The Curio Rose used to watch the video was a small television with a hardcore design.
Its back was tangled with wires and copper tubes, while its front was a screen. It had been transmitted synchronously through a mechanical fax machine, used to play the bizarre footage recorded by the Preliminary Investigation Team.
At that moment, an intense electric crackling came from within.
Rose held it as she watched the transparent female team member vanish, replaced by hollow eyes, a split mouth trailing black strands, and dripping black sludge.
Two black mud claws suddenly surged out of the screen, reaching straight for the dazed Rose Madeline.
An eerie overlapping voice rang through the air of the room.
"Hunting requires patience, and even more, bait."
"Unfortunately, you have yet to break the Curse of Knowledge. I hope this journey as bait will be of some help to you, esteemed disciple of the Ancient Observer."
The Black Mud Man's voice was cold and utterly flat, yet its words seemed to carry a trace of respect.
But clearly, that trace of respect came from Rose's teacher, the permanently neutral Ancient Observer.
And because Rose had yet to break the Curse of Knowledge and become a Great Scholar, she could not resist the Black Mud Man's contamination.
Surging malice froze Rose's body and soul.
The next instant, an utterly bizarre scene unfolded:
Rose's body was seized by the pair of black mud claws. Amid flickering ghostly light, she was dragged into that hardcore Curio.
In the outer seas some distance from the Federation Mainland, at Friday Island on the edge of the Lost Archipelago.
The island was already shrouded in a Radiation Membrane that emitted radiant light. A Giant Ship lay anchored near the shore, swaying faintly with the waves.
The Explorer!
It