Chapter 53.2

Instead of anger, Yue Yin responded with a playful smile, pulling down her eyelids and sticking her tongue out at him.

The boy was taken aback.

Yue Yin then relaxed, made eye contact with him, and mouthed a single word.

“Yue Yin?” Eda, noticing Yue Yin’s behavior, turned and said impatiently, “What are you doing? Don’t provoke them.”

With the team weakened by curses upon entering the island, they had no reason to stir up more hostility among the locals.

They quickened their pace and finally arrived at the Metaphysical Society’s research base on the island.

The “research base” was, in reality, a modest two-story building set up to investigate the fish-like inhabitants.

The building stood on the town’s edge, closer to the island’s heart. According to Zhou Zicheng, this location was chosen to facilitate capturing the fish-like creatures, though none had yet been encountered.

Zhou Zicheng led them to the familiar building and found that the door had been locked from the outside, rendering his key useless.

After kicking down the door, they entered and found the place in disarray. Charred black streaks marred the walls, while belongings were scattered about. Brown stains of dried blood covered the walls and even the ceiling.

The air was thick with the salty stench of seawater mixed with the rot of stale blood, creating an odor that refused to fade.

Blood-streaked drag marks scraped across the floor, trailing through the room and disappearing outside, leaving an eerie uncertainty about where they might have led.

Something horrific must have happened here.

The group stood in silence, glancing around with a mixture of shock and sympathy, their faces grim.

Covering her mouth, Luo Anna whispered, “Oh my god, what happened here?”

Standing at the front, Zhou Zicheng looked heavily at the familiar building. “Ever since the fog appeared, no one has been able to leave the island. I lost contact with my companions here.”

The Metaphysical Society had assigned five ability users and one biological scientist to stay on the island for a long-term study of the merfolk. However, due to the S-level malevolent spirits, any ability user who stayed for more than three months would waste away and die. Therefore, the society’s ability users rotated every two months, leaving only the scientist stationed permanently.

Both Zhou Zicheng and Zhou Zixing were part of the society’s research team studying the merfolk on Surina Island, but when the fog struck, they happened to be off-island. If they’d been here, they might now be among the missing.

This thought darkened Zhou Zicheng’s expression.

Eda stepped closer. “The good news is we don’t see any bodies here, so maybe your companions are still alive. The bad news is there are no bodies—maybe they were devoured by malevolent entities.”

Luo Anna looked unsettled. “Was it malevolent entities that did this? But I don’t sense any residual traces of malevolence here.”

She hesitated, adding, “We didn’t even feel anything as we walked through the town. The records say that the Surina Sea is saturated with dark forces, but I haven’t sensed anything at all. Are there really malevolent entities here?”

Andre scoffed. “The Surina Sea has swallowed thousands of ships over the centuries due to its strange magnetic fields; countless people have died here. You think a place like this isn’t crawling with malevolent entities? Come on. Even if they sent us to die, at least get your facts straight.”

Luo Anna closed her mouth, silently taking in Andre’s questioning and mocking tone.

Coming down from the second floor, Eda added impatiently, “The Surina Sea is unique. Most of the malevolent entities lie beneath the water, so unless absolutely necessary, don’t go in.”

Zhou Zicheng clenched his fists. “It has to be those lunatics. They must have killed Xiao Chen and the others.”

“The Malevolent Spirits on the island are minimal, if there are any, they’re weak. Only those island maniacs could’ve done this.”

Andre narrowed his eyes. “The lunatics? Who are they?” Since it was their first time on the island, they figured Zhou Zicheng, who had lived here for years, would know things they didn’t.

But Zhou Zicheng stayed silent.

Just then, a noise came from outside.

The group exchanged looks and stepped out, finding a crowd of residents gathered outside.

Among them was a man in a suit, standing at the front—a middle-aged man who was clearly their leader. He stepped forward as they appeared. “Ah, outsiders! I’m the mayor of Surina Island. Would you be willing to talk?”

Half an hour later, at the mayor’s house.

Family photos adorned the walls, and a strange seaweed-green carpet covered the floor. The mayor sat in a chair at a wooden table and began, “Our police reported new faces again. Because of the fog, no one can leave the island, so I assume you’re here, like those before you, to save us.”

With the island under siege for a month, new faces were easily noticed.

Grasping Yue Yin’s hand, the mayor continued passionately, “It’s been half a month since the last group trying to save us disappeared. I know you won’t give up on us…”

He rambled, offering sympathetic words but no useful information. Eda, losing patience, finally cut him off. “Where are the others? The ones who came before us?”

The smile faded from the mayor’s face, and after a moment, he replied, “They’re all dead.”

“They’re all dead.”

His exaggerated smile disappeared, leaving a cold, intense stare that sent a chill down their spines.

Luo Anna staggered back in disbelief, while Andre cursed and angrily kicked a trash can.

Zhou Zicheng pressed him for more details. “What happened? Who did this?” But the mayor simply replied, “They did it to themselves.”

“After arriving, they grew unusually restless and anxious, arguing incessantly. They kept muttering that if they didn’t break free soon, they’d all be dead within three months.”

The mayor shrugged sadly. “I think they were just too stressed. Although the sea has behaved strangely, we locals haven’t felt any discomfort.”

The investigation team felt uneasy. From these few words, they could imagine how desperate their previous comrades had been. The island’s curse only affected those with abilities, and as the three-month limit drew near, fear of death could drive anyone to despair.

