Chapter 82: Hopeless Sea (VI) Fame

In the first-floor hall, the players settled for dinner and introduced themselves to one another.

Besides Lu Li, seven other players claimed to have guild backgrounds, though they were all from obscure, minor guilds.

Lu Li said, “It’s getting late. Everyone should search their rooms for clues and then get some rest. Regardless of your thoughts on the side quest, I sincerely hope we can split into three teams tomorrow to explore the Clock Tower, the Altar, and the Coconut Grove respectively.”

“No problem!” Angela was the first to voice her support, her smile revealing two shallow dimples that made her look particularly radiant. “Where do you plan to explore, Big Shot? Can I come with you?”

“Sure,” Lu Li nodded. “I plan to check out the Altar.”

Angela smiled radiantly. “Thank you, Big Shot! I’ll definitely be obedient!”

Everyone likes a pretty girl with a sweet tongue. Lu Li smiled gently and continued, “However, I still suggest that not too many people go to the Altar. The Altar involves two rules related to the Sea God; it’s fraught with danger, and it’s easy to lose your life there.”

A short man chuckled. “Don’t you have an old saying, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’? For the sake of key clues, a little risk is nothing.”

Zhang Hongfeng hadn’t been able to get a word in, but finally found an opening to speak. “Little Lu, Chang Xu and Si Qi went upstairs first. If there’s anything to watch out for, I’ll take note and tell them.”

At his words, several players remembered the plate of seaweed that had been devoured at lightning speed, and their expressions turned strange.

Lu Li’s expression remained unchanged as he smiled. “They might have other plans. I’ll go talk to them later.”

Hearing this, Angela’s eyes flickered.

She had noticed Chang Xu’s departure; thinking back now, the whole thing felt exceptionally eerie.

Would a duo alliance breaking away from the group not fear being isolated or targeted?

Or did they know clues others didn’t and have other plans?

Angela instinctively touched an item card in her pocket, her fingertip brushing against the sharp, distinct edge of the card.

【Name: Card-Peeking Card (Consumable)】

【Type: Item】

【Effect: In a faction instance, designate one player to peek at their Identity Card (the more familiar you are with the player, the higher the success rate).】

【Note: Looking at your hole card—yes, it’s cheating~】

…”A friend of mine had an acquaintance who died in the ‘Carnivore’ instance. I was just over-anxious.”

On the second floor of the inn, Chang Xu led the way with the key, his voice as calm as still water. “I’m sorry for doubting you earlier and asking those questions.”

He inserted the key into the lock and pushed open the wooden door with a dry, dull thud.

“Understandable.” Qi Si’s smile hung on his face like a mask. “I don’t actually feel much of anything, other than a general dislike for the presumption of guilt.

“Sacrificing an innocent to close a case quickly for performance metrics; sacrificing an insignificant minor character to protect the complex web behind them—I’m all too familiar with the Federation’s ways.”

Chang Xu was already used to Qi Si’s tendency to spout politically incorrect remarks from time to time. He just pretended not to hear and stepped into the room in silence.

Qi Si smiled to himself and followed Chang Xu into the room.

Before them was a room of about twenty square meters. There wasn’t much furniture, but it was crowded together, making the layout feel dark and cramped.

The sanitary conditions weren’t great either. The wooden walls were covered in patches of mold, the edges a sickening pale green like discarded paint.

The wooden window was directly opposite the door, currently wide open to both sides, revealing a golden sky clustered with yellow clouds.

On this island where day and night were indistinguishable, the whole day was the color of twilight, as monotonous as the uniform, lifeless ceiling frescoes of a medieval cathedral, adding a touch of oppressive sanctity.

Qi Si walked straight to the window, his steps on the salt-corroded floor making a dull “shasha” sound.

He reached out to pull the wooden window shut; it let out a long “creak” that made one’s skin crawl.

A corner of the window was missing, so it wouldn’t close tightly. Through the gap, the yellow sky was still visible, and the sea breeze could still be felt.

Qi Si turned to scan the room while Chang Xu lit the oil lamp on the nightstand.

In the orange-red light, a religious oil painting could be seen hanging on the wall directly opposite the bed.

In the painting, a man in a long white robe held a similarly white scepter high, standing straight atop a menacing reef. The dark black sea surged, yet as if fearing his presence, it parted to both sides into towering walls of water, revealing a path scattered with fish bones.

The man’s brown eyes stared directly at the players outside the painting with a sense of pity reserved for the dying. A corner of his lips curled into an exaggerated smile; since it was old, the paint had faded and blurred, making the smile look eerie and malicious.

