Lin Yu released April's hand and took a step back.

The two were still teammates, after all. No matter how aggressive Yayu was, he wouldn't actually beat April into a sorry state.

Besides... there wasn't any time left for Lin Yu to engage in internal strife with her right now.

The two of them were inside a sinking ship.

Moreover, from April's astonished eyes, Lin Yu could easily tell...

She had probably been won over by him.

That was enough.

"How about it? I told you I'm not an ordinary 『First-Tier』."

April put away the 【Syringe】 and 【Tranquilizer Pistol】, lightly rubbing her faintly aching wrist as she spoke, "Your close-combat ability is indeed impressive, but this is the Pure Abyss. Many of the monsters here possess abilities related to the soul..."

"I'm more aware of that than you are. But whether it's mental attacks or soul attacks, the likelihood of them working on me isn't