At the sa mont that Everly saw the na of the gigantic cruise ship, several crew mbers in the Mary Jane’s cockpit were also reading the na aloud, their voices full of shock and disbelief.
“The Golden Anchor… my God, could this really be the Golden Anchor?!”
“Wasn’t this ship supposed to have sunk?”
“No, it didn’t actually sink. Back then, the Carnival Cruise Company tried everything but couldn’t find any trace of the ship. Left with no choice, they had to announce to the public that it had sunk…”
Even a layperson like Everly might have heard the na “Golden Anchor” at so point in their life. For those working in the cruise industry aboard the Mary Jane, the na “Golden Anchor” was absolutely legendary.
It was a massive cruise ship under the largest Arican cruise company, Carnival Cruise Company, specifically built for long-distance voyages from the U.S. West Coast to Australia.
Thirteen years ago, this ultra-luxurious cruise ship, which cost 2.5 billion USD to build, completed its trial voyage and officially entered service. However, less than two days after leaving the port of Yanifly State, the Golden Anchor suddenly disappeared during its journey, along with 1,831 crew mbers and 2,850 passengers.
Among the passengers on the Golden Anchor at the ti were popular actors and celebrities, so of the richest people on the planet, and even a few governnt officials. As a result, the ship’s disappearance imdiately caused a worldwide sensation.
There were countless theories about the fate of the Golden Anchor. So said it had sunk due to extre weather, others believed there had been a mutiny among the crew that destroyed the ship, and still others thought that the ship had been ambushed by pirates specifically targeting the wealthy passengers… Because there was no evidence that the ship had actually been destroyed, Carnival Cruise Company failed to receive full insurance compensation, suffering massive losses. The once-mighty company was nearly brought to its knees by this disappearance.
Who would have thought that this gigantic cruise ship, lost sowhere in the Pacific, would appear 13 years later in the Taixi Ocean—on the opposite side of a whole continent!
Everyone in the cockpit was stunned into silence by this discovery.
After nearly half a minute of quiet, it was the captain who finally broke the silence:
“We can’t just let it go. We have to follow it… get on board and see for ourselves!”
There was a reason for his decision.
The Mary Jane belonged to the Arican Holland Cruise Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary controlled by Carnival Cruise Company, which specialized in high-end cruise routes along the U.S. East Coast. The disappearance of the Golden Anchor had been the largest crisis in Carnival’s history since its founding.
If the Mary Jane’s crew could uncover the truth behind the Golden Anchor’s disappearance, they would undoubtedly be rewarded by the head office—promotions and raises would be just around the corner.
Even putting all that aside, the captain’s human curiosity alone would never let him miss the chance to get such a close look at the legendary ship.
The crew clearly shared the sa thought.
Under the captain’s command, they carefully maneuvered the Mary Jane to approach the massive cruise ship. When the distance between the two ships closed to just twenty or thirty ters, sothing extraordinary happened.
It was as if they had broken through an invisible, imperceptible mbrane and entered another world. The Mary Jane plunged into a stretch of calm, serene sea.
Around the Golden Anchor, the ocean was unusually peaceful. There were no strong winds, no storms, no turbulent waves—only the salty scent of the sea and the deep, undisturbed water beneath the cruise ship.
“What’s going on? Has the rain finally stopped?”
Noticing the change in the surroundings, passengers on the Golden Anchor began opening windows, peering out curiously. So who were closer to the cabin exits had already rushed out onto the decks and balconies. Small groups gathered here and there, their eyes constantly scanning the lower decks.
“Hey, look! They’re launching the lifeboats!”
“Are we going to explore the Golden Anchor? I’ve heard about this ship for ages! My favorite actress, Nika, disappeared on it!”
“The Golden Anchor really didn’t sink… That’s amazing! I want to go on board too. I wonder if paying a little money would get permission.”
“…”
Everly’s breathing grew rapid.
From the mont she saw the Golden Anchor, a strong sense of unease gripped her. She knew she had probably stumbled into yet another horror scenario. Considering the mysterious disappearance of the Golden Anchor in the past, maybe this was a sea-based thriller with a “ghost ship” as its the?
But knowing this didn’t help her at all.
The Mary Jane was now several kiloters from land. Though she didn’t know why the storm had stopped near the Golden Anchor, the sky outside was still overcast. Looking into the distance, the waves still towered like mountains, and the wind and rain showed no sign of relenting.
This ant the weather outside remained extrely dangerous.
Under these circumstances, even if Everly had all sorts of skills to secretly get a lifeboat, food, and water, it would still be very difficult to safely reach land in a small boat. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, it was best for her to stay put on the Mary Jane and not get any ideas about running off.
This also ant that her fate was now inseparably tied to the Mary Jane. If the crew stayed careful, she would remain safe—but if they brought disaster to the ship, Everly would suffer along with it.
