The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 109: Hoist with One’s Own Petard

Two sets of diving equipment were worn by me and Qi Xiuyuan, and four men pulled us into the water with ropes.

The captain and other crew members were not present. I bought a waterproof camera that can be used for underwater filming. Some tourists like to photograph corals and fish schools in shallow seas, so the cruise ship also sells these devices.

I wore my equipment myself; they didn’t discover the camera I had hidden.

Once underwater, there was lighting, and the light was sufficient. We swam one behind the other towards the turbine beneath the ship.

However, upon seeing where the turbine was supposed to be, Qi Xiuyuan, swimming ahead, suddenly stopped in her tracks.

I swam past her and noticed that there was nothing there; the whole turbine had disappeared, nor was there the unidentified object described by the missing persons.

Qi Xiuyuan snapped out of it and turned around to face me. We could communicate between ourselves, and her voice came through the communicator inside the helmet.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing."

"Really? Look carefully again; I clearly saw something there."

"Ah... there seems to be... something?"

"There are four corpses there."

"Can’t see them."

"Look closely, follow my voice, see that eerie area of the ocean, there are four bodies floating inside."

"Hmm, I see them."

"They’re waving at you, asking you to come over, remove the heavy diving suit and oxygen tank, they want to take you to a paradise."

"Are you sure they’re taking me to a paradise?"

"Definitely. There’s no pain there, only happiness, and you can get everything you want."

Qi Xiuyuan’s voice was extremely seductive. She took out a white candle, which amazingly lit up in the water, topped with a green flame.

"Now, you need to remove your diving suit and go to another world with them."

"Well... let me interrupt, they seem to not be coming for me." I raised my hand to point to the area behind her.

Qi Xiuyuan turned around, seeing the four corpses floating in the sea, approaching her like jellyfish.

Those four bodies were the missing crew members lost underwater. Their arms and legs didn’t move, but their bodies drifted forward, as if something behind was pushing them.

Qi Xiuyuan was startled, dropping the white candle, which sank into the deep sea.

She reached out to grab me, trying to pull me in front as a shield. I let her succeed momentarily, pretending to struggle, dragging her to a deeper part of the ocean, then removed the oxygen tank to float upward.

Qi Xiuyuan panicked further, and in our current position, we couldn’t survive without the oxygen tank to reach the sea surface.

Those four floating corpses had no interest in me, despite seeing me attempt to escape; they continued to approach Qi Xiuyuan.

Qi Xiuyuan looked at me in shock, attempting to grab me, but was blocked by the four floating bodies. I wasn’t in a hurry to escape; I turned back to examine the backs of the four corpses. Attached to their backs was a creature resembling a jellyfish, with a large suction cup and countless tentacles.

They propelled forward, using those tentacles for movement.

I removed the oxygen tank and returned to the surface, only to notice that only one rope was left, the one that let me down had already snapped.

The four men sensing Qi Xiuyuan’s struggle were now pulling her up.

I swam to where the anchor was, climbing back onto the ship along the iron chain, not forgetting to take a close-up shot of the broken rope.

No one else noticed the commotion on my side, and the elite man was focused on staring at the sea surface.

However, what they pulled up was Qi Xiuyuan, already drowned and unconscious.

They immediately carried her to the infirmary, and I sneaked back into the room, where Chen Qinghan was waiting on the sofa.

"Did you get the footage?" He stepped forward, holding a flashlight, checking if I was hurt.

"Mm-hmm~ but... her trick attracted sea monsters; she’s in grave danger now."

"What kind of monsters?"

"I don’t recognize them, they resemble jellyfish, with suction cups as big as a basin and many tentacle-like things; they’re attached to those missing sailors underwater."

"I’ll go check it out."

"You’d better not go; those things might be parasites; they can sense the position of live people and will chase after them."

"Then I definitely have to go; if she brings the parasites onto the ship, the tourists will be in danger."

Fortunately, it was late at night, and all the passengers on the ship were asleep. Qi Xiuyuan was brought up and went directly to the infirmary, and those who came into contact with her, including the doctor and nurses, stayed inside.

Chen Qinghan went to knock on the captain’s door and briefly explained the situation. The captain looked tired, obviously not having rested yet, with his clothes neatly worn.

Upon hearing Chen Qinghan say that there might be unknown creatures boarding the ship, he immediately called several crew members to guard the infirmary and prevent people from inside from moving freely.

The captain knew it was unknown creatures that had attacked his crew, and his tense expression relaxed. As long as he could find the reason for the crew’s disappearance, he could explain to the other passengers.

Reducing passenger panic to the lowest level, Chen Qinghan conveyed a piece of good news, followed by bad news—the turbine was missing.

Such a large cruise ship couldn’t sail without a turbine; they could only drift at sea, the ship was useless for paddling.

"Disappeared?" The captain asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Chen Qinghan trusted me, and I had the video as evidence, so he answered very simply.

"Looks like we’ll have to wait until the fog clears and try to send out a distress signal."

The captain’s hopes were dashed a few hours later, as the expected sunrise never appeared, and by nine in the morning, it was still like night outside the ship.

The phone signal still worked last night, but during the night, the signal was lost. By morning, even Chen Qinghan’s satellite phone was out of order.

I estimated that the last news from the outside about this ship was the passengers’ social media posts.

When did the signal disappear? Seems to coincide with when someone spotted the ’Ghost Ship.’

Smartphones consume power quickly, and the electricity was shut off last night, just when all phones were charging.

Mist hovered over the sea, the sky was pitch black, not a star to be seen.

More and more passengers used their phones for illumination, and although the captain had announced the cause of yesterday’s accident early this morning, passengers didn’t feel any reassurance.

Onboard were many frequent sea vacationers; some had weathered storms and typhoons, but none encountered such bizarre circumstances.

Chaos was inevitable, and the captain was exasperated. I heard that Qi Xiuyuan had improved after rescue, so I wandered to the infirmary to visit her.

The elite man and the four others faithfully guarded her, and upon seeing me appear, the elite man’s expression first showed surprise, then said angrily: "It was you; you left her behind and escaped alone; I’ll definitely report this to the authorities, and I’ll sue you in court!"

"Thank you, actually; I was troubled not knowing the procedure. Hurry and sue me; I have evidence for the judge." I sincerely looked at him, expressing gratitude.

"What evidence?" The elite man’s gaze was sharp.

"Evidence of her trying to murder me. I’ve recorded everything, filmed it all, oh, the data was transmitted by Chen last night to the authorities; so...if I were her, the top priority right now would be figuring out how to flee in this vast ocean to escape from justice."