Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

Zhang Haiyan wanted to carry the assassin’s corpse, grab He Jianxi’s hand, and go to the third-class cabin.

Zhang Haiyan was very sensitive to people's microexpressions, so if he did something unexpected while in the same space as the hidden killers, then he should be able to find them. This was because sudden actions made people’s minute emotions immediately appear on their faces.

He was thinking that the killers definitely wouldn’t expect him to carry the body and show up alone in the third-class cabin after their failed assassination attempt.

But he couldn’t carry the corpse himself. He had to hide among the crowd; otherwise, he would suffer a lot since the corpse would get in the way if there were any conflicts. Moreover, there would be blind spots if he carried the corpse on his back. Zhang Haiyan was coming up with specific strategies while also making up lies to tell He Jianxi.

“There are a lot of pirates here. We’re going to the third-class cabin to expose them.”

“But the police weren’t on par with them at all. We should find more police officers right now.”

“It’s too late. They’ll get rid of the evidence soon. But don’t worry, there are too many people in the third-class cabin, so they won’t dare do anything. We can go to the third-class cabin and intercept them. That way, they won’t have the opportunity to throw the evidence into the sea.”

He Jianxi was noncommittal. He felt that what Zhang Haiyan said seemed to make sense, but he also felt like something was wrong.

There were two parts to the third-class cabin area: one was the steerage (1) area and the other was the private cabin area. There were four people to a private cabin, while the steerage area was actually the cargo hold.

Many people slept on big beds in the cargo hold because it created more space to accommodate as many people as possible.

When they first arrived at the steerage area, Zhang Haiyan looked around and saw that there were shoddily-dressed civilians and vendors. He pulled the corpse from his back and directly passed it to the startled He Jianxi.

As He Jianxi started to struggle, Zhang Haiyan held him still and said, “Now, just walk in. Don’t worry. Those pirates don’t know the real situation, so they won’t act rashly. It’ll keep them from destroying the evidence.”

“Wh—why?”

“Because they don't know who you are. They’ll definitely think this is a provocation. If I stay in the dark, they won’t dare do anything for fear of being discovered. They’ll only observe you.”

And I will observe them, Zhang Haiyan thought to himself. He patted He Jianxi’s ass and then pinched it. Just as He Jianxi screamed and stepped forward to dodge, Zhang Haiyan moved to blend into the crowd.

Everyone in the steerage area heard He Jianxi’s scream and looked at him. He stared back at them and then reflexively walked into the crowd in a daze.

Someone immediately discovered that the person he was carrying was dead. Everyone exclaimed and started retreating when they saw that the corpse’s throat had been crushed.

Zhang Haiyan’s tongue pressed against the blades in his mouth as he hid amongst the crowd. He observed He Jianxi’s surroundings with a swift gaze, scanning as many faces as possible.

The most conspicuous person in the crowd was Hudson. Not only was he an American with a long beard, but he was also a member of Miss Dong’s weapons team. Zhang Haiyan had met him when he was on the ship before.

Based on the look on his face, Zhang Haiyan knew he was looking for prostitutes in the third-class cabin.

There was a girl with long hair beside him, who seemed to be having a conversation with him. There was another girl with short hair standing close to them with her arms crossed in front of her chest and looking around warily.

When He Jianxi walked over, the two women were taken aback. Their reactions were obviously different compared to everyone else.

Zhang Haiyan narrowed his eyes. He tried to carefully recall the gestures and movements of the two opponents he’d fought just now.

The two women had almost completely erased their femininity when they fought him. These two girls in front of him had obvious feminine characteristics, so it was hard to associate them with the killers. But people’s postures and habits couldn’t be changed.

It was them. 

Zhang Haiyan looked around, but couldn’t see anyone else who was suspicious. Is it possible that there are only two people?

If there were only two people, then he could directly take care of them. But there were still too many blind spots that kept him from seeing things clearly.

Zhang Haiyan kept his distance from He Jianxi and slowly approached the two girls by wading through the distracted crowd. While one of the young women wasn’t looking, he passed by and stole a handkerchief from her waist.

Hudson was also looking at He Jianxi. The three people had stopped talking and were curiously waiting to see what would happen next.

