Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Those guys actually didn't leave?"

A moment later, Delanlai stared at the ship in the distance, unable to hide his shock.

When the other man mentioned a place to bandage his wounds, it was easy to guess he meant the ship.

But given the sheer number of fishmen surrounding them, the fact that the poachers' ship was still drifting peacefully nearby was truly astonishing.

"Who says they didn't? Look closer."

Fu Qian didn't break his stride, hauling Delanlai the same way Delanlai usually carried fishmen.

"There's no one on board... Where did Lane and the others go?"

Prompted by the remark, Delanlai forced himself to focus and looked again.

The closer vantage point allowed him to spot new details.

Fu Qian grumbled internally as he skimmed across the surface of the sea.

For the sake of symmetry, he had long since thrown away his other shoe. Walking barefoot across the waves right now actually had a certain charm to it.

Closing in on the poachers' ship, Fu Qian gave a light leap, dodged a sudden torrent beneath his feet, and landed precisely on the deck.

"Bandage his wounds."

Meeting Rachel's puzzled gaze, Fu Qian casually tossed Delanlai at her feet and gave the order.

The next moment, without missing a beat, he vaulted back into the sea and landed beside a fishman.

The creature had just finished conjuring a torrent and was preparing to dive beneath the surface.

Faced with Fu Qian closing the distance in the blink of an eye, the cornered spellcaster displayed extraordinary ferocity, instantly throwing her maw wide open.

The peace brought by the singing had its limits. Fu Qian brushing past her earlier had already triggered her desire to attack, and this moment was no exception.

Crack!

Unfortunately, just as the thin water arrow formed in her mouth, a crisp sound rang out, and it shattered into pieces along with her skull.

Before the corpse could even sink into the sea, Fu Qian had already vaulted back onto the ship.

Only then did Delanlai and Rachel exchange bizarre looks.

...

'It seems Madam Vivian wasn't lying about this part!'

Fu Qian ignored them, plopping back down into his usual spot and inspecting the hand he had just used to crush a skull.

The originally silver Glove now seemed to ripple with an extra trace of luster.

Though faint, he could still feel an aura emanating from it similar to Vivian's.

"Delanlai?"

Rachel's exclamation of shock finally rang out.

Fu Qian looked up, meeting her inquiring gaze.

"Mister Fang, where did you catch him—"

Halfway through her sentence, Rachel realized the situation. She shut her mouth, dropping the nonsense, and looked down, searching herself for medical supplies.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry about earlier."

It wasn't until Rachel began somewhat clumsily treating his wounds with one hand that Delanlai finally spoke, his tone complicated.

He was naturally referring to the Curse Abyss incident. One could still see the unfaded Imprint on Rachel's body.

"I'm only doing a basic patch-up. I lost most of my supplies along the way."

No matter what reasons he had, Rachel couldn't possibly harbor any goodwill toward the man who had nearly gotten her killed. She immediately rebuffed him, her tone frosty.

"Are they really acting differently now?"

After finishing the task Fu Qian had assigned her, Rachel's gaze drifted toward the sea.

The fishman's corpse was long gone, but her kin slightly further away hadn't swarmed over in response to the sudden conflict.

"They didn't even react."

'Who says they didn't? Didn't you hear the singing get a little more soothing?'

Fu Qian snorted, thinking to himself.

Madam Vivian truly had zero respect for the art of singing.

After this flock of lambs awaiting slaughter had gathered here, he had only moved a tiny bit too slowly, and the resentment in the song had almost materialized into something physical.

Striking out to kill that fishman just now was simply to ease that resentment a little and maintain the current balance between all parties. It had nothing to do with taking revenge for being offended.

Besides that, it conveniently verified some of Vivian's claims.

"It's highly likely due to the influence of the singing from the island."

Beside her, Delanlai addressed Rachel's confusion.

"That's probably why they gathered here in the first place."

"Where's Lane? Why are you the only one here?"

Having offered his input, Delanlai eagerly asked the question he cared about most.

This newcomer had been sitting there motionless just a moment ago, and he somehow hadn't even noticed him.

"They went to the island."

Rachel glanced at Fu Qian, and only after confirming he had no objections did she finally answer.

"To investigate the source of that singing."

"They're in that much of a rush?"

Delanlai was mildly shocked. Clearly, in his mind, Lane's group shouldn't have been this courageous.

"Did his fingernails get weirder?"

Fu Qian asked casually as he appreciated the singing transmitted through the Thread of Attachment.

"Yes, more bizarre changes have appeared, and not just on him."

Perhaps because the mutations on her own body were already severe enough, Rachel's tone wasn't particularly heavy.

"Mutations caused by the Ash Sea? Hahaha..."

Delanlai caught on quickly and made no attempt to hide his schadenfreude.

"For them, that's actually a pretty fitting end!"

"You weren't too affected, so you didn't follow them?"

"I..."

Rachel subconsciously glanced down at her own body.

"I'm injured too. My shoulder forced me to stay behind."

"And they felt comfortable leaving you alone on the ship?"

Although he had noticed earlier that one of her arms was immobile, Delanlai frowned slightly. He wasn't so easily convinced.

"Why wouldn't they? I don't know how to sail."

...

That reason evidently won Delanlai over, rendering him momentarily speechless.

Out of the corner of his eye, Fu Qian cast a glance at Rachel's shoulder. He could guess the deeper meaning behind her excuse.

No matter how you looked at it, staying on a ship surrounded by fishmen was a terrible idea. It was just that, for Rachel, moving with the team was even more dangerous.

Lane and the others were indeed going to look for Vivian, but there was actually another potential side objective: confirming whether he was dead or alive.

If they found no traces of him, fine. But if they accidentally stumbled upon his corpse, the chances of Rachel making it back alive would be approximately zero.

Of course, Rachel probably hadn't realized this on her own. It was highly likely she was following instructions from her External Brain.

So, it really was her "shoulder" that made her stay behind.

And faced with that demand, Lane wouldn't have had the guts to refuse.

"It doesn't matter. As long as someone knows how to sail, it's fine."

Fu Qian suddenly spoke up, continuing Rachel's thought from a bizarre angle.

"Huh?"

Both listeners were taken aback.

"We're leaving? Where to?"

It was obvious that even Rachel thought they could wait and see what Lane's group did. She wasn't in a rush to flee.

"To go listen to the singing."

Fu Qian gestured in a certain direction, but his answer made Delanlai's heart skip a beat.

'He really didn't forget!'

"There, get to it."

Just as Delanlai was secretly gritting his teeth, he noticed the other man looking his way.

"...Me?"

"You don't know how?"

"I do..."

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