But could the crew avoid taking risks? They were about to go explore a ship that was clearly trouble waiting to happen!
Everly couldn’t recall any horror movie from her previous life that featured the Golden Anchor. Most likely, this was yet another film she hadn’t seen. Still, she had watched a couple of thrillers based on ghost ships before.
One of the movies was set on a ghost ship inhabited by vampires. They hid in the dark cabins during the day, leaving the ship seemingly empty, but at night they erged, wreaking havoc on the protagonist group.
The other was more supernatural: soone had murdered an entire ship’s worth of passengers, and their restless spirits transford the ship into a drifting ghost vessel that haunted the protagonists. Only when the main characters pieced together the clues and brought the culprit to justice did the ghost ship finally vanish.
In any case, by the rules of these stories, ghost ships were almost always ho to monsters, and anyone who set foot on them had a very high chance of eting misfortune.
For the sake of her own life, Everly decided she needed to warn the crew, who clearly didn’t realize how serious the situation was. But as an ordinary passenger, she couldn’t easily speak to the crew mbers. If she rushed over to stop them from boarding, she would probably just be thought of as crazy.
While Everly wracked her brain for excuses to intervene, Misha suddenly pointed excitedly at the deck outside.
“Everly, look! CrazyDog and the others are going too!”
“What? George and the others are going as well?”
Everly quickly moved to the window and peered out alongside Misha.
Sure enough, on the lower deck, among the crew preparing to set out, three young n and won stood out, clearly not part of the main group. One of them was a photographer George had hired, who had already set up a cara, taking advantage of the dry weather. It was obvious he intended to film the entire exploration from start to finish.
Seeing the cara, a spark of realization flashed through Everly’s mind. Wait—could this horror story be shot in a pseudo-docuntary style?
In her previous life, there was a period when it had beco very popular to have the protagonist—or their companions—hold a cara and record the entire ghost encounter. The downside was that handheld caras ant the footage would shake and so scenes would be too dark, making it tiring to watch. The upside, however, was that it created an incredibly imrsive experience, and the filming style made the story feel more real, which enhanced the horror.
If it really was a pseudo-docuntary style, then George—the protagonist being fild—was very likely the male lead of the movie. His caraman, Gene, who was holding the cara, also had a good chance of surviving until the latter half of the film… as long as he didn’t lose the cara.
For a movie to be made, it needed a main character. Could this an that if Everly could convince George, the male lead, to give up this expedition, she could avoid the chain of dangers that would follow?
Thinking this, Everly felt a surge of determination.
Without wasting ti on excuses, she took advantage of the mont while everyone on deck was still preparing and hadn’t yet set out. She flung open her cabin door, ran down the corridor, and sprinted straight toward the lower deck.
“George! George! Wait for , George!”
She shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran, afraid of moving too slowly to catch up.
At the edge of the deck, George, ready to descend the gangway, turned his head. Together with the surrounding passengers watching, he looked in surprise at the young girl running toward him.
“Everly, what’s wrong? Is sothing the matter?”
Everly reached him and got straight to the point:
“Don’t go! The ship is dangerous!”
“What?”
“Hey, little girl, you can’t say things like that—it’s very taboo,” a crew mber standing nearby said, a hint of displeasure on his face. Everly guessed that if it weren’t for the fact that she was a passenger, he might have scolded her outright.
But Everly wasn’t intimidated by the crew mber’s stern expression. She pressed on:
“Actually, I have so witch blood. Just now, in a sort of trance, I saw so visions. The ship you’re about to board is a ghost ship. It’s completely empty, yet strange, eerie things happen constantly. Everyone who boards it will be cursed, bound tightly to the ship. If you want to avoid misfortune, you must stay far away from it—the farther, the better…”
“Gulp…” George, clearly a timid person, swallowed hard at Everly’s words, a trace of nervousness appearing on his face.
But that nervousness was quickly smoothed over by a nearby crew mber:
“Hah, what a joke… George, you’re not actually going to let a little girl’s nonsense scare you, are you? This is a world-shaking discovery! We’ve found the Golden Anchor, missing for thirteen years, and we’ll be among the first people to board it in over a decade! Such a rare opportunity—are you really thinking of backing out?”
George shook his head quickly. “No, of course I’m not backing out.”
Then, with a look of apology at Everly, he said:
“Everly, I know you’re saying this because you care, but this is also my job. The captain wants and a few other crew mbers to board and docunt this historic mont, so it can be used in the cruise company’s promotional video. I also hope to take this opportunity to boost my account’s popularity and stabilize my online presence. So I have to go on this trip.”
After saying this, he smiled and waved at Everly and Misha, who was running up behind her, then bypassed Everly and descended the gangway.
Possibly worried that Everly might chase him, the crew mber who had been standing nearby acted quickly, imdiately fastening the chains at the side of the gangway.
Everly: “…”
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