“It’s a painting of Moses and the Exodus.” Chang Xu extended a finger, lightly tracing the frame. “Legend has it that Moses, instructed by God, saved the slaves from Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. When they reached the Red Sea, he caused the waters to part so they could pass, then let the waters close back, drowning the pursuers behind them.”

Qi Si had heard this story. Its underlying symbolism could be interpreted in many ways: resistance and persistence, or guidance and revelation.

“Brother Chang, you really know a lot. I always thought your profession required a mandatory belief in materialism…” He quipped, pointing to the large patches of black in the painting. “Does the legend say they set out at night?”

Chang Xu shook his head: “No. Most paintings with similar themes have daytime backgrounds.”

“Then this must be a hint unique to this instance. I bet a ton of clues can only be found at night.

“Considering there’s no real night here, I guess it means we’re supposed to stay awake during the time we’re required to sleep.”

Qi Si looked at Chang Xu and smiled. “Brother Chang, interested in pulling an all-nighter tonight?”

Chang Xu: “…Not interested, thanks.”

The rules had explicit requirements for sleep. Pulling an all-nighter in an instance seemed dangerous in every way—and an unnecessary danger at that.

As an official player, how could he not know this?

Qi Si stopped paying attention to the puzzled Chang Xu, as if his previous words were just a flash of joking inspiration.

He noticed the frame wasn’t nailed to the wall but fixed to a hook with a rope, so he reached out, untied the rope, and took down the painting.

The wall behind the frame was very flat, with no visible mechanisms. Qi Si tapped it twice; the sound was dull, indicating no hidden compartments or secret rooms.

He flipped the frame over. On the back, a small poem was written in scrawled black handwriting:

【How shall we cross the sea】

【To reach the divinely revealed Promised Land】

【Turn into demonic fish and swim across】

【Grow angelic feathers and fly across】

【Man was once fish, man is also bird】

The poem was full of symbolism. Literally, it meant that to cross the sea to a certain place, some people turned into fish, and others turned into birds.

Qi Si thought of the fish-headed, human-bodied statues and scattered wings on the beach, as well as the feather-like fish bones encountered on the way. Even fish scales could be mistaken for feathers.

He squinted, having realized something. “The two mythological systems of the Sea God and Angels, and the two creatures, fish and bird, can actually be linked. Should I say this instance has a truly rich imagination?”

Chang Xu pondered for a moment and said, “I have two guesses:

“First, the Sea God rules the Hopeless Sea and Hopeless Island. The colonizers represented by the players, given the historical background, believe in God. The theme of this instance might be the conflict between two religious cultures. Fish symbolize the Sea God, and birds symbolize Angels; the two can transform into or merge with each other.”

“Second, this instance has a dual-layered worldview. Belief in the Sea God is just the background for the setting, while the transformation between fish and bird is the core mechanism. In a certain religion, man is born with original sin, corresponding to the ‘demonic fish,’ and must spend a lifetime atoning for sins to turn into an angel and enter heaven.”

“Makes sense. As expected of Brother Chang, you know more than I do.” Qi Si smiled and asked teasingly, “Speaking of which, if it’s the second possibility, how do we atone for our sins? Yuna gave us money—it couldn’t be for us to buy so-called ‘Indulgences,’ could it?”

Chang Xu shook his head again. “No clues, I don’t know.”

“Boring.”

Qi Si hung the frame back on the wall. His gaze swept over the two narrow beds side-by-side and the low table sandwiched between them.

The table drawer was half-open, and something seemed to be inside.

He walked over and pulled out all the yellowed pages from the drawer.

On the vintage-style manuscript paper, English words and sentences were written in a messy, serpentine scrawl. It looked like a diary.

The moment his eyes touched it, the Eerie Game timely translated the text into Chinese on the system interface:

【Before recording my seafaring career, I must first introduce myself. I am Zdravko Crouch, settled in York City since my parents’ generation…】

The first diary entry was full of nonsense, mainly introducing the writer’s family background.

Although this Viscount Crouch’s family had fallen on hard times, he was an ambitious and devout believer. With the Queen’s support, he began a long voyage, planning to earn gold and occupy new lands by crossing the “Central Route.”

“If I remember correctly, the captain on the ship at the start of the instance also seemed to have the surname ‘Crouch’.” Qi Si handed the first page of the manuscript to Chang Xu.

Chang Xu quickly scanned the general idea and deduced, “The captain encountered the shipwreck at the same time as us but arrived here before us and left these words. It could be a time distortion, or he might have died long ago, and what we saw on the ship was a ghost.”

