From the Ship of Fools to Earl of Wugang

Chapter 98 [Four Signatures] River Chase

As soon as Edmund's feet touched the deck, he smelled a strong stench of blood.

Garn knelt beside the open wooden crate, holding the sea-green gem in his injured right arm, while his left hand stretched a lead sheet outward from the knee of the wooden leg.

The Corpse Demon stood between the two, and the three stitched-together skulls simultaneously turned towards Edmund.

As the bones inside its chest and abdomen collided, the three overlapping human faces on the river surface became clearer.

"Enough—let me die." A weary voice came from the leftmost mouth.

The face in the middle then squeezed in: "The treasure belongs to four people...the treasure belongs to four people!"

""

The third sound completely drowned out theirs.

"Kill them all!"

The three arms of the Corpse Demon also leaned in different directions: one hand tried to tear open and sew up the chest and abdomen, another was still protecting the treasure chest, and the last one reached towards the rapids on the speedboat.

Garn's face darkened, and he raised his wooden leg and slammed it heavily onto the deck.

Boom!

A short, metallic vibration came from inside the wood. The three faces contorted simultaneously, and the previously separate voices were forcibly squeezed together.

"Kill Sholto and take the treasure."

The corpse spirit immediately lunged forward.

Edmund swung his left arm sharply, and the intricate patterns hidden beneath his skin turned cold.

"Reveal your true form!"

The shadow cast by the stern light collapsed inward, and the sound of tearing silk came from the void. The wake of the Aurora, the bloodstains on the deck, and the shadow of the railing began to blur their boundaries.

Layers of translucent grayish-white film squeezed out from the gaps, forming a human figure with indistinct details.

Left foot stacked on top of right, heel on toe. One step landed beside the treasure chest, another on the ship, and hundreds more steps—some already taken, some yet to be taken, and some never to be taken—remained in place.

The contract has been responded to.

[Current remaining summon attempts: 1/3.]

A question that did not belong to sound appeared directly in Edmund's consciousness.

Where does the road lead?

"Let them be trapped and die in the same place."

The ghoul's claws were only half a foot away from Edmund, but in the next instant it pounced on the other side of the stern. There was a crack under its feet that hadn't completely dried—the spot where it had jumped.

At that moment, Garn reached for the lead plate, but although he took a step forward, his wooden leg landed back next to the treasure chest.

More than a dozen overlapping paths suddenly appeared out of thin air on the narrow deck.

The railings and the wooden crate were only a few steps apart, but in Garn's eyes they kept branching out. Every path led him to the undead, and every path ultimately brought him back to where he started.

The voices within the three skulls separated again.

"Enough—let me die." "Four people, four portions!" "Kill!"

The Corpse Spirit went berserk, and three death howls from its chest and abdomen squeezed through the same body, turning into a tremor that made one's teeth ache.

The two temporary shipwrights, who had been moving slowly, collapsed one after the other. Smith gripped the helm for a few seconds before finally collapsing onto the wheelhouse.

The out-of-control Aurora continued to move forward at high speed, and the ship began to veer to the right, but it still could not escape the tracking.

Garn struggled to lift the wooden leg and slammed it heavily onto the deck.

Boom!

A short, metallic vibration emanated from within the wood, causing several originally curved gray-white tracks to tremble, one of which was forcibly straightened by some force.

The Corpse Spirit took two steps closer along the briefly restored path, and the three voices began to press against the same will once again.

Edmund stared at Garn's wooden leg and the lead plate that was being pulled, fragments of information surfacing at the edge of his vision.

The three souls are forcibly maintained by a shared oath. The last surviving signatory must remain close to the control pact, but this "closeness" is losing its meaning.

[A certain fixed point that runs through all four names is still in effect.]

Garn lifted his leg again, but a hand wrapped in a leather wristband had already reached over the railing and grabbed the stern.

The boarding hooks snapped onto the mooring bollards, and the rapids leaped across the river as the two boats briefly came close together.

As she landed, she rolled to avoid the sweeping arm of the Corpse Demon, then tore off the remaining rope around her waist.

"You continue." She glanced in the direction of the trail. "I'll stop this monster."

The rope wrapped around the corpse spirit's waist twice and was fastened to the iron mooring bollard at the stern.

As he tightened his grip on the rope, a faint red light flashed along his arms and the rope.

The undead, which could have passed through solid objects, suddenly sank, the rope digging deep between the anti-corrosion leather and the ribs, and the monster's feet dragged two black oil streaks on the deck.

After the ghoul's futile attempt to pounce on Garn or become a ghost was thwarted by the combined efforts of the Trace and the Torrent, the grappling hook once again grazed the railing.

Inspector Douglas followed closely behind, leaping onto the Aurora, gripping the rope with one hand and firing his gun in the other.

Two bullets severed the copper wire on the ghoul's left shoulder, and the third bullet hit near Garn's feet.

"Jonathan Garn! Get off the lead plate and put your hands where I can see you!"

Garn abruptly turned to Edmund, pressing his blood-stained left hand to his name and uttering countless rapid syllables, as a chilling power seeped into Edmund's mind.

[The mental connection is currently in effect and can be waived.]

The numerous accusations dissipated as soon as they began.

The ferocity on Garn's face turned to astonishment, and at the same moment, a straight and clear gray-white track appeared in the overlapping forks in the road, leading directly from Edmund's feet to Garn's right.

Edmund stepped over the crates along the path. Garn saw him approach and instinctively raised his wooden leg to smash the deck, but was struck on the shoulder by the rushing water.

With one hand still holding the rope binding the ghoul, she pressed the back of Garn's neck with the other, slamming his upper body heavily against the edge of the treasure chest.

The wooden leg struck the deck for the third time. Crack!

This time, in addition to the metallic clang, there was also the cracking sound of wood splitting. The heel of the boot landed squarely on the seam below the knee, hidden by paint.

"There's something inside," she shouted.

Edmund immediately pressed his palm against the seam.

[Opening Technique] With a single exhale, the lock hidden inside pops open.

A thin iron-clad interlayer slid outwards, revealing the innermost layer of folded lead sheets and the blackened bronze nail embedded in the center.

The moment the lead sheet completely left the wooden leg, all paths vibrated simultaneously, and three souls broke free from the corpse spirit's body in different directions.

The grayish-white membrane on the Trace was torn away in large patches, eventually breaking the only still straight path between Garn and the Corpse Demon, before retreating into the closing shadow below the railing.

The Aurora tilted violently. Open treasure chests, golden vessels, and an unconscious shipwright slid toward the broken railing at the same time.

Jiliu grabbed the treasure chest and the boatman, and with a low shout, stepped directly onto the deck.

As the box tilted, countless precious wines poured out.

Garn screamed and struggled to lunge toward the side of the ship, but the inspector kicked him to the ground and fastened shackles to his wrists.

Edmund then gripped the end of the bronze nail and pulled it out sharply.

Each time a layer of lead sheet came off the nail, a gap would appear between the four lines of names.

When the last nail tip leaves the metal, the four layers of lead sheets spring back on their own.

Jonathan Gahn, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan and Dost Akbar, these names are now separated on four lead surfaces, no longer able to cover each other.