Chapter 155: The Little Mermaid (25)

"Don't overthink it."

Tang Mu was not good at comforting people.

She was accustomed to getting straight to the root of the problem. Offering words of solace was rarely her forte, so seeing Yu Yun crying like that actually made her feel a bit thrown off balance.

"Maybe your mom is in heaven and can protect you even better now."

Yu Yun, "..."

She was not comforted at all, thank you very much!

Yet unexpectedly, Yu Yun's sorrow was canceled out by a sort of negative-times-negative effect, muting a great deal of her grief.

Once her mood improved, it meant she had to get back to business with Tang Mu.

"I don't think things are that simple." Tang Mu gestured toward the weathered surface of the deck. "From beginning to end, we've viewed the entire situation solely through Sang Lan's perspective."

"A flower holds a world, a leaf a Bodhi. Everyone views this world through a different lens. As the saying goes, seeing isn't necessarily believing, let alone when dealing with isolated fragments of personal memories."

"Then what is the truth?"

"To find out the truth... we certainly cannot overlook the other protagonist in this story." Tang Mu winked at Yu Yun.

General Kantian.

The name surfaced in both of their minds.

Yet the sea was vast and boundless. And he was a person from decades ago... How were they supposed to find the shadow of a figure from the past within this fleeting river of time?

"The wheelhouse! There's definitely a clue in the wheelhouse!" Yu Yun shouted, raising her voice.

The two of them ran to the wheelhouse on the deck below.

Due to years of rain erosion and the weathering of time, the wooden staircase connecting the main deck and the middle level emitted a creaking sound of decaying wood whenever someone stepped on it.

In the quiet cabin, this sound seemed especially heavy and dull.

Upon reaching the wheelhouse.

Aside from the ship's wheel, a compass, and a telescope, the wheelhouse contained little else save for an ancient map. The map was made of sheepskin, aged to an antique yellow. Before they could clearly see the contents displayed on it, they first needed to brush away the layer of accumulated dust completely.

"Hoo!"

Yu Yun puffed out her cheeks and blew at the dust.

However, she was a bit scatterbrained... without paying attention to the direction, she blew all the dust straight toward Tang Mu.

Tang Mu cast a side-long glance at her, "..."

The little loli Yu Yun panicked, hastily bending over to apologize to Tang Mu. "I'm sorry, Sister Tang Mu, wuwuwu, I didn't mean to... Um, let me quickly wipe it off for you."

But with her clumsy hands and feet, she only made things more troublesome and chaotic.

"Alright, alright." Tang Mu told her to stop messing around. "I don't really care about this. Work seriously and finish up quickly. Once it's done, I want to collect my five million."

Hearing this, Yu Yun couldn't help but pout her little mouth. "Wuwu, Sister Tang Mu... We've known each other for so long now. I thought we were already close little besties."

"But it turns out that in your heart, we're still just a cargo and a bodyguard."

"Aren't you stating the obvious?" When it came to money, Tang Mu was always strictly impartial. "No matter how much nonsense you talk, the money that's due has to be paid."

Yu Yun, "..." *Sigh*, how has this girl survived this long? With a mouth that sharp, she should learn from others and sweeten it up a bit, relying on her face to make a name for herself in the game!

"Sister Tang Mu, have you never had any sweetness in your life?"

Yu Yun couldn't help tilting her head to ask, "It's fine, from now on with me around, I'll make sure your future world is entirely sweet!"

She patted her chest, boldly and cheerfully declaring it to Tang Mu.

Tang Mu lowered her gaze to look at this tiny person, who wasn't even as tall as her waist. After a long silence, she finally squeezed out a single sentence:

"How old are you this year?"

"Nineteen already, what about it?"

"Are you perhaps a bit... malnourished?"

Yu Yun, "..."

Damn it, if she ever tried overestimating herself to warm up Tang Mu again, she would be a complete idiot!

This person was practically wrapped in a layer of absolute insulation, completely cut off from romance and sweetness!

As for the map.

The ink-stamped traces on the map had faded significantly, growing so faint that the character outlines were barely visible. Still, with a little careful effort, the subtle black marks on the map could still be discerned.

Only two locations were circled on the map.

One was the Mermaid Castle.

The other was the Shah Palace.

The Mermaid Castle—could it be that coral stone house Tang Mu had previously visited with Sang Wu?

Hmm. That tiny spot could actually be called a castle?

Wasn't that a bit of an exaggeration of the word "castle"?

"Let's go to the other location." Tang Mu pointed at the Shah Palace. "We haven't been to this place."

"Maybe General Kantian's remains are right there?"

"Okay." Since Tang Mu said they were going, Yu Yun would go. The decision-making power rested with Tang Mu anyway, and Yu Yun gave Tang Mu her unconditional support~

Yet she still had one question: "Do you know how to drive a ship?"

Tang Mu and Yu Yun both looked simultaneously toward the dust-covered wheel, exchanging a glance of mutual dismay. Both saw nothing but confusion and uncertainty in each other's eyes.

"Um, how about we treat a dead horse as a live one? Anyway, the sea is so huge, trying it won't kill us, right?"

Uh...

Yu Yun suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. What was going on here?

Wuwu, she suddenly felt a bit scared!

Tang Mu walked over to the wheel. With a casual sweep of her hand to clear away the dust, she began turning the steering wheel.

She had originally thought that since the giant ship had lain dormant on the ocean for so long, it probably wouldn't work anymore. But the moment Tang Mu's hands gripped the wheel, the giant vessel miraculously began to move on its own.

?

So this was what it felt like when you thought you were driving a manual car and were still trying to figure out how to start it, only to realize the vehicle was fully automated and required no manual operation at all.

That felt genuinely awesome.

She could completely let go and leave the piloting to the giant ship itself.

Yet looking back, Yu Yun still felt a lingering trace of trepidation.

"Sister Tang Mu, I always feel like there's something wrong with this ship. It's so huge, and yet there's not a single person here. According to our past experience entering instances, a space this massive should definitely spawn creepy entities. But so far, there hasn't even been an extra sound. This feeling is so strange."

It felt just like wandering alone through a gigantic empty city.

Enduring isolation, loneliness, emptiness, and desolation all by oneself.

This kind of gnawing, bone-chilling solitude... If Tang Mu hadn't been by her side, Yu Yun surely would have been frightened to tears.

She had been crying constantly back in the seaweed forest earlier. It was just that nobody noticed and nobody cared about her.

To her doubts, Tang Mu remained completely calm.

"Don't worry," Tang Mu said, looking somewhat nonchalant compared to Yu Yun's panic. "If this were any other instance, spawning creepy entities here would be a certainty. But since it's a mermaid instance, the probability of that happening is practically zero."