I'm in Mota, and they all want me to confess my feelings!

—She was already used to it.

only……

What kind of apology is this?

"...Are you a pervert?" Floro tilted his head, his tone genuinely confused.

Is this really that weird?

Okay, a little bit.

"I was just trying to understand each other," Duanmu Yan explained. "That was just an accident."

Floro's response remained calm, as if the offense and contact from before were insignificant to her: "I understand, like the occasional noise in a performance, disordered, but nothing to worry about. You don't need to explain, and you don't need to take it to heart."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie to you?" Floro seemed to suddenly realize something, gently covering her mouth with a hint of surprise. "Could it be... that you actually want me to get angry and yell at you? You have that kind of hobby?"

Duanmu Yan blushed and retorted, "How could that be? I just wanted to sincerely apologize."

"Apologize? No matter how you look at it, it seems like a pervert."

"Do I look like a pervert?" Duanmu Yan looked at Phoebe beside him.

The latter paused for a moment, then nodded weakly: "Yes...yes a little."

As soon as she finished speaking, the naive girl realized her mistake and hurriedly explained.

"I... I mean... what Mr. Duanmu just said was a bit perverted, but it doesn't mean you yourself are a pervert! Uh... that still doesn't seem right?"

"Wait a minute, what I mean is—"

Finally, the words came to an abrupt end.

She was like a jammed engine; though she tried her best to run, she couldn't come up with a coherent explanation.

Duanmu Yan looked at Phoebe, who was caught in a vortex of logic, and sighed helplessly: "Alright, Phoebe, I understand your good intentions."

“I…” Phoebe’s face turned red, and she lowered her head silently, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible, “I’m sorry, Mr. Duanmu.”

This unexpected incident made the atmosphere on the ship quite subtle.

To avoid further embarrassment, Duanmu Yan had no choice but to pretend nothing was wrong and pick up his fishing rod again, trying to refocus his attention on fishing.

But my thoughts kept drifting back to that scene.

He lowered his head slightly and looked at his right hand.

"Although Floro looks rather suspicious and its fins aren't very big, the texture is really nice."

"Like...freshly baked bread?"

"It's soft, and it has a...unique fragrance? Or maybe a milky scent?"

"Judging by appearance, she should be slightly older than the second young lady?"

"If Floro is a little bread roll, then the second young lady should be a little steamed bun, right? As for Phoebe... she should be about the same."

"Wait a minute, what am I thinking about?"

"Concentrate, Duanmu Yan, you must concentrate when fishing."

……

……

Laguna.

Koleta had just woken up from a nap in her room and casually opened a bottle of milk when she suddenly sneezed.

"Why did I suddenly sneeze..."

The girl rubbed her nose and muttered to herself, "I feel like I've been offended somewhere... Is it just my imagination?"

……

……

In the afternoon, Duanmu Yan and his group finally arrived at their destination – Tranquil Bay.

This is the habitat of whales that swim upstream and is considered a sacred place by the island's inhabitants.

"I've heard that anyone who trespasses without the permission of the whales that swim upstream will eventually become food for them," Duanmu Yan said, gazing at the tranquil bay ahead. It was a huge, circular bay, with only a solitary lighthouse on the island, and no other sign of human habitation.

“That’s just a legend. There’s never been a record of the whales that swim upstream harming people,” Phoebe retorted earnestly.

Duanmu Yan shrugged, clearly not entirely agreeing with this argument: "But it has already hurt me."

“That’s why we’re here to investigate the truth, isn’t it?” Phoebe gripped her staff, looking around at the calm sea with some doubt. “But this place… looks no different from other seas. Wasn’t there supposed to be a ghostly phenomenon?”

"I don't know." Duanmu Yan shook his head. "Anyway, let's go to the island and take a look first."

The gondola gradually approached the shore.

They went to the island together.

The ecological environment here is clearly superior to other places, probably because it has been uninhabited for a long time.

"This place is really nice." After sitting on the boat for a long time, Duanmu Yan's body was a little stiff. He stretched and let out a long sigh. "It must be very pleasant to vacation here... Tsk, I suddenly feel like playing a couple of rounds."

Phoebe whispered a reminder: "Mr. Duanmu, we're not here to play around."

“Of course I know.” Duanmu Yan looked around. “But there’s nothing unusual right now, and the whale that swims upstream is nowhere to be seen. We can’t find a single clue. Are we just going to wander around like headless flies?”

After hearing what he said, Phoebe agreed. Without clues, it was indeed difficult to launch an investigation.

"What should we do now?" she asked worriedly.

“Simple.” Duanmu Yan picked up his fishing rod and small stool, found a rock to sit on, and said, “Enjoy life. When something unusual happens, we’ll follow the clues to find the source. Phoebe, to be a qualified hunter, you need patience.”

Phoebe blinked, staring at him blankly for a moment, before turning her gaze to Floro beside her.

