In the empty and dimly lit hallway.

Jia Quan stood alone in the aisle, looking around with a solemn gaze.

The miserable dark red indicator light reflected on his face,

There was a faint sense of horror, unease, confusion and panic.

On the silent second deck, only his heavy wheezing echoed, and everything was silent.

After returning to the second-floor living quarters, the mysterious figure disappeared without a trace.

Darkness engulfed everything as if nothing had ever happened.

That weird and grotesque feeling is simply chilling!

"Who is it?! Who the hell is that guy?! What exactly does he want to do? ”

"I don't sleep in the middle of the night, and I run away directly after being discovered, I definitely have a ghost in my heart!"

"No, this matter must not be left at that, I have to tell the commander!"

At this time, Jia Quan had already lost all his desire to urinate.

The water stored in the body turns into sweat along the pores and soaks the back.

Suddenly encountering such a thing while on duty at night was beyond his ability to handle.

Jia Quan decided,

Anyway, report this matter to Meng Lei first.

Walking quickly to the captain's lounge, Jia Quan pressed the doorbell on the side of the door with a panicked expression.

In addition to public areas such as restaurants, toilets, and bars,

Most of the facilities on board require special information authentication to enter.

That is, it is similar to the setting of the access control card.

For example, in places such as the crew room, the arsenal and the captain's room, only those whose ID card information meets the authentication can open the hatch.

While protecting privacy, it is also a measure to eliminate hidden dangers.

Therefore, Jia Quan could not directly enter the captain's room.

Moments later, the hatch opened.

Meng Lei stood in the room with squinted eyes, looked at Jia Quan suspiciously, rubbed his messy hair like a chicken nest, yawned, and asked:

"What's wrong, Lao Jia, what's wrong?"

The hatch of the crew compartment is well sealed and quite soundproof.

Apart from the hum of engines and pumps, there was little else to hear in the cabin.

Of course, if you really want to fire in the hallway with a gun, the noise caused will still disturb the people inside.

But Jia Quan's shouting and running just now, Meng Lei was unaware.

After all, it is impossible for a person's attention to be as concentrated when sleeping as it is when he is awake.

"Commander, I encountered a particularly strange thing just now!"

Jia Quan said as he walked to the captain's room.

Then he told Meng Lei about his experience just now.

After listening to Jia Quan's narration, Meng Lei suddenly fell asleep.

"You say, someone is doing something outside the reactor room?"

"yes!"

Jia Quan lowered his voice, as if he was afraid that someone was stealing in the dark. As if listening, he nervously leaned into Meng Lei's ear and said:

"That person is sneaky, and after I found out, he immediately turned around and ran, absolutely not well!"

Hearing this, Meng Lei immediately frowned.

Not sleeping in the middle of the night, wandering in the corridors of the submarine, this is not normal in itself.

Especially, when the behavior was exposed, the man actually went around in a circle and threw Jia Quan away.

This is enough to prove that the mysterious guy is by no means sleepwalking, and must be doing something on purpose.

After a pause, Meng Lei asked again:

"Did you see the man's features, like height, hairstyle, or whatever?"

Jia Quan shook his head and sighed with some annoyance:

"No, I just came down to pee at the time, and I didn't even think about turning on the lights.

It was too dark in the hallway to make out the man's appearance. ”

Meng Lei nodded, said no more, picked up his coat and put it on his body, and walked directly towards the captain's room.

Inside the hallway, it was still dim, except for the surging red cursor flickering.

Meng Lei asked Jia Quan to return to the command room, turned off the energy-saving mode, and turned on all the lighting equipment.

Then, under the leadership of Jia Quan, the two came to the door of the reactor engine room.

"Commander, the man was around here at the time."

Jia pointed to the cabinet where PUCS radiation protection suits were stored.

Meng Lei stepped forward and searched carefully around.

He suddenly noticed that a certain distribution box on the wall of the corridor seemed to have been opened, and it did not fit completely with the wall.

With a slight pull, the distribution box is easily opened, and the shell is hidden.

Meng Lei and Jia Quan glanced at each other, and they both saw that each other's faces had become extremely ugly.

