Aboard the cruise ship cutting through the waves, Dorothy stood on the aft deck, holding a plate of grilled fish. She was currently scanning her surroundings with a frown. When she sensed the extremely faint trace of "cup" drug remaining in the grilled fish, she immediately realized something was wrong and instantly heightened her vigilance towards her surroundings.
Huh... Miss Dorothy, don't you like fish? If you're not eating it, I can have it... I can't get any more over there..." Just then, Naifnis slowly walked up behind Dorothy. Holding a plate with only fish bones left, she couldn't help but say this upon seeing the grilled fish in Dorothy's hand, which was almost untouched. Her words were met with Dorothy's solemn gaze.
Don't eat yet, there's something wrong with this fish...
Huh... wrong? What's wrong!?
Listening to Dorothy's words, Naifnis showed a surprised expression, then said in a lowered voice. Dorothy, however, did not immediately respond to her directly.
Don't worry about that for now... Just remember not to eat that fish again...
Dorothy instructed this, and then she controlled several seagull Corpse Puppets that she had arranged to hide on the ship's roof as a precaution. She made them spread their wings and fly up into the sky, circle around, and then dive straight down into the crowd below, rushing into the people dining with grilled fish. They grabbed several grilled fish and flew towards the sky. The grilled fish on Dorothy's own plate was also included.
The crowd became chaotic when the seagulls snatched their food. After a burst of screams and noise, many tourists cursed at the flying seagulls. Of course, there was also some laughter mixed in. After a cry of surprise, Dorothy watched her grilled fish being taken by a seagull. In this way, she disposed of the fish in her hand without attracting any attention.
These grilled fish contain trace amounts of "cup" drug... Don't eat any more..." After controlling the seagull Corpse Puppets to deal with the grilled fish in her hand, Dorothy said to Naifnis in a stern tone. Neff was slightly startled after hearing Dorothy's words, and then quickly replied in a low voice.
"Cup"..."cup" drug? What is that? Is it harmful to the body after eating it? Will... will something happen to my body?
This is a highly addictive substance, often used by some "Cup" societies as a means of profit and controlling others. Regarding issues with the body... they only appear after long-term, large-dose consumption. The dose of "cup" drug in this fish is very weak; it should be far from enough to cause negative effects on the human body." Dorothy replied softly to Naifnis. Neff couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after hearing Dorothy's words.
Phew... I guess it's fine? That's good...
Even if it's fine, we can't let our guard down. The key now is, who added the "cup" drug to these dishes, and why give such a small dose to so many people? In short, from now on, we must be careful and cautious. There might be other Extraordinary individuals on this ship who are planning something." Dorothy continued to say to Naifnis with a serious expression. Hearing Dorothy's words, Neff couldn't help but swallow and nervously scanned her surroundings.
Other Extraordinary individuals planning something... Is this the same as what happened last time on the shining white pearl? Are there "Cup" followers who want to sacrifice all of us again? How did we run into this kind of thing so quickly...
Neff said nervously, while also complaining inwardly about why she encountered trouble so easily when following Dorothy. Dorothy, however, shook her head and replied.
The situation is still unclear for now... We can't make hasty judgments. In short, let's not act rashly, don't attract attention, don't touch that fish, just do what we're supposed to do, and we'll talk after we've gathered information...
Dorothy instructed Neff like this. Neff also nodded silently after hearing it, walked to the side, and continued doing her own things with a worried heart. On the other side, Dorothy began to quietly release her Corpse Puppets in unoccupied areas, starting to set up surveillance on the entire cruise ship using miniature Corpse Puppets.
Dorothy first focused her surveillance on the fishermen and the chefs who cooked the grilled fish, monitoring whether they added anything extra to the fish during their work. However, after half a day of surveillance, she found nothing. Neither the fishermen nor the chefs showed any abnormalities on the surface; Dorothy didn't see them adding anything to the fish.
Seeing this situation, Dorothy began to wait. She waited for the schools of fish gathered by the ship to disperse, for the fishermen to pack up their stalls, and for all the caught fish to be grilled and the chefs to pack up. Then, using miniature Corpse Puppets, she continued to follow these two groups of people. When they were resting, she used the miniature Corpse Puppets to quietly inspect their bait and seasonings, and even stole a little back for Dorothy herself to directly examine. However, she found that the bait was ordinary bait and the seasonings were ordinary seasonings, nothing special. This proved that it was not the fishermen or the chefs who added the substance to these fish.