Qi Si leaned toward the latter explanation but smilingly suggested a third possible answer: “Maybe the captain is just from the same family as this Viscount Crouch and came here to find his relative?”

He lowered his head to continue reading the following pages of the diary.

【Everything is going more smoothly than imagined. I filled the hold with cargo and headed toward the Americas along the established route. An unpleasant incident occurred during this time: an old sailor got drunk and shouted that the waters between the Bermuda Islands and Miami were cursed by the Sea God, and if we insisted on passing through, both men and ship would vanish. This caused widespread panic, so I could only throw that alarmist bastard into the sea to feed the fish.】

【…I haven’t docked for several days. The vegetables on the ship are gone. My gums are bleeding a bit, but my health is still okay. Several more sailors have started a ruckus, demanding I change the route. It’s a real headache. I’ve studied the pioneer’s diary; he passed through the Bermuda area and did encounter a significant storm, but he still navigated it smoothly with his seafaring experience.】

【There are plenty of storms at sea, large and small; one can’t scurry away like a coward every time. In this past century, shipbuilding technology has developed rapidly. If the ancients could pass through Bermuda, what do I have to fear, sailing the world’s most advanced sailing ship?】

【I will not back down. What I am accomplishing is a feat spanning the century—to speak arrogantly, a feat no less than Moses’ Exodus. I will go to the new land the Lord promised us, occupy it, possess it, even if it means starting a holy war…】

【…A terrifying legend circulates at sea: the souls of those buried in the ocean find no peace, so they willingly serve as slaves to the Sirens, bringing more souls to the sea in the hope that the souls of the newly dead will grow wings, allowing them to fly away from the ocean.】

【Once a long-distance vessel is targeted by the dead, sailors will see extra crew members on deck. That crew member is just a black shadow and won’t answer any questions. He only repeatedly reenacts the last few seconds before his death in the dark of night, jumping from the deck into the sea, over and over again.】

【Gradually, the sailors lose their minds and jump into the sea with him, sinking down, never to return. Only when every living person on the ship has been swallowed by the sea will the spirits rest, leaving an empty ship to continue sailing along its established route.】

【I’ve been having a dream these past few days, dreaming of the dead jumping into the sea and turning into Merfolk… My God! It must be because those bastards are always whispering that terrifying legend in my ear!】

【When I return to my hometown with the gold, I must have painters fill my ship with holy icons, then donate to build several churches and ask priests to perform several exorcism Rituals for me!】

…There was another thin stack of pages behind it, stuck together as if soaked in water, with the handwriting on them blurred into a mess and difficult to discern.

Qi Si guessed that those pages of the diary probably recorded some of Viscount Crouch’s experiences after he encountered the supernatural events and reached the Hopeless Sea.

He just didn’t know what this fellow had encountered on the island or whether he ended up dead or alive.

Chang Xu said flatly, “It’s known that we saw the dead falling into the water in the Hopeless Sea before encountering the shipwreck and arriving at Sea God Island. According to the description in the diary, we should have been targeted by the so-called Sirens or the dead.

“I have three questions: First, what is the trigger mechanism for the terrifying legend? Second, what state are we in now? Third, do we need to consider the factor of the dead to leave the island?”

“I don’t know. I only know that the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle has an explanation: all those missing crew members came to the Hopeless Sea.” Qi Si curled his lips in a joke.

He picked out the pages with legible handwriting and put them back in the drawer, then took the remaining pulp-like soaked paper to the window and patiently tore it into strips to stuff into the window gaps.

The curled-up strips of paper were piled together, looking at first glance like fluffy angel wings and feeling quite comfortable to the touch.

Qi Si thought of something interesting, and the smile on his lips deepened. “What I’m more concerned about is: under what circumstances do souls actually grow wings? Having wings to fly away from the sea sounds like a clearance route.”

Chang Xu thought for a moment and frowned. “According to religious doctrine, as long as humans atone for their sins, they will ascend to heaven after death, and their souls will naturally grow wings.

“If we only need to grow wings to leave the Hopeless Sea, perhaps we should first perform some kind of atonement Ritual and then be killed by someone—I remember that those who commit suicide cannot enter heaven.”

By now, Qi Si had blocked all the gaps in the corners of the window frame with paper strips. He waved his hand in front of the window to ensure no more light or wind leaked through before sitting back down on the bed with satisfaction.

He turned to look at Chang Xu with a sincere expression. “In that case, Brother Chang, why don’t you let me try killing you one more time? A good person like you will surely have a soul that grows wings after death.”

Chang Xu: “…Impressive.”