Conquest Sea, shining white pearl.
In the morning, on the cloudy and vast sea, the huge cruise ship cut through the waves and sailed forward steadily. In the ship's spacious restaurant, wealthy gentlemen and Madams gathered, happily discussing the events that happened last night while having breakfast.
Last night was supposed to be the biggest highlight of this voyage, the public exhibition of the deep blue heart's first appearance. However, no one expected that the existence named Thief K would completely disrupt this grand event. Her act of publicly stealing the deep blue heart under everyone's watchful eyes turned the meticulously arranged venue of last night into her personal showground.
Thief K's stunning performance amazed almost all the audience present. From the venue of the party last night to the restaurant for breakfast this morning, passengers were eagerly discussing the topic of Thief K. Everyone showed great interest in this unique thief.
...
"Did you see it?! That Thief K from last night, she really appeared!"
"Incredible... I thought it was a prank, but I didn't expect it to be real. She actually stole the deep blue heart right under the noses of so many of us? Oh, Saint Father, this is absolutely insane."
"Stealing in such a public place, and stealing something so valuable, this is simply lawless! Utter recklessness!"
"Haha! Don't be so angry, old man, a thief who sends a Notice box beforehand and then performs a public theft, that's simply too interesting! This kind of behavior can be called romantic! To be honest, this is much better and more exciting than that boring gem exhibition! And did you see her? That Thief Miss's figure and face are absolutely top-notch! She's definitely a great beauty, and thinking about her elegant posture, oh... I can't help it, I feel like not only the deep blue heart was stolen, but my heart was stolen by her too!"
"Put away your incurable romantic notions, Faloro person! We are discussing a crime! That thief is a criminal, a criminal who needs to be severely punished!"
"Oh... come on, old man, we are not the police or Massimo, we don't need to worry about this kind of thing. I only know that this Thief Miss is absolutely amazing, I can't help it... I'll go back to my room in a while and sketch her appearance from last night. Then, I think many newspapers will be interested in my work after we get ashore."
...
Just like that, in the restaurant, passengers gathered everywhere eagerly discussing the topic of Thief K. They had never seen any thief so arrogant as to send a Notice box before stealing, announcing her arrival. More importantly, this announcement was ultimately fulfilled; the thief kept her promise, she publicly stole the deep blue heart right under everyone's noses.
This kind of performance-like and unconventional act, while shocking everyone, also sparked intense debate. Some people believed that this Thief K was a criminal infinitely worse than ordinary thieves, a reckless madman who deserved the harshest criticism. However, a considerable number of others believed that this Thief K, both in her actions and as a person, was full of charm. They were attracted by the boldness, wisdom, romance... and other qualities of Thief K, believing that her appearance elevated the original exhibition to a higher climax, making this voyage more exciting and interesting.
Although the audience's evaluations of Thief K varied, the Sea Abyss Church and others, as the original holders of the deep blue heart, only had hatred for Thief K. From the moment the deep blue heart was stolen, they were determined to get it back and immediately began to act.
That night, under Costa's command, the crew of the shining white pearl began to search everyone on the ship. The crew members knocked on the doors of passengers' rooms one by one, questioning everyone, mainly checking if anyone had injured arms or was carrying any unusual items. A small number of Black Earth Water Manipulators among these crew members also occasionally conducted simple Spirituality detection on suspicious search subjects.
By this morning, more than half of the ship's two thousand-odd people had been searched by the crew members. Now, from time to time, you can still see crew members standing guard solemnly in the corners of the restaurant and crew members questioning passengers. Although they have had no results so far, the entire search process is still ongoing.
"Uh... Miss Dorothy, these guys don't seem to have given up at all, they're still looking for people here, they've been searching all night..."
In a corner of the restaurant, Naifnis, dressed in casual clothes, was standing here holding a plate with cake, quietly speaking to Dorothy, who was holding milk beside her. Dorothy slowly took a sip of milk and then spoke slowly.
"Yes... their determination is also a bit beyond my expectation. Although that collector is a bit slow-witted, that Captain is not a fool."
Dorothy, after finishing her milk, looked at the crew members who were still carrying out orders before her, murmuring in a low voice with a serious expression. Originally, she planned to rely on the missing lifeboat to make Costa and Massimo on the ship believe that Thief K had already left the shining white pearl, but the result was that they didn't fall for it this time, insisting that Thief K was still on the ship and continuing the search here.
"What do we do now? Miss Dorothy, will they find us if they keep this up?" Naifnis asked Dorothy with a hint of unease, while Dorothy replied in a relaxed manner.
