Not a detective

Page 116

What was in front of everyone was not a luxury cruise ship that required looking up to see in its entirety; at best, it was just a medium-sized passenger ship.

It doesn't look like it has any fancy restaurants, entertainment rooms, or swimming pools inside.

That makes sense, though. Real cruise ships usually accommodate several thousand passengers, how could they be booked out by a mere hundred or so students from this school?

The teachers smiled awkwardly, trying to calm the students' protests. Everyone finally realized that the school's choice of this mode of transportation was most likely to save money. Normally, it would only take seven hours to fly to Hawaii, and they would arrive on the island tonight. But by ship, it would take at least three days and two nights, which would be an ordeal for students who are prone to seasickness.

"Dear students, please calm down. In previous years, your predecessors also traveled to sea by ship."

"Please bear with it! We will apply for funding from the school and try our best to arrange for everyone to fly back, is that alright?"

Seeing the teachers caught in the middle between the school and the students, I realized that this job is not easy.

This is a smiling middle-aged man walking down the gangway. He's wearing a Hawaiian-style shirt and has a lot of hair on his chest.

"Hey! Hello everyone, you're all so enthusiastic! I'm the captain of this ship, so please look forward to this sea voyage! It's sure to be an unforgettable experience!"

He was waving his hands and shouting "ALOHA," a Hawaiian greeting, completely ignoring the atmosphere of protest and instead bringing his own mood into the discussion.

This is what a truly mature adult looks like: "Everyone! Hop on! We're setting off now, we're about to embark on our journey, wow!"

His skin was tanned dark, or perhaps he had some overseas ancestry? In any case, this captain really had the air of a captain, and under his inexplicable influence, my emotions gradually calmed down.

After all, students are students, and protests are just protests. After the commotion, they still have to board the ship. Nobody wants to give up their school trip to Hawaii.

Everyone lined up and went up to the deck in groups, and Asakawa Riku followed with his suitcase.

Actually, he didn't care what mode of transportation he used...

What he cares about most now is how the book will develop.

Summer of the Crimson Ray: Chapter Four - Voyage

The ship didn't look very big, but once you boarded it, you'd find it wasn't as shabby as you'd imagined.

The ship's cabins contain over a hundred rooms, with standard double rooms, which is more than enough to accommodate the entire second year of high school students.

After all, it was a three-day, two-night voyage, and it wouldn't do to have nowhere to stay. Asakawa Riku was assigned to share a room with Haoji, but when he turned around, Hoshino had already disappeared with her bag.

She still has that book in her hand; it seems she's already returned to her class.

After a tour of the ship's facilities with the enthusiastic captain, the students' curiosity calmed them down, and they stopped protesting and causing trouble. After all, everyone could feel the waves bobbing up and down, and looking out from the deck, they could see the Tokyo land receding into the distance. Now everyone finally realized that they were in the middle of the sea.

Those who caused trouble might be thrown down to feed the fish, and perhaps with this thought in mind, most students eventually returned to their rooms.

Asakawa Riku also went back, and he was the only one left in the room. It seemed that Haoji, who probably had too much energy, had gone wandering around again, or perhaps he had gone to find his girlfriend.

So he observed the layout of the guest room. To put it simply, it was like a hotel room, but it was definitely not comparable to the luxurious suites of the Dongyun family. First of all, the space was very narrow. Apart from two beds side by side with a gap in the middle, there was only a long table and two chairs. There was almost no other extra space.

It's said that the toilets, showers, and communal washing machines are all located elsewhere, so the conditions do seem quite harsh.

Most of the furniture and decorations in the room were chained up and firmly secured, which is probably what makes it special at sea, to prevent things from falling apart.

After watching for a while, he quickly lost interest, and of course, Asakawa Riku did not experience seasickness.

His sense of balance won't be broken so easily.

So he started flipping through the book. The three-day voyage was actually quite pleasant for him, and while passing the time, he also wanted to see how the book ended.

I did the math, and if I can finish reading this book before arriving in Hawaii, it won't affect my trip, and I can return the book later.

Asakawa Riku found the spot he had visited before and continued reading.

...

The protagonist of the novel survives a shipwreck and drifts ashore, only to unexpectedly discover a village of indigenous people on what he thought was an uninhabited island.

Overjoyed, he rushed to seek help, only to find that the villagers did not speak the outside language and even treated him with suspicion and wariness.

He didn't have a single weapon to defend himself and gradually became afraid. However, surrounded by the villagers, he had nowhere to escape and could only follow them.

Finally, the protagonist meets the village chief, who seems to be a priest-like figure. His clothes are even stranger than those of the villagers, and he chants some inexplicable songs.

The village chief carefully examined the protagonist's body and appearance, as well as his modern clothes and shoes, while the other villagers also secretly peeked at him.

Conversely, the protagonist is also observing them.

