Life is a journey, and at some point, we need to rest, let go of some unwillingness and regret, and then start again.

Only a relaxed body can make you go further.

Merlin was cautiously walking through the steel-cast cabin, shadows draped over him, helping him to hide the faint sound of footsteps, even the sound of breathing.

It's like a silent hunter in action.

He looked left and right at the fork in the road in front of him, his spiritual perception radiating outward, and only after making sure that there was no one around him did he emerge from the shadows.

He placed his hands on the metal grips in front of him, took a deep breath, muttered something in his mouth, and pulled the closed lid outward.

An eerie chill gushed out of it, making Merlin's fingers move.

But the moment he looked at the open metal cabinet, the anticipation in Merlin's eyes quickly turned into a touch of disappointment.

"And no fruit! There is no bread either... That's all that's left of the chicken. ”

Merlin stood in the galley of the cargo ship, and as he looked at the empty refrigerator in front of him, the young man couldn't help but let out a wail.

"I hate chicken!"

But saying that he hated it, Merlin still quickly took out the pieces of chicken and put them in the lunch box he carried.

Then he closed the refrigerator and searched the rest of the kitchen again, and it was extremely skillful, and it was obviously not the first time he had done such a thing.

Today's harvest was not good, though, and after several minutes of rummaging, Merlin found only a few pieces of bread that were a little hard. He pondered whether to sneak into the crew room to get some more food while the crew was changing shifts, but after thinking about it, he still gave up the plan.

The world has never been tolerant of demonwalkers like him.

Especially for a "stowaway" who has not bought a ticket and has been hiding on a cargo ship for almost a month, once caught, he is afraid that he will be thrown directly into the sea by the angry chef.

And in the past half a month, because of Merlin's "secret activities" in the galley and on the ship, the legend of "cargo ship ghost" has spread among the crew.

But what can Merlin do?

It had been almost five months since he left Central City, and the money given by Mr. Henry had long since been spent.

Merlin had no identification, and to make matters worse, he was plagued by bad luck, which made it impossible for him to find a place to do odd jobs.

Merlin summoned the shadows again, casting the dim light over his body.

This is a simple way to use his own power that he has figured out in the last five months.

Merlin calls it the "Cloak of Shadows".

In this kind of shadow obscuring his body, he can easily hide himself in the dark, covering his feet and breathing, and he doesn't know if he can hide his heartbeat, and Merlin has never used this skill to fight anyway.

This thing is obviously not perfect.

The name of the Cloak of Shadows sounds imposing, but it quickly fails when exposed to light sources, and the shadow that envelops the body is unstable, and can quickly dissipate when exposed to collisions or strong electromagnetic fields, even in strong winds.

It doesn't have much practical value, and in Merlin's opinion, it can only be used to steal food in the kitchen at night.

Or sneak into the crew's cabins and grab a few necessities.

He returned to his "room" with his dinner, a cargo hold full of cargo, and Merlin had packed a cramped place for himself in those boxes.

He now had very few things, just a light set of bedding, a backpack, a few changes of clothes, and a lunch box that he had bought with the last bit of money before going on the boat.

After all, even if it is infected by demonic power, it still needs to be just right.

As the saying goes, a ship is a treasure trove, and there are so many things in this cargo hold that even if the crew wanted to search for the legendary "ghost", it would be difficult for them to completely ship the cargo hold.

Even if he was unlucky, Merlin was able to quickly move with his belongings in this dark environment.

So he hid here for more than a month and was not found.

"Let's go take a shower first."

Merlin placed the lunch box in front of his futon, took a towel from his backpack, changed into shorts and slippers, and then put the towel over his shoulder, humming in the shadows, and walked to the upper level of the cabin.

In the past month or so, he has long figured out the rules of the crew's activities, at this point, the crew has long been rested, although some night owls will hide in the dining room and play cards until midnight, and the crew on duty will only stay on the upper deck.

As long as he doesn't make too much noise when he washes, no one will notice him.