Unperturbed by their reactions, or perhaps choosing to ignore them, the mayor continued, “Despite their irritability, they stayed relatively normal until that day. They talked to the townsfolk, sought me out to discuss solutions, and some even roamed the shores, hoping to find the mythical merfolk. But after that day…”

He paused, as if recalling something horrid, and grimaced. “They stopped acting like humans—no, they became monsters.”

“In that final week, they called us townsfolk cultists, claiming we were incarnations of malevolent entities who wanted to devour them… Some, possibly out of revenge or madness, even killed a child, devouring him savagely.”

Everyone looked up in shock, and Zhou Zicheng immediately protested. “That’s impossible!”

The mayor gave him a cold look, saying sharply, “Respectable sir, I wish I were lying. But the grieving mother lives just down the street, and she’s heartbroken. The poor woman lost her husband in a recent fishing accident, and now her child too.”

He recalled, “We wanted to arrest them, but we couldn’t even get close. Those people seemed to have superhuman abilities—they ran with incredible speed, could teleport, and could lift cars from a distance. They were like superheroes from the movies. Many of our officers and townsfolk were injured or killed…”

The mayor’s tone was heavy, and his gaze at the group carried a hint of caution. After the last terrible incident, he understood that these newcomers passing through the thick fog to reach the island likely had abilities as well.

Everyone started to understand why the townspeople had been so hostile since they’d arrived.

Eda and the others felt a growing unease. As outsiders with a special status, the town’s rejection of them would only make their investigation more challenging.

Suddenly, Yue Yin asked, “So you burned down their house, trying to sneakily burn them alive?”

The mayor noticed the young, attractive outsider, who blinked at him innocently.

“Of course not,” the mayor replied. “After that, we didn’t go near them again.”

“They killed each other. I told you, by then, your companions had already gone mad, constantly talking about merfolk. One night, they turned on each other, and all died.”

Thinking of the horrific scene in the mansion and remembering his once-vibrant companions, Zhou Zicheng pressed, “Where are the bodies?”

Though they were starting to believe some of the mayor’s story, they needed to see the bodies to confirm.

The mayor shrugged. “No idea. Maybe they ate each other, or perhaps the townsfolk who lost family members threw them into the sea. You know, after recent events, the islanders are wary of outsiders.”

The word “wary” seemed like an understatement to Yue Yin; she felt “hatred” was more accurate, recalling the villagers’ glares and words.

The mayor’s story painted an unimaginable picture of recent events on the island. Ability users, originally sent to investigate and rescue the residents, ended up wreaking havoc on the once-quiet island, using their powers and turning into monsters who even cannibalized.

The group felt uncomfortable, finally deciding to verify the mayor’s story with the local townsfolk before making any further decisions.

They left quickly. The mayor smirked, watching the investigative team members leave, but then heard a voice beside him, “Pretty foolish, right?”

The mayor snapped to attention, turning to see Yue Yin beside him, crouching on the ground with a handful of sunflower seeds, watching the departing investigators while snacking.

While her companions worked hard to gather clues, here she was, lounging around and snacking. Even the mayor couldn’t hide his distaste for her. “Aren’t you going to investigate?”

She had done nothing while her companions were working themselves to the bone; here she was, lazily munching on seeds, fully embracing her role as the “slacker.” And, to top it off, she was littering everywhere.

The mayor eyed the pile of sunflower seed shells accumulating around her feet, considering whether to introduce a fine for littering.

Yue Yin, unbothered, shrugged, “Why should I bother? I don’t even want to do my assignments, let alone run around town with Zhou Zicheng and the others to question people.”

The mayor suddenly looked at her. “Aren’t you here to investigate the island’s fog mystery?”

Popping another seed, Yue Yin raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Who told you that? I’m just here to find someone.”

The mayor nodded as if enlightened. “Finding someone—that’s a reasonable reason. Plenty of people from outside have come to find missing family members who haven’t contacted them for a long time…”

“Unfortunately, most of those outsiders have caught a contagious disease and are now being treated at the hospital.”

The mayor continued, “Your friend might be there too. Maybe you’ll find each other at the hospital.”

Yue Yin dusted off her hands and stood up, “Friend? No, he’s my follower. My loyal servant, or maybe my lowly lackey?”

She flashed a bright smile at the mayor, “You probably understand that pretty well, right?”

The mayor’s fake smile faltered as he narrowed his eyes, unsure if she was onto something. He asked, “Miss Yue Yin, what do you mean by that?”

She kept her gaze on him, laughing lightly. “Good luck. Do your best.”

When she’d asked about the fire earlier, the mayor had grown wary of her, and now, her words made him consider silencing her.

The pistol slipped discreetly from his sleeve, his eyes filled with malice.

Yue Yin seemed oblivious to the impending danger as she went to pat his shoulder encouragingly. Realizing he was a bit too tall, she instead patted his arm, casually wiping her seed-dusted fingers on his jacket.

The mayor, who was a neat freak, clenched his gun hand, his face twisted with disgust.

He realized all his suspicions about her had been wrong; she was just eccentric!

Yue Yin chuckled softly, her voice teasing, “Fool. If I were you, I’d make sure anything fed to the fish is properly cleaned up.”

The mayor’s eyes flickered as he looked at her, his gaze shifting quickly. “You said you were here looking for a friend?”

He cleared his throat, “What’s his name? Maybe we can help put out a missing persons announcement, broadcast it, and you’ll find him soon—if he’s still alive.”

But Yue Yin waved him off. “No need, he’s already here.”

In the distance, Jiang Suliu was hurrying toward her.