“When the yellow moonlight covers the island, the lost city will surface, and the devout believers are willing to sacrifice their souls just to awaken the great god.”
After the round-faced boy wrote down a passage from an ancient book, he looked at the words on the paper and fell into silence for a long time.
"I remember how I felt when I first saw these words. I seemed to see through the yellowed ancient words on the photo a huge monster floating up from the bottom of the water, and on it was the art temple we have always dreamed of." When the round-faced boy said this, his tone was full of yearning, and his face was filled with obsession - every time the lost civilization was mentioned, these NPCs would show this expression on their faces.
"You said that this line of words is written on the page above the goddess statue." Yue Ya's eyes fell on the incomplete goddess statue, and his voice was deep: "The god that believers are willing to sacrifice their souls to awaken, are you referring to her?"
"I don't remember the rest of the ancient book, and I also forgot if there are any other gods recorded in it. If not, it should be referring to this goddess." The round-faced boy gently stroked the goddess statue, with a smile on his lips: "If there really is such a god, I am willing to sacrifice my soul to see her."
Yue Ya frowned: "Gods will not plunder lives."
"Maybe." The smile on the round-faced boy's face faded a little.
Yue Ya asked: "Besides these, do you remember anything else?"
The round-faced boy shook his head: "I can't remember anything at all."
Yue Ya did not give up and continued to guide him: "Are there only portraits of goddess sculptures in ancient books? Are there other portraits?"
"My memory of ancient books seems to be covered by a veil, hazy and vague, I really can't remember it..." The round-faced boy covered his forehead with his hands, sweating profusely: "My head hurts when I recall it."
Seeing that the round-faced boy was in so much pain and unable to get any other clues, Yue Ya patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work. Let's stop here for today."
Yueya picked up the drawing paper and planned to put it away and leave the cafe.
The round-faced boy suddenly grabbed Yueya's wrist and spoke with a stutter: "I, I remembered another illustration."
Yueya immediately handed him a pen and paper: "Please draw it."
The round-faced boy was pale, with cold sweat sliding down his cheeks to his neck, but he didn't bother to wipe it off and focused on drawing on the paper.
He finished the drawing quickly and handed the drawing paper to Yue Ya: "This is it. I should have drawn it correctly."
There was a snake-shaped ring sketched on the drawing paper. The snake's body was coiled into a ring and the snake's head had its eyes closed, like a decoration for the ring.
"What kind of ring is this?" Yue Ya asked.
"I think there is a line of notes below it...what is it..." The round-faced boy covered his head and tried hard to recall.
The players didn't dare to disturb him and waited for him patiently.
The round-faced boy suddenly opened his eyes and said excitedly: "I remember! This ring is the key to the underwater door!"
"Underwater door?" Zhuang Yan narrowed his eyes: "Where does this door lead to?"
The round-faced boy rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. "I pondered hard before I remembered the annotation under this image. This is the limit of my recollection. I don't know what the 'underwater door' is, nor do I know where it leads to. To be precise, it may not even exist."
Players think differently from NPCs. They know that this is definitely not something illusory.
"The lost city will surface," Yue Ya repeated the words on the paper, speaking slowly, "The ancient book guides us to find the lost island. This passage should be a prophecy. Since it refers to the future, the lost city is still underwater now."
"The underwater gate and the underwater city..." Zhuang Yan sighed, "We have too little information now to restore the truth through imagination."
Hongcha said: "There will definitely be relevant clues later, and then the truth will be revealed."
Xuecha said softly, "It is already a pleasant surprise that we can get a glimpse of the Lost Island from these scattered clues and pictures. If we see this ring in the future, we must get it. It is very important."
Yueya nodded and poured a glass of water for the round-faced boy: "Drink some water and relax."
The round-faced boy drank half a glass of water in one breath, and his complexion improved a lot. "I'm sorry, I was supposed to let you recite the ancient book, but I only remembered a little bit of it. But don't worry, I just remembered something. I don't think the professor will randomly check the content of the ancient book."
"Why?"
