The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 195 - 196: One Bottle in Hand, the Fishing Boat Is Mine
With lightning speed, I snapped a few necks and casually took down a lab coat from the wall to wear.
As I turned around, Chen Qinghan had also climbed into the observation room through the window. His eyes focused on the bodies on the ground, inspecting each one, before walking over to one of them and kicking it with his foot.
"It’s human skin." He grabbed the arm of the corpse and lifted it. As he released it, the arm fell limply back to the floor.
That’s when I noticed all the bodies in the room were deflated, which wasn’t the case just moments ago.
I jumped into the operating room to examine the other bodies, only to find they had all turned into sheets of human skin.
The inside of the skins was coated with sticky blue liquid, much like glue. If these experimenters were merely inflated human skins, then how could we explain the bloodstains on the wall?
I recalled the sensation earlier; as I choked their necks, they were indeed soft and boneless, but there was definitely some other filling inside, not simply the feeling of squeezing a layer of skin. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
The ten experimenters in the lab had now become ten sheets of human skin. No wonder Lu Xiaodao said they never ate, only drank a blue liquid, which likely was the adhesive keeping their ’human form’ intact.
No matter what they were, as long as Chen Qinghan was alright, I wasn’t concerned with the human skins anymore. The ship’s alarm was blaring nonstop. Captain Jack must have sent people for backup, so I needed to deal with him first.
"Stay here and don’t go out. I have a way to handle them." I picked up a gun and handed it to Chen Qinghan.
"Wait." Chen Qinghan didn’t take the gun. He pulled me into a room with several cold-storage lockers.
Inside the lockers were rows of petri dishes and labeled test tubes.
In the middle of the large cold-storage locker was a small metal container. Chen Qinghan entered a code and opened the door. This locker also had a cooling function, but inside was only a metal canister the size of a thermos.
This thing was the most securely hidden in the whole lab, indicating its significance.
Chen Qinghan used a tool to extract the metal canister from the locker.
In the observation room, there was a communicator. Chen Qinghan carried the canister back to the observation room, and fortunately, the communicator was undamaged by bullets.
By now, the lab’s doors were surrounded. I had damaged them, and they could come in at any moment.
Chen Qinghan pulled me, who was about to leave, back into the observation room. He picked up the communicator, which could connect directly to the captain’s office.
Chen Qinghan pressed the speakerphone button. As soon as the call connected, Captain Jack’s first words were demanding our immediate surrender.
Chen Qinghan didn’t bother with small talk. He stated that we had the contents of the lab’s safe, and if anyone dared to break into the lab, he would immediately open the low-temperature bottle.
Captain Jack’s voice immediately took on a nervous edge, urging him not to act rashly while ordering those outside to hold their positions. Without his command, no one was allowed to enter the lab.
Chen Qinghan threatened that if pushed, they’d all go to hell together.
Captain Jack was very susceptible to this, as his reaction indicated that if the contents of the bottle were released, no one alive on the ship would escape.
If it were a secret experimental base, there might be a self-destruct mechanism in case of accidents. However, this lab was on a ship, so a self-destruct would also destroy the vessel, dooming Captain Jack and the crew to a watery grave.
Chen Qinghan demanded that the leader and others be released, to which Captain Jack complied. He offered to talk to Chen Qinghan, who agreed.
Chen Qinghan handed me the low-temperature bottle, which had to be handled with tools because it was exceptionally cold. He mentioned that after the negotiations, we’d have to return it.
I tidied my hair, messed up by the bullets, and thought about my ruined ’crown.’ I wanted to go back and toss those sheets of human skin into the shredder.
We met with the leader and others in the captain’s office. Upon seeing me, the leader’s frown immediately relaxed into a smile.
"Fuqu!"
"Fu?"
Both the leader and Guan Hai expressed surprise, and even the usually stoic Lu Xiaodao’s eyes sparkled.
"Where is she?"
Since I was here, Lu Xiaodao was surely asking about Bi Shi. I pointed toward the prow, "Start the ship."
"Alright, Mr. Chen, what’s your condition?" Captain Jack, seeing the low-temperature bottle in my hand, shifted uncomfortably, breaking our little reunion conversation.
"Dock at the island, and then get us safely home," Chen Qinghan stated simply.
"Of course, no problem. I guarantee it." Captain Jack agreed readily.
Yet he seemed a bit puzzled, "You could have asked me to return immediately. Why not do that?"
"Because I’m also looking for that island." Chen Qinghan’s reply took Captain Jack by surprise.
He raised an eyebrow and hesitated for two seconds, "Alright, although your island mission was temporarily suspended, if you agree to go, I can provide you with a speedboat and the necessary equipment."
"No, your ship must stay here and wait for our return." Chen Qinghan’s tone was as gentle as when we first met, but his demand made Captain Jack grit his teeth in anger.
Captain Jack thought he could send us away with a speedboat, but there was no such easy way out. After today, he would realize that trying to take advantage only backfired.
He thought picking us as free cannon fodder was a benefit, not knowing he’d end up working for us for nothing.
With the bottle in hand, the fishing boat was ours.
I wielded the bottle, surpassing any arsenal the crew had, forcing Captain Jack to have the crew put all their weapons back in hidden compartments. All crew across the ship, including Captain Jack himself, were locked in the dining room by us.
The dining room doors were chained, guarded by the leader and others, officially keeping the ship in caretaker mode.
The bridge was under Bi Shi’s watch, with the crew monitored by the leader and Lu Xiaodao in shifts. The unconscious He Su, the fractured Zhou, and the comatose Cong Zhibo were moved to a cabin under Guan Hai’s care.
I informed Chen Qinghan about the jellyfish, Red Corpse, that Bi Shi and I encountered, so he decided that for this island expedition, it would just be the two of us.
He felt searching for his sister was a personal matter and didn’t want the leader and others to take risks.
Hearing his reasoning, I laughed, "Hey, if it’s personal, maybe I shouldn’t go with you."
He sighed, "Alright, the antique circle is chaotic, be cautious when selling your items. Also, the hairpin is handmade. I still intend to order you a new one. I’ll give you the craftsman’s contact later, mention my name, and you’ll get a 20% discount, only eight hundred thousand."
"Shut up! Pfft, pfft, pfft~ Listen to you talk about unlucky things, like leaving a will. If you keep distancing yourself, I’ll be mad at you. With our relationship, your matter is my matter, whether personal or official. Hurry up, get on the ship, and let’s try to go and return quickly!"
