“Huh?”
When Yifu heard Enya say that she had already been marked, the dragon girl froze. Then she leaned in and sniffed at Enya, squinting her eyes as she spoke in a low voice.
“You’re lying to me.”
She couldn’t smell any trace of her own kind on Enya, let alone any scent of another woman of a different race.
Enya didn’t answer her. She stood up from the crate and turned to leave. Yifu reached out to grab her.
Suddenly, the ship shook violently.
In the tremor just now, the old and worn ferry had nearly tilted to seventy degrees. Many items on board tumbled over the side, but not a single splash could be heard.
Enya steadied herself, not falling in the sudden jolt. Her posture remained straight, without even a hint of bending.
Yifu’s outstretched hand, which had been meant to grab Enya, now braced against the wooden wall to stabilize herself.
This rocking was definitely not normal…
Though it had been swaying before, they had never encountered such a massive force that nearly capsized the entire vessel.
Enya looked at the surface of the black river. No, it could no longer be called a river—it was a pitch-black, placid lake. The ship had stopped dead in the water, as if it had entered a windless zone.
She let out a soft snort and turned her gaze to the passengers on the deck.
A few people were missing. Had they fallen overboard?
Many were still shaken by the jolt and hadn’t snapped out of it yet. A few had lost companions who fell into the river; they were now wearing expressions of terror and regret for boarding this ship.
Enya was about to look at Yifu beside her when she saw several people emerge from the cabin. Next to them stood the ferry’s crew, clearly indicating some kind of relationship.
The leader was a gaunt man with straw-gray hair. He strode out with his hands behind his back, his hollow eyes scanning the people on the deck. Opening his cracked lips, he asked in an extremely hoarse voice, “Who rode the ship without paying?”
“Me!”
Yifu hopped out excitedly. The moment her feet hit the deck, the deep red dragon horns in her orange-red hair glowed, and her locks swayed like flames.
As she released her aura, the surroundings rapidly became scorching hot.
The girl grinned, her expression innocently cheerful—except that from her mouth flowed strands of golden-red, blazing flames.
The gaunt man froze for a moment.
“Dragon tribe? That’s rare. An alien woman—tell me, what are you going to do in the City of the Other Shore?”
He could see Yifu’s true strength. If a fight broke out, the loss would outweigh the gain. So he changed the subject with words, intending to let the matter drop without mentioning the unpaid ticket.
Seeing the man back down from his earlier confrontational attitude, Yifu pouted in disappointment. She wouldn’t have minded a fight.
“Looking for someone.”
“Easy. I have connections in the City of the Other Shore. I can have them help you find them.”
“Oh.”
“Also… You’re a member of the dragon tribe, not a human. Don’t meddle in human affairs. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Whatever happens, pretend you didn’t see anything. That’s best for both of us.” The gaunt man’s eyes were sharp.
He didn’t appear to fear Yifu, obviously having a backup plan. But even in this situation, he was rational enough not to choose conflict with her.
When he said this, the boarding passengers understood the implication. They gripped their weapons tightly, ready to argue logic with the gaunt man by force if necessary.
Yifu tilted her head and pointed at Enya, who was leaning against the railing.
“She’s mine.”
“Fine.”
The gaunt man didn’t even look, directly agreeing to Yifu’s request.
Yifu blinked, withdrew her scorching heat, and quickly ran to Enya’s side, trying to pounce on her and hug her. But Enya sidestepped, dodging her.
Enya glanced at Yifu, who had missed, and sighed inwardly.
’This girl doesn’t exactly seem like someone who acts out of righteousness.’
She muttered to herself, then turned her gaze to the deck.
The passengers had now gathered together, clearly intending to stand united.
But at that moment, the gaunt man grinned and addressed those who planned to resist him.
“Just hand over anything valuable you have. If I like it, we’ll pretend nothing happened. Cherish this opportunity.” As he spoke, he released his aura.
Seventh Rank of Magic!
Everyone on deck was shocked. They hadn’t expected such hidden dragons and crouching tigers on this small black ferry.
The captain was a Sixth Rank, which they thought was the strongest here…
They never imagined that first there was the dragon girl Yifu at Seventh Rank, and now this arrogant consumptive-looking man was also Seventh Rank!
Just as they were stunned, a tall, upright man stepped forward, took out three bundles, and tossed them to the gaunt man. Several sailors caught them and brought them before him.
The gaunt man glanced down, nodded with a smile, and said, “Wise choice.”
