Chapter: Chapter 225
The inquiries to the crew on deck provided Leticia with some clues. Some of the crew members saw several burly men, who looked formidable, disembark from a small boat in the early morning. They headed straight for the captain’s cabin, and not long after, the captain ordered a change of course.
“So, the captain changed course because of these few burly men?” Leticia muttered to herself, feeling a sense of relief after listening to Annie’s report.
Several formidable-looking men boarded the ship and forced the captain to change course. It just didn’t seem right.
Could they have encountered pirates?
But if they encountered pirates, why didn’t they eliminate all the crew members and only forced the captain to change course?
“Miss Qianqian!”
Just as Leticia was frowning, contemplating whether to use some decisive means to ascertain the truth, a black shadow suddenly appeared beside her. It was Annie, whom Leticia had just sent away.
“You absolutely won’t believe what I saw. That captain really is suspicious!” she exclaimed excitedly. “I saw a few…”
“A few burly men with fierce faces who clearly looked like bad guys, right?” Leticia said, raising an eyebrow. This girl was too excitable. They were just a few burly men, what was there to be so flustered about?
“Huh? So Miss Qianqian, you already knew,” Annie said sheepishly, scratching her hair, having thought she had obtained exclusive information. “Those people are bad guys, aren’t they?”
Whether they were bad guys or not, how did Leticia know?
She hadn’t spoken to those burly men. Who knew what they were here for? Perhaps they simply wanted this fishing boat to leave?
When bad guys do bad things, they always make sure uninvolved people leave the scene, right? Leticia thought these burly men must have come to the fishing boat for this reason.
Following this line of thought, those bad guys were going to cause trouble in the waters where they had been the previous day. What kind of trouble would they cause? There were quite a few strange things in that area, weren’t there?
For example, that large fish with considerable intelligence and a rather beautiful appearance.
Ordinary seas would not have such mythical creatures. Leticia had no doubt that this large fish’s intelligence was influenced by something.
“Where did Bailin go?” She still needed someone to discuss this with, as she didn’t know how long it would take if she relied only on herself.
“Sister Bai should still be in her room, right?”
“Alright, I’ll go find her. You two don’t wander off. Just continue playing as you were before,” Leticia instructed them a few times before hurrying towards the cabin.
As soon as she was out of sight of the two, Dengli appeared in the shadows not far in front of Leticia. The heroic girl knelt on one knee and asked in a low voice, “Your Majesty, shall I go and eliminate those people directly?”
Only Dengli, one of the hidden guards Leticia brought along, had followed her onto the ship. Most of her energy was focused on ensuring Leticia’s safety, which prevented her from noticing the presence of strangers on the ship in time.
“No, we can’t determine their purpose yet. We’re here on vacation, after all. We can’t just eliminate people without any evidence,” Leticia sighed with a troubled expression.
If she were in the demon realm now, she would definitely capture everyone on the ship and interrogate them thoroughly. But she was in the human world now and couldn’t act on her every whim.
Of course, the most crucial factor was Bailin, the “restricter,” who prevented Leticia from acting as she pleased.
A large portion of the people on this ship were innocent. Leticia couldn’t capture everyone and interrogate them all. Even for those burly men who clearly looked like bad guys, Leticia had no evidence yet to prove they intended to harm her.
“Go keep an eye on those people and report to me immediately if there’s any unusual activity.”
“Understood.” Dengli immediately turned and merged into the darkness.
It was a shame she hadn’t brought other hidden guards on the ship. Just Dengli alone wasn’t enough.
Thinking this, Leticia walked to Bailin’s room and knocked on the door.
After knocking once, Bailin’s voice came from inside the room, “Come in, the door isn’t locked.”
Leticia pouted and opened the door, walking in.
“You have quite the status, not even coming to open the door for me.”
Bailin did not reply to Leticia. She was holding her star sword, her brow furrowed, and swirling nebulae surrounded her. This scene caused Leticia to adjust her expression to a serious one.
With such a grand display, she couldn’t be flippant.
“What are you doing? Cultivating?”
This time, Bailin finally reacted. She flicked her finger gently on the sword in her arms, and the beautiful long sword shattered into starlight. Then, she stood up, waved her sleeve, and dispersed the nebulae in the room.
After doing all this, she finally answered Leticia’s question, “I was just improving my perception.”
When entering a combat state, Bailin’s attributes would be greatly enhanced. She had just entered a combat state to gain perception abilities far beyond her normal state.
“Then why not just improve your perception directly? Is it necessary to create such a commotion?” Leticia questioned, confused.
Bailin’s face turned slightly red, and she explained with some embarrassment, “I don’t have enough control over my abilities. I can’t do such precise things like you.”
Bailin only had two states: normal and combat. Although her strength was not bad in her normal state, it was far inferior to her combat state.
Leticia, however, was different. Her state changes were continuous; she could increase it by 10% or 20%. Unlike Bailin, she could only adjust her output within the range of her combat state.
Furthermore, as Bailin had just mentioned, she couldn’t obtain the extraordinary perception abilities of her combat state in her daily state. To possess this ability, she had to enter her combat state.
Leticia, on the other hand, could use it whenever she wanted and turn it off just as easily, which was very convenient.
“You just have too much power and can’t control it. Never mind, why am I even talking to you about this? Did you discover anything?”
“There’s nothing noteworthy on the ship, but something seems to be brewing at the bottom of the sea not far from here.” Bailin pointed towards the sea area they had just left. “I can’t perceive it clearly because it’s too far away, but there’s definitely something over there.”
