Chapter 675: Chapter 673: Ashes_1 Chapter 675: Chapter 673: Ashes_1 “Taking a ship would take at least a full day, wouldn’t it be too slow?”
As soon as it was confirmed that Fu Qian was indeed heading for Ye Island, Su Gao seriously began to consider the travel arrangements.
It was clear that she had not forgotten the purpose of her visit, with her Hunter talent naturally kicking in.
“Relax, I said it’s a vacation trip.”
Fu Qian waved his hand, signaling her to put her mind at ease for now.
“Besides, if the two of us rush off in a hurry, are you sure Chief Yuan won’t be alarmed?”
Uh…
Su Gao fell silent for a moment, conceding to Fu Qian’s point.
“So do I need to prepare anything?”
“No need–wait a minute.”
Halfway through his sentence, Fu Qian suddenly remembered something and pointed at the money box that Brother Tyler had brought over.
“Given that the company’s cash flow is tight recently, I’ll need you to front the funds for the trip.”
“…Alright.”
…
“What perfect weather for a trip.”
Not long after noon, Fu Qian, resting his hands on the railing warmed by the sun, expressed his heartfelt sentiment.
The weather was fair, the waters calm, and the sight of the deep blue sea was undeniably delightful.
Separated by a wall, Su Gao acknowledged with a sound, agreeing with the sentiment.
Beneath their feet lay an somewhat aged cruise ship, painted entirely in white.
As a maritime gem, Shangjing always boasted a wealth of shipping routes.
Considering this trip was classified as a vacation, Fu Qian did not use his special pass but instead chose to board the ship as a pure tourist.
Of course, this was also thanks to the fact that it wasn’t the peak season for travel; otherwise, it might have required some extra effort, such as winning a ticket in a card game beneath the deck, for example.
Moreover, although the cash flow was tight, employee benefits were unquestionably maxed out by Fu Qian, who managed to secure two luxury suites, becoming neighbors with Su Gao.
Naturally, as the person who lent the money for the perks, Su Gao herself had no complaints about it.
“For safety reasons, there will be a certain number of Transcendents on board, though their power usually won’t be very high.”
Although not prone to seasickness, Su Gao gazed at the azure blue water, her mood somewhat subdued.
“Understood.”
Fu Qian nodded slightly.
In such a world, it wasn’t strange for passenger ships offshore to employ some Transcendents to maintain order.
As for their not being very powerful, that was simply because it was unnecessary.
Under the strong arm of the Night Watchman, no Transcendent would be foolish enough to think of robbing a civilian merchant ship.
The occupation of piracy, with its long history, was more likely to be pursued by ordinary people than by Transcendents.
In fact, these Transcendents were more for maintaining internal order.
As for Su Gao’s low spirits, Fu Qian could roughly guess the reason–the Rotten Forest was located on Ye Island.
Considering she had spent quite a long time there.
At this moment, she must be experiencing some mixed feelings.
But even so, upon hearing that he wanted to investigate the Native Council, Su Gao had immediately taken leave to come and help, showing full sincerity.
“Here.”
Taking out a bottle of juice from the fridge, Fu Qian casually opened it and tossed it over.
While the ship was somewhat old, its amenities were still comfortably in place.
“What do you know about the Sea of Ashes?”
“The Sea of Ashes? That’s far from here, almost on the other end of the world.”
Successfully diverted, Su Gao exclaimed in surprise and quickly furrowed her brow in thought.
“That’s a fairly large body of water, and although it is defined as a Forbidden Area, the boundaries are not completely fixed.”
“It’s called the Sea of Ashes because its interior waters are all permeated by some substance, presenting a unique grayish-white color, as if it were flowing ashes.”
“According to the analysis, the substance within the seawater itself contains Transcendent powers, but it’s extremely chaotic and fundamentally unusable, like burnt remnants.”
“Or perhaps like cremains?”
Fu Qian nodded; Su Gao’s mention aligned with the information he had received from Yuan Shan.
“Cremains are indeed one of the hypotheses.”
Su Gao seemed not at all surprised by Fu Qian’s thoughts.
“In any case, due to its unique nature, the interior of the Sea of Ashes is extremely dangerous, filled with too many unpredictable eerie forces, and the risks hardly outweigh the gains, which is why exploration there is very infrequent.”
“I know a Night Watchman who has been into the Sea of Ashes; she mentioned that within the sea water, those ashes gather and solidify, forming islands of various shapes that constantly change, so the area isn’t made up of purely water.”
“Besides that, there are even creatures in the sea!”
He considered the presence of creatures in the sea to be quite normal, but given Su Gao’s somewhat serious tone,
“Creatures made of ashes?”
Fu Qian pondered and asked.
“Yes, essentially the same material as those islands, but they move around like fish.”
So it was as he suspected, creatures formed from the ashes of Transcendents?
It was indeed a tad challenging to envision.
The content Su Gao mentioned later was undoubtedly not in the records, and Fu Qian fell into thought for a moment.
“That Night Watchman you spoke of, did she mention the Demigod who died in the Sea of Ashes?”
“Of course… The very reason she went into the Sea of Ashes was to investigate that incident. The deceased Demigod had fled there to escape the Night Watchmen’s pursuit.”
He was actually involved in the case!
Fu Qian inwardly nodded; he was aware that the Demigod who died in the Sea of Ashes was a fugitive but had not expected Su Gao’s referenced Night Watchman to be the Hunter from that time.
So the question arose, was this fugitive a predecessor from the same place as him?
“Actually, there’s another point. According to that Night Watchman, although they deployed a pursuit force, the target wasn’t killed by them.”
“After they chased into the Sea of Ashes, the target’s trail disappeared, and in the end, they confirmed death through special methods.”
A Demigod dies without a body? Could he have removed his mask like he had?
“So if anyone intends to go there, they need to prepare as much as possible.”
Seeing Fu Qian in contemplation, Su Gao continued to speak.
“Inside lies a power that caused the silent and traceless death of a Demigod.”
“Thank you for the warning!”
Fu Qian expressed his gratitude with a beaming smile.
The information provided by Su Gao wasn’t exceptionally detailed, but compared to the even more rudimentary information he had previously obtained,
It proved that proper employee benefits were indeed meaningful.
…
“Someone is watching us.”
After several seconds of silence, Su Gao put down her half-finished juice and suddenly whispered.
“Shall we go and check it out?”
“No need, we are just ordinary passengers right now.”
Fu Qian shook his head, signaling her to just stay put.
Su Gao’s out-of-the-blue comment was fully understood by him.
The one who had mentioned there being Transcendent guards on the ship wasn’t speaking idly.
Not too far from their location on the cruise ship was a Transcendent whose abilities were far above the average.
Clearly, this person was not your everyday security personnel.
And at this very moment, that individual was unmistakably keeping an eye on the two of them.