfunction too.

In the situation where both ships were without power, they ultimately did not collide.

The drifting ship stopped parallel to the cruise, similar in size, like two twin ships.

The atmosphere was eerily quiet for a few seconds; everyone on the deck froze in motion and speech, waiting for a while, but nothing happened.

The captain summoned a few people to board the adjacent ship via a plank bridge. Sometimes when a large ship experiences irreparable malfunction or other special reasons, the captain and crew may choose to abandon ship, and such a vessel drifting on the sea will not sink immediately.

Half an hour later, those people returned, saying the ship was empty, with no living people or corpses on board.

That was also a giant cruise ship. I looked at the immense silhouette in the mist and asked, "Can you explore all places in half an hour?"

Qinghan resolutely shook his head, "No."

Those crew members must have been lazy, having only looked at key areas like the bridge, deck, and cabin corridors.

They had loudly called out after boarding, possibly assuming it empty due to no response.

The empty ship silently clung to the cruise, posing no immediate threat, yet the tense and uneasy atmosphere gradually intensified. More than an hour had passed, and the people inspecting below had not come back.

The captain tried to contact them, but no one answered. Tugging the rope, it was found that only diving suits and oxygen tanks remained at the other end.

Where are the people? Four went down, none returned; they all disappeared.

This incident of only retrieving diving equipment was witnessed by those on the side of the deck; trying to conceal the news was no longer possible.

The zippers of the diving suits were not open; the oxygen tanks connected, with no signs of forceful removal. The hoses remained intact, as if the individuals inside the suits had evaporated suddenly.

The door suddenly knocked; I went over to open it. This time it was Xiuyuan, holding a candlestick with a Black Candle inserted on top.

"Are you guys okay? I wasn’t at ease, so I came to check." Xiuyuan held up the candle, the glow casting her beautiful face in a warm, orange hue.

"We’re fine."

"I know there’s been a change of plans, and given the special events happening on the ship, my superiors have instructed me to conduct a secret investigation and request your cooperation." She now bore a strictly business-like demeanor, void of any personal feeling, looking quite convincing. If not for the Black Candle she appeared with, I might have believed her.

"Oh... alright." I was waiting to document her criminal evidence; with her taking action, I must cooperate.

"Let’s go, let’s talk to the captain first." Xiuyuan casually placed the Black Candle on the shoe cabinet at the door, the candle barely left with a stub. "The candle isn’t enough, I’ll borrow two flashlights."

As soon as she turned, I signaled to Qinghan to pay attention to that Black Candle.

Xiuyuan left it there without extinguishing it, even though both Qinghan and I used our phones for illumination.

This action actually didn’t seem suspicious—forgot, didn’t notice—many excuses could be made.

I quickly blew out the candle, pulled it from the candlestick, and stuffed it into my pocket. This was one of her criminal evidences; she would likely come back to retrieve it for destruction after achieving her goal.

Xiuyuan quickly secured two flashlights, one for her, one for Qinghan, none for me.

I walked beside Qinghan, sticking close, pretending to need the light source.

Outside the captain’s cabin, a crowd gathered, preventing us from approaching the door. These people came to seek answers from the captain, hoping to know when the cruise could resume normal voyage.

The staff outside kept explaining that once day breaks and the fog lifts, they could send distress signals.

Sending distress signals instead of using communication devices for rescue—does this mean the ship’s communication devices have already failed?

Yet no matter how agitated the passengers became, it couldn’t change the fact that the cruise was stranded. The captain dared not send more people down for inspection, as lives were at stake—a burden of responsibility he couldn’t bear.

Waiting for dawn was their only option for now. Once the crowd dispersed, Xiuyuan led Qinghan and me into the captain’s cabin.

Xiuyuan presented an ID; the crew guarding the door let us through. I didn’t clearly see what was printed on the ID, only catching a glimpse of the word "Special" on the cover.

The captain, a middle-aged man with graying hair and a slight beer belly, wore a composed expression after examining Xiuyuan’s ID, which finally showed a worried look.

He said he had worked at sea for decades, encountering many bizarre events, but had never come across anything as peculiar as tonight.

Four able-bodied individuals, who communicated with him ten minutes earlier, reported that something got entangled in the turbine under the ship, and they were trying to cut it with knives, but to no avail after much effort.

So they planned to use an underwater welding torch to see if it could cut through it.

After that, no further communication came; after ten minutes, the captain tried to check on their progress, but no one responded. It was unusual for one person’s communicator to fail, but all four losing contact signaled a significant issue.

And sure enough, a significant issue arose—four living people mysteriously vanished. There was no cry for help from the sea. They hadn’t gone deep; there was still oxygen remaining in the tanks.

If they had been attacked by sea creatures, the suits wouldn’t remain intact.

For those alive, witnessing death wasn’t frightening. For a captain experienced with storms, what unnerved him was the unseen death.

Xiuyuan requested to see those diving suits, and the captain readily complied. His crew had thoroughly examined them but found no clues.

The ropes and diving suits were placed in a storeroom, which emitted a seafood odor the moment the door was opened.

Xiuyuan checked first, then asked Qinghan to inspect, after which they proceeded to the next step, bypassing me altogether.

Qinghan didn’t suggest I take a look either, as we had agreed—to let Xiuyuan gain an edge, bolstering her confidence to take action.