The customs, religion, and beliefs in this village are very strange, but fortunately, I didn't see anything like skulls, so it's probably not cannibalism.

Of course, he wasn't suddenly picked up and grilled. Instead, he was accepted by the village chief, who said something to everyone, and the crowd dispersed, leaving him alone in the same spot.

The protagonist was completely bewildered because he couldn't understand their language, but he found that the villagers wouldn't attack him as long as he didn't do anything provocative. As long as he walked by normally, they wouldn't pay any attention to him, as if they treated him as one of the villagers. He could use the village well to get fresh water, but he couldn't steal food.

To obtain food, one must sell one's labor to the villagers, working for them in exchange for it; communication can also be achieved through simple body language.

The protagonist then settled down on the edge of the village. With the necessary food and water, he was finally able to rest his exhausted body and mind. There happened to be a dilapidated hut there. Although it was drafty, it would be fine if it was reinforced with wooden planks. He could sleep on the ground with leaves on it, which was almost the limit of his endurance.

When he woke up the next day, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the villagers still maintained a neutral and friendly attitude and that he could still exchange food for food.

He decided to stay there temporarily and drew an SOS sign on the beach. Every day, he would check to see if any planes or ships passed by, waiting for rescue.

In order to survive better, the protagonist begins to learn the language of the island's villagers, using body language as a bridge, and learns the pronunciation of some simple words such as "you," "I," "he," "food," "water," "labor," "exchange," and "eat/drink." He feels that he is becoming more and more proficient, and he can even communicate with the natives.

During this process, he gradually discovered that there was another way to exchange food besides helping them with their work.

He didn't have a suitable translation, so he could only tentatively call it a "ritual".

As mentioned earlier, the village's customs and beliefs are very strange, and that is indeed the case. The protagonist discovers that every day early in the morning, all the villagers gather together and line up in the open space in the middle of the village, surrounding the village chief's platform. The village chief wears strange bright red clothing, the color of which is so vivid that it looks like blood. It is unknown how such a place was dyed.

After that, the village chief would perform a bizarre dance in front of everyone, sometimes on all fours, sometimes crawling and rolling on the platform, which was puzzling.

He was chanting strange incantations, vaguely resembling the one the protagonist had heard on the first day, but he didn't know what they meant.

Whenever the village chief performs, some villagers below will silently shed tears and kneel on the ground, while others will cheer loudly and clap their hands; their reactions are all very excited.

The protagonist silently noted down these reactions, and then one day, he had a sudden inspiration and uttered those incomprehensible spells to the villagers he was communicating with.

At that moment, a surprising phenomenon occurred: the villagers seemed to regard him as the village chief, and immediately began to worship him, kneeling and kowtowing repeatedly.

Each time he mimicked a phrase and added those actions, the villagers' awe became even more exaggerated, and even the surrounding villagers were attracted and surrounded him.

It's like a real ritual.

Fearing attracting attention, the protagonist dared not continue to make a fuss and had to stop. Although the villagers soon dispersed, he had obtained a lot of food that day.

It was much, much more than what he usually earned through hard work.

Then, a bold idea popped into his mind.

Summer of the Red Stingray: Chapter Five: Matters in the Book

From that day on, the protagonist began to use the "ritual" to exchange for food from the villagers.

Using this method, you only need to imitate a few simple incantations and at most make some exaggerated movements. The villagers won't care whether your performance is up to par or not. As long as you have that atmosphere, you will naturally get into it. You can get a lot of food in return, which is much easier than working hard before. Why not?

Ever since he tried this method, he couldn't go back, and he would use the ritual on the villagers every time. He would even secretly mock these intellectually backward villagers for not thinking of imitating the ritual to gain benefits. It was so simple that anyone could do it, yet they blindly believed in this crude folk religion, which was truly incomprehensible.

One day, an accident happened. During his performance, he didn't notice that the village chief had quietly walked past him from behind.

When he realized this, he was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat, his legs went weak, and he trembled uncontrollably.

The reason is simple: the village chief here is equivalent to a priest, the person in charge of the ritual, and the one who gained his high status through the ritual. If he discovers that someone is usurping this method to gain benefits, it is equivalent to threatening his position, and he is absolutely unforgivable. He will definitely do everything he can to eliminate him!

The protagonist's teeth chattered, and he stood frozen in fear, already contemplating turning around and running into the jungle, hoping for a chance of survival.

But things took an unexpected turn. The village chief didn't order his arrest; instead, he nodded and smiled at him, and didn't stop him from performing the ritual.

I just walked over there.

This puzzled him greatly, but he breathed a sigh of relief after surviving the ordeal.

After that, the protagonist spent several days in fear and anxiety, not daring to sleep at night, holding a piece of wood and staring at the doorway, wary of whether someone would come to attack.

However, a week later, not only did no rescue arrive, but the attackers also failed to appear. In fact, the village chief remained friendly towards him and would even greet him when passing by.

