Chapter 29 Let's Set Sail, ███! [You have closed the chat with the host...]
The investigator's expression changed. His face was thin and lacked definition, making it impossible to conceal his emotions. Any change in expression was clearly visible, with the trembling of his bones making him appear neither fierce nor sorrowful, like a non-human who didn't know how to manipulate his emotions.
Xue Chao didn't climb over the display window, but leaned against it, giving him a safe distance: "Can we talk now?"
The investigator stared at him intently, as if assessing his capabilities, before finally asking, "Do you think now is a good time to chat? And what's the deal with that person behind you?"
Xue Chao paused, turned his head slightly, and found no one behind him.
The investigator scoffed, "They haven't even shaken off their tails properly, yet they're so boastful."
"It's not the tail." Xue Chao calmly straightened up, simply handing over his back. "My teammates—aren't they coming out yet?"
For a moment, no one spoke. The interrogation room was quiet, but there was a sense of power struggle between the parties, with undercurrents surging. Then, Xue Chao seemed to get tired of standing and changed his posture. A person carefully crawled out of the hidden door.
Under the intense gaze of the NPCs, Lin Feng gave an awkward, silly smile, shrank back, and waved his hand: "Team-teammate, this, this is the leader... Please continue, don't mind me."
The investigator then looked at Xue Chao and saw that he remained calm, indicating that he was indeed his teammate.
Xue Chao knew something had entered the dungeon again, because the prisoners in the cell with the hole in the ceiling were shouting again.
But the person's aura was well concealed, and he couldn't detect it. He didn't know if it was a person or a ghost, or what its purpose was. So Xue Chao held back and focused on his main task, trying to find out what that thing was up to.
When the investigator triggered the mechanism, he kept an eye on the investigator's movements while dodging, wary of any follow-up attacks, but he was careless and didn't set up any defenses behind him. However, despite such a good opportunity, the thing didn't make a move.
He initially thought the thing might have other purposes and hadn't followed, but the investigator pointed out that the thing was right behind him... It had followed him all the way without harming him; if it wasn't an enemy, then it was a "friend."
That makes sense; it's just that someone must have been out of their mind to choose Lin Feng, who is considered an "opposition" candidate.
"I'm a little curious, how did you find him?" Xue Chao smiled and glanced at Lin Feng behind him. "My friend is quite good at hiding his identity."
He indeed didn't notice.
Lin Feng felt his hair stand on end from that look, and he awkwardly laughed and pretended to be stupid.
He certainly didn't have that ability, otherwise he would have been recruited by a major guild long ago. Who knows what kind of magic the evil god used on him?
Investigator: "Those beasts at the port, no matter which group they are, all like to sneak into my little shack, one after another like gophers. Unfortunately, I'm tied up, so I can't get rid of them. In their frustration, they leave some traces to show off their power. Apart from that, most of the time I'm oblivious to the world around me. When I open my eyes, all I see is this glass, this chair, where the knife rack is rusty, how many cracks are in the wall. I know it all. If you were tied up here for a year, you could also see at a glance that the dust next to the hidden door has been blown five millimeters away—someone is hiding down there breathing."
Xue Chao: "You're being modest. Even if a good-for-nothing stayed here for ten years, he might not have your eye for talent. With this kind of ability, Senior Chen must have been the leader of the Orloger expedition team back then, right?"
Lin Feng was still speechless at the sight of "five millimeters of gray," but upon hearing this, he subconsciously looked at the investigator's face again. He hadn't dared to look at him before, but now, perhaps it was just his imagination, the more he looked, the more familiar the face seemed. He muttered, "Hey, come to think of it, he looks a lot like one of my seniors..."
Before the two could look at him, he suddenly realized he had spoken out of turn and stopped talking, lowering his head and not daring to utter a sound.
Only Lin Feng himself knew that his throat was choked, the sound both gentle and chilling.
"So what if I am? I'm still at their mercy. They can kill me anytime they want..."
