Chapter 395 : Search

Published Mar 14, 2026, 06:28 AM

Conquest Sea, aboard the Shimmering Pearl. On the foredeck at night, passengers gathered densely. The much-anticipated Deep Blue Heart exhibition had taken an unexpected turn—no one could have imagined that the warning letters dismissed as pranks during the day were actually genuine! The thief known as K not only truly existed but had appeared at the exhibition as promised, stealing the priceless Deep Blue Heart right under everyone’s noses! After witnessing Thief K’s grand entrance and their elegant performance outwitting the guards, the audience erupted in excitement. When Thief K revealed the true radiance of the Deep Blue Heart, gasps of astonishment broke out among the crowd, and some even couldn’t help but applaud, marveling at both the thief’s cunning skill and the gem’s breathtaking beauty. As the bow of the ship was enveloped in a haze of dark red smoke, every spectator craned their necks eagerly, desperate to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside the smoke and how the bold and graceful thief would make their escape. The strange crimson mist shrouding the bow seemed to possess some inexplicable power, resisting dispersal despite the relentless sea breeze. Only after several minutes did the unnatural concentration gradually dissipate on its own. By the time the dark red fog was blown away by the wind, Thief K had vanished from the bow, leaving only Massimo and a few sailors standing dumbfounded before the angel statue, scanning their surroundings in confusion. "That bastard… disappeared? Where the hell did they go?!" Panicked, Massimo frantically searched for any trace of the audacious thief but found nothing. In his desperation, he ordered the nearby sailors to inspect the front rows of the audience, yet still, no one was found. Meanwhile, far at the rear of the foredeck, up on the higher deck, Costa observed everything with a calculating mind. From the very beginning, Costa had been closely monitoring the bow from the upper structure of the cruise ship. His elevated position gave him a clear view—the area obscured by the crimson mist did not extend into the audience seats. Therefore, Thief K couldn’t have hidden among the crowd under the cover of smoke. If they had tried fleeing toward the audience, Costa would have spotted them the moment they left the smoke. In Costa’s eyes, Thief K neither blended into the crowd nor escaped through a hole in the deck, nor had anything taken flight from within the smoke. The only possible escape route was jumping off the bow into the sea—their sole path of retreat. “Hmph… Did they prepare a boat or some mystical tool to enhance their underwater abilities beforehand? That might work against ordinary people, but to think it could fool us? How laughable.” After a swift analysis, Costa arrived at this conclusion. As a Tide Path Beyonder and a follower of the Abyssal Faith, his prowess in aquatic abilities was unmatched. "That thief must have jumped into the sea. Go after them and capture them!" "Yes, sir!" Costa barked orders to his subordinates. The three sailors beside him immediately obeyed, rushing to the railing and leaping into the ocean unnoticed by the audience ahead. Costa himself removed his captain’s coat and hat before following suit, diving over the railing. They would scour the sea for the audacious thief and apprehend them. In the water, no Beyonder could hope to match them. … “Heh… So they jumped into the sea to search…’” Hidden among the crowd, Dorothy silently mused as she observed Costa’s actions through a small corpse marionette. After the mist cleared, Thief K had vanished. With no signs of flight, tunneling, or blending into the audience, jumping into the sea seemed the most plausible explanation. “But those guys won’t find anything except fish. Sure, someone ‘jumped’, but they never actually entered the water. At best, they’ll catch a few fish to cook themselves a warm meal.” Dorothy smirked to herself. Thanks to thorough preparations, Nephthys had already removed her disguise, changed into a new dress, and was leisurely making her way back to the deck. Meanwhile, the Deep Blue Heart and Nephthys’s disguise were safely stored inside the magic box held by Dorothy’s corpse marionette, with zero risk of discovery. “As of now, the Phantom Thief Nephthys operation can be considered a success.” The smile on Dorothy’s lips deepened. Ever since she discovered that the Deep Blue Heart—a crucial artifact for the sacrificial ritual—could not be easily removed, she had concocted this phantom thief scheme to force Massimo to take the gem out himself. The inspiration for this plan came from a certain detective anime Dorothy had watched in her past life, where a phantom thief’s trick involved feigning the theft of a treasure to make the owner hastily disable security measures, creating an opportunity for the real theft. To execute this plan, the first step was to plant the idea in the owner’s mind that the treasure might be stolen. (T/N: Just realize that K stands for Kaito…) This was the purpose of the phantom thief’s warning letters. By sending them, Dorothy aimed to implant the suggestion in Massimo and Costa’s minds that a thief named K coveted the Deep Blue Heart. No matter how dismissive they acted, deep down, they now knew of Thief K’s existence. Thus, after Dorothy used the Concealment Ring and spiritual thread conduction to mask the gem’s spiritual traces, Massimo—upon seeing the note placed on the gem by a small corpse marionette—immediately assumed the Deep Blue Heart had been swapped and rushed to inspect it. Without the warning letters’ psychological priming, Massimo might have simply thought the gem’s spiritual traces had vanished due to some anomaly rather than suspecting theft. For Dorothy, the phantom thief’s warnings weren’t mere theatrics but a crucial psychological tactic, making Nephthys’s portrayal of Thief K absolutely necessary. So far, Dorothy’s plan had proceeded smoothly. The Deep Blue Heart was secured, thwarting the Abyssal cultists’ scheme—though not without some minor costs. Both Costa and Massimo were Lantern-auxiliary Beyonders. When conspiring, they kept their detection abilities active, forcing Dorothy to expend some Shadow reserves—two points in total—to block their detection. Electrifying Massimo with Flowing Current Form and rescuing Nephthys had also cost two points