He Jianxi was still walking through the middle of the crowd. He wanted to find out where Little Brother Zhang had gone, but he had already lost sight of him.

The short-haired girl had already discovered Zhang Haiyan by this point but didn’t do anything. Zhang Haiyan also pretended not to notice her. He walked behind her and grabbed her left wrist before she had time to react, “Elder sister, I’ve been looking for you for a long time!”

For a brief moment, the girl’s right hand subconsciously started to make a defensive movement, but then she abruptly retracted her hand. The muscles of her captured left arm bulged slightly. Zhang Haiyan remained silent as he watched everything, ensuring that nothing went unnoticed. The foreigner and the long-haired girl also looked back.

Zhang Haiyan smiled gently at them and even bowed slightly. “I was walking behind you and saw that you dropped your handkerchief. I thought I should return it to you quickly.” With that said, he took the handkerchief from his pocket.

The short-haired girl looked at it and smiled. When she raised her hand and brushed her hair back, Zhang Haiyan stared at the calluses on her purlicue (2) and fingers.

“This isn’t mine. I think you’ve misunderstood, Mister.”

Zhang Haiyan looked at the handkerchief confused, and then looked at her.  “It’s not yours… Well, it seems like it won’t reunite with its original owner now. Since I’ve met you, I’ll give it to you.”

“Thank you, Mister, but I’ve never used sandalwood-scented handkerchiefs. I'm afraid I’ll have to decline.”

“What do you mean you won’t use it? Ah, what’s that? There’s a bloodstain on your back!” As soon as Zhang Haiyan finished his sentence, the short-haired girl’s expression immediately changed.

Zhang Haiyan smiled. “Hey, everyone, look! Isn’t there a blood stain on this girl’s back?”

Zhang Haiyan called everyone’s attention over and quickly wiped his finger against his lips while they weren’t looking. He cut his finger with the blades in his mouth and then touched the short-haired girl’s back.

The people around them immediately saw that there was indeed a blood stain on her back. The girl with slightly longer hair, who had been talking to Hudson, frowned imperceptibly and then laughed. “Bai Zhu, look at you. When we were in the kitchen just now, I told you to be careful or your clothes might get stained. See? Your clothes got dirty.”

The girl named Bai Zhu also laughed. “I wasn’t being careful. Mister, thank you for pointing this out.”

Zhang Haiyan nodded. “The blood stain is rather fresh. You might want to wash it off now so it won’t set. Your clothes are beautiful and shouldn’t be ruined.” With that said, Zhang Haiyan winked at Hudson and gave him an ambiguous look.

Hudison instantly understood and immediately said, “Miss Bai Zhu, I have very good washing equipment in my room. Just go to my place to take care of it. I guarantee you’ll have clean clothes afterwards.”

After hearing his words, Zhang Haiyan laughed and grabbed Bai Zhu’s hand before she could refuse. “I’ll take this lady to your room…Your room is—”

Zhang Haiyan pulled Bai Zhu and started to walk away, but the long-haired girl also pulled Bai Zhu’s hand at the same time. Bai Zhu didn’t move, and the two sides were in a deadlock.

All of a sudden, more than a dozen people who had been watching He Jianxi among the crowd stopped what they were doing and turned their eyes to where Zhang Haiyan was. As they looked over warily, Zhang Haiyan moved his eyes and quickly identified them all.

1,2,3,4,5…. There are so many people. He froze for a moment. The number was much higher than he had expected.

While he was counting how many people there were, he noticed that some of them had secretly drawn their weapons.

At this time, Zhang Haiyan saw the long-haired girl next to him move her fingers slightly and make a gesture.

Everyone started to gather towards them once she made the gesture.

Uh-oh, Zhang Haiyan thought to himself. Things aren’t looking good.

The long-haired girl looked at Zhang Haiyan and said in Chinese, “Mister, we’re with our foreign friend. This has nothing to do with you, right? Or do you want to join us, too?”

Zhang Haiyan looked at Hudson and said, “No. I’m just enthusiastic to help since I’m worried that our foreign friend won’t be able to enjoy your company. After all, your foreign language skills aren’t good."