"But they didn't kill you," Xue Chao said calmly. "A prisoner who can't be extracted of information is worthless. His greatest value is to die as soon as possible to prevent the enemy from extracting information from him. But as you said, whether it's the Voyagers or the opposition, they come and go every day without getting anything out of you. They not only keep you around but also fear you might commit suicide. In my humble opinion, this chair is for interrogation, but the chains are to prevent you from committing suicide. You have something more important than information on you, such as the ability to survive being ripped out of those human flesh bags, filled with gold and silver, and still walk through the inspection alive, something that those core cogs of the eyeballs are so attached to and searching for, like the source of the mother body... the eyeballs?"
As he spoke, he deftly flipped over the display window, blinked in front of the investigator, grabbed the hair at the back of his head and pulled it down sharply, forcing the investigator to look up and reveal his right eye, which had been hidden behind his hair... but it was empty.
Xue Chao was taken aback when the investigator suddenly attacked him. He had anticipated this and dodged it, then grabbed the chain above his head and slammed it around the investigator's neck.
The chains binding the investigator fell off during the struggle—the chains could have opened on their own!
His pale face, now red from being strangled, somehow gained a touch of humanity, as if in a final burst of energy: "When did you find out?"
"There are no doors or windows here, no sunlight or moonlight. The 'port beasts' didn't install a watch for you, and they probably didn't bother to check on you according to the days and hours, yet you know you've been locked up for a year?"
Xue Chao's expression was calm, but the veins on his hands bulged as he exerted great force. "I've been thinking, these half-human, half-snake hybrids are so strong, they can do whatever they want, so why do they cooperate with the Voyagers? Don't they find their two legs a hindrance? Unless they have some kind of leverage over them, making them hesitant to act. They look down on human things, which must be related to their own situation. As for how it ended up in Giant Port's hands... Of the ships heading towards the fog and leaving port, apart from Orlaug, which was ostensibly 'sacrificing' but actually 'loading cargo,' not a single one of the others went. Only you were lucky enough to escape from the underwater temple a year ago and even brought back a prophecy."
He leaned closer and whispered, "Not only did you bring back a prophecy, but you also brought back an eye that can summon monsters in droves... Is it the eye of the sleeping goddess?"
The investigator's last bit of strength was exhausted, but instead, he struggled even more violently. It seemed he was right. Xue Chao gripped the chains firmly: "The Qihang family also knew that if the monsters found your eyes, the cooperation would fall through. They probably coaxed the monsters to help them find their 'mother's' eyes while simultaneously forming a united front with the opposition to ensure they could never find you. So, although you may have indeed been here for a long time, you were probably frequently moved around by them—if it were me, I would hide them in my own eye sockets, but it seems that's not the case, so it must be..."
His gaze fell on the man's stomach, the only part of his body with relatively little clothing, like a last shred of modesty.
"...Did he swallow his eyes?" Lin Feng, who had always acted sensible and timid, couldn't help but look up and ask in surprise.
Xue Chao paused, then suddenly smirked, forcing the investigator to lean back and exposing his stomach wide open: "Good idea. My hands aren't in a good position, so I'll trouble you to cut it open and take a look, teammate."
He always speaks in a lazy manner, as if he doesn't care what you do, but there's a strange sense of oppression about him.
The term "teammate" sounded quite affectionate, but Lin Feng felt ashamed. He stepped forward as if he wanted to run but didn't dare to, and with one swift motion, he ripped open the investigator's stomach. He even subconsciously closed his eyes, as if to protect his innocence, before realizing that something was wrong with his touch.
The feeling of the knife cutting into the flesh was not like cutting meat, but rather like... scaling a fish.
A foul, pungent odor wafted from the hand holding the knife. Lin Feng opened his eyes in horror. The wide-open abdominal cavity was not flesh and blood, but covered with fine green scales that rose and fell with his breath. And in the very center was not an organ, but a head that was half rotting!
The head that was pressing against his neck suddenly stopped resisting and fell to the ground with a thud, as if dead. The chain, no longer holding the head, came off easily, and the investigator went limp.
The head inside the belly came to life. It had no eyes and looked even more pathetic than the one that had fallen to the ground, but it had an unusually strong temper. It opened its mouth and bit Lin Feng's hand. If it hadn't lost many of its teeth, it could have bitten them off!
It made strange gurgling sounds, sticky and gooey, as if something was stuck in its throat. Lin Feng struggled and yelled, only to be kicked by Xue Chao without hesitation: "What are you howling about? Your eyes are in your throat!"