of Stone and two points of Revelation. The biggest expenditure, however, was the dark red smoke. The vial used to produce it was one of the spoils from Dorothy’s victory over the Vampire Claudius—a life-saving tool he had carried. Dorothy had looted two vials back then, and now one remained after this use. Additionally, to maximize Nephthys’s abilities, Dorothy had specifically requested the Great Shaman Uta to reverse-summon the wild spirit Soulwhisker. Of course, this wasn’t a free favor—the tribal shaman didn’t work for public good. Uta had previously helped Dorothy to repay a debt, but this time, there was a price. Dorothy had Kapak negotiate with Uta, eventually securing the deal with 1500 pounds worth of medicine, food, weapons, and ammunition in exchange for Uta’s assistance in summoning Soulwhisker. Since Kapak became the Tupa Tribe’s physician, their medical conditions had improved significantly. With access to advanced mainland medical technology, the tribe’s health had seen marked progress, much to their delight. Kapak was thrilled to genuinely help his people, but treating illnesses required medicine. Over time, his personal stockpile ran out, forcing him to disguise himself and trade tribal goods in colonial cities for currency to buy more. Thus, the Tupa Tribe had long faced a medicine shortage, with limited trade opportunities and insufficient colonial currency to procure supplies. This made Dorothy’s resource-based trade appealing. Uta was eager to improve his tribe’s welfare and willing to assist in exchange for necessities. Dorothy had already arranged for funds to be wired to Adèle upon docking, tasking her with using her East District underworld connections to procure the goods from Tiviane’s black market and smuggle them to the New Continent. For this, Dorothy was willing to pay Adèle a 200 pound service fee. The total cost of 1700 pounds might seem steep, but Dorothy considered it worthwhile—it established a supply trade channel with the Tupa, enabling future collaborations, such as requesting Uta’s help in contacting more wild spirits or even other tribes. The higher cost this time was partly due to the Tupa Tribe’s urgent need for supplies, and Dorothy had voluntarily purchased extra as a goodwill gesture. Another expense was the Silence storage items Nephthys had bought as "cat food" for Soulwhisker from the Golden Covenant Bank. Unsure of the spirit’s appetite, Nephthys had purchased multiple items, nearly depleting her 1000+ pound savings from the White Craftsmen’s Guild. After New Year’s Eve, Dorothy reimbursed her 1000 pounds, and the remaining "cat food" ended up in Dorothy’s hands—now fully utilized. Lastly, Nephthys’s makeup supplies had taken a heavy hit. She had brought ample cosmetics for the long voyage, but the disguise required her to paint herself pale, consuming a significant amount of expensive products—much to her dismay. All things considered, Dorothy currently had 3200 pounds in cash, along with the following spiritual reserves: 7 Chalice, 8 Stone, 5 Shadow, 2 Lantern, 14 Silence, and 7 Revelation. Two Shadow storage items had been used, leaving five. Thanks to Soulwhisker’s modest appetite, only one of the three Silence items had been consumed, leaving two for future use. “Thankfully, after reaching White Ash rank, the spiritual consumption of the Spiritual Thread Path’s abilities has significantly decreased. Controlling those drunkard marionettes to harass the sailors for over an hour only cost one point of Chalice—previously, it would’ve taken at least three.’” Dorothy pondered this before shifting her thoughts to the Abyssal cultists’ next moves. “If they find nothing in the sea, they’ll likely refocus their search on the ship. Before the exhibition began, I had a corpse marionette steal a lifeboat—it’s already far away by now. Hopefully, when they notice the missing boat, they’ll assume Thief K has escaped and is no longer aboard.” “Of course, they might not buy it… If they refuse to believe Thief K left with the Deep Blue Heart and double down on searching the ship, things could get troublesome.” Watching the commotion on the deck, Dorothy knew that while stealing the gem had disrupted the ritual, the crisis wasn’t fully resolved. As long as the cultists controlled the ship, everyone aboard remained in danger. “Now, it’s up to them to make the next move.” Dorothy steeled herself for the next round of covert maneuvering against Costa and Massimo. … Thief K’s appearance and disappearance caused quite a stir on the foredeck. As the audience buzzed with chatter, many tried pushing forward to see where the thief had performed their act. Massimo, of course, wouldn’t allow this. He promptly organized the crew to herd the spectators back into the cabins before launching a shipwide search. After nearly an hour of fruitless searching, a grim-faced Massimo led his cultist sailors to the stern, where they waited in silence. Soon, a large, wet hand gripped the ship’s edge from below, and a drenched Costa hauled himself up, having scaled thirty meters from the sea. Behind him, equally soaked sailors followed. "Well? Did you find them?" Massimo demanded urgently. Costa wiped his head with a towel and shook his head. "No… We combed the surrounding waters, diving almost 800 meters deep. No trace of anyone. That thief must still be on board—somehow, they slipped past us, leaving the bow and blending back into the ship." Massimo frowned. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂 "Still on board? Unlikely… During my search, I noticed a lifeboat missing. Their accomplice could’ve used it to pick them up at sea. Maybe they have some speed-enhancing ability—by the time the smoke cleared, they could’ve been long gone." Costa dismissed the idea. "Impossible. I covered the area within three to four nautical miles at top speed. No lifeboat in sight. Even with speed abilities, nothing outpaces me in the water. The missing boat is a decoy—meant to trick us into thinking they escaped. They’re still here. If we fall for it, they win." His confidence in his aquatic superiority was absolute. "Judging by their skills and how they hid the gem’s spiritual traces, that thief is a Black Earth or White Ash-rank Shadow Path Beyonder. No way a Shadow rat in a sail-less lifeboat outruns me at sea. They’re here. We will find them." With that, Costa hurled his towel to the deck in frustration.

React

Discussion