radiothebook Chapter 433 If you can't deny it, smash the accounting office!
Chapter 433 If you can't deny it, smash the accounting office!
Blackwater climbed up the threshold of the abandoned shipyard, without touching the thunder talisman or the evil-suppressing talisman. It simply bypassed all the remaining red-glowing arrays and sought out shadows to crawl under the wooden planks.
Seeing his shadow lengthen again, Manager Hu hurriedly asked, "Didn't you say the talisman could suppress it?"
"The talisman suppresses the name, the soul, and evil spirits."
Mo Chengyue pressed the sword down, and the talisman ash was crushed into the cracks in the wood.
"A shadow is half on you and half in the light; it's not entirely evil."
Manager Hu gritted his teeth.
"Then should I cut off my shadow?"
"Are you cutting pickled vegetables?"
Mo Chengyue used his sword sheath to push her foot, which she was about to move away, back into the dry place.
"If the shadow is broken, the soul will also be incomplete. Xiao Liu was almost dragged out last night because the red embroidered shoes stepped on his shadow. You just rescued your sister, so don't follow his example and make things worse for yourself."
Manager Hu was rendered speechless by his words and could only reply curtly, "Then give me a usable solution."
"Stay calm first."
"How can we stabilize it?"
"Don't look at the boat sign, don't call out any names other than Ah Sui, don't let the light shine on your feet, and don't ask if there are any people on board."
Manager Hu was taken aback.
"Why can't we just ask if anyone's there?"
Mo Chengyue looked up at her.
"If you ask, it can answer."
Shopkeeper Hu shut her mouth. The white paper lamp was attached to the small box, and the wick was protected behind her palm. The light only fell on the box lid and her chest, and no longer spread to the ground.
The black ship outside the gate moved even closer, its bow already pressed against the rotten piles outside the abandoned shipyard, but there was no sound of collision.
The four characters on the wet, black ship's nameplate slowly faded, and a new line of watermarks emerged.
Those who are blind will be eliminated.
Manager Hu didn't dare read it aloud; he only glanced at it before looking away.
Mo Chengyue chuckled softly.
"That's very polite."
Suppressing his anger, Manager Hu asked, "Is this what you call being polite?"
"At least it didn't say that those who owe a life will die."
"Can you stop trying to find good points for it?"
"It's a professional habit to first look for loopholes in the terms and conditions."
After Mo Chengyue finished speaking, he took out a crumpled water-repelling talisman from his sleeve with his left hand. The talisman was darkened by the blood and black water vapor. He looked at it, then put the talisman back and replaced it with a small pinch of red sun powder, which he sprinkled at the foot of Manager Hu.
Manager Hu watched his movements.
"Not enough talismans?"
"enough."
"Then why not use it?"
"Because it doesn't travel on water."
Mo Chengyue gently tapped the outer edge of her shadow with the tip of his sword. The shadow was thinned by the bow of the ship, and the Crimson Sun Powder fell without igniting; it was only swallowed by the shadow.
"You see, the water is just the path, the shadow is the rope."
Manager Hu's arms were aching, but he dared not change his posture.
"Then cut off the road."
It's being drawn up.
Mo Chengyue placed the Rain Flower Sword between her shadow and the threshold. The talismanic ash on the sword was gradually swallowed by the black energy. He did not retreat, but instead pushed the tip of the sword deeper into the crack in the wood.
Seeing that he was only supporting himself with his left hand while his right arm hung limply, Manager Hu couldn't help but say, "Don't get yourself killed too."
"Don't worry, I'll quote a price before I go in."
"Who told you that?"
"So what do you want to say?"
Manager Hu looked at the bloodstains on his shoulder, but the words he was about to say changed.
"You just said we need to stabilize the situation first, but how long do you mean?"
"So stable that I can figure out how it calculates its accounts."
"Do you understand now?"
"If you can deny it, then deny it; if you can't deny it, then smash up the accounting office."
Shopkeeper Hu was on the verge of collapse, but his words almost made him hold back his tears.
"You have a lot of resentment towards the accountant."
"I'm very resentful of every place that asked me to sign additional documents."
The sign outside the gate has been changed again.
Borrow eyes to return to the boat, borrow a name to return to the water, borrow a shadow to return to the shore.
Manager Hu didn't read it aloud this time, but when the third line of text appeared, her shadow suddenly tugged outwards, and she was dragged towards the threshold.
The small box in her arms also made a soft humming sound.
Mo Chengyue lowered the hilt of his sword with his left hand, the blade blocking her shadow. The Qingxin talisman burned to ash on the spine of the sword, and the ash lines crawled along the ground, briefly connecting her feet to the dry wooden plank.
Shopkeeper Hu said urgently, "The box is moving."
Hold me tight.
"It's pulling outwards."
"Don't use your fingers to touch the talisman, touch the bottom of the box."