"One time I passed by the professor and heard him mumbling to himself, saying that the ancient book was very dangerous and he was willing to take the risk and would never let us see the original ancient book." The round-faced boy put down the cup, smiled and shook his head: "How dangerous can a book be? I don't know what the professor thinks, but he has an idea that he should not take the initiative to check the contents of the ancient books."
Yue Ya lowered his eyes: "A book can also be dangerous, suppose it carries a curse, or can make people lose themselves, control their minds, etc."
The players looked serious and no one thought Yue Ya was joking.
The round-faced boy laughed dryly and said, "You have a pretty wild imagination. It's getting late. I want to go back and rest."
After the round-faced boy left, Yueya collected the papers on the table.
Hongcha said: "I didn't expect that the round-faced student could really give such an important clue. This is really powerful."
Xuecha was a little worried: "In fact, I sensed an ominous aura from the goddess statue he painted. I don't know what is waiting for us on that island."
Yueya put away his things and found that Feifei, who was lying on his shoulder, was breathing heavily.
He carried Feifei in front of him. Feifei's ears had flown to the back of his head. His heterochromatic eyes were full of alertness, and he kept sticking out his tongue and breathing out air.
Yueya could understand what Feifei was trying to say. It was warning them to run quickly.
Yueya immediately said to his companions: "Hurry up, go back to the room!"
Zhuang Yan glanced at the mourning hall and found that the eerie atmosphere in the coffee shop had become heavier silently: "Midnight is approaching. It is indeed dangerous to stay outside. Let's go."
“Huff—”
A strong wind blew, causing the ferry to shake violently. The glass ornaments on the ceiling lamps jingled, and the chairs and various utensils that were not fixed to the ground tilted and collided with each other, making a harsh noise.
"Why is it shaking again? The waves seem to be more terrifying than last time." Hongcha held onto the fixed table, his face turning ugly.
But this time, no one felt seasick, perhaps because there was no human-faced octopus causing trouble in their stomachs.
"Wait until the ferry calms down before leaving?" The wind and waves were so loud that they had to raise their voices to communicate.
Yueya glanced at Feifei, who was lying in his arms, still breathing heavily. Feifei was a little anxious.
Yue Ya patted Fei Fei's back soothingly and said firmly, "No, let's go now!"
The group trudged forward, and after leaving the coffee shop, Yue Ya passed by a small window. A flash of lightning quickly streaked across the clouds, blooming in the dark night, illuminating the thick, descending clouds and the rough sea.
"Boom--" A loud thunderclap fell from the sky, and Yue Ya's heartbeat suddenly skipped a beat. His eyes had never moved away, so he could clearly see in the light of lightning that a huge whirlpool appeared on the sea.
The sudden rain slammed against the window, blocking his view.
Yue Ya glanced sideways and asked, "Did you see the whirlpool in the sea?"
Zhuang Yan nodded: "I saw it, but I didn't see it clearly. I don't know if it is on our route."
Xuecha said: "It's raining so hard outside that we can't see anything clearly. We need to go to a place with a wider view. With waves of this magnitude, it's probably impossible to stand on the deck."
Thinking of the whirlpool on the sea, Yue Ya felt uneasy: "I'll go to the cockpit."
Zhuang Yan said: "Let's go together."
Xuecha also felt that the sudden appearance of the whirlpool in the sea was somewhat ominous, and decided to go to the cockpit with Yueya.
[It’s rare to see Feifei looking so uneasy. I’m a little nervous now too]
[The scene keeps shaking. I'm already seasick. I might need a seasickness pill.]
[Don’t mention seasickness medicine, it reminds me of those disgusting octopuses with human faces. I can’t even look at octopus dishes now. I hope they won’t appear again.]
[Why haven’t Moon Cub’s horns appeared yet? Every time Moon Cub grows horns, there will be a buff effect]
…
At the same time, in a room on the ferry.
The young male player stood in the small bathroom, and when another shake came, he held the sink tightly, fearing that he would be thrown out.
He didn't have time to pay attention to too much, so naturally he didn't notice a lump of black slime crawling out of his sweatshirt hood.
