Chapter 128: The Sea of Wandering 21
The cruise ship floated motionlessly on the glass-like sea surface, as beautiful as a dream. At this moment, even the wind ceased. The vortex vanished, leaving only the Milky Way shimmering brightly at the bottom of the sea. Myriads of stars clustered around the crystal-clear pupil in the very center of the galaxy. Water and sky met; the world had never appeared so clearly as a “sphere” before. At a glance, there was no seam between stars and sea, nor any end.
It was beautiful, but when too many beautiful things piled up, it sometimes became a form of mental pollution—especially since the “beauty” here wasn’t based on reality but was entirely an artificial product. The colors of the firmament were slowly changing. Golden-pink cloud wisps flowed out from the galaxy, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, like those AI phone wallpapers that were popular for a while. Yi Ke leaned against the ship’s rail, frowning slightly as he watched all this. The damp sea breeze wrapped around him, bringing an indescribably sticky feeling, or rather, an oily film sensation. Taking a few more breaths, it felt as if his respiratory tract and his entire being were enveloped.
The near-vacuum silence and the gently swaying world could induce dizziness in travelers just as much as a violent storm. In fact, the former carried an eerie chill of damp oily mist invading pores, even more so than the latter. Qing Gang put a hand on Yi Ke’s shoulder, followed his gaze to the sky, and reminded him: “Be careful. Although there’s no mental pollution on the sea surface, looking at these anti-natural scenes too much will still affect your brain nerves.”
Yi Ke gave a perfunctory acknowledgement, but his gaze didn’t shift. It remained on the cloud wisps, or rather, on those thin thread-like objects amidst the clouds, which looked somewhat familiar.
Before he could figure out what exactly they were, Zhuang Ningyu had already changed into a diving suit and walked out of the cabin. Zhong Mu stepped forward to fasten the safety rope. As the metal buckles clinked, Yi Ke’s train of thought was disrupted, and he blurted out: “Wait a moment!”
Zhuang Ningyu continued checking the safety rope before moving the diving goggles to his forehead, turning to look at Yi Ke: “New discovery?”
The other team members tactfully looked in all directions. Xiao Yi’s worry was obvious, and Captain Zhuang’s hint of “only accepting work-related information” was also clear. Balancing work on the left hand and love on the right was indeed hard to control. Maybe we should go back to the cabin for a bit?
Yi Ke didn’t speak but turned his head to look at the sky again. Perhaps to prevent Zhuang Ningyu from jumping down before he reached a conclusion, he specifically grabbed and tightened the other end of the safety rope. Zhuang Ningyu looked at the “tug-of-war rope” taut between them, finding the action both amusing and exasperating. He simply undid the buckle proactively, walked over, and said, “Take your time looking, don’t rush. I’ll wait for you.”
Other team members: Wow, Captain Zhuang didn’t get angry at having his work interrupted.
Nine words calmed Yi Ke’s slightly anxious heart completely. He clasped his lover’s hand, steadied himself, and looked back up high. The flow speed of those cloud wisps was irregular—fast then slow, dispersing at times—plus the flickering galaxy caused great interference to the observer’s vision. The distribution of thin threads varied in thickness and presence. Yi Ke closed his eyes, moving his sore eyeballs. Before he opened them again, he suddenly felt a slight vibration under his feet. The originally calm glass sea rippled, as if… the world was gently rotated.
When he looked up again, those thin threads were indeed gone. The cloud rings remained, the stars remained; only those threads vanished.
Zhuang Ningyu could feel the hand holding his tighten abruptly. With that tightening, his suspended heart actually relaxed for a moment. Full understanding of his lover allowed their thinking to be basically synchronized, so he turned his head and asked: “Found it?”
Yi Ke gave an “Mmh,” his gaze sweeping across the entire sky, finally finding those thin threads in another direction.
So, the world really rotated a bit.
Rotated by the “Prophet” outside this world.
Those thin threads were the Prophet’s fingerprints left on the crystal ball.