Shopkeeper Hu immediately changed her grip, and the soul-sealing talisman in the small box emitted a faint old silver light. As soon as that light appeared, the bow of the unlit boat outside the door tilted slightly, and the boat sign was directly facing the small box in her arms.
Mo Chengyue raised his sword to block the straight line between the ship's nameplate and the small box, and the black energy extinguished most of the talisman ash on the Rain Flower Sword.
"Manager Hu, turn the light to the left."
Manager Hu did as instructed.
"Receive again."
She pulled the lamp back to her chest.
"Don't let the box break your heart."
She pressed the small box down tightly, her voice trembling.
"Can Ah-Sui hear me?"
"Even if you can hear me, don't ask."
Mo Chengyue's left hand became unsteady from exerting too much force, and the sword made a faint vibration as it pressed against the crack in the wood. He tucked his right arm into his chest and used his shoulder to brace the hilt of the sword, finally managing to drag Manager Hu's shadow back from the threshold.
Shopkeeper Hu saw cold sweat trickling down his forehead and onto his clothes. He hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, "Could I help you press your sword?"
"cannot."
Why?
"You press your sword, and the shadow will come closer, allowing the ship to recognize the box by following your hand."
"So I'm just going to stand there and watch you bleed?"
"Don't add to the bill while standing."
Manager Hu was so angry that his eyes turned red, but he didn't move again.
After the writing on the boat sign was washed away by the black water, a low creaking sound suddenly came from the empty space at the bow of the boat, as if an unseen person had placed an invisible pen on the deck.
Mo Chengyue's expression finally changed. He stared at the black ship outside the door, and most of his jokes stopped.
Manager Hu noticed immediately.
"What's wrong now?"
"It's not urging."
"What are you doing?"
"It's recording."
Shopkeeper Hu's hands, which were holding the small box, were cold.
"Whom should I remember?"
"Remember the shadow cast by the light, remember the person carrying the box, remember the person who just blocked the curtain."
Mo Chengyue looked down at his left sword finger, which was entangled by black water vapor. A light black mark had appeared on his fingertip. The mark had no red line or water mark, but was just a boat-shaped outline that was attached to the shadow.
Manager Hu saw it too, and his face immediately darkened.
"It remembers you?"
"Um."
"What will happen?"
"I don't know for now."
"You still say 'temporarily'?"
Mo Chengyue pushed the Rain Flower Sword outward with his left hand, and the tip of the sword picked up a ball of talisman ash. The ash fell onto the black water outside the threshold, but it did not catch fire. Instead, it only revealed an empty boat shadow.
He looked at the silhouette of the ship, his tone turning somber.
"Now I know why it's called the 'lightless ship'."
Manager Hu didn't dare to reply.
Mo Chengyue continued, "The red lantern boat needs people to watch the lantern, respond to its calls, and board the boat. This boat doesn't need that. It only needs someone on the shore to leave its shadow so it can write its account on the shore."
Shopkeeper Hu asked in a low voice, "So it uses its shadow to reach the shore?"
"right."
"So we've made it visible now?"
Mo Chengyue did not answer immediately. He raised his hand and moved the white paper lantern slightly above the small box, trying to shrink Manager Hu's shadow at her feet.
But the wet, black sign at the bow of the ship was already pointing towards the entrance to the abandoned shipyard, and words reappeared on the sign.
Borrowing eyes to return to the boat.
Before the last stroke of the character "归" (return) was even fully formed, the small box in Manager Hu's arms suddenly made a soft sound.
That wasn't the sound of the talisman being blown open by the steam, but rather the sound of someone touching the soul-sealing talisman inside the box from the inside.
Manager Hu immediately tensed up, his voice becoming hoarse.
"Ah Sui?"
Mo Chengyue turned his sword to the side, blocking the black water vapor coming from the ship's license plate.
"Don't say it a second time."
The old silver light in the small box shone brightly, and a very soft girl's voice came from deep within the Soul-Sealing Talisman, so tired that it was almost swallowed by the sound of water.
"sister."
This time, Manager Hu couldn't hold back his tears, but he didn't look down; instead, he held the lamp even tighter.
"I am here."
Mo Chengyue immediately reminded her: "Just reply to her, don't ask about the ship."
The sounds from the small box came intermittently, as if drifting back to the shore from a distant firewood pile.
"Don't let it..."
Manager Hu was so anxious that his hands were trembling, but he still managed to pinpoint another issue.
"Ah Sui, speak slowly, I'm listening."
Mo Chengyue pressed the Rain Flower Sword between the threshold and the shadow. The blood patch on his right arm glowed again, and he used his shoulder to push the red light back under his clothes.
"Get to the point, don't waste your breath."
The old silver light inside the box shrank to the size of a grain of rice, and the girl's voice came out softly from the talisman.
"Sister, don't let it see your shadow."