The ferry was vibrating too violently and the sink was slippery, so the male player almost lost his hands several times.
“It was fine just now, why is it shaking so violently all of a sudden? Let’s get out as soon as the noise stops…” The male player complained with a frown. Suddenly, his fingers lost their strength and he was thrown out with a strong force. His back hit the wall hard and he felt a dull pain.
"It hurts!" The male player felt as if his internal organs had shifted. He reached out and touched his back, and felt something sticky: "Is it bleeding?"
He put his hand in front of his eyes and saw a pool of black mucus. He looked puzzled: "What is this? Why does it look familiar?"
His head was dizzy, and before he could figure out what was going on, he noticed that the pool of slime was moving. Several fat tentacles swung out from it and quickly wrapped around his head!
He fell in the corner of the bathroom, his head completely wrapped by the huge octopus with a human face. His instinct for survival made him struggle constantly, trying to bite the octopus, but the tentacles had already drilled into his flesh, pulling him beyond recognition.
The male player couldn't breathe or call for help, and even the sound of his struggle was completely drowned out by the waves.
Not long after, the human-faced octopus completely drilled into his body. He stood up shakily, his eyes were completely filled with black, and the messy wounds on his body automatically repaired, revealing a sickly bluish-white color.
The "male player" looked at himself in the mirror, grinning with a sinister smile.
The shaking of the ferry did not stop, but he opened the bathroom door and floated out of the room as if he were walking on flat ground.
In the room, my roommate was lying on the bed, hugging the bedpost tightly to reduce the impact.
Feeling someone standing in front of him, the roommate raised his head and met the gaze of the "male player". The roommate asked in confusion: "How do you stand so steadily?"
"because……"
The "male player" leaned over his roommate and opened his mouth. Several wet and fat tentacles emerged from his mouth and he swallowed his roommate's head like a carnivorous plant.
"Because I'm not a human, hehe."
…
Yueya and his group encountered trouble on the way to the cab.
In the aisle leading to the cab, the professor who had parted with them long ago was lying unconscious on the ground. The little boy's parents, the historian couple, were squatting beside the professor, rummaging through his briefcase.
After hearing the footsteps, the couple looked over at the same time. Yue Ya met their gaze and found that their eyes had turned into snake-like vertical pupils, cold and creepy.
There was a mess on the ground, and the scene looked weird no matter how you looked at it. Players didn't think that the couple was kindly taking care of the fainted professor.
"What are you doing?" Zhuang Yan asked in a deep voice.
The male historian did not answer, but continued to rummage through his briefcase and took out a heavy book.
Because of the obstruction of his hand, Yue Ya could not see the book clearly. He could only see its bluish-brown cover and its dim and ancient sides.
When Yue Ya saw the ancient book that appeared in the professor's bag, he could only think of it as the ancient book that contained the secret of the lost island.
Why did the historian couple try to snatch the ancient books from the professor?
The male historian stood up with the ancient book in his hand, staring at Yue Ya with his pupils erect, and said with a strange smile: "You asked us to read the ancient book tonight, did you forget?"
"We are here to retrieve our books and wait for your appointment." The female historian smiled, and a phosphorescent light flashed across her face.
Yue Ya's scalp felt a little tingling, and for a moment he felt that the people standing in front of him were not two people or two ghosts, but... two giant snakes.
No matter what they are, Yue Ya now wants to know the truth.
He suspected that the ancient books mentioned by the historian and the professor recorded the same content, so he made an appointment for them to meet tonight, but too many things happened tonight, so this matter was put on hold.
I didn't expect that the ancient book they were talking about was the same one... There must be something strange about this.
Yue Ya rubbed his knuckles, not avoiding the gaze of the historian couple: "Since you said this ancient book is yours, how do you explain that it is in my teacher's hands?"
The male historian smiled and looked meaningful: "You don't know what kind of ship you are on yet. We got this ancient book from a colleague. It is the beginning of our search for lost civilizations, and also the beginning of this ferry..."
