Sules held her breath, eyes tense as she looked over—only to see the one person she least wanted to see: Smith pushing open the door and stepping inside.
Noticing Sules watching him, Smith lowered his hat brim and smiled, a smile that seemed to be trying too hard to cover something up.
“I’m just here to grab something. Keep searching.”
Grab something?
What exactly?
Sules didn’t let down her guard at his explanation; instead, she grew even more anxious.
Silently, she manipulated the surrounding seawater, adding a layer of tiny water blades around herself.
Since they were underwater, these small water blades were invisible to the naked eye.
But if Smith tried to get close in person, he’d be cut to shreds by these water knives.
This was the only defense Sules could come up with for now.
Smith was a Level 5 Martial Artist—if he truly wanted to harm her, there was nothing she could do.
After all, brute strength trumps all techniques; in the face of absolute power, any trick is useless.
So she had to seize the initiative, catch him off guard, or she had no chance.
Seeing Sules seemingly relax, Smith narrowed his eyes, slowly approaching her while looking for something.
He said casually, “It’s because I’m strong, otherwise I wouldn’t dare come here.”
Sules was about to reply, “Well, you are a Level 5 Martial Artist,” but she suddenly stopped herself. Though she didn’t know much about Smith, she did know he wasn’t a talkative or narcissistic type. Why would he say something like that out of the blue?
It was completely unlike Smith’s personality!
Recalling her previous suspicions, Sules suspected that this person was the very one whose body had been taken over by a wandering spirit.
If that was the case, then what he just said was an assessment of Smith’s body’s strength.
According to her theory, the wandering spirit couldn’t inherit the original owner’s memories.
So the current Smith could only sense that this body was strong, but didn’t know the exact level.
Thinking this through, Sules tentatively said, “That’s ridiculous. Your strength isn’t even as good as mine. Where do you get the courage to say that?”
She had already prepared herself: if Smith argued that he was a Level 5 Martial Artist and could never be weaker than her, she would just pretend she hadn’t recognized him earlier and that was why she said it.
That way, no one would be embarrassed.
But Smith was momentarily stunned, then gave an awkward laugh.
“I’m just joking.”
Sules’ heart sank.
“Smith” was indeed possessed.
A Level 5 Martial Artist turned wandering spirit—how dangerous that was went without saying.
At the same time, she was somewhat relieved.
Fortunately, she had learned her lesson from what happened with Rick and had been cautious enough not to expose anything directly.
Now that it was confirmed Smith was the enemy, her only option was to strike first.
But one question remained—how could she destroy a wandering spirit?
Wandering spirits relied on humans getting injured and then possessing their bodies.
So even if she killed “Smith,” could the wandering spirit survive by manipulating the corpse with its own soul?
Uncertain about this, Sules didn’t act rashly.
Instead, she smiled and said, “‘Smith,’ if you’re not going to look for the captain now, why not come help me? I already know where the treasure is hidden in the control room, and I need your help.”
“What? You’ve already found it?”
“Smith” widened his eyes, clearly nervous.
“Hidden that well and you found it? No way.”
Alright, the treasure was definitely in the control room.
Sules curled her lips and nodded casually.
“Yeah, I just happened to stumble on it.”
With that, she walked off in a random direction, using her peripheral vision to notice Smith clearly breathing a sigh of relief.
She immediately stopped, crouched as if just tying her shoelace, then changed direction.
Smith had relaxed because of her wrong path, but when he saw her crouching, his relief returned.
The next second, she took the wrong route again, and he relaxed once more, only to tense up when she bent down to put down a piece of wood.
No evidence, but he had a feeling he was being played.
Sules felt uncomfortable too.
There were only four directions—north, south, east, and west—and she had tried three wrong ones already.
Ridiculous. Luckily, only west was left, and there was just one thing there—a fallen ship’s rudder.
Sules headed toward it and picked up the rudder, saying confidently, “The treasure is inside here.”
Smith forced a smile.
“Ah… you must be wrong. What treasure could be hidden in this?”
While saying this, he hurriedly approached Sules.
She was already hyper-vigilant and instantly tensed up.
At the same time, she sped up her actions, channeling her power to turn the surrounding water into blades around her hand.
Using the water’s force, she chopped the rudder cleanly in two.
Smith knew the captain had hidden something inside the rudder.
He had planned to take it out just now, but when Sules suddenly appeared, he had to hold back.
Hearing Sules speak, Smith was utterly shocked.
He hadn’t expected someone to figure out the secret so soon after it had started.
