Resumen del episodio 9 de Archives: The Nanyang Mystery
> Resúmenes de Archives: The Nanyang Mystery
Fleeing the pursuing assassins, Zhang Hailou used his exceptional martial arts skills to carry He Jianxi up to the third floor, slipping into Steven's private bathroom while the killers searched the lower decks. Exhausted and weak, Zhang Hailou revealed to He Jianxi that he had been poisoned. He Jianxi sarcastically remarked that as the dreaded Plague, Zhang Hailou should have planned for such a setback. Ignoring the banter, Zhang Hailou focused on their immediate survival.
He knocked Steven unconscious, tied him to the bed, and analyzed their situation. Recognizing that first class had tight security, he knew the killers wouldn't launch a reckless attack but would instead watch the exits and systematically search the cabins. Just as they braced for the worst, an attendant slipped an invitation under the door. It was a summons from the ship owner's daughter, Miss Dong, inviting Steven to a grand ball.
Realizing this was his chance, Zhang Hailou decided to disguise himself as Steven to get close to Miss Dong and take her hostage, hoping to force the ship to turn back. Using the face-changing art he had mastered since childhood, Zhang Hailou disguised himself as Steven to infiltrate the gathering. At the lavish ball, he blended in seamlessly, brushing off inquiries about his absence by claiming he had been resting due to a sore throat.
Meanwhile, Miss Dong was locked in a tense negotiation with Warner. Warner presented a priceless Central Asian jade piece from his collection, hoping to trade it for entry and exit documents. Miss Dong, however, refused to risk her family's safety for a mere stone before their primary deal in Xiacheng was finalized. When Warner tried to pressure her by bragging about his ruthless killers, she realized he was attempting to use her as leverage against her father.
Observing from the shadows, Zhang Hailou prepared to take out the armed guards at the door to seize Miss Dong. But his plans were shattered when Zhang Haiqi appeared. Having taught him the face-changing art herself, she recognized him instantly. A fierce struggle ensued between the two, and outmatched by his former mentor, Zhang Hailou was forced to flee, dropping his human-skin mask behind. Following the chaotic escape, Warner rushed in to find his precious jade missing.
Believing Zhang Haiqi had orchestrated the theft to double-cross him, he demanded answers. Zhang Haiqi, keeping Zhang Hailou's true identity a secret, assured Warner that the thief could not leave the ship with the jade. To appease him, she demanded command of his armed unit, promising to recover the artifact before the ship docked. Under her orders, the ship was put into an emergency lockdown, forcing all passengers back to their rooms.
However, Zhang Haiqi's true motive lay in the sketches of the ship's bandits that Zhang Hailou had handed her during their brief clash. Under the guise of searching the cabins, she systematically tracked down and eliminated every single bandit depicted in the portraits, clearing the ship of its hidden threats. The real Steven eventually regained consciousness, just as Warner's search party reached his cabin. He Jianxi was captured on the spot and dragged before Miss Dong and Warner.
Steven quickly identified He Jianxi as an accomplice of the imposter who had kidnapped him. Zhang Haiqi showed total indifference toward He Jianxi's life, leaving him at the mercy of Warner's men, while Miss Dong coldly ordered his immediate execution. However, the clever Steven, suspecting that this might be an attempt to silence the witness to cover up the theft of the jade, intervened to keep He Jianxi alive, ordering him to be locked up instead.
Keeping a close watch on the guards, Zhang Hailou found the perfect moment to slip in and rescue his companion. Now deep in hiding, He Jianxi lamented his misfortune, blaming Zhang Hailou for dragging him into a deadly conspiracy. Zhang Hailou simply welcomed him to his world and focused on a plan to stage their deaths.
He recalled his childhood training with Zhang Haixia, where their mentor had tested them with the Apple Theory—a lesson on how to shift blame and escape suspicion. Zhang Haixia had proposed taking six apples and leaving the seventh, then telling the mentor that Zhang Hailou took all seven. Since the mentor would already be furious and assume Zhang Hailou took them all, Zhang Hailou would get a beating anyway and wouldn't bother clarifying the exact number.
While Zhang Hailou had only thought of pinning the blame on a neighbor named Ergou, Zhang Haixia's scheme taught them how to successfully get off the hook. Applying this logic, Zhang Hailou decided to find two corpses and leave them on a lifeboat, making it appear as though they had fled the ship. Though He Jianxi warned him that his severe injuries made any further exertion life-threatening, Zhang Hailou insisted on searching for the decoy bodies.
During his search, Zhang Hailou crossed paths with Steven. Seeking revenge, Steven held him at gunpoint and gloated over his imminent demise, forcing Zhang Hailou to jump toward the ship's high-speed turbines to suffer a gruesome death. Keeping his composure, Zhang Hailou shattered a nearby light with a concealed blade. Plunged into sudden darkness, Warner's approaching guards mistook Steven's silhouette for the armed intruder and opened fire. Riddled with bullets, Steven plummeted into the ocean below.
Continuing through the corridors, Zhang Hailou was ambushed by another killer. With Warner's men patrolling nearby, the two engaged in a silent, brutal hand-to-hand fight, which ended with Zhang Hailou killing his opponent with his blades. Just then, He Jianxi caught up with him, bringing shocking news. He had witnessed a member of the armed unit attempting to torture the female killer, Bai Zhu.
He Jianxi had tried to intervene, but the formidable Bai Zhu had slain her captor in an instant before collapsing from her own wounds. Out of pity and fear, He Jianxi had hidden her in a lifeboat. Returning to the boat, they found Bai Zhu drifting in and out of consciousness.
Mistaking He Jianxi for an ally, she weakly warned him to head to the cargo hold, stating that everything was prepared to eliminate Miss Dong and that everyone on the ship had to die to protect their secret. Before they could gather more details, a strong burning odor filled the hallway. The killer Zhang Hailou had fought had set off explosives to destroy the electrical box, forcing the two men to flee as the guards closed in.
With their path blocked, they were forced to retreat into the cargo hold, only to realize too late that it was a deadly trap swarming with hidden assassins. Zhang Hailou's severe wounds reopened under the strain, but they had no choice but to fight. Leveraging He Jianxi's extraordinary sense of smell, they navigated the pitch-black hold. He Jianxi first located the corpse of a crew member, which, alongside the dying Bai Zhu, provided the two decoy bodies they needed.
He then detected dozens of killers lurking behind the cargo crates, warning Zhang Hailou to avoid the rigged wooden boxes. Using He Jianxi's sensory guidance, Zhang Hailou braced himself for a desperate, life-or-death battle against the remaining assassins.
