“…Until that day, they discovered me.”
Up to this single line, Luo Shengle could no longer find any additional “messages.” She couldn’t help but begin to think:
These words had first appeared in her dream last night, seemingly originating from the owner of that dream but today, why were they appearing anytime, anywhere, throughout the aquarium?
These twisted characters, like dark red earthworms, crawled wantonly across the depths of fish tanks, into corners of the ceiling, along the collars of staff uniforms and even straight through the faces of passing employees, carried around unknowingly as those people moved about their work…
Like damp moss growing in a basement, they were everywhere.
This conveyed an ominous signal to Luo Shengle. It felt as though no matter where she went, she remained under the ever present influence of the dream’s owner, unable to escape.
And just as her gaze shifted among these unknown characters, the silver snake that had been quietly coiled within her mind suddenly stirred.
The little snake, only as thick as a finger, lifted its oval head and slowly swam in a half circle. Its silvery white scales gleamed like flowing moonlight, while its gilded pupils seemed to use its host’s eyes as a window, peering outward at something unseen.
At the same moment, Yi Fengchu, on the other end of the phone, froze in place.
In an instant, countless images appeared out of nowhere before his eyes, allowing him to see the dark red text Luo Shengle had just been searching for.
The sensation was difficult to describe. Yi Fengchu could clearly recognize that this was another person’s perspective yet he could also tell that the “him” within the images was not Luo Shengle herself.
It was as if he were merely using her body as a vessel, glimpsing the things reflected in her eyes.
“What kind of strange phenomenon is this now…”
Recovering quickly, Yi Fengchu shut his eyes in discomfort, rubbing his brow with two fingers as he questioned the phone. “Why did I just see what Senior Luo was seeing? Did you do this?”
【…No.】
After a brief silence, the phone couldn’t help but spit out a sharp, mocking remark: 【I hope that the next time you encounter something abnormal, you’ll divert a bit of the energy you use to interrogate me into properly reflecting on yourself.】
“I’m just an ordinary, law abiding young man. What exactly do I have to reflect on?”
Yi Fengchu instinctively defended himself, then fell silent organizing the information he had just “received” from Luo Shengle’s side.
Most of the images he’d seen were related to those unknown characters, allowing him to roughly infer that Luo Shengle had entered a mysterious, pitch black dream the previous night, one she had yet to realize he himself had also participated in.
“Is it possible that whether she’s inside the abnormal aquarium in the dream or walking through the normal aquarium during the day, she’s essentially still located within the dream owner? If everything she sees is part of the dream owner’s body, then it’s not hard to understand why the text can appear in any corner…”
Seen this way, the side quest’s “child separated from their mother” could already be tentatively identified as the dream’s owner or rather, as the entire aquarium itself.
But how to soothe its crying still required further investigation.
On the screen, Luo Shengle also seemed to have imagined something. She tilted her head to examine the aquarium’s dome, her face paling slightly.
Lowering her voice, she asked cautiously, “Mr. Narrator, I suddenly had a rather bold thought… Could it be that the entire aquarium is a thinking, living, ”
【There is no need to fear prematurely.】
Yi Fengchu calmly reassured her. 【Focus on what lies before you. Fate will naturally guide you toward where you must go.】
Silver text reflected against the glass surface, casting a cold glow like flowing liquid, like a handful of cool spring water, silently extinguishing the unease in Luo Shengle’s heart.
Taking a deep breath, she clenched her fists to encourage herself and nodded. “Your guidance is correct… I’ll go investigate the whereabouts of the whale bones now.”
The most direct source of information was, of course, the aquarium’s long term employees.
So Luo Shengle once again picked up a bucket and a net. While pretending to diligently scoop aquatic plants in Hall B, she casually chatted with the colleague closest to her.
At one point, she sighed as if unintentionally. “Ah, what a pity. Our aquarium is named after whale bones but I’ve been working here for several days now and still haven’t seen that legendary, enormous whale skeleton.”
“That thing? It disappeared decades ago,” her colleague replied offhandedly, recalling from memory. “I heard that after the aquarium was completely demolished and rebuilt last time, the whale bones stopped being displayed to the public.”
“But something that famous vanishing so suddenly should’ve been obvious, right? Didn’t anyone know where it went?” Luo Shengle paused, then tentatively guessed, “Could it have been stolen?”
“That’s impossible. If it were a theft, there would’ve been reports years ago.”
The colleague had just hauled up an entire bucket of rotten aquatic plants. Leaning the bamboo pole and net against the wall, they stretched their shoulders and neck. “Maybe it was converted into the private collection of the head curator’s family.”