Obviously, someone had tampered with this distribution box before, but they didn't have time to lock it completely.

Although the lines inside look nothing unusual from the outside.

However, the look between Meng Lei's eyebrows was extremely solemn.

He realized that it was not as simple as it seemed!

"Wake everyone up, don't sleep, gather here now!"

Meng Lei suddenly spoke, his voice a little cold.

Faintly, there is a hint of majesty.

All the time, most of the time he gives people the impression of a big boy next door, and rarely reveals the momentum of a manager.

But at this moment, his temperament has changed significantly.

There was a feeling that made Jia Quan panic and couldn't look directly.

Jia Quan nodded immediately, and without saying a word, he ran towards the crew room not far away, knocking on the door one by one and calling people.

Soon, everyone who was in the dream woke up one after another.

One by one, sleepy-eyed and dressed in messy pajamas, they came to the corridor outside the reactor engine room.

Among them, Gina, the female ship doctor, is even more excessive.

Wear straight inside with simplicity. clothes, casually put a white coat on his body, and walked out like this.

The red lace looms under the white clothes, inviting infinite reverie.

But at this time, no one will pay attention to her so much.

Everyone was dizzy, looking at Meng Lei with a yawn on their heads.

It was completely unclear what the young captain was doing when he woke everyone up from the bed in the middle of the night.

But Meng Lei's gloomy face made them realize,

It seems that something very bad has happened.

"Commander, what's the matter? Call everyone up at this time, what's wrong? ”

Huo Ye lit a cigarette, cheered up, and asked suspiciously.

Meng Lei didn't talk to them, and told them what had happened straightforwardly.

At this moment, everyone dispelled their drowsiness and realized the seriousness of the matter.

Not to mention what the purpose of the person who was bumped into by Jia Quan.

It's hard not to be suspicious of such behavior.

This was discovered by Jia Quan, interrupting the other party's follow-up plan.

If the situation is allowed to develop, no one knows what the final outcome will be.

"Damn, on the first day of going to sea, there was a ghost on the ship? What's going on? ”

Huo Ye took a deep breath,

The unkind gaze swept over the others one by one, and everyone was suspicious.

"We didn't recruit anyone or provoke anyone, who are we targeting?"

Xu Hui was also vigilant, and subconsciously leaned towards Huo Ye's side, and distanced himself from the alien native crew.

You don't have to think about it to know that this can't be done by a few of their Blue Star players.

At the end of the day, the problem is with these alien natives.

Meng Lei didn't speak, his eyes kept looking at Simon and Hans, trying to find any clues from their expressions and demeanor.

however

Everyone's behavior was very normal, with confusion in their doubts, and no more emotions to reveal.

Only Gina, who is always tilting her head and looking at the excitement with a look.

At this moment, Hans stepped out of the crowd.

He walked over to the electric box that Meng Lei had opened, and then carefully observed it for a moment in full view of everyone.

In the end, his expression also became extremely solemn.

Turning his head, he said to Meng Lei:

"Captain, the gate line of the reactor engine room has been moved, and once opened, it can no longer close automatically.

It's not a big problem, but there are certain safety risks. ”

Hearing this, the doubts that shrouded everyone's hearts couldn't help but get stronger.

"What did that guy do with the door to the reactor room open? What is his purpose? Isn't this sick? ”

Jia Quan muttered to himself, unable to figure out the key to this.

But

Karl, a mechanical engineer in the crowd, stood up at this time, frowned and said:

"Normally, the reactor room is maintenance-free, and you don't even have to open the hatch until the fuel rods run out.

At this time, no one will find out that the line has been tampered with.

But ......"

Speaking of this, Karl paused, his gaze flashed with a hint of solemnity, and continued:

"But if the reactor has a serious failure, such as a meltdown, leakage, etc., and the hatch cannot be closed in time to block the spread of radiation.

So......

In a short period of time, the whole ship will be infected with radiation!

At that time, even if you get treatment in time, there will be serious health risks! ”

Hearing this, everyone felt a chill in their backs and realized the seriousness of the matter.

