Chapter 5 Ghost Countdown (5000 words)

  Green District.

   Crescent Street 64 b.

  A series of exquisite dark red brick-connected townhouses stand side by side on this street.

   What came into view was a two-story townhouse with an upper and lower floor, covering an area of ​​125 square meters and a small garden of 20 square meters.

  The exterior is decorated with brick-red wall paint, and there is a unique black chimney on the top.

In exchange for a house in a second-tier coastal city at the same price in China, Tu Fu calculated his salary and pension, did not eat or drink, and provided that he did not raise an unworthy child, he would just be able to pay back when he became a centenarian. Clear the mortgage.

   The future is indeed promising.

   There is a metal sign welded at the entrance of Block B, engraved with a line of "Winster" written in Baia language.

  Just got home, my aunt hummed a song in a happy mood and prepared today's dinner.

  The knife and fork prepared in advance on the dinner table, the fragrance of stewed lamb with potatoes stimulated Tufu's taste buds, and the wonderful chemical reaction between the two cooked meat and vegetable ingredients.

  Even as a citizen of a big foodie empire, Tu Fu would like to give a thumbs up to Aunt Anfeier, who is a superb cook. Even ordinary ingredients can make excellent delicacy in the hands of her aunt.

   Putting the heavy schoolbag back into the room, Tu Fu felt tired for no reason.

  A day at school, in addition to understanding this mysterious world, I also learned about the content of the selection exam for children of this age.

  There are seven subjects for higher education selection, including grammar, arithmetic, geometry, history, geography, general studies and ancient Assyrian.

  Through the liberal arts and sciences, it covers a wide range of subjects, and also adds an ancient language from which modern languages ​​originate.

  Compared to the college entrance examination system, it is also difficult. Although the total score is 700 points, the basic requirement for domestic public university applications is 450 points or more.

  The Seven Schools Alliance, which is the most demanding, has a score line above 650.

  The so-called seven-school alliance is the seven top universities jointly selected by the Northern Continent, Ryan's Duz University, Landis' San Nordin University, Bania's Freer University...

  Of course, the most famous Baia is Columbia University located in the capital Göttinghagen.

  TOP7 colleges and universities are holy places of learning built with the efforts of one country. Most of its students are descendants of nobles, members of big capitalist families, and basically come from the middle and upper classes of society.

   "Fortunately, I traveled in time and inherited the basic knowledge of the original owner." Tu Fu slapped his chest resentfully. Although his grades were only at the level of passing the passing line repeatedly, it was better than not knowing anything.

  If he had come here a few years earlier, relying on his own efforts, he would have ended up helping people shine shoes on the side of the road.

  Like all graduates, since he passed the peak of his life in the college entrance examination, he has also experienced the waste life that I could solve this problem in three seconds before, and now he can eat three bowls of rice in one go.

After a brief wash, Tu Fu walked down the stairs, and just two steps down, he heard a clear female voice laughing, "Look, the young master of the Winster family has come to eat in person, and his lovely sister is planning to replace the maid." Put it on and deliver the meal."

  You don't need to guess to know that it is Sophie. She seems to be avenging last night. The power of this yin and yang tone is deeply taught by my aunt.

  Maid outfit, sounds pretty good...

"Sophie, you speak like a lark. It's really beautiful. It's the most beautiful voice I've ever heard." Looking at Miss Winster's puzzled eyes, Tu Fu walked over slowly and sat down, "Don't say it next time. .”

"you…"

  Sophie widened her big Kazilan eyes, slightly surprised.

  I haven’t seen this kid speak so well before.

   "Okay, it shouldn't be like this between brothers and sisters." Mrs. Anfeier was used to such scenes, and she took the initiative to smooth things over, "Did anything interesting happen at school today?"

   "What else can there be? The ghost ship in Donggang has exploded in the whole of Leeds, and we all know it."

  Sophie suddenly showed an expression of interest, "Dad, you went to Donggang today, right? I heard that the boat is 300 meters long?"

  Hearing this, Ethan Winster put down the "Leeds Daily" in his hand. Most of the front page of today's newspaper is the mysterious "ghost ship" incident.

   "Sure enough, in a small place like Leeds, if you fart casually on the street, the next day everyone in the city will know what you ate last night." The uncle told a cold joke with a half-smile.

