Strange Fishing Village

Fortunately, while Hu Wenxu was a research fanatic, he was not a fool. The mermaid was currently on their side, and dissecting one would essentially ruin the mission. One cannot abandon the entire forest for the sake of a single tree; when it comes to research, one must not hang oneself from a single branch.

Having cooled down from his research fervor, Hu Wenxu returned to his initial persona as a cold, cultivation-obsessed maniac. He only spoke to Lu Li occasionally, explaining basic experimental knowledge, as if he truly intended to groom Lu Li as his assistant.

With the mermaid's help, the small boat moved at high speed. By late afternoon, land was already visible ahead. However, at this point, the mermaid suddenly released the boat, surfaced, and said, "That is no longer our territory. Approaching it will cause conflict, so you must handle the rest of the journey yourselves..."

After speaking, the mermaid submerged and disappeared with a few flicks of its tail. This mermaid really gave them no face at all, or perhaps this was simply the basic attitude mermaids held toward humans. In Lu Li's view, if not for the Mermaid Princess ordering this mermaid to help, it likely wouldn't have even glanced at Lu Li and the others.

"No choice, we'll have to do it ourselves. It would be best to reach the shore before it gets completely dark," Xu Haoran said with a serious expression. He picked up the built-in oar and took the lead in rowing. Lu Li and the others, not wanting to stay on the boat any longer, began to row as well.

As the saying goes, "the mountain looks close but the horse runs to death." While the shore looked near, there was actually a significant distance to cover. Furthermore, since none of them had ever rowed a boat before, their physical fitness—though far superior to that of normal people—could not bridge the massive gap between their rowing speed and the speed provided by the mermaid. They had expected to arrive before dark, but in reality, it was long after nightfall when they reached the shore. The small fishing village on the coast was pitch black, devoid of any lights.

Stepping onto the shore, the feeling of solid ground made everyone heave a sigh of relief. After all, the sensation of drifting on the sea was not pleasant, and the thought of some out-of-spec entity lurking in the depths cast a shadow over the seemingly calm ocean.

The small fishing village was not large, consisting of about twenty households. Fishing nets hung on racks in the surroundings, and the area was deathly silent—there wasn't even the sound of snoring, which made one wonder if the place was completely deserted.

Night signaled danger. After consulting with Gao Xiaowen and—out of respect for the scientist?—asking for Hu Wenxu's opinion, Xu Haoran decided to rest in the village for the night, mostly ignoring Lu Li's input.

Facing the pitch-black village, the group gathered everything the Mermaid Princess had prepared from the boat and began knocking on doors one by one. Some houses were empty, while others were occupied; however, even when they could hear movement inside after knocking, the residents refused to open the doors. Lu Li and the others couldn't very well break in, and despite their polite pleas, no one responded.

"We are travelers who survived a shipwreck. Could you please let us stay for the night? We can pay for the room..." Xu Haoran knocked on another door. Hearing a rustling sound from within, the door finally opened, revealing an old woman.

"Travelers? A shipwreck? I've lived by the sea for so many years; I know from the weather that there haven't been any storms in these waters recently. If you're going to lie, find a better excuse." Perhaps due to living by the sea for so long, the old woman was hunched over with dark, weathered skin. Her voice was harsh and her tone quite rude, but she eventually let Lu Li and the others inside. The house was divided into an inner and outer room, containing some old, worn-out furniture.

"I'm an old woman who might die any day now, so there's nothing for you to covet," the old woman said with a strange smile on her face. "This village doesn't welcome outsiders. You'd best leave first thing tomorrow morning, or something might happen."

"Old woman, do you live here alone? Where is your family?" Gao Xiaowen asked curiously. She then watched as the old woman said in a bizarre tone, "This village is extremely xenophobic. Everyone born here is under a curse. Once they reach a certain age, they either die in a shipwreck or disappear for no reason. I've been married into this village for decades, and I've basically never seen a local live past fifty."

"My husband and son both disappeared when they were thirty. This is an ominous place, so you should leave as soon as possible, regardless of who you are..." After speaking in an eerie, cryptic manner, the old woman turned and went into the inner room, leaving the outer room to Lu Li and the others.

"This village is strange. It might trigger a side quest," Xu Haoran said, sitting on a small wooden stool after the old woman had retreated. In the darkness, his expression was unreadable. "Should we go and investigate..."

"No need. Side quests are too time-consuming, and this instance has out-of-spec entities. Who knows when something strange might leak out from such an existence and cause the event to mutate," Gao Xiaowen rejected Xu Haoran's proposal this time, clearly still shaken by the out-of-spec entity.

"Fair enough. Then we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning and head toward the target on the map to find the witch," Xu Haoran nodded, then leaned his back against the wall. A flicker of cold light flashed in his eyes as he pondered something.

Lu Li officially began to ask Hu Wenxu for guidance on how to conduct experiments. Hu Wenxu, pulling a mouse, a knife, and a small flashlight from somewhere, began his basic demonstration: how to skin it, how to dissect the muscles, how to avoid the arteries, how to remove the internal organs intact, and a series of other techniques.

Finally, Hu Wenxu finished dissecting the mouse cleanly. The night had grown deep, and after he turned off the flashlight, the house was plunged into total darkness. Everyone remained silent as they settled in to rest. Lu Li also closed his eyes and began to sink into the darkness, sensing the now-sizable amount of Shadow Magic within his body.

Most players possess some form of special energy after one or two instances, but they are generally unable to control it, relying solely on modules to absorb and trigger skills. It is much like those practicing internal energy in martial arts novels—who doesn't need ten or eight years of training? Otherwise, they end up like Duan Yu, whose abilities work intermittently, and that is assuming they have a certain level of cultural literacy to begin with.

Players who suddenly acquire these special energies often find it difficult even to perceive their existence due to cognitive barriers, let alone mobilize them, so they can only pin their hopes on skill modules. Lu Li, however, was different. He possessed extreme control over his own body, which was why he was able to attempt to mobilize the Shadow Magic within him in such a short amount of time...