"His heart can be punished! His heart is damned! ”

Huo Ye scolded even more angrily, "Damn dog, he's going to kill all of us!" What kind of grudge is there, the other party wants to be so vicious! ”

"That guy has to be found out as soon as possible! Strip off your clothes and throw them into the sea, give him an outdoor swimming lesson without a wetsuit! ”

When it comes to life safety, Simon, who has a beard, is also extremely angry.

Even Gina, who has always been irrelevant to herself, climbed a layer of frost on her delicate facial features, and sneered:

"Outdoor swimming lessons are too cheap for him, and it's better to use my favorite phlogiston enema therapy.

Guaranteed to leave a precious memory in his life before he goes to hell! ”

While several people were talking, Meng Lei's gaze kept wandering over each person.

Although everyone showed great anger at the mysterious man's actions.

It doesn't look like he is suspected of committing a crime, but Meng Lei doesn't dare to relax his vigilance at all.

In his opinion, until the real murderer is found, anyone is worth doubting!

Because this matter is clearly not a vendetta!

Not to mention that when they first arrived in Sil City, it was impossible for them to make a feud with anyone.

Just looking at the other party's behavior, it is obvious that they want to drag everyone to the funeral together!

This is not a matter of personal vendettas, but an extreme act of revenge against humanity!

Thinking of this, Meng Lei suddenly had a sense of déjà vu.

There was a strong sense of déjà vu, as if I had seen it somewhere.

At this time, after checking the electrical box, Hans opened the diving suit cabinet again.

On that PUCS radiation suit, I groped carefully.

Finally, he pointed to a hole in his heel and said to everyone:

"The radiation protective suit has also been damaged, and the other party's next plan is obviously to do something to the nuclear reactor, but fortunately we found it in time, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable!"

"Why the hell is that!?"

Xu Hui never understood the purpose of the mysterious man's actions, and said with great anxiety:

"We didn't provoke anyone, did we? Why did he do this, isn't it harmful! ”

As soon as Xu Hui's voice fell,

Hans seemed to suddenly realize something, and his face suddenly turned a little pale.

He took a deep breath, took a step back in the opposite direction of the crowd, and said in a deep voice:

"Some people don't need a reason to do things! They are simply a bunch of outright lunatics who can't find any logic in their behavior at all!

Maybe ......"

When Hans said this, Meng Lei suddenly interjected:

"You mean, there's a clown member on board!?"

Hearing this, everyone was shocked!

Hans nodded heavily, and said in a solemn tone:

"That's right, it's very likely that this is the case, otherwise it is impossible to explain the other party's behavior!"

Meng Lei took a deep breath.

Really!

Just now, when he thought of this extreme behavior, he realized that this situation was familiar.

If you think about it again, isn't that what those crazy clowns love to do?

"That's too much of a back! The place where I went to sea for the first time. Female Voyage, there was a clown mixed in the ship, and no one was lucky with this! ”

Meng Lei cursed in his heart, and suddenly felt extremely sad and indignant.

It's unlucky.

Fortunately, Jia Quan discovered it in time and strangled the hidden danger in the cradle.

Otherwise, I'll really let that clown get a chance and complete the sabotage plan.

Like his sister ship, the Sea Locust would be painted with a brightly colored clown costume on its shell and sink forever in the cold, dark sea.

"Commander, what shall we do now?"

Huo Ye leaned over to Meng Lei and looked at the others present with a frown.

He also knew that except for Jia Quan and Xu Hui and a few of them who were Blue Star people, everyone here was suspected of being a traitor.

Meng Lei had a calm face,

His eyes swept over Hans, Carl, Charley, and Eugene.

These people are all engineers on the ship.

The fact that the clown was able to modify the electrical system of the hatch of the reactor engine room proved that he had a certain amount of electrical knowledge.

Therefore, the suspicion of these people is undoubtedly the greatest!

But another possibility cannot be ruled out,

Although the other party is a different profession, he has learned this knowledge in advance in order to carry out the sabotage plan.

And then use such means to confuse the public and hide their identity.

