Chapter 1 A Startling Appearance

A ship "rose" from the sea in a shocking manner, appearing before Vanna and Nina.

The waves on the sea hadn't calmed down yet, and layers of turbulent currents spread around the rusty ship, seawater constantly falling from its corroded smokestacks and deck structures, making loud and chaotic noises. It swayed slightly between the waves, and the slanting sunlight shone on its deck, as if spreading an unreal color.

Nina was stunned, and it took her several seconds to react. She immediately shouted, "Ah! A ship! A ship! A ship suddenly popped up!"

Then she suddenly turned to Vanna, speaking rapidly, "I'm going to tell Uncle Duncan!"

Before she finished speaking, the girl had already turned around and dashed across the deck like a gust of wind, running towards the stern.

Vanna, however, was still staring intently at the strange ship that had suddenly emerged from the sea, observing the decayed and old traces, and every detail on the ship.

She noticed a row of large letters on the side of the bow—the letters were covered with severe rust and dirt, making them difficult to identify, but she still managed to read them out: "Obsidian."

The sudden appearance of the mysterious ship on the sea caused a great stir, and of course, Nina and Vanna were not the only ones to notice it. In a short while, the others who were resting in the cabin also gathered on the deck, including Morris, Shirley, A Gou, and Alice. They came to the bow in amazement, looking at the strange ship not far away, and guessing its origin. Soon, Duncan also followed Nina to the deck at the bow.

"Mr. Duncan," Vanna said immediately after seeing Duncan, "There are no signs of life on that ship. It might be a... ghost ship."

When she said the words "ghost ship," the expression on the young investigator's face was a little strange.

"Another one," Duncan casually replied, then looked up and observed the "ghost ship" that seemed to be only half the size of the *Unlost*. He first noticed the smokestack structure on the upper level of the ship. "It looks like a steamship... Can we infer its approximate year and origin?"

"No need to infer," Morris' voice suddenly sounded from the side. The old scholar's gaze was fixed on the distant sea, with a hint of complexity in his eyes. "I saw its name—Obsidian, a steam clipper. It sank in the Frost Sea six years ago."

"Ah?" Shirley, who was craning her neck, immediately looked at the old gentleman in surprise, "Old man, you know that ship?"

"Brown Scott was on that ship when the accident happened," Morris said in a slightly low voice, "But... how could it suddenly appear here? And in this way..."

Alice, listening to the conversation of the others, looked up at the "Obsidian" in the distance, then looked back at Morris and Duncan. After thinking for a long time, she finally blurted out, "Captain, is this normal? Will a sunken ship float up from the sea again?"

"Of course, this isn't normal," Duncan glanced at the憨憨 (hān hān – simple and naive person), "This is called a ghost ship... and I suspect it's more than just a ghost ship."

As he said this, he suddenly heard the voice of the Goat Head in his mind: "Captain, should we fire a couple of shots? The cannons say they're a little thirsty looking at this suitable angle and distance, and can't help but want to smash a few shells over there..."

"Tell them to hold it in!" Duncan interrupted the Goat Head without hesitation, then pondered slightly, turned to look at the few people beside him, "We have to go check it out."

"We're going... to that ghost ship?" Shirley shrank her neck as soon as she heard this, "Wouldn't that be a bit rash? I'm not afraid of anything else, I'm just afraid that ship will suddenly sink back down, after all, it suddenly popped up..."

"A Yi will bring us back," Duncan glanced at the girl lightly, "Of course, if you don't want to go, you can stay here. No one's forcing you."

Shirley opened her mouth, but before she could speak, A Gou interrupted the silence, "We'll go, we'll go! It's our duty to serve the captain! We're happy to!"

Shirley was stunned, and then she began to mutter to her partner in her heart:

"A Gou, can't you have some principles..."

"Isn't it a principle to see the situation clearly, actively perform, enthusiastically participate in collective activities?" A Gou said plausibly in the mental connection, "The boss is leading the team, so there's no need to worry about safety. Of course, we have to perform well..."

"I mean, can you give me the chance to latch onto the big shot next time? You always snatch it..."

A Gou thought for a while: "...Shirley, can't you have some principles?"