   "Ethan!"

  These words caused my aunt to roll her eyes angrily.

  Tu Fu pretended not to care about cooking, but actually pricked up his ears, not letting go of any news related to the ghost ship.

  Uncle Ethan is the Sheriff of the Police Department. This position occasionally involves mysterious events, and the information he possesses must be more reliable than ordinary rumors.

   "Actually, it was already late when we went, there were no ghost ships there, and there was nothing in the port.

   What's even more ridiculous is that even the sailor who first discovered this incident forgot what happened last night, and could only hand it over to the department responsible for such strange incidents. "

  Uncle smiled happily, "I guess he must have been infected by the idiots of the Freeing Life Church, even the red-haired baboons couldn't help but want to applaud."

  Invisibly, the social status of the red-haired baboons has surpassed that of members of the Freeing Life Church.

   "So this has already been classified as a 'mysterious incident'?" Sophie widened her eyes, and couldn't believe it.

  Anfeier frowned immediately when he heard his daughter's words, "Sophie, I have said many times, you are not allowed to inquire about things related to mysterious events, and you are not allowed to inquire into the secrets of the Police Department, and you are not allowed to touch it without authorization."

   "Actually, work in the Police Department has always been dangerous." Uncle shrugged and agreed, "Ordinary people can't do this job."

  Sophie retorted stubbornly: "But even you are in it."

   Ethan: "…"

   These words are not very harmful, but extremely insulting.

   "Son, I know you want to contact Chaofan, but no matter how many times you say it, I won't agree.

  Those who blindly chase the extraordinary will not end well. I have seen too many children like you, who like to stimulate and touch mystery when they are young, but you may not be able to afford the price of doing so. "

   Now even Uncle Ethan, who has always been mild-tempered, spoke in a serious tone.

  They all knew that this Miss Winster in the family was a little different from most girls, perhaps because she had inherited her aunt's genes when she was young, and her pursuit of excitement in her bones made her always like to do something out of the ordinary.

   It is rare for the Winsters to maintain a consistent attitude when it comes to transcendence.

  Tu Fu even felt that this was not only for Sophie, but also for himself, don't think about it.

  Perhaps it was because of the mysterious disappearance of the original owner's parents.

  In a world full of mysteries, the parents of the traverser’s history professor went to do archaeological research, and the death buff was almost stacked into a murder book... Tu Fu squinted his eyes, lowered his head and continued to cook.

  Auntie agreed deeply, and even raised her voice a bit: "The most important thing for you now is to sprint to the Seven Schools Alliance. There is nothing more important than this."

  As soon as this topic came up, the atmosphere at the dinner table became stalemate. Perhaps in order to make the atmosphere less awkward, Uncle Ethan took the initiative to break the ice, "Little husband, do you plan to stay in Leeds after graduation?"

   "Of course, it's easier to apply for a local public university if you want to get good grades." Tu Fu raised his head and expressed his true thoughts, then turned his face and said seriously:

   "After all, I am a student that the Seven Schools Alliance will never get."

  This well-timed self-deprecating humor immediately resolved the tense atmosphere, and even Sophie couldn't help but smile.

   "This is even bigger than Sophie's ambition." The aunt also laughed wildly, "If even my husband has such self-motivation, why don't you work hard?"

   "It's really a good idea." Among the family members, only Ethan nodded in support.

  In fact, Tu Fu has also thought about his future. If he really can’t find the ship and go back, at least he must study for a university degree in this world and get a degree certificate, so that his life in the future will be easier.

  The positions in Baia that require an ordinary public university degree certificate have a weekly salary of at least 10 to 15 crowns, which is enough to rent an independent apartment with a bathroom in a middle-class street community.

   Well, at least one maid can be hired.

   As for the difficulty for him to sprint to the Seven Schools Alliance, it is the same as a college entrance examination student who barely passed the undergraduate line and sprinted to Qingbei in the last few months.

  Seeing the satisfied smiles of everyone at the dinner table, Tu Fu also smiled now.

   Being able to bring joy to the family may be his only value in this family.

  After this incident, Tu Fu silently packed the dinner plate without saying a word, and replied with a smile in his aunt's thanks, "This is what it should be".

  Until he finished his work, while his family was not paying attention, Tu Fu picked up the newspaper that his uncle had just finished reading.

