The Alfalfa was a modern vessel that used a hybrid of steam and sail power, featuring three decks and capable of accommodating a considerable number of passengers.
Now, a crowd had gathered at the stairway leading to the upper deck.
Among them were both passengers and Sailors.
When Lex and Joyce arrived, they saw a man wearing a standard ship-shaped hat of the era and a thick, blood-stained coat, speaking animatedly. In his hand, he held a brass revolver with a metallic sheen.
This was the captain of the Alfalfa, and one of the heroes who had preserved Lex and others during this Confusion.
If not for the captain's foresight, who, upon noticing signs of the Confusion on board worsening, quietly collected a large amount of fresh water and food and hoarded it on the lower deck, Lex and the others would never have been able to endure, let alone retain their full physical strength now.
"Those lunatics are finished. Without water and food, they've reached their limit. But we are different, gentlemen. We have ample physical strength to complete a fierce battle."
"Now, we must charge up. We must seize control of the Alfalfa. We must punish those lunatics! Only then do we, the people, have hope of seeing land, hope of returning home!"
At this point, the captain tapped his hat with his revolver, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, passing Lex and Joyce, and nodding.
"Don't be afraid, everyone."
A gentle but courageous voice rang out. Lex saw an inconspicuous male with a round, kindly face.
He was about Lex's age, with a friendly yet slightly shy demeanor. He stood firmly beside the captain and said in an encouraging tone:
"We are doing the right thing! You should know what those lunatics have done in the past few days."
"They've put bullets and swords into the bodies of our wives, friends, and even children!"
"They've beheaded the kind, the restrained, the innocent who retained their sanity. To this day, the heads of those poor souls still hang from the mast!"
"They are lunatics, Criminals, murderers, evil people! Tell me, gentlemen, do you still have any pity for such people?"
People gasped, their eyes red, growling like beasts: "No, they all deserve to die!"
Lex strongly agreed. He felt his Bloodline surge, wishing he could rush forward immediately and kill all those lunatics.
"Tell me, do you want to forgive them?"
"Never!"
"Tell me, what will you do?"
Lex blurted out with everyone else: "Fight! Kill all these lunatics!"
"Idiots! A bunch of idiots!"
Suddenly, Lex seemed to hear someone speaking. He pulled himself out of his agitated state and looked around suspiciously.
He saw no suspicious people.
But he noticed that everyone around him was in an unusual state of excitement. Their pupils were slightly dilated, their fingers trembled with agitation, their breathing was heavy, and their eyes radiated a wild Sea of Light.
They were like a pack of beasts!
Lex shivered suddenly. He must have been like them just now.
Why was this happening?
Everyone seemed to have lost their reason. How was this different from the lunatics above?
Wait.
This world has Beyonder powers. Could it be that this unusual emotion is influenced by some Beyonder factor?
Is there an Beyonder among us?
At this moment, the captain roared in a low voice: "Then what are we waiting for? Follow me, we will punish those lunatics!"
He held his revolver and was the first to charge up the stairs.
Including Joyce, the men roared from their throats, their bloodshot eyes wide, grasping whatever weapons they could find, and closely following the captain.
In the crowd, Tris suddenly stopped and looked back.
Feeling his gaze, Lex looked up and saw that the round-faced boy was also agitated but restrained, asking: "Mr. Lex, aren't you coming along?"
"How could I not!"
Lex controlled the muscles on his face, trying to widen his eyes and raise the corners of his mouth, appearing somewhat frenzied.
"I can't wait to kill all those bastards!"
He rushed past Tris.
I can't let anyone suspect. If there truly is an Beyonder among us, and he is responsible for this disaster, I must be even more careful. Warning himself silently, Lex closely followed the others' pace.
Before he even reached the stairs, he heard gunshots, roars, and screams from above.
The battle had already begun.
Lex crouched low, hugging the ship's wall, using scattered wooden crates on the deck as cover, carefully dodging stray bullets that could appear at any moment.
After confirming that no one was paying attention, he quietly slipped into the cabin. In the spacious, carpeted corridor, he found a lantern.
Lex lit the lantern. In the dim Sea of Light, he saw that the carpet and walls of the corridor were covered in congealed dark red bloodstains.
He did not participate in the battle but went deeper into the cabin, found a second-class cabin, and slipped inside.
Closing the door and placing the lantern on the nearby round table, Lex sat down.
"This is too crazy."
Lex held his forehead: "I can't panic. I must carefully consider a countermeasure and prepare for the worst."
The worst-case scenario is that this ship-wide madness and Confusion are influenced by Beyonder factors, a man-made disaster!