Duncan didn't care what Shirley and A Gou were communicating while they were in a daze (he knew that these two 'people' were definitely chattering in their mental connection in silence), but looked up at the others, "Want to come along?"

"I want to go!" Nina raised her hand first. She even seemed a little excited. "A ghost ship, I've only heard about it in legends before. I've never seen one in person."

"The *Unlost* is also a ghost ship," Duncan had to remind the girl, then looked at the others,

"What about you?"

"That ship might have clues left by Brown before the accident," Morris nodded, "I'll go with you."

"I'll go too," Vanna said, "The ghost ship phenomenon is likely related to heresy or evil corruption. I have some experience in this area."

"I don't know," Alice thought for a while, looking at Duncan, "But I want to be with the captain."

"Then let's all go, just to see the world," Duncan said casually, then waved to the mast not far away, calling down the pigeon that was basking in the sun and closing its eyes to rest, "A Yi, take us to that ghost ship."

A ball of ghostly green flames suddenly rose on the *Unlost*. After a moment, the huge bone bird soared into the air and pounced towards the "Obsidian," which was swaying slightly with the waves not far away.

The deck of the *Unlost* fell silent.

This silence lasted for a short time, and a small boat hanging near the side of the *Unlost* suddenly made a creaking sound, shaking quite dejectedly.

It was a shuttle boat, normally used to quickly transfer personnel between two ships close to each other on the sea.

Two cables coiled around the edge of the deck made a rustling sound, wriggling like snakes to the side of the shuttle boat, and raised the ends of the ropes to pat the hull of the boat.

The Goat Head, who was staying in the captain's room, of course sensed the situation near the deck. It sighed slightly and spoke to the old buddies on the ship who had been together for a century: "Or... you few small boats should still practice the ability to paddle in the sea..."

The creaking sound of the small boat shaking became louder. On the other side, A Yi, who had flown to the sky above the Obsidian, did not land immediately. Instead, under Duncan's command, it circled the ghost ship several times, roughly confirming that there were no active targets on the entire ship, before landing on a deck that looked relatively clean and stable.

Ghostly green flames rose into the air, and Duncan and the others stepped out of the flames.

A distinct, foul odor almost immediately entered everyone's nostrils—it was the stench of seawater, mixed with some indescribable rotten smells.

Nina frowned as soon as she came to the deck: "Ew... it smells so bad up here..."

"Not all ghost ships are as clean and tidy as the *Unlost*, and there are unlimited fries," Duncan said to Nina with a smile, "If this ship is really the Obsidian from back then, then it has been soaked in the deep sea for six years."

As he spoke, he surveyed this steamship that revealed weirdness everywhere.

Rust, dilapidation, mottled stains—it might have once been a beautiful and advanced mechanical clipper, but now there was only a pile of lifeless steel and wood left, and what was even more bizarre was that as a ship that had just floated up from the sea, the seawater was gone.

The deck was dry.

Even in many recessed places on the deck, those places that should have easily accumulated water were now dry.

Vanna obviously noticed this too. She squatted down and rubbed the ground with her fingers, her brows slightly furrowed.

She remembered the scene when the ship floated up from the sea. At that time, a large amount of seawater poured down from the Obsidian, looking like a continuous waterfall, washing every corner of the ship—judging from common sense, there could be no dry places on this ship.

"Vanna," Morris turned his head after roughly observing the surrounding situation, "Do you feel any signs of heresy or evil corruption?"

"...No," Vanna shook her head slowly with a frown. She had been paying attention to this from the moment she stepped on the deck, and constantly sensed whether there were any supernatural power fluctuations around her. "There is no supernatural aura at all, but this is even more wrong—the deck is dry, which is obviously abnormal, and there must be supernatural power involved behind the abnormal phenomenon."

"Then it may be a supernatural power that is beyond your perception," Duncan said casually, and then stepped forward, "Anyway, if there is really something hidden on this ship, then as long as we look for it, it will definitely pop out."

Nina quickly ran two steps to catch up with her Uncle Duncan: "What if something really jumps out?"

Duncan stopped, turned his head with a smile, "In short, first try to reason with it..."