soul stone

After dinner, the crowded cabin was emptied in a short while, and the sailors returned to their respective positions, leaving Amy alone to clean up the dishes.Hundreds of plates were stacked high, the female chef held the bottom end with both hands, took a deep breath, picked it up like a weightlifter, and walked out the door.Suddenly, he tripped over something, and let go of his hands——

"what!"

"careful!"

"……Hey?"

Amy blinked her round eyes when she didn't hear the expected shattering sound of the plate falling to the ground.A warm and strong force grabbed her waist.

"The plates are blocking the line of sight," said a gentle young voice from behind, like a midsummer night's sea breeze caressing my ears, "will it be easier to move in two?"

The girl blushed immediately, and stood up straight, her hands clenched her apron into a ball, and she lowered her head awkwardly to look at her feet.After a while, she stammered and said:

"Thank - thank you."

She reached out to pick up the plate, but was deftly dodged.

"Let's send it there together, this one trip is fine, isn't it good?" After finishing speaking, Villar looked at her with a smile.

"That's--no! Absolutely not!" The girl blushed and said anxiously, "How can I let the passengers do this--this kind of thing? You put--put down the plate, or let me--"

"It's okay, if other people see it, I will explain it clearly. And," the black-haired boy's eyes softened, "I want to talk to you earlier."

"Hey...hey?"

Before Amy could respond, Villar strode towards the kitchen holding the plate.He seemed to carry it effortlessly, as if what he was holding was not hundreds of dirty dishes, but a thin sheet of paper.

"No—no way!" The female chef stood in front of him with open arms, "My work—work, I will do it myself. I have to wash—wash it later. I can only ask you to wait patiently for a while."

The boy was startled, as if he didn't expect the other party to be so stubborn.

"It seems that if you persist any longer, you will be insulted." He shrugged, "Okay...I'll wait for you to come out."

Amy smiled gratefully, walked quickly to Villar, took a deep breath again, and took the plate tower carefully.She nodded slightly at him, turned and walked towards the kitchen.Villar watched her back, a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.Although his steps were fairly steady, the trembling of his arms still couldn't escape his eyes.But was it the weight of the plate that made her tremble, or the words?He believed it was the latter.

"Oh!" followed by the muffled sound of a pile of wooden objects hitting the ground.Amy fell on the deck in front of the kitchen and rubbed her burning buttocks.

"Does it hurt from the fall?"

"Ah..." The female chef raised her head and met the boy's gentle eyes.He held out his hand to her.

"If I knew this earlier, I should have insisted on helping." Villar frowned, but there was a consistent gentle smile on his mouth, "It's better not to be injured than anything."

The girl's cheeks were flushed, her lips parted slightly as if she wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

"What's going on?" A shout came from not far away, hurried and slightly rude.

As soon as Amy stood up, she turned her head and saw York, the first mate, rushing over, her brown-gray eyes almost popping out of their sockets—he saw her holding Villar's hand.

York looked at Villar, then at Amy, his facial expression was twisted, he didn't know if it was difficult to control, or he didn't want to control it at all. "You..." he asked in a loud voice, "what are you doing here?"

The girl withdrew her hand in a panic, and said with a blushing face, "No—nothing. There were too—too many dishes, and I accidentally knocked them over. Mr. Villar gave me a hand. Nothing else, York, don't miss it. --Misunderstand."

"Give you a hand?" The muscular young man angrily stepped forward, grabbed Amy's shoulders, and shouted into her ear, "You can't fucking stand up by yourself? Don't just want to get along when you see a pretty boy!" Get up, bitch!"

The female chef turned her head, closed her eyes tightly and said nothing.It's not that she hasn't thought of that.Just now, I was only thinking about the upcoming date, and my heart was beating so fast that I didn't even notice the obstacles under my feet.

"Excuse me, what did Miss Amy do to deserve your outburst?"

"What?" York turned his head sharply, staring at the young man like a fighting cock, "What are you talking about? Your wife wants to be nice to other men, can you not be angry?"

Seeing this, the girl hurriedly changed to the side of the chief mate, pulled his clothes as if to apologize, and corrected in a low voice: "It's the fiancee."

"I see." Villar nodded clearly, "A virtuous wife and a strong husband. How happy—"

The long modal particles ended with a soft sigh.The fiancée looked confused, but the fiancé hadn't lifted his vigilance yet.

"It's from the heart. I really envy you."

As he spoke, Villar walked around the two of them, leaning his elbows on the side of the ship to face them, and his eyes fell on a dark spot on the deck.

"I also had a girl I liked. I liked it very much. Because of an irresistible external force, I separated from her a few years ago. I don't know where she went after that... The only clue is here."

He turned and looked down at the sea.There was only a sickle-like moon left in the sky, and the dark sea surface undulated evenly, making rumbling noises, as if a prehistoric monster lurking under it was taking a lunch break and would wake up at any moment.

