But that expression only lasted briefly before vanishing from Rick’s face.
Captain James looked Rick up and down.
“Are you alright? Did you get hurt from that fall just now?”
Rick shook his head.
“Captain, I’m fine.”
Sules’s eyes scanned the deck, taking in the surroundings.
The deck was empty except for a humanoid wooden figure lying on the ground and a set of white bones.
Suddenly, her gaze sharpened and fixed on Rick’s hand.
One of his hands had fingernails filled with wood chips and bloodstains, as if he had just forcefully scratched wood.
Sules immediately turned to look at the humanoid wooden figure on the ground and sure enough, she saw scratch marks on it.
Four bloody scratches, looking rather terrifying.
His fingernails were bleeding, yet Rick remained completely calm?
Sules furrowed her brows, sensing something off.
At that moment, a Level 5 Martial Artist whispered something into Captain James’s ear, and James immediately asked, “Rick, what happened to your hand?”
The Level 5 Martial Artist had also keenly noticed the injury on Rick’s hand.
Rick replied, “Captain, when I fell just now, I accidentally scratched the wood pretty hard with my hand. It’s nothing serious, just a bit of blood.”
Hearing this, James didn’t press further and looked around the environment.
Since he himself owned a Level 6 ship, he wasn’t unfamiliar with the structure of an eighth-level ship.
Generally speaking, a formal ship was divided by the deck into two parts: upper and lower.
Above was the superstructure, such as the work cabins, living quarters, the bridge, deckhouse, and so on.
Below were the ship’s holds, including passenger cabins and cargo holds.
But small Level 2 ships like Sules’s had no lower hold, only a superstructure.
And her superstructure was very simple—just a cockpit, guest rooms, and a kitchen.
James quickly found the entrance to the ship’s hold at the stern and told everyone, “To save time on the search, we’ll split into two teams: one will search the superstructure, the other the ship’s hold. The people I call out next, line up separately.”
With a large gesture, he casually split over a hundred people into two groups.
Sules was in the left team, which included the young Captain Rick.
The other two captains were in the opposite group.
Right, Cardi was also in that group.
James called out two men, “Robert, Smith, you two lead the right team. You know what to do. Don’t disappoint me.”
The two men stepped forward and took their place at the front of the right team.
“Don’t worry, Captain. We’ll get the job done!”
Sules remembered those two—both were from James’s main ship.
Robert was James’s first mate and highly regarded.
As for Smith, Sules guessed, unless she was mistaken, he was probably also a Level 5 Martial Artist.
James nodded and continued, “I’ll lead the left team. We’re searching the ship’s hold below the deck. The right team will search the superstructure. Any treasure found should be handed to the team leader immediately. Anyone caught hoarding will be executed without mercy, and those who report them will receive a reward of five silver shells.”
After the order, Robert led the bulk of the team into the hold.
Once they had all entered, James opened the door and casually pointed at someone to go down first.
Sules and Rick stood together in line at the back.
She glanced sideways at the young man next to her, still a little uneasy, and asked, “Rick, your hand really okay? Doesn’t it hurt?”
Rick offered his hand.
“See, the bleeding’s stopped. I’m really fine.”
Sules noticed a bloodstain on his index finger and pointed to it.
“What’s this about?”
Rick looked at the small wound and suddenly laughed.
“Oh, that? I accidentally got scratched by a splinter on the wood just now. Ah, how careless of me.”
Sules couldn’t help but frown and gave him a strange look.
To her, Rick’s reaction felt odd.
Though he complained verbally, his expression carried a hint of pride.
And that complaint sounded weird in some indefinable way.
She shook her head and dismissed the strange feeling.
Soon it was their turn.
Sules stepped down the stairs and entered beneath the deck.
It was dim here.
The fish lamps originally used to illuminate this area had long since lost their glow due to disrepair.
Luckily, everyone had adventure-grade fish lamps on their heads, so it wasn’t a problem.
The structure here was simple: a corridor flanked by various rooms.
About fifty people felt a bit cramped in this corridor.
Even with James at the far end, the passage was still packed.
