VAP - Chapter 173
Chapter 173: The Ruler in the Endless Deep Darkness (6)
“For someone to die only on the third day, that’s already not bad,” Gao Yin said on the way to the restaurant. “They were dealt with by the NPCs because they didn’t follow the instance’s instructions. We’ll be fine as long as we’re careful. Don’t be nervous.”
Yue Du knew her teammate was comforting her. After all, the way that young couple had died was truly gruesome.
“I’m fine.”
Gao Yin studied her for a few more moments, and only relaxed after confirming that Yue Du wasn’t showing the typical extreme reaction of a newcomer.
In the distance, they saw a figure in a black uniform standing at the restaurant entrance. It was the captain of the Pilgrim, Conrad Green.
He strode over to greet them, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes smoothing out as he smiled and said, “Welcome, young ladies.”
He spoke fluent Chinese.
“Hello, Mr. Green.” Yue Du nodded. As the captain’s gaze shifted away, she shot her teammate an inquisitive look.
Gao Yin shook her head slightly, which meant her spiritual senses hadn’t picked up anything yet.
The two followed the captain into a private room, where someone at the table looked up and said leisurely, “Good evening, you two.”
“Good evening, Miss Einser.” Yue Du paused, then turned to the little girl sitting beside Einser. “Hello there, little Aiona.”
“You call her ‘little Aiona,’ but you’re so formal with me. Don’t you think you’re being a little biased?” Einser sighed. She had changed into another formal dress today, black like the previous two days. “Just call me by my name.”
Yue Du readily complied. “Alright, Einser.”
Einser’s expression seemed quite satisfied.
Her sister rocked back and forth slightly in her seat, her eyes blinking as she watched Yue Du. She only settled down after Yue Du sat beside her, then began trying to scoot her chair closer.
There were six people present: the captain, a young man with brown skin, the Naiyin sisters, Gao Yin, and Yue Du.
A waiter standing nearby asked what the diners would like to drink. Yue Du ordered a glass of fruit juice, and then heard Aiona next to her choose wine.
“You’re too young to be drinking,” Yue Du stopped her instinctively.
Aiona: “Why?”
Einser: “It’s fine, don’t mind her.”
The two voices spoke at the same time. Facing the two similar faces, one large and one small, Yue Du felt a deep headache coming on.
Seeing her silence, the little girl instantly shed the bratty attitude from their first meeting and said obediently, “If sister says it’s not good, then I won’t drink it.” She ordered the same fruit juice as Yue Du.
She’s quite obedient, Yue Du thought.
After they ordered their food, the captain glanced at Einser, clapped his hands, and smiled gracefully. “Ladies, and this little miss, please allow me to introduce my closest assistant and partner, the first mate of the Pilgrim, Collins.”
The young, brown-skinned man grinned. “That’s me. Thanks for coming, otherwise I’d be stuck eating a work meal alone on the deck tonight.”
The captain teased, “Is that so? Your standards for a work meal must be quite high, then.”
The first mate laughed and heartily recommended the guests try the restaurant’s beef in white sauce and crêpes, swearing that those two dishes alone would make the trip worthwhile.
The two men were very skilled at making the atmosphere relaxed and natural, like old friends reuniting, making it hard for anyone to be on guard. Even Gao Yin was drawn into saying a few more words.
Yue Du shot Gao Yin a look.
At that moment, the group was chatting about things they’d seen at sea. The captain mentioned that he had once seen a dense swarm of moon jellyfish in a certain sea region, describing how mysteriously and movingly they floated on the water’s surface like pale green ribbons.
Gao Yin seized the opportunity. “Speaking of which, I also dreamed of a group of jellyfish last night.”
“What kind of jellyfish?”
“They were very beautiful, but also very strange. They were huge, and they crawled out of the sea onto the deck. Everywhere their tentacles touched turned black, and it seemed like they had eyes growing on their bells.”
Gao Yin paused deliberately here. A faint light flickered in the captain’s eyes as he pressed, “And then?”
“Then the sky went dark, and I couldn’t see anything. But I could still feel them roaming the ship. Something was making a sticky, squirming sound… and maybe it was mixed with the low voices of many people talking. But I couldn’t understand what they were saying. The feeling was so real.”
Gao Yin appropriately displayed an expression that was a mixture of dazed confusion and fear.
“That’s very interesting,” the captain mused.
