Chapter 974

The night in the suite lasted a long time.

Damn Ashina Gen'ichirō.

Uesugi Muneyuki was defeated by him thirteen times.

He kept losing until Uesugi Muneyuki could no longer endure, spitting white foam in Mai Xuejie's arms.

I have no strength left to fight—ah!

Outside the window, under the moonlight, silver-gray ripples shimmered, the balcony door half-open, sea wind carrying salty dampness blowing in, mingling with the scent of sake and perfume in the room, the golden bell occasionally making faint sounds late at night, drowned low by the waves.

Time approached three a. m., Mai Xuejie wrapped in a thin blanket sat on the balcony gazing at the sea, Sakura curled asleep on the sofa, Asuka half-dreaming with her head on a pillow, muttering: "I can't take it anymore, Muneyuki, really can't! I don't want this anymore, truly don't—go find that tall, fat woman, I really can't eat anymore—"

Meanwhile, Uesugi Muneyuki lay on his back on the bed, eyes already rolled white.

Only Mai Xuejie felt calm.

A long-lost calm, in a certain moment, Mai Xuejie could feel that her past pursuits, her dreams, the path to the High Plain of Heaven and the Golden Throne, and the eternal void sought by Inner World People, were temporarily set aside—she was like an ordinary person, with her own lover, her own family, friends and companions, and her own concerns.

Yet Mai Xuejie sighed, knowing these were ultimately illusions.

She was destined to be an Inner World Person, destined not to have too many ties with the Outer World.

Unfortunately, Uesugi Muneyuki's chakras numbered only seven.

Seven—

"Fifty years of human life, compared to heaven, is but a speck; viewing worldly affairs, dreams seem like water. Let one's life pass once, entering extinction immediately before us." Mai Xuejie softly recited "Atsumori," gazing far out at the sea.

What lies beyond the sea?

Is the far shore truly Paradise, or the High Plain of Heaven? Or is it merely another layer of endless hell?

Uesugi Muneyuki's power grew stronger; just now, in a certain moment, she felt that her union with Uesugi Muneyuki had generated Inner World Energy that broke through the blockade of the Logic Tide, sending a whisper to the far shore.

In that moment, she sensed a breath from the far shore, like dust seeping from stone cracks—though only a trace, it filled her with satisfaction, yet also made Mai Xuejie feel that not all there was benevolent—

But no matter what, I want to go see.

Just that simple.

At this very moment, in a sealed space on the lower deck of the Flying Bird I, another group also felt something beyond this world.

Lower deck, enclosed private bar.

This bar does not appear on the cruise ship's official navigation map.

It is hidden deep in the B-deck crew area down an inconspicuous corridor at the end, requiring a special black magnetic card to enter.

Beyond the crew door is a room about eighty square meters, with dark red lights hanging from the ceiling, walls wrapped in black velvet, floor covered with thick dark carpet, footsteps completely absorbed.

About twenty or more people gathered in the room now.

They wore uniform attire—black bunny girl outfits with lace patterns on chest and waist, half-face rabbit masks covering their faces, only lips and chin exposed.

Half male, half female, some indistinguishable in gender.

The air was thick with 【undescribable】 and some 【undescribable】 of 【undescribable】.

In the corner, 【undescribable】 in 【undescribable】 【undescribable】, 【undescribable】 scattered on the carpet, low 【undescribable】 and suppressed 【undescribable】 mixed into the environmental white noise from the speakers.

They 【undescribable】—each 【undescribable】, each 【undescribable】, carrying 【undescribable】 of 【undescribable】, as if in the 【undescribable】 of 【undescribable】 and 【undescribable】.

Finally, under the 【undescribable】 and 【undescribable】 of 【undescribable】, everyone sank into this grand ritual, as if forgetting time and space.

Fujido Chengyi stood on the high platform at the far end of the room, not wearing a bunny girl outfit, still in a dark gray turtleneck sweater and black long pants, long hair tied back tightly, holding a whiskey glass he had barely touched.

His gaze swept over those 【undescribable】 below, expression neither excited nor disgusted, only a calm,

like observing an experiment's progress.

Suddenly, the entire room's air seemed to solidify for an instant.

The bunny girls below nearly stopped moving at the same moment.

Some 【undescribable】, some 【undescribable】, some 【undescribable】. An ultimate, sudden sense of fulfillment, like a thirsty person finally touching water.

Then someone let out a low sound, then a second, then a third.

That sound began vague, gradually converging into the same phrase.

"Chi Rui An—our Mother!"

"She has heard—"

"Our offering—has been accepted—"

Fujido's fingers gripping the wine cup tightened slightly.

He felt a vast, warm "presence" sweep through this space from the unfathomable depths—not a power he could comprehend, but he was certain it had indeed descended.

Several core members behind him also felt it, some even kneeling.

Success! They had contacted the Old Gods!

After dozens of failed sacrificial rituals, they finally received a response from Chi Rui An this time!

The plan advances!!!

Fujido immediately put down his wine cup, turned and walked into a small side compartment of the bar. Inside were a few people waiting for him—one or two men and one woman, likewise core members of this operation.

"Uesugi Muneyuki must go down." Fujido sat on the folding chair, getting straight to the point: "Uesugi Muneyuki—if he finds out what we're doing on the ship, when the Flying Bird docks, we'll all be taken away by the Japan Coast Guard."

"Then let him have an accident" disappear." A tall, thin man with gold-rimmed glasses said: "The ship has a deep-sea diving activity. Tomorrow the ship will briefly stop at an open water area of a blue hole, about ten nautical miles out, depth between sixty and eighty meters. We can tamper with his CCR."