...Could it be that nothing's wrong?

The protagonist gritted his teeth, mustered his courage, and discussed the contents of the "ritual" with the village chief. He felt that rather than scaring himself in fear, it would be better to give it a quick end.

If the villagers here are chasing us, we won't survive on this deserted island anyway, so we might as well take the risk.

He made the right bet.

The village chief was surprisingly enthusiastic in explaining the contents of the ritual to him. Although the two did not understand each other's language, the protagonist was very perceptive and gradually figured out the meaning of these blessings and actions. Simply put, the villagers here worship a deity called the Red Ray, who is the goddess of the sea. She has a fish-like body, but her size is enormous.

The so-called ritual is to imitate the language and actions of this deity and describe a series of stories about the "return of the gods".

It is said that the red stingray will lose itself on the shore, dissipate its divine power, lose its memory, forget its identity, and gradually drift away from its mission and responsibility.

Then, the ocean will call to her.

She will feel an inexplicable calling and gradually approach the ocean, eventually returning to her mother's embrace, transforming back into the form of a red fish, and becoming the goddess of the ocean once more.

This is the story of "God's Return Home," also known as "Transformation into the Sea."

The ritual is a performance of this journey, from the initial stage of confusion to accepting the calling, and finally taking on the mission and transforming into the sea.

The movements of the person performing the ritual are the same. At first, they walk upright like humans, and gradually they start to lie on the ground, learning to swim like fish.

The story is quite long, and it took the protagonist a long time to gradually correct his translation and word choice before he could begin to understand the meaning of the legend. In the process, he realized that his local language skills were also improving rapidly. Through this story, he gradually understood many basic words and began to be able to communicate normally with the village chief.

To his surprise, the village chief not only did not object to him learning the ritual, but was also pleased that someone was listening and encouraged him to continue performing among the villagers.

The protagonist was happy and inspired, and he became even more excited, using the more standardized "ritual" he had learned.

This time, he wasn't just trading for food; he began trading for much more, such as daily necessities, better housing, and even wives and slaves—in short—

A higher status.

As an outsider who couldn't speak the language, he rose to a position in the village second only to the village chief within a short month, living a life of luxury in this isolated island village.

This was an unimaginable change, and all of this was thanks to the "ritual," the religion that enabled him to achieve such an extraordinary leap.

When he walked on the road, the villagers would obey him without question. When he returned home, the most beautiful girl in the village would kneel by his bedside. Looking out the window, he could see his loyal slaves helping him cultivate the fields.

His home, second only to the village chief, is the second largest manor in the entire village.

The protagonist looked up at the house located at the highest point of the village and thought to himself:

Are you content with this position?

...How can I, a civilized person, who has reached my current position through my own wisdom and courage, be subordinate to a backward primitive person?

...These ignorant fools are only fit to be my slaves.

...The same goes for that village chief.

...As long as I get rid of him too, without anyone knowing, the right to interpret the faith of the entire village will fall into my hands.

...I am the only priest, and all divine pronouncements are delivered by me. In other words, I am the only god.

From that moment on, he secretly resolved to "take his place" and had the motive to murder the village chief.

However, in this village, any movement can be clearly seen by others, making effective assassination almost impossible. Although there are harpoons used for fishing that can be used as weapons, the protagonist is unsure whether he is a match for the strong and robust village chief (who is estimated to be between 30 and 40 years old, and has experienced a long period of primitive life, making him very strong), and dares not act rashly.

In terms of prestige, he was slightly inferior to his opponent, and even if he rallied his slaves to rebel, he would be overwhelmed by the village chief's higher religious status.

Under that man, everyone is a "believer," and a single word can cause them to turn against him instantly, leaving no chance of turning the tables...

Just when the protagonist was at his wit's end and couldn't think of a good solution, a golden opportunity suddenly presented itself.

He learned from the village chief that in a few days, it would be the village's annual major festival, a significant ceremony known as the "Red Stingray Festival".

On this day, villagers who usually rest at sunset will have a rare night out. Instead of going to bed early, they will gather in the center of the village to party, drink and dance to their hearts' content.

This opportunity also gave the protagonist a rare chance.

On nights of revelry, he could secretly approach the village chief and kill him without anyone noticing.

Once the assassination is accomplished, he can use his powerful religious influence to frame anyone and exonerate himself.

At that time, no one will dare to question his words, and he will be the new village chief.

If you miss this opportunity, you'll have to wait another year. This is the perfect time, the perfect opportunity to commit a crime.

He decided to make his move on the day of the "Red Stingray Festival".

Summer of the Crimson Stingray: Chapter Six - Many Questions

Asakawa Riku closed the book in his hand and decided to pause for a moment.

Although judging from the number of pages, the story is probably halfway through, which is also the most exciting part. To be honest, he was also very excited and secretly looking forward to what would happen next.