James raised a loudspeaker made from an expanded fish horn and shouted to everyone, “Each of you has a room close by across from you. Form small groups and enter the rooms to search for items. Anything unfamiliar, or items whose use you can’t determine, or anything suspicious—bring it to me.”
To Sules’s left was a dark green wooden door.
There was also another room to the right, but since she liked green, she decided to enter this one.
Rick noticed her staring at the door and quietly asked, “You want to go into this room?”
Sules nodded.
Rick immediately said, “Then I’ll come with you. We’re close, so we can watch out for each other.”
Close?
Sules’s brows twitched subconsciously as that strange feeling returned.
At most, she and Rick were just acquaintances who could talk.
One caring question just now didn’t mean they were close friends.
Was Rick really that forward?
Captain James led the way into the next room, and the crew began to disperse.
Sules pushed the green door open—and to her surprise, it swung open easily.
She stepped in quickly, followed by three others.
The small room was soon packed tight.
The layout was simple.
In the middle stood a large iron pillar.
Soaked in seawater for so long, it had rusted a reddish-brown and was covered in various plankton.
Around it lay some nondescript piles of wood and a few boxes.
Sules wasn’t familiar with ship’s holds since her own ship had none.
One of the men who came in with her breathed a sigh of relief.
“Boiler room. There’s definitely no treasure in here. No need to worry.”
Boiler room!
Sules suddenly understood.
Unlike modern times, this boiler room was for heating water and keeping the whole ship warm.
Usually, one or two sailors watched over it in winter.
It was somewhat akin to central heating.
The man who spoke casually sat on a box and looked at the three others.
“I’m just a Level 3 sailor. I know I won’t survive an expedition on an eighth-level ship. So I plan to slack off here until the main group leaves, then I’ll slip away.”
That was indeed a good plan, Sules thought silently.
Though from the rulers’ perspective, such employees should be fired, but from an ordinary person’s view, it was understandable.
The man continued, “You guys explore and leave when you’re done. Just don’t forget to close the door behind you. Leave me alone here. I’m not breaking any rules, so even if you report me, you probably won’t get much out of it. Let’s just understand each other and not make things difficult, alright?”
Rick’s expression was almost a smile.
“Let’s look around first—maybe we’ll find some surprises.”
He said this as he opened a box.
Then, a faint smile tugged at his lips as he stepped back, shouting, “Why is there a corpse here?”
Sules pursed her lips at his smile and stepped forward to inspect.
Sure enough, inside the box was a folded set of white bones, as if the deceased had tried to hide inside but died there.
The four of them gathered around, and the slack-off man casually said, “Isn’t that normal? This eighth-level ship must have been sunk by enemies. This person hid during the battle and died inside.”
That was indeed plausible, but… Sules looked at the bones thoughtfully.
“Would bones that have been dead for years be this clean?”
The bones were as white as paper with no stains.
Even underwater, there should have been plankton growing on them, but they were spotless.
Hearing Sules’s question, the man frowned in confusion.
“Yeah, why are the bones so clean? Like someone’s protecting them.”
At that moment, Sules noticed Rick had quietly moved to another box and bent over to open it, his hand already touching it.
“Wait! Don’t move!” she shouted immediately.
Though there was no immediate danger, the eerie white bones they’d just found had put Sules on alert.
Could there really be any safe places in the remains of an eighth-level ship?
Could this room be dangerous?
Without knowing the situation, rashly moving things would be unwise.
That was why she stopped Rick.
But to her surprise, hearing her shout, Rick hesitated for a moment, then quickly opened the box with one swift motion.
He looked up and apologized to Sules, “Ah, sorry, my hand was too quick. I didn’t react in time.”
Sules frowned, about to say something, but opened her mouth only to close it again.
She shook her head.
“It’s fine. No one open any more boxes now. I think something’s wrong with this place. We should all be careful.”
Rick had done it on purpose—Sules was sure of that.
When she spoke, his pause proved he had realized it.
But even after realizing, he still chose to open the box.
The intent behind that was questionable.
Yet she had no proof, and pressing the matter would only seem aggressive.
But no matter what, Sules was certain Rick was hiding something.
Recalling all the suspicious details Rick had displayed before, Sules subtly scrutinized him from head to toe.
Sensing potential danger, her body instinctively began to inch toward the door.