Yue Du inwardly praised her teammate’s acting skills, but said aloud, “Don’t worry too much about it. It was just a dream.”
“Yeah, just a dream. But I can’t shake the feeling that the voices were calling to me,” Gao Yin said in a low voice.
The topic quickly passed. On the surface, the captain didn’t seem to pay special attention to Gao Yin’s strange state, but he later casually asked about her profession and some of her hobbies.
After receiving the reply, “I’m in design, and I usually like to read and write things,” he nodded thoughtfully.
At this point, it was basically clear that Captain Green was connected to the evil god’s cultists and was very likely one of them. However, the impact of the dream Gao Yin described was far less than Yue Du had expected.
Perhaps it was because there was someone here who attracted him more.
During the small talk, the captain gradually steered the conversation toward Einser Naiyin, making no secret of his interest in the painter.
This interest wasn’t the usual attention a man pays to a beautiful woman, but a more indescribable mix of emotions: anticipation, yearning, fascination, and caution.
During a lull as the food was being served, the captain said in a calm voice, “In fact, this dinner is a dream come true for me. Miss Einser, you are the artist I admire most. Every time I see your work, it makes my friends and me tremble from the bottom of our hearts.”
The first mate winked. “Yeah, he even has one of your paintings in his collection. He’s always making us admire it with him. Heaven knows I don’t have an artistic bone in my body. Of course, your paintings are really interesting.”
Einser’s reaction was flat. “Oh.”
The captain didn’t mind her indifference and continued with great enthusiasm, “As Collins said, I was fortunate enough to acquire one of your works. It’s hanging in my room. Do you remember it? It’s called Eye.”
“That one isn’t very good,” Einser said, her interest clearly lacking.
Obvious disapproval showed on the captain’s face. He said, “Perhaps you’re just being modest. Eye is the best painting I have ever seen. I’m very curious, under what circumstances did you create it?”
“I painted it by looking at an eye.”
Her perfunctory reply was plain to see.
But the captain’s eyes grew even brighter, and the first mate’s expression also seemed a bit off.
After the meal, the first mate returned to his post, while the guests were led by the captain on a tour of the captain’s quarters.
It wasn’t until she saw the work titled Eye with her own eyes that Yue Du understood why the captain valued the painting so much.
On the room’s gray wall, Eye took up a space about half the size of a ping-pong table. The center of the canvas showed only a small patch of pale facial skin with an eye set in it, its edges fading into deep darkness.
At first glance, the eye looked like an ordinary human eye, exquisitely rendered, with every detail interpreting the concept of “beauty.” But upon closer inspection, one could detect an indescribable sense of wrongness. A human eye—or for that matter, the eye of any known creature—could never look like that.
The part resembling a pupil wasn’t black, but an unknowable void that threatened to drag the viewer into a vortex of blindness and chaos.
How was such a strange color mixed? How could anyone possibly mix it?
Yue Du’s eyes widened involuntarily. Beside her, Gao Yin was already trembling violently, her carefully rounded nails digging into her palms.
“Yue Du.”
Ah Jiu’s voice brought Yue Du back to her senses. She shuddered, subconsciously maintaining a blank, dazed expression, before saying to the system in her mind, “Thanks.”
Ah Jiu sighed. “You never have to thank me.”
The words were so gentle they stirred something in Yue Du’s heart, but just then, someone spoke.
Captain Green paid no mind to their loss of composure, especially Gao Yin’s. He probably thought no one could remain clear-headed upon seeing the painting for the first time. He focused only on Einser, saying loudly, “Do you see? Everyone trembles before it! How could you possibly think—”
As he spoke, he turned to look at the Naiyin sisters, and his excited words came to an abrupt halt. His eyebrows twitched comically.
To the left, Einser was intently observing Yue Du’s expression, looking very much like a feline that had just found something interesting. To the right, Aiona was gently shaking Yue Du’s finger, asking softly, “Sister, your face is all pale. Are you not feeling well?”
Neither of the sisters was listening to him.
The captain said woodenly, “Don’t you find it stunning?”
Einser: “If you recall, I’m the one who painted it.”
The captain looked at Aiona in disbelief.
Einser: “She watched me paint it.”
“Eye has been in my possession for six years!”
“Obviously, she watched me paint it from her crib.”
Captain: “…”
Seeing that both sides were temporarily speechless, Yue Du discreetly nudged Gao Yin, who shuddered and also came to her senses.
