Mermaid Reef

Let me say that once a person leaves home and embarks on a journey, it is difficult to predict what will happen halfway.

In 1925, John Doe boarded a ship called the Zephyr.

***

Dark clouds, heavy rain and strong winds.

The surface of the sea is like paper folded arbitrarily by an urchin, with ninety-degree ups and downs from time to time.

The sky and the sea have lost their boundaries and become blurred. Waves several meters high and torrential rain fill every inch of the area that people can see with their naked eyes.

"Left full rudder!"

The captain screamed with all his might.

However, the sound he made could not reach the ears of other people on the deck.

Lightning split the sky, and the main mast of the ship snapped, half of which was scorched black, and the other half burst into flames, which were quickly extinguished by the heavy rain.

The light disappeared, and the letters of "West Wind" on the ship's side were swallowed by the waves again.

"God!" A sailor closed his eyes in despair.

Without the mainmast, they may not be able to make it to the next big wave.

"It's the sea god who is angry, it's the sea god!"

Another old sailor who obviously had different beliefs was holding on to the sail rope tightly, his face full of fear, "There has never been such a storm in the ice sea this season... Sea God..."

A large hole had been punched in the deck by a fallen mast.

In the cabin, a man who looked like a passenger nimbly got under the bed, so as not to be covered by the splintered sawdust "from the top of his head".

However, this choice made him pay the price in the next second - the whole ship was thrown high by the huge waves, and then fell heavily - the man's head hit the bed board hard and passed out.

His hand was resting next to the suitcase, which had the owner's name engraved on it.

"John Doe".

At this time, the hull suddenly shook.

The huge waves swallowed it mercilessly.

Three seconds later, the Zephyr staggered, and broke through the waves with great difficulty.

Rainwater and seawater flowed into the cabin along the big hole smashed by the mast, and the stagnant water choked the unconscious John awake. He struggled twice and crawled out of the bed.

Wait, the pitching of the ship seems to disappear.

Oops!The ship sank?

Regardless of his drowsy head, John hurriedly stepped on the bed, struggling to climb out of the big hole in the ceiling.

With strong arms, he stepped on the bulkhead and quickly climbed onto the deck.

"Cough cough."

John tried his best to open his eyes, and staggered to stand still. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the surrounding sea was not boundless sea water, and he did not feel the buoyancy of the sea water and the eddy pull generated by the sunken ship.

It's still raining.

The raindrops were so big that they hurt the skin.

The wind is decreasing and the waves are gradually becoming gentle and calm.

The drenched sailor, first mate, and captain stood on the deck blankly, looking at the sky in confusion and fear.

Naturally, John also looked up——

The dark clouds disappeared without a trace, and a bright crescent moon hung on the horizon.

new moon.

Can you see the moon in a storm?Unless it's not raining, but a big hose running down their heads?

The world seemed to be divided into two halves, one with a clear night sky and one with heavy rain.

The moonlight penetrated the invisible dividing line, lightly swaying the veil-like brilliance, and everyone's faces showed a strange and pale color.

"……Star."

I don't know which sailor suppressed his fear and muttered in a low voice.

These stars are even more eerie because they move slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and their shapes do not match the star charts of any season.

"It must be off course, where are we?"

"No, the boat is leaking!"

With a panicked cry, everyone came back to their senses and hurriedly repaired the broken side of the ship.

In a hurry, not only did the hole not be blocked, but the surrounding ship planks also seemed to have problems, and small streams of water kept pouring into the hull.

"The ship is sinking!"

There was chaos on the deck, John took two steps, and suddenly looked at the sea area behind the Zephyr as if shocked by electricity.

In the curtain of mist formed by the torrential rain, a three-masted sailing ship with a dark red body was silently sailing towards this side.

The sails were tattered and there were several large holes in the hull.

The degree of damage was even worse than that of the West Wind, but it was traveling on the sea, like a swift skimming the water, light and flexible, leaving only a faint water mark.

The black sailboat was getting closer.

The fog suddenly thickened, and the pouring rain seemed to evaporate into water mist in an instant, wrapping people in it like a cocoon.

Now there is no wind or rain, only the sound of the waves crashing against the side of the ship.

...No, where's the sailor?

Thick fog obscured his vision, and John took a few quick steps, but the deck was empty, and he could neither see anyone nor hear the panic shouts that still existed just now.

It was like he was the only one left on the Zephyr.

A huge shadow silhouette slowly emerged from the mist.

Then, the black sailboat broke away from the fog and revealed its true face.

It is very old, as if it has been drifting on the sea for decades, the underside of the ship is full of shellfish and algae, and the hanging anchor is rusty, and black unknown seaweed is entwined on it.

"Boom."

The black sailboat collided with the side of the Zephyr.

Not loud, just muffled.

...But, something woke up.

The eerie black sailboat began to "breathe".

The hull was heaving, beating, and even creaking. The whole ship slowly twisted and deformed, and then disintegrated.

The rotten planks were lifted off, and strange black ropes swam out of the holes in the hull, climbing on the black sailboat as if alive.

The rope wriggled like a snake.

When they pause, they resemble some crooked ancient script.

