The wife's face was flushed red, and she looked furious.
"I only came on this ship to suffer because I wanted to be with you. If you hadn't insisted on seeing some Devil's Bay, would our trading house be in trouble?"
The husband felt some guilt, but he still argued his point. "The trouble with the trading house can be solved once we return. But if I don't see the Devil's Bay with my own eyes, I won't be able to rest in peace even in death. You know how miraculous this ocean is."
"I don't know!"
"All I know is that my father left that trading house to me, and it cannot fail."
The husband tried his best to comfort his wife, saying that after the voyage ended, he would never go on adventures again and would stay with her to take care of the business.
"Although in my eyes this is just an ordinary ocean, it's clearly very important to the people on this ship." Wen Xiang Yuan joked.
Nan Yue nodded. Based on the few guests she had interacted with, regardless of the reason, they were all extremely obsessed with this stretch of sea.
Bi Danyuan entered the restaurant at that moment and greeted Nan Yue and the others.
"Are you alright?"
Yesterday, Bi Danyuan hadn't been in a good state. They later found out it was because her roommate, Zhou Meifei, had hidden the entire time during their exploration and hadn't helped at all.
"I'm fine, I've recovered."
Bi Danyuan simply sat down at their table. She knew Wen Xiang Yuan and was somewhat surprised to see her teamed up with Nan Yue.
However, Bi Danyuan had transferred to the Mobile Division shortly after joining Blooming Media Company, so she didn't know Wen Xiang Yuan had died. This saved Nan Yue from having to explain how she was alive again.
"But if she tries to slack off like that during the next exploration, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Bi Danyuan ate her porridge quietly, but a hint of ferocity flickered in her voice as she spoke.
"Though she probably knows she's in the wrong; she hasn't dared to speak to me for the past two days and just hides in her room every day."
Bi Danyuan sneered. If she wasn't unsure whether her roommate would be needed for future explorations, she would have taught her a lesson by now.
"By the way, your roommate died on the first night. Did that have any impact?"
Wen Xiang Yuan shook her head. "Not really. The room just feels a bit empty."
In truth, she rarely worried about the dangers she faced in missions now, since she wouldn't truly die.
In the past, she would have been afraid and terrified, thinking about ending her own life before danger even arrived.
But now, all she thought about was how to learn as much as possible and then do something for the team.
Bi Danyuan glanced at Wen Xiang Yuan, her gaze softening. "You seem to have grown much stronger."
Wen Xiang Yuan's spirits lifted, and she straightened her back to look at Nan Yue.
Nan Yue: ...
Nan Yue reached out and patted her head.
"We're almost done eating."
Bi Danyuan stretched, her eyes sparkling with cleverness as she looked at Nan Yue. "Clue exchange?"
Nan Yue was amused; she really liked Bi Danyuan's personality.
"Sure."
Bi Danyuan said it was an exchange, but she had no intention of making Nan Yue speak first. She poured out everything she knew without hesitation.
Nan Yue knew she wanted to repay the favor from their time at Blooming Media Company and was afraid Nan Yue would refuse if she just offered the information for free.
Setting aside the things Nan Yue already knew, Bi Danyuan did provide several useful clues.
One was about the captain's daughter, Amy. Amy was very good at hide-and-seek, and no one had ever been able to find her.
Another was about the barnacles. Bi Danyuan had naturally noticed the conversation between Gu Xiang Kai and Long Qinghe that day.
Afterward, she had kept watch in the lower hold for a few days and actually discovered something.
Every day, crew members went to clean the barnacles; they were very concerned about it.
This was normal; everyone knew the damage barnacles could do to a ship, and those who lived at sea wouldn't ignore such an issue.
But what was abnormal was that if they cared so much, why were there still so many barnacles on the ship?
Nan Yue, in turn, told Bi Danyuan about the clue regarding the other child on the ship, including the fact that she was likely the daughter of the mute, Joseph.
Bi Danyuan looked thoughtful. Both sides had obtained the clues they wanted, making it a productive conversation.
"By the way, I noticed that several scavengers' mental stability is at a dangerous level."
Bi Danyuan knew Nan Yue must have noticed, but she still offered a reminder.
The foremost among them was naturally Luo Jiyun, but besides him, several others were on the verge of collapse due to the lack of proper rest over a long period.
"I know. You be careful too."
Once someone with low mental stability suffered a breakdown, they might make a wrong judgment and lose their life at best, or at worst, they might trigger retaliatory behavior and harm other scavengers.
...
Today, the four of them acted separately. Gu Xiang Kai went to the lower hold, Wen Xiang Yuan and Zhu Xi Ning continued to mingle with the guests, and Nan Yue went to the bridge.
At this time, only Steve and two crew members were on the bridge; John was not there.
He greeted Nan Yue warmly and apologetically stated that if she was there to fish for information, he couldn't provide any.
After all, the adventure could not be faked.
Nan Yue waved it off. "I'm just here to look around."
Hearing that Nan Yue was interested in the Devil's Bay, Steve was clearly very happy.
He truly loved his ship.
"When you risked your life to enter the Devil's Bay back then, did you ever think you might not make it back?"
Steve laughed heartily. "The most important thing in maritime navigation is courage. From the second we step onto a ship, our lives are placed in the hands of the ocean."
"The ship is my life. As long as I'm with the Devil's Bay, I'm whole."
Nan Yue asked, "I heard your daughter is also on the ship. Are you... not worried about her?"
Steve showed a helpless expression. "She's a mischievous one. I didn't even know when she snuck on board."
"But since she's here, I can't exactly throw her overboard, can I?"
Steve made a joke, but Nan Yue felt a train of thought flash by, yet she couldn't settle down enough to grasp it.
"First Mate John seems quite humorless."
Steve shared the sentiment. "But he's a good man. We met on the battlefield; I was a soldier before I became a captain. I saved John's life on the battlefield, and he's followed me ever since I retired."
"He's very serious, but he's a good man."
The more Nan Yue listened to Steve talk, the heavier the discomfort in her heart became.
It was like when you discover an NPC has a complete life story and is infinitely close to a real person, you feel a strong sense of dissonance.
Whether it was at school or from her seniors, she had been told that this was a major taboo for scavengers.
One must never empathize with NPCs, and one must never treat the mission world as real.
But as she completed more and more missions, Nan Yue constantly felt this way.
They... really seemed like real people, yet they lived in such a distorted and terrifying world.
And as a scavenger, her entire life was dedicated to purifying the world, yet they couldn't save these NPCs.
Nan Yue quickly suppressed these thoughts. This was a dungeon primarily focused on mental attacks; even if she wasn't directly affected, it would still weaken her spirit.
Rate on N.U.
