It's just a shame that the famous Sirens in legend were a trio of sisters. Maybe next time I can get Dalia to play this little game again.
After taking a break, Heather and Penny got up, got dressed, and prepared to make something to eat.
After all, it had been since early morning, and no one had eaten anything. After all the strenuous activity, their stomachs were starting to rumble.
Heather went to the storage room and came back with a rather troubled look on her face.
"Roy, I checked the storage room, and it looks like we don't have enough food for everyone!"
"Oh? How much food is left?"
"If we don't count your appetite, there's probably enough for the rest of us for about three days."
If Roy's portion was included, there definitely wouldn't be enough for even one day.
Clearly, Roland Golden had planned to get the Lament Configuration within a few days, complete all the sacrifices, and leave after relieving his pain. He hadn't intended to stay at sea for long.
"Go wake up Finnegan and ask him what we should do."
After all, this kind of thing needed to be handled by a professional. Although Roy knew how to sail, he didn't have any experience living at sea.
Finnegan arrived at the cockpit, yawning.
"Is something wrong?"
Heather explained the problem they were facing. After listening, Finnegan looked at Roy in surprise.
"Mr. Black, do you really eat that much?"
"Uh-huh! With great power comes a great appetite."
This made Finnegan laugh.
"Alright, hopefully Failure Man won't charge you royalties! But I think the food situation isn't a big deal. I usually store some fuel, food, and fresh water on some small islands. At our current speed, we should reach a storage point by midnight at the latest, so we can eat without worrying."
Roy felt relieved after Finnegan said this.
"Okay, then let's empty the storage room and have a good feast!"
Mainly, Roy was just too hungry. The constant transformations on the Santiago had consumed a huge amount of energy.
However, Penny still seemed to have some doubts.
"Let's keep a little bit, just in case something happens, okay?"
Finnegan looked completely relaxed, seemingly very confident.
"What could possibly happen now? Is the speedboat really going to be unlucky enough to break down?"
You really shouldn't jinx things like that. Just as Heather and Penny had finished emptying the storage room of food, allowing everyone to eat their fill, the speedboat broke down not long after.
First, there was a violent shudder, and then the whole boat rocked back and forth as if it had jammed. Black smoke quickly started billowing from the engine area.
Finnegan quickly shut down the engine and asked Joey to check it out.
"The propeller got tangled in seaweed, which caused the engine to malfunction."
Joey's expression wasn't good when he came back from checking.
Roy felt a bit speechless. They were in the deep sea, and who knows where this seaweed came from? They were really unlucky.
"Can it be fixed?"
"Some parts are broken. It could be fixed if we had spare parts, but we don't have any on board."
Roy was very frustrated. Why did this broken boat have nothing? No food, no spare parts.
"Finnegan, what exactly is on your boat? Why aren't you prepared for anything?"
Finnegan could only offer an awkward smile in response.
"This boat was actually prepared by Ms. Catherine, it's not mine. I thought this job wouldn't take much time, so I didn't pay too much attention to the details."
Everyone's eyes turned to Catherine, Roland Golden's secretary. The middle-aged woman, nearly fifty, also looked a little embarrassed.
"I was just following Mr. Golden's instructions when I did that."
Well, that blame was already being placed on a dead man.
"So, does that mean we're stuck out here at sea?"
Serina's face was full of worry. Being in the middle of the ocean with no food was a terrifying thought.
Roy wasn't that scared. If worse came to worst, he could just call Elizabeth and have her take everyone away, though altering some people's memories would be a bit of a hassle.
Elizabeth would definitely use this as an excuse to exploit Roy.
Just as he was about to reassure everyone, Joey suddenly spoke up to explain.
"Things aren't that bad yet. Only the main engine isn't working; the auxiliary engine can still be used."
Hearing this, even Dalia, who had the best temper, got a little angry.
"Why didn't you say so earlier? I was about to be scared to death!"
"You didn't ask me!"
Joey looked a bit wronged. Finnegan, being his friend, quickly stepped in to mediate.