“Fingerprints?” After hearing Yi Ke’s words, everyone looked at the sky. Once there was a reference, it was easy to find the pattern. They were indeed fingerprints; one could even identify the loop pattern in the center.
Qing Gang rubbed his arm where goosebumps stood up, confirming in disbelief: “So where we are now is actually inside a crystal ball?”
“Yes.” Zhuang Ningyu looked up at the fingerprints still rotating in the sky. “We need to let Captain Ye replace the ‘Prophet’ outside the crystal ball and take over the ‘Eye of Destiny’.”
The ship was currently in the center of the sea area, very close to the glowing round sphere. From this angle, one could see countless spiderweb-like semi-transparent threads floating around the sphere, extending in all directions. Alice sought confirmation: “If the whole world is a giant crystal ball, then what is this crystal ball we can see?”
“It’s the core of this world, similar to a ‘master brain’,” Yi Ke said. “It’s beating, so it’s alive. The spiderwebs are equivalent to blood vessels, connecting to the external ‘Prophet’.”
In the vast majority of Rule Zones, the master brain equaled the source of mental pollution. Zhuang Ningyu felt the problem becoming tricky because if he forcibly purified the mental pollution of this world, it would equate to destroying the master brain, and the Prophet would lose the control path to the crystal ball. Ye Jiaoyue also understood this. To control the crystal ball, she must occupy the master brain’s position and become the new core of the world. She said, “I’ll try again.”
“We can also give up on this item card,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “No need to take the risk.”
“Okay. When I can’t hold on, I’ll give up.” Ye Jiaoyue took the oxygen mask from him, steadied herself by the ship’s rail, and without any hesitation, leaped into the sea again!
Cold water enveloped her once more. Outside the diving goggles, the world was brilliant. The gem kingdom remained. The purification wristband flashed alarms frantically, but deep in her brain surged a comfort completely opposite to the warning, a comfort never felt before. It was as if giant hands stroked her body, trying to take the person wrapped in the palms sinking deeper and deeper, to drown forever in this illusory paradise.
Ye Jiaoyue clenched her fists. The pre-worn interdigital thorns dug deep into her flesh. She needed the stinging pain from the electric current to stay awake so she could continue paddling towards the light point representing the master brain. As she dived gradually, muffled water sounds like thunder came from outside the mask, like a heavy hammer constantly hitting her eardrums! Ye Jiaoyue gritted her teeth, swam with all her might again, and finally, before her consciousness scattered, successfully grabbed a large handful of “spiderwebs,” tearing them forcefully from the master brain!
The originally red-flashing sea surface turned yellow for three seconds, representing a decrease in the mental pollution concentration monitored by the wristband. Ye Jiaoyue also recovered a trace of hearing in her nearly deafened eardrums amidst severe pain. As those broken spiderwebs actively adhered to her body, the “Prophet” outside the world possessed two “master brains”—the original spherical master brain and the current Ye Jiaoyue.
After the first success, Ye Jiaoyue’s paddling speed noticeably increased. The deeper she dived, the stronger the water pressure on her chest. She slowed her breathing systematically, like a pearl diver in the deep sea, flexibly moving her fins, and tore off another handful of new “spiderwebs”!
“Splash!” The seawater suddenly agitated violently without warning!
Huge waves hit the ship, nearly capsizing it. Ye Jiaoyue was caught off guard and thrown out of the sea, then fell back heavily! The originally faint fingerprints on the sky became exceptionally clear and deep in an instant—the “Prophet” sensed danger and was currently shaking the crystal ball frantically!
The sailor skeletons were caught off guard; within seconds, they were shaken into fragmented bone sticks, washed everywhere by giant waves. Yi Ke pressed his back against the mast, quickly raised the laser gun, aiming at the fingerprint embedded in the sky. As the trigger was pulled, red light cut through the galaxy, cracks running east to west. The fingerprint suddenly faded, the crystal ball slipped from the hand, and the world bounced a few times in place before rolling away!
