Chapter 137: Mysterious Substance

What a wonderfully real dream.

Chen Cao slowly opened his eyes. All around him had become a sun-drenched jungle, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers. He lay limp upon a cloth spread across the grass, surrounded by food and fine wine, while a naked beauty leaned against him. Everything was so tranquil.

It was over. It was all over!

Chen Cao’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he gradually drifted into sleep. His breathing became increasingly steady, then faint and almost imperceptible. His tongue seemed to be melting in the beauty’s mouth, and his entire body had gone so limp that he could not summon the slightest strength.

Smack!

At that very moment, an utterly ill-timed sound rang out. Chen Cao’s eyes flew open. His cheek burned with pain, and the first person he saw was not the beauty who had been kissing him tenderly, but Flower Buddha, panting heavily before him.

Flower Buddha seemed to have exhausted all his strength as well. He leaned against the railing beside the warship’s corridor, gasping for breath.

He really had hit him.

Rubbing his burning cheek, Chen Cao stared blankly at Flower Buddha for a long while before asking, “What’s wrong with you?”

Flower Buddha clutched his neck. “You bastard, you nearly strangled me to death!”

Chen Cao looked at him, unable to understand. But in the beam of the flashlight, he saw Flower Buddha’s neck and finally realized what had happened. Several clear finger marks were imprinted upon it. A man as protective of his own life as Flower Buddha would never have strangled himself. The only possibility was that Chen Cao had done it.

But how could he have—

Which one had been real, and which one had been false?

While Chen Cao stood dazed, Flower Buddha assumed that he had not fully regained consciousness. He raised his hand and swung at him again. Chen Cao immediately lifted his arm to block the blow and snapped angrily, “Have you gone mad?”

Flower Buddha lowered his hand. “You’re the one who went mad! We were having a perfectly good conversation when you suddenly went berserk and grabbed me by the throat. Fortunately, I have a strong constitution and didn’t die at your hands. If word got around that Flower Buddha had been strangled to death by someone, wouldn’t I become a laughingstock?”

Chen Cao’s face flushed red. He had never imagined that so much could happen in such a short time. It had to be that mysterious force at work.

With that thought, he pondered for a moment. Then, as though he had suddenly realized something, he spun around.

Seeing his abrupt movement, Flower Buddha asked warily, “What is it? Have you still not come to your senses?”

Chen Cao ignored him. He strode toward the deck, calling out, “Stanley and the others must have fallen victim to it too. I have to save them!”

He quickly disappeared into the darkness of the corridor. A moment later, the silent deck echoed with a series of loud slaps.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Stanley covered his face and coughed. Lu Tianming and the others were deathly pale, while Lucia remained unconscious. Several finger marks were still visible on her neck. Kalisha, whose face was livid, examined her and said, “There’s no serious damage. Her breathing was forcibly stopped, but not for very long. She’ll wake up after resting for a while.”

Stanley’s mouth and face burned with pain, but he had already folded his hands across his chest and was praying toward the east.

“My true God, I swear that was no ordinary dream!”

At that moment, Uji was trembling as he knelt on the ground in prayer. When Chen Cao had arrived, Uji had been the only one whose behavior seemed normal. He had simply lain there sleeping, a smile upon his face. Unlike Stanley and Lu Tianming, he had not frenziedly strangled himself, nor had he deliberately held his breath like Kalisha and forced himself into suffocation. Anyone who tried to stop breathing until death would need tremendous courage.

Chen Cao and Flower Buddha immediately noticed that nothing had happened to Uji. But Flower Buddha acted first and searched him from head to toe. In the end, he found a crude, pitch-black stone hidden among the bones on Uji’s necklace. It was not a black diamond like Flower Buddha’s.

When Uji saw Flower Buddha take out the stone, he reacted violently. To him, the gemstone seemed more precious than any jewel. He desperately tried to snatch it back while shouting, “Give it to me! Give it to me! This is a protective talisman bestowed by the Jungle God. Without it, the divine beasts will disturb me, and I’ll have nightmares every day!”

Flower Buddha examined the black stone. It was clearly very different from the black diamonds he possessed. With a disgruntled expression, he tossed it back to Uji.

Uji caught it as though it were a priceless treasure. He sat down in a corner, carefully placed it back among the bones on his necklace, and put the necklace on again, all the while murmuring a prayer.

By then, the sky had begun to brighten.

Far too many strange things had happened, and the key to everything seemed to lie with Flower Buddha. After confirming that everyone was safe, Chen Cao gave them a few instructions and then led Flower Buddha to the opposite end of the deck.

As the red sun gradually broke through the clouds, Chen Cao said, “What happened just now was a confusion of truth and illusion. But judging from the way you reacted to Uji, the two black diamonds you obtained are real, aren’t they?”

Flower Buddha was not surprised. He knew that Chen Cao had no particular interest in the black diamonds, so he nodded directly.

“Yes. I have two black diamonds. They are the reason I am different from my two companions—and the key to why I am still alive.”

Chen Cao thought for a moment. “Then when we were talking last night, I was instantly hypnotized by some kind of substance?”

Flower Buddha nodded, helping him piece together the events.

“Yes. It began when I told you that my companions still hadn’t awakened.”

Chen Cao let out a long breath. “Fortunately, you resisted my attack. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.”

Then he changed the subject. “Why isn’t Uji’s stone a black diamond? And what exactly is on this ship? Do you know?”

Flower Buddha fell silent for a moment before replying, “That is something I have been wondering about too. But when I went down to the lowest level of the warship last night, I didn’t find any treasure. I did, however, discover something else.”

“What did you find?” Chen Cao asked.

Flower Buddha answered solemnly, “You’ll understand once you come down there with me. I can’t explain it clearly myself, but we have to go. My two comrades’ weapons and equipment are down there. You know how important those weapons are to us.”

He spoke with complete seriousness. By now, he had realized that the warship itself held no further value. All he wanted was to leave the jungle as quickly as possible.

“All right.”

After a moment’s thought, Chen Cao agreed.

They had to figure out what was aboard the ship while it was still daylight and eliminate the threat posed by the dreams. Only then could they calmly consider how to proceed. Perhaps the dreams did not occur exclusively at night, but daylight always gave people a sense of security.

Besides, they seemed to have pieced together part of the truth. Chen Cao believed that Flower Buddha was thinking along the same lines. Unless they were in a completely secure environment, no one could sleep without feeling vulnerable. Neither of them liked falling into a deep sleep, especially one imposed upon them against their will.

And now Chen Cao had more than a hundred gemstones in his possession, while Flower Buddha carried black diamonds worth hundreds of millions.