Chapter 313: The Ship

Green could be certain that Kraft had not told the truth, or at least not the whole truth.

No evidence was needed; anyone who dealt with such people for long enough would reach a similar conclusion: a group of well-disguised outliers whose greatest pleasure in life was to dig to the root of certain taboos, and the more people were unwilling to tread or rarely ventured there, the more they liked it.

For these people, there was no need to gain anything from it; they simply regarded the answer, or even the process of research, as a reward.

If they were occasionally willing to reveal a bit about the research at hand, it only meant that the true progress was at least one or two steps ahead.

Just as there is a view that the book "Human Structure" must have an unpublished section, the kind that could sentence its author.

By the same token, Kraft also belonged to this type of person. Although for a time Green had felt there was a difference between this professor and that professor, as understanding deepened, the view was later corrected: a "Mo Lisen with stronger social recognition and higher moral standards."

This fellow could not be using "spells" for the first time.

He could guarantee it with years of experience; absolutely not. In fact, he should have noticed long ago: the conflict in the darkness during their first meeting, and his performance later when being chased in the tomb maze.

Detached from concepts like night vision or intuition, it was more like another eye hanging "above," observing from an angle never blocked by obstacles such as darkness or walls.

That kind of observation, one would think, was simply a bit chilling.

Of course, at that time he did not feel that way. There are always some people whose perception of this world differs from others, deeper, but there is nothing strange about it.

This was also the reason he was willing to cooperate with him; cooperating with "ordinary people" with moral bottom lines was always good, regardless of whether the other party believed in the Heavenly Father, as they held similar views and could easily reach consensus.

But this place was different; he felt this place was alive. A person walked into its stony cavities and flowing digestive fluids; the epidermis was digested, some inner things exposed, some activated or altered, and what finally walked out was unfamiliar, yet they all believed they were still themselves.

Kraft, this professor, had no faith in deities to overturn, no loyalty to anyone to betray, no paranoid notions to shake. He was flexible and adaptable, witnessing, understanding, and showing considerable habit.

And becoming more and more accustomed.

This was exactly what Green worried about. Only a ship capsizes in wind and waves; a reef does not, because it itself stands deep in the water.

If before it was still within an acceptable range, how should one view this person who had just sliced in half, in front of everyone, something that would be too much even to appear in a nightmare.

When their eyes met, Green found not a trace of surprise; he could probably guess what the other was thinking: observe, understand, and then apply; what's the problem with that?

At first, this was very much like a typical scholar's fallacy, bringing theoretical things into practice.

But he could not even accurately describe what he understood, yet he was certain that understanding made everything reliable.

In his mind, the cause and effect were very clear; it was just that he could not make it clear to these ordinary people around him, to these church deadheads; in his hands, tearing open a "line" was as normal as wielding a sword.

Green felt a chill run down his spine.

At a time when no one knew, the lake had sent a "person" whose mind and power were approaching those creatures onto the ship.

"You have been looking up."

The ship sailed into the reef cluster, different from when they landed before; this area was not the shallow water surrounding the giant pillar, and the rock formations were also different, tilting outward, taller and rugged, piercing the water surface like bone spurs.

The rushing lake water wove around them, colliding, slapping and tugging at the hull. The cultivators, having recovered their strength, simultaneously raised four oars, countering the force throwing them toward the rock protrusions.

The water level here was not deep, but very fast; one could see the swirls and siphons indicated by bubbles between the large and small gullies and holes on the bottom; below did not seem to be a single block, but piled with a large amount of broken rock.

Compared to the severely tossing hull, Kraft was clearly more concerned with the area above; only upon hearing the question did he withdraw his gaze. "Yes, I was looking at those 'stars'."

"Is there anything special about them?" Brother Wading was somewhat curious, or rather, curious about Kraft as a whole.

Holding the thought that "since Green didn't say anything, the problem is probably not big," he actively started chatting with Kraft.

In fact, he didn't quite understand why his partner seemed to have figured something out and suddenly became taciturn; at least he himself was quite interested in that strange power, even if it didn't quite fit the doctrine.

Whether they were enemies or friends in the future, it was never wrong to get closer while relations were still good.

"They look very far away."

"Not as far as you imagine. If the 'stars' are willing, the three of them can fall on our heads within three breaths." Kraft changed position, moving closer to the ship's railing where observation was easier, and wrapped a thick rope twice around his hand to prevent being thrown out. "But fortunately, so far no movement has been observed."

"Say less, we are preparing to go ashore..." Green always felt every sentence sounded like an ominous omen.

The rocks underwater quickly rose to near the water surface; the blurred arrowhead scraped against the hard surface with a sound; the half arrow shaft stuck in the bottom of the ship trembled once, transmitting a crisp sound of breaking.

The ship's bottom grounded on the stone beach that repeatedly sucked and surged with water, like stopping on a clogged pore.

Steep rock clusters tilted outward stood in a forest; the surface had some regular niche-like depressions, obviously artificial traces; it was impossible to know what had once been placed inside, probably hollowed out by the rising and falling lake water.

Kraft stepped out of the ship somewhat weakly, stumbled on the stone beach, and fell with his hands on the ground. Water surged from the cracks in the rocks, licking the gaps between his fingers, flooding over the back of his hand, and gripping his palm; his skin tasted a slightly unusual flavor.

A piece of "broken stone" floated up, approaching his bleeding, scraped palm; amidst the ground full of similar pieces, it was almost unnoticed.

Almost. Kraft immediately rolled over to dodge, grabbed his scabbard, and knocked it several steps away; under the cracked stone skin, a dim, ghastly white color was revealed.

Before he could make his next move, that thing used the soft tissue underneath to flip open the broken stone and drilled deeper into the stone beach.

As if startled, after a rustling of fine, broken sounds, several similar "broken stones" disappeared from their sight.

"I have to say, the ecology of this place is quite good." The cold joke to ease the atmosphere was not very successful; heaven knows how many Dunling-special water snails were still lurking on the stone beach.

"Good news is we definitely came to the right place; be careful."

These dangerous little things did not integrate into the lake bed but gathered here; there must be a reason.

"Do you mind if I take some samples back later? The last two might not be enough."

"As long as we can get back, you can fill a whole vat." Green vigilantly observed the surroundings, searching the mist for whether other larger things were still hidden; experience suggested they would never be too far apart from each other.

They walked along the shore for a stretch, tapping the ground with their scabbards as they went, like hunters in the mountains using canes to startle hibernating snakes in advance.

No thing larger than a human that moved was found. But at the very end of what could be seen, under the water-side reefs, there seemed to be something with a long, streamlined outline; one end lay in the water, while the other end was smashed against the reef during the rough landing process.

【A ship】