The curator…
As Luo Shengle heard the word, the aquarium’s history recounted by the tour guide when she first entered echoed in her ears, causing her grip on the bamboo pole to pause slightly.
That’s right. Since entering the aquarium, she had seen all kinds of visitors, staff and managers but she had never seen the one person who should have been indispensable: The current curator.
Catching the keyword “family” in her colleague’s words, Luo Shengle pondered. “So every curator has been a descendant of the aquarium’s founder?”
“Of course. All the facilities and operating funds here are provided by the Jiang family, a line of immensely wealthy shipbuilders and merchants.”
At this point, the colleague seemed to recall something and sighed, shaking their head with regret. “It’s a pity. Such a kind and generous family yet it’s as if they’re cursed… Almost none of the past curators lived past thirty.”
“The current curator took office three years ago and hasn’t personally come to the aquarium even once. None of us have ever seen them, so the curator’s office has just been left unused.”
Luo Shengle felt that there had to be something more behind the short lifespans of successive curators. The “curse” her colleague mentioned offhandedly might very well be real and deeply connected to the Whale Bone Aquarium itself…
The current curator likely knew this, which was why they had never set foot here.
She understood the curator’s avoidance of the aquarium yet she still decided to find a way to contact them. After all, regarding the whereabouts of the whale bones, no one was likely to know more than the curator’s family.
Silently apologizing in her heart, Luo Shengle continued probing casually. “It sounds so mysterious… Is there really no one in the entire aquarium who can contact the curator? What if there’s a financial issue or some kind of emergency that needs to be reported?”
Although Luo Shengle asked many questions, she was naturally talkative to begin with, able to chat even with a stone. In her colleague’s eyes, she was simply a proactive, efficient and cheerful newcomer, albeit one with a bit too much curiosity.
As long as one could create value for the aquarium, they were a good employee.
Thus, her colleague didn’t mind her chattering and answered without suspicion. “Financial management still requires regular monthly contact with Mr. Jiang. It’s just that most ordinary staff don’t have access to that.”
A lead!
Luo Shengle’s eyes lit up. She lowered her head and pressed her lips together, forcing down the smile at the corner of her mouth. She casually brought up a few more topics, chatting a bit longer to deliberately dilute her colleague’s memory of the earlier conversation.
Gradually, her attention returned to the fish tank in front of her.
Surrounded by dense aquatic plants and pebble scenery, a large fish with vacant eyes hovered motionlessly in the water, only gently swishing its tail once in a while, looking far from lively.
Luo Shengle hadn’t paid it much attention at first. Just as she was about to look away, her gaze abruptly froze beside the fish’s gills.
There, next to its left gill, was an old scar about half a finger long, curved like a crescent moon. It looked like a high temperature burn mark, cutting across the sandpaper textured fish skin.
This scar…
In an instant, Luo Shengle felt as though she had fallen into an ice cellar. Her hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
That curved scar reflected in her constricting pupils, gradually overlapping perfectly with the scar on the left side of the man’s face in the half photograph found in the dormitory.
And the large fish, as if sensing her horrified gaze, slowly lifted its eyes, calm to the point of death and met Luo Shengle’s stare.