For a moment, seawater turned into rain, the sky hid into the earth’s core. The ship slid through a 360-degree loop in the air like a roller coaster. The hull was first filled with seawater, then emptied upside down. Zhuang Ningyu and Yi Ke tightly grasped the ship’s rail with one hand, ignoring their suspended bodies. Each grabbed one side of Ye Jiaoyue, who happened to be washed over by waves, and then with the next giant wave, they leveraged force together to push her further into the depths of the sea!
Her body, washed and engulfed by seawater, spun rapidly like a top. Thousands of spiderwebs were torn by her roots and wrapped around her waist like a belt. With the detachment of spiderwebs, the light of the master brain dimmed rapidly until it finally shrank into a shriveled core.
When the vortex dispersed, Ye Jiaoyue, wrapped in shimmering fine threads, hovered quietly in the center of the sea. The Prophet had a new master brain, or rather, the new master brain became the new Prophet.
The starry sky dispersed, cloud rings vanished. The Tranquil Sea fell apart in an instant. After a few seconds of mosaic, it turned into the pitch-black sea just like the outside world.
Bone sticks searched for their lost parts on the sea surface, restoring to their original state with “click-clack” sounds.
Ye Jiaoyue climbed up the gangway dripping wet and sat on the deck. She tore off her gear, raised her head panting, scanned all team members with her gaze, then raised an eyebrow and lifted her hand to show the item card between her fingers. Accompanied by Qing Gang’s howl, warm applause erupted on the scene, with colleagues from the Capital team being particularly excited and emotionally expressive—perhaps influenced by the Jincheng team for too long; he who touches pitch shall be defiled indeed.
The Prophet who obtained the crystal ball possessed the authority to touch the future. Skill cooldown: 48 hours. That meant Ye Jiaoyue could use [Eye of Destiny] once every two days to peek into the fate of anyone in the kingdom.
“The ultimate fate?” Zhong Mu asked.
“No, a certain event that will happen at a certain node.” Ye Jiaoyue stood up with the item card. “Whose first?”
“Fu Dong.” Everyone said in unison.
A few seconds later, four lines of golden writing appeared on the item card—
“The King’s body is cold and stiff,
Blood meanders from the forehead,
Dignity gone,
Only unbridled mockery remains!”
Qing Gang’s expression turned from playful to grave: “This…”
Other team members also frowned. This looked like a scene after the King’s death. Ye Jiaoyue hadn’t expected to pull out such a passage either. Could Fu Dong die in the Rule Zone?
“Captain Ye, Captain Zhuang!” Before everyone could figure out if “body cold and stiff” had a second layer of meaning, a team member responsible for guarding the Fu couple inside the cabin rushed out. Seeing this, Qing Gang asked in horror: “Did he die immediately after the prophecy came out?”
“What prophecy?” The colleague had stayed in the inner cabin and didn’t know about outside matters. However, Fu Dong was indeed almost dead. When the violent turbulence hit just now, although team members provided timely protection and quickly put life jackets on both, Fu Dong was still thrown into the air during the struggle. First a 360-degree flip, followed by a “five-body prostration” landing. His head was scraped, face covered in blood, and he fainted cold. Song Qiaowei was slightly better than her husband; currently just too dizzy to stand steady, but didn’t fall over.
Zhuang Ningyu asked: “Did you mock him unbridledly?”
The team member cried injustice: “No!”
Zhuang Ningyu: “Tell the truth, won’t deduct your quality points.”
“Truthfully no, but,” the team member cleared his throat and lowered his voice, “does feeling deep down that Fu Dong lying there dead-like is kinda funny count? Without laughing out loud.”
Zhuang Ningyu: “Well…”
Hard to judge. Mockery was there, but not outwardly expressive. Maybe… couldn’t be called unbridled?
Ye Jiaoyue took two team members to check on Fu Dong. Zhuang Ningyu and Yi Ke weren’t medical personnel, so they didn’t join in and returned to the cabin together. After the turbulence just now, the room was a mess. Yi Ke picked up a small chair lying on the floor, wiped it clean, and put his wife on it: “Sit, I’ll do the work.”
Zhuang Ningyu grabbed his wrist: “Wait, haven’t praised you today.”