The long-haired girl laughed and said, “It’s a shame you won't live much longer.” She put her arms around Hudson. “Let’s go. Bai Zhu, since this gentleman wants to pursue you, you should try to get along with him.” She winked at Bai Zhu before she said to Hudson, “I have clothes to wash, too. I’ll wash them for my sister. Is that ok?”

Zhang Haiyan wanted to follow them, but Bai Zhu stopped him.

At this time, He Jianxi suddenly smelled something familiar. He followed the scent and saw Zhang Haiyan and the two girls. He walked towards them with the corpse on his back and asked Zhang Haiyan, “What do we do now? Have you found them? Well, I can smell them.”

He Jianxi looked at Bai Zhu, got a whiff of her scent, and immediately said, “That’s her. She was the one who fought you. She smells the same as the killer.”

Zhang Haiyan turned to look at He Jianxi. “Do you know how embarrassing it is right now?” With that said, he patted the corpse on He Jianxi’s back. When the corpse fell to the ground, they noticed all the killers gathering around them.

Zhang Haiyan counted the number of people and knew he couldn’t defeat them. Moreover, there were too many of them. As long as they surrounded the two of them and said it was a brawl, those on the outside wouldn’t even be able to see what was going on inside.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Zhang Haiyan grabbed He Jianxi and started running wildly towards the cargo hold’s exit.

Since he wasn’t far away from it, he managed to rush out in an instant and make it to the corridor. It was really dark, and there weren’t any people around. There was a ladder there that would lead to the upper deck, but at almost the exact same moment he jumped onto it, he saw Bai Zhu appear out of the corner of his eye.

Bai Zhu had spikes in each hand, and used them to pierce Zhang Haiyan right on the ass. Zhang Haiyan immediately released his hold on He Jianxi, who lost his balance and landed directly on the girl’s face. With her vision blocked by He Jianxi’s ass, the spikes pierced the ladder, causing sparks to fly.

The girl felt embarrassed and immediately became furious. Zhang Haiyan grabbed He Jianxi’s neck and pulled him back, but the girl started stabbing at whatever was in front of her. When the spikes pierced He Jianxi’s pants, the girl immediately twisted them and hooked the pants directly.

Zhang Haiyan was up there pulling He Jianxi’s neck while the girl was down there pulling his pants. He Jianx’s whole body was stretched straight as an arrow.

Desperate, Zhang Haiyan unfastened He Jianxi’s belt, and the pants were immediately ripped off.

Zhang Haiyan saw that the belt was about to be pulled off along with the pants, so he immediately stepped forward, grabbed it, and hauled He Jianxi up.

As Bai Zhu fell over, more people came out and chased them. Zhang Haiyan pulled the now pantless He Jianxi onto his back and leaped onto the deck as if he were flying. Without looking back, he jumped directly onto the outer wall of the first-class cabin and climbed up level by level like a monkey.

There were balconies on both sides.

His room number was 345, which should have been on the third floor. But where’s the third floor? Screw it!

Zhang Haiyan picked a random balcony that looked pleasing to the eye and then jumped to it directly.

The balcony lights were still on, so he rolled into the room. That was when he saw a naked Steven coming out of the bathroom while shaving his beard.

What a coincidence! Zhang Haiyan looked around. It’s Steven’s room. No wonder the balcony looks so familiar.

He had unexpectedly come back again.

The two men were stunned. Steven looked at the topless man carrying a pantless man while standing in front of his naked body.

“It’s you!”

Zhang Haiyan didn’t give Steven a chance to yell and immediately threw He Jianxi at him. Although He Jianxi wasn’t heavy, this throwing method still managed to knock Steven back into the bathtub.

Steven was very strong. Although he looked like a gentleman, he had a surprising amount of strength and was able to stand back up almost immediately.

Zhang Haiyan charged at him without warning and pressed him back into the bathtub. As all three of them fell into the tub, Zhang Haiyan headbutted Steven and knocked him out.

Everything happened so fast.

He Jianxi seemed to come to his senses a little and saw that he and two other men were squeezed into a bathtub full of foam.

He didn’t speak, but looked as if he was on the verge of tears.

****

TN Notes:

(1) Basically like an open-space dormitory in the cargo hold

(2) The web between your thumb and forefinger