Chapter 287 - Drift
TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney
There were individuals that didn’t appreciate sleeping on the floor with the group. They would rather have slept solo in the second floor guest rooms, but with Liu Gan’s order in effect no one dared to speak out. Han GuangMing lead a group of members in raiding the second floor. Anything useful like mattresses and bedsheets were taken along to form a super huge bed on the reception hall floor.
When the team set out, they had brought along eleven sleeping bags. Due to the floor being too cold to sleep on with just sleeping bags, layers of bedsheet and mattresses made it more comfortable.
Right as the large conglomerate of mattresses was a.s.sembled, the lights in the first floor reception hall burned out and the emergency lights didn’t turn on. The reception hall was so dark, even the if your hand was in front of you, you couldn’t see it.
The veteran players don"t panic in this condition, but the non-experienced players screamed in fear. In response, the veteran players took out out their flashlights, but they were insufficient to light up the whole hall.
“I will bring someone down a floor to check out the command center to see what is going on,” Han GuangMing said, holding a flashlight and walking over to Liu Gan.
“Okay, be careful of your surroundings,” Liu Gan agreed.
Han GuangMing took two members along and headed down the stairs to the floor below. When he reached the cargo bay, he investigated quickly. He was able to pinpoint the source of the problem, it was that the ventilation circuit breaker had tripped. After resetting the circuit breakers, light in the reception hall turned back on.
“What was wrong?” Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing, when he returned.
“Circuit breaker tripped, it is possible that the circuit failed. Before we understand the circuits on the ship, I don’t think we should do any repair or maintenance,” Han GuangMing replied.
“No need to repair anything, just arrange people for night duty. Everyone else should sleep, there is a bathroom by the reception hall. The water drainage system still works. If there is no special condition, don’t allow anyone to leave the reception hall,” Liu Gan looked out the ship window covered by rain water.
“Okay,” Han GuangMing replied as he a.s.signed guard duty to the members. He told the nine players that they couldn’t wander off alone, and he would take the first shift.
Liu Gan also took a sleeping bag and slept in the reception hall. Naturally, Yin He sat by his bedside as she watched over him. With Yin He’s protection, Liu Gan wasn’t worried about his safety at all. With the warmth of the sleeping bag, Liu Gan drifted to sleep quickly.
Right after sleeping, Liu Gan felt as if he had a weird dream. He dreamt that he was at a strange place and he was fighting against grotesquely shaped monsters. Right in the middle of fighting, he suddenly heard a m.u.f.fled scream followed by violent shaking. Being rudely woken up from his slumber, Liu Gan realized he was still within the sleeping bag. The fight against the monsters were a dream, but the violent shaking was real.
It was Serenity violently shaking.
“What happened?” Liu Gan jumped out of his sleeping bag and put on clothes. He rushed toward Han GuangMing, who stood by the window.
“I don’t know, I heard sounds coming from outside of the ship. It sounds as if it was coming from the pier? It sounded like an explosion,” Han GuangMing replied. Han GuangMing looked exhausted, as if he had been on duty the whole night without rest.
“Rain stopped. Let me go out the main cabin door to check it out” Liu Gan said to Han GuangMing. Then he turned his head to look around...
Several members were also rudely woken up by the sound and shaking. They crawled out of their sleeping bag to look around, only to discover several members were still sleeping.
Quickly, Liu Gan realized something was very wrong.
Yin He was missing.
Recalling from his memory, before he had slept, Yin He was by his bedside. Leaving his side, is not her style.
Liu Gan opened up the earphone to try contacting her. After Yin He had exchanged bodies, she also readjusted Liu Gan’s earphone to the new frequency. This way the old earphone could still communicate with her new body, at least if she was within the set range of communication.
The earphone was silent.
“h.e.l.lo? h.e.l.lo!” Liu Gan wasn’t willing to give up. He wanted to keep on yelling until he could get a response.
“Elder Liu?” Han GuangMing looked at Liu Gan strangely.
“Did you see Little He?” Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing.
“Well…before the m.u.f.fled sounds…Vice-leader He was sitting by your bedside. When I heard the sound, I rushed over to the window to check it out. Then…” Han GuangMing pointed at the spot, where he last saw Yin He.
“Let’s go to the main cabin door to look around. We need to find the source of the m.u.f.fled sound,” said Liu Gan as he rushed toward the corridor.
After opening up the cabin door, Liu Gan took a deep breath of cold air.
Right outside of cabin door, there was no longer a dock. With the rain clearing up, using the flashlight gave a clear view of the surroundings. The ship was surrounded by sea water! For some reason, the anchor was no longer attached to the pier. There were at least a dozen iron chains securing the ship body onto the pier. When everyone was asleep, the ship had drifted out into the middle of the sea!
Even though rain had stopped, it was very windy. The feeling was as if the wind was blowing the ship out into the open sea.
“It was pouring rain the whole time, it just stopped. I didn’t even feel the ship leave the dock…” Han GuangMing cried out loud. When the ship was anch.o.r.ed to the dock, it followed the motion of the waves. So even though it wasn’t violently shaking, it was still moving back and forth. Han GuangMing would not have been able to differentiate the difference when it was close to the dock.
“Perhaps…we boarded a ghost ship?” A faint voice came from behind and scared Han GuangMing. Han GuangMing jumped and nearly fell overboard, Liu Gan was able to grab ahold of him before he fell.
“Hey! When did you get here? Could you say something else first before creeping up from behind?” Han GuangMing angrily scolded Treadmill.
“I thought you knew that I was following behind you…” Treadmill said, embarra.s.sed.
“Elder Liu, what do we do now?” Han GuangMing asked Liu Gan, while glaring at Treadmill.
“See if you can find someone in our group that can pilot this ship. We can’t let the ship continue drifting away. We need to find some way to secure the ship. Otherwise, we won’t know how far away we will drift from land,” Liu Gan replied.
“Okay,” Han GuangMing replied as he deadbolted the main cabin door. Returning back to the reception hall, they woke everyone up and explained the situation. No one in their group knew how to operate this type of ship.
Regardless, Han GuangMing still lead a few people to the command center to try.
Liu Gan took this chance to call for Yin He through the earphone. Still no response. The earphone was dead silent, just like that time on Green Station Mountain, when she sacrificed her old body. Liu Gan was very uneasy about this whole situation.