Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2494: Chapter 2489: The Vanished Watcher

”Could he have gone onto one of the Sirens’ ships?”

Hit by the bad news out of nowhere, Fu Qian didn’t question Shu Lan’s words at all. Seeing Laurie stay silent, he even casually offered a guess to help out.

Big search, big show, then end up finding nothing—this is almost standard plot at this point, especially with dangerous work like this. A little ”accident” isn’t exactly rare.

This was even why Fu Qian had commented earlier that hiding here was only ”theoretically reasonable.”

On paper it all looked great, but don’t forget one thing: Lady Selana had literally gone over to the Sirens’ ships to look for him.

She followed the name ”Ji Yin” all the way here, and the docks and surrounding area would obviously have been her key search zone.

This ship under their feet might look like a good place to hide with all these people onboard—but that’s only true under normal circumstances.

With a Demigod deliberately searching, it’s hard to imagine how much help this kind of petty trick could really be.

Yet just last night, Selana still seemed to have come up empty-handed.

Ji Yin actually managed to evade her search?

That achievement was the real core of the shock from just now.

Even if he’s truly gone now, the temporal Misalignment still doesn’t resolve how unreasonable this all feels.

”Impossible. I warned him over and over: he’s absolutely not allowed to act on his own.”

While Fu Qian was thinking, the ”he must’ve gone onto the target ship” theory was firmly denied by Mr. Laurie Sr.

”Got it. So when was the last time you made contact with him?”

Still without questioning them, Fu Qian nodded as his gaze dropped onto the thing in Shu Lan’s hand, and he asked casually.

Hmm...

The latter frowned deeply, but his eyes went to the one in charge.

”Before noon.”

Their operational rules did seem strict. As Laurie spoke, he also fished out a bead, making it obvious he served as the communications hub for everyone.

”Ji Yin’s only job here is one thing: if he finds anything abnormal about that ship’s movements, he has to notify me immediately.”

Sure enough, this confirmed the earlier guess: Ji Yin was lying low at the front line specifically to keep an eye on Sorondir’s movements.

”Right. So what exactly counts as ’abnormal movements’?”

Fu Qian clearly approved of this clear division of labor, and at the same time was curious about a particular point in Laurie’s explanation.

”Hmm... if a storm hits and they don’t leave, or if the storm stops and they don’t come back.”

It seemed to touch on something sensitive. Laurie hesitated briefly, but still chose to answer.

Oh? It sounded a bit absurd, but actually fit perfectly with the Sirens’ habits.

Lady Selana had already mentioned that, in order to seek an opportunity for his Ranking advancement, Sorondir’s ship always did the opposite of everyone else: they set out to sea in bad weather and came back when the weather improved.

Even when they’d boarded just now, they could see that familiar trident emblem not far away.

So even after the ”accident” on their last voyage, they still returned according to that pattern.

Ji Yin’s job here was just to monitor that? That’s highly targeted—no matter how you look at it, it’s clearly related to Sorondir’s advancement opportunity.

Though as for how exactly they intended to sabotage it, the old man was still keeping that part to himself—for now—

”Shall we go take a look at his room first?”

Facing Fu Qian’s glance, Laurie asked for his opinion.

”Of course.”

Going along easily, Fu Qian didn’t mind letting the other side take the lead.

...

”Honestly, it doesn’t look like someone who was still here before noon.”

Very soon the three of them were standing in a fairly large room, and unsurprisingly it was completely empty.

But that wasn’t the main point. With one glance around, Fu Qian could tell Ji Yin had been gone for quite a while.

”Mm... for safety reasons, Ji Yin is also carrying some other tools that let him disguise himself as someone else and hide in different places.”

Laurie didn’t deny that, but quickly explained that this was standard procedure.

So that’s how it is—reasonable enough, and it might even explain how he managed to slip past a Demigod’s search.

Although that does make Fu Qian’s earlier experience on the ship feel especially theatrical...

He suddenly recalled the scene when he first met Lady Selana.

Her suspicion had actually been spot on: the target she was looking for really had turned into someone else? She just boarded the wrong ship?

”There’s nothing at all...”

By now Shu Lan had finished searching as well and shook his head at Laurie.

Clearly Ji Yin hadn’t left even half a word about his possible situation or destination.

”Seems that way. Something’s off here, sir...”

Laurie took a deep breath. He clearly trusted his teammate’s judgment, and then turned to look at Fu Qian.

He obviously hadn’t forgotten why the three of them were here: this mysterious member of the Rebirth Club had just said that Ji Yin was already being targeted.

”It probably isn’t Sorondir.”

Fu Qian understood what he meant and shook his head.

What he did earlier was definitely a major provocation to that Siren big shot.

But the power gap was what it was; in theory, the instigator’s antics would actually make low-Ranking Greedy Worms easier to overlook.

”Understood. I’ve thought of a place—would you be interested in taking a look?”

He didn’t even give a reason, but at least he sounded sure.

Laurie clearly didn’t expect more. After a brief pause for thought, he actually prepared to disembark.

...

”You’re saying Ji Yin came here?”

Laurie had obviously received a firm answer. Not long after, having reached another corner of Moore with the two Greedy Worms, Fu Qian frowned slightly at the scene in front of him.

It wasn’t without reason. On one hand, this place was already quite a distance from the docks; on the other, most of the buildings were over ten stories tall. This area had a clear central business district vibe, which really didn’t match the Greedy Worms’ general aesthetic.

”I hope so, though the chances are slim...”

Mr. Laurie Sr. sighed. He clearly wasn’t holding out much hope himself, and his gaze fell on a figure walking toward them.

”We meet again.”

Fu Qian actually found the newcomer familiar—it was Tooth Throat Lay Buddhist, the one who had once chatted with him at length about Moore’s slaughter culture. He greeted him with a squinting smile.

Hmm...

Unfortunately, Tooth Throat kept his lips pressed together, far from his previous ease.

”We reached a cooperation with this gentleman, and now Ji Yin has disappeared.”

In answer to Tooth Throat’s questioning look, Laurie summed up the situation in two concise sentences.

”How could that be... And he hasn’t come here either.”

It was hard to tell which piece of news was more unbelievable, but Tooth Throat quickly recovered and shook his head, saying he hadn’t seen any sign of Ji Yin.

”All right... what about the people in the company upstairs?”

He’d said he wasn’t expecting much, but Laurie still looked a bit disappointed.

Suddenly he changed the topic to a strange question, and then turned to briefly explain to Fu Qian.

”There’s a Siren secret stronghold here.”