Chapter 327

Xia Yubing had been pampered since she was a child. The closest thing to housework she had ever done was throwing the clothes she took off before taking a bath into the dirty clothes basket all at once, too lazy to even sort them herself. However, fortunately, her body was strong enough that she wouldn't be like a delicate young lady who couldn't even hold a mop.

After spending half an hour mopping the floor, it was time to wipe the glass. The airship's room didn't have that kind of large-area viewing window, only a glass wine cabinet embedded in the wall, filled with the collection of wines Van Dyke usually drank, occupying more than half of the wall. The maids usually had to move a stepladder to clean the wine cabinet, but Xia Yubing didn't need this. She could reach the top layer by standing on the ground, forcefully bunching up the wet rag stained with water in her hand, and wiping it sloppily.

The wet rag wiped across the smoky glass surface, and the wine cabinet condensed with water droplets vaguely reflected two figures, one tall and one short. Xia Yubing said without looking back: "I'll do it myself, Jomarie, you don't need to help me," and continued to wipe the glass.

This was what Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had instructed in the notebook message. She had to do the cleaning herself and couldn't let others do it for her.

But after Xia Yubing's voice fell, the slightly shorter figure in the wine cabinet seemed not to have heard it, walking straight forward step by step, getting closer and closer.

"I said, I can do it myself." Xia Yubing bunched up the rag in her hand, turned her head and said: "If you really want to help, help me change the rag... eh?"

Where is Jomarie?

Xia Yubing blinked. She saw that the room with soft lights was empty. There were water droplets on the waxed cedar floor, which were traces left after she had just mopped the floor. The maid named Jomarie was not in the room at all, and there were no traces of anyone walking on the floor.

"That is..." Xia Yubing swallowed, gripped the rag, and slowly turned back. The smoky wine cabinet glass still reflected two figures, one tall and one short. The tall one was herself, but the short one was nowhere to be seen.

Xia Yubing felt a chill down her spine, and all the hair on her body stood up: "Ghost?"

Is there a ghost on the airship?

In the blink of an eye, the reflection in the wine cabinet took another step forward. This time Xia Yubing saw clearly that the figure was wearing a loose mid-sleeve robe, with broad shoulders and wide hips. It was a man's physique.

After all, the wine cabinet was not a mirror. Xia Yubing could only barely see the clothing and physique of the figure reflected in the glass. The facial features under the hood of the robe were covered by a shadow, and it was impossible to distinguish them.

It seemed to notice that Xia Yubing had stopped wiping the glass. The robed figure stood behind her and raised his head slightly. Whether it was psychological or something else, Xia Yubing felt a cold gaze cast from behind onto the back of her head, and the chill of fear penetrated her entire spine from top to bottom.

*Bang*—!

Drawing the gun, turning around, pulling the trigger—everything happened in a flash. The revolver originally stuck in her waist was emptied of all 6 bullets in the magazine in Xia Yubing's hand in just two seconds, leaving 6 scorched bullet holes on the resin coffee table not far behind her—the human-shaped reflection in the wine cabinet was standing beside the coffee table.

In the empty room, Xia Yubing gripped the rag in one hand and the revolver in the other, breathing rapidly. The gunpowder smoke emitted from the muzzle gave off a scorched smell. In the silent room where one could hear a pin drop, only the sound of her own breathing and heartbeat could be heard, as if the deafening gunshot just now had never sounded.

If it weren't for the brass bullet heads embedded in the floor and the coffee table, she would even doubt whether she had fired the gun just now.

Turning back, the man in the robe still stood quietly beside the coffee table, his chaotic figure reflected in the wine cabinet glass. In the blink of an eye, he took another step forward.

"No, no, it's not right, something's not right." Xia Yubing threw the rag in her hand aside, broke open the magazine with a *click* to eject the shell casings, her fingers trembling as she reloaded the bullets one by one, and then reloaded with another *click*. She stared intently at the reflection of the man who was haunting the wine cabinet, retreating while raising the muzzle. *Bang*—

Another gunshot rang out, and the glass shattered in response. Shattering along with it was a bottle of gin with a branch pattern printed on the packaging. The golden liquor flowed and dripped onto the shiny floor along with the broken glass, and the sweet smell of wine permeated the air, as if a believer had cut the throat of a god with a knife, releasing golden blood from it.

The wine cabinet glass was shattered, but the reflection in the glass did not shatter along with it, just like a large mirror being broken into countless small mirrors. Each small mirror reflected a shrunken shadow. Countless men's reflections walked forward in unison in the smoky glass. At this moment, the door opened.

"Ms. Xia, do you still need the mop? I brought another bucket of clean water over."

The maid Jomarie pushed the door and walked in, placing the bucket next to the mop Xia Yubing had used, tiptoeing to take down the landscape painting hanging on the wall opposite the wine cabinet, and placing it carefully on the table: "Mr. Dyke likes this painting very much, so be careful not to get it wet."

Xia Yubing stood dazed in place. Turning her head to look, the man's figure reflected in the glass had disappeared at some point, the wine cabinet on the wall was intact, and even the broken bottle of gin was placed well in the wine cabinet. The faint smell of wine still permeated the air, but the brass bullet heads stuck in the resin coffee table had disappeared without a trace.

"Oh my, why are you holding a gun?" Jomarie's voice was filled with terror. Xia Yubing looked in the direction of the sound and met the maid's fearful gaze.

"Nothing." Xia Yubing shook her head: "This is a handicraft I bought in Vivian Port during the day. I'm checking if the spare ammunition inside has been cleared."

"So that's how it is." Jomarie breathed a sigh of relief and continued to take down the other paintings on the wall one by one with nimble hands and feet.

At this moment, Xia Yubing suddenly understood the mentality Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe faced when he was in Zanjue Town. Some things cannot be explained clearly in a few words. Even if you go to great lengths to explain them clearly, it won't help the status quo, so it's better not to say anything.

!

"Was that just now... an illusion?" Xia Yubing walked to the wall, reached out to open the cabinet door, and took the bottle of gin from the intact glass cabinet:

The cork at the mouth of the bottle was well sealed, there was not a single crack in the bottle body, and even the label paper pasted on it was still dry, without any sign of being wet by wine.

Xia Yubing held the wine and came to the coffee table. The waxed floor was still shiny, without a single bullet hole, and the coffee table that had just been hit by several shots was as good as new, as if everything just now had never happened, but...

Xia Yubing reached into her pocket, and the spare ammunition inside was indeed 6 rounds less.

"What... is going on?"

(End of chapter)