The smell in the cabin was a little unpleasant, and moss was everywhere Zhang Heng could see. He tore off a piece of cloth and wrapped it around his mouth and nose. After taking a few steps, he passed by several rooms along the way. The doors were open, and they were in a mess. Tables and chairs were overturned, and there were a few tattered clothes lying around.
Considering how long the ship had been drifting at sea, this was a normal phenomenon. Other than that, Zhang Heng noticed that no one was in any of the rooms. Not only were there no living people, but there were no skeletons either. And for some reason, the windows were nailed shut with wooden planks.
This was also the reason why the cabin was so stuffy. Zhang Heng used the saber in his hand to cut open two of the windows, letting the sea breeze in. The smell in the cabin was much better now. As he walked, he found three gold coins in the cracks of the wooden planks under his feet, but he didn't know why their owner left them here.
Zhang Heng didn't stay in these rooms for too long, and he soon came to the captain's room at the end.
This was also the only room in the entire corridor with a closed door.
Zhang Heng reached out and pushed the door, but to his surprise, it didn't open. Something must be stuck behind it. So, Zhang Heng took a few steps back and hit the door with his shoulder. After three consecutive hits, he finally broke the door open. At the same time, he saw what was stuck behind the door. It was a chair, but the back of the chair had been broken.
Zhang Heng quickly looked around. Probably because the door was closed, the captain's room was in a much better condition than the other rooms. At least, it wasn't as damp. The books that were originally placed on the shelves were scattered all over the floor, and most of the papers had turned yellow and moldy. However, the table was still in place.
But like the previous rooms, there was no one here, and the windows were tightly sealed. Zhang Heng hung the oil lamp in his hand on a hook on the wall, and after a brief search, he found a pearl necklace, a ring, and some silver coins in the drawer.
Coupled with the gold coins he found in the cracks of the floor, it seemed to prove that the ship's accident was not caused by pirates during the voyage.
However, Zhang Heng encountered a little trouble when he was looking for the captain's diary. There was more than one notebook on the table, but he couldn't read the text on it. With his language reserve, he could only tell that it was neither English nor French. There were many European languages, and he didn't know which one it belonged to. So, he had to use the stupidest method to pack up the notebook and take it away.
After that, Zhang Heng spent another quarter of an hour carefully searching the room again. After confirming that there was nothing else worth paying attention to, he turned around and was about to leave. But the next moment, he suddenly stopped.
The previous empty rooms could still be explained by the fact that the people inside had left in a hurry, but the situation in this captain's cabin was obviously completely different. The windows here were also tightly shut, and the only entrance and exit door was blocked by a chair. But the problem was, how did the person who blocked the chair leave this place after moving the chair to the door?
Even with Zhang Heng's calmness, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart when he thought about this problem. Of course, considering the time the ship had been drifting at sea, there was a small probability that the chair would be stuck in front of the door due to the turbulence of the waves.
But this still couldn't explain the sealed windows. After all, the necklace and ring in the drawer, and the gold coins on the floor showed that the people on the ship left in a hurry. If that was the case, why did they have the time to seal all the windows? Were they hiding from something?
At this moment, Zhang Heng heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned around as fast as he could, and at the same time, drew the British army knife from his waist.
But what he saw was the face of a red-haired girl.
"What are you doing here?"
"I just finished checking the cargo room. I heard someone knocking on the door, so I came up to take a look. It's strange. There's no one on this ship, but the goods below are still there, and they haven't been opened. Unfortunately, the wool inside is too damp, and we can't sell it anymore." The girl paused, "By the way, you looked a little nervous just now."
"There's something wrong with this ship. Since we didn't find anything valuable, let's leave this place. Where are Billy and the others?" Zhang Heng asked.
"He and Monte are checking the bottom floor. Do you want me to inform them?"
"Forget it. Let's go together." Zhang Heng was worried about Annie, so he took the notes and the oil lamp and left the captain's room.
The red-haired girl was as carefree as ever. She led the way in front, and the two of them found a staircase that led downwards. However, the strange thing was that the handrails were nowhere to be found. It looked like someone had purposely chopped them off.
"Billy said that this ship has a history of more than a hundred years. Is it true?" Annie asked as they walked.
"Judging from the decorations and buildings here, it doesn't look like something from this era," Zhang Heng replied.
"Where did the people on the deck go?"
"I want to know the answer to this question as well. Judging by the process of elimination, I don't think it was done by pirates. There are no signs of a battle in the captain's room, so the chances of the sailors rioting aren't high. Hmm, if there was a plague, we should be able to see the corpses … In fact, if it wasn't for an extreme situation, no one would abandon an intact ship like this," Zhang Heng said.
"You'd better come over here. I've found something."
The two hastened their steps and arrived at the bottom floor. Billy and another sailor were standing there with their heads raised. Everything around them looked normal.
"What's wrong?"
The helmsman of the Jackdaw raised the oil lamp in his hand, and Zhang Heng and Anne saw the dense claw marks on their heads.
"Did … did a mouse do this?" The red-haired girl frowned.
"I've never seen a mouse on a ship do something like this," Billy said. "How is it? Did you find anything?"
Annie shook her head. "Everything looks normal in the cargo hold."
"There's still a lot of smoked meat left in the galley. I don't think there's any food crisis on the ship. We also found two boxes of silverware on the poop deck." The remaining group of pirates who were responsible for inspecting the other areas also rushed back. This time, they finally brought back some good news. Although they still did not know how the crew of the ship disappeared, at least they would not return empty-handed from this expedition.
Billy and the others then moved the two boxes of silverware onto the small boat. When the last man jumped on board, the seven of them rowed towards the Jackdaw.
When the small boat was about to reach the Jackdaw, Zhang Heng looked back at the mysterious carrack behind him. He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but he saw a row of shadows standing by the side of the ship, watching them leave in the rain. When he looked again, all he could see was the shadow of the mast.
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