"That sister taught us how to dig a hole in the mountain to make a house!"
"That sister taught us how to use a flush toilet!"
Wait, no? Where did that last flush toilet come from? Did you hand-craft that, Little Orca?
However, after hearing this, Chen Ran still nodded. "I see. Sharing food, housing, and travel with the Sea Creatures truly explains everything."
"So, it was after you, Little Orca, came into close contact with the Sea Creatures that you discovered they weren't actually what Sargol claimed at all."
"Thus, you began to waver in your deeply rooted cognitive beliefs."
"And even went so far as to start doubting whether Sargol might not be playing such a good role in this matter either?"
Chen Ran asked curiously once more.
"I didn't waver! Nor did I... doubt..."
Skadi naturally retorted immediately, but just like before, her conviction was still lacking.
After all, she had genuinely eaten and lived alongside the Sea Creatures.
"Fine, if you say you didn't waver, then you didn't waver."
However, Chen Ran didn't care about such minor details, simply asking with curiosity, "Though I don't know how you ended up among a pile of Sea Creatures, Little Orca... well, I suppose I kind of know. But what are your thoughts right now?"
"Thoughts...?"
Skadi seemed not to understand what Chen Ran meant.
"Yeah, Little Orca, do you want to stay here and play, or do you want to go back?"
"I... I don't know..."
Skadi shook her head, hesitating. "I'm the only Abyssal Hunter left. I want to go home, but..."
Yet through her contact with the Sea Creatures, Skadi's attitude toward Sargol had indeed begun to waver.
And moreover--
"Ah, hold on a second."
Chen Ran suddenly spoke up, interrupting Skadi's flashback sequence. "Who said you're the only Abyssal Hunter left?"
"Huh?"
Skadi raised her head with a blank look.
"Specter—oh, meaning Laurentina—is still alive."
"Huh?"
"The Second Captain, Gor_etia, is alive too."
"Huh?"
"Your captain, Ulpian, is alive as well."
"?"
Skadi uttered three consecutive 'huhs'.
Yet upon hearing that her captain was also alive, Skadi suddenly stopped going 'huh'.
This contrast in attitude amused Chen Ran a little bit.
It wasn't until a while later that Skadi asked, "The captain... is alive? Then why didn't he come to find me?"
Back when Sargol mobilized the nation's strength to launch a decapitation strike against the Sea Creature god Isabella.
After Skadi delivered a critical blow to Isabella and successfully kill-stealed, she was washed ashore by the waves.
Skadi had been utterly grief-stricken, believing all the Abyssal Hunters had perished, leaving her all alone and desolate.
Only to find out a moment later, huh? Specter, you're alive!
A moment after that, Second Captain, you're alive too!
Yet another moment after that, Captain, how are you not dead?
Are you guys pulling my leg?
Resurrection from the dead doesn't work like this!
And since you're all still alive, why didn't you come looking for me? I was sad for quite a long time, you know.
"Let me think..."
Chen Ran rubbed his chin and said, "Specter was captured by the Abyssal Church, and Gor_etia was busy carrying out a massive purge of the Abyssal Church and rescuing Specter."
"Then what about my captain?"
Skadi asked.
"Your captain Ulpian? He deliberately chose not to come find you."
Chen Ran was telling the truth.
During the decapitation strike against Isabella, Ulpian had ripped open Isabella's chest to launch a fatal blow against her heart.
As a result, after tearing open Isabella's chest, the first thing Ulpian saw was various precision instruments belonging to Sargol.
Anyone would freeze for a moment upon seeing that.
After all, this indicated that the people of Sargol had already made contact with the Sea Creatures long ago, perhaps even initiated contact voluntarily, and might have even reached some kind of cooperative relationship.
Yet the prerequisite for reaching cooperation was that the Sea Creatures possessed intelligence.
If they possessed intelligence, then why on earth would the Sea Creatures wage war against Sargol with a blood-deep feud? What role did Sargol play in this? Were they truly innocent?
If the Sea Creatures lacked intelligence, then how did Sargol manage to cooperate with them and place these instruments inside Isabella's body?
Just like what he did now? Forcibly tearing open Isabella's chest? Then how was this any different from launching an unprovoked attack?
A straightforward logic became a dead end from both sides.
Therefore... Sargol was lying, and the role Sargol played in this matter was definitely not that of a pure, innocent white lotus.
Before you continue