"Is it... the girl I asked before?" Amy couldn't express her current mood.After saying it, I realized that there was a bit of jealousy, a bit of sadness, and a bit of curiosity in the tone.Fortunately, this was just her self-feeling, and the fiancé at the side didn't notice the change of heart in his fiancee's tone.

The boy nodded slightly. "It's hard to say. After all, you don't know her original appearance. It's best for me to confirm it myself."

"Confirm it yourself? How to do it..."

"It's hard."

"So..." Amy agreed with some regret, but she was inexplicably relieved.

The face of a young woman came to Villar's mind.Difficult, but not impossible.

"So, I want to try another clue. That is," he pointed to the murmuring sea below the boat, "the murderer who sank the frozen island."

Amy's little ears perked up as if she didn't believe what she heard.York also raised his thick eyebrows, and said in surprise: "You want to catch a 'lava whale'?"

The black-haired boy closed his eyes and said as if he had finally made up his mind:

"I want to find it and ask it if a girl like that escaped when the frozen island sank."

The fiancee exchanged glances, then looked at him in unison, as if they were looking at a lunatic.

"Stop talking stupid." Amy shook her head vigorously. "Whales don't understand human language, so it's useless to ask."

"No one has ever been able to catch it." The first officer who had been silent all this time suddenly said, with a gloomy expression.

Villar opened his eyes very slowly, and gave the stout man a questioning look, showing the most dedicated expression that an audience waiting to hear a story should have.

"My alcoholic dad once got drunk and accidentally bragged that he could bring the skull of a lava whale for everyone to see. He loves face, and when everyone coaxes him, he gets hot ...one person drove the boat to the sea area where lava whales are most frequented, just fifty kilometers south of here. Dad prepared the most powerful whaling tools at that time, as well as tapes and tape recorders...Oh, the recording is lava The sound of whales courting. Of course, humans cannot hear it, but whales can hear it. They will come into heat in summer, and they will come closer when they hear this sound.

When I was young, I was left on the shore to wait.Dad's boat is on the horizon, bigger than a pea.What happened at that time, I can’t remember exactly, but I only remember that the sea level in the distance was rising slowly, like a mountain emerging from the sea... In the blink of an eye, Dad’s boat was no longer visible.

Two days later, I went to the coast to pick conch shells—the children on the island had to find their own food, or they would slowly starve to death, and the adults didn’t have so much food to feed those who didn’t work.After picking it up for a while, I found a pile of white things lying in the sand.I thought it was the bone of a big fish I had never seen before, but when I ran closer, it turned out to be a human skeleton.It's not complete yet, just the section from the neck to the knees.A white skeleton with a few pieces of clothing hanging on it, one of which has a black fingerprint-like mark——I realized what was in front of me.

That mark was put on with paint when my dad was sleeping when I was a child.He was very angry when he found out, and when he came to beat me, I hid it so that he could not find it.He walked past me without noticing me hiding in the closet... the angrier he was, the happier I was.

Then he dragged me out of the closet anyway.That time, I really bit my lip and tried my best not to beg for mercy.

I can't tell what it was like to hand over the skeleton and clothes to my mother.My mother wasn't too surprised, she had expected that to happen to him.She sat there for a day without saying a word, and then she went about her business... as if nothing had happened.That's nothing strange, no one will hit her with a mouth full of alcohol in the future, of course she is happy.

In the end, I buried him.I wrapped up the pile of things, tied stones, took the neighbor's boat, and dropped the package on the spot where the mountain in the sea appeared.

guess what?Watching the thing sink slowly, I yelled at it: 'Dad!To avenge yourself, don't count on your son!Hope that guy gets stuck in your bones lol! '"

The night wind whined, bringing the smell of sea salt.The boy with black hair and black eyes sat on the deck with his legs bent, quietly watching the pair opposite him.York turned his back, resting his forearm against the cabin partition, his eyes resting on his forearm, trembling all over.The female chef with small ears put one hand on his shoulder and the other hand stroking his back.

"I've never—I haven't heard you mention it before," she comforted her fiancé's ear. "Cry, it'll be better—better."

The first officer's strong body gradually calmed down, and he turned around and hugged the girl.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. How is that any different from Dad?"

He let go of his hand, and said coldly to the boy: "I said this for your own good. Do you understand now? Wanting to catch that kind of monster is nothing but nonsense."

At this time, the boy leaning on the railing and looking into the distance turned his head and smiled gently.

"Tape."

"……What?"

"There is a tape recording the courtship of lava whales. May I ask if there is any on this ship? There are also whaling tools. It may be too late to go back to get it, and it is fine if it is slightly usable." Villar raised his head, "The reward will be doubled. If just now You heard it right, it's fifty kilometers south of here, right?"