Great, I'm surrounded by villains.

Chapter 244 Ship Spirit
"You mean you didn't have sailing sickness, but something really weird got on board?"

A quarter of an hour later, Duan Mingyuan rushed to Tang Qianqian's room after hearing the news, and brought in the caramel pudding that was placed at the door of her room.

Tang Qianqian hid herself in the quilt, with only her head sticking out, shivering.

The quilt looks bulging, and there should be a tabby cat hidden inside.

She was not the heroine in those horror movies who went out like a reckless man to check when she heard an inexplicable sound, and then encountered an evil spirit in a dark corner and had her tendons and skinned alive. She followed the guidance of Senior Ming Yuan and called the other party as soon as possible.

To ensure that everything was safe, she and Lihua hid under the quilt before Duan Mingyuan arrived.

According to Article 71 of the Code of Evil Spirits, no evil spirits may attack people in quilts, nor may they forcibly open the quilts by any means. When humans hide in quilts, the principle of "man and quilt are one" should be followed. Those with serious circumstances may be sentenced to life imprisonment.

"It's true, Senior, what you are holding in your hand is caramel pudding, right?"

"Ah."

"How about...you try it?"

Duan Mingyuan didn't understand why, but he did it anyway.

The taste is that of caramel pudding, with some sweet scent of roses. This is a special version of pudding for September, serving as the main dessert for interstellar voyages.

Tang Qianqian saw Duan Mingyuan eating a pudding in front of her and finally left the bed.

But Lihua's mental state was very unstable, so she decided to continue resting in bed for a while.

"Identification completed. I don't have navigation syndrome at all. There's just something weird on the ship!"

Now that Duan Mingyuan has arrived, Tang Qianqian feels more confident in speaking.

Evil, huh?

If you are brave enough, come out and compete with Senior Mingyuan!

Duan Mingyuan was thoughtful. If Tang Qianqian's judgment was correct, then this girl had a natural insight into the arrival of danger, just like the danger prediction feature in Pokémon. When there was danger in the environment, she would tremble and give a warning.

Even when he last conducted a comprehensive inspection on the Ranger, he did not notice the presence of anyone other than them.

However, the two caramel puddings at the door made people feel that the other party did not come with malicious intentions, and looked like they wanted to make friends with Tang Qianqian and Lihua.

"Let's go and take a look at the place you mentioned."

Duan Mingyuan said.

The strange noise came from the kitchen, just like a mouse at night, sneaking into the kitchen to steal food while the crew fell asleep.

This search still yielded no results. Tang Qianqian, holding a notebook, said that three caramel puddings were missing from the refrigerator, two of which were placed at the door of her room, and one was missing.

"Must be hiding."

Tang Qianqian rummaged through the kitchen cabinets and drawers, leaving no one unsearched. The last time they conducted a thorough search, they all mistook each other for humans, but after living on the boat for a few days, she had begun to suspect that they might be monsters such as rats or insects.

There are all kinds of monsters in this world. Lihua told her clearly that there are also rat spirits on the blue planet.

But no one likes rat spirits, and you can usually only find them in the dirtiest and darkest corners.

"Or maybe we're looking in the wrong way."

Duan Mingyuan seemed to be thinking about something.

Just as Tang Qianqian thought, this is a world full of monsters, evil spirits and strange people, but they still search in the same way they treat humans.

He checked the changes in the life energy on the Ranger until he noticed something unusual in the northwest corner of the kitchen.

Duan Mingyuan came to the open space near the kitchen counter. Although the floor looked no different from the surrounding ones, the life energy in this area had created a gap, as if someone had dug up the floor and then pieced it back together.

He bent down and groped on the floor for a moment, then opened a secret door in front of Tang Qianqian's shocked eyes.

It was dark behind the secret door. From this angle, she could vaguely see the stairs leading down.

Tang Qianqian suddenly felt unwell when she thought that she might have been living with a monster on the Ranger for the past few days, and wondered if the monster had sneaked into her and Lihua's room while they were asleep and done something.

She took out her cell phone and turned on the light.

He followed Duan Mingyuan tremblingly.

This is a space that theoretically should not exist. At least the existence of the secret door was not marked on the design drawing provided to them by the Third Prince.

The space under the stairs was extremely small, and the air seemed to be filled with a faint smell of caramel pudding.

This place looked no different from a storage room. Tang Qianqian suddenly came to the corner, shone the light of her mobile phone towards the innermost corner, and prepared herself mentally to see a hideous monster.

However, what caught my eye was a girl with long straight black hair and wearing a school uniform.

The girl hugged her knees pitifully and huddled in the corner.

She was cornered by the two and did not resist. She just raised her head and looked at them. After a brief silence, she suddenly said in a robot-like voice without any emotion, "Dululu, I am the ship spirit of the Ranger."

"It turns out to be the ghost of the Ranger. This clears up the misunderstanding."

Hearing the girl say this, Duan Mingyuan immediately relaxed.

"It would be strange if it can be removed! Senior, look at her, how does she look like a ship spirit?"

Tang Qianqian complained that she recently discovered that although Senior Mingyuan usually looked serious and difficult to get along with, he seemed to have a unique sense of humor in some inexplicable places.

Simply put, he is the type of person who brings a deadpan comedian to life.

When he proposed the name "Merry" in front of a group of experts, Tang Qianqian couldn't help but respect Duan Mingyuan.

And now, the senior actually believed in the existence of the ship spirit.

Just like Chopper.

Could it be that... the senior has been trying hard to integrate into the identity of "ship doctor" recently?

As for this girl with long black hair, although no one knew where she came from, she was definitely not a ship spirit, but a truant student from a high school.

