Chapter 58

Yue Yin stood in front of the vending machine, scratching her head in frustration after trying everything she could think of to get a soda out of it.

The machine sat right across from the mayor’s house, filled with all kinds of snacks and drinks visible through its glass, drawing the attention of everyone. However, rumor had it the machine was broken—it wouldn’t release anything no matter what people tried.

Oddly enough, the vending machine seemed to be made of some strange, unbreakable material. It couldn’t be pried open or smashed, and if anyone tried to use force, it would emit a shrill alarm. Fearing arrest for robbery, Andre and his group soon abandoned any thought of stealing snacks from it.

Unaware of the vending machine’s defect, Yue Yin simply thought it wasn’t dispensing because she’d been using the wrong currency. The coins she inserted kept being spat back out, frustrating her enough to punch the machine in anger.

The next second, the machine started blaring with an ear-splitting alarm, flashing in a rainbow of colors as it entered an emergency mode.

“Robbery! Robbery! Robbery!” it blared in an overly loud voice.

Startled, Yue Yin quickly hugged the vending machine, pleading, “Calm down, calm down, please! I just wanted some fries!”

It was the middle of the night, and the town was surely asleep. If people woke up to find her trying to steal a soda, it’d be quite a disgrace for her as the so-called Thousand-Faces Moon.

Thinking this, she narrowed her eyes at the machine, wondering whether one more punch might silence it.

After a tense moment and perhaps sensing a silent threat, the vending machine’s alarm began to quiet down and eventually ceased entirely. However, it continued flashing colorful lights, expressing its evident discontent with her actions.

With a sigh, Yue Yin let go and scratched her head again in frustration.

It was at this moment that Jiang Suliu arrived on the scene, witnessing the entire situation.

With a gentle smile, he asked, “Lord Yue Yin, what are you doing?”

Hands in her sleeves, she responded with a touch of sincerity, “Just trying to get a soda.”

Jiang Suliu: …

He had gone to great lengths, together with the deep-sea creatures, to eradicate heretics and defend the honor of the Thousand-Faces Moon… only to find this evil god herself sneaking around to get a soda?

He looked at the few scattered coins in Yue Yin’s hands, feeling a mix of awkwardness and politeness.

Suddenly remembering something, Yue Yin casually asked, “Oh, what are you doing outside?”

“Just had some business to handle.” Jiang Suliu walked over to the window, picked up his watch worth millions, and slowly put it on.

“Oh,” Yue Yin replied, glancing at him before quickly losing interest, as though his blood-splattered, murderer’s look was nothing unusual.

To her, the battered vending machine was far more interesting than the blood-soaked image of Jiang Suliu, who looked every bit the terrifying killer.

Finishing with his watch, Jiang Suliu approached the vending machine, inserted two silver coins, and after a pause, the machine spat out a soda.

Two minutes later, with both Yue Yin and Jiang Suliu watching, the vending machine finally dispensed a bag of fries.

Yue Yin grabbed her soda and fries and walked off contentedly, leaving Jiang Suliu gazing after her, a tender smile on his face.

Turning back, his dark eyes settled coldly on the vending machine, which, perhaps realizing the threat, dimmed its colorful lights.

Jiang Suliu looked toward the cliff and calculated how long it would take to drag the thing to the sea… sensing his intent, the machine’s lights went out altogether, its alarm silenced.

Faced with the machine’s eerie stillness, Jiang Suliu finally let it go and went back to his room.

He kept a calm expression, yet his mind was racing with a single image.

After all the meticulous planning and ruthless actions he’d taken to eliminate the heretics and return triumphant, he hadn’t received any praise from the god. Instead, he had come back to see her tenderly pacifying… a vending machine.

His warm smile faltered, his gaze grew dark and chilling, his fingers hidden in his sleeve quivering as he nearly lost his grip on the knife that had skewered the heretic.

Jiang Suliu’s pitch-black eyes fixed upon the vending machine, and he yearned to rush over and hack it apart.

It was he who had vanquished the heretics, he who had strewn fish-men’s blood in the banquet hall, he who was always at her side, fulfilling her every command…

And yet, what had this damn vending machine done?

It was like a dagger to his heart, slicing through his outer facade and revealing the madness within.

But he couldn’t lose control—not yet.

Experience told him that this great lady was as unpredictable as she was whimsical. She wouldn’t linger for a fanatic’s outburst but would merely show brief surprise before leaving forever.

The thought twisted Jiang Suliu’s mind. His stomach churned, his eyes turned red with jealousy.

Finally, he understood the deep-sea creatures’ desperate, maddened wails whenever they saw Yue Yin speaking to him.

At that moment, he, too, was insane with jealousy.

Once a god’s most cherished follower, he could never again endure being ignored, nor could he tolerate others being favored over him.

Jiang Suliu halted, his eyes rimmed with unshed tears, and turned, casting a piercing gaze back.

The next morning, people found Andre missing, and the vending machine across the street had also disappeared.

“Probably some crook dragged it off!” they muttered, gulping down their greenish breakfast porridge.

Everyone would’ve preferred snacks from the vending machine over the local food.

Jiang Suliu, meanwhile, was spreading peanut butter on bread with thoughtful care, which he then handed to Yue Yin.

Taking a bite, Yue Yin joined in on the investigation discussions. “Whoever took it must have been incredibly shameless!”

Damn it! She’d wanted to take that vending machine to her room, but someone beat her to it!

Had she known, she would have taken it last night, and then she could be secretly snacking right now.