Therefore, the suspicion of other people cannot be ruled out.

Meng Lei pondered for a moment, and finally spoke:

"From now on, no one is allowed to leave the sight of others without permission, hand over your ID cards, and assemble on the first floor deck!"

Then, Meng Lei turned his head to look at Huo Ye and the others, and ordered:

"You take your ID card and search everyone's crew room to see if there are any suspicious items.

Whatever you find, report it now! ”

"Yes!"

Huo Ye and the others agreed with a bang.

In the end, Meng Lei turned his gaze to the alien crew members again, and said in a deep voice:

"The situation is urgent, and everyone's safety is at stake, and we hope that everyone will cooperate with the investigation.

If we don't get this clown out, it will be a huge threat to all of us!

Therefore, everyone is conscious and proactive.

Hopefully we can solve this problem as soon as possible! ”

For the first time, Meng Lei revealed the majesty of the captain and did not give anyone room to maneuver.

He will also not listen to the advice of any alien crew members in this matter, as he will most likely be misled by the Joker and influence his judgment.

As for Meng Lei's practices and requirements, everyone did not refute them, and obediently handed over their respective ID cards one by one.

In this case, everyone can understand.

The point is that if you refuse to cooperate, you will immediately be arrested as a suspect and attacked in groups.

Even a real clown wouldn't be so stupid.

"Be careful when you inspect and don't miss a corner! I'll go to the bridge command room to check the surveillance and see if there are any clues! ”

Meng Lei explained, and then urged everyone to concentrate on the first floor area.

Before leaving,

Gina put her hands in her pockets, fanning the loose white coat, the elegant and full lines flickering, faintly exuding seduction. The breath of confusion.

"Be gentle when rummaging, don't break my things~

Especially personal belongings, don't use them for weird things,"

Vivid red. The lips showed a meaningful smile, and the surging smell of wine was mixed with the taste of hormones, and an inappropriate word was dropped.

"If you want, you can come to my room directly......"

Hearing this, Meng Lei frowned slightly.

The appearance of the clown makes everyone feel like a great enemy.

But this woman seems to be full of indifference, unaware of the current crisis.

Is it because she has a big heart, or is there something really wrong with her brain?

or,

Death is a thing that doesn't matter to her?

Or is the clown her?

With doubts, Meng Lei climbed up the shaft passage and then came to the bridge command room.

The others were in no mood to pay attention to Gina's teasing, and gathered on the deck outside the command room, all with solemn expressions.

The originally friendly team relationship was shattered by a clown.

Trust collapsed, and everyone looked at the others with a thick sense of vigilance.

In the command room.

Meng Lei turned on the surveillance video and called up the surveillance on the second floor of the cabin half an hour ago.

On the display of the center console, it was suddenly dim.

The surging red indicator light is not enough to shoot a clear surveillance picture, and everything is very ambiguous.

Meng Lei adjusted the playback speed to three times, and leaned in front of the display screen to look carefully.

In the beginning, the whole picture is completely static, like a photograph, and time and space are frozen at a fixed moment.

It wasn't until 2:35 a.m. that something different seemed to appear in the darkness.

Faintly, you can see that those pixel spots that are unchanged have undergone some kind of subtle changes.

Faintly, the silhouette of a humanoid figure is formed.

Because the light was so dim, Meng Lei couldn't tell how the figure had appeared, and he didn't know which crew room he had come out of.

After he appeared, he walked straight in the direction of the reactor room.

But.

According to the general outline of that figure, at least Gina and Simon can be excluded.

Gina's hairstyle is prominent, highly recognizable, and has a slim figure, which is very different from the shape of the figure.

Simon is at the other extreme.

Tall and burly, very strong.

Even if he was not clothed, he was more than a circle thicker than the figure.

These two people can basically rule out suspicion.

Then Meng Lei saw that after the man came to the vicinity of the reactor engine room, he stopped and did not move, and he had been tinkering with something in the dark.

It wasn't until Jia Quan appeared that the mysterious figure was frightened and fled.

Between the two chasing and catching up, the other party climbed the ladder through the shaft and came to the first floor of the submarine.