Tang Qianqian is very familiar with this because she used to be a truant girl and understands the mental state of this group of people very well.

"Tell me, which school did you escape from?"

"…No. 1 Middle School in the city."

"No. 1 Middle School? The No. 1 Middle School in Yunlong City?"

The black-haired girl nodded silently. Her natural red pupils always made Tang Qianqian feel familiar. First of all, Chaozhong is not open to the public yet. The fact that a student from the No. 1 Middle School in the city could sneak into Chaozhong is itself full of wonders.

She continued, "What are you doing on the Ranger?"

The girl with long black hair lowered her head, fumbled in her schoolbag for a while, took out a crumpled 50-bei cash note from the space on the left, and handed it to Tang Qianqian.

"What does it mean?"

"Ferry ticket money."

Tang Qianqian was speechless for a moment.

In this day and age, you want to buy a space flight ticket for 50 francs? Is this the real-life version of "I'm a student, can you give me a discount?"
If you really count it, the three caramel puddings she ate totaled this much.

That was the masterpiece of Jiu Yue, the apprentice of the palace chef. Coupled with her identity as a nine-tailed fox demon, it was not a problem for her to hype up a pudding and sell it for thousands of shells. The court now lacked everything except rich people.

Ever since the last auction, many people have been thinking about Miss Fox Fairy and have been asking the auction house when Miss Fox Fairy would be able to appear on stage again.

The lights and shadows on the Chaozhong train platform were also replaced with the advertisement shot by Jiu Yue. When they first arrived in Chaozhong, they found a group of people standing under the holographic projection, looking up at Jiu Yue in the light and shadow and going crazy. These people formed Miss Fox Fairy's Fan Club, and it was said that some important figures in the Chaozhong had also joined it.

It’s a pity that the minister fell to his death, otherwise he would be the best leader of the support group.

The black-haired girl seemed to understand that the money was far from enough, and asked hesitantly, "Can I pay in installments? I have 20 taels of living expenses a week."

"Do your family members know that you have come to the court?"

Tang Qianqian's bad premonition became stronger and stronger. When she saw the girl with long black hair shaking her head, this ominous premonition suddenly reached its peak.

Not only did she skip school, but she was also a runaway girl.

The black-haired girl suddenly thought of something, and her eyes lit up. "If you can't pay in installments, I can cooperate with you to make blackmail calls to my family."

“First of all, we are not human traffickers.”

Tang Qianqian said, "Secondly, do you know where the Ranger's destination is?"

It is understandable that one wants to run away from home because of too much pressure or conflicts at home, but escaping from this planet is a bit too much.

"Mechanical Star."

!! ?
Tang Qianqian was speechless again, because she actually didn't know the destination of this journey. Mr. Mingyuan only got a string of navigation beacons.

She turned to Duan Mingyuan and asked, "Are we going to Jiqiao Star?"

"Ah."

Duan Mingyuan nodded.

However, the briefing was only sent from the Flash Flag Chamber of Commerce tonight. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, the Third Prince has never disclosed any matters related to the itinerary. Even most of the crew members of this interstellar voyage do not know which planet the destination is. However, this girl with long black hair who somehow got on board knows the destination of the voyage.

"I have a reason to go to Planet Jiqi. It's my hometown."

The black-haired girl lowered her head and said, "I will get off the ship when we reach our destination and will not disturb you again."

"Are you a mechanical star?"

Duan Mingyuan asked.

The secret door above their heads was not opened by any power or barrier, but by some prop that Duan Mingyuan had never seen before.

The girl with long black hair nodded.

"Were you and your parents driven out of Planet Jiqiao?"

The briefing they received mentioned the general situation of the planet Jiqi.

It was a planet with a huge gap between the rich and the poor, and a small number of nobles almost controlled the wealth and power of the entire planet. A civil strife broke out on the planet several decades ago, but it was quickly suppressed by the Chamber of Commerce support forces. In order to establish their authority, the nobles on the planet executed all the rebels and expelled all their relatives and friends from the planet, making them interstellar refugees.

Originally these people were going to die, but out of kindness, the Flash Flag Chamber of Commerce communicated with Jiqiao Star and gave them a way to live.

This incident is often widely circulated in the universe as a news report showing the Chamber of Commerce's benevolent side.

The reason for sending them the briefing is simple.

Jiqiao Star is a highly centralized planet with a civilization and social structure that are different from theirs. The Chamber of Commerce hopes that every summit representative will not meddle in other people's affairs.

"Ah."

The girl with long black hair nodded.

"What's your name?"

"exquisite."

The girl whispered.

The briefing showed that after the rebellion ended, there was a long period of terror on the planet Mecha. Everyone on the planet was in danger and neighbors reported on each other, resulting in many people being framed for no reason.

Duan Mingyuan understood the girl's eagerness to return home, but he had to remind her, "Even if you are treated unfairly, do you still want to go back? I have to remind you in advance that the current Jiqiao Star may be far from what you imagined."

"Ah."

Linglong nodded firmly again.

"why?"

Duan Mingyuan was a little confused. Since Linglong ran away from home, her parents probably didn't want her to return to Jiqiao Star.

"Because there is a treasure buried there."

"Treasure?"

"When mom and dad fled, they didn't have time to take the treasure out."

"They escaped from the planet of Jiqi?"

Duan Mingyuan became more and more confused, because according to the publicity of the Flash Flag Chamber of Commerce, they dispatched five flagships to take the exiled refugees from the Mechanical Star away from the planet.

The exiles left their homeland safely.

"Ah."

Linglong said, "It seems that he was discovered by the guards when he was stealing the national treasure, and he fled in a hurry without taking the stolen goods with him."

(End of this chapter)