The Girl

At sea, undead fluctuations could be sensed from roughly twenty nautical miles away, though the actual distance varied with sea conditions and the observer's skill. On the vast ocean, that was a range at which encounters were far from easy.

Unless they ran into a large-scale dragnet search.

Considering his own endurance and the condition of the equipment, Su Ming decided to shut the engine down in another three hours, get some sleep under cover of darkness, and start it again the next morning.

With that settled, he decided to eat some instant noodles first.

Although he was very reluctant to touch the stuff, Su Ming was really hungry. He walked over to where the food was stored and reached into the cardboard box for a bowl of instant noodles. When he pulled his hand back, he found that he had lifted the entire box with it.

Su Ming hurriedly rummaged through it. There was only one bowl left in the box.

Su Ming thought back carefully. When he had transmigrated, the truck had held a whole case of pickled mustard instant noodles, twelve bowls in all, plus three assorted bowls of other brands and flavors, two ham sausages, and a few packets of spicy strips.

Su Ming counted on his fingers. Over the past few days, he had eaten nine bowls and about half the ham sausage. He had never paid attention to how much was left.

Su Ming searched everywhere and found that not only were the instant noodles missing, but a packet of ham sausage and several packets of fruit drink powder were gone too. The spicy strips had all disappeared as well.

The noodle bowls were made of foam and could be used as materials for Summoning of All Things, so he had kept them. He went to the storeroom and took a look. There were thirteen empty bowls.

Su Ming was absolutely certain he had never eaten the one with green Sichuan pepper flavor. He hated it and had planned to save it until the very end, when he had no other choice.

Now that he had investigated this far, there was no need to guess who the culprit was.

He did not stop to wonder why, because it was really very easy to verify. If White Bone had taken them, that meant she needed to eat too-and that meant she had a physical body.

And if she had a physical body, there was only one place she could have gone on this ship: the well-ventilated, well-lit rune laboratory built to her specifications.

Su Ming activated the White Bone Mark and opened the door to the library. White Bone's books were tied in bundles and stacked on the floor; there had been no time to organize them since the fortress was reconstructed. He passed through the storeroom and the alchemy laboratory in turn, finding them in the same state.

When he reached the rune laboratory, Su Ming took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and walked in. To no surprise, he saw White Bone asleep on the floor, wrapped in the blanket that had mysteriously gone missing two days earlier, her head resting on a seat cushion removed from the new-energy vehicle.

Su Ming crouched down. Without the magical glow obscuring her, he saw the girl's true appearance in full for the first time.

The girl's features were soft and delicate, and her face was so pale that fine blood vessels showed through. She did not look like the Western Continent people Su Ming had already met. Instead, she looked more like the elves of this world, though she also had a distinctly human, down-to-earth air.

Unlike the expressionless impression she had always given him, White Bone finally showed a trace of girlish serenity as she slept quietly. Her long, silky hair was not the cool purple he had always seen before. It was actually a soft blue-tea color, visible only in the new growth at the roots because the surface had been dyed.

The girl slept unusually soundly, completely unaware of Su Ming approaching and examining her. He reached out and brushed a piece of fried pastry from the corner of her mouth. Her skin felt soft and warm; she really did have a physical body.

So was she sneaking snacks when the battle ended last night? Su Ming thought. He glanced around and found an unopened bowl of instant noodles. Looking up, he saw a complete outfit hanging wet from an electrical wire in the room.

He had originally planned to use that wire to hook up a light bulb, but it had disappeared when he turned around. Now he finally knew the culprit.

Other than that, strangely enough, there were no other daily necessities in White Bone's room.

Questions nearly filled Su Ming's mind. White Bone had a large room full of books and two small storerooms packed with alchemy tools and all kinds of materials. Why would someone like her not have a single personal item?

But even in sleep, the girl's face showed a weariness she could not conceal-this was no time to disturb her rest.

Su Ming's family was not well-off. He had done all kinds of housework since childhood and had looked after himself while working at the factory. He pulled White Bone's wet clothes and the wire down from the wall and took them outside into the sun. Su Ming made hangers out of bone, hung the clothes up one by one, and smoothed out the creases.

Su Ming returned to the room, straightened the cushion, and adjusted the blanket around the girl. To his surprise, White Bone was not even wearing pajamas. Without letting it show, he covered her shoulders.

This girl has far too many mysteries!

Su Ming summoned a bone shard and wrote a message on it, telling White Bone to find him after she had rested and that he already knew she had a physical body.

Su Ming returned to the engine room, listened to the equipment running, set an alarm, and began to doze.

When Su Ming opened his eyes, he was a little surprised to see White Bone. Her face was pale, and she was sitting across from him, holding a cup of hot fruit drink.

She was wearing her only dress.

When she saw him wake up, White Bone greeted him in a hoarse voice. "Good afternoon!"

"You should go back to sleep." Su Ming got up. "You look terrible."

"Aftereffects of overdrawing my magic power," White Bone said. "I'm used to it."

The girl tried to stand, but suddenly tilted to one side. Su Ming hurriedly reached out to steady her, and the cup in her hand fell to the floor.

She felt burning hot and soft to the touch. Su Ming helped her sit back down and watched sweat begin to bead on her forehead.

"Are you sick?"

She had fought while exhausted, repeatedly overdrawn her magic power, and spent the whole night in the rain. By all appearances, White Bone had something like a severe cold on Earth, or worse.

White Bone touched her cheek, which was flushed. "You're right. It's more than the aftereffects."

"Should I take you back to your room?" Su Ming asked.

White Bone said nothing. She tried to stand on her own, but failed.

Su Ming simply picked her up. She did not feel too heavy. "So you're human?" he asked as he walked toward her room.

"For now, I suppose." The girl turned her head to look away and reached up to clutch her collar.

"You're good with light magic, aren't you?" Su Ming asked. "Can you heal yourself?"

White Bone shook her head. "This body can't accept light-element healing spells, so I don't like using them. Because I get sick easily, and once I do, it's very troublesome!"

Su Ming reached White Bone's room and put her down.

"Apart from spells, are there any other treatments, like alchemy or potions?" Su Ming asked.

White Bone shook her head again.

"All the methods of treating illness in this world are based on the light element. Otherwise, how could the Temple of Light be so powerful?" she explained to Su Ming. "My soul is special. Spells can remove the illness and pain from my body, but they would also tear my soul apart."