Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 93 The person in the coffin, the chess piece outside the coffin
On the rippling blue surface of the Sea of ​​Despair, the Valkyrie, braving a thick circular fog with a radius of a full nautical mile, and guided by the small boat in the metal bowl, led the Honest Man behind her and headed towards the legendary Misty Island.

This was the second day of their new journey, and the vine mandrills and gorillas returned to their respective posts.

On the second deck at the bow of the Honest Man, the merfolk with an extra string on their tails not only had a musical instrument made of branches of a verdant sacred tree in their hands, but also had a beautiful wreath of thorns covered with flowers on their heads.

Just as they would not tell them how painful it was when the thorns on the thorn wreaths pierced their scalps, Yun Ji and others on the Valkyrie would never tell these brave fish people where those wreaths or even those musical instruments came from.

On the second-floor open deck of the Valkyrie, under the careful instruction of Yun Ji, Yafuso once again pulled the spider bow in her hand and aimed an ordinary wooden arrow at the oak barrel hanging on the top of the foremast.

"whoosh"

Under the tremendous force of the bowstring, the wooden arrow shaft flew out instantly, and finally shot through the unlit fish oil ship lamp accurately at a distance from the oak barrel that was only one person's height away.

"Hit it!" Yafuso shouted excitedly.

"Missed"

Yun Ji kicked the oak barrel filled with wooden arrows and said, "Your target is the oak barrel on top of the mast, not the ship's lantern."

"Oh--"

With a pair of large scissors on her waist, Yafuso pulled out a new arrow in disappointment, drew the bow and arrow again, and released the bowstring towards the oak barrel hanging on the top of the foremast that was swaying in the wind.

At the same time, Shenba was driving the two stolen pigs to pull the millstone in the cargo hold, making soy milk for the many sailors as usual.

In the forecastle not far away, Gerta was also concentrating on tending to the vegetables planted in boxes.

In the captain's office, Wuying was riding on the Eternal Coffin, concentrating on dismantling the tightly entangled bridles.

At the same time, Cheng Lang, who was sitting on the sofa not far away, was also secretly looking at Wuying.

Although this lovely, fair and tender little girl had been "hatched" again, she hadn't changed much at all, except that her silver hair had grown much longer. Of course, there was also a white snake named Hiss.

"crash"

While he was distracted, Wuying took off another chain and threw it to Hiss.

The latter had a good appetite. He opened his mouth and swallowed the bridle easily.

Although Cheng Lang couldn't figure out what kind of relationship these two little bean sprouts had, he noticed that Hiss swallowed the bridle one second, and the next second, there seemed to be an extra bridle bracelet on Wuying's wrist.

"I have no energy left"

After untying the bridle, Wuying also yawned, and then actually lay directly on the eternal coffin.

Seeing this, Cheng Lang, who had become accustomed to this scene in the past two days, immediately picked it up, left the captain's office with Hiss following at his feet, came to the false heart chamber at the bow of the ship, and placed it on the small bed next to the heart pool.

"Hasn't everything been untied yet?"

Just as he was walking back, Yun Ji came up to him and asked curiously.

"not yet"

Cheng Lang said helplessly, "There are only two left. I guess I can't untie them until tomorrow."

"So tomorrow we will know whether the person in the Eternal Coffin is a Valkyrie?" Yun Ji asked excitedly.

"It can't be the Valkyrie," Cheng Lang was extremely sure at this time.

"Why?" Yun Ji asked in confusion.

"Just a Fountain of Repentance and a man-made divine body, Mist Shadow, can attract a half-blood sea monster."

Cheng Lang stopped and fumbled with the "snake skin" wrapped around the side of the boat. He said calmly, "A half-blooded sea monster's corpse can almost completely regenerate our two ships and all the sailors on board."

At this point, Cheng Lang looked at Yun Ji, "What if it's the body of a Valkyrie?"

Yun Ji couldn't help but shudder, then sighed, "Indeed, it really can't be a Valkyrie.

Otherwise, by now, all the forces of the Star Ocean Continent and all the sea monsters of the Sea of ​​Despair would have devoured us several times."

“We’ll know the answer tomorrow.”

Cheng Lang patted the side of the boat and walked into the captain's office with a worried look on his face.

He didn't care who was lying in the eternal coffin. Compared to these, the whip that still couldn't be taken out was what gave him the most headache.

Now he has restored contact with the center of the ship, but he still cannot take out the whip, which inevitably makes him feel empty-handed.

Unfortunately, although there were similar whips on this ship, they were not as flexible as the whip in the heart of the ship. He couldn't even make a crisp enough crack with it.

In this unspeakable torment and anxiety, time passed quickly and it was already the next morning.

After a sumptuous breakfast, Wuying, who was placed with high hopes, followed the captain and Yun Ji into the captain's room as if he were familiar with the place.

"This is the mushroom candy that matured last night."

