Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Taking a boat will take at least a day. Won’t that be too slow?”

Seeing that Fu Qian was genuinely heading to Ye Island, Su Gao began to seriously consider the logistics of the trip.

Clearly, she hadn’t forgotten her reason for coming, and her hunter’s instincts naturally kicked in.

”Relax. I told you, this is a vacation.”

Fu Qian waved a hand, signaling for her to keep her brain on standby.

”Besides, if the two of us rushed off in a hurry, are you sure we wouldn’t spook Chief Yuan?”

”Hmm...”

Su Gao fell silent for a moment, conceding the point.

”So do I need to prepare anything, then?”

”No need—wait a second.”Halfway through his sentence, Fu Qian suddenly remembered something and pointed at the briefcase of cash Brother Taylor had brought.

”Given that The Company’s cash flow is a bit tight lately, I’ll need you to front the travel expenses.”

”...Alright.”

...

”What perfect weather for traveling.”

Shortly after noon, Fu Qian rested his hands on the sun-warmed railing and let out a heartfelt sigh.

The weather was beautiful and the sea calm. Looking out, the endless expanse of azure water was a genuinely uplifting sight.

Separated from him by a partition, Su Gao gave a soft hum of agreement.

Beneath their feet was an older cruise ship painted entirely white.

As a pearl of the sea, Shangjing had always boasted a wealth of maritime routes.

Since this trip was officially classified as a vacation, Fu Qian hadn’t used his Special Transit Pass. Instead, he had bought a ticket and boarded as an ordinary tourist.

This was largely thanks to it not being peak travel season. Otherwise, it would have taken a lot more effort—like having to win a ticket in a dockside card game.

Furthermore, despite the tight cash flow, Fu Qian had absolutely maxed out their employee benefits, securing two luxury suites so he could be neighbors with Su Gao.

Naturally, as the person fronting the money to fund her own perks, Su Gao had no complaints.

”For security, there are a number of transcendents aboard the ship. Their strength generally won’t be too high, of course.”

Although she didn’t get seasick, Su Gao’s mood seemed a bit muted as she gazed out at the azure water.

”Makes sense.”

Fu Qian nodded slightly.

In a world like this, it wasn’t strange for an offshore cruise ship to hire a few transcendents to maintain order.

As for their lack of overwhelming strength, there was simply no need for it.

Under the iron fist of the Night Watchers, no transcendent would be crazy enough to hijack a civilian vessel.

When it came to the time-honored profession of piracy, ordinary people were actually more likely to engage in it than transcendents.

In reality, their primary role was just to maintain order on board.

As for Su Gao’s subdued mood, Fu Qian could hazard a guess at the reason—the Rotten Forest was located on Ye Island.

She had spent a considerable amount of time there, after all.

She was bound to be feeling some complicated emotions right now.

But even so, the moment she heard he wanted to investigate the Origin Council, she had immediately taken a leave of absence to help. It was a gesture of absolute sincerity.

”Here.”

Pulling a bottle of juice from the fridge, Fu Qian popped it open and casually tossed it over the partition.

The ship might be a bit old, but its amenities were surprisingly comfortable and well-appointed.

”How much do you know about the Ash Sea?”

”The Ash Sea? That’s incredibly far from here. It’s practically on the other side of the world.”

Her attention successfully diverted, Su Gao looked surprised before quickly furrowing her brows in thought.

”It’s a massive body of water. Although it’s defined as a forbidden zone, its boundaries aren’t completely fixed.”

”It’s called the Ash Sea because the water inside is entirely saturated with something that gives it a distinct grayish-white color. It looks exactly like flowing ash.”

”According to analysis, the substance in the water contains transcendent power, but it’s incredibly chaotic and impossible to utilize. It’s like scorched slag.”

”Or bone ash?”

Fu Qian nodded. What Su Gao mentioned aligned perfectly with the information he had received from Yuan Shan.

”Bone ash is indeed one of the theories.”

Surprisingly, Su Gao didn’t seem taken aback by his suggestion.

”Regardless, because of these special properties, the interior of the Ash Sea is extremely dangerous. There are too many unpredictable, bizarre forces at play, and the risks are completely disproportionate to the rewards. Because of this, very little exploration has been done there.”

”I know a Night Watcher who once entered the Ash Sea. She mentioned that within the water, those ashes clump and condense together to form constantly shifting islands of various shapes. So, it isn’t purely a body of water.”

”On top of that, there are even creatures in the sea!”

Having marine life in the sea was perfectly normal, but considering Su Gao’s unusually serious tone...

”Creatures made of ash?”

Fu Qian asked thoughtfully.

”Yes. They’re made of the exact same material as the islands, but they swim around like fish.”

So that was it. Creatures formed from transcendent bone ash?

That really challenged the imagination.

The details Su Gao mentioned were undoubtedly missing from his files, leaving Fu Qian briefly deep in thought.

”Did this Night Watcher of yours mention the demigod who died in the Ash Sea?”

”Of course... In fact, that was exactly why she entered the Ash Sea in the first place. That demigod fled all the way there to escape the Night Watchers’ pursuit.”

She was actually one of the people involved!

Fu Qian nodded inwardly. He knew the demigod who had died in the Ash Sea was a fugitive, but he hadn’t expected the Night Watcher Su Gao mentioned to be one of the actual hunters on the case.

So the question was: was this fugitive a predecessor who hailed from the same place as he did?

”There’s actually one more thing. According to her, even though their team pursued the target all the way there, they weren’t the ones who killed him.”

”After they chased him into the Ash Sea, the target’s tracks completely vanished. In the end, they only managed to confirm his death through special methods.”

A demigod who died without leaving a corpse behind? Was she absolutely sure he hadn’t just taken off his mask like he did?

”So if you’re intending to go there, you’ll need to prepare as much as possible.”

Seeing Fu Qian deep in thought, Su Gao continued.

”There is a power in there capable of silently killing a demigod.”

”Thanks for the heads-up!”

Fu Qian smiled cheerfully, expressing his gratitude.

While the details Su Gao provided weren’t overly extensive, they made the files he’d received earlier look completely barebones by comparison.

As it turned out, proper employee benefits really did pay off.

...

”We’re being watched.”

After several seconds of silence, Su Gao set down her half-finished juice and suddenly spoke in a hushed voice.

”Want me to go feel them out?”

”No need. We’re just ordinary passengers right now.”

Fu Qian shook his head, signaling for her to just sit tight.

Despite the abruptness of Su Gao’s remark, he completely understood what she meant.

When she had mentioned earlier that there would be transcendent guards aboard the ship, she hadn’t just been making idle conversation.

Not too far from where they were sitting, there was a transcendent whose power level was far above the average.

Obviously, someone of that caliber wouldn’t be just an ordinary security guard.

And at this very moment, that person was clearly keeping a close eye on the two of them.