They exchanged a look, each seeing the gravity in the other’s eyes. What could make someone nearly lose control just by looking at a painted eye, if not the eye of the evil god itself?
Then Einser, who was able to paint the eye of an evil god, what exactly was she…?
“Sister, crouch down.”
Hearing Aiona’s voice, Yue Du did as she was told. The little girl raised her hand and meticulously wiped the cold sweat from Yue Du’s forehead with a silk handkerchief.
“Thank you.”
“If sister still feels unwell, I have some candy.”
Yue Du couldn’t help but smile. “I’m not unwell. I was just captivated. Your sister’s work is truly stunning.”
Aiona: “Oh?”
She slowly put away the silk handkerchief.
Yue Du smiled at Einser again before turning to survey the captain’s quarters. The moment they had entered, their attention had been completely captured by Eye. Only now did she have the presence of mind to observe the room’s other furnishings.
Unsurprisingly, the room was dimly lit. The walls and ceiling were painted a cloudy gray, and the furnishings could be described as simple. Einser’s painting was the only decoration.
“My apologies, I lost my composure.”
The captain stood to one side, took two deep breaths to shake off his frustration, and resumed his suave demeanor, introducing the room’s furnishings to his guests. His tone was no different from how it had been at the dinner table. He seemed to no longer be paying special attention to Einser; when he did happen to look at her, his gaze was even a little cold.
Yue Du’s gaze swept over the captain’s quarters like a searchlight. The room was tidy, with almost no unusual items in plain sight, except for a black robe hanging on a coat rack by the bed.
“That’s a cool outfit,” Yue Du said. “Is it a prop for playing some kind of fantasy character?”
“Yes, we occasionally hold costume parties on the ship. I dress up as a cloaked dark wizard then. A Halloween staple, you know.”
The captain lied without batting an eye. If you brought in an unsuspecting tourist, they would never guess that the robe’s true purpose was for worshipping an evil god.
When the tour was over, the captain saw them to the elevator. “I sincerely hope you enjoy every day aboard the Pilgrim,” he said.
Nice words, but how about you don’t hold any sacrificial rituals? Yue Du grumbled inwardly. Noticing the captain had stepped behind them, she immediately and discreetly looked at the reflection in the elevator doors.
She saw the captain staring intently at the Naiyin sisters, his lips moving slightly as if he were chanting something. After a few seconds, he stopped, and the curve of his smile widened.
Ding. The elevator doors opened.
Yue Du temporarily suppressed her thoughts and bid the captain a polite farewell. The group entered the elevator, and the captain’s smiling face was gradually obscured by the closing doors.
As the elevator ascended, Gao Yin finally let out a sigh of relief. It was a bit obvious, and Einser shot her a faint glance.
“The captain is such a gentleman. Standing with him, you can’t help but worry about your own posture and manners. It’s quite tiring,” Yue Du said, trying to cover for her.
Gao Yin also realized she had relaxed too soon and quickly chimed in, “Yeah, I can finally breathe a little.”
Einser chuckled softly. “Him, a gentleman?”
Yue Du: “You don’t think so?”
Einser: “I don’t.”
Aiona: “Anyone who can appreciate Einser’s kind of painting can’t be a good person.” As she spoke, she mimicked the captain’s exaggerated posture when he was questioning them loudly, spreading her arms wide. “‘This masterpiece makes us tremble!’”
“Shut up,” her sister said.
Gao Yin was amused by the little girl’s exaggerated imitation and laughed.
Yue Du didn’t say much as they walked through the corridor back to their rooms. Just as the Naiyin sisters were about to go inside, she called out, “Einser.”
“Hm?”
“Maybe little Aiona is right. My friend and I were so nervous, perhaps because the feeling the captain gave me wasn’t entirely positive.” Yue Du paused. “He seems very interested in you and Aiona. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but please be careful. Don’t let Aiona run around by herself anymore.”
Einser let out a low laugh. “Are you concerned about me?”
Without hesitation, Yue Du said seriously, “Yes.”
The answer seemed to be outside the young painter’s expectations. She was stunned for a second before saying, as if troubled, “Don’t talk to other people like that next time.”
It’s too cute. It makes people want to tease you even more.
Before Yue Du could figure out what she meant, Einser took a step back into her room. “I’ll be careful. Thanks for the warning. Sweet dreams tonight.”
She smiled as she shut the door, closing herself and a protesting Aiona, who wanted to keep talking to Yue Du, inside.
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