Yi Ke smiled, squatting in front of him, holding his hand against his cheek: “Ready. What are you praising me for?”
“Praising you for discovering the secret of the Tranquil Sea,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Helped us get a very important item card smoothly.”
“And?” Yi Ke nudged forward, humming and asking, “That’s it?”
Zhuang Ningyu pursed his lips: “Mmh, that’s it.”
“Wifey!”
“Go work.”
“No!”
Yi Ke wrapped one arm around his waist, palm supporting the back of his head, and kissed him involuntarily. The small stool, forced to support the weight of two adult males, made a harsh noise. In the next moment, unable to bear the burden, it went “splat,” four legs splaying in four directions. Zhuang Ningyu landed on his butt. Before he could support himself to stand up, Yi Ke grabbed his waist again, lifted him up and pushed him back. His back firmly pressed against the sofa, nowhere to escape, only crossing hands in front of his chest in a useless defensive posture: “Okay okay I… Hey!”
Yi Ke, when slightly sulking like this, was indeed like a puppy pouncing and biting everywhere—strong and disobedient. He knelt with legs apart beside his lover, confining him firmly in a small space with his body, looking down from above not letting him move. Zhuang Ningyu tilted his head back, elbows supporting on the sofa, upper body leaning back, looking at him with smiling eyes.
“You’re still laughing.” Yi Ke didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, wanting to teach a lesson but reluctant, finally just leaning down to hug him.
Zhuang Ningyu rested his chin on his shoulder, rubbing for a while before speaking: “I trust your work ability unconditionally. So next time if you have new discoveries, just tell me to wait, and I will wait. You don’t need to rush, nor have any worries. It doesn’t matter if the judgment is wrong; it’s normal.”
Yi Ke gave an “Mmh,” his voice soft: “I know, I just… okay, love you wifey, I’ll pay attention next time.”
Zhuang Ningyu patted his back: “You saved me from mental pollution once. What reward do you want?”
Yi Ke refused to accept a reward, which greatly exceeded Zhuang Ningyu’s expectations. But Yi Ke insisted because he felt protecting his wife from mental pollution was his basic responsibility. Asking for remuneration for this would violate the “Ethics of Virtue for Good Husbands” and was absolutely unforgivable!
Zhuang Ningyu was dizzy with terms: “What ethics?”
Yi Ke sat on his lap, repeating word by word: “Ethics of Virtue for Good Husbands”, created by me, mainly referencing Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics”. Do you want to hear it?
Zhuang Ningyu shook his head immediately. Not listening. He was afraid the other party would make up a corresponding “Ethics of Virtue for Good Wives” for him after listening. Get up if you don’t want a reward; you’re too heavy, my legs are numb.
Yi Ke didn’t get up but kissed his forehead: “By the way, those rewards you’re thinking of aren’t called rewards; they’re called normal married life.”
Zhuang Ningyu paused: “Are you sure?”
Yi Ke squeezed his face with both hands, saying seriously: “I’m sure. Wifey, your act of unbuttoning two buttons of your yellow banana pajamas and drilling into my arms really isn’t called a reward.”
Got it. Zhuang Ningyu: “Get lost.”
Yi Ke smiled and dodged his hand, picking him up to stand. Although Zhuang Ningyu felt it was preposterous—how did it not count as a reward—he didn’t make him work out of anger. He waved to summon a group of sailor skeletons. Free labor, use it or lose it.
The sailor skeletons were highly efficient, carrying brooms and buckets working with “heave-ho.” Not only did they clean up rooms 102 and 101, but they also tidied up other rooms on the ship. Pointy fingers nimbly poked washing machines and dryers. Since dryer cycles were too long, they simply strung up clotheslines on the deck. Fu Dong just woke up, opened his eyes to see a skeleton walking in his room with a floral washbasin. Like a mental pollution hallucination, he almost fainted again.
Du Bai opened the door, taking neatly folded clothes from the skeleton’s hand—smooth, dry, and emitting the fresh scent of laundry detergent. Tears fell.
What kind of peerless good skeleton is this!
Developing feelings here.