"How to tamper?"

"Loosen the regulator's air valve half a turn; after he enters the water, his breathing will grow increasingly heavy, he'll mistakenly think he has carbon dioxide poisoning.

We'll assign our people to pretend nitrogen narcosis to create chaos, another to stir up silt to reduce visibility, and someone will 'accidentally' drop the guide rope, and when everyone panics and surfaces, he'll be left behind in the depths. At sixty meters underwater, equipment failure plus no rescue means he'll lose consciousness within twenty minutes."

"What about the body?"

"The blue hole's bottom has an undercurrent that will carry it out to sea. Search teams might not find it at all."

Fujido fell silent for a moment: "Could he find out it was human-made?"

"No. Equipment failure, team panic, operational error—each step has coincidental reasons. Moreover, he's not a diving expert, he wouldn't know those coincidences are actually designed."

Fujido nodded: "Then that's how we'll do it. Contact the arrangements for the people in the diving group, tomorrow's operation.

"I'll take responsibility for the spontaneous idea!"

"I'll take responsibility for stirring up the mud!"

"I'll take responsibility for pretending to have nitrogen intoxication!"

"Then I'll take responsibility for turning around and fleeing and discarding the guide rope!"

The Blue Hole is located about five nautical miles southeast of Shizuoka Prefecture, a rare underwater limestone cavern along this coast, with a mouth diameter of about fifteen meters, spacious internal chambers, and when sunlight slants in through the mouth, it refracts into ethereal blue light patterns on the cave walls, making it one of the featured diving items on the Flight I route.

Mai Xuejie, Sakura, and Asuka went to meet Shimura Sayuri at the tea room to catch up and accept the silly invitation for a SPA.

They went, and in the end only Uesugi Muneyuki came to play.

Uesugi Muneyuki was assigned to a diving group with another seven people.

The group included three certified diving instructors, four tourists, and the tall thin man arranged by Fujido was also among them, wearing wire-rimmed glasses, dressed in a dry suit, looking very professional.

Before departure, the tall thin man "coincidentally" stood beside Uesugi to help him check his equipment, his movements practiced, and he casually turned the regulator's air valve.

Uesugi Muneyuki didn't notice.

He was looking at a message from Minami on his phone—"The Special Mission Division has no big cases lately, keep playing"—he replied with a "（··）" and then put down his phone.

The first fifteen minutes of the dive went normally.

The scenery of the Blue Hole was indeed beautiful: sunlight poured down from the mouth, forming beams of light in the water, shining on the mottled coral and algae on the cave walls, casting rich layers of deep blue and bluish-green.

Uesugi Muneyuki swam in the middle of the group; looking down, he could see a white sandy bottom about twenty meters down, scattered with some black reef stones.

It was indeed beautiful.

He even had the mood to hum a tune, the blue-black before his eyes reminding him of Inter Milan.

I just remembered, I've always been an Inter Milan fan! The great Inter era! Zanetti! Diego Milito! Sneijder Eto'o Cambiasso!

"Fall in love with it~Crazy Inter Milan love him~This endless joy will continue on, crazy Inter Milan love it~"

Uesugi Muneyuki admired the coral attached to the inner walls of the Blue Hole and the fish shoals darting through the light beams.

The Blue Hole's light from the mouth above slants down into the water, forming a hazy beam of light, like a gate to another world.

The gate of High Plain of Heaven!

At this moment, the team ahead suddenly fell into chaos!

Someone was desperately splashing water, bubbles surged, mud and sand were stirred up, visibility dropped sharply, and the urgent knocking sounds from the diving instructors ahead came as an emergency signal.

Uesugi Muneyuki: "?"

He vaguely saw a female cadet ahead suddenly begin to flail her arms wildly, the breathing mouthpiece came loose, and the whole person flailed madly.

Nitrogen intoxication?

Uesugi Muneyuki vaguely remembered the diving instructor saying before entering the water that because diving requires constantly inhaling from the air tank, it causes nitrogen, a gas poorly soluble in water, to dissolve significantly in human blood, making one feel as if drunk.

The diving instructor immediately rushed over to support her.

Immediately after, a male tourist from below surged upward violently, kicking up a large amount of mud and sand, the blue light beam instantly became turbid, visibility plummeted, and he accidentally let go of the guide rope.

The buoyancy float at the rope's end slowly rose, disappearing above the murky water, the diving instructors were busy rescuing the "nitrogen intoxicated" female tourist, with no time to worry about the guide rope, this male tourist tapped his shoulder twice, signaling himself to go help, you wait here.

Uesugi Muneyuki dazed for a long time, suspended in the murky water, he lowered his head and saw the white sandy bottom at the cave floor about seven or eight meters below.

There were no companions under his feet—everyone had been carried upward by that "chaos," only he remained in the murky sand.

He waited two minutes.

No one came down to look for him.

"So united, friendly, and helpful?" Uesugi Muneyuki thought in his heart: "When a teammate has trouble, the whole group goes up to help, tossing me alone aside, still quite moving, what spirit is this? This is internationalist spirit! This is humanist spirit! This is great"

He did not panic.

Lowering his gaze to that white sandy bottom, he suddenly felt something there was faintly glowing.

Huh, what is that?

The moment his feet stepped onto the sandy bottom, a shower of fine light points surged up from beneath the sand layer—this was not stone, but some kind of semi-transparent, crystal-like fragment, emitting a pale blue fluorescence in the dim water.

Agate?

Uesugi Muneyuki had a spontaneous idea, adjusted his posture, and dove downward toward sixty meters depth.

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