   Attempt to obtain more effective information.

   I saw that the masthead of the "Leeds Daily", while writing this news, the newspaper also published a blurry photo of the ferry.

  A string of vague text symbols printed on the hull that does not belong to any country in the world was used as a headline by the newspaper and marked with a huge question mark.

  Tu Fu's gaze gradually became complicated, and the idea of ​​going back has never been so firm as it is now.

   He made a sound that only he could hear,

   Read the word softly:

   "Santa Maria?"

  …

  Back to the room that belonged to him, Tu Fu's pupils glowed with light, and he slowly put his palms flat on his heart, and he felt a powerful "bang bang" beating.

   "The Santa Maria."

   Repeatedly repeating this Spanish word that is incompatible with this world, Tu Fu calmly recalled and sorted out his past memories.

  In retrospect, the shipwreck at sea was a bit strange.

  Tufu had heard from the ship’s chief officer that he had received a signal from a wrecked ship, but he didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. Now it seems that something happened to the Santa Maria since then.

  After the international search and rescue team left, he accidentally discovered the secret of the ghost ship and triggered some mysterious mechanism, which brought him to this world.

   It is now certain that the ghost ship that caused a sensation in Leeds is the "Santa Maria" that crashed back then.

  Tu Fu looked at the ceiling and muttered to himself: "If you can send me here, you can definitely go back."

   The top priority is to find a way to locate the ship.

   "We can only try the method Mr. Coleman mentioned."

   Immediately afterwards, Tu Fu took out a pitch-black pen from the pencil case.

   Thoughtfully, write down "Santa Maria" in Chinese, English, Spanish, Baia, and ancient Assyrian on the blank sheets of paper in front of you.

"It is said that the ship 'Santa Maria' was named to commemorate the name of a main ship of the Columbus fleet sponsored by the Spanish royal family. The name of the ship belongs to Spanish in the Indo-European language family. Word."

  Tu Fu remembered the history of ship names that Captain Arthur had popularized with him, and naturally knew that he had heard the names of passengers from various countries on board.

   "The next step is to enter meditation." Tu Fu tried to restrain his mind, let his mind be empty, and tried to outline the shape of the ghost ship in a white world.

   While trying to meditate, he did not forget to silently recite the real name of the "Santa Maria" in various languages.

   This is undoubtedly a long and meaningless challenge.

  Just thinking about concentrating is exhausting.

  Then outline the shape of the boat, even if it is scary to recall the boat and the experience on the boat, it is extremely difficult to outline it in one go.

  Accompanied by several consecutive attempts, time passed bit by bit, but nothing happened.

   Coupled with the long-term concentration, Tu Fu began to feel that the oxygen supply to the brain was insufficient.

   "St.Mary...SantaMaria...Santa Maria..."

  In the last attempt, he superimposed all the languages, and the pattern of the "Santa Maria" in his mind became clearer, and the hull of the ship began to appear after a layer of haze faded away.

Ok…

   Tu Fu suddenly felt in a trance.

  The flow of the surrounding air has obviously decreased, as if a layer of fog has been gradually pushed away, and then various thoughts are continuously poured into the mind.

   Immediately after.

  A strange crimson light flashed in front of the pupils.

   "Successful?"

  Tu Fu raised his head and looked in front of him in a daze. In the calm air, a series of conspicuous green characters began to move, and kept beating as his eyelids blinked, as if making a tick-tock sound.

  0:59:15

  0:59:14

  0:59:13

  A string of weird numbers.

  Just staring at the string of numbers that kept beating silently, comparing the different numbers before and after, only the last group of numbers is changing.

  Tu Fu immediately concluded that this was a series of countdowns.

  He tried to shake his head, and the numbers moved in the middle accordingly, presumably it was a ghost countdown projected directly into his pupils.

"What could it be?"

  Suddenly, an unreasonable panic occupied Tu Fu's heart. He took a few steps back unintentionally and hit the steel pipe locker with a "bang", but he didn't feel any pain.

   What is the end of the countdown?

  The countdown to life?

   Back to where it was?

   Or Trisolaran's little trick?

  Unknown, only the unknown is waiting for him.

  The recent events made him feel confused for a while.

