Chapter 1284: Frightening

The clansman sitting opposite him said, "I pass by that cabin door and can often hear strange noises inside. Sometimes it sounds like a child screaming, sometimes like a ghost crying, sometimes like a cow roaring, and once—" His voice also lowered. Wanqiliang clenched his fists: "If you dare to scare people again, I'll beat you until you're looking for your teeth all over the floor."

"Cough, I got up to pee in the middle of the night the day before yesterday and heard the sound of sawing bones coming from inside the door, sawing for a long, long time."

"Pfft, maybe Mr. Dong's cabin is being renovated."

"In the middle of the night? It wasn't wood." The clansman patted his chest. "I've treated injuries for all of you; believe me, that must be the sound of a saw cutting bone. I would never mishear that!"

His eyes rolled, turning to Wanqiliang: "A-Liang, do you dare to lift the black cloth in Mr. Dong's experimental cabin?"

Wanqiliang kept a straight face: "What's there not to dare?"

"I'm telling you, the experimental subjects aren't necessarily unable to move. I heard things running around inside through the cabin door, but it definitely wasn't Mr. Dong!"

Wanqiliang only found it ridiculous: "That's Mr. Dong's ghost-faced monkey!"

"That monkey is also Mr. Dong's experimental subject, but it's a successful one, and it eats people! There are many semi-successful and unsuccessful ones kept in the experimental cabin, all very dangerous." The clansman took out a large silver ingot. "Ten taels, betting that you'll be scared into screaming when you lift the black cloth!"

Wanqiliang chuckled, took out silver from his bosom, and slammed it on the table: "Bet!"

Lifting the black cloth to take a look and then coming back to get ten taels of silver—where could one find such a good deal? He immediately went to the quartermaster to get a set of black armor and delivered it to the second room at the stern.

The further he walked toward the stern, the fewer people there were, and the quieter the surroundings became.

The sound of the cables creaking suddenly became particularly noisy; only the smell of fresh paint made people feel at ease.

The second room at the stern was already below the waterline; Wanqiliang had to walk down another set of wooden stairs.

He had only walked down a few steps when his companion knocked on the hard and heavy cover door by the stairs: "The clan leader has ordered that once the situation below gets out of control, this cover door must be closed immediately!"

Wanqiliang looked back at him and glanced at the cover door: "That's for waterproofing!"

Large ships built by Yangshan usually have two or three layers of cabins below the deck, and each layer has this kind of cover door; if water leaks below, it will be closed.

"That's not necessarily true. The Island Master and Mr. Dong also took this ship when they returned from Julu Port. You can ask any sailor; this cover door was closed once last time. However, the sea was calm that day."

Another person also chimed in: "Yes, yes, I heard that a person was lost on the last trip; a sailor went down and didn't come back."

"Shh." Wanqiliang waved his hand backward. "Shut up!"

Mr. Dong's experimental cabin arrived! The others didn't follow; they hid by the cover door: "Good luck, we'll wait here."

Wanqiliang raised his hand to knock on the door, saying: "Mr. Dong!"

As soon as he knocked, a clanging sound came from inside, as if something was hitting metal.

He knocked twice more before someone answered from inside, the voice very impatient: "Who?"

"Delivering armor for you."

"Come in."

Wanqiliang pushed gently, and the cabin door opened.

The space behind the door was more than six or seven times larger than the cabin he slept in, but things were placed in a mess, more than six or seven times messier than his cabin.

Everywhere were experimental instruments, materials, and medicinal liquids, bottles and jars of all colors.

However, it was just messy. The severed limbs and arms Wanqiliang imagined did not appear in the cabin.

But it was very dark here; the two fluorescent spores on the ground had withered, clearly having exhausted their energy. In the corner were several transparent jars, inside which things emitted a faint red light.

He leaned over to take a look; the liquid in the jar was soaking something that looked like a sponge and also like a piece of meat.

Before he could look closely, this thing suddenly contracted!

Wanqiliang was startled and stepped back, but didn't make a sound.

The thing in the jar, he didn't know if it was beating or contracting, did it every ten breaths or so.

What kind of ghost thing? Mr. Dong's laboratory truly lived up to its reputation.

A fishy stench drifted in the air.

Wanqiliang had been on the battlefield and killed people, and had also crawled out of piles of corpses; he could identify it immediately: that was the smell of blood.

Some fresh, some old, but the cabin was sealed and the air didn't circulate, which was why it was so foul.

But Mr. Dong was not in this cabin.

His voice came from inside: "Put down the armor and go out."

Wanqiliang only then discovered that there was a partition there, with the door half-closed.

Mr. Dong was tinkering with something in the partition and didn't come out.

Wanqiliang put down the black armor casually, and just as he turned around, he saw a black cloth covering a pile of debris a zhang away.

There was something under the black cloth.

That was the bet he had made with his clansmen; he walked over on tiptoe.

Lift the black cloth, walk out of the cabin door, and he could go get the silver.

There was no difficulty at all.

He had checked; there were no demon-suppressing talismans on this black cloth. If the thing under the black cloth was uncontrolled, then covering it or not made no difference.

In other words, whether he lifted the cloth or not, it should be safe.

Wanqiliang reached out halfway, then suddenly retracted, lightly drawing the saber at his waist.

Using the tip of the saber to lift it should be safer, right?

His saber was steady; he moved closer to the black cloth bit by bit, and then—

Touched it lightly with the back of the saber.

Not hard, and a bit soft.

And it didn't move at all.

Wanqiliang took a deep breath, lifted the black cloth with the tip of the saber!

If it was a monster that would pounce on people underneath, he was prepared to slash it with one stroke.

Whoosh, the black cloth drifted to one side, and the thing underneath revealed its true face—

A humanoid thing, but its surface was wrapped in circle after circle of thick gauze.

Wanqiliang was stunned for a moment.

Just like this? Under the black cloth, just a cloth mannequin?

He even pressed it lightly with the back of the saber; the gauze felt soft, wrapped in at least three or four layers.

As soon as the black cloth was lifted, he smelled a strong medicinal odor.

Where was the scorpion man? Where were the little monsters that made ghost cries? Could such a motionless mannequin scare anyone? Although a little bloodstain faintly showed through the gauze.

Wanqiliang let out a long sigh of relief; doing this much was enough. He had no intention of cutting open the gauze to explore; he had better hurry back to get the money.

However, just as he felt relieved, someone behind him said unhappily: "What are you doing?"

It was Mr. Dong's voice, and it was very close to him, almost ringing in his ear.

Discovered! Wanqiliang turned around abruptly, too busy to think about why he hadn't heard footsteps, only remembering to apologize: "Sorry, I'll just..."

The person was almost face-to-face with him.

Before Wanqiliang could see clearly, his scalp exploded first.

Then, the Bailong people waiting outside the cabin door heard a scream, full of emotion and exceptionally high-pitched.

"Ah—"

Everyone couldn't help but shrink their necks; this scream was truly infectious.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1285 =====