"Wait a minute," his wife interrupted him. She suddenly moved closer to Yue Ya, sniffed his scent, and frowned: "You smell like my son. Have you seen him not long ago?"
[It’s been so long, this sense of smell is really amazing]
[Not only have I seen him, your son is now lying in front of the anchor’s camera. Are you surprised or not?]
[Every time I see this couple, my snake DNA starts to activate and the hairs on my body stand up]
"I have." Yue Ya did not hide it.
"Where is he?" The female historian stepped closer, and Yue Ya felt a sense of oppression.
Feifei was very sensitive at this time. He immediately showed his sharp claws towards her and let out a low roar.
The female historian was somewhat afraid of Fei Fei, so she did not move forward, nor did she restrain herself in a way that showed weakness.
Having felt the pressure from the innkeeper, this little bit of pressure was nothing. Yue Ya’s expression remained unchanged and he replied calmly, “I don’t know.”
"He told us he was going out to play for a while tonight, and he hasn't come back yet. We searched the ferry everywhere but couldn't find him. Tell me, where did you see him?" The female historian kept staring into Yue Ya's eyes as she spoke, as if she was trying to judge whether he was lying in this way.
"In an aisle leading to the restaurant." Yue Ya avoided the main point, with a hint of impatience in his eyes: "Since he is missing, you should hurry to find your son and return the ancient book to the teacher when you leave. No matter what happened in the past, this book does not belong to you now."
The historian couple obviously knew the secret of the ferry, but Yue Ya didn't want to get entangled with them for too long. The most urgent task was to get the ferry away from the huge whirlpool on the sea.
“Boom boom—”
A loud thunder sounded, and the lights on the ceiling began to flicker, with the light varying from bright to dark. A special dark purple lightning flashed through the window, giving the corridor an eerie color.
The historian couple seemed to sense something and smiled inexplicably.
The female historian relaxed a little, her tense shoulders loosening. "The Mouth of Samsara has appeared. We don't have to worry about looking for our son. Everything will return to its original track."
"What do you mean?" Yue Ya felt the malice from their faces.
The male historian waved his hand, and the window that was blurred by rain became extremely clear, and they could see the sea illuminated by lightning at a glance.
With just one glance, the players' expressions all changed.
The sea breeze was howling, and the sea surface was stirred by an invisible giant hand. The whirlpool seen before doubled in size, but what the players were afraid of was not this whirlpool, but the huge black hole suspended above it!
The bigger the vortex is, the bigger the black hole is. Yueya has a feeling that the vortex appears to open the black hole.
The entrance to the cave was bottomless and pitch black, and no one knew where it led to. Just by looking at it, Yue Ya felt like he was staring into the abyss.
"See? This is the mouth of reincarnation." The male historian looked at Yue Ya with a trace of pity in his eyes: "Welcome to officially join this ferry and welcome your fate."
"What does this mean? What does it mean to join you?!" Hongcha almost grabbed the male historian by the collar, and said excitedly: "Will this ferry pass through the black hole, and then we will stay here forever?"
The historian couple laughed, the pity in their eyes completely disappeared, revealing a twisted smile of gloating.
"Reincarnation after reincarnation makes us feel lonely, but fortunately, every time there are new members joining, it can bring us some comfort."
"We've been waiting for this wonderful moment since you boarded the ferry."
Yueya understood everything: "They have died a long time ago. This ferry has been reincarnating on this route. Once it passes through the mouth of reincarnation, it will return to the dock again. We will become ghosts or monsters like them, and will never be able to leave this ferry. Then... greet the next batch of innocent players and living NPCs."
This is what historians mean when they say “everything is back to square one.”
It is not known what happened to this ferry, but it is certain that all the passengers and scholars on board died. The ancient books belonging to the historian couple leaked out for some reason and ended up in the hands of the professor, guiding them to board this ferry.
"That's right. We died a long time ago, and you will die soon too. Welcome to..." The male historian flashed in front of Yue Ya, his skin quickly shrank and dried up, and he spit out a few thin snake tongues: "Ghost."
