Bella communicated with the vessel. Based on their individual soul strengths and after some rough calculations, she arrived at an average. "One hundred and fifty years of service, after which the Flying Dutchman will set you free. Of course, by then you'll all be a hundred and seventy years old. The moment you leave the ship, you'll probably drop dead instantly."
She snapped her fingers lightly, releasing her control over their bodies. If they had questions, they could ask now.
All four were in a state of shock. The woman looked to the rich boy, hoping he'd make decisions. The Korean felt the same. Only the Black man's lips trembled, seemingly too outraged to speak.
"What... what work do you want us to do? Let me go—I'll pay you, okay?"
The rich boy pleaded.
Bella rejected him without hesitation. "Can your life be bought with money? The contract is already established. Boarding the ship means doing ship work. The specifics can wait. You can go search online or do a trial run with the ship for a couple of days first."
The rich boy, the woman, and the Korean all shook uncontrollably. The Black man, who'd never understood the situation, was very agitated.
"We are not slaves! Black people will never be your white slaves! Never!"
"FUCK! You bitch!—" The Black man went into a hysterical rant, though since he only knew English, he kept repeating the same few phrases.
Bella was speechless. His abnormal mental circuits truly baffled her. *In a supernatural, magical setting like this, you're talking to me about skin color? Are you okay? What does this have to do with skin color?*
Too stupid. Keeping him would be useless.
"Moron."
Bella shook her head and sighed. She hooked her finger on the ship's wheel, and the life force granted by the Flying Dutchman was stripped away. A thin line appeared on the Black man's neck, then blood poured out. Finally, his head tilted to the side and fell to the floor with a *thud*, his eyes still wide open, staring at his three companions.
"AHHH—!!" The woman screamed in fright. The rich boy and Korean panicked as well.
"See that? The ship and I saved you. You work on the ship because you owe it a life. If you don't want to work, you can learn from this Black man. Don't say I discriminated against you—I gave you the freedom to choose... Actually, I'm pretty American, right?"
Bella had actually been worried about having him on her ship ruining the aesthetics. Now she felt much better. *He asked for it. Can't blame anyone else.* In her good mood, she couldn't help but spout some nonsense.
"I'm willing to work!" The Korean was the first to submit.
"Me too!" The woman was second.
The rich boy felt his worldview had been severely impacted. He could only nod numbly.
Bella waved her hand. Jason dragged the Black man's corpse with one hand and held the vessel with the other, turning to leave. He'd be stationed at Crystal Lake for now. As for these three people...
Empty promises were useless. Even with the Black man's example, the three would still harbor hope that they could escape.
If the police or some hunters came looking, Bella would find it very troublesome.
She took out the Golden Apple. Golden threads enveloped the entire room. "Before boarding for work, you'll forget tonight's conversation. Your friend was killed by you over some trivial matter. To cover up the crime..."
Ten minutes later, Bella stood up and left.
The three had no Isu genes. Their resistance to the Golden Apple was infinitely close to zero.
Seeing the Black man's head still at the scene—though they couldn't quite remember where the body was—the three formed a pact to cover up all traces.
They then ran to the nearby police station to report a missing person, insisting that the Black man had disappeared in the woods! The rich boy even hinted that he might have been carried off by wolves.
Their testimonies matched perfectly. America had too many missing persons. Crystal Lake had seen plenty of deaths. The police didn't want to deal with it at all. If they said he was missing, the police would process it as a missing-person case.
...
"How'd it go? Did you find that guy?" When Bella returned to her group, Barbara asked. She claimed she'd lost him in pursuit.
At dawn, the five of them left Crystal Lake safely.
Bella and her friends continued their research project. The Crystal Lake incident seemed like just a minor event in their journey.
Sam was confused. This incident seemed to have ended just like that. He'd prepared for half the day, stayed alert all night, but Jason had disappeared as if he'd never existed. This was truly unbelievable.
"I have a feeling this incident isn't really over." He spoke very seriously.
*Yeah, it's not over. This is just the beginning!* Bella muttered to herself.
For Sam, the matter wasn't finished. He planned to go back and research it, but for Bella, she'd already taken care of Sam and protected him.
The Winchester men thanked her for the help and mobilized their network of hunter contacts to search for information about ghost ships for her.
...
In October 2001, the Black president, whose reputation had plummeted, ultimately failed to suppress the war faction domestically—or rather, the military-industrial complex behind the war faction. The United States officially launched military operations against Afghanistan!
However, through masterful diplomacy and dollars, the US military action received tacit approval from Iran's spiritual leader. *After all, Afghanistan is Sunni, completely different from us Shia Iranians. If you want to fight, go ahead.*
Additionally, with massive oil contracts thrown around, the US also gained support from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. *What does your fight with Afghanistan have to do with us? Fight! Fight hard!*
...
International political turbulence had nothing to do with Bella.
After two months of field research, complete with photographic evidence, their research report was done quite well. Even Professor Serizawa, who was still in Tokyo, praised their practical approach.
Bella also submitted three new research proposals to the center—all topics she personally wanted to investigate. Ultimately, one was approved.
The university would provide funding, handle all the paperwork, and when necessary, run interference to block external disruptions—especially political ones. This was why she wanted to work with Stanford rather than go it alone.
This time it was a religious research project. After reviewing numerous historical texts and religious scriptures, using the Book of Revelation as a foundation and making various deductions and calculations, Bella believed that within Israel's borders, there still remained many ancient Christian relics. If older written records could be found, it would be a major breakthrough for both history and religion.
She wanted to find the legendary Jordanian lead codices!
According to her memory, these books were discovered in the border region between Israel, Jordan, and Syria.
The research center thought her project was ambitious and rather dangerous. Several of the survey sites Bella had marked were in combat zones. Going a bit further north would put them in the famous Golan Heights! But considering several factors, they ultimately approved the project.