Chapter 56

“Come forth, come forth! O great Thousand-Faced Moon, return to the Order of the Seal!”

The creature’s summons echoed close by. Yue Yin, hands in her pockets, began to walk away. “Such nonsense… Order of the Seal? Why would they want me back there…”

Halfway through her walk, she paused, sensing something amiss. She stopped in her tracks and finally realized, “Ah! So it’s actually called the Order of the Seal, not the Moon Cult after all!”

Yue Yin remembered then that long ago, when she had first come to this sea, she had given her followers the name, the Order of the Seal.

She stopped, glancing over at the mayor’s excited family of four, then looked down at the creatures reveling in the deep sea below. She scratched her head in confusion.

What now?

Should she tell them that her cult had since changed its name to the Moon Cult? Or just pretend it never existed? After all, there was only one follower left in the cult now — Jiang Suliu.

Yue Yin stroked her chin, thought for a moment, and finally decided to worry about it tomorrow.

The most pressing matter? Sleep first.

When Yue Yin returned to the house, everyone had already finished dinner. It wasn’t that they ate fast, the dinner was just too awful to stomach.

That green, sludgy soup reeked of fish paste, which seemed long expired, giving off a faintly rotten, moldy smell with a hint of old, fermented alcohol.

Everyone struggled to eat it. After just a couple of bites, Luo Anna and the others put down their spoons, managing polite but strained smiles.

The mayor’s family continued their elegant dining, while Andre seemed to enjoy the local specialty, eagerly spooning the green, sticky soup into his mouth. It stained his lips, and he looked as if he couldn’t get enough of it.

By the time dinner ended, it was deep into the night. The investigation team, exhausted from a full day’s journey, couldn’t wait to fall into their beds for a warm, restful sleep.

Rooms were already assigned, as one of the wealthiest men in town, the mayor’s three-story villa had enough guest rooms for everyone, with two people sharing each room.

They all made their way upstairs, saying brief goodnights before each retreating into their rooms to sleep.

When it came time to choose roommates, Luo Anna had eagerly claimed Yue Yin, and her wish was granted.

Once everyone else had left, Luo Anna closed the door, turned around, and asked quietly, “Yue Yin?”

Yue Yin had already laid down, ready to grab her game console and continue her farm game, but she looked up at the sound.

Luo Anna’s expression was tense. “The mayor said they worship a god called the Thousand-Faced Moon. If I remember correctly, didn’t you mention that name on the boat?”

Yue Yin showed no signs of hiding anything. She raised her brows at Luo Anna, blinking innocently. “Yep.”

Her openness was so disarming that Luo Anna found herself doubting her suspicions.

Luo Anna bit her lip, pressing on, “Aren’t you going to explain?”

Was this really just a coincidence?

Fog suddenly cloaking the Surina Sea, isolating the island, with many Ability Users vanishing or dying upon reaching the island… and now a teammate with an obscure, shared faith with these suspicious villagers…

“What’s there to explain?” Yue Yin blinked in confusion.

Her eyes were clear and innocent. “I told you, the Thousand-Faced Moon is a mighty deity. Even if you don’t know about her, is it strange that she’d have other followers?”

Luo Anna felt silenced by her words.

Of course, a deity wouldn’t just have one follower. Even a lesser-known deity would have many followers hidden in the shadows.

But was that all?

Luo Anna clenched her fists and said firmly, “But this Thousand-Faced Moon seems… dangerous!”

She recalled the mayor’s family’s prayer earlier, her eyes reflecting a mix of complex emotions. “You saw the statue too. It’s clearly an evil god!”

If it were a benevolent god, it wouldn’t appear in such a disturbing form.

She remembered the terrifying statue: a beautiful girl’s face wore a serene smile, but her body was formed of countless heads stacked together, layer upon layer, like endless waves.

The worst part was that the heads were not dead, they stared wide-eyed, crying out in eternal agony.

Their souls never at rest, their bodies trapped in everlasting suffering — it was the cruelest torment.

Remembering the heads trapped in the gray ocean sent a chill through Luo Anna.

She stared intently at Yue Yin. “I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Zhou Zicheng and Eda must feel the same.”

Last night on the boat, only she and Andre had heard Yue Yin mention the Thousand-Faced Moon, but tonight, Andre was too focused on the dreadful dinner to bring it up.

Otherwise, the moment the others learned that Yue Yin worshiped such a strange and terrifying god, they would undoubtedly turn on her, demanding to know her true intentions in coming to the island.

Under Luo Anna’s intense questioning, Yue Yin seemed to ponder. “Is it that obvious? Well, the Thousand-Faced Moon doesn’t always look like that.”

The Thousand-Faced Moon had many forms, sometimes an eye with twisting tentacles, sometimes a serpent-like maiden, sometimes just a bouncing head… But her most common form was a vast ocean of gray sludge.