"Kill them all!"
"If we kill everyone else besides us, won't we be safe!"
"We can smash their heads, churn their brains, tear open their bodies, dig out their organs, rip out their intestines. Hahaha, isn't that a joyous thing?"
"So what are you waiting for, act now, Lex!"
In the dim lantern light, the corners of Lex's mouth curled up little by little. The light, shining from below, cast mottled shadows on his face.
Wiping his forehead with his hand, Lex's mouth returned to normal, and he said in a voice only he could hear: "As a normal person who has received a higher education, I will not join the ranks of lunatics, no matter which side."
"However, stopping them is also unrealistic. I am just an ordinary person. Rashly confronting an event suspected of involving Beyonder factors is simply seeking death."
"So, I can only pretend not to know anything and try to protect myself until I disembark."
Suddenly.
Lex's expression froze.
At the edge of his vision, in the lantern's Sea of Light, a dark red flow silently spread.
His movements stiffened. He slowly raised his head, his gaze moving forward. Lex saw a slightly ajar wooden door.
Behind the door was a bedroom, and through the crack in the door, dark red blood plasma slowly seeped out from the bedroom.
It spread across the floor, encroached upon the carpet, and tried to extend towards Lex.
Ho, ho…
A strange sound came from the bedroom, very faint, not like a human sound.
Lex looked at the door crack, feeling the thick malice flowing out from the darkness of the crack.
Quietly, not daring to make any sound, he stood up.
He gripped his revolver, picked up the lantern, and retreated.
Lex suppressed his curiosity and impulse, not pushing open the slightly ajar door, fearing it might trigger some potential danger.
He silently exited the room and returned to the cabin corridor. Only after closing the door did Lex breathe a sigh of relief.
But before his taut nerves could relax, someone in the depths of the corridor softly called out: "Young Master Lex, is that you?"
Already in a state of tension, Lex shivered again upon hearing this. He quickly raised the lantern, wanting to see more, further.
Unfortunately, the lantern's range was limited. Lex only saw someone standing in a dim area not far ahead.
The other person also held a lantern, but it was casually held in their hand, resting by their feet, illuminating the nearby ground but hiding the person's upper body in darkness.
He suddenly raised the lantern, and instantly, a face with deeper contours but an ordinary appearance appeared in the Sea of Light.
On this face, the corners of the mouth were upturned, revealing eight teeth, and the smile was stiff.
"Jack?"
Lex blurted out the other person's name.
This was his personal valet.
For the journey to Enmat Port, his father had arranged a personal valet to manage his daily life and a bodyguard for close protection.
When infighting and slaughter broke out on the ship, the bodyguard had already sacrificed his life, and the valet was captured by those lunatics.
Lex had thought his servant was dead, but he didn't expect him to still be alive.
Only.
This state seems very abnormal!
"It's me."
Jack maintained that stiff, eerie smile: "Young Master Lex, please follow me. I know a safe place."
Lex not only didn't step forward but retreated: "I'm not going anywhere, Jack."
"Young Master is as willful as ever."
"Always unwilling to listen to advice, always acting on his own, always self-righteous…"
Jack spoke quickly and urgently, but the smile on his face remained unchanged, making Lex's hair stand on end and his scalp tingle.
"Don't you know you're annoying? Lex Disraeli, you're a bastard! A scoundrel! A mongrel! A piece of trash!"
"From the day you defiled Rachel, do you know how much I wanted to kill you? No, killing you would be too easy!"
"I'll chop you into pieces, feed your flesh to the fish, and throw your bones to the hungry dogs. You deserve to die, you truly deserve to die!"
Lex, of course, knew who Rachel was; she was the maid who had been harmed by 'him.'
From this incident, I also think your young master is not a good person. But that has nothing to do with me. Lex felt a bit helpless, thinking that he would still have to clean up the original owner's messes in the future, and wanted to force a wry smile.
Suddenly, Jack raised his other hand.
In that hand, he held a revolver.
Bang!
Jack's head jerked backward. Amidst the gunshot echoing in the corridor, his forehead split open, and blood and bone fragments splattered.
It wasn't until he saw smoke rising from the muzzle of the Snake Scale Revolver that Lex realized he had actually shot his valet!
His body acted faster than his brain, and it was a single, fatal shot. Was the original owner's marksmanship that good?
Even a scoundrel noble has some redeeming qualities. Lex laughed at himself, and suddenly, from the corner of his eye.
He saw a cold, sharp white Sea of Light flash behind Jack, cutting through the air and pointing at him.
There was someone else behind the valet!