Merlin quickly rinsed himself under the shower of the cargo ship, and he "borrowed" a sharp razor blade from a crew member who was more particular about personal hygiene, and by the dim light of the bathroom, Merlin cleaned up his face in front of the unclean mirror.

After shaving off some of his overgrown beard and trimming his hair, in the mirror, the familiar Merlin returned.

But he could see that in these long 5 months, because of the change in his magic, his appearance has also undergone some changes.

His skin was much paler than before, like a patient who had lost too much blood.

He was very thin, but his eyes, which seemed to be dancing with flames, became very bright, like burning flames.

He's still the same ill-fated Merlin, but he's in a much better mental state than before. This shows that a lot has really happened in these 5 months.

Merlin took the train from the station in Central City all the way east, passing through several cities, just as Henry had warned at parting. In this journey, he is helping those in need in any way he can.

He helped an elderly man retrieve a stolen handbag from a thief.

He helps lost children find their parents.

He helped the injured policeman connect with the hospital.

It's all small things, but Merlin's hesitant heart has been comforted by it.

All of this made him understand that even though he had been cursed, he was not unable to continue to do good, to help others, or to scare the villains once in a while.

Of course, one of the most important reasons why Merlin was able to travel with peace of mind for more than 5 months was that he had finally found a way to restrain his bad luck.

It was inspired by the train derailment and the subsequent experience at the Allen couple's home.

That incident proved that the dark power in his body could be dulled by "consumption".

This gives Merlin room to maneuver.

In the dim light, in front of the mirror, Merlin held a sharp blade in his hand and swiped lightly across his arm.

The skin was cut, and in the sting, blood flowed from the wound.

Immediately after that, a force like black smoke wrapped around Merlin's wound, and in just a few seconds, the cut wound began to scab, and after 2 minutes, the wound was completely healed, leaving only a thin scar.

Merlin had tested that even this scar would disappear after a few hours.

He sensed the force in his body, then slit open a wound again.

He repeated the process until after 15 times, Merlin finally felt a hint of weakness.

That's his approach.

Use pain to suppress the dark power that is about to move.

"Ahh

Merlin stretched, wrung out the towel in his hand, and put it on his shoulder. He looked at himself in the mirror and said:

"I can get a good night's sleep tonight. Don't bother me anymore, nightmares. ”

With that, Merlin put away the sharp blade so that it wouldn't hurt anyone. Then he re-entered the form of the Cloak of Shadow, and walked relaxed towards his "room", where it was time for him to enjoy his not-so-tasty dinner on the slightly bumpy freighter.

While today's problem was solved, Merlin was concerned that this approach would not always work.

Over the past few months, on certain days of each month, the dark forces in his body have always been more active than ever, and if not handled properly, it can trigger a chain of bad events.

And in a few days, that damn day will come.

So he had to be mentally ready to deal with whatever might happen.

"Huh?"

Merlin returned to his room, where he sat cross-legged on the futon and prepared to begin eating.

But just as he picked up the lunch box, Merlin suddenly noticed that something was wrong.

The lunch box in his hand was lighter than he remembered.

The young man reached out and opened the lunch box, and although the chicken and bread were placed in the same way, Merlin could tell at a glance that the chicken and bread were missing.

Someone's been here!

Someone "borrowed" some food from him.

Merlin jerked his head up, and he looked left and right. The shadows around him couldn't obscure his eyes, and around the large boxes that were placed here and there, Merlin saw a few footprints left on the dust of the ground.

Someone has been here, and he's a very scheming and careful guy...

Merlin didn't act immediately, instead, he pretended nothing had happened.

As usual, he ate the food in the lunch box clean, leaving no residue, and then washed the lunch box and lay down on the futon as if he had really fallen asleep.

On the other side, in another container, a young man in a long coat was curled up in the middle of several large boxes.

He had just eaten the cold chicken and the hard bread.

Frankly, it was the worst thing he had eaten in 17 years of his life, and if it was at home now, then old Ah Fu must have prepared warm soup and delicious steak, and if he didn't want to eat steak, then the caring Ah Fu would definitely prepare other flavors of meals.

