Captain's Cabin
The Born remained completely still.
The black robe burned away in the corrosion, revealing the metal skeleton underneath.
It wasn't ordinary steel, but an alloy with a dark silver luster. The viscous liquid left only shallow marks on it, unable to cause any real damage.
"The Ascension Society's modifications..." Gray's tone was somewhat complicated as he read this, "... truly terrifying."
Lu Yuan had no time to respond, because the Corrupted was struggling frantically.
The next moment, the Born moved.
His arm emitted a mechanical whirring sound as the metal frame began to reassemble, and the forearm split open, revealing a long, brass-colored tube.
"Laugh--"
A ghostly blue Flame erupted, engulfing the writhing mass of slime; the extreme heat distorted the surrounding air.
"Squeak squeak squeak--!"
The slime emitted a piercing shriek, its entire body trembled, and its volume began to shrink at a visible rate.
The human head, stuck at the tip of the slime, opened its mouth wide, revealing Flesh, mangled oral cavity, attempting a final struggle.
But Lu Yuan had already seized the opportunity and raised his gun.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two Alchemical Bullets pierced precisely into the heads of the people covered in slime.
His skull exploded, brain matter splattered everywhere, and his mucus instantly went out of control. He collapsed limply to the ground, only weak twitching remaining.
But the Born did not stop.
The blue Flame continued to erupt until the clump of slime was completely carbonized, turning into a pile of charred remains, at which point the Born stopped spewing Flame.
A red light flashed beneath the bird-beak mask, and it turned and left, carrying the red-hot Copper Pipe.
All that remained was a lingering, acrid stench in the air.
Lu Yuan then stepped forward and looked at the pile of wreckage.
In the carbonized mucus, the human face was completely obscured; only a faint scar on the jawbone could be seen.
That was the captain of the Iron Whale... Lu Yuan had seen him when he was reporting information back then.
[Sanity: -1, 60/70]
"My sword seems to be broken." Gray took out a bottle of Holy Water and drank it all in one gulp, then looked at the short sword in his hand.
The blade of the short sword had been mostly corroded away, leaving it pitted and almost unusable.
"I have a new one." Lu Yuan put away his Revolver, took out a gleaming silver dagger from his bag, and handed it over.
Gray took the palm-sized dagger, brandished it with a hint of reluctance, but accepted it nonetheless.
Lu Yuan's gaze swept across the captain's cabin, then stopped. What was hidden in the area guarded by the Corrupted?
"Gray, keep an eye out for anything breaking in."
Lu Yuan signaled Gray to be on guard, and then began searching the captain's cabin.
The room was covered in that layer of Deep Blue slime, but most of it had dried after being bathed in the fire of the Born.
This also allowed Lu Yuan to see what was under the slime: items were scattered in the captain's cabin, and there were obvious bullet holes in the walls, indicating that the captain must have made a final struggle.
Lu Yuan crouched down, brushed aside the scattered items on the ground, and finally discovered something unusual in the corner.
The things there were piled up exceptionally high, as if deliberately concealing something.
Lu Yuan carefully parted the slime, cleared away the piled-up debris, and revealed the floor underneath.
A circular Formation was carved into the floor.
It is about two feet in diameter, with complex and intricate runes, half of which are holy symbols of the Church and half of which are the seals of the Night Watcher.
The fusion of two completely different forces requires an extremely Transcendence skill.
But the Formation had been destroyed; the runes on it were broken, the lines were twisted, and something had violently torn it apart from the outside.
In the center of the Formation were two things: a shattered silver Holy Emblem and a Mithril Dagger broken in two.
[Analyzing...]
[Composite Sealing Technique: A fusion of the Church's Holy Light and the Night Watcher's Sealing Technique]
[Characteristics: The Contamination in a specific area was sealed off/ Purification, but it has been compromised; core materials are damaged. This was a failed resistance.]
Lu Yuan stared at the shattered Holy Emblem and the broken dagger, and made a judgment in his mind.
Someone is trying to stop all of this.
It must have been the church Priest and Gao Wen of the Night Watcher... they worked together to create this Formation.
But they failed. However, it makes sense; the anomaly that could tear apart the Iron Whale couldn't be stopped by a Formation.
Lu Yuan was about to look in another place when he noticed a small package that had been stuffed into a crack in the floor next to the Formation.
Take out the package and carefully open it.
Inside was a silver badge, engraved with a moon and an eye—the emblem of the Night Watcher.
The name Gao Wen is engraved on the back of the badge.
The badge was wiped clean, standing out starkly against the filth.
Inside the package was a piece of cloth with a few lines of writing on it in blood. The handwriting was messy, but still legible:
"The plan failed. Someone betrayed us. The Priest is dead, and I won't last much longer."
"They need our blood to complete the ritual. Don't come looking for us, and don't touch those Ore."
"Burn this ship, burn everything."
Tell Old Morgan... I did my best.
" --Gao Wen"
Lu Yuan's expression was somewhat complicated upon seeing this. Gao Wen had chosen to fight to the death. Lu Yuan remembered Lausen's words: the Deep Sea Society select priests from among this group, and Gao Wen, who had embarked on the path to Transcendence, was undoubtedly the best choice.
But he didn't. He chose to join forces with the Priest to set up Formation in an attempt to seal off the Contamination, but they failed.
Lu Yuan put the badge and the blood letter into his pocket; he would take these things back to Old Morgan.
But the most important thing hasn't been found yet: the captain's log, or the voyage log.
Such things are common on long-distance ships, and most are kept in the captain's cabin. Hopefully, this thing wasn't burned to ashes in the Flame just now.
After searching for a while, Lu Yuan finally found a leather-covered logbook in the collapsed desk drawer—the Captain's Log.
The diary is in very poor condition; most of the writing has been covered by slime, and only a few pages are still barely legible.
Lu Yuan opened it and quickly browsed through it.
November 25th: Arrived at the target area and spotted a small island, not marked on the nautical chart. It might contain minerals needed for the port. Wishing us a safe journey.
November 27: The crew began to exhibit strange symptoms, claiming they dreamed of the sea or heard singing.
"December 1st: Some crew members have abandoned their human identities! Our situation is dire, but Gao Wen says they have a backup plan..."
The handwriting on the last page was distorted and warped, as if it had been written in extreme fear:
"December 3rd: The Formation was destroyed, they climbed up from under the cabin... going home... we're all going home..."
Lu Yuan closed the logbook, his face grim. Where were they all in the bottom of the ship's cabin?!
No, Alice and the others went down!