Yun Ji was well prepared and handed a small basket of poisonous mushrooms to Wuying.

"Thank you sister!"

Wuying held the small basket and bowed sincerely, and she also did not forget to press her pet Shishi to bow as well.

“Let’s get started.”

Yun Ji and Cheng Lang exchanged a glance, then asked with a smile, "Wu Ying, are you sure you can solve the last two today?"

"confident!"

As Wuying spoke, he grabbed a handful of poisonous mushrooms and put them into his mouth. He also generously threw one to Hissing, who caught the poisonous mushroom accurately like a dog.

With the help of these small rewards, Wuying climbed up the Eternal Coffin again flexibly and began to dismantle the bridle again.

"We seem to have overlooked a problem," Yun Ji said beside the Eternal Coffin.

"What's the problem?" Cheng Lang asked absentmindedly.

"Now that we know the identity of the person in the coffin, what next?" asked Yun Ji.

"There's no point in thinking so much, just satisfy your curiosity first."

Cheng Lang was still a little absent-minded. The eternal coffin was about to be opened, but he still couldn't take out the whip.

"You seem"

"what?"

"nothing"

Yun Ji, hesitant to speak, shook her head and said, "Like you said, let's satisfy our curiosity first."

"Just keep an eye on it here, I'll come over after you untie it."

As Cheng Lang spoke, he had already walked out of the captain's office, went downstairs and walked into the bedroom.

"Mr. Magic Mirror, what's wrong with the captain?" Yun Ji asked in confusion, "He doesn't seem to be in a good mood."

"I'm sorry, Miss Yunji."

The magic mirror responded apologetically, "Let's not talk about it. I don't know what troubles the captain has encountered. Even if I knew, I wouldn't discuss this issue."

"In that case, why don't we continue talking about Saint Barbaya's speculation about Ni Lin after her 42nd astrology!" Yun Ji changed the subject with great interest.

"It's my honor, Miss Yunji." The magic mirror said flatteringly.

Just as the two of them began to discuss issues that probably only interested them, Cheng Lang once again entered the real heart chamber of the Valkyrie and once again placed his hand on the slowly beating heart of the ship.

However, no matter how hard he tried, the whip seemed to be constipated and could not be taken out. He didn't know whether it was because of this that he became more and more irritated.

Returning to the captain's office with nothing, Yun Ji and the magic mirror were still discussing, but Wuying had already untied one bridle and was now busy pulling the last bridle.

How did this little guy untie the bridle? Not only Cheng Lang and Yun Ji couldn't understand, even the magic mirror couldn't explain it.

Fortunately, even so, around noon, with a crisp "Snap!", the last tassel on the Eternal Coffin was ripped away by the sweaty Wuying and then thrown into the hissing mouth. "Finally untied!"

Wuying wiped the sweat from his forehead, put the last poisonous mushroom in the small basket into his mouth, and then yawned and said, "I'm so sleepy, I'm going back to sleep. Good afternoon, Captain, and good afternoon, Sister Yunji."

After saying that, the exceptionally polite little fellow first bowed again with his hissing head pressed, and then happily walked out of the captain's office carrying the empty little basket.

"Do you want to open it?" asked Yun Ji.

"Just opening the coffin won't destroy the eternal state inside, right?" Cheng Lang asked.

"That's right, my dear Captain."

The magic mirror suggested, "But for safety's sake, I suggest you bring the Sea Queen's protective oil lamp."

"makes sense"

Before Cheng Lang finished speaking, he ran downstairs and quickly took out the Sea Queen's Shelter Oil Lamp hanging in the ventricle of the ship and placed it on a chair next to the coffin.

Everything was ready. Cheng Lang waited until Yun Ji locked the office door before carefully opening the lid of the Eternal Coffin.

The coffin is filled with a transparent liquid that looks like gel.

In this liquid, there was a woman wearing a gorgeous princess dress.

She was petite, with a white veil covering her face and her hands with their fingers clasped together on her slightly raised chest.

If you only look at these, she is definitely a little princess with dignified manners.

But besides these, there was a pitch-black dagger stuck in her abdomen. Not only that, through the white gauze soaked with transparent gel, they could vaguely see a face.

A... uh... definitely an ugly and fierce face of an old man.

"What is this? Southern Liang? This is too Southern, isn't it?"

Cheng Lang muttered secretly. This was through the gel and white gauze. He couldn't imagine how ugly this person would be if he was fished out.

"The dagger."

Yun Ji spoke at this time, "That is... the Black Elf Dagger."

"Dark Elf Dagger?"

Cheng Lang came back to his senses and couldn't help but shift his gaze to the dagger.

Although the shape was different, and although he could not hear the roar of the soul inside the dagger, he belatedly recognized that it was indeed a dark elf dagger.

"Look at her hands," the magic mirror reminded.

