Mermaid Reef

John successfully found the safe in the dark compartment behind the bookshelf.

Dr. Abel helped hold the flashlight for lighting, and kept chanting some numbers and words.

"...I think the password may be the birthday, no, no, it's too simple, maybe it's the number converted from the word 'mystery' through certain rules."

John shook his head, interrupting Dr. Abel's hard thinking: "Lend me your stethoscope."

"what?"

Doctor Abel looked bewildered.

"Hurry up, no password is needed, this kind of old-fashioned safe is easy to open." John urged.

The doctor dug out the stethoscope from the suitcase, and John took it, the stethoscope head against the safe, while he slowly turned the button to listen to the sound inside.

After about 3 minutes, there was a crisp "click" from the card slot inside the safe, and the door opened.

"This...what's the matter?"

Dr. Abel was dumbfounded, with a broken world view on his face. Before today, he never thought that the tools he used to diagnose diseases could be used to pick locks.

John wants to explain that this is not a lockpicking tool, but an auxiliary tool, but seeing the doctor's collapsed expression, it is better not to say any more provocative words to him.

"It's just a little trick, and you don't need it, doctor. Well, let's see what's inside." John took the flashlight and shone it into the safe.

The things were neatly arranged, and John flipped through them, and found some Dutch and Spanish securities, a box of ancient coins, and a notebook with a gray cover.

"That's it." Doctor Abel confirmed.

The notebook is very old, and the leather cover is obviously worn and peeled off.

When I opened it, I found that the second half of the page still had signs of swelling due to water soaking, and the handwriting was a bit blurred and smudged.

John roughly flipped through it, instead of reading carefully, he quickly put away the notebook and closed the safe again.

"Go back to the clinic, don't stop here."

"Ah?" The doctor didn't understand, why don't you just look at it here?

John explained: "It's not safe here. Jason has been here during the day. Although I don't understand the 'mysterious power', I think the 'Sea God' must be able to feel the traces left by this power. As long as it wakes up, it is likely to Come here to check. So there is a high probability that we will have an accident if we stay here."

"...Then let's leave quickly!"

Dr. Abel was running fast.

Halfway through the run, he suddenly found that the chapel was brightly lit, not at all like the terrible darkness when they entered.

"moonlight?"

The doctor wondered, is the moon so bright?

He has lived in Black Lagoon for so many years, and he has never seen this kind of moonlight that is comparable to electric lights.

"Not good!" John suddenly noticed that the nun was gone.

They had moved the sleeping nun to the pews in the chapel, which is now empty.

John dragged the man into the shadows by the wall, then peered cautiously through the window.

Sure enough, there was a crescent moon in the night sky, and the silver moonlight covered the earth like tulle.

John saw the nun walking staggeringly, and there were four figures walking in strange postures in front of her.

"It's a survivor of the Zephyr."

John remembered that he had untied these people, and regretted it.

Little did he know then that things would turn out like this.

"They also came into contact with mystery?" The doctor asked blankly, otherwise why would they be recruited?

Soon the doctor remembered the ravings of these people when their high fever persisted.

Ships, storms, new moons...

Dr. Abel's teeth were chattering, and he asked tremblingly, "Did the West Wind meet the Sea God?"

"I don't know, we just saw this weird moon in the storm." John lowered his voice, thinking about the ghost ship.

It seems that the West Wind encountered two mysterious incidents at sea that day, one was a new moon, and the other was a ghost ship.

"Hey, why are there only four people?" Dr. Abel asked strangely looking at those sleepwalking figures.

"The captain is not inside, and the other person seems to have broken his leg..."

John's voice stopped abruptly, because he saw another figure crawling hard on the path.

Those who cannot walk are crawling.

Creepy.

Doctor Abel's face was bloodless. He was about to say something when his consciousness suddenly blurred.

John found that half of the doctor's body was illuminated by the moonlight, his expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly dragged him to the corridor.

But it was too late, John heard a beautiful singing voice from far away, his eyelids became heavier and heavier, and he couldn't exert any strength in his hands.

John fell to the ground.

***

John knew he was dreaming.

He was standing on a beach, but the water was crimson.

There seemed to be something tumbling in the water, but the water was too cloudy to see clearly.

Then the sea water began to boil, and this huge black reef slowly rose from the bottom of the sea.

There is nothing special about this rock, it is just like ordinary reefs, which are black with holes and severely eroded by sea water.

But there is no attachment on the stone, and no traces of shellfish and seaweed can be seen.

Also, it's huge.

In the dream, the height of the reef is close to the starry sky, and the entire sea area is shrouded in its shadow.

The silver moon rose from the bottom of the sea, the reef began to shake violently, and the fine stones kept peeling off, and then bursts of terrible sounds filled the whole dream.

John bent down in pain and tightly covered his ears, but the sound continued to come.

It seemed that countless people were crying, screaming, and struggling.

It was the sound from hell.

John couldn't hear what these voices were saying, he could only hear the endless pain in it, his consciousness was forced to be involved in it, and only the most primitive fear remained in his mind, and he could only wail with unknown meaning.

This emotion of fear and pain is so strong that it seems to empty the human brain in an instant.