This kind of person couldn’t be left alive!
So after leaving briefly, Smith had found an excuse to come back—just to eradicate the threat.
The body he had taken over was strong and powerful.
Smith believed he was more than capable.
But after his conversation with Sules, he was shocked to learn he couldn’t defeat this girl.
It infuriated him, and he wondered what kind of power she really had.
Because of this, Smith dared not act recklessly now.
Seeing Sules hold the rudder and apparently want to open it, he moved closer, planning to wait for her to ask for help and then destroy the treasure.
What happened next completely surprised him.
The delicate-looking girl split the rudder open with hands as pale as spring onions… she actually split it.
Smith was now certain—Sules wasn’t lying when she said she was stronger than him.
The rudder of an eighth-level ship wasn’t simple; at the very least, it was guaranteed to be tough.
Even soaked in seawater for so long, it was nearly impossible to split it open with bare hands.
But Sules had done just that.
Smith awkwardly smiled as he watched Sules pick up something that fell from the rudder.
It was a small plaster sculpture carved as a man wearing a Bohemian robe, with medium-length curly hair and a thick beard.
Although she didn’t know who it was exactly, Sules guessed it must be the Sea God.
If so, this was indeed Captain Janm’s long-sought Sea God’s Treasure.
But how to confirm that?
Suddenly, Sules’ eyes lit up, and she opened her system panel.
Sure enough, under the “Treasure” section, there was a new item.
【Treasure: Miniature Sea God Statue (Cursed) (click to view)】
Cursed version?
Sules clicked on “click to view,” and the system immediately popped up a window describing the treasure’s effects and usage.
【Fusing the Miniature Sea God Statue with the rudder can greatly reduce the chance of maritime disasters during sea voyages. Additionally, once a month, the captain gains the ability to alter the weather in the ship’s current area. This effect cannot be stacked. However, this treasure was suspected to have been exploited by an array master as the main array eye for suppressing formations. Touching the sub-array eyes within the formation with this array eye can break the formation successfully.】
Array?
Sules vaguely understood something.
The fact that the wandering spirits remained aboard and could possess living bodies might all be due to this formation.
If so, all she needed to do was find the so-called sub-array eyes, and she could escape this cursed place.
Her heart raced as she quickly began calculating what might be the sub-array eyes.
Smith saw Sules silently holding the Sea God’s Treasure and assumed she was pondering its powers, so he relaxed.
As wandering spirits who had lived on this ship for centuries, Smith and the others already understood this treasure’s abilities well.
That’s why he had been so afraid of it falling into Sules’ hands.
But now it seemed he had worried too much.
Even if she got the treasure, no one would guess how to use it.
They wouldn’t even know that this Sea God’s Treasure was the key to escaping this ghost ship.
Sules sensed Smith’s presence and gave him a thoughtful glance.
Then, quick as a flash, she touched the Sea God’s Treasure to him.
No reaction.
Smith was taken aback by her action.
“What are you doing?”
Seeing no response, Sules replied faintly, “Just showing you this thing. After all, it’s the Sea God’s Treasure—normal people rarely get to see it.”
Smith suspected she was experimenting on him, but after thinking carefully, he dismissed it.
After all, Sules didn’t even know the treasure was an array eye—how could she know it could break the formation?
Click!
Suddenly, the door opened again.
Sules and Smith looked up at the same time to see Cadi enter.
Cadi was stunned to find the two inside, then beamed.
“Hey? Captain, you’re here! Great! I finally found someone I know!”
Sules’ heart sank.
Cadi’s presence here was a problem.
He probably hadn’t been transformed, but she couldn’t directly warn him about Smith’s possession.
She still hadn’t figured out how to eliminate the wandering spirit; revealing the truth would only alert the enemy.
But if she didn’t tell Cadi, what if Smith tried to corrupt him?
Then Sules’ situation would become even more dangerous.
“Did you find anything?”
Cadi blinked and asked.
Sules glanced at Smith, calmly hid the Sea God’s Treasure, and shook her head.
“No, haven’t found anything.”
Smith looked down at Sules in surprise, then gave a look that said everything without words.
He guessed her thoughts—she wanted to keep the treasure all to herself.
He didn’t want more people to know about the treasure either, so he stayed silent and helped her keep the secret.
Sules switched topics.
“By the way, shouldn’t you be below deck? How did you get up here?”
Cadi looked troubled and spilled the beans.
“There was a fight down there. I couldn’t win, so I ran up here.”