Meng Lei hurriedly switched the screen, called up a layer of monitoring, and observed it carefully.

However, in the submarine's energy-saving mode, the corridor on the first floor is equally dim.

And the mysterious man seems to have deliberately avoided the surveillance, and has been running around the corridor where the blind spot is filmed.

Even if Meng Lei pressed the pause button, he couldn't clearly capture his full picture.

Meng Lei took a deep breath, lit a cigarette, and continued to look down patiently.

Most of the time, in the surveillance screen, only Jia Quan chased after him with all his might.

Eventually, when the other party climbed the ladder through the shaft, they returned to the second floor again.

The figure seemed to be completely absorbed into the darkness, and disappeared completely.

Until the end, Meng Lei didn't see which crew room he had gotten into.

Leaning back on the leather seat, Meng Lei closed his eyes.

He carefully recalled the silhouette of the figure, and then compared it in his mind with several other crew members.

It is almost certain that the clown who got on board was one of the four engineers.

Regardless of body size and height, they are all similar to those people to some extent.

In order to further narrow the scope, Meng Lei turned on the monitoring again.

Then I brought up the part of the picture that was relatively clearest in my impression, and observed it repeatedly.

Looking at it, he suddenly realized that something seemed to be wrong.

Something seemed to have fallen out of the mysterious figure as it happened to run through the corridor next to the artillery control room.

There was a slight difference between the color of that thing and his figure,

But because the other party is too fast, it's easy to ignore it if you don't look closely.

Meng Lei suddenly sat up straight and looked at it several times.

Eventually, it was determined that there was indeed an object that had fallen out of the mysterious man's body.

Moreover, the other party was only concerned about getting rid of Jia Quan's pursuit at that time, and did not notice this detail.

In other words, that thing should still be in place right now!

"What's that?"

Meng Lei was deeply curious, and at the same time, his heart beat hard.

He realized that there might be a breakthrough in things because of this, and that thing might be the key clue.

At that moment, he immediately stood up and prepared to go over and check it out for himself.

At this time, the voices of Huo Ye and several people came from the earphones.

"Commander, Hans and Simon's house have been searched, and all corners have been searched, and nothing suspicious has been found."

"Hawke and Charlie's room were also searched, only a few changes of clothes and repair tools, nothing else."

"I'm ...... too"

Several people said that no clues could be found in the crew room.

Meng Lei immediately said in a deep voice: "Let's ignore the crew room for now, everyone immediately gather near the artillery control room and look for it in the surrounding corridors!" That clown dropped something there, be sure to find it! ”

"Good!"

Everyone replied in unison, and then immediately climbed up from the second-floor living quarters.

Meng Lei also strode out of the bridge command room, and under the puzzled eyes of Hans and others outside the door, he quickly ran towards the artillery control room.

The staff of the Sil City Shipyard, after renovating the submarine, have cleaned up all the internal environment.

In addition, the Sea Locust had just set off today, so there was no messy garbage on the deck.

But if there is anything on the ground, it is easy to see.

Quickly, almost no time wasted.

Meng Lei was in the corner near the outer bulkhead when he noticed something strange.

"Found it!"

His eyes lit up, and he hurriedly stepped forward to pick up the thing.

After holding it in my hand, I realized that it was actually a mini toy trumpet.

Only the size of a palm, the tail is a dark brown rubber airbag, which looks nothing special.

"Horn? Why is there a horn? ”

At this time, Huo Ye and several people also gathered around, looking at the toy horn in Meng Lei's hand, all of them showed puzzled looks.

Meng Lei shook his head, also a little puzzled.

But at this time, a line of golden text prompts suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

(Clown Horn: A recreational item that every clown carries with them, originally to relieve the mental stress caused by people in the deep-sea environment, and later became a symbol of the clown members.)

Honking the horn at a clown and saying something naughty to them will be seen as a sign of friendliness, and they won't be weird towards you for a while.

But it also depends on the situation, if the Joker thinks they are in a dangerous situation, any action will cause them to act aggressively. ）

Seeing the hint of the golden finger, Meng Lei was slightly stunned.