The chef at home is well-versed in the world's delicacies and will always make dinner enjoyable.

After the meal, there will also be bath water at the right temperature and a comfortable enough bed.

In his own manor, there would be no such shaking at night, the sound of water disturbing dreams, and the occasional footsteps overhead.

He tried to throw out the beautiful and weak memories of the past in his mind, and the young man probably got inspiration from Merlin's "room", and he also packed a place in his cargo hold that could accommodate adults, and several boxes were put together to hide the place perfectly.

It also gave the tired and hungry young man a little sense of security.

He huddled in the dark, trying to make himself forget about hunger, trying to make himself sleep.

He was completely disgusted with the city where he was born and raised, and he was also disgusted with his cowardice, and it was clear that the culprit was in front of him, but he did not dare to pull the trigger.

The faint memory rolled through him and made him want to escape.

He didn't know where he was going, he didn't know what he wanted to do, he was at a loss. He only knew that he wanted to get as far away from there as possible now.

But in the midst of such extreme negative emotions, it is almost impossible to sleep through it.

Under the pressure of hunger, which had not eaten much all day, two pieces of cold chicken and two slices of bread were not enough to fill his stomach, and the unwilling convulsions of his stomach made him even more upset as time passed.

The young man finally sat up abruptly, as if he had finally made up his mind to find something to eat again.

But the moment he sat up, his body stiffened a little.

On the box in front of him, a shadowy figure was sitting leisurely, swaying his legs, looking at him.

It's like looking at a rookie.

The young man had a hard time seeing Merlin's appearance in the dark, but Merlin could see the young man's face clearly.

This is a handsome young man, with a resolute and graceful face line, a pair of blue eyes as gentle as a lover, and short brown hair, although a little scattered, can be seen to have been carefully groomed before.

He was wearing a pale green robe, and although he couldn't see the brand clearly, Merlin could feel that it was a real high-end product.

And the clothes lined by this young man are also luxury goods that exude the scent of money.

He had a watch on his wrist and his other hand in his pocket, especially when he suddenly saw Merlin in the dark, and when he was frightened, the hand in that pocket seemed to hold something harder.

If Merlin is not mistaken, it should be a gun...

But Merlin was not afraid, his keen senses did not sense the killing intent from the young man in front of him.

Most importantly, when he saw the young man's panicked eyes with a hint of pain, Merlin seemed to see himself six months ago, who had just suffered bad luck and had to leave home and embark on the road of exile.

The two of them may be one type of person.

They maybe, perhaps, can be friends.

"Rookie, you can't stand hunger with that little thing."

Merlin jumped lightly from the box and stood in front of the young man, causing the young man to take a sharp step back, and the vigilance in his blue eyes became more blunt.

"Don't come here!"

He warned.

"You stole my food, so now you and I are hungry..."

Merlin raised his hands to show that he had no ill will, and he said to the nervous young man in front of him:

"I'm going to get something for a supper now, or you can just throw away the gun and come with me."

"Or, starve here."

"I'm not a criminal! I won't be like you either! ”

The young man replied through gritted teeth, and Merlin shrugged his shoulders, and he replied calmly:

"Nope! I didn't sin, boy, I just wanted to fill my stomach, just like you just did. Big words won't make you full, I'll just wait for you for 5 seconds. I do need someone to help, but I don't have to, so it's up to you to come or not. ”

After saying that, he turned away without hesitation, seemingly not caring about the threat from behind at all.

Behind him, the young man's hand remained on the pistol in his pocket, but the hunger in his stomach urged him, and finally, he took off his shirt and walked into the darkness.

A moment later, two young men crept to the upper deck of the freighter, one after the other.

Merlin, who was more familiar with the freighter, led the way, and the silent young man followed him, and Merlin asked in a low voice:

"My name is Merlin, what's your name?"

The young man did not answer, and seemed unwilling to answer, Merlin continued:

"If we act together, I must know your name, or simply a code name, or how can I contact you?"

A few seconds later, in the darkness, the young man whispered:

"Bruce..."

"Just call me Bruce."