Don't provoke mentally ill people in the infinite flow genre!

When Yi Zanglan and his two companions arrived at the captain's cabin, they, as usual, ransacked the place in a bandit-like manner, eventually finding the captain's nautical logbook in a locked box.

As for how the box lock was opened...

It was naturally Yi Zanglan who opened it by hand.

"Oh, the captain's handwriting is quite beautiful." Yan Zhao carefully flipped through the pages one by one, and when she saw the last page, her expression paused slightly. "...He recorded what happened that night."

The previous pages of the log were all normal, but this one page had messy, crooked handwriting, clearly indicating that the captain was trying to preserve some truth in a state of extreme tension and panic.

Time: Approximately 01:04 (UTC+10)

Coordinates: 23°03′N, 115°E

This was no ordinary group of pirates; it was an organized, well-equipped transnational criminal organization with inside help, and they had been eyeing this ship for a long time.

Radio was jammed, distress signals were interrupted, passengers were herded into a certain area, and bursts of gunfire could be heard.

They not only plunder property, but also take pleasure in slaughter; human life is merely a toy in their eyes.

The Eternal Night cruise ship has become a maritime hell, and I am powerless to stop it. Perhaps I will die soon too.

May God bless you, may...

At the bottom of the box was a bravery badge awarded by the International Maritime Organization, gleaming gold, placed in a velvet box, showing how much the captain valued it.

Yi Zanglan examined the badge for a moment, then turned to her two sisters to indicate it.

"Let's go back and find the captain."

……

Meanwhile, Ouyang Yu and Zhang Nan were staying in the guest room, along with Ahua, who was responsible for supervising the clown and the captain who were locked in the inner room.

Although Ah Hua came to help, being alone with the vengeful ghost, who seemed ready to explode at any moment, made her feel uneasy.

Ouyang Yu had many questions. After hesitating for a long time, she finally mustered up the courage to break the awkward atmosphere first.

"Sister," she asked politely, "will you stay with us until we clear the game?"

Ahua, who was in a daze, glanced at her impatiently after hearing this.

"Am I your mother? And I'm accompanying you to the border crossing? There's a ton of work to do at Qingyang Prison. Do we look like we have nothing better to do?"

"...No, no, I was being rude."

Ouyang Yu could tell that although Ahua was sharp-tongued, she meant no harm, so she was quiet for a while before continuing to inquire.

"May I ask one more question? Did you... sign a contract with Miss Yi Zanglan?"

Ahua frowned in thought: "A contract? What kind of contract is that? It's just that she invited us, and we came after receiving the message."

"Can we invite just anyone?"

"Nonsense, of course not," Ahua said. "In all this time, only that girl surnamed Yi has succeeded. I think besides Alu liking her, her weapon is also very special."

Ouyang Yu was taken aback: "Her weapon?"

"Yeah, haven't you seen it yet?" Ahua sneered. "You'll see it sooner or later. When they chopped off that old bastard warden's head, it was so damn cool!"

After saying that, Ahua became engrossed in the battle and stopped paying attention to Ouyang Yu.

Not long after, the door was suddenly kicked open, and Ah Xiang and Ah Yue quickly floated in.

"Let that clown see which one is his hat!"

Zhang Nan looked at the two of them, who were carrying a large pile of all kinds of hats on their heads and in their hands. He thought they were small vendors from somewhere, and his expression was one of surprise.

In fact, his understanding had been overturned several times in the past half day.

"Wow...so many? Enough to open...open a shop."

Ah Yue explained gently, "If you're not sure which one is right, just bring back all the ones you see. There's bound to be one it likes."

Ah Xiang pointed to the small court hat on Ah Yue's head: "Anyway, I like this one, and you look beautiful in it."

"But it doesn't matter if you like it, Xiangxiang."

As they were talking, Ahua went inside and dragged the clown out. The clown was still on fire, but Ahua was covered in cold, damp vapors, so the fire went out soon.

"Hehehe...Where's my hat? Has anyone seen my hat?"

It muttered to itself, its laughter neither quite a laugh nor a cry, looking rather pitiful.

Three female ghosts surrounded it, chattering and asking it questions.

"Is it this bucket hat? Or this newsboy cap? How about a baseball cap? Do you like a flat cap?"

"Everyone, everyone," Ouyang Yu tried to stop them, calmly pointing to Ah Xiang, "Do you think it might be this one?"

The colorful pointed hat worn by Ah Xiang is clearly the most commonly used performance hat for circus clowns.

"Huh?" Ah Xiang scratched her head. "I almost forgot I was still wearing it."

Ahua's comment: "Stupid thing."

"Get lost!"

Zhang Nan took the colorful pointed hat and put it on the clown, speaking to him very solemnly.

"Sir, your hat has been found."

"..."

The clown scratched its head in a daze, then awkwardly got up, wanting to look at itself in the full-length mirror in the guest room.

But there was no image of it in the mirror, only a blurry outline.

"This is a hat my daughter gave me," it murmured to itself. "Thank goodness I found it, otherwise she would be angry when I get back."

It fumbled and straightened its burnt and tattered performance costume, then walked toward the door as if sleepwalking.

"Going home...going home...After these shows, once I get off the cruise ship, I can save up enough money to go home..."

When it completely disappeared outside the door, both the human and the ghost inside the guest room fell into a long silence.

[Artwork Cleanup Progress: 9/12]

* * * * * *

On the other side, backstage at the theater.

Jiang Yao changed into a white, tight-fitting dance costume with gold thread embroidery. He sat in front of the dressing table while Jiang Ling applied his makeup.

"That's starting to look good." A'Luo stood beside her, nodding repeatedly, and chatted with the ballet ghost, "What do you think? Are you satisfied with this dance partner?"

The ballet ghost remained silent, simply bending her broken limbs in a bizarre posture, staring expressionlessly at Jiang Yao's dance costume.

"Lingling," Jiang Yao suddenly said, "a brush poked my eye."

"...Ouch!" Jiang Ling quickly rubbed his eyes. "I can't help it, brother. I only know how to do my own makeup, I've never done anyone else's—especially not yours."

"Hmm, what are your thoughts?"

My impression is that you're quite pretty.

"What's the difference between that and praising yourself?"

The two looked up together, and in the mirror, two completely similar faces, both with upturned and charming peach blossom eyes, seemed to overlap for a moment.

For some reason, both of them fell silent.

Finally, it was Aro who broke the atmosphere, pinching the back of both of their necks with her cold hands at the same time.

"How long are you planning to keep watching? Are you going to dance or not?!"

"..."

Jiang Yao quickly stood up. After a moment's hesitation, he very gentlemanly reached out his hand to the ballerina ghost.

"Beautiful lady, it's our turn."

Surprisingly, the ballerina ghost stared at him coldly, without any reaction.

"...Brother." Jiang Ling gently nudged him and whispered, "How do you expect it to accept the invitation?"

Jiang Yao then belatedly realized that the female ghost's limbs were broken, so theoretically she couldn't dance anymore.

So what should he, as its dance partner, do?

He pondered for a long time, and then suddenly had an idea.