"Sorry, Joey can be a bit slow to react sometimes. But the auxiliary engine has less power, so we still need to send out a distress signal. Maybe a nearby ship can rescue us."
Finnegan looked at Roy, seeking his opinion.
Roy rubbed his chin, feeling like this might be a good option. At least this way he wouldn't be exploited by Elizabeth.
"Okay, go ahead and send the distress signal."
Finnegan breathed a sigh of relief, then pulled the quiet Joey along to start working.
The speedboat restarted, its speed reduced to only a third of what it was before. This was even after Roy and the others had thrown all the ballast explosives into the sea; otherwise, the speed would have been even slower.
This meant that the supply island, which was originally scheduled to be reached by midnight, might not be reached until the afternoon of the next day.
The only good news was that Finnegan's distress signal was quickly answered. The other party told them to bring the boat to a designated area to rendezvous.
"Mr. Black, should we follow their instructions?"
There were now two options before Roy.
One was to continue following the original plan to the island where Finnegan had stored supplies, but Finnegan's reserves probably wouldn't be much, so in the end, Roy and the others would still face the problem of not having enough food and fresh water.
At the speedboat's current speed, they definitely wouldn't reach the next storage point either.
That left only the other option.
Although the ship sending the signal was somewhat mysterious, it didn't respond to Finnegan's radio at all, only continuously directing them towards the designated area.
But no matter how bad it was, it couldn't be worse than the first option, could it?
Even if the signal was from pirates, there wouldn't be any problem with Roy around.
"Finnegan, head towards that area."
Finnegan nodded, turned off the speedboat's autopilot, and switched to manual steering.
Around eleven o'clock at night, the speedboat began to approach the coordinates given by the signal. However, at this point, the people on the speedboat noticed that a fog had appeared around them.
Although fog at sea wasn't uncommon, this fog seemed different.
All the electronic equipment on the boat malfunctioned, and only the radio signal continued to guide the speedboat towards the target.
Furthermore, this area of the sea was unusually calm, with no wind or waves to be felt, like stagnant water.
This eerie phenomenon reminded Finnegan of a certain rumor.
"A ghost ship?"
Roy looked at Finnegan in surprise.
Finnegan nodded.
"An old captain once told me something. One night he received a mysterious distress signal, and out of kindness, he followed it into a foggy area of the sea. In this area, all electronic equipment would fail, and then he saw a huge cruise ship. The distress signal was coming from that cruise ship."
"And then?"
Serina, hearing such an exciting story, immediately pressed him eagerly.
"That old captain was more cautious and didn't board the cruise ship, but he had a few bolder crew members who climbed aboard to explore. The old captain spent the whole night on his own boat, feeling anxious. He felt like he could constantly hear screams ringing in his ears!"
The women present felt a little scared hearing this story and all started moving closer to Roy, as if only his presence could give them a sense of security.
"The next day, when the sun came out, that strange cruise ship and the thick fog both disappeared. And the crew members who went aboard to explore were never seen again."
Something like that actually happened?
Roy rubbed his chin, finding it a bit interesting.
In fact, legends of ghost ships have existed since ancient times. The most famous ghost ship is probably the Flying Dutchman, which has appeared in more than one film and television work.
Roy now suspected that he was being drawn into the plot of some horror movie again.
At this moment, the sharp-eyed Joey pointed out the window and shouted.
"I see the ghost ship you were talking about!"
Everyone looked out the window together and saw a large ship quietly anchored in the distance.
This large ship was about half the size of the Santiago and could also be considered a giant cruise ship.
The hull of the giant cruise ship was rusty and covered in barnacle-like parasitic creatures, as if it had been submerged at the bottom of the sea for hundreds of years.
Even the name of the cruise ship originally written on the hull was difficult to make out.
"Antonia Graza?"
Roy managed to make out the ship's name. Upon hearing this name, Catherine flinched.
"I think I've heard that name before!"
Everyone looked at Catherine, and the secretary quickly explained.