Until a biting chill froze John.

The nightmare receded like a tide.

***

John woke up from the cold.

He found that his face and hands were covered with a layer of hoarfrost, and his feet were sunk in the frozen puddles, and he almost couldn't get out.

Jason was standing by the railing holding a black umbrella. The rain was fine and covered by the umbrella, so his face could not be seen at all.

This is not a church, and John found himself standing on the pallets of the pier.

Not far away is the sea, and the waves rush to the shore one after another.

There are a few people in front of John, who are similar in shape to John, whose feet are frozen and unable to move.

John counted, the two passengers of the Zephyr were there, the captain and sailors were gone, and the nun was gone.

Dr. Abel was curled up frozen in the puddle closest to John.

Apparently, they were all thrown into a nightmare by the moonlight, and then drifted off into the sea in a daze, where Jason rescued them again.

"..."

John gave Jason a complicated look.

Reason told John that he could not talk to this person, the more contact he had, the more dangerous he would be.

But there are too many mysteries and too little information and clues.

"why?"

John suddenly spoke, he didn't understand why Jason wanted to save people?

He only saved himself and Dr. Abel, what about the others?

Jason realized that John was talking to him, and he raised his umbrella slightly, revealing his light blue eyes.

"The sacrifice will increase its power and revive it."

"Sacrifice?" John's pupils shrank.

So it's not about saving people, it's just that I don't want to "benefit to the enemy".

But there are still a few people missing here.

"They've been so deluded that they can't be saved." Jason seemed to see John's doubts, and explained proactively, "Everything has a source, and I see you are looking for it."

John subconsciously pinched the notebook in his pocket.

Jason ignored John's vigilant gaze, with a calm expression, as casual as talking about the weather: "Last night, its power enveloped the entire Black Lagoon Town, and then it will become stronger and stronger, and the people in the town will be affected by this power." Gradually fell into a nightmare, and then walked into the sea one by one, and now no one can leave Black Lagoon."

"Who is that?"

"The people in Black Reef Town call it the existence of Sea God and Strange Reef."

Jason has a good attitude and answers all questions.

It was this attitude that made John even more vigilant.

"No one can leave... including you?" John suddenly asked a sharp question.

"including me."

Jason's expression remained unchanged.

John has never had such a difficult time analyzing a person's expression. It stands to reason that habitual movements and facial expressions will reveal what a person is thinking, but Jason has no redundant expressions.

At this time the doctor also came to life, and he let out a cry that interrupted John's thoughts.

When John came back to his senses, he found that Jason left with an umbrella.

"and many more!"

John still has a lot of questions in his mind.

But Jason didn't look back. Like a ghost, he disappeared silently into the shadow of the houses on the street.

"...Am I dead?" Doctor Abel held his head in fear, sneezing from the cold.

"Dead people shouldn't sneeze."

"That's enough, Mr. John, I can't stand the black humor of you British people." Doctor Abel struggled, and finally John kicked the ice to help him, and the doctor broke free from the frozen puddle.

"What happened? We were bewitched by the siren?" the doctor asked fearfully.

"Yes." John remembered that nightmare, and asked the doctor about his dream while saving people.

Sure enough, Dr. Abel also saw the crimson sea water, strange reefs, and terrifying wailing sounds.

"that……"

"What?" John looked up.

Doctor Abel looked embarrassed, and then said hesitantly: "I don't think that's a nightmare, it's whaling!"

John was very surprised. He knew about whaling. Although the tradition of whaling was very early and ancient, humans have been hunting whaling crazily for more than 100 years.

John hadn't seen whaling with his own eyes, so he didn't think about it when he entered the nightmare.

Dr. Abel said with difficulty: "I was also curious about the legend of the sea god in Black Reef Town before, and I read the information specifically. I found that before the sea flooded the town, Black Reef Town became prosperous and lively because of whaling. The people here Fishermen were just hunting whales in the bay at first. Later, European fleets came and recruited a large number of sailors to trade whale oil and whalebone. The torrential rain and flood that occurred 70 years ago submerged half of the town and killed many people. The original good port The conditions are gone, ships can't dock, and Black Reef Town has never caught whales again. So I always think that the legend of the Sea God is a rumor spread by our fathers and grandfathers who were frightened by natural disasters..."

"Sacrifice." John said suddenly.

Doctor Abel was stunned, and then found that John took out the old pastor's notes, flipped through them quickly, and finally stopped at a page marked Black Lagoon Town.

"Blood and death will awaken those that sleep.

"They were called gods in ancient times,

"We shouldn't be creating killing at sea, at least not in the same place.

"The gods will think that it is a sacrifice arranged by people, and then appear, devouring all the sacrifices stained with blood."

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The author has something to say:

Before oil wells were explored, before the use of electric lights and electricity appeared, in the civilization of Western society at that time, human production and life were inseparable from whaling.

If you want to make leather, if you want lighting, if you want to make steel, if you want the factory machinery to run well, you can't do without whale oil

So after the industrial revolution, the whaling industry reached its peak in the nineteenth century

As whale populations plummeted, electricity came on, oil wells were dug, and this faded away