“This fish…”
Was transformed from a player…
Luo Shengle nearly lost her voice. She couldn’t imagine that if she too failed to clear the instance, she might be trapped in a narrow tank, completely degenerating into a fish that waited to be fed, stripped of all freedom…
By contrast, Yi Fengchu’s expression was far colder. He directed Luo Shengle who had been frightened out of her wits: 【Go to the finance office. There isn’t much time left for you.】
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Please distract the translator from abandoning everything with coffee. (ง •̀_•́)ง
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Mysterious letterChapter 2 · Divine MessagesChapter 3 · Gamer ForumChapter 4 · Invitation from GodChapter 5 · JudgeChapter 6 · TerminalChapter 7 · Destruction of recordsChapter 8 · Whale Bone Aquarium (1)Chapter 9 · Whale Bone Aquarium (2)Chapter 10 · Whale Bone Aquarium (3)Chapter 11 · Whale Bone Aquarium (4)Chapter 12 · Whale Bone Aquarium (5)Chapter 13 · Whale Bone Aquarium (6)Chapter 14 · Whale Bone Aquarium (7)Chapter 15 · Whale Bone Aquarium (8)Chapter 16 · Whale Bone Aquarium (9)Chapter 17 · Whale Bone Aquarium (10)Chapter 18 · Whale Bone Aquarium (11)Chapter 19 Part 1 · Whale Bone Aquarium (12)Chapter 19 Part 2 · Whale Bone Aquarium (12)Chapter 20 · Interlude: His ApostlesChapter 21 · Echoes in the pupa (1)Chapter 22 · Echoes in the pupa (2)Chapter 23 · Echoes in the Pupa (3)Chapter 24 · Echoes in the Pupa (4)Chapter 25 · Echoes in the Pupa (5)Chapter 26 · Echoes in the Pupa (6)Chapter 27 · Echoes in the Pupa (7)Chapter 28 · Echoes in the Pupa (8)Chapter 29 · Echoes in the Pupa (9)Chapter 30 · Echoes in the Pupa (10)Chapter 31 · Echoes in the Pupa (11)Chapter 32 · Echoes in the Pupa (12)Chapter 33 · Echoes in the Pupa (13)Chapter 34 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (1)Chapter 35 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (2)Chapter 36 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (3)Chapter 37 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (1)Chapter 38 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (2)Chapter 39 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (3)Chapter 40 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (4)Chapter 41 · Advertisement Coming Soon (1)Chapter 42 · Advertisement Coming Soon (2)Chapter 43 · Advertisement Coming Soon (3)Chapter 44 · Advertisement Coming Soon (4)Chapter 45 · Advertisement Coming Soon (5)Chapter 46 · Advertisement Coming Soon (6)Chapter 47 · Advertisement Coming Soon (7)Chapter 48 · Advertisement Coming Soon (8)Chapter 49 · Advertisement Coming Soon (9)Chapter 50 · Advertisement Coming Soon (10)Chapter 51 · Advertisement Coming Soon (11)Chapter 52 · Advertisement Coming Soon (12)Chapter 53 · Advertisement Coming Soon to EndChapter 54 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (1)Chapter 55 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (2)Chapter 56 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (3)Chapter 57 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (4)Chapter 58 · Childhood Ghost Stories (1)Chapter 59 · Childhood Ghost Stories (2)Chapter 60 · Childhood Ghost Stories (3)Chapter 61 · Childhood Ghost Stories (4)Chapter 62 · Childhood Ghost Stories (5)Chapter 63 · Childhood Ghost Stories (6)Chapter 64 · Childhood Ghost Stories (7)Chapter 65 · Childhood Ghost Stories (8)Chapter 66 · Childhood Ghost Stories (9)Chapter 67 · Childhood Ghost Stories (10)Chapter 68 · Childhood Ghost Stories (11)Chapter 69 · Childhood Ghost Stories (12)Chapter 70 · Childhood Ghost Stories (13)Chapter 71 · Childhood Ghost Stories (14)Chapter 72 · Childhood Ghost Stories (15)Chapter 73 · Childhood Ghost Stories (16)Chapter 74 · Childhood Ghost Stories (17)Chapter 75 · Childhood Ghost Stories (18)Chapter 76 · Childhood Ghost Stories (19)Chapter 77 · Childhood Ghost Stories (20)Chapter 78 · Childhood Ghost Stories (Complete)Chapter 79 · Interlude: His Kingdom (1)Chapter 80 · Interlude: His Kingdom (2)Chapter 81 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (1)Chapter 82 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (2)Chapter 83 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (3)Chapter 84 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (4)Chapter 85 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (5)Chapter 86 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (Complete)Chapter 87 · Fate casually rolls the dice (1)Chapter 88 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (2)Chapter 89 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (3)Chapter 90 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (4)Chapter 91 · Fate casually tosses the dice (5)Chapter 92 · Fate casually tosses the dice (6)Chapter 93 · Fate casually tosses the dice (7)Chapter 94 · Fate casually tosses the dice (8)Chapter 95 · Fate casually tosses the dice (9)Chapter 96 · Fate casually tosses the dice (10)Chapter 97 · Fate Casually tosses the dice (11)Chapter 98 · Fate casually tosses the dice (12)Chapter 99 · Fate casually tosses the dice (13)Chapter 100 · Fate casually tosses the dice (14)Chapter 101 · Fate casually tosses the dice (15)Chapter 102 · Fate casually tosses the dice (16)Chapter 103 · Fate casually tosses the dice (17)Chapter 104 · Fate casually tosses the dice (18)Chapter 105 · Fate casually tosses the dice (19)Chapter 106 · Fate casually tosses the dice (20)Chapter 107 · Fate casually tosses the dice (21)Chapter 108 · Fate casually tosses the dice (The End)Chapter 109 · Interlude