"It's a cruise ship registered in Italy. I remember it sank in a maritime disaster more than ten years ago, and the wreck site has never been found. I know the name because I was instructed by Mr. Golden at the time to short the stock of that shipping company, which is why I remember it."
Hearing Catherine say that, Charles also remembered, as he also owned a shipping company.
"I think I've heard of that ship too. It did indeed sink more than ten years ago!"
"It seems like this is indeed a ghost ship."
Roy looked at the Antonia Graza getting closer, an expression of interest in his eyes.
Joey swallowed hard. He was already timid, and now he felt like his bladder was about to give out.
"How about we just turn the boat around and leave quickly?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the speedboat, which was still moving slowly, completely broke down.
Joey ran to the engine room and checked for a long time but couldn't find anything wrong with the auxiliary engine. Sweat beaded on his forehead from anxiety, but the speedboat just wouldn't start.
"It seems the ghost ship doesn't want us to leave!"
Roy had a rough idea of what was happening. Through his Eye of Truth, he could see that the ghost ship was filled with vengeful spirits, possibly thousands of them.
The combined psychic energy of thousands of vengeful spirits was enough to distort reality. Making the speedboat unable to work was just a small matter.
This was much stronger than the vengeful spirit aggregate Roy had found in the Ghost Mirror last time; the number had directly increased by dozens of times.
"Joey, can we find parts to repair the engine on a large ship like that?"
Joey scratched his head, looking somewhat unsure.
"Probably... we might? I'm not sure, after all, this ship sank more than ten years ago. Wait! Mr. Black, you're not thinking of boarding this ghost ship, are you?"
Roy's face darkened, feeling like someone had stepped on his tail.
"What do you mean 'boarding this ghost ship'? Ahem, I mean landing, landing!"
Joey looked at Roy in surprise, a little confused about why he was getting angry.
He couldn't help it. In a state of losing control before, Roy had accidentally made a mistake with a certain female robot. This was something he wanted to keep secret the most.
After all, making mistakes with humanoids like humans, female ghosts, demons, and angels was one thing, but not even sparing a unicycle was truly outrageous.
So when Joey mentioned "boarding" the ghost ship, Roy immediately thought of that incident.
"Will it be dangerous?"
Charles looked worriedly at the Antonia Graza not far away. The cruise ship was like a quiet giant beast, waiting for prey to deliver themselves.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen! Don't forget, I can transform into an angel!"
Since Roy said so, Charles didn't try to persuade him further.
Next, Roy began organizing a team to enter the Antonia Graza with him.
Joey definitely had to come; he was the only mechanic there, and only he could identify which parts were usable and which weren't.
The rest would depend on volunteers.
Dalia was the first to say she didn't want to participate; she still had to take care of her daughter, Ceci.
Then Amy, Charles, and Catherine all expressed no interest in joining.
Heather and Penny were indifferent and would go along with whatever Roy decided.
Finnegan was a brave person, otherwise, he wouldn't be in this line of work, but because someone who could steer the boat had to stay on the speedboat, he had to remain behind.
Only Serina clearly stated that she wanted to go explore the Antonia Graza with Roy.
Following that was Cui Lin. He was surprised that this woman also expressed a desire to enter the Antonia Graza with Roy.
Cui Lin then offered an explanation.
"I remembered one of my seniors saying that there was a jewelry exhibition on a luxury cruise ship at the time, and it sank directly at sea. The jewels on board have never been found, and I think that luxury cruise ship must be the Antonia Graza. Roy, those valuable jewels should still be on the ship. If you protect me and help me find them, how about we split the money fifty-fifty?"
As expected, the only thing that could make Cui Lin overcome her fear was probably money. But this woman really had a nice dream.
Roy looked at Cui Lin with a half-smile.
"Now that I know this secret, why shouldn't all the money belong to me?"
Hearing this, Cui Lin's face instantly fell. She had forgotten that even though Roy could transform into an angel, his personality was sometimes very nasty.
"Alright, since you called me Daddy before, I'll leave a share for you."
Cui Lin (Phoenix Girl version)