The ferry suddenly turned around and sped towards the direction of the Mouth of Samsara.
Several ugly ghosts emerged from the passage and staggered towards them.
"Come and see our new member... hehe..."
"While they are still alive, don't waste it... Let me taste a mouthful of fresh, hot blood..."
There are so many ghosts in such a remote passage, let alone other places.
Two ghosts walked towards the unconscious professor. Zhuang Yan, who was not being stared at by the ghosts, immediately rushed over, kicked the ghosts away and protected the professor.
"Don't be stingy, let me taste some blood first." The male historian bared his fangs and bit Yue Ya's neck.
Feifei was faster than the male historian. He pounced on him and bit his forehead!
"Why does this cat's bite hurt so much?!" The male historian tried to grab Feifei in frustration, but Feifei absorbed his negative energy from 360 degrees.
After being on the ferry for so long, Feifei finally had a bite of real cat food, but he refused to let go no matter what.
Yue Ya smiled lazily: "Don't be stingy, let my cat have a bite, it's so small, it can't eat much."
Male historian: “…” I feel like my soul is being sucked out. Are you sure it was just a small bite?
[Fei Fei: I only eat a hundred mouthfuls, don’t be stingy]
[That’s right, don’t be stingy. Our fat baby hasn’t eaten for a long time. How can you bear to see a cute little kitten go hungry?]
[It’s still more fun to watch Fei Fei eating! Finally there’s something to eat!]
[I suggest you turn around and give up on making the anchor your new member. I doubt this ship will be ruled by him]
The male historian tried his best to pull Feifei off, but failed. Her wife came forward to help and also became Feifei's luxurious midnight snack.
The female historian gritted her teeth in hatred and opened her mouth wide, and several black poisonous snakes crawled out of her mouth.
Yue Ya frowned, not wanting these disgusting creatures covered in mucus to stain her fat, white fur: "Wait, your son is in my hands."
The female historian swallowed the venomous snake and spat out the snake's tongue: "What did you say?"
"I have his aura on me because he came to me to seek revenge, and I trapped him in my spiritual realm," Yue Ya said dangerously with a pale and harmless face, "As long as I enter a new reincarnation, he will be reduced to ashes."
This sentence is half true and half false, but Yue Ya said it like it was the truth.
The female historian narrowed her eyes: "Are you trying to scare me?"
Yueya took out the camera and showed them the screen. The little boy trapped in the camera slapped the screen and said, "Mom and Dad, get me out!"
Yueya immediately put the camera into the player's backpack, not giving the historian couple any chance to take action.
The female historian believed him completely and asked through gritted teeth: "What do you want us to do?"
Yueya: "Help me change the course of this ferry. We are going to the Lost Island."
Yue Ya showed no mercy when taking advantage of NPCs like this who were extremely vicious and wanted to take their lives.
The historian couple looked at each other, hatred in their eyes.
The male historian said, "Do you know what you are asking for? Asking us to change the route of the ferry is the same as asking us to betray God."
Yue Ya was unmoved: "You have no choice."
The male historian clenched his fists and compromised: "You'd better keep your word and release my son immediately after achieving your goal, otherwise I will tear you into pieces!"
When the ghosts in the passage heard this, their eyes glowed red, and they turned their targets to the historian couple.
"You two want to be traitors? You should know the consequences of betraying God. You will be cursed!"
The female historian said: "We'll talk about the future later. Now I just want my son back."
"Then don't blame us for being rude!" The ghosts rushed forward.
Feifei loosened his grip, glanced at Yueya, and licked his lips.
"Go ahead." Yue Ya agreed, and Fei Fei immediately let go of the male historian and rushed into the "cat food" pile.
These ghosts were much weaker than the historian couple and could not withstand a single blow, but they gave Fei Fei a good meal.
Yueya asked the historian to return the ancient books to the professor and placed the professor in an empty room. The group rushed towards the cab.
As the ferry got closer and closer to the mouth of reincarnation, Zhuang Yan said, "Brother Yue, I can feel the spiritual energy coming from our plane!"
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