Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 16 15. Two Thieves

Life is a journey, at some point, we need to rest, let go of some unwillingness and regret, and start again.

Only by being relaxed can you go further.

Merlin was walking cautiously in the cabin made of steel. The shadow spread over him, helping him to cover up his faint footsteps, and even the sound of his breathing was covered.

Like a silent hunter in action.

He looked left and right at the fork in front of him, and the perception of spiritual vision spread out. After confirming that there was no one around, he walked out from the shadow.

He put his hands on the metal handle in front of him, took a deep breath, muttered something in his mouth, and then pulled the closed cover outward.

A gloomy cold air gushed out from it, making Merlin's fingers move uncontrollably.

But the moment he looked at the open metal cabinet, the anticipation in Merlin's eyes quickly turned into disappointment.

"No fruit again! No bread...just this little chicken."

Merlin stood in the galley of the cargo ship. He looked at the empty refrigerator in front of him. The young man couldn't help but wailed.

"I hate chicken!"

But saying he hated it, Merlin still quickly took out the few pieces of chicken and put them in his lunch box.

Then he closed the refrigerator and searched in other places in the kitchen. His movements were extremely skillful, and this was obviously not the first time he had done such a thing.

However, today's harvest was not good. After searching for a few minutes, Merlin only found a few pieces of bread that were a bit hard.He thought about whether to sneak into the crew room to get some food while the crew was changing shifts, but after much deliberation, he gave up on this plan.

The world has never tolerated a demon walker like him.

Especially for a "stowaway" who has not bought a ticket and has been hiding on a cargo ship for almost a month, eating and drinking, once caught, he may be thrown directly into the sea by angry chefs.

In the past half month, because of Merlin's "secret activities" in the galley and on the ship, the legend of the "cargo ship ghost" has spread among the crew.

But what can Merlin do?

It has been almost 5 months since he left Central City, and the money given by Mr. Henry has long been spent.

Merlin has no identity certificate, and what's worse, the bad luck that surrounds him makes it impossible for him to find a place to do odd jobs even if he wants to.

Merlin summoned the shadow again, and shrouded the dim light on his body.

This is a simple way to use his own power that he has explored in the past five months.

Merlin called it the "cloak of shadows".

With this kind of shadow covering his body, he can easily hide himself in the dark, covering his footsteps and breathing. I don't know if he can cover his heartbeat. Anyway, Merlin has never used this skill to fight.

This thing is obviously not perfect.

The name of the shadow cloak sounds majestic, but it will quickly lose its effect under the light source, and the shadow covering the body is also unstable. It will quickly dissipate when it is hit by a collision or a strong electromagnetic field, or even in strong wind.

It doesn't have much practical value. From Merlin's point of view, this thing can only be used to steal food from the kitchen at night.

Or sneak into the crew's cabin and grab some necessities.

He returned to his "room" with his dinner, which was a cargo hold full of goods, and Merlin packed a narrow place for himself among those boxes.

He owns very little now, just a set of light bedding, a backpack, a few changes of clothes, and a lunch box he bought with the last of his money before boarding the boat.

After all, even if it is infected by demon power, it still needs to be just right.

As the saying goes, a ship is a treasure house, and there are many things in this cargo hold. Even if the crew wanted to search for the legendary "ghost", it would be difficult for them to search through the cargo hold.

Even if he was unlucky enough to meet him, Merlin could use the Shadow Cloak to quickly transfer his belongings in this dark environment.

So he hid here for more than a month without being found.

"Go take a shower first."

Merlin put the lunch box in front of his quilt, took out a towel from his backpack, changed into shorts and slippers, put the towel on his shoulders, hummed in the shadows, and walked to the upper deck of the cabin.

For more than a month, he has already figured out the rules of the crew's activities. At this point, the crew has already rested. Although some night owls will hide in the dining room and play cards until midnight, the crew on duty will only Stay on the upper deck.

As long as he doesn't make too much noise when he washes up, no one will notice him.

