When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 161: Unbelievable Conclusion

Chapter 161: Unbelievable Conclusion

They had prepared themselves for a room full of nightmare creatures lurking in the dark, waiting to ambush them. However, the scene in front of them was a complete opposite. The space that was supposed to be bustling with crew members was empty and still.

An eerie silence hung in the air. The station stood vacant; papers were strewn about, instruments left unintended, and chairs overturned. It was as if the bridge had been abruptly deserted in the midst of chaos. Through the large panoramic windows, they could see nothing but an endless stretch of darkness that seemed to swallow the ship whole, making them feel like they were sailing through the void. The radar screens flickered intermittently, emitting an uncanny glow akin to distorted shadows.

To make matters worse, the entire space was covered in the same sticky transparent substance as the floor outside, even the walls and ceiling were not spared.

The four of them stood on the doorway. In unspoken agreement, none of them entered the bridge as they were reluctant to let the dubious substance stuck to their clothes.

"W–Where is the Captain?" Gu Luoxin whispered in a hushed, shaky voice.

Without hesitation, Shen Nianzu switched on the flashlight, and a beam of piercing light shone into the darkness, allowing them to see the extent of the chaos inside. He leaned forward a bit and shone the flashlight around, but he could not find any signs of life— not even a rat.

He knitted his brows. How was it possible for the bridge to be empty? They had followed the trail of the sticky substance here, and even if they could not find the Captain, there should have been some evidence of the fish creature’s presence!

Left with no other choice, he could only turn to Jin Jiuchi, "Do you sense anything?"

"Hmm..." Jin Jiuchi still had his nose pinched as he strained his ears to listen. He looked left and right, then up before his gaze eventually settled on the ground. "I’m not sure if this is only the vibration from the engine or the waves, but..."

"But what?" Shen Nianzu asked impatiently.

Jin Jiuchi turned to him and though his tone was mild, almost guileless and innocent, the words he said ended up sending shivers down their spine,

"Nian’er, the floor is pulsating. Like..." he thought for a second for a suitable word to say, "Like a heartbeat. Is it possible for the ship to have a heart?"

Everyone was dumbstruck for a while.

After several seconds of thick tension, Noir quietly stated, "I didn’t sense anything." He couldn’t help but cast a surprised look at Jin Jiuchi. With his rank, it was very seldom for him to miss anything. Furthermore, this was only a mid-level Cycle and not a high-level one. It stood to reason that he, who had the highest rank among them, should be the one who noticed an anomaly first. However, even after Jin Jiuchi said those words, he concentrated on the ground beneath his feet but still could not sense the ’pulse’ the man spoke of.

Noir’s words expressed doubts, but no one blamed him for this was the first time they had ever worked together. However, things were different for Shen Nianzu and Gu Luoxin, who had been with Jin Jiuchi for the past two Cycles and had witnessed firsthand how keen his senses were.

Shen Nianzu, in particular, knew that Jin Jiuchi couldn’t be a normal human. If the man claimed the ground was pulsating, there was an eighty percent chance it was true.

"Wait a moment..." Shen Nianzu muttered with his brows furrowed. "The pulse you’re sensing, is it coming from the ship or... something below the ship?"

"S–Something below the ship..." Gu Luoxin’s complexion turned ghastly. Was Shen Nianzu suggesting that something had attached itself to the ship’s hull, and it... it was the source of the pulse Jin Jiuchi felt? Goodness, just the mere notion of it was scary enough to make him break out into cold sweat!

"I’m not sure..." Jin Jiuchi tilted his head to the side, then he grinned mischievously. "Shall I take a dip to find out, Nian’er?"

Shen Nianzu glared at him. "Are you crazy? If there is really something on the bottom of the ship, then you will be finished!" Huffing, he swept his gaze over the empty bridge. "It’s almost impossible for a secret space to exist here. If we find nothing in this place, then it means the fish-like creature is truly not here."

He turned to Noir, who had been silent, and asked, "What do you think?"

Noir let out a brief hum, and then he grabbed the cat perched comfortably on his shoulder. "Help me check."

Without any warning, he tossed the cat inside the bridge covered with an unknown sticky substance!

Lucius let out a furious cry as it flew in an arc, "Mroow!!" But fortunately, it managed to somersault in midair and landed squarely on the table where the sticky substance was less dense. Even so, it continued to growl and hiss under its breath. If it could speak, perhaps it would have cursed Noir to his thirteen ancestors.

Speechless, the trio cast him a discreet glance only to find that his expression remained unchanged, despite the cruel abuse he had committed earlier. Gu Luoxin couldn’t help but ask in an hesitant tone, "Is that... okay?"

"Is what okay?" Noir raised a subtle brow, unfazed. "He is used to it."

Gu Luoxin: "..." All of a sudden, he felt a tinge of sympathy for the little ancestor.

Lucius returned five minutes later, gracefully leaping over the ground and landing directly on Noir’s body. It then proceeded to angrily wipe its paws on Noir’s clothes. "How is it?" the man asked, allowing the cat to dirty his clothes.

"Mrow mrow mrow!!"

"I see, thank you." Noir nodded and turned to them saying, "You were right. There are no signs of life inside, and no hidden spaces either. However, Lucius couldn’t sense the pulse you mentioned." He squinted at Jin Jiuchi, and a trace of curiosity appeared on his usually placid emerald eyes. "How did you know?"

"Hehe," Jin Jiuchi rubbed his nose proudly. "Ain’t I awesome?"

Shen Nianzu jabbed his elbow on Jin Jiuchi’s side and replied to Noir on his behalf, "He has sharper senses than most." It was a subpar explanation, but Noir did not press for more and simply nodded.

The four of them turned back and proceeded to scour through the crew areas for the core NPC. However, after an hour passed, they still had no results. The clock was inching closer to four in the morning, and they could see faint bursts of orange light through the portholes.

Soon, the entire ship would awaken, and a brand new day would begin. They could no longer stay here. Exhausted, the four of them could only come to an unbelievable conclusion—

"The core NPC is not on the cruise ship."

They were walking back to their rooms when Shen Nianzu voiced the thoughts in everyone’s mind.

Gu Luoxin, with his brain lagging a beat due to the lack of sleep, frowned. "If they’re not on the ship, where could they be?"

"Have you forgotten?" Shen Nianzu cast him a glance. "The location of this Cycle has never been the sea or the cruise ship— but Atlantis. The lost city of Atlantis..." he murmured. "It’s safe to assume that the entire city is submerged in the depths of the sea."

Gu Luoxin’s steps faltered in shock, "Xiao Shen, are you saying that... the core NPC might be someone from Atlantis? H–How do we get there? The brochure only mentioned that we’re here to experience five days of living in the middle of the sea, but it never said anything about Atlantis!"

"Of course, the Cycle will provide a way for us to get there." Yawning, Shen Nianzu stopped in front of the room and waved at the other two. "Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day. Goodnight."

He entered the room with Jin Jiuchi in tow. When the door closed behind them, he heard Jin Jiuchi ask, "Nian’er, does it mean our ship will sink?"

"I don’t know..." Shen Nianzu threw himself onto the bed, sighing. "Let’s see, even if the ship doesn’t sink, there will likely be some accidents along the way. Do you honestly think the Cycle will be kind enough to let us live comfortably for five days on a luxurious cruise ship?"

Shen Nianzu let his eyelids flutter shut. However a nagging question resurfaced, causing him to open his eyes and click his tongue in frustration, "There’s something I just can’t figure out. We have searched every crook and cranny in the crew areas, but we still couldn’t find that fish creature. Where is it now?"