The corpse

Gunner's whisper echoed through the air.

Once spoken, those words seemed to drift through the air like mold spores. The whole cave seemed to grow darker, and the last trace of peace offered by the firelight slowly faded away. In its place, an uncanny unease took root in the darkness of everyone's hearts, spreading like blood-red thorns.

Although the people around him were visibly unsettled, Xia Lun instead grew increasingly excited. His heartbeat began to quicken.

His gaze swept over their pale faces before his dark eyes lowered slightly.

As the saying went, rewards were proportional to risks. Supernatural phenomena that defied common sense certainly held dangers capable of tearing anyone who pried into them to pieces, but the rewards behind them were often greater, too.

If I want to break the curse and gain enough power to stand against the Foresight Club, I have no choice but to seek out these dangerous supernatural phenomena.

If this Scenario is just ordinary desert island survival, that would actually work against me. Time is an extremely precious and limited resource for me.

From that perspective, the clear emergence of a supernatural threat relentlessly closing in on the survivors like a Bloodhound was actually excellent news for Xia Lun.

"Five more should mean five more people." Sister Delis tightened her grip on her Holy Emblem, her brows knitted tightly, then began analyzing the situation at a rapid pace. "Assuming the Secret Script was translated correctly, some unknown entity must want to kill us. Based on that assumption, we need to establish one thing first: who exactly are those five people?"

"What do you mean?" Horn asked in confusion. "You, me, Mr. Xia Lun, Brigadier General, and Gunner—that's exactly five people, isn't it? What other possibility could there be?"

"The Salt Monster appeared aboard