Eldritch Horror Theatre

"There's no other way. That's just how Moore is."

As it turned out, life really did amount to different paths leading to the same destination.

Even given a second chance, one might end up making the exact same choice for completely different reasons.

After a relatively peaceful flight, Fu Qian once again refrained from jumping straight into the sea halfway through. Instead, amid dark clouds and howling winds, he walked into a familiar place.

And when he tried to switch to his next mode of transportation, he was met with the exact same response.

The person speaking to him wasn't even the middle-aged man with the mustache from last time, fully proving the stereotype about the city of Moore.

"Let me guess. Unless they're hijacked by a madman, it's hard to find a ship willing to head out to sea in this weather, right?"

The old lines were still fresh in his memory, so Fu Qian took the initiative to recite them himself.

"Um... yes, exactly."

This was primarily because, although the face staring back at him lacked any emotion, it seemed all the more imposing for it.

That entirely hairless head made it even harder to look straight at him.

Exactly. Considering he had come by invitation, Fu Qian had put special thought into his personal image.

First of all, he obviously wasn't using his true appearance, nor was he using Old Man Lu's actual face.

Instead, he had fully unleashed his creativity and molded a younger version of Old Man Lu.

Given that the latter's face was covered in wrinkles and practically just skin and bones, this process had taken quite a bit of effort.

Fortunately, the final result was gratifying—capturing the spirit without rigidly adhering to the form. Fu Qian wasn't sure how much he actually resembled the young Old Man Lu, but he figured that even if the man himself saw it, he wouldn't be able to resist taking a few extra glances.

In addition, he had kept one rather distinct feature, saving himself the trouble of styling hair.

"It's not that there are absolutely no ships, though. Siren has been pretty active lately, and even in this weather they might still go out. It's just..."

His meticulous character design seemed to have worked. After staring for a long moment, the staff member actually offered an exception without him needing to use a Lucid Dream, just like last time.

"Thank you."

It was easy to imagine that getting on board would be a problem, but Fu Qian didn't make things difficult. He just smiled and offered his thanks.

...

They really did seem quite active.

A short while later, Fu Qian gazed out over the storm-ravaged sea, silently agreeing with what he had just been told.

Black background with golden patterns—the Siren Trident emblem was simply too conspicuous, allowing him to easily locate and board the ship.

Worthy of their title as overlords of the sea, it was obvious they had quite a few professionals on board.

The turbulent tides rapidly calmed down the moment they neared the hull.

As a result, the modestly sized vessel sailed with remarkable stability.

Come to think of it, Classmate Liushuang's assistant, Jia Keke, had also shown off this trick early on.

It was a pity this clearly wasn't a luxury cruise ship, so the food options weren't nearly as abundant.

Fu Qian took a bite of the bread roll in his hand and concluded that the taste was barely satisfactory.

Just like when he had taken the poaching ship, he was currently holed up in an empty room.

As for the food beside him, he had naturally gone to the dining hall to grab it.

He had been traveling for so long without a chance to eat.

In short, it all carried a strong sense of déjà vu. The ship, with a crew of less than a hundred, had already left The Port some distance behind, sailing into the vast storm with a peculiar sense of isolation.

Though unlike the poaching ship from last time, this one looked more like it was out to catch poachers.

...

In theory, exploring the Ash Sea didn't need to be nearly this troublesome.

Although he still hadn't calculated a route and jumped straight into the ocean, the methods he had used when searching for the Solar-Powered Whale were far more efficient than this.

Even if he didn't want to travel under his own power, he was already well-practiced at sourcing local transport by directly enslaving marine creatures as mounts, which would have allowed him to choose his route freely.

But what attracted Fu Qian was precisely this lack of freedom.

The fact that Siren was more active than usual wasn't exactly a surprise.

The message Kelsen had managed to pass on to him might have been sitting there for quite a while.

If Siren had some plan going on around here, it was perfectly normal for them to have started executing it already.

The current situation merely confirmed the accuracy of that message.

But what kind of plan was it? One that made Kelsen hope the Rebirth Club would get involved?

That was a big question, but as for the immediate situation, the real issue was what exactly this ship was setting out to do.

On his way to grab food earlier, Fu Qian had taken the opportunity to inspect the vessel, noting that it really didn't look prepared for a long oceanic voyage.

Even though there was a Demigod Realm expert keeping watch.

That's right, it wasn't Kelsen, but it was absolutely a genuine Demigod Realm expert. His Vision Radar showed it clearly, especially since he had observed them from close range.

Earlier, when he was grabbing the two bread rolls in his hand, he had practically brushed shoulders with the person.

He could only say they were worthy of being one of the top organizations alongside the Night Watchers. He alone had already seen three Demigod Realm experts from their ranks.

The problem was, with such a heavyweight figure on board, it looked even more like they were heading out to sea to fight crime.

Although those criminals had long since been wiped out, it was hard to imagine Siren having the free time for something like that right now.

Exploring the Ash Sea?

That seemed somewhat plausible, but on the one hand, it felt like it strayed a bit from the theme of "Moore."

On the other hand, to be honest, for a high-intensity operation like exploring the Ash Sea, having only one Demigod Realm expert in charge was still too thin—oh?

At that moment, Fu Qian felt something odd about the ship.

As if it had genuinely realized it was "too thin," this smoothly sailing behemoth was actually making a steady U-turn.

...

Understood. They were here to go surfing.

As the saying went, once you eliminated all the impossibilities, whatever remained, no matter how absurd, had to be the answer.

The sudden development amused Fu Qian greatly, and he savored the second bread roll with relish.

He hadn't seen wrong. The ship really seemed to be heading back.

Even though it looked like they had been just about to leave the storm's radius ahead, with visibility actively improving.

Having gathered his fair share of sailing experience by now, Fu Qian was confident his judgment on this matter was correct.

So, as things stood, this Siren ship with a Demigod Realm expert on board had come all the way out here just to roll around in the storm.

The moment the wind died down and the rain cleared, they completely lost interest and resolutely turned back for more.

In that moment, Fu Qian felt as if the entire ship was brimming with youthful exuberance.

Though for him, it seemed he was suddenly faced with a choice.

Should he stop hitching a ride and head straight for the Ash Sea, or should he follow this youthful exuberance and stick around for another two bucks' worth of the show—

Popping another piece of dried fruit into his mouth, Fu Qian remained standing exactly where he was.

On one hand, it was a genuinely amusing maneuver that made him all the more curious about Siren's true objective, making it seem worth watching.

On the other hand, just walking away after hitching a ride didn't seem like it was going to be that easy.

At that exact moment, the hand Fu Qian was reaching out with to grab his next piece of dried fruit suddenly grew impossibly heavy.

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