After getting this result, Dorothy felt a little surprised. She hadn't expected that neither the chefs nor the fishermen were suspicious; they hadn't done anything else to the fish.
'Not the fishermen... or the chefs? Interesting... Then who exactly added this "cup" drug to the fish?'
After a brief moment of surprise, Dorothy quickly adjusted her strategy. While continuing to monitor the chefs and fishermen, she expanded the scope of surveillance to include all crew members, led by the Captain. Based on the experience from the previous time on the shining white pearl, if there are Extraordinary individuals plotting on a ship, the possibility of it being the crew is very high. As long as all crew members are monitored and their every move is closely watched, they will automatically expose themselves before long.
As a result, Dorothy immediately dispatched a large number of miniature Corpse Puppets, which began to spread throughout the ship using the ship's ventilation system. After finding the crew list in the Captain's cabin, she implemented real-time surveillance on all crew members, determined to find any suspicious points.
Just like that, Dorothy lay resting under a sunshade on the deck, while simultaneously paying attention to various corners inside the cruise ship, observing the actions of all crew members, from the Captain down to the stokers. As time gradually passed, Dorothy also got a comprehensive look at the complete operation methods of a cruise ship. By the time the sun approached the western sea, with the sunset reflecting on the surface, Dorothy had already learned how to manually operate the cruise ship. Now, even by herself, she could operate this cruise ship by controlling a group of Corpse Puppets and vividly replicate the full range of services.
For most of the afternoon, Dorothy learned how to operate the cruise ship, but she still couldn't figure out where the "cup" drug in the fish came from. Under Dorothy's surveillance, whether it was the chefs, the fishermen, the waiters, or the sailors, the entire crew, from top to bottom, was completely normal, without a single abnormality.
The Captain and the chief mate were confirming the route and inspecting the work. Waiters were fulfilling the passengers' various needs. Stokers were working diligently in the dim and dark cabins. None of the entire crew showed any abnormalities. In Dorothy's observation, they hadn't uttered a single word related to the occult for a considerable amount of time. Dorothy also didn't find any cult items in their cabins. They were just like ordinary people completely unrelated to the occult. This made Dorothy feel a bit troubled for a moment. Sitting on the chair, Dorothy couldn't help but frown and rub her temples.
'Hiss... These people have no abnormalities at all? Could it be that they are all just normal ordinary people? Then who put the "cup" drug on those fish?'
On the deck under the setting sun, Miss Dorothy rubbed her temples and fell into deep thought. After pondering for a while, a sudden inspiration struck her, and she realized a key point she had overlooked.
'Wait... why did the "cup" drug on those fish have to be put there by someone? What if... they had it on them originally?'
Suddenly, Miss Dorothy realized she had overlooked an important possibility: the fish themselves might carry the drug. Although Miss Dorothy found this possibility somewhat incredible, for the sake of being foolproof, she immediately controlled a Corpse Puppet to act, stealing a live fish that had been caught not long ago from the kitchen's water tank. A large number of fish were caught today, and not all of them were grilled. Some fish were kept by the fishermen themselves, while others were taken back by the chef to be raised, ready to make other styles of fish dishes for dinner. After all, it would be a waste to only make grilled fish with so many delicious fish.
By manipulating several humanoid Corpse Puppets to cooperate, Miss Dorothy successfully stole a fish from the kitchen and had the Corpse Puppets transport it to an unmanned storage room below the deck. Here, Miss Dorothy had the Corpse Puppet dissect the fish and use tools like the Hui Jian Lamp to confirm that this uncooked fish indeed contained a trace amount of the "cup" drug.
'As expected... the "cup" drug on these fish wasn't added after they were caught, but was already in their bodies before they were caught... No wonder the chef and the fishermen were fine...'
Seeing the dissection results, Miss Dorothy thought with understanding in her heart. Subsequently, a new question arose in her mind: why would these natural fish in the sea contain the "cup" drug?
After this question surfaced in Miss Dorothy's mind, a new idea immediately emerged in her heart. With this thought, she slowly stood up and walked to the side of the ship's rail to look at the surging seawater below. At this moment, the large schools of fish gathered near the ship had disappeared. Without the attraction of the fish schools, the onlookers who were originally by the ship's rail had also dispersed. The deck at this time was filled with more tourists enjoying the sunset over the sea, and the surroundings were completely peaceful and serene.
"Let's... wait a little longer before confirming..."
Looking at the scene before her, Miss Dorothy murmured, and then she also got up and started returning to her cabin.
