Chapter 298

"Hmm."

"The scenery tonight is beautiful; I really like this feeling."

Chen Hao discovered that Xiao Wu seemed accustomed to loneliness.

Now, she had evolved from being used to loneliness to enjoying it.

Xiao Wu placed her hands on the edge of the cruise ship and said to Chen Hao, "Teacher Chen Hao, have you heard any singing?"

Chen Hao began to listen intently to the sounds on the sea.

"It seems there really is."

As the cruise ship moved slowly forward, the sound on the sea became increasingly distinct.

Even the people inside the cabins heard it.

The crowd walked out of the cabins in a rage and arrived on the deck.

"Where, where is the singing coming from?"

"This voice is quite good, like the music of heaven."

"I've heard there are mermaids on the sea; I wonder if this voice is theirs."

"Mermaids, is it the kind I'm thinking of?"

As the man spoke, he made lewd gestures, a lascivious smile hanging on his face.

"Hehehe!"

A group of men laughed knowingly.

"Mermaids?"

An old man with a black pipe in his mouth seemed to have known everything all along.

"Disaster is imminent and you don't even know it, still thinking about mermaids."

"Hey, stinky old man, don't ruin our fun here!"

"Otherwise, we'll beat you up."

As he said this, the man raised his hand, making a motion as if to strike.

"Sigh, young people these days!"

"They really know less and less about respecting the old and loving the young."

"Since you want to die, then go ahead; like a dog biting Lu Dongbin, you don't recognize a good heart."

Saying this, the old man walked toward his room.

The old man's actions caught Chen Hao's attention.

Chen Hao quickly brought Xiao Wu to the old man's side.

"May I ask, do you know something?"

The old man did not explain in detail to Chen Hao.

Instead, he said to Chen Hao, "Young man, if you want to survive, return to the cabin immediately."

"Lock the cabin door from the inside, then find some paper balls or cotton to plug your ears."

After finishing, the old man left directly.

Chen Hao watched the old man's retreating back and fell into deep thought.

"Teacher Chen Hao, should we..."

It was the first time Xiao Wu had encountered such a situation, so she did not know what to do.

Now she could only rely on Chen Hao.

Upon hearing this, Chen Hao said, "Let's go."

"Go where?"

"Naturally, we do as he said."

As the saying goes, if you don't listen to the old man's words, you will suffer right before your eyes.

Chen Hao brought Xiao Wu back into the room.

Just as he walked in, the uncle lying on the bed sat up.

"Kid, you're being a bit too impatient, aren't you?"

"I'm still here."

Seeing Chen Hao bring Xiao Wu in and then close the door behind him, the uncle spoke up hurriedly.

(Note: The source text repeats the action/dialogue structure here; translating as requested.)

Upon hearing this, Chen Hao rolled his eyes at the uncle.

"I just ran into an old man who said something is about to happen here."

"Seeing how solemn he was, it didn't look like he was lying."

As he spoke, Chen Hao told the uncle everything that had happened earlier.

Upon hearing this, the uncle said, "Since someone has said so, we should naturally follow suit."

Chen Hao took cotton balls out of his pocket.

The uncle and Xiao Wu were somewhat surprised.

However, they did not ask further, but honestly plugged their ears with the cotton balls.

To prevent any accidents, the group stood by the window to observe the situation outside.

As the ship moved slowly forward.

The singing grew louder.

Splash!

A sound of someone falling into the water rang out.

Then, like dumplings being dropped into a pot, the people standing on the deck jumped into the sea one after another.

Their actions caught the attention of Chen Hao and the others.

"What's wrong with these people? Have they gone crazy?"

The uncle felt somewhat bewildered.

Unfortunately, everyone had their ears plugged with cotton, so they couldn't hear each other speak at all.

Seeing the uncle only moving his mouth without making a sound, Chen Hao realized the situation.

So, he took out his phone to use speech-to-text.

Seeing this, the uncle's eyes lit up, and he followed suit.

The two sides began to communicate like this, one word at a time.

The sound of people falling into the water outside was incessant.

One by one, they acted as if possessed, jumping into the water like little frogs.

"Look."

Xiao Wu discovered some creatures sitting on the reef not far away.

Their skin, under the illumination of the lights, appeared dark green.

They were humanoid monsters.

If mermaids are human-fish, then these creatures before them were fish-men.

The former looked more like humans, while the latter looked more like fish.

After the passengers on the cruise ship fell into the water.

The monsters sitting on the reef had eyes that gleamed.

Splash!

Splash!

They also jumped into the water.

"Teacher Chen Hao, look..."

Xiao Wu discovered a little girl in the sea.

The little girl looked to be about five or six years old, struggling in the water.

A monster swam toward her rapidly.

Just as the monster was about to attack the little girl.

A streak of sword Qi broke through the air.

It successfully sliced that monster into two pieces.

Green blood sprayed out instantly, dyeing this patch of the sea green.

"Uncle Li."

Chen Hao had not expected Uncle Li to rush out to save someone.

"Courting death!"

The long sword in Uncle Li's hand flew toward the sky with a whoosh.

Then it spun continuously in the air, transforming into hundreds of long swords.

"Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Sect!"

Uncle Li shouted.

Instantly, those hundreds of long swords fell from the sky.

The long swords seemed to have eyes, specifically stabbing toward those monsters.

Many monsters didn't react in time and were stabbed to death directly by the long swords.

The remaining creatures fled into the water, dodging Uncle Li's flying swords.

Thump, thump, thump!

The monsters dodged Uncle Li's attack.

They didn't dare to engage head-on, so they adopted a flanking tactic.

These creatures began attacking the cruise ship directly.

The bottom of the cruise ship was made of incredibly sturdy steel plates, but facing these monsters, it appeared inadequate.

Uncle Li's attack caused all the monsters to stop singing.

Everyone woke up from their hallucinatory state.

There were still some people left on the deck.

In the sea, there were some who could swim, struggling incessantly.

"Help, help!"

Listening to the cries for help from the people in the sea.

The expressions of the people on the deck varied.

Some stood blankly in place.

Some were so frightened they cried and ran toward the cabins.

There were also some who were more timid; they actually took the opposite action and jumped into the sea directly.

Fortunately, there was still a small handful of people.

These people were bolder and had their wits about them.

Some picked up lifebuoys from the cruise ship and threw them down.

Others picked up ropes and threw them down.

They began to rescue people.

Uncle Li was flying in mid-air.

It was night, and Uncle Li was not skilled in water combat.

Facing the current situation, he was like an axe under the bed—unable to exert his strength.

Uncle Li's expression became very ugly.

He knew that if he didn't find a way, everyone on this ship would die.

Splash!

Just as Uncle Li was pondering, a figure jumped into the water.

"Xiao Hao!"

Uncle Li recognized the person.

He hadn't expected Chen Hao to go into the water to fight directly.

Just as Uncle Li was about to scold Chen Hao for being reckless.

The next scene left Uncle Li frozen in place.

"This..."

Uncle Li's eyes widened.

Because he discovered that Chen Hao had changed his appearance.

The current Chen Hao looked exactly like a merman.

Merfolk are natural-born swimming experts in the sea, not to mention that Chen Hao possessed the blessing of a water ghost.