"No need to worry, Senior Nefelnis, with their current search intensity, they won't find us. What we need to pay attention to now is what action they will take once they can't find us."
Dorothy reassured Neff like this. Her words were correct; with the current search intensity of this group of Sea Abyss Church members, it was impossible to find them.
This group of Sea Abyss Church members were mainly looking for white-skinned women with injured arms, but Naifnis's injury was healed by the healing effect that came with the smoke at the time, and her makeup concealed her skin color. After the Soul Xu possession was lifted, her temperament underwent a drastic change. The only similarity between the current Neff and Thief K was her physique, which couldn't be accurately judged.
However, even for her physique, Neff had done some disguise. When she transformed into Thief K, her chest was wrapped to appear slightly smaller, and she wore high heels that made her look taller. The ability to maintain agile movements in such inconvenient attire undoubtedly required thanking Soul Xu's powerful agility and balance that surpassed humans.
Although the Extraordinary of the Wave Path, due to the assistance of the '"Lamp"', possessed supernatural vision and also had a Spirituality detection ability like the Hui Jian Lamp, the effect of this ability was not as strong as that of a true '"Lamp"' Extraordinary. Without the aid of talismans and items, even the Spirituality detection range of the two Chalk, Massimo and Costa, was less than ten meters, and this detection consumed a significant amount of their own Spirituality when activated.
On such a large ship with over two thousand seven hundred passengers, with Costa and their current detection capabilities, even if they conducted a rough Spirituality detection on every passenger, it would almost exhaust their '"Lamp"' Spirituality, not to mention that this rough detection was completely unable to break through Dorothy's '"Shadow"' barrier.
Facing so many passengers and such a large ship, the best search strategy for Costa and the others was actually divination, and they had already tried it. However, after only one attempt and discovering that they were counter-divined, they immediately gave up. They believed that the other party must be protected by a powerful counter-divination system and was a member of a large secret society.
'It's impossible for these guys to find me and Neff using conventional methods, but these guys are cultists, and they can do anything when pushed into a corner, so we must be wary of them pulling some nasty tricks.'
Dorothy thought to herself like this, then secretly controlled a small Corpse Puppet, intending to monitor Massimo and Costa more closely.
...
In the afternoon, on the aft deck of the shining white pearl.
By the railing at the stern of the shining white pearl, Massimo in a suit and Costa in a Captain's uniform were standing. Around them was a circle of crew members in uniform. One of the crew members was reporting to Massimo and Costa with a respectful expression.
"Two Mr.... We have conducted an initial inspection of the entire ship and all passengers, but unfortunately, we have not found any clues about that thief.
"We have checked the hands of everyone on board; there are no injuries from water arrows. We have conducted some Spirituality tests on women whose characteristics slightly matched the thief, but we found nothing. We are very sorry."
The sailor said apologetically to Massimo and Costa. After hearing the sailor's words, their expressions became heavier. Among them, Massimo spoke directly.
"Hmph... It seems as expected, that criminal is a "Shadow" Extraordinary. It appears the injury I left on her has been healed by some method. If she uses her Spirituality to conceal herself with all her might, facing the twelve hundred or so women on the entire ship, even if we use up all the "Lamp", we might not be able to find her."
Massimo said with a cold snort, while Costa, who was nearby, also spoke silently after listening.
"About a thousand women? Heh... I'm afraid it's not that simple. How are you sure that guy is a woman..."
Hearing Costa's words, Massimo, who was nearby, spoke with some surprise, while Costa continued solemnly.
"Don't be fooled by your eyes anymore. Haven't you figured it out yet, Massimo? Since that guy is a "Shadow" and has a certain degree of self-healing ability, and the smoke released by the item has both "Cup" and "Shadow" characteristics, this clearly points to the Blood Darkness Path within the "Shadow" pathway.
"If that guy is a Shadow Masked Man or even a Vampire, then what they look like is completely up to them. Extraordinaries on that branch pathway can easily disguise even their gender and age. The physical characteristics you saw are completely unreliable! It's not just the women on the ship, everyone is unreliable!"
Costa said sternly. Hearing Costa's words, Massimo suddenly realized something.
"Blood Darkness Path... Yes, why didn't I think of those Vampire Spider guys! Right... When I was checking the deep blue heart last night, I touched something furry on the deep blue heart, and then my hand suddenly became painful and numb, uncontrollably dropping the deep blue heart.
"Thinking about it now, that thing crawling on the deep blue heart seemed to be a spider! I must have been bitten by that strange spider. A spider that can bite me so painfully is not an ordinary thing. It must be a special breed cultivated by those Vampire Spider guys! Maybe it carried some poison!