Merlin quickly washed his body under the shower of the cargo ship, and he "borrowed" a sharp razor blade from a crew member who was more particular about personal hygiene. In front of the unclean mirror, he tidied up his face.

After shaving off some thick beard and casually trimming his hair, in the mirror, the familiar Merlin returned.

But he could see that during these five long months, because of the change in magic power, his appearance had also undergone some changes.

His skin was much paler than before, like a patient who had lost a lot of blood.

He became very thin, but those eyes that seemed to be dancing with flames became very bright, like burning flames.

He was still the doomed Merlin, but his mental state was obviously much better than before.This shows that in these 5 months, a lot of things really happened.

Merlin took the train from the Central City station all the way eastward, and he passed through several cities, just like what Henry warned when he was parting.On this journey, he is helping those in need in whatever way he can.

He helped an old man retrieve a stolen handbag from a thief.

He helps lost children find their parents.

He helped the injured policeman contact the hospital.

They were all small things, but Merlin's hesitant heart got precious comfort because of it.

All of these things made him understand that although he was cursed, he was not unable to continue to do good, to continue to help others, or to frighten the villains a little now and then.

Of course, the most important reason why Merlin was able to travel with peace of mind for more than 5 months was that he finally found a way to restrain his bad luck.

It was inspired by the train derailment and afterward at the Allen's house.

That incident proved that the dark power in his body can be dulled by "consumption".

This gave Merlin room to operate.

Under the dim light, in front of the mirror, Merlin held a sharp blade and slashed lightly on his arm.

The skin was cut, and in the sting, blood flowed from the wound.

And what followed was a black smoke-like force that wrapped around Merlin's wound. In just a few seconds, the cut wound began to scab. After 2 minutes, the wound was completely healed. A thin scar was left.

Merlin has tested that even this scar will disappear after a few hours.

He sensed the power in his body, and then cut another wound.

He repeated this process until after 15 times, Merlin finally felt a little weak.

This is his method.

Use pain to suppress the power of darkness that is about to move.

"what..."

Merlin stretched his body, wrung out the towel in his hand, and put it on his shoulders.He looked at himself in the mirror, and he said:

"Sleep well tonight. Leave me alone, nightmares."

After speaking, Merlin put away the sharp blade so that it would not hurt anyone.Then he entered the form of the shadow cloak again, and walked towards his "room" with a relaxed mind and body. On this slightly bumpy freighter, it was time for him to enjoy his not delicious dinner.

Although today's problem has been solved, what worries Merlin is that this method does not always work.

For the past few months, on certain days of each month, the dark forces in his body have always been more active than before, and if it is not handled properly, it will set off a chain of bad events.

And in a few days, that damn day will come.

So he must raise his spirits to deal with everything that may happen.

"what?"

Merlin returned to his room, he sat cross-legged on the quilt, ready to start eating.

But just as he was picking up the lunch box, Merlin suddenly noticed something was wrong.

The lunch box in his hand was lighter than what he remembered.

The young man stretched out his hand to open the lunch box. Although the chicken and bread were placed in the original way, Merlin could tell at a glance that there was less chicken and bread.

Someone has been here!

Someone "borrowed" some food from him.

This made Merlin raise his head abruptly, and he looked left and right.The surrounding shadows could not cover his eyes, and around the large boxes placed around, Merlin saw a few footprints left on the dust on the ground.

Someone has indeed been here, and he is a very scheming and careful guy...

Merlin didn't act immediately, on the contrary, he pretended nothing happened.

As usual, he ate the food in the lunch box without leaving any residue, then washed the lunch box, and then lay down on the bedding, as if he had really fallen asleep.

On the other side, in another container, a young man in a long coat was curled up in the middle of several large boxes.

He had just eaten the cold chicken and the dry bread.

Frankly speaking, it was the worst thing he had eaten in 17 years of his life. If he was at home now, then the old Alfred must have prepared warm soup and delicious steak. If he didn't want to eat steak, so sweet Ah Fu will definitely prepare meals for other flavors.

The family cook is well versed in delicacies from around the world and dinner is always a treat.

