Night Watchman Mission - Ghost Ship

[Night Watchman: Langya City Mystery Incident Record (Unprocessed Task)]

[Case No. 004: Donglong Port Ghost Ship Incident]

Time: November 16, 2320 (Half a month ago)

Mystery Incident Overview: Thirty-two years ago, the fishing boat "Windbreaker" mysteriously disappeared while out at sea. Local organizations abandoned the search after six months of fruitless efforts.

On the night of November 16, an unidentified fishing boat arrived at Donglong Port without authorization and docked at the pier. Subsequent inspections by investigators and comparisons with archived records confirmed that this vessel was indeed the Windbreaker, which had been missing for thirty-two years.

Known Clue 1: Thirty-two years ago, the approximate location where the Windbreaker disappeared was in the East Sea:

23°00′~33°10′ North Latitude, 23°00′~33°10′ East Longitude.

Known Clue 2: Based on historical photo comparisons, the ship's model matches the Windbreaker, and the arrangement of items inside the cabin is consistent with archived images. It is confirmed that this is the Windbreaker that disappeared thirty-two years ago.

Known Clue 3: In addition to the vessel itself, an unconscious man wearing an antique sailor's uniform was found in the bottom of the cabin and has been sent to the hospital for examination and treatment.

Known Clue (Updated 62 hours ago): The unconscious man regained consciousness and identified himself as "Wang Huan," a crew member of the Windbreaker. Despite thirty-two years having passed, his appearance remains young. He was later brought to meet his family, who immediately confirmed that he was indeed Wang Heng, the man who had vanished thirty-two years ago, and verified his identity.

Unknown Situation 1: What exactly happened to the Windbreaker thirty-two years ago? Why did it disappear, and why did it suddenly return after three decades?

Unknown Situation 2: Bone age testing on Wang Heng confirms he is 24 years old, the same age he was when the ship set sail. Why has he not aged at all after thirty-two years?

Unknown Situation 3: Is this ghost ship incident a case of time travel, and is it related to the world fusion?

Task Requirements: Investigate the full scope of the Donglong Port ghost ship incident. If the Night Watchman discovers that this incident is related to demons or evil spirits, eliminate them on the spot.

Task Assistance: This system will record all clues and situations discovered by the Night Watchman during the investigation and update the case files by retrieving network information in real-time.

Task Reward: Distributed based on specific circumstances.

Task Item: Detection Compass (The compass will react when within approximately ten meters of demons or evil spirits).

Task Duration: Three days.

Task Recipient: Night Watchman - Tongyou.

The task information appearing in his mind left Jiang Su feeling incredibly perplexed.

A ghost ship that had been missing for 32 years suddenly appeared, the crew member's age remained at 24, and the rest of the crew had mysteriously vanished.

Everything about this reeked of something unusual.

Could the Windbreaker have sailed into a mysterious sea area with distorted space-time and traveled through time?

To Jiang Su, this actually seemed possible.

For instance, the mysterious "Bermuda Triangle" was also known as the Devil's Sea.

In that region, ships frequently disappeared mysteriously, and there were even rumors of ships vanishing for decades only to reappear with the crew still young—a scenario similar to the Windbreaker's experience.

But relying on mere speculation would clearly not complete the mission.

He still had to go and investigate in person.

The sky had already darkened, so Jiang Su thought for a moment and decided to head out early the next morning.

He felt that the night seemed to make demons and evil spirits more powerful, even though this thought had no basis in reality...

The next morning.

After finishing breakfast, Jiang Su left his apartment complex, hailed a taxi, and headed straight for Donglong Port.

On the way to Donglong Port, the taxi driver was quite talkative and struck up a conversation with Jiang Su.

They chatted the entire way, rambling about everything from the neighbor's infidelity to a spectacular scene of a wife catching her husband's mistress the previous night.

By the time they reached the destination and he got out of the car, Jiang Su still felt like he hadn't heard enough.

If he didn't have important business to attend to, he would have liked to keep listening to the driver; it was just too damn interesting.

After stepping out, Jiang Su cast his gaze toward the port.

The sky in the distance was gloomy, and the sea breeze hit his face.

The pier was filled with numerous fishing boats and a military vessel. On the road leading to the port, three guard posts had been set up, with a squad of guards in black uniforms standing outside.

Jiang Su was troubled by how he would manage to get in and investigate.

Entering by force would mean getting shot.

Although he possessed superpowers, his current strength was far from enough to withstand bullets, and forcing his way in would undoubtedly be a death wish.

At this moment, Jiang Su suddenly thought of an item in the game store: the "Invisibility Talisman."

If he could bring this item out of the game, he could easily sneak in.

As a Night Watchman, Jiang Su had the authority to access game functions in reality. He immediately opened the game store panel, spent 50 Soul Power to purchase a low-level Invisibility Talisman, and then spent another 50 Divine Power to manifest this 20-minute duration talisman from the game into reality.

Soon, a white talisman appeared in Jiang Su's hand.

He slapped it, and the talisman instantly turned into faint specks of light that merged into his body.

[Game Prompt: Used item "Invisibility Talisman", entered invisibility state, duration: 19:57]

To be safe, Jiang Su paced back and forth near the pier for a while before entering. After confirming that no one had noticed him, he boldly ventured inside.

Walking to the pier, Jiang Su's attention was drawn to a dilapidated fishing boat moored at the dock.

Beneath the moss-covered port side, faded and blurred characters were printed:

"Windbreaker".

Standing still on the shore in front of the Windbreaker, he carefully examined the fishing boat.

Jiang Su stepped toward the gangway and then boarded the main deck of the Windbreaker.

The wood beneath his feet had rotted and was covered in moss due to years of neglect; it creaked and sank inward with every step he took.

After looking around, Jiang Su took out the "Detection Compass" and entered the cabin.

Through the light shining in from the fishing boat's windows, he could clearly see dust floating in the air inside the cabin, and the smell of rotting wood rushed to meet him.

Even though it was daytime, Jiang Su's muscles were tense, and he was nervous to the extreme.

As he moved forward, Jiang Su glanced at the compass from time to time, terrified of being ambushed by any potential evil spirits or demons.

The Windbreaker was an ocean-going fishing boat, 47 meters long with three levels of space; Jiang Su began his search from the first level, working his way down.

A moment later, Jiang Su reached the bottom of the cabin with an awkward expression.

After wandering around, he discovered that there were no evil spirits or demons inside this fishing boat, as the compass had not reacted in the slightest.

So, what am I supposed to do next?

He had no experience in criminal investigation, nor did he possess the deductive reasoning skills of a master detective like Conan. Jiang Su was completely clueless about how to proceed with the investigation.

Although he had watched many suspense and mystery films, he had only watched them for the thrill and hadn't learned anything useful.

After walking around the Windbreaker fishing boat just now, Jiang Su had only discovered one thing.

This boat was very dilapidated; if the hull wasn't repaired soon, it might start leaking!

As for any other discoveries... it seemed there were none.