Recalling her true form, Yue Yin tried to think of a version that seemed less malevolent, but it was in vain.

Every form looked equally suspicious…

After a contemplative silence, she relented, saying, “Alright.”

She sat up cross-legged on the bed, facing Luo Anna with a calm look. “What do you want to ask?”

Relieved that Yue Yin was willing to talk, Luo Anna’s taut nerves relaxed a bit. She immediately asked, “Why are you here on the island? Who is the Thousand-Faced Moon? Why do the islanders worship her, and what secrets are they hiding?”

Yue Yin thought about it and replied nonchalantly, “You’re asking too many questions. I’ll only answer one.”

Just one, as a reward for Luo Anna’s earlier warning about the island’s dangers.

Luo Anna was clearly unsatisfied, frowning sternly. “Tell me everything, or I’ll reveal your secret to Eda and the others.”

She warned, “Once they know you worship the Thousand-Faced Moon, it won’t be so easy for you.”

Yue Yin showed no sign of concern. She played with her game console, then asked back, “Then why didn’t you tell them earlier, Luo Anna?”

Her faith aligned with the townspeople’s belief in an evil god — an extraordinary and highly secretive clue. Yet Luo Anna hadn’t told the others.

Yue Yin smiled and said, “Because you have secrets too.”

Leaning forward, she added, “I know why you’re here, and I’ll answer the question you most want answered.”

Hearing this, Luo Anna froze, instinctively denying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Yue Yin looked at the nervous young woman and whispered, “But I don’t know what it is you want most.”

“Is it where your mother went? Or how long you have left to live?”

The words made Luo Anna instinctively look up, her eyes wide and her face drained of color.

Yue Yin smiled softly. “Didn’t I already say this morning? I couldn’t wait to join you, my group of traitorous teammates, on this journey of death.”

Luo Anna’s mind spun back to the morning, as Yue Yin’s words from earlier replayed in her mind.

“Whether you’re a greedy fool chasing eternal life by eating fish flesh, a heretic trying to spread your faith on this island, an unfortunate pawn cast off by competitors after a failed power struggle, or a long-lost descendant finally returning after decades away…”

“Anyway, let’s hurry and set off.” In my memory, Yue Yin’s eyes curved in a smile, her tone light, as unpredictable as this mysterious sea.

The thoughts drifted back to the present. In the quiet of night, it was just the two of them in the room.

Unknowingly, Yue Yin had drawn so close to Luo Anna.

Too close — close enough for Luo Anna to clearly see the flawless, poreless skin of the girl beside her.

Her hair, black as seaweed, was smooth and glossy; her nose delicate and straight; her lips small and rosy; even her lashes curled perfectly.

In that instant, Luo Anna finally understood why, in legend, foolish sailors would let sirens lead them, willingly leaping into the deadly sea.

She too was entranced, whispering, “A miracle of creation.”

Yue Yin, like an enchanting siren, accepted the sincere compliment with a radiant smile.

Resting her chin on her hand, she gazed at the spellbound Luo Anna, speaking softly, “Remember, Luo Anna, I told you — the Thousand-Faced Moon isn’t the moon. She’s a gray mire made up of a thousand human heads.”

“She has no care for the moon; she holds dominion over pain and despair. When she passes by, you hear the anguished cries and regrets of countless souls.”

Far across the sea, tsunamis roared in fury. The screams of human heads filled Luo Anna’s mind, sharp and piercing. Suddenly, she snapped out of her trance.

The cries of the dead echoed in her mind, while countless eerie arms stretched from the gray mire, calling out as they grasped at Luo Anna’s soul, trying to pull her into that eternal sea of torment, to become one of the countless heads imprisoned there, never to be released.

Luo Anna struggled with all her strength, but she couldn’t budge against the grip of those gray-blue arms.

As she inched closer and closer to that gray mire, terror etched itself onto her face, fear flooding her heart as never before.

She was going to die, she was certain of it!

But it was night! The Goddess of Night would save her, wouldn’t she? No, she wouldn’t!!

Staring at the nearing sea of death, tears welled in Luo Anna’s terrified eyes. She could accept any of a thousand fates, but never to be one more head in that endless gray mire, bound to eternal suffering!

Just then, Yue Yin snapped her fingers from the bed where she played with her console.

The hands clutching her vanished, and the horrifying voices in her mind ceased. All was silent.

Luo Anna, drenched in sweat, hadn’t fully come back to herself, her trembling breath nearly forgotten.

On her game console, Yue Yin’s character had just defeated a slime monster, and she cheerfully picked up a fallen gem, saying, “Is it where your mother went? Or how long you have left to live?”

Her tone was casual. “Think carefully before you tell me, my sweet Anna.”