"Miss Floro, what do you think?"

Floro crossed his arms, his expression still indifferent: "Although that guy's behavior seems nonchalant, right now... there really isn't any other way. We can only wait for the 'Black Tide' to appear so we can follow the trail."

She paused for a moment, then slowly turned around.

"Before that."

"Just wait and have hope."

Volume 1: Chapter 64 You call this a heart-to-heart talk?

It's getting late.

Duanmu Yan sat listlessly on the rocks, yawned, and began to take stock of his day's harvest.

—Aside from a few small fish, I didn't catch anything decent.

But at least it's better than going home empty-handed.

These fish are enough to satisfy our hunger tonight.

He turned his head and looked at the coastline behind him.

Floro and Phoebe had set up a makeshift shelter, and a campfire was quietly lit, illuminating the deepening twilight.

The two sat around the campfire, but remained silent the entire time.

Floro is indifferent to things and never wastes his energy on matters that don't concern him, so naturally he wouldn't take the initiative to talk to Phoebe.

Phoebe, being naturally naive and not very familiar with Floro, wanted to strike up a conversation but didn't know where to begin. So she silently looked around, trying to ease the awkwardness.

This silence lasted until Duanmu Yan returned and was broken.

In a sense, she and her are like two parallel lines that never intersect.

Only his appearance could briefly connect them together.

"You guys look bored?" Duanmu Yan carried a few cleaned fish and walked to the campfire.

Phoebe looked up and, seeing him return, her eyes immediately lit up with joy: "Mr. Duanmu!"

"This is today's catch. It's not much, but it'll fill our stomachs." He said, placing the fish on the campfire. Then, looking at the dark coastline in the distance, he sighed with a hint of regret, "Ah, it's a pity I forgot to bring drinks. If I had a few iced drinks, sitting here eating grilled fish and enjoying the sea breeze would be such a pleasant experience."

Floro sat quietly to the side, watching him silently, and after a moment she turned her gaze into the distance as if nothing had happened.

No one knows what the girl was thinking at that moment.

But it seemed that a certain color had been missing from her eyes, and she had forever lost the luster that originally belonged to her.

After that, the atmosphere of Sanlin Qier Ersha Si fell silent again.

Duanmu Yan offered the grilled fish to Floro and Phoebe, but Floro frowned slightly and declined his offer.

"I don't like baked goods."

she replied.

Phoebe then took out the green branch fruit she always carried and handed it to Floro.

This time, she didn't refuse; in fact, she seemed to enjoy the bittersweet taste.

"tasty."

She commented softly.

Phoebe/Duanmu Yan: "..."

Sure enough, I guessed right, Floro likes this flavor.

Time passed quietly.

Duanmu Yan sat alone by the campfire; Phoebe and Floro had already gone to rest. Just in case, he had to keep watch. Although Phoebe insisted on staying with him, he eventually persuaded her to go back.

He yawned and occasionally added firewood to the fire. Later, he simply lay down on the beach and gazed up at the boundless starry sky.

This starry sky,

Whether in the past or present, it has never changed.

However, under the roar of the waves and the cover of night, the stars in the night sky seemed to dim a bit.

“…How boring.”

There's no cell phone signal and no entertainment options here.

He could only sit there doing nothing.

How about we go night fishing?

Forget it.

We still can't stray too far from them, just in case something unexpected happens.

A gentle sea breeze caused the campfire to tremble slightly.

She appeared silently and sat down beside him.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Duanmu Yan didn't look up, but he knew who the person sitting next to him was.

"I can't sleep," Floro replied softly.

Where is Phoebe?

"She's asleep. What an innocent child, able to sleep so soundly even in this environment." Floro's ethereal voice echoed across the empty coastline, like a lingering echo from the past descending upon the present. "Perhaps, I trusted you too much. And you? Don't you feel anything about it?"

As she spoke, her wine-red eyes suddenly turned to meet his gaze, and beneath those seemingly calm eyes, an indescribable complexity of emotions was revealed.

"Feelings?" Duanmu Yan continued to gaze at the boundless starry sky, his eyes reflecting the fleeting shooting star across the horizon. "What feelings could I possibly have? Trust is a strange thing. To put it bluntly, it's nothing more than a one-sided giving and expecting, and without any reservations."

"This feeling is not reciprocal; it is merely a one-sided wishful thinking."

"Perhaps the person you trust will not end up as you wish. This may be an unacceptable ending for you."

"But for that person, it might just be a trivial matter, or even—something they never really cared about."

Beneath these stars, the girl lowered her head, a gentle breeze ruffling her long hair, carrying a sense of loneliness that gradually permeated the world.

Her lips moved slightly, as if some words were stuck in her throat, wanting to say them but not knowing where to begin.

"What a cold-blooded and ruthless fellow."

Floro gazed up at the starry sky, listening to the sound of the wind being torn apart.