With that, the man who paid the ransom led a young man and a young woman—both appearing to be on a training journey—away from the crowd on deck.
They chose to play it safe in this muddy water, exchanging three magic tools for three tickets.
With someone taking the lead, the remaining people’s mental defenses crumbled quickly. They pulled out their most treasured possessions, hoping to buy their lives. But not everything was acceptable.
The gaunt man held a money bag containing a hundred gold coins and scanned the middle-aged male passenger who had handed it up.
“What trash dares to be offered? I think you want to be fish food.”
“No, no!”
The slightly plump middle-aged man, sweating profusely, stammered with trembling legs, “I still have money in the City of the Other Shore! It’s worth at least ten thousand gold coins in total!”
“Oh? Not bad.”
The gaunt man weighed the money bag and tossed it casually behind him. A sailor caught it, beaming with joy. A hundred gold coins was indeed a lot here!
One by one, those who could afford to buy their lives did so.
The rest were either penniless or unwilling to pay the price. They stood together on the deck, forming a group.
There were quite a few—eight or nine people.
When the gaunt man turned his gaze to them, their faces went pale. With their Fourth to Fifth Tier strength, they wouldn’t even last a single exchange against that man.
Suddenly, one of them rushed to the railing and jumped off in front of everyone.
But he wasn’t trying to commit suicide—after landing, a small wooden boat appeared beneath him.
The man raised a silver lantern, kicked the side of the calm boat, and the reaction force pushed him and the little skiff more than ten meters away, creating faint ripples.
But soon the boat stopped, and the water’s surface returned to its initial calm.
The pitch-black Black River resembled a mirror, eerily flat.
The gaunt man watched this scene, shaking his head and laughing. “Ridiculous, ridiculous.”
Everyone on deck remained silent.
The crowd had been divided. Even if the remaining people wanted to destroy the ferry and go down together, the ones who had paid for their lives would desperately stop them.
Enya’s gaze fell on the smooth surface of the Black River.
With Yifu beside her, she couldn’t open her Dragon Eyes in front of her.
But even without using the Dragon Eyes or Breaking Illusion, she could see things moving beneath the calm surface—bright silver specks visible to the naked eye.
Those silver specks moved within the black water, looking like stars.
“Aaaaah!”
The silver specks in the water quickly reached the bottom of the small boat.
The man who had tried to escape by boat grabbed the oars and rowed frantically, but he couldn’t create a single ripple on the surface. The oar had no physical interaction with the black water at all!
The silver light rose. Bubbles gurgled in the black water, and then a black tail directly shattered the small wooden boat. The man fell into the river and sank rapidly into the depths.
Many silver specks converged at the spot where he fell, as if feasting on the man just like that.
The Black Water River contained a type of fish with silver specks. This was what the gaunt man called “feeding the fish.”
The sight of the man capsizing and being devoured caused many on the ship to shiver with fear.
The gaunt man turned his gaze back to those on the deck. He grinned, his cracked lips parting, and purple-black blood oozed from the cracks.
He pulled a silk handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth, but after wiping, his entire mouth was smeared with blood, making him look like a corpse with his gaunt face.
With that terrifying mouth, he smiled at everyone and said, “Alright, please jump in.”
“……”
The eight people on the deck were drenched in sweat, their eyes full of unwillingness.
The gaunt man patiently explained, “If you don’t feed the fish, the boat will stay here forever. So jump down quickly—it’ll be doing everyone a favor.”
He stated a key issue.
The reason the black water had stopped flowing was because of those fish in the water. Only by feeding them could the water start flowing again.
That should have been the case…
Suddenly, the ferry began to move. Even the gaunt man was caught off guard. He quickly went to the side and looked down.
The black water, which had been as calm as a mirror, was now surging!
The gaunt man’s eye twitched. “What’s happening?”
Sensing the movement, Yifu also leaned over the railing and looked at the water. “Something big… in the water?”
The silver specks scattered abruptly. But a mass of faint silver light, larger than the ship, came from afar, bringing with it waves over ten meters high.
No one had ever seen such a thing. The gaunt man’s face turned ashen as he stared at the oncoming black giant wave.
Yifu squinted for a moment, then her eyes widened.
“Fish! Such a big fish!”
Enya watched this scene, and the corner of her mouth curled into a slight smile.
Those who knew her well would recognize this as her trademark mischievous grin—a sign that she was about to stir up trouble.