"I said why that guy had anti-divination abilities. So, they are people from the Vampire Spider guys..."
Touching his right hand, Massimo said with a look of realization, seemingly convinced that he had accidentally dropped the deep blue heart last night because he was bitten by a poisonous spider cultivated by the Eight Point Nest.
In this era where electrical equipment was not widely popularized, it was difficult for ordinary people to come into close contact with electricity, so it was hard to experience what being electrocuted felt like. People of this era primarily came into contact with electricity in three ways. The first was the electricity from natural lightning, the second was the electricity from the telegraph office, and the third was static electricity in daily life.
The probability of being struck by natural lightning is very low. Ordinary people sending telegrams at the telegraph office do not come into contact with the equipment and will not be electrocuted. Therefore, the most commonly encountered electricity is static electricity. However, Massimo is a Sea Abyss Church follower, an Extraordinary of the Wave Path, and has long resided in coastal cities and islands. These places have higher humidity than the north, making it difficult to generate static electricity.
Therefore, Massimo, who had never been electrocuted before, could not understand what that feeling was after being electrocuted for the first time, and thus directly concluded that he had been bitten by an Eight-Pointed Nest spider.
"A spider that can bite you so painfully? Hmph... It seems to be a species with neurotoxins. If you dropped it because you were bitten by a spider, then there's even more basis to say that Thief K is from the Eight-Pointed Nest, it's just..."
As he spoke, Costa's brow furrowed. He then continued to speak slowly and solemnly.
"It's just... why would the Spider Queen's Foot suddenly interfere with our affairs? What is their motive? Didn't those guys mess up some plan not long ago and were almost driven out of Prit by the Despenser Royal Family and the Church? How do they have the free time to meddle in our business?! Why would they go to such lengths to provoke us?"
Costa muttered with confusion. If Thief K was really from the Eight-Pointed Nest, then the motive was very mysterious. Meanwhile, Massimo on the other side spoke directly.
"Don't worry about why anymore! With so many signs here, there's definitely a connection between this Thief K and those Vampire Spider guys! The Spider Queen is the God of Conspiracy. Although I don't know what those Spider guys are plotting all day, it's definitely nothing good!
"Our top priority now is to quickly catch that Spider K and get the deep blue heart back. As long as he is caught, everything else will be easy."
Massimo said as if it were a matter of course, while Costa spoke impatiently after listening.
"Of course, I know the key now is to catch him! But a Shadow Masked Man or a Vampire, hidden among over two thousand seven hundred people, how do you plan to catch them?"
"That's simple! Just kill them all! We gather everyone and kill them one by one. I don't believe that guy won't fight back when it's their turn!"
Pointing at the giant ship behind him, Massimo spoke, spitting saliva. His expression showed no ripple when he said these words, as if he was pointing at a flock of sheep.
Hearing Massimo's words, Costa paused slightly. After a moment of silence, he slowly began to speak.
"These people... are living sacrifices prepared for Haimo Hois. We don't know how many people we'd have to kill to get to that thief. If we kill too many people, and too few are offered to Haimo Hois... you and I cannot bear the consequences..."
Costa said slowly to Massimo with a serious expression, while Massimo swallowed a mouthful of saliva and then replied.
"If we can't find the deep blue heart, the ritual cannot be held at all, and Haimo Hois won't even get a single living sacrifice! At that time, the consequences we have to bear will be even greater!"
Massimo said this to Costa. Hearing Massimo's words, Costa also fell silent. After looking at the vast sea and the gray sky for a long time, he slowly began to speak again.
"Bins, where are we now?"
"Mr., according to the chart, we should be in the southwest waters of Sok Island now, about a day's voyage away from the designated waters." Next to Costa, a sailor answered respectfully. Hearing his words, Costa fell silent. Then, after making a certain judgment in his heart, he spoke again.
"Change course, sail west. We are going to White Tears Island."
"Yes!"
The sailor named Bins immediately turned and ran out after hearing Costa's words, preparing to go to the bridge to execute the order. Meanwhile, Massimo, who was nearby, couldn't help but say in surprise after hearing Costa's order.
"White Tears Island? Isn't that the temple presided over by Lord Sword Scale?"
"Yes... it's Lord Sword Scale's place. It's quite close from here. If we sail at full speed, we can get there in just over a day." Costa said this, with a hint of determination in his expression.
"There are many people there, and Lord Sword Scale has great methods. I don't believe this little thief can hide in front of him.
"Although going to White Tears Island to see Lord Sword Scale like this will inevitably involve reprimand and punishment... the sacrifices for Haimo Hois are indispensable. Compared to its anger, Lord Sword Scale's punishment is somewhat acceptable."