Unexpectedly, this horn is also a key prop about clowns!

Immediately, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

If you have this thing in hand, according to Goldfinger's prompt, the clown members who are mixed in with the crew must have nothing to hide.

The so-called excesses, Meng Lei did not pay attention to it at all.

Now that everyone is gathered, whatever the clown tries to do, they will be taken down immediately.

No matter how much he tried to resist, it was impossible for him to resist.

At that moment, Meng Lei held the toy horn tightly and beckoned to Huo Ye and them.

"Let's go, go ask a few of them!"

As he spoke, he strode towards the deck area where the alien crew was concentrated.

At this time,

Hans and Simon were curiously looking at Meng Lei and them.

Seeing that Meng Lei and the others seemed to have made a discovery, half a corridor away, Hans asked loudly:

"Captain, have you found anything?"

Meng Lei strode forward and spread his palms to everyone, revealing the strange horn toy.

"Only found this, can anyone explain whose thing it belongs to?"

When he saw the little horn in Meng Lei's hand,

In the crowd, there were two people whose expressions changed significantly.

One of them, Eugene, an electrical engineer, had a look of panic and confusion on his face.

Although he covered it up well,

But it was still the careful Meng Lei who caught the subtle change in expression for the first time.

The other person is Hans, who has a lot of sailing experience.

I saw that he was slapped big. legs, looking excited, shouted:

"Joker! Now you can be sure that there really is a clown on board! This horn is their carry-on belongings! It is a symbol of the clown!

There's really a clown getting in! ”

Meng Lei ignored Hans's shouts and fixed his eyes on Eugene, who was hiding in the corner of the crowd.

Through the fleeting emotional outpouring of the other party just now, Meng Lei realized that there was definitely something wrong with this guy.

Speaking of which, this electrical engineer named Eugene,

Since he got on the ship, he has been very low-key, and Meng Lei is not too impressed with him.

This person's comprehensive ability is extremely ordinary, and his appearance and personality are not characteristic.

And he doesn't like to talk, and he looks a little introverted.

Such a person has a very low sense of existence, and it is easy for people to ignore his existence.

Even now, Eugene is silently shrinking in the corner of the crowd, like a transparent person, and it is difficult to attract attention.

Meng Lei held the toy horn in his hand and walked through the crowd to Eugene.

"You dropped this thing, right?"

But seeing Eugene, he immediately shook his head in a panic, kept waving his hand, and said again and again:

"Nope! Not mine! It's not my thing! I don't know whose it is, don't ask me! Don't ask me! ”

This manifestation of a clear overreaction,

Even a blind person can see that there is definitely something wrong with Eugene.

Suddenly

Huo Ye, Hawke, and Simon stood up and surrounded Eugene in the middle with unkind expressions.

"Not yours?"

Meng Lei asked rhetorically, with a sneer on his face, "Then why are you so excited?" What are you afraid of? ”

As he spoke, Meng Lei suddenly grabbed the rubber airbag of the little horn hard.

"Beep!"

Strange syllables burst out of the horn.

Eugene's face changed again in an instant.

As if the young man had been stimulated suddenly, his facial features immediately distorted and became extremely hideous, and the whole person fell into a state of hysterical madness.

"Damn it, you're a blasphemous demon!

The dignity of the clown cannot be trampled on, and you will pay the price for your actions! ”

In the frantic roar, Eugene stood up from the ground and threw himself at Meng Lei with a hideous face, trying to snatch the toy horn in his hand.

However, without waiting for Eugene to complete his moves.

Simon, who was tall, immediately grabbed him and pressed him to the ground.

Eugene struggled desperately, like madness.

"Let go of me! Let me go! ”

"You damn guys, let me go!"

Even though he was pressed to the ground, Eugene was still roaring, and the look on his face was extremely hideous.

In the end, finding that he really couldn't break free, he raised his head and glared at Meng Lei viciously, and let out a resentful roar from his mouth:

"Damn it, Our Lady of Clown won't let you go!

You will pay for your actions!

I promise! ”