Lin Feng was brought back to his "professionalism," and began howling on the verge of death while desperately digging deep into his throat. His mind was momentarily confused, not understanding who was attacking whom, only feeling disgusted by the digging. His scaly tongue tried to stop him, but then Lin Feng let out an even more terrifying howl, which was quite tragic.
Unfortunately, Lin Feng was also extremely thin, especially his long, thin face, which looked like it had been photoshopped, and it was very similar to that gaunt, mutated head. The scene looked like two of their own kind fighting each other.
The comments section, which had been sparked by Xue Chao's brilliant confrontation with the investigator, quickly turned into a screen full of "hahaha".
Xue Chao held down the investigator's limbs as he struggled again, his temples throbbing from the investigator's wailing, "I'm not clean anymore!" He said, "Why don't you just pull his head out!"
Lin Feng howled as he pulled out his head, and the headless body collapsed to the ground completely.
"Take your hand away!" Xue Chao stepped forward. Just as Lin Feng pulled his hand out, Xue Chao's knife plunged in from behind, swiftly and accurately gouging out the eyes. The head immediately lost its life—with the "battery" removed, the two heads and the body were finally "quiet."
Lin Feng weakly raised his hand: "Did you...did you get it?"
“Look.” Xue Chao squatted down next to him, his eyes, covered in deep red stripes, lying quietly in his palm, strange and ominous. “You cooperated well… I thought you were going to scold me for being high-profile and not doing my job properly.”
Lin Feng, who had genuinely cursed in his heart, said sincerely, "I'm not that stupid. I'm not so dense that I can't understand after listening for so long. The opposition is at a disadvantage. Even if all five cruise ships can take the smuggled goods, the only place in the terminal that can be freely entered and exited is the dungeon. Once the other side locks on us, the point of attack and defense will change from the five cruise ships to the only dungeon. We will still be on the defensive. Only by getting the goddess's eyes can we possibly control Lamiai and have a chance of winning the gamble. I will definitely help you."
Lin Feng, fearing he wouldn't believe him, racked his brains and took the initiative to get closer: "Besides, you actually saved my life. You were the one who dug that pit, right? It was just right that I could get stuck in it. Otherwise, I would have only been caught up and strangled by the masked man... Teammate?"
He tentatively reached out his hand.
Xue Chao pulled him up: "You're not stupid, let's get out of here first."
"【██】It was exhilarating! My brother took down two opponents with one head, which shows not only his intelligence but also his physical strength (gestures)."
"【██】Indeed, the plot twist was so bad it made my head spin. You're amazing!"
"【██】His sudden movement was too shocking, Master, I'm so embarrassed (shy)."
"【██】Does anyone know when they formed an alliance? Wasn't the slim face sacrificed?"
"【██】The sacrifice failed, right? They must have some means of survival. Besides, that capricious one... probably didn't fancy me, haha."
"【██】I really think we have a chance of winning... I'm not in a hurry at all, instead, we have a clear goal and are going straight for the vitals. Taking Lamia's eyes is equivalent to having Lamia under our control. I feel like I'm about to witness the famous scene of Seventh Brother respectfully calling him 'Brother'!!"
The traffic attracted by the increased betting was completely retained by Xue Chao's actions and continued to rise. On the contrary, the other protagonist was constantly slacking off amidst the constant urging on the screen, and there were even voices predicting his downfall, which is quite rare in the career of the seventh-ranked player.
"【Zhu Wen】What is he doing? Meditating underwater?"
"【Zhu Wen】Ahhh, little jellyfish, move quickly! Mommy doesn't want to see you die. Where can I find a meal replacement with such a tender face?!"
After failing to catch up with Lin Feng, Zhu Wen and Yan Bocheng boarded a bamboo raft and silently hid in the water.
Yan Bocheng glanced at his little ancestor's expression and mustered his courage to ask, "What are we waiting for? They're probably about to make a move... I had a feeling that our long-tailed ally was a bit flustered just now."
"It's nothing, just doing some insurance." Zhu Wen raised his chin, his expression blank.
Yan Bocheng was even more surprised. This little devil who only thinks about the future actually knows what "being on the safe side" means. He saw it more clearly than the audience. The brat was serious!
Suddenly, Zhu Wen heard a series of tinkling sounds.
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