Persuasion

"Drip, drip."

Water struck Monkey's corpse with a soft patter. Dark red blood seeped from the wound on his head and slowly spread through the murky, stagnant water like paint across a gloomy canvas.

Xia Lun stared at Delis's diary, unable to calm his thoughts.

He felt as though he had entered a maze made of mysteries. Behind every mystery he solved lay not the truth, but more unanswered questions.

One question in particular baffled him: how had Doctor, in the first Scenario, known that the Prayerbook of the Drowned was on Brigadier General? Could that Impostor-like Doctor predict the future?

Xia Lun took a deep breath and pushed his doubts and curiosity aside.

This was the most complicated Scenario he had ever experienced.

At first glance, it seemed like a straightforward test of Wilderness Survival. The supernatural phenomena appeared isolated; if he ignored them, he could almost pretend they did not exist.

But the deeper he looked, the more ordinary things revealed a horrifying side without warning, enough to send a shiver through him.

Xia Lun turned and waded through the stagnant water toward the companionway. As he passed Gunner's corpse, he stopped.

In the first Scenario, the Salt Monster in the hold had borne a tattoo reading "Five left." By that logic, Gunner, who had become a Salt Monster, might have a tattoo too.

He pulled the Crowbar from the door handle, hooked its pointed end beneath Gunner's shoulder, and heaved the corpse over.

Bubbles rose around Gunner's bulging, lifeless eyes. Xia Lun bent down and used the Short Sword to cut open his shirt.

A line of scarlet tattooing came into view.

He still had some of Text Sense's translation capacity left, so he understood the words: "Three more to go."

Xia Lun blinked and put away