The Undead Captain Takes No Living - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The Ghost Ship took on living passengers for the first time.

And more than one.

Me, Leon, Victor, plus a group of Sea Patrol Navy soldiers who had been dead for three years.

Gloria stood on the deck, her expression extremely complicated.

“The ship rules are shattered. Completely.”

I asked, “Will you be punished?”

She thought it over.

“If the ship were still here, yes.”

I shut my mouth.

Leon was drawing an array on the deck with coarse salt.

The wound on his shoulder was still oozing black fluid, but his hand was steady.

I crouched beside him, passing him salt.

As I was passing it over, I suddenly asked, “When did you find out we weren’t related by blood?”

Leon’s hand paused.

“Thirteen.”

“Dad told you?”

“No.”

“Then how did you know?”

He sighed.

“I snuck a look at the household registry.”

That was so like him.

I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Afraid you’d cry.”

“I wasn’t made of water back then.”

Leon glanced at me.

“When you were little, losing a single piece of candy could make you cry for half a day.”

“That’s because you ate my candy.”

“I paid you back with two pieces later.”

“Those two pieces were also taken from my jar.”

He went quiet.

I looked at him.

“Leon.”

“Mm.”

“Do you think that because we’re not related by blood, you have to protect me more?”

His hand stopped.

I knew I’d hit the nail on the head.

Leon lowered his head and gave a small smile.

“Not exactly.”

He connected the Salt Line.

“When I was first picked up and brought home, I refused to accept anyone. Dad gave me food, and I hid it. Mom gave me clothes, and I threw them into the water.”

I listened quietly.

He had never told me any of this before.

“Then one day, you crawled into my room, holding half a flatbread, and said, ‘Brother, eat.'”

He looked at the Salt Line, his voice softening a little.

“Back then, you couldn’t even speak properly.”

I asked, “And then?”

“Then I bit you.”

“…”

That was so very Leon.

He smiled.

“You cried so loudly the whole street heard it. Mom chased me halfway down the alley with a feather duster.”

I couldn’t help laughing.

Leon laughed too.

After the laughter faded, he said quietly, “Later, I thought, fine. A sister this dumb won’t do without someone protecting her.”

My nose stung.

“You’re the dumb one.”

“Mm.”

He handed me the last handful of salt.

“So don’t let all my protecting be for nothing.”

I took the salt.

“And don’t let all my searching be for nothing either.”

He froze for a moment.

Then he nodded.

“Okay.”

At the bow, Cedric was repairing the rudder.

One hand rested on the black wood helm, while the other pressed against the old wound on his chest.

I walked over.

“Does it hurt?”

He said, “Not too bad.”

I looked at him.

He corrected himself.

“It hurts.”

I was satisfied.

“That’s more like it.”

He seemed a little helpless.

“Even if it hurts, I can’t stop.”

“I know.”

I handed him a clean strip of cloth.

“Wrap it up first.”

He took it, but didn’t move.

I asked, “Don’t know how?”

“I do.”

“Then wrap it.”

He was silent for a moment.

“My hand’s awkward.”

I looked at the hand that could clearly still grip a blade.

He looked back at me.

The wind on the deck was strong.

The ghost crew were busy hacking away at the black water wrapped around the ship.

Behind us, Leon coughed loudly enough to shake the heavens.

I suspected he was doing it on purpose.

In the end, I still took the strip of cloth and wrapped it around the back of Cedric’s hand.

His hand was very cold.

When the cloth passed over his knuckles, his fingers moved slightly.

I asked, “Does it hurt?”

“No.”

“Then why did you move?”

He looked at me.

“Not used to it.”

“No one ever wrapped you up before?”

“Someone did.”

My hands paused.

“Who?”

He raised his wrist.

The Red Cord was still there.

I was suddenly at a loss for words.

Cedric said quietly, “Seven years ago, you wrapped it for me.”

“That was me wrapping it randomly.”

“Mm.”

“Don’t ‘mm’ me.”

“Okay.”

I tied the knot.

It was ugly.

About the same as that Red Cord knot from seven years ago.

But he stared at it for a long time.

Long enough to make me feel uncomfortable.

“What are you looking at?”

“Committing it to memory.”

My heart skipped a beat.

“What’s there to remember?”

He said seriously, “I’m afraid I’ll forget.”

I opened my mouth.

No words came out.

The ship suddenly shuddered.

Gloria shouted from the mast, “The port water is rising!”

Black water surged from the Ghost Port, like an entire sea overturning above our heads.

Victor stood at the stern, with a dense mass of Bone Navy behind him.

He raised his bow.

“Everyone.”

“Return to port.”

The bones all transformed at once into a ghastly pale wind.

The wind poured into the Shroud Sail.

The Ghost Ship surged forward.

Cedric gripped the helm.

I thrust the Soul-Crossing Blade into the array eye at the bow.

Leon scattered the last handful of salt in the center of the deck.

The entire ship lit up with white light.

The Ghost Port was dragged along by that white light, together with its stalls, lanterns, the ruins of the opera house, and the black lighthouse, inch by inch leaving its original place.

The gate to the human world began to close.

I heard cries and shouts coming from South Seven Pier.

The fish-selling auntie knelt on the shore, kowtowing over and over.

I didn’t know whether she could see me.

But I still waved at her.

Leon snapped, “Focus!”

The next moment, an enormous hand reached out from the black water.

It grabbed the stern.

The entire ship came to a violent halt.

The Red-clad Woman’s face emerged from the water.

She had no skin left.

Only a red shadow remained, like a mass of rotten flesh.

“Ilya.”

“Not one of you is leaving.”