“That’s a useful clue. I’ll try it too. Is it in this direction?”
Her mental power penetrated the thick cabin walls and spread towards the distance.
Leticia closed her eyes, concentrating her attention, and tried her best to find even the slightest abnormality.
It was as if she heard a phantom song. After a moment of daze, a mountain-like black shadow appeared before her eyes.
What is this?
Leticia’s eyes widened. She wanted to see more clearly, but the scene before her was like an old-fashioned television with a blurry and jerky picture.
She examined the giant black object from top to bottom but still couldn’t discern what it was. However, she thought she saw a small blue light spot on the head of this dark object.
Her intuition told her that the blue thing was very important.
The moment this thought crossed her mind, the mountain-like black shadow actually moved. At this moment, Leticia realized that this black shadow was a living creature.
A living creature almost as large as a mountain.
A piercing buzzing sound made her ears temporarily lose their hearing. Leticia’s heart pounded. She felt like she had stumbled upon something formidable this time.
“You’ve attracted its attention.”
An unusually blurry and distorted voice sounded from behind Leticia. She turned her head and saw a blue mass appearing behind her.
Leticia didn’t know if it was due to her ears or if the voice of this mass was naturally like that, but there was one thing she was sure of: this blue mass was also no ordinary thing.
“Who are you? What is that thing?”
“I’m just a lonely spirit from an old era. That…” The blue mass answered Leticia’s question, but her trailing sentence seemed to be disturbed by something, making it impossible for Leticia to hear clearly.
The blue mass also noticed this and sighed, “Hurry and leave here. Even with your tenacious mental power, you can’t maintain your consciousness here for too long.”
“I…” Leticia still wanted to say something when her wrist suddenly felt a burning sensation.
Looking down, the golden chain tied to her wrist was emitting a dazzling light. At the same time, a thunderous voice exploded in her ears, and everything before her eyes shattered like broken glass.
“Ha…” The illusion faded, and Leticia, back in the real world, found herself being held in Bailin’s arms. She squirmed uneasily, only to realize her body had become incredibly heavy.
In such a short time, her mental power had been consumed so much that it had reached the verge of exhaustion?
What exactly was that thing in the illusion?
“Don’t move, you look very pale,” Bailin said, holding the restless Leticia tightly upon noticing she had woken up. “What did you encounter? Is it an enemy?”
“Perhaps, I can’t really figure out what that thing is, but I can be sure of one thing: if that thing is our enemy, we’re probably in for a lot of trouble this time,” Leticia said, lightly panting. Her mind was still a bit dizzy, and she could still hear faint whispers in her ears.
Her clothes were completely soaked in sweat, feeling sticky and uncomfortable.
“Get away, get away. I need to take a shower. I feel so sticky and uncomfortable,” Leticia said, gently pushing Bailin away. She wanted to break free from the girl’s warm embrace.
“Alright.” Bailin reluctantly let go of Leticia. She had wanted to hold her for a while longer.
But since Leticia had given such a reasonable excuse, it would be unreasonable for her to continue holding her. To avoid her favorability in Leticia’s eyes from dropping, Miss Bai felt she had to occasionally show her considerate side.
Leticia left the room, and after a short while, she returned to Miss Bai’s room wearing a new set of clothes.
A slight dampness still lingered on the girl; it seemed she had only quickly rinsed herself before rushing out.
“You didn’t wash clean enough?” Bailin leaned close to Leticia and asked, sniffing. Although she didn’t smell obvious sweat, there was also no scent of shower gel, only the faint, natural fragrance the girl carried.
Seeing Bailin approach like a puppy, Leticia helplessly raised her hand to block Bailin’s forehead as she tried to get closer. “Don’t think about these trivial things now. We need to discuss what we just saw.”
Once such a colossal creature woke up and started moving, even if it harbored no ill intentions, the impact would be immense. Moreover, that thing looked far from benign.
Leticia was almost certain that thing was a villain.
“I only vaguely sensed a very active energy source in the distance,” Miss Bai said, helping the still dizzy Leticia to sit on the bed, and relating what she had seen to Leticia.
Bailin only sensed an active energy source? Leticia sighed. “I saw much more…”
She recounted the giant black shadow and the mysterious blue humanoid figure she had seen to Bailin. As the dizziness in her head intensified, Leticia yawned and leaned softly against Bailin.
This jolted Bailin, who was still contemplating what Leticia had said. She instinctively reached out to support Leticia. “If you don’t feel well, rest for a while. Nothing will happen with me here.”
Leticia stubbornly shook her head. Now was not the time to rest. She couldn’t sleep without finding out what that giant black shadow was.
At this moment, she even began to retreat, contemplating whether to ask the captain to turn the ship back to shore, and then she would leave this troublesome place with everyone, regardless of anything.
No matter how powerful the sea monster was, it could only cause havoc in the sea. If she returned to the demon realm, even if the monster could destroy a city with a single slap, it would have nothing to do with her.
This wasn’t cowardice; it was a strategic retreat. She hadn’t prepared for battle on this outing. If she really had to fight, she would have to go back to the demon world and retrieve the Underworld Divine Staff.
“Shall we go back first? This place is too strange.”
Bailin didn’t think for too long. Leticia’s suggestion was precisely her current thought. “Okay, I’ll have the tour guide inform the captain about this right away.”
