Chapter 105: 103 Treasure

Drake got up from the hospital bed. After half a day of sleep, his mind and reason had returned to their normal levels, but a burst of fragmented murmuring had appeared in his mind.

It was a language he had never encountered in reality, only heard in his dreams from the mouths of those mermen and the Super Giant Merman, yet he had never been able to grasp its meaning.

"You're awake." Drake gradually felt the voice was somewhat annoying; although it wasn't loud, listening to it for a long time still made one feel agitated. Just as his emotions were fluctuating, he heard a voice coming from the doorway of the ward.

The clear, bright voice was very distinctive, gentle as water. Drake remembered the owner of the voice.

"Why are you here?" Drake then noticed the dense gladioli in the vase on the bedside table, fresh and moist. This was a type of flower often used to visit patients, with the language of the flowers implying a Blessing of peace and health, so he was slightly enlightened, "Did you send me to the hospital?"

"No, I just happened to know you were here, so I came to see you." Li Nuowei shook his head.

"I remember before I lost consciousness, I experienced..." Drake recalled what happened before he fainted. In an instant, the bizarre experiences that occurred on Liuhua Twelve Streets and in the taxi resurfaced in his mind. Cold sweat broke out all over his body again, but fortunately this time, his consciousness could still maintain sufficient clarity and reason.

Li Nuowei smiled and said, "You don't have to tell me; I know it all. And you don't need to worry about those guys. At least that annoying driver, I've already sent him to heaven."

Hearing Li Nuowei's words, Drake's eyelids couldn't help but twitch. Although the other party was comforting him, he couldn't find any hint of a joke in the phrase "sent him to heaven"; it seemed serious.

"Since you're awake, let's discharge. Although time is still relatively ample, I know that with your temperament, you won't obediently follow arrangements." Li Nuowei threw the clothes he had swiped from somewhere onto Drake's hospital bed.

Drake was slightly stunned, and only then did he notice that Li Nuowei's attire at this moment was very awkward—a floral shirt on top and cargo pants on the bottom, possessing an aesthetic from an off-track era. It was only because of Li Nuowei's delicate appearance that one couldn't help but subconsciously ignore his outfit.

And Drake also discovered that the clothes he was given weren't exactly good-looking either. Although the size was relatively appropriate, the style looked quite immature, at least completely out of place for his age.

Drake secretly bared his teeth, because as Li Nuowei said, he was now desperate to know the truth and had no time to fuss over too much. He immediately got out of bed and went to the restroom to change out of his hospital gown.

Bringing his personal belongings, Drake and Li Nuowei left the hospital together overnight.

Drake had originally wanted to hail a taxi, but as soon as he thought of his experience during the day, he stopped his thought. He didn't want to run into those fanatics from that organization again.

Li Nuowei seemed to have seen through Drake's thoughts long ago. He grabbed Drake's arm, crossed the street opposite the hospital gate, and arrived at a parking lot.

"What are you doing?" Drake felt that Li Nuowei was a somewhat crazy kid; the first thing he thought of was that Li Nuowei wanted to steal a car.

Li Nuowei shot him a look, calmly took out his phone to scan and unlock a shared electric car, and said, "Getting a car. Don't you know that besides shared bikes, Shenzhou also has shared electric cars?" While speaking, he sat in the passenger seat.

Drake: "…My horizons are too narrow."

The enlightened Drake, with a sense of wonder, sat in the driver's seat and, after familiarizing himself slightly with the car's operating mode, immediately started the vehicle.

"I can now roughly deduce what is going on with the continuous Mysterious Disappearance Case in Liuhua Port recently," Drake said to Li Nuowei while driving. "On the surface, this seems to be the result caused by the Jiaoren Disease. Due to the onset of the Jiaoren Disease, people slowly transform into mermen, physiologically longing to return to the sea."

"But in essence, why do people contract the Jiaoren Disease? The root cause is that most of those missing persons, like me, had ancestors who were greedy people who relied on the Anhai Divine Society for profit back then but were instead used by them. The Jiaoren Disease was passed down from the ancestors' blood."

"When returning to this city, we sensed the awakening Anhai Divine Society. Influenced by some special power of the other party, the Curse in our bloodlines was activated."

"It's more or less like that, but you seem to have discovered other clues?" Li Nuowei noticed Drake's wording; the other party did not absolutely affirm that everyone who contracted the Jiaoren Disease did so because the blood of the formerly cursed members of the Anhai Divine Society flowed in their bloodlines.

Drake nodded and said, "Yes. Judging from the missing persons data sent by the Xuanmi Group, some people don't seem to have contracted the Jiaoren Disease because of bloodline Curses."

"For example, that missing twelve or thirteen-year-old boy. Because if that boy had contracted the Jiaoren Disease due to the activation of a bloodline Curse and finally disappeared into the seabed, then at least one of his parents should have followed in his footsteps long ago."

"Of course, the disappearance of this boy cannot yet be concluded to have a relationship with the Anhai Divine Society."

"But for other locals who contracted the Jiaoren Disease, Drake, while excluding the situation where 'Laowang' appeared in their families, could almost determine through the judgment method just now that not all missing persons were affected by the bloodline Curse and contracted the Jiaoren Disease."

"There are also some people who contracted the Jiaoren Disease for other reasons and through other channels, and this reason is related to his speculation about the missing boy."

Returning once again to that Tunnel leading to Tianya Haijiao Beach, Drake stood at the Tunnel entrance, looking at the pitch-black Tunnel environment in front of him, his eyes filled with gravity.

"Do you think there is a problem with this Tunnel?" Li Nuowei asked curiously.

Drake nodded heavily: "It must be. This is the biggest commonality among those who are not affected by the bloodline Curse. They have all been to the Tunnel."

"And this Tunnel may have buried a huge, terrifying secret. They must have actively touched something, which is why they contracted the Jiaoren Disease."

"So you think another source of infection might be found under the Tunnel, right?" Li Nuowei nodded silently and recorded the discovery of the big brother.

"It's not 'might,' it's just that now I can almost be certain," Drake said. "To be precise, I have already guessed what is buried under the Tunnel that is related to the Anhai Divine Society."

"Then what is that cursed thing?" Li Nuowei asked curiously.

Drake said calmly: "Treasure... precious treasure that has been sent away for dozens of generations, things salvaged from the bottom of the sea by the Anhai Divine Society leading the way with her kin. It's hard to say if these treasures have long since been destroyed by mermen."