John froze.

He couldn't blink, couldn't tilt his head.

Some twisted and deformed lines appeared in his mind at the same time, and the thick fog suddenly surged, covering his vision. He stumbled towards the other side of the deck and fell halfway.

Before losing his mind completely, John seemed to hear himself let out a cry of panic.

……

……

John was awakened by a severe headache.

His lungs were burning, his throat seemed to be filled with sand, and the tip of his nose lingered with the smell of sea water. He felt someone beating his chest hard.

Then he was like a leaky jar, pouring out a lot of sea water.

"Snake, black snake..."

John muttered unconsciously.

The person next to him asked strangely: "What is he talking about?"

"I don't understand, it seems to be English? It was a British ship that died."

"Come on, there's another one washed up by the waves over there, and it's still alive!"

John tried to open his eyes, and he saw a large ship plank soaked in the sea water at his feet, which he seemed to have hugged tightly just now.

The board of the ship is exactly the part with the words "Western Wind" written on it.

The coast is full of rugged reefs, and the sun hangs in the sky, like a poor-quality light bulb in a broken house, flickering and flickering in John's vision.

Shaking and shaking, he lost consciousness and sank into darkness.

***

When John woke up again, the flickering low-quality light bulb was still in front of him.

He lay on the bed for a full 3 minutes before he was sure it was really a light bulb.

This is a spacious but somewhat low room, much like a storage room. There may be stairs or a street above the ceiling. As people walk, the light bulbs will shake.

"woke up?"

A stout and tall figure appeared at the door, with a gray-brown beard and a bald forehead, holding a wooden bucket in his hand, with a fish flopping inside.

"The doctor said that you will wake up today, very good, get up! You have been lying all day and night, you should be very hungry."

The bearded man was wearing a pair of long rubber shoes. When he looked at John in the room, he had to bend down to show his face. When he straightened up, the door frame could only reach his chest.

Of course, this is not the giant's home, but the roof is low.

The hospital in John’s impression should have crosses, nurses in nun uniforms, gray and black walls, and patients in the next bed moaning in pain, instead of piles of radishes, cabbages, and dried salted fish.

"...This is clothes. Your original clothes are like seaweed cut out from the belly of a fish. They are crumpled and smell bad. You can't wear them anymore."

The English accent of the bearded man was very strong, and John had a hard time hearing it. He could only stumble and say in the local language: "Thank you, the boat I was on sank, didn't it?"

"Yes, we fished you up from the sea like a stranded fish... Thank God! You speak our language!"

The bearded man breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's vegetable soup and toast on the counter outside."

The bearded man dropped these words, and left with a bang of the bucket.

John struggled to put on his clothes, lowered his head and felt for the door, only to understand what "counter" meant.

This is a tavern.

Walking through the aisle piled with tall log barrels, there is a counter outside.

A copper kettle full of water hangs from an iron grill above the fire, next to a steaming pot of vegetable soup and several loaves of bread baked on the rack.

John looked down at the pile of cleaned wooden bowls and plates, large spoons, and a bread knife, thinking that the tavern owner wanted him to do it himself.

"Hello."

The sudden sound made John almost cut his hand.

He turned his head and found that there was actually a person sitting in a dark place where the fire could not shine. If the other party hadn't greeted him proactively, he might not have noticed that there was anyone there.

The man pushed away the tin wine glass in front of him, his fingers were long and dexterous.

At first glance, he is not a person who does manual labor.

"I'm Dr. Jason. I'm glad to see you in good spirits."

The man stood up, took a step forward, and came to the area covered by the fire, and his face appeared from the shadows.

Long black coat, short tailored waistcoat, and pale and handsome features, not to mention appearing in this old tavern, even in a London cafe, no one would blame this gentleman for being inappropriately dressed.

In his right hand Dr. Jensen held a gold pocket watch on a slender chain that slipped into his shirt pocket.

"You woke up half an hour earlier than I expected. I'm going to see you after dinner." This doctor is very young, probably only in his twenties, with neatly combed black curly hair. A pair of light blue eyes, wearing a monocle, with a smile on his face, but there is no trace of emotion in his eyes.

This is not the kind of crowd John likes to mingle with.

But at times like this, anyone who follows the social etiquette and is willing to talk is better than an Icelander.

Otherwise, I don’t even know how to thank them, and it’s even impossible to inquire about the situation.

John didn't have a single penny on him now. He suppressed his hunger and reached out his hand: "Hello, Dr. Jansen, you can call me John. Are you British?"

"Yes, I have a clinic in this town."

Dr. Jensen didn't shake John's hand. He turned around naturally, cut two slices of bread, and handed the plate to John.

"You should replenish your strength."

John could only take the plate and pour himself a bowl of vegetable soup.

"I'm sorry, my clinic is too small... Yesterday we fished up seven people from the sea, and you were the only one who had no obvious trauma and no persistent high fever, so I asked old Jack from the tavern to take care of you."

Dr. Jason sat on the chair next to him, explained why John was lying in the storage room, and then watched John eat. After a few minutes of silence, he suddenly asked without warning: "What did you encounter at sea? ?”