...
Time flew by quickly. Soon, the sun completely set, and the sea welcomed the night. With the arrival of night, the tourists on the deck returned to their cabins one after another and began new entertainment in the entertainment rooms inside the cruise ship. At this moment, Miss Dorothy, who was resting in her room, also made her move.
Sitting on the bed in her room, Miss Dorothy controlled several bird corpse puppets she had prepared outside beforehand. They took flight in the dark night, flew to the side of the ship's rail, slowly descended, and flew below the ship's rail, alongside the cruise ship, maintaining the same forward speed. Under Miss Dorothy's control, the bird corpse puppets flew a few meters above the sea surface, close to the ship's hull. During the day, the swarming fish schools were located at this position of the ship.
Next, Miss Dorothy had the controlled Corpse Puppet birds interact with each other, having other birds peck open the small lantern held in the mouth of a large bird. Immediately, the dark surrounding sea area was illuminated by points of Light, allowing Miss Dorothy to see everything in that area more clearly.
Following the Light, Miss Dorothy used the Corpse Puppet's vision to observe the ship's hull around her. Looking at the steel wall above the surging waves, she carefully observed every corner there. Finally, she found a circular opening.
This was a circular opening with a small section of pipe extending out from the surroundings. On the edge of the opening, there were various black sticky Dirt, including black oil, vegetable leaves, and other things. It was clear that this was the cruise ship's sewage outlet, from which the ship's wastewater was discharged into the sea.
Seeing the sewage outlet, Miss Dorothy paused slightly, then controlled the Corpse Puppet birds to interact with each other, having the lamp held in the mouth of another large bird opened. This lamp had a soft orange glow. When it shone on the sewage outlet, some extremely subtle red light spots appeared under the illumination of the lamp. A red indicator also appeared on the orange lamp.
Indeed, the lamp Miss Dorothy used this time was the Hui Jian Lamp. Under high-power operation, it could illuminate extremely rare and subtle artificial Spirituality traces that Miss Dorothy could not even detect with her Spirituality vision. This was what was attached to the sewage outlet.
'Just as I thought...'
After seeing the traces on the sewage outlet, Miss Dorothy thought with understanding in her heart. She now had the answer to why the fish schools gathered at this position near the ship in the afternoon. This was not due to the normal reasons for gathering that Miss Dorothy had previously thought, but because there was something here that attracted those fish.
And the thing that attracted these fish was the sewage discharged from this sewage outlet. In this sewage, there was a large amount of rich "cup" drug. The fish schools gathered near the sewage outlet precisely because they were attracted by the "cup" drug substance. They eagerly devoured the "cup" drug components in the sewage. Due to the characteristics of the "cup" drug, it would be rapidly absorbed into the fish's bodies. Then these fish would be caught by fishing tourists and sent to the grill. After being grilled, these fish would be eaten by passengers, and the trace amount of "cup" drug components successfully stimulated the passengers' appetite.
"Fortunately, I didn't eat it back then..."
After clarifying where the "cup" drug in the fish came from, Miss Dorothy couldn't help but whisper thankfully. Then, she continued to analyze her new findings.
'These "cup" drugs are mixed in the ship's wastewater and discharged. This means that the owner of the "cup" drug seems to be disposing of it. The "cup" drug attracting fish schools and causing a fishing frenzy among tourists might just be an accidental phenomenon. Feeding the fish the "cup" drug might not have been the intention of the "cup" drug owner. This might be a coincidence, not a conspiracy...'
Miss Dorothy analyzed it this way. However, at this point, she did not intend to let down her guard. Before thoroughly clarifying the matter, she did not intend to stop. She still had to continue exploring the secrets of this ship.
Next, Miss Dorothy immediately withdrew the bird corpse puppets from the sea. After that, she rearranged the many miniature Corpse Puppets scattered throughout the ship, beginning to search and monitor multiple places that produce ship wastewater, such as the kitchen, laundry room, infirmary, restrooms, etc. During this time, Miss Dorothy also used a Finding Breath Seal to assist in the search. This Finding Breath Seal was kindly given by friends from the Ebergrass Church during the shining white pearl incident last time.
After a while, Miss Dorothy's new round of searching yielded results. In a restroom on the ship, Miss Dorothy sniffed a large area of residual blood with the Finding Breath Seal. Having experienced similar scenes, Miss Dorothy immediately concluded that someone had bled heavily in this restroom not long ago...
Perhaps... someone was killed here...