I was hesitating, but Annie had already walked into the cabin, so I had no choice but to follow her. The cargo hold was piled high with goods, leaving only a narrow passage leading inward. Annie walked quickly ahead of me, which struck me as odd—this place was pitch dark, so why was she so curious? Wasn’t she afraid at all?

I quickened my pace to catch up with her. The two of us walked deep into the cargo hold, where I saw that there were no more goods. There was an oil lamp on the cabin wall, and the floor was covered with rectangular ballast stones that looked extremely heavy. Strangely, these ballast stones actually formed an enclosure, and in the middle of the empty space was a single, not very large, round stone that looked like a millstone. It stood out from the other ballast stones—not just in shape, but its color also seemed a bit odd, though from a distance it was hard to see clearly. Annie was standing right there, staring at the stone, her face full of surprise.

I stood next to Annie. She turned to look at me, her eyes bright, and softly said, “Minsheng, this doesn’t look like a place for hiding people. Look at that stone.”

I moved closer to the small ballast stone and was startled to find a piece of yellow paper stuck on it, with some scrawled writing on it that looked like a talisman, messy and strange. In the dim cabin, it looked rather eerie. No wonder I thought the color seemed off just now.

At that moment, it seemed a wave hit from outside, and I felt a slight rocking underfoot. I listened carefully—the sea water was rhythmically slapping against the hull. It felt like we were right at the waterline, which meant that below the waterline, under the lower hold, there must be another compartment.

I recalled what I’d seen earlier underwater at the bottom of the Fuchang, and wondered—Fuchang is a fishing boat, so why would they build an extra compartment out of nowhere?

I looked more closely at the talisman and saw that it was a palm-wide piece of yellow paper, with bright red cinnabar characters. In the dim light, it exuded a sense of oppression, and staring at it too long made it hard to breathe. The last stroke was a huge, hammer-like mark. As far as I remembered, talismans for worshipping the Dragon King were usually black characters on red paper, but yellow paper represented the King of Hell—this was more like a spirit talisman for warding off evil. When I used to accompany my uncle on house calls, I often saw similar things in patients’ homes, written by Taoist priests or shamans to exorcise demons.

Annie clearly noticed too, and said to me, “This is... a Taoist talisman for warding off evil... There’s a monster down there.”

Warding off evil? A Taoist talisman? Suddenly, I understood. That’s right—I’d long heard that if sea scavengers encountered a death at sea, they had to bring the body back to land. Otherwise, the next time they went out, the gateway between the worlds of the living and the dead would open, and the ship would unknowingly sail into the nether sea. Only this spirit talisman could close the gate to the Yellow Springs, so the vengeful ghosts of hell wouldn’t escape to the world of the living, and the living wouldn’t be doomed to drift forever in the nether sea.

Why was this talisman stuck on this ballast stone? Was there a corpse hidden under the ballast stone? But that didn’t make sense—the Fuchang had just set sail. If it really was a sea scavenger who died at sea, the body should have been buried after reaching shore. There’s no way they’d keep a corpse sealed on the boat for so long.

Besides, the space below was so large—what kind of corpse would need a whole compartment?

And how could a corpse possibly make such a stifled moaning sound?

Could it be a zombie? I was startled, and instinctively pulled Annie back a step. Suddenly, another deep, eerie moan clearly came from beneath the ballast stone, stirring up a sense of terror in the silent space. I grew frightened, staring fixedly at the talisman, afraid that something would burst out at any moment. Even if I wasn’t unarmed, I couldn’t handle such a monster.

My heart pounded wildly. I grabbed Annie and ran like mad, our feet thudding on the wooden boards, the moaning mixed in, as if something was chasing us from behind. I forced myself to stay calm, running without looking back, all the way out the cabin door, when suddenly a furious shout exploded behind us: “Stop!”

Cold sweat broke out all over me. Was this the end? I shouted for help as I tried to run, but a hand clamped down hard on my shoulder. I panicked and struggled, but was pulled backward. At the same time, Annie shouted, “Frank Grant, let him go.”

Frank Grant? What was going on? I stopped struggling and turned to see Frank Grant had somehow appeared behind us, staring at us coldly.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in surprise, but as soon as I spoke I realized it was a stupid question. On this terrifying boat, they were the masters, and I had gone snooping around the lower hold without the owner’s permission—they definitely wouldn’t let us off easy.

I remembered the terrifying moaning and nervously glanced back, but it was pitch black and I couldn’t see a thing, as if the lamp had gone out at some point. Before I could say anything, Frank Grant clapped his hands, and two men immediately rushed out, holding sharp fish spears, pinning me in the middle. “Are you crazy? Daring to come here? Come on, you’re coming with me to see Mr. Carter—let’s see how he deals with you!”

Frank Grant waved his hand, glared at them, then turned back to us and said, “Get lost, now!”