After the meal, there will be bath water at just the right temperature, and a bed that is comfortable enough.

In my own manor, there will be no such shaking at night, the sound of water disturbing my dreams, and the occasional footsteps above my head.

He tried his best to throw those beautiful and weak memories of the past out of his mind. The young man probably got inspiration from Merlin's "room", and he also packed a place in his cargo hold that could accommodate adults. Putting together two boxes can perfectly hide this place.

It also gave the tired and hungry young man a negligible sense of security.

He curled up in the dark, trying to make himself forget his hunger, and trying to let himself fall asleep.

He completely hated the city where he was born and raised, and also hated his own cowardice. Obviously the culprit was right in front of his eyes, but he didn't dare to pull the trigger.

The cowardly memory was rolling in his heart, making him want to escape.

He didn't know where he was going, he didn't know what he wanted to do, he was very at a loss inside.All he knew was that now, the farther away from there the better.

But in the wash of such extreme negative emotions, it is almost impossible to fall asleep.

Under the pressure of hunger without eating much all day, two cold pieces of chicken and two slices of bread are not enough to fill his stomach at all. As time goes by, the unwilling twitching of his stomach makes him more upset .

The young man finally sat up abruptly, as if he had finally made up his mind and planned to find something to eat.

But the moment he sat up, his body stiffened a little.

On the box in front of him, a shadowy figure was sitting there leisurely, dangling his legs, looking at him.

It's like watching a rookie.

It was difficult for the young man to see Merlin's appearance clearly in the dark, but Merlin could clearly see the young man's face.

This is a handsome young man, with firm and graceful facial lines, a pair of gentle blue eyes like a lover, and although his short brown hair is a bit messy, it can be seen that it was carefully groomed before that.

He was wearing a light green long coat. Although the brand could not be seen clearly, Merlin could feel that it was a real high-end product.

Also, the young man's inner clothes were luxury items that exuded the scent of money.

He had a watch on his wrist, and the other hand was in his pocket, especially when he suddenly saw Merlin in the dark and was frightened, the hand in the pocket seemed to hold something even harder.

If Merlin guessed correctly, it should be a gun...

But Merlin was not afraid, his keen senses did not feel the killing intent from the young man in front of him.

Most importantly, when seeing this young man's flustered eyes with a trace of pain, Merlin seemed to see himself 6 months ago, who had just suffered bad luck and had to leave home and set foot on the road of exile .

The two of them may be the same kind of people.

Maybe they could be friends.

"Rookie, such a little food can't withstand hunger."

Merlin jumped down from the box lightly and stood in front of the young man, which made the young man take a step back suddenly, and the vigilance in his blue eyes became more straightforward.

"do not come!"

he warned.

"You stole my food and now you and I are hungry..."

Merlin raised his hands to indicate that he was not malicious, and he said to the nervous young man in front of him:

"I'm going to get something for supper now, you can just throw away the gun obediently and come with me."

"Or, just starve here."

"I'm not a criminal! I won't be like you!"

The young man gritted his teeth and answered, but Merlin shrugged, and he replied frankly:

"No! I didn't commit a crime, boy, I just wanted to fill my stomach, just like you just now. Talking big won't make you full, I just wait for you for 5 seconds. I do need someone to help, but I don't It’s not up to you, so it’s up to you to come or not.”

After speaking, he turned and left without hesitation, as if he didn't care about the threat from behind.

Behind him, the young man's hand remained on the pistol in his pocket, but the hunger in his stomach urged him, and at last he took off his coat and walked into the darkness.

After a while, the two young men tiptoed towards the upper deck of the freighter, one behind the other.

Merlin, who was more familiar with freighters, led the way, and the silent young man followed behind him. Merlin asked in a low voice:

"My name is Merlin, what's your name?"

The young man didn't answer, and seemed unwilling to answer, Merlin said again:

"If we act together, I have to know your name, or simply a code name, or how can I contact you?"

A few seconds later, in the darkness, the young man whispered:

"Bruce..."

"Just call me Bruce."

(End of this chapter)