Life is a journey. At some moments, we need to rest, throw away some unwillingness and regrets, and then start again.
Only by being relaxed can you go further.
Merlin was walking carefully in the steel-cast cabin, with shadows scattering on him, helping him hide the faint sound of footsteps, and even the sound of breathing was wrapped.
It's like a silent hunter in action.
He looked at the fork in front of him, and his spiritual vision was emitting outwards. After confirming that there was no one around, he walked out of the shadow.
He placed his hands on the metal handle in front of him, took a deep breath, mused something in his mouth, and then pulled the closed lid outward.
A gloomy cold air gushed out from it, making Meilin's fingers unable to help but move.
But the moment he looked at the open metal cabinet, the expectation in Merlin's eyes quickly turned into a hint of disappointment.
"There is no fruit! There is no bread and only this little chicken left."
Merlin stood in the kitchen of the cargo ship. He looked at the empty refrigerator in front of him. The young man couldn't help but let out a wail.
"I hate chicken!"
But when she said something annoying, Merlin took out the pieces of chicken quickly and put them in the lunch box she carried.
Then he closed the refrigerator and searched for other places in the kitchen. The movement was 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 several minutes, Merlin only found a few pieces of bread that were a little hard. He was thinking about whether to sneak into the crew's room to get some food while the crew changed shifts, but after thinking about it, he gave up the plan.
This world is never tolerant of demon walkers like him.
Especially for a "stowaway" who has not bought a ticket and has been hiding on a cargo ship for almost a month, once he is caught, he may be thrown directly into the sea by the angry chef.
In the past half a month, the legend of "cargo ship ghost" has spread among the crew because of Merlin's "secret activities" in the kitchen and on the ship.
But what can Merlin do?
It has been almost five months since he left Central City, and Mr. Henry had already spent all the money he gave.
Merlin had no proof of identity, and what was even more terrible was that his bad luck made it impossible for him to find a place to do odd jobs.
Merlin called again to the shadows and enveloped the dim light on his body.
This is a simple way to use his own power that he has figured out in the past five months.
Merlin called it "Shadow Cloak".
In such a situation where the shadow covers the 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 fail under the light source, and the shadow covering the body is unstable, and it will quickly dissipate when subjected to collisions or strong electromagnetic fields, or even in strong winds.
It does not have much practical value. In Merlin's opinion, this thing can only be used to steal food from the kitchen at night.
Or slip into the crew's cabin and get some daily necessities.
He brought his dinner back to his "room", a cargo hold full of goods, and Merlin packed a narrow place for himself in those boxes.
He now has very little stuff, just a light bedding, a backpack, and a few pieces of change of clothes, and a lunch box that he bought with the last little money before boarding the boat.
After all, even if you are infected by the power of demons, you still have to make a living.
As the saying goes, a ship is a treasure house, and there are many things in this cargo hold. Even if the crew members want to search for the legendary "ghost", it will be difficult for them to ship the cargo hold completely.
Even if you encounter it in a bad luck, Merlin can quickly transfer his things with his shadow cape in this dark environment.
So he hid here for more than a month and was not discovered.
"Go and take a shower first."
Merlin placed the lunch box in front of his bedding, took out a towel from his backpack, changed into shorts and slippers, then put the towel on his shoulders, hummed a song in the shadows, and walked to the upper level of the cabin.
In the past month, he had already figured out the activity patterns of the crew members. At this point, the crew members had already rested. Although some night owls would hide in the restaurant and play cards until midnight, the crew members on duty would only stay on the upper deck.
As long as he doesn't make too loud noises when he washes, no one will notice him.
Merlin quickly washed his body under the shower shower of the cargo ship. He "borrowed" a sharp razor blade from a crew member who was more concerned about personal hygiene. With the dim light in the bathroom, Merlin cleaned up his face in front of the not very clean mirror.
After shaving off some of the prosperous beards and tidying their hair casually, in the mirror, the familiar Merlin came back.
But he could see that during these five long months, the changes in his magic power have also changed his appearance.
His skin was much paler than before, like a patient with excessive blood loss.
He became very thin, but his eyes, which seemed to be beating flames, became very bright, like burning flames.
He is still the doomed Merlin, but his mental state is obviously much better than before. This shows that a lot of things have indeed happened in these 5 months.
Merlin took the train from the station in Central City to the east, and he passed through several cities, just as Henry warned during the parting. During this journey, he was helping those in need in the best way possible.
He helped an old man retrieve the stolen handbag from the thief.
He helps the lost children find their parents.
He helped the injured police contact the hospital.
It was all small things, but Merlin's wandering heart was valuable comfort because of this.
All of these things made him understand that although he had been cursed, he was not unable to continue to do good things, continue to help others, or occasionally scare those villains.
Of course, the most important reason why Merlin can travel for more than 5 months with peace of mind is that he finally found a way to restrain his misfortune.
It was inspired by that train derailment and afterwards at the Allen's home.
That incident proved that the dark power in his body could be made dull by "consumption".
This gives Merlin space to operate.
In the dim light, in front of the mirror, Merlin held a sharp blade in his hand and gently stroked his arm.
The skin was cut open, and in the sting, blood flowed out of the wound.
And immediately followed was a force like black smoke, wrapping around Merlin's wound. In just a few seconds, the cut wound began to scab. After 2 minutes, the wound completely healed, leaving only a thin scar.
Merlin tested it and even the scar would disappear in a few hours.
He sensed the strength in his body and then cut open a wound again.
He repeated the process until 15 times later, Merlin finally felt a little weak.
This is his method.
Use pain to suppress the power of darkness that is ready to move.
