Chapter 131: White Coffin

Seeing a hand stretch out like that would startle anyone. Jiang Qing was a woman after all. Although she had trained in martial arts for a long time, that did not mean she was not afraid of such things.

She gasped sharply, her eyes filled with terror, and her mouth opened wide as if she was about to scream. Fortunately, Zuo Zhicheng was quick to react. He immediately pressed his hand over her mouth.

Then he made a gesture for silence.

“Shh!”

Jiang Qing quickly realized that if she screamed now and was discovered by the pirates, they would be doomed. Struggling to suppress her fear, she tightly wrapped her arms around Zuo Zhicheng’s arm.

Her voice sounded as if she was on the verge of crying. “What is that thing?”

Zuo Zhicheng patted her shoulder to help her relax, then turned his head to look toward the coffin. He wanted to take a step forward but found that his arm was held tightly by Jiang Qing. When he turned to look at her, she was shaking her head with a panicked expression.

Zuo Zhicheng found it amusing and patted her shoulder again. “It’s fine. At worst, it’s just a Jiangshi or something. Besides, it’s locked inside and can’t get out.”

Gradually reassured by Zuo Zhicheng’s words, Jiang Qing slowly released her grip. Perhaps she felt that whatever was inside the coffin was securely locked away, or maybe she thought she had overreacted, because a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. “I think this thing is really eerie. Let’s just stay away from it.”

“Let me take a closer look first.” As he spoke, Zuo Zhicheng slowly approached the coffin, while his left eye simultaneously adjusted to Night Vision Mode.

He intended to use Night Vision Mode to clearly see what was inside the crack of the coffin. He stood about a dozen centimeters away from the pale arm, widening his eyes to peer inside.

Under Night Vision Mode, the scene inside the coffin’s crack gradually became visible to Zuo Zhicheng. At that very moment, a mournful, wailing sound, like the screech of an old cat or an owl, came from the coffin, and the arm suddenly lunged toward Zuo Zhicheng.

The fingernails on the hand instantly grew by more than four or five inches, desperately clawing at Zuo Zhicheng’s head.

In this critical moment, Zuo Zhicheng calmly extended his right hand and firmly grabbed the pale wrist. The hand struggled violently but could not break free from Zuo Zhicheng’s grasp. Zuo Zhicheng’s arm remained as steady as a mountain, unmoving.

By sensing the strength coming from the other’s arm, Zuo Zhicheng had already gauged its power. The other party was slightly stronger than Victor and Marie but still no match for him.

As he got a clearer view inside the coffin, he began to piece together what might have happened.

Jiang Qing, watching from behind, was startled by the scene. However, seeing Zuo Zhicheng calmly holding onto the wrist without letting go, she finally relaxed a little. “What exactly is it?”

Zuo Zhicheng frowned, thought for a moment, and then spoke. “Those pirates are not human. They are creatures called Ghouls.”

“What? Ghouls?” Jiang Qing stared at Zuo Zhicheng in disbelief, but then, suddenly remembering Marie’s appearance in the ship’s cabin, she quickly accepted it.

Zuo Zhicheng then briefly explained what he knew about Ghouls and the pirates. Throughout his explanation, the hand from the coffin remained firmly in his grasp, unable to break free no matter how hard it struggled.

“Could it be that this coffin…” Having heard Zuo Zhicheng’s information about Ghouls, Jiang Qing stared at the coffin in astonishment.

“Yes, it should be a Ghoul too.” What Zuo Zhicheng had seen inside the coffin was a blue-faced, fanged Ghoul. “But it’s a bit strange. It seems this one was placed inside the coffin and then sunk into the sea. They must have recently fished it out.”

As he spoke, Zuo Zhicheng released his grip. The Ghoul in the coffin immediately pulled its hand back, seemingly too frightened now to extend it again.

“It seems to have lost its mind and can’t speak.” Zuo Zhicheng understood that being locked away like this could drive anyone insane. Although he wasn’t sure if Ghouls still counted as human.

There was another issue, though. On the ship, he had been able to scan Peter and the others with Infrared Vision, but this Ghoul before him, like a Corpse Human, showed no trace of body heat at all.

Moreover, why was this Ghoul locked in a coffin? Why was it sunk into the sea, and then salvaged? Clearly, there were many unanswered questions, but Zuo Zhicheng could not solve them now.

At the very least, having confirmed that the coffin contained only a crazed Ghoul, Zuo Zhicheng decided it posed little threat and left it alone. He returned to Jiang Qing, and they hid together in a corner of the cargo hold.

They remained hidden there for about an hour. After that, the two ships began to move again. The pirates dispatched some crew to the passenger ship, and both vessels set off together, heading toward the location of the Pirate Base.

…

Roughly three hours later—by Zuo Zhicheng’s own mental count—a vibration traveled through the ship beneath his feet.

Zuo Zhicheng, who had been sitting cross-legged in the cargo hold, opened his eyes and calmly said, “We must have arrived.”

Jiang Qing stood up as well and asked, “What should we do now? Go down immediately?”

“You wait here. They might come into the cargo hold to move goods. I’ll go out to check the situation.” With that, Zuo Zhicheng took a few swift steps and slipped out. Like a fish moving through darkness, he instinctively hid within the shadows.

It wasn’t just about hiding. As he activated Night Sea, the light around him was completely absorbed, and he himself seemed to transform into shadow.

In Jiang Qing’s line of sight, Zuo Zhicheng disappeared in an instant. Still, trusting him, she remained where she was, motionless. However, she couldn’t help glancing back toward the coffin from time to time.

When Zuo Zhicheng had been with her earlier, everything felt manageable. But now, alone in this place, she felt a creeping sense of dread.

Screeeech—

Just then, a metallic scraping sound came from the direction of the coffin, followed by a sharp, piercing shriek.

Hearing the sound sent a shiver down Jiang Qing’s entire body. She endured it for a while, but the noise only seemed to grow louder, accompanied by the sound of chains clanking and dragging.

‘Could that thing be climbing out?’

The thought made Jiang Qing even more uneasy. The sound persisted, growing more intense, like an old cat’s claws relentlessly scratching at her heart.

‘What’s happening? Could it really be crawling out?’

Eventually, Jiang Qing couldn’t resist any longer. She turned around and tiptoed cautiously toward the coffin.