Chapter 23

Just a moment before, Lin Yu was still nodding off, but the instant he heard the startled cry, he jolted awake and sprang upright like a fish leaping from water. He looked around, finally noticing that the shout seemed to come from the main deck ahead.

Huffing and puffing, he leapt down from the upper deck, his bare feet pounding hurriedly along the rough, splintery planks as he circled around toward the main deck. It seemed everyone else in the cabin had also heard the outcry—they were all emerging in a disordered rush from their respective cabins.

The one who had shouted was the old sailor responsible for dropping the anchor chain. When Lin Yu arrived, still breathless, he noticed that the old man’s weathered face carried an uncharacteristically solemn and perplexed expression, quite unlike the usual boisterous, boastful grin that never seemed to leave him.

Something serious was afoot.

“Uncle Moore, what’s happened? What could make you shout like that?” Even, rubbing his still dizzy, seasick head, leaned from a second-story porthole and called down loudly.

“You rascal, don’t try to wriggle out of this! Get yourself to the pilothouse and use the spyglass to look southwest!” The old man bellowed back, his voice full of vigor and a hint of pride.

The view from the main deck was naturally broader. Following the direction the old man indicated, Lin Yu craned his neck to gaze out. There, in the sun-drenched expanse of the southwestern sea, he could see a vast scattering of tiny black specks and glimmering golden lights drifting across the surface, shifting with the rolling waves.

“Uncle, what’s going on?” Lin Yu asked in bewilderment.

The old man paced back and forth, shaking his disheveled silver hair, and let out a low, muffled sigh without answering. Rarely, he withdrew his treasured pipe from his belt and took a few puffs, glancing now and then toward the distant sea, then at the elves and the burly new sailors emerging from below.

When most had gathered, amid a flurry of uncertain whispers, the old man—his back bent like a drawn bow—walked over to the calm-faced Hughes. He spoke with urgent gestures, and soon Hughes’s expression grew grave as well. After a moment, Hughes nodded and returned inside the cabin.

“What’s going on, Uncle?”

“Yes, it’s a clear, calm day—why the sudden shouting?”

“Come on, old man, don’t keep us in suspense…”

“That’s right, Uncle Moore, has something happened?”

“Old timer, you…”

The impatient new sailors clustered together, muttering and joking, while Silver Scarlet lounged indifferently against the cabin door, basking lazily in the sun. Ace, the little elf, darted circles around the old man, bombarding him with questions.

After a while, the old man finally asked in a low voice, “As sailors, you all know the most famous, most dangerous—and most deadly—presence in the Sea of Dilsaro?”

Among them, apart from a few brash young men, some of the older hands clearly understood. At these words, their faces turned pale.

“Uncle Moore, you don’t mean…”

“Yes—the ‘Mirage’ in the merfolk’s domain. Within lies not only rare and precious shark silk, odd-colored pearls, and treasures beyond price, but also the cold, breathtaking beauty of young merfolk. All this is the deadliest temptation to seafarers and treasure hunters. At the same time, it’s home to the fierce adult merfolk who loathe surface-dwellers—merchants and pirates alike.” The old man’s hand gripped his pipe, and he shrank back slightly, his excitement only thinly veiled as he stressed the words ‘surface-dwellers.’

“The Mirage? But, Uncle Moore, what does that have to do with those scattered fragments in the southwest? Are they… related to merfolk?” Lin Yu’s brow furrowed in confusion, his voice full of surprise.

“Exactly.” The old man nodded, his trembling right hand fiddling with the charred tobacco in his pipe, his clouded eyes flickering with some other emotion.

“I’ve spent thirty or forty years at sea, seen my share of storms and shipwrecks. Now, judging by my experience…” His gaze grew distant and profound. “The reason all that wreckage and glittering treasure is drifting in the southwest sea likely comes down to three possibilities. First, a pirate ship that entered the Mirage in search of plunder was attacked—either by those vicious merfolk or by some predatory sea creatures. Second, and more common, is a ship running aground, perhaps catching fire and burning to a charred hulk.”

“And the third?” Lin Yu asked uneasily.

“The third possibility…” The old man paused. “That ship harbored merchants who had hunted, killed, or trafficked merfolk in the Mirage. In such cases, the merfolk sometimes travel great distances to attack the offenders’ vessel.”

At some point, Hughes had reappeared on deck and took up the tale, his voice cold and low. “So, should we steer clear of that area?” a timid human sailor ventured quietly from the crowd.

“No… I’ve just been up to check.” Hughes shook his head, and in the sunlight, his clear green eyes seemed almost unreal, as if washed in shimmering light. Lin Yu, watching from the side, was momentarily transfixed.

Hughes fixed his gaze steadily on the calm sea, continuing coolly, “We can almost certainly rule out the shipwreck scenario. And in any case, our goal is to go to the Mirage in the merfolk’s realm—to find the Blood Pearl.”

He paused, then added, “We’ll anchor here for now. I’ll select a few to come with me to investigate that patch of sea.”

His words reassured some of the more cautious human crew, but among the elves and braver men, it only sparked eagerness to follow.

Lin Yu, curiosity ablaze, seized the moment while the elves were busy preparing the smaller boats below deck. He bounded over to Hughes, his eyes sparkling with hope. “Hughes, take me with you, won’t you?”

“You? Other than talking circles around me these last days, what else can you do?” Hughes hid a flicker of amusement, teasing him in return.

After several days together, Lin Yu had long since abandoned any pretense of decorum, acting with unrestrained cheek and mischief. Where once he’d tried to keep up the cool act in front of this ‘idol,’ now, realizing he was still inside that immersive game, he found no reason to bother.

“Oh, come on, think of it—I can keep you company, share meals, chat, help with investigations. And just imagine: under this blazing sun, with the wind whipping, I could even shield you from the elements. Isn’t that a deal?” Lin Yu shamelessly boasted, ignoring the mocking snort from Silver Scarlet, who watched from the door.

By the time Lin Yu was nearly out of breath, Even had sent Ace the elf up to announce that the boats were ready to go at any time.

“So you see, taking me along is all benefit and no harm—full of fun, too…”

“Oh, all benefit and no harm…” Hughes glanced at his hand. Seeing Lin Yu’s growing unease, he finally relented. “Well, that does sound tempting, so you…”

Hearing the first half, Lin Yu’s spirits soared. He shot a triumphant look at Silver Scarlet and was about to dash off below deck. “Alright! Let’s go!”

“But you… should just stay on the ship and behave yourself.” Hughes raised an eyebrow at Lin Yu’s over-excited display, his tone utterly casual.

Lin Yu: “…”

Damn it! How could he be so heartlessly played with? What a scam! Outrageous!

Face crumpled in frustration, Lin Yu glared after Hughes as he sauntered into the cabin.

“Tsk, tsk…” Silver Scarlet threw a mocking glance at the still-stunned Lin Yu and naturally followed in Hughes’s footsteps.

Lin Yu: “…qaq”

What the hell!

Why did it feel like his face had just been smeared with a thick layer of humiliation?

Utterly dejected, he went to sulk in the corner, drawing invisible circles on the deck.

After a while—

Ace came running, panting for breath, and finally found him. “Young master, why are you still here? Everyone’s waiting for you… Master Hughes even sent me to hurry you along.”

Lin Yu: “…”

So in the end, he’d fallen for that so-called idol’s tricks yet again.