"ah"
Merlin stretched out her body, wrung the towel in her hand and put it on her shoulder. He looked at himself in the mirror and said:
"You can have a good night's sleep tonight. Don't bother me anymore, nightmare."
After saying that, Merlin put the sharp blade in order not to hurt people. Then he entered the form of the shadow cape again, and walked towards his "room" relaxed. On this slightly bumpy cargo ship, he should enjoy his undelicious dinner.
Although today's problem has been solved, Merlin felt worried that this method will not always take effect.
Over the past few months, the dark powers in his body have always been more active than ever in a specific few days of each month, and if slightly improperly handled, it will lead to a series of bad events.
And in a few days, it will be the moment when the damn day comes.
So he must cultivate his spirit to deal with everything that may happen.
“Huh?”
Merlin returned to his room, sitting cross-legged on the bedding, ready to start eating.
But just as she picked up the lunch box, Merlin suddenly realized something was wrong.
The lunch box in his hand was lighter than what he remembered.
The young man reached out to open the lunch box. Although the chicken and bread placed in it were placed in the original way, Merlin could see at a glance that there were less chicken and bread.
Someone has come!
Someone "borrowed" some food from him.
This made Merlin suddenly raise his head, and he looked left and right. The shadows around him could not cover his eyes. Around the big boxes placed around, Merlin saw several footprints left on the dust on the ground.
Someone has indeed come here, and he is a very scheming and careful guy
Merlin did not act immediately, but instead pretended that nothing had happened.
As usual, he ate the food in the lunch box without leaving any residue. Then he washed the lunch box and lay on the bedding, as if he was really asleep.
On the other side, in another container, a young man in a long dress was curled up in the center of several large boxes.
He had just eaten the cold chicken and the dry and hard bread.
To be honest, it was the worst thing he had ever eaten in his 17 years of life. If he was at home now, then Old Afu must have prepared warm soup and delicious steak. If he didn't want to eat steak, then the considerate Afu would definitely prepare other flavors of meals.
The chef at home is proficient in delicious food from all over the world and always enjoys dinner.
After meals, there will be bath water with the right temperature and a comfortable bed.
In my own manor, there will be no such shaking at night, the sound of water that disturbs people's dreams and the sound of footsteps coming from time to time on the head.
He tried hard to throw the beautiful and weak memories of the past into his mind. The young man probably got inspiration from Merlin's "room". He also packed a place to accommodate adults in his cargo hold. Several boxes were put together to perfectly hide the place.
This also gave this tired and hungry young man a little insignificant sense of security.
He curled up in the darkness, trying hard to make himself forget his hunger and trying hard to let himself fall asleep.
He completely disliked the city where he was born and raised, and his cowardice. Although the culprit was right in front of him, he did not dare to pull the trigger.
The cowardly memory rolled 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, and he was very confused inside. He only knew that the farther he wanted to get from there, the better.
But in the erosion of this extreme negative emotions, it is almost impossible to fall asleep.
Under the pressure of hunger, two pieces of cold chicken and two slices of bread were not enough to fill the stomach. As time went by, the unwilling twitching of his stomach made him even more upset.
The young man finally sat up suddenly, as if he had finally made up his mind to find something to eat.
But the moment he sat up, his body stiffened a little.
On the box in front of him, a figure in the shadow was sitting leisurely, swaying his legs, looking at him.
It's like looking at 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 lines on his face, with blue eyes as gentle as a lover, and his short brown hair is a bit scattered, but it can be seen that it was carefully taken care of before.
He was wearing a light green long suit. Although he couldn't see the brand clearly, Merlin could feel that it was a real high-end product.
And the clothes lined by this young man are also luxury goods that exudes the fragrance of money.
He had a watch on his wrist and his other hand was in his pocket, especially when he suddenly saw Merlin in the darkness. When he was frightened, the hand in his pocket seemed to hold something even harder.
If Merlin was not wrong, it would be a gun
But Merlin was not afraid. His keen senses did not feel the murderous intent from the young man in front of him.
The most important thing is that when seeing this young man with a hint of pain in his panic, Merlin seemed to see himself who had just suffered misfortune and had to leave home and embark on the road to exile 6 months ago.
They may be the same type of people.
They may be friends.
"Rookie, that little thing can't stand the hunger."
Merlin jumped lightly from the box and stood in front of the young man, which made the young man take a step back, and the vigilance in his blue eyes became more straightforward.
"Don't come over!"
He warned.
"You stole my food, which made you and I very hungry now."
Merlin raised his hands and signaled that he had no malice. He said to the nervous young man in front of him:
"I'm going to get something for midnight snack now, either throw away the gun 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 replied calmly:
"No! I'm not guilty, boy, I just want to fill my stomach, just like you just now. I won't make you full even if you talk big. I'll just wait for you for 5 seconds. I do need someone to help, but it's not that you have to, so whether you come or not depends on you."
After saying that, he turned around without hesitation, as if he didn't care about the threat from behind.
Behind him, the young man's hand was always on the pistol in his pocket, but the hunger in his stomach urged him, and eventually, he took off his shirt and walked into the darkness.
After a while, the two young men tiptoed towards the upper floor of the freighter, one after another.
Merlin, who was more familiar with the freighter, led the way in front. The silent young man followed him. Merlin asked in a low voice:
"My name is Merlin, what are your name?"
The young man didn't answer, and seemed unwilling to answer, Merlin said again:
"If you act together, I have to know your name, or it's just a code name, how can I contact you?"
A few seconds later, in the darkness, the young man whispered:
"Bruce"
Chapter completed!