Following each other's guidance, they looked at the hands of the person in the coffin, which were clasped together as if in prayer. Cheng Lang and Yun Ji also gradually noticed that there seemed to be a pendant similar to a small scarecrow sandwiched between the hands.

"That's a scapegoat."

The magic mirror sighed and said, "It is rumored that this is a mysterious item that only ancient dwarves can create."

"What is it used for?" Cheng Lang asked.

"When the user suffers fatal damage, the substitute puppet will transfer the damage to itself."

The magic mirror explained, "But it can only be transferred for one day and one night. If a cure is not found within one day and one night, the substitute puppet will die, and the person using the substitute puppet will also die."

"So that's why she was sent to the eternal coffin?"

Cheng Lang asked, "So we just need to take the person out and let the scapegoat continue to stay in here."

"With all due respect, Captain,"

The magic mirror reminded, "If it were really that simple, Princess Lika wouldn't have to lie here."

"Wait a minute, what did you just say?" Cheng Lang raised his head and looked at the mirror on the table not far away.

“Can’t go wrong”

Yun Ji also spoke at this time, "This is the most favored and beautiful Princess Bakla in the Principality of Lika in the past hundred years."

"The one who wrote a book called The Secret Garden on the Sea, and then returned to Rica to become the captain of the guards, and now he is married to..."

Before he could finish his words, Cheng Lang realized something that made his spine shiver. "That princess is fake?! Wait, how did you recognize her?"

"The only scapegoats the royal family of the Principality of Ricca has are a handful."

Yun Ji said, "But those surrogate puppets are all on the bodies of the dukes, marquises, and kings. The only women who used surrogate puppets were the queen and Princess Bakla."

At this point, Yun Ji pointed at the person in the coffin and said, "She can't be the queen of the Principality of Lika, right?"

"Isn't it said that the princess of the Principality of Ricca is the most beautiful?"

"Don't we all have a mask of hypocrisy?" asked Yun Ji.

Hearing this, Cheng Lang nodded involuntarily. Ever since leaving Dragonfly Fish Island, he had already taken off his hypocritical mask, so naturally he didn't think about this for a while.

"How old do you think she looks?" Cheng Lang asked a new question.

"I'm afraid he's not older than me," said Yun Ji.

"When did Princess Bakara leave Lika?" Cheng Lang asked.

"When I was 17"

Yun Ji answered immediately, "She lived in the Pirate City for nearly three years and returned to Lika after leaving behind a book called The Secret Garden of the Sea."

"So she was also switched during that time in Pirate City?" Cheng Lang frowned.

"Remember the side effects of the mask of hypocrisy?" the magic mirror reminded.

"Remember"

Cheng Lang nodded. "The hypocritical mask cannot be worn for more than one day and one night at a time. Otherwise, if you want to take it off, you will have to tear off your skin along with it."

"In other words, if you don't tear it off, then..."

"She is the real Princess Bakla"

Cheng Lang couldn't help but sigh, "Almost three years is enough time to thoroughly learn everything about a person. So, this Princess Bakla will only be able to bear this face from now on?"

"That depends on how long she'd been wearing this hypocritical mask when she was placed inside," the magic mirror explained. "Time is stagnant inside the Eternal Coffin."

“And this face”

Yun Ji said, "He was the man that Bakra was originally planning to marry, and he was also the one who forced Bakra to flee."

"Anything else?" Cheng Lang asked, looking at the princess in the gel. "So we can't take off the mask on her face now?"

"Unless you have a way to heal the fatal wound caused by the Black Elf's dagger."

Yun Ji sighed, "But there's no antidote to the black elf poison. Instead of trying to save the princess, it would be more realistic for us to figure out who killed her."

"It doesn't matter who killed her, but the only one who could put her in the eternal coffin was Panini." The magic mirror said firmly.

"If the person who killed her was also Panini"

"Snapped!"

Before Yun Ji could finish her words, she was surprised to find that Cheng Lang suddenly had a pitch-black whip in his hand.

Compared with the previous whip, this one was covered with black scales as small as rice grains. What was particularly terrifying was that when this whip appeared in Cheng Lang's hand, the Sea-Watching Vine on the Valkyrie actually cracked the whip, and then as if they were controlled by someone, they swam and entangled like poisonous snakes, and even whipped the deck which was also covered with scales.

But compared to these, Cheng Lang's eyes were already bloodshot at this time. The tip of the whip in his hand, like a demon just out of a cage, went straight into the gel of the eternal coffin. Before Yun Ji and the magic mirror could react, he used the sharp tip of the whip to wrap around the black elf dagger and gently pulled it out.

In just a blink of an eye, the originally black dagger had turned pale, and the whip tip had already pierced the wound in the abdomen of the person suspected to be Princess Bakara!

At the moment the whip suddenly appeared and turned from pitch black to snow-white, Mojing and Yunji felt a chill in their hearts, and a despairing thought emerged: the captain had finally become a scapegoat.
(End of this chapter)