  Watching the tick-tick of time, Tu Fuqiang suppressed the panic in his heart, recalled the despair and suffering on the ship, he suddenly regretted this attempt, no matter how bad life is, it is better than facing the fear of the unknown.

   It's just too late to say anything.

   Tu Fu finally realized that something had to be done now.

  He immediately packed the snacks in the room and filled the bottle with water, walked into the kitchen and quietly picked up a kitchen knife and hid it next to his body.

"not enough."

  Tu Fu knew that once a dangerous situation was encountered, these measures were far from enough to resolve unknown difficulties.

   Hearing his uncle's voice in the corridor and the stampede downstairs, strange thoughts drove him to go outside.

  Until he walked into the Winsters' room by accident, he held his breath and reached into the cabinet where his uncle kept important documents, until he found a touch of cold metal texture, quickly threw the things into his pocket and left without looking back.

   This is a brass-colored revolver and several powder bullets.

  The handle of the gun is engraved with a series of numbers of the police department. Only the personnel of the police department in the city are eligible to issue and carry the right.

  But the incident happened suddenly, and Tu Fu couldn't control so much in the face of life threats.

  It's like he had hurt others on the boat in order to protect himself.

   "00:10:09."

   Until he packed his things and carried them with him, Tu Fu, who had prepared emergency measures, noticed that the countdown in front of him was only ten minutes away.

   After a brief absence, many thoughts flashed through his mind.

  He wanted to say goodbye to the Winsters, but he didn't know how to explain the ins and outs.

  While standing at the door next door and hesitating, Sophie just opened the door, noticing Tu Fu's bewildered and embarrassed expression, a trace of doubt flashed in her bright blue eyes like diamonds.

   "Hey, Sophie, good evening, I have something to tell you." Tu Fu forced out a pleasant smile.

   "If you have nothing to do, I swear to make you look good."

  Tu Fu originally wanted to say goodbye in person, but after thinking about it, he felt that this move was too hypocritical, so he showed a provocative look, "I bet you can't beat me in a game, dare you bet."

   "Only you?"

   Sure enough, the strong Sophie gave a funny "ha" and accepted the challenge without hesitation.

   "That's the time pointer of the cuckoo clock. Now each of us takes turns turning our backs and counting silently for 30 seconds or more. In the end, the person with the smaller second difference wins."

  Tu Fu showed a sly smile, and stretched out a palm, "It starts at 5 pools each time."

   The rules of the game are not complicated, and you can understand it immediately after explaining it once.

   But when it came to the real competition, when she lost three crowns, Sophie was completely in some kind of incredible shock, "Are you cheating?"

   "By God, I have not."

  Looking at William II with a mustache printed on the dark green banknote, Tu Fu flicked the banknote with his hand and made a "thump" sound, as if it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

   "Thank you again for your generosity."

   "Now, to **** with you and your **** game."

   It was rare for Sophie to lose so thoroughly in the confrontation between the two sides. Finally, she gritted her teeth and turned around to leave.

hehe,

  Tu Fu, who has never failed to cheat children for new year's money, finally showed a satisfied smile.

  In the era he experienced, it was rare to see a girl as easy to deceive as Sophie. Such a cute sister should be able to cry for a long time with a punch.

  At least, in case I can't come back, I can still leave the impression of Brother Fantastic in Miss Winster's heart.

   Squeezing out the last trace of value from this mysterious phenomenon, that period of numbers finally entered the final countdown like a trial.

  During the countdown of the last ten seconds, Tu Fu's heart rate was about to explode, and a sense of powerlessness swept over his body, and he subconsciously followed along with the silent count.

  5,

  4,

  3,

2,

1,

  0…

  Time seemed to be permanently frozen at this moment, the air stopped flowing, and the world suddenly became very quiet.

  A strange mist followed, covering Tu Fu's whole body.

  The strong sense of dizziness struck again, as if he was in the vortex of time and space, with various strange voices whispering in his ears, entering an indescribable state.

I do not know how long it has been.

  When he woke up again, Tu Fu found himself stepping on the deck, with a lot of salty smell coming to his face, and the whistling sound of waves lapping in his ears.

he,

   Get what you want,

   Return to the ghost ship.

   PS: Today’s 5,000-word chapter, please friends who are favorites to help vote, invest and post comments, thank you all

  

  

  (end of this chapter)

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