Yue Yin slammed the table, fuming, “Who would even think to steal a vending machine? How rude!”

How outrageous! In such a small town, there’s actually someone more shameless than herself!

Regret gnawed at Yue Yin as she tried to think of who could possibly be worse than her, stuffing another spoonful of that green porridge into her mouth.

Eda looked at her in amazement, “Yue Yin, you’re actually enjoying that? Don’t you find it terrible?”

They’d all been wondering since yesterday; everyone else thought this porridge was terrible, except Yue Yin and Andre, who seemed to be relishing it.

Yue Yin looked at everyone strangely and said, “No, it’s pretty good. The fish flavor is nice.”

She said it so earnestly, with such innocent clarity in her eyes, that they almost doubted themselves. Eda, curious, lifted a spoon to take a bite of the porridge, nearly gagging in disgust.

It was awful.

The green porridge had an intense fishy smell that verged on spoiled; a fermented, sickly taste hit her immediately as she tried to swallow.

If not for the fact that the mayor and his family were also eating the same food, the team might have suspected they’d been served leftovers that had gone bad.

“This is terrible,” Zhou Zicheng frowned, and Eda and the others nodded. She looked over at Luo Anna beside her and asked, “What do you think?”

“Huh? What?” Normally cheerful and active, Luo Anna was out of sorts today, seeming lost in thought and barely present.

Eda raised an eyebrow, “We’re talking about Surina Island’s signature dish.”

“Oh, oh, I love it too,” Luo Anna replied hastily, thinking her friends were rushing her to eat, and quickly shoved a few mouthfuls of the mush into her mouth, her face twisting in disgust.

Seeing this, the others burst into laughter.

Eda couldn’t help but ask, “Luo Anna, what’s up with you today? You seem totally out of it—did you not sleep well last night?” luo Anna kept her head down, brushing off the question.

The others kept griping about the food, but Yue Yin couldn’t understand the fuss. She took another spoonful and frowned, “I don’t get it, it’s fine.”

It tasted perfectly good to her—why didn’t these humans like it?

She shook her head in confusion and went back to her meal. Next to her, Jiang Suliu also ate quietly, unfazed, unlike the rest of the investigation team who looked on the verge of despair.

Watching Jiang Suliu and Yue Yin, along with the mayor’s family calmly enjoying their food, Luo Anna and the others began to question their tastes.

Luo Anna whispered, “Maybe it’s just a matter of personal preference.”

Zhou Zicheng nodded thoughtfully, “Like cilantro or certain spices, some people love it, and some people can’t even stand the smell.”

With that, the oddity seemed explained, and they dropped it.

Meanwhile, Andre’s seat at the table remained empty. They assumed he’d gone out for a morning run, so no one worried much. But even after breakfast, he was nowhere to be seen.

A growing unease spread through the group as they exchanged grim looks.

“Let’s go search,” suggested Eda and Zhou Zicheng. “We’ll split up.”

After they left, the mayor had a peculiar expression on his face.

Hands behind his back, he looked at the vending machine’s former spot, feigning concern, “So many disappearances on the island lately…”

…

Surina Island was small but complete with essentials, including a public library.

Eda and Zhou Zicheng had planned to search together for Andre, but on the way, she made an excuse to part ways, heading alone to the library.

Standing outside the imposing building, she knew that what she was about to do was best kept from Zhou Zicheng. Until she uncovered the truth and identified their true enemy, she couldn’t let anyone know her plans.

The architecture on Surina was distinctive, perhaps influenced by mermaid legends, they favored blue-green hues, even making street bins in the shape of mermaid figures about a meter tall.

The windows on the island’s houses were also round with outward-facing glass, giving them a fish-eye look.

The library was no different. Shaped like a half-circle and adorned with various colorful stones resembling gems or scales, it resembled a giant fish head from a distance.

Due to the infectious mist affecting the town, few people were in the library. Being an outsider, Eda felt it best not to approach the librarian. Instead, she began searching the shelves herself.

“A Thousand Faces of the Moon… A Thousand Faces of the Moon…” she muttered, repeating that strange title as she searched through the shelves.

Finally, she found it and eagerly opened the book.

Looking at the page, she read aloud with furrowed brows, “The Hydra of the Abyss, also known as the Thousand Faces of the Moon…”

The text was accompanied by an illustration of a vast, eerie ocean.

Eda’s gaze fell on the artwork, where a small dot swam in the ocean’s center, transforming before her eyes into a multitude of bizarre heads.

The heads were of humans, animals, and numerous alien creatures, drifting and bobbing in the gray ocean, lips moving in silent, anguished cries, eyes brimming with tears.

They all stared directly at Eda from the page, sending chills through her. But when she looked again, there was only the tiny dot, no heads.

Was it a hallucination? A cold chill ran down Ida’s spine.

Eda worshipped the old god Nodens, lord of the sea and the hunt. Her powers, heightened near the sea, gave her an intuitive sense of danger and sharpened reflexes, along with increased divine strength. It was partly why she’d accepted the mission to Surina Island.

But now, that divine force whispered an urgent warning: Run.

Leave this place. Drop this book and never open it again.

Her mind sounded an alarm as her intuition fought back. But to uncover the truth, learning about the Thousand Faces of the Moon seemed necessary.

Hesitating, Eda clutched the book, unsure if she should continue. Suddenly, a voice startled her with a firm hand on her shoulder.

She froze, turning slowly.

Jiang Suliu stood behind her, expressionless, holding a book. “What are you reading?”