Chapter 286: Sin Beneath the Night

On the slightly rocking ferryboat, all eyes were fixed on the sight of fish ascending into the sky.

This was a sight one might see only once in a lifetime, so how could they not stare with wide eyes?

Yifu looked at the distant sky, at the beast with its enormous body.

Its body wasn’t completely transparent either. Dim blue threads extended from that silver heart, spreading like blood vessels to the finest branches.

These dim blue threads emitted a soft glow, outlining the beast’s overall silhouette, much like a blue whale dwelling in the ocean.

“Its size is almost as big as the Empress after she transforms, isn’t it?”

On top of the beast Yeyue, from afar, there was only a tiny speck of silver.

It flickered like a lantern, swaying unsteadily.

But everyone on the boat knew that this silver speck was Enya’s scattered silver hair. She stood on the beast’s head.

At the same time, as Yeyue rose higher, those translucent silver fish that looked like starlight also leaped out of the water.

This time, they didn’t fall back into the water but flapped their cicada-wing-like fins and flew alongside Yeyue into the higher sky.

“It looks like the starry sky…”

Someone murmured this softly.

This sentence resonated with many, and another person added,

“This shore and the other shore have no stars. Were they hiding in the black water all along? Then wouldn’t this Black River be a piece of night fallen from the sky?”

“Ignorant…”

Someone gave that person a sidelong glance. In this era, the explanation of the starry sky was no longer some divine miracle.

Anyone with a little knowledge of astronomy and mathematics could know that each star was a sun.

The sun hadn’t set; the ground had just turned to the other side.

So where did that piece of night come from?

That person was given many sidelong glances and lowered their head in embarrassment.

“Who is she?”

Everyone stranded on this boat had this question.

Enya stood on Yeyue’s head, her black robe fluttering slightly. A breeze passed, lifting her scattered long hair.

Her eyes looked downward, through Yeyue’s body, at the scene below. The ferryboat was now as small as an ant, but the orange-red girl Yifu on it was still conspicuous.

Shifting her gaze, Enya looked at this black river.

No, it wasn’t a river at all!

It was just a massive vortex. At the center of this vortex was a pitch-black hemisphere. The thousand-meter-long beast Yeyue was like a small fish compared to a water tank before it.

“Is passing through there the other shore?”

[Yes]

Yeyue’s voice came through, a childish little girl’s voice.

Enya continued asking,

“Have you always been living here?”

[Yes]

“Since when?”

[Always]

“Alright…”

Enya smiled helplessly. She realized that Yeyue seemed very young, even infantile. Though its body was a thousand meters long, it was still very much a child.

She had one more question and took this opportunity to ask Yeyue.

“Why do you eat people?”

[Eat people?]

“Those who fall into the water.”

[Yeyue doesn’t eat people. The darkness eats them. They have no light and can’t float. The darkness changed. Yeyue can’t leave here.]

“……”

Enya was stunned for a moment, then she somewhat understood Yeyue’s meaning.

This place was originally just a desolate space. The City of the Other Shore was created by humans.

Someone had imprisoned Yeyue, the beast belonging to the Goddess of the Night, in this area.

The so-called Ferryman was the minion of those who controlled the City of the Other Shore. And the so-called Silver Lantern…

Was probably a magical tool made from the hearts of these little flying fish now accompanying Yeyue.

The beast Yeyue brought Enya to the front of that black hemisphere. If something is big enough, even a curved surface can be seen as flat.

From close up, Enya only saw a black wall before her, as if she had reached a dead end.

“This is far enough.”

Enya gave the order to Yeyue.

Yeyue turned its body, its side leaning against the edge of the black wall, but not too close. Its body did not touch the wall.

The flying fish circled around Yeyue, forming a bridge straight to the black wall. Enya stepped forward and walked over. Her pace was unhurried, her posture elegant.

Crossing the transparent bridge, Enya truly arrived in front of the black wall, only three meters away.

She looked at the wall before her, slowly raising her head to examine it carefully from top to bottom.

“This is designed strangely like a black hole.”

After muttering this, she lifted her foot and walked forward again.

The moment she touched the black wall, Enya didn’t even blink. Stepping into it, she felt a pulling sensation and a slight falling sensation at the same time.

Then a feeling of inversion appeared. Enya looked down.

She was standing on black river water.

Enya looked up and saw a coastline not far away. Just one glance,

and she couldn’t help but frown.

This City of the Other Shore was somewhat similar to the City of This Shore she had seen in the sky during the day.

Were the two mirror images?

Or was the City of the Other Shore a reversed mold of the City of This Shore?

Which one was it? Thinking about it like this wouldn’t give her an answer.

Enya reached out and clipped up her hair, then put her hood back on. Next, her figure vanished from that spot in an instant.

The guard standing on the watchtower above the black river saw the distant silver figure suddenly disappear. With some confusion, he asked his companion beside him,

“Do those fish come over here?”

“What do you think? Of course they do.”

“Oh.”

“What? You see something?”

“I saw a fish, I guess.”

“Tch. Newbies always make a fuss over nothing.”

“Hehe.”

Enya was already standing below the lighthouse. Hearing that she had been mistaken for a fish, she felt no particular emotion. Instead, she thought of another not-so-big problem.

Yeyue suddenly brought the school of fish to meet her—this was too conspicuous.

Plus, that ferryboat would eventually follow the ocean current and arrive at the City of the Other Shore.

The people on board would definitely spread the news, and those in the city would know that a silver-haired woman capable of stirring up the fish had arrived.

“Tsk, tsk…”

Enya clicked her tongue, but still felt no emotional fluctuation inside.

Wasn’t this just alarming the snake?

Without some commotion, the snake hiding in the grass wouldn’t stir.

She walked toward the city.

The City of the Other Shore, originally named True Night City, was also known by the nickname City of Sin. From that name alone, you could tell what kind of place it was.

Due to the rules of the Black River and the tacit approval of the city’s managers, it was filled with all kinds of fugitives and desperadoes.

It also had various bloody entertainments not found outside, the most famous of which was the Deathmatch.

Gamblers gathered in the audience, watching those people fight for their lives.

They wouldn’t stop until one of them died, because showing mercy here could mean you wouldn’t even know how you died.

“Damn, I’m out of money again. Shit.”

“I’m broke too… If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bet on that guy. That woman was so ruthless, my legs are still shaking.”

“Where can we get some money?”

“Go back to…”

Two gamblers who had lost everything were kicked out of the Deathmatch arena, both looking dejected.

But one of them, upon seeing a certain figure not far down the street, got excited immediately.

He grabbed his companion’s hand and signaled with his eyes.

“Sell that beast-race woman?”

“……”

The thin man rolled his eyes at him and said,

“Don’t you know?”

“What?”

“One hundred thousand gold coins!”

“Huh?”

The tall man didn’t catch on, but the thin one had already concealed his aura and was following the golden-haired, fox-eared, big-tailed girl ahead.

The tall man quickly followed, not wanting to miss out on the hundred thousand gold coins the thin man mentioned.

Like two perverts, they followed the girl through streets and alleys, until finally she ducked into a narrow lane and reached a dead end.

The fox princess turned around. The tall man and the thin man had already blocked her escape.

The thin man grinned and said,

“Little girl, I see you’ve got nice fur. Let me sell it for some cash.”

“Hehe, we’re a bit short lately. Sorry, miss, but we have to get money from you.”

The tall man was no good either. He looked honest, but he could say such outrageously evil lines with a straight face.

Zeta’s face was full of fear. Delicate, timid, she sobbed,

“You… what are you going to do to me?”