After tasting the local specialties, the sun had already set by the time they left the restaurant.
Yue Shi walked ahead, cradling the snow leopard in his arms, his pace steady and unhurried.
Kraken followed three steps behind. Although he hadn't managed to recruit Yue Shi, the man hadn't explicitly rejected his presence, so he continued to trail along.
The shops on both sides of the street were still lit, with occasional sounds of muffled laughter and chatter drifting out.
Most of the various cultists who had been active on the streets during the day had disappeared, leaving only a few figures in black robes wandering about, though it was unclear if they were on watch or patrolling.
Yue Shi stopped in front of a small three-story building.
The sign on the porch read "Dusk Inn."
Through the window, a plump woman could be seen dozing off at the counter.
He pushed the door open and entered.
The plump woman was alert; she immediately rubbed her eyes and sat up. Upon seeing Yue Shi, a smile spread across her face. "A room, guest?"
"One room."
The plump woman flipped through the registry and quoted a price.
Yue Shi pulled a few silver coins from his sleeve and placed them on the counter.
Kraken followed him in and approached sheepishly. "I'll take a room for the night as well."
The woman glanced at him and quoted another price.
Kraken counted out several silver coins with visible reluctance and pushed them forward.
Yue Shi had already taken his key and headed upstairs.
The inn room was small and the furnishings were simple, but it was relatively clean. It had a bed, a table, and a strange green plant sitting by the window.
Yue Shi placed the snow leopard on the bed, walked to the window, and pushed it open.
The night wind rushed in, carrying the briny scent of the sea and a faint, indistinct murmur.
He tilted his head to listen for a moment but couldn't make out the words.
Closing the window, he lay down on the bed. The snow leopard instinctively moved closer, curling into his embrace and letting out a contented purr.
Yue Shi closed his eyes.
After an unknown amount of time, whispers began to surface.
At first, they sounded like the wind or the rhythm of waves crashing against the rocks—faint and ethereal, almost easy to ignore.
Gradually, other sounds mixed in—syllables that were slurred and sticky, like the rustling sound of a mollusk crawling over mud.
It wasn't any known language.
The sound pierced directly through his eardrums and echoed deep within his consciousness, like a cold, damp tongue lightly licking the folds of his cerebral cortex.
Yue Shi opened his eyes.
The room was pitch black. The snow leopard was awake too, its ears pricked and a low growl vibrating in its throat.
The whispering continued.
It carried an indescribable, ancient malice, attempting to contaminate his spirit.
Yue Shi lay on the bed, motionless, listening quietly for a few seconds.
Then, he smiled.
"Caught you."
"Little thing, are you the one who has been drawing me here?"
As his words fell, an incredibly pure malice surged out silently like a tide.
It was the concept of Extreme Evil itself—the most primal, ultimate malice. It had no form and no specific target; its mere existence was enough to let anything that dared to peer into it understand the meaning of the true abyss.
The whispering stopped abruptly, vanishing completely in an instant.
Not even an echo remained.
Reverse contamination.
The ∞ symbols flashed deep within Yue Shi's eyes.
He rolled over and pulled the snow leopard closer into his arms.
A few seconds later, the snow leopard's breathing became steady once again.
...
Kraken's room was at the end of the hallway. Like Yue Shi's, it was a standard-sized room, though its window faced the harbor.
He lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
The events of the day replayed repeatedly in his mind.
Just who was that man?
He rolled over to face the wall, forcing himself to stop thinking.
At that moment, he also heard the rustling murmurs.
Kraken sat up abruptly.
What the hell was that noise?
He held his breath and strained his ears to listen.
The sound seemed to come from far away, yet it also felt as if it were ringing directly inside his head.
Every syllable was sticky and slippery, as if something were slowly crawling inside his cranial cavity.
Fear rose from the base of his spine, spreading all the way to the back of his head.
He wanted to scream, but though his mouth opened, no sound came out.
He wanted to move, but his limbs felt as if they were pinned down by sleep paralysis, rendering him immobile.
The murmurs grew clearer and closer.
"...██...██, █..."
Kraken's pupils constricted sharply.
He seemed to understand everything.
The murmurs were repeatedly chanting a name.
He felt as if he had heard this name before.
It had been mentioned in the Order Alliance's archives, and in certain stone tablets salvaged from the deep sea.
It had also been mentioned in the dying ramblings of sailors who had mysteriously gone mad.
That was... a god.
Kraken's consciousness began to blur, as if he were being dragged into the deep sea.
Indescribable hallucinations appeared before his eyes.
"No!"
He bit his tongue with all his might. The pain allowed him to briefly regain control of his body.
He rolled off the bed and switched on the light.
Once the light filled the room, the whispering murmurs in his ears gradually faded away.
The room fell silent, save for Kraken's own heavy breathing, which sounded like a broken bellows.
He slumped on the floor, drenched in cold sweat.
Looking down at his hands, he saw his fingertips trembling uncontrollably.
It took a long time before he could barely stand up and walk to the window.
He pushed the window open, and as the night wind rushed in, his mind cleared slightly.
Was that just a dream?
...
The surface of the harbor was pitch black and calm.
Suddenly, several things emerged from the water.
They barely possessed human silhouettes. Their skin was a grayish-green with a wet, glistening sheen, covered in fine scales.
The proportions of their limbs were extremely distorted; their arms were excessively long, ending in webbed hands, and their heads were a grotesque fusion of fish and human.
A group of these hideous things emerged silently from the sea, their movements perfectly synchronized.
Their target was clear: the tour boat docked by the pier.
It was Yue Shi's boat.
A nearby islander happened to witness this scene. His pupils shook with terror, and his body reacted before his mind could, immediately crouching down to hide in the shadows of a corner.
He had heard stories of sea monsters since he was a child, but he never expected to encounter real ones tonight.
He didn't dare look, didn't dare move, and didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
He could only huddle in the corner, listening to the pounding of his own heart.
...
At the Dusk Inn, Yue Shi, who was stroking the leopard, suddenly stopped his hand and turned his gaze toward the harbor.
The snow leopard flicked its tail in dissatisfaction, and Yue Shi immediately stroked its fur to soothe it.
"Something has boarded the ship," Ghost suddenly spoke.
When others were present, he would neither speak nor reveal his presence, potentially serving as an unexpected trump card in critical moments.
"Let them board. Once they're on, they won't be coming off," Yue Shi said softly.
"By the way, how many sects are there on this island in total?"
"Seven."
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