Chapter 532

Chapter 395: Search

Therefore, Dorothy was able to trade supplies with the Tupa Tribe. Uta the shaman was pleased to see the health of the tribe’s people improve and was willing to help acquire the needed supplies for them.

Dorothy had already arranged it, planning to wire money to Adele after the ship docked, asking her to use her connections in the underworld of the East District to procure supplies at the Tivyán black market. After that, the goods would be smuggled to the New World. For this, Dorothy was willing to pay Adele a service fee of 200 pounds.

The total cost was 1,700 pounds. Although it seemed a bit expensive, it was worth it for Dorothy, as it established a channel for trading with the Tupa Tribe, allowing for more future transactions. For instance, they could ask Uta to help connect with more Wilderness Spirits, or even reach out to other tribes. The main reason for the relatively high cost this time was that the Tupa Tribe was currently short on supplies, so Dorothy proactively bought a bit more for them. She did not mind doing a few favors for these indigenous people.

Additionally, Neve had purchased the “Silence” storage item, which served as cat food for Soul Whiskers, at the Golden Contract Bank last time. Not knowing the cat’s appetite, Neve, under Dorothy’s suggestion, bought more than one storage item. After purchasing the storage items, she nearly spent all of her over 1,000 pounds deposited in the White Stone Craftsmen Guild. Of course, after New Year’s Eve, Dorothy helped her reimburse 1,000 pounds, and the remaining cat food eventually ended up in Dorothy’s hands and was used this time.

Lastly, it seemed that Neve’s cosmetics were consumed quite heavily. To cater to the long journey’s needs, she had brought a large amount of cosmetics as backups. This time, however, needing to disguise herself, she painted her skin white and used a lot of expensive cosmetics, which made her quite heartbroken.

Overall, Dorothy now had over 3,200 pounds in cash, along with 7 cups, 8 stones, 5 shadows, 2 lamps, 14 silences, and 7 enlightenments in accumulated spirituality. The “Shadow” storage item had consumed 2, leaving 5 remaining. Thanks to Soul Whiskers’ small appetite, only 1 out of the 3 cat food items was eaten, leaving 2 “Silence” items for future feedings.

“Fortunately, after reaching the White Chalk Tier, the consumption of the Spiritual Thread ability has clearly reduced. Last time, controlling the drunken puppet and entangling with those sailors took over an hour, and the final consumption was only a little. If it were before, it would have definitely cost at least three points of ‘cup’.”

Dorothy thought to herself, beginning to contemplate the next actions of the Abyss Cultists.

“If these guys can’t find anything at sea, they will probably shift their focus back onto the ship right away. Just before the exhibition started, I had already instructed the zombie puppet to steal a lifeboat and rowed away. It’s drifted quite far now. I hope those guys will suspect that Thief K has escaped and isn’t on the ship anymore.”

“Of course, they might not believe… If they don’t believe that Thief K has left the ship with the Deep Blue Heart and are determined to find her, then things could become a bit troublesome.”

Looking at the somewhat chaotic scene on the deck, Dorothy thought to herself. She knew that although they successfully stole the Deep Blue Heart and prevented the sacrificial ritual, the crisis was not completely resolved. As long as these cultists were still controlling the ship, the lives of everyone on board were not truly safe.

“Now… it’s time to see what those guys will do next.”

Dorothy silently thought, prepared to continue her covert engagement with Costa and Massimo.

……

The appearance and departure of Thief K had caused quite a stir on the front deck. The audience there was buzzing with discussions and competing to squeeze onto the ship’s bow to visit the site where Thief K had been active. However, Massimo would not allow this. He immediately organized the crew to return the audience from the front deck back to the ship’s cabin, then began searching the ship.

After several minutes of fruitless searching, Massimo, with a solemn expression, arrived at the ship’s stern with the cultist crew, quietly waiting for something. After a short while, he saw several large wet hands reach up from below, grasping the edge of the ship. Then, Costa, soaking wet, pulled himself back onto the deck after climbing around thirty meters up from the porthole, behind him were more equally drenched sailors.

“Well? Did you find that guy yet?”

Seeing Costa, Massimo quickly asked, while Costa dried his head with a towel and replied.

“No… I swam all around this ship and dived nearly eight hundred meters deep, but I didn’t see any sign of anyone. That guy should still be on the ship. I don’t know how she slipped past our eyes and got back into the cabin.”

Costa said seriously. Upon listening to his words, Massimo furrowed his brow and spoke again.

“She’s still on the ship? Impossible… I just checked the ship and found that a lifeboat was missing. That might be where her accomplice picked her up from the sea. After she jumped overboard, she could have directly climbed onto the lifeboat and escaped. They might have some ability to accelerate the lifeboat’s speed, so before the fog has cleared, she could have gotten quite far away.”

Massimo shared his hypothesis. After all, the fog had lingered on the ship for some time, and Costa hadn’t jumped into the sea right away, thus giving the lifeboat time to escape.

As Massimo presented his analysis, Costa shook his head repeatedly.

“No… I don’t think so! I just swam around these seas for three or four nautical miles at the fastest speed possible, and I found no trace of any lifeboats. They might have some means to accelerate their lifeboat, but I don’t believe they are faster than me in the water.

“So, I think the disappearance of the lifeboat is just a smokescreen; it’s that guy’s attempt to make us believe she has escaped this ship. She should still be on board, and if we believe she has really fled, then she can remain carefree!”

With a serious expression, Costa spoke. All of this judgment was based on his confidence in his own abilities; he didn’t believe that the thief could be faster than him in the water.

“From that guy’s skill and the subtle traces of the Deep Blue Heart’s spirituality, she’s either from the Black Earth or the White Chalk Tier, an Extraordinary Being on the path of ‘Shadow’! I absolutely don’t believe this ‘Shadow’ thief could row a lifeboat without sails faster than me on the sea, so she must be on board. If we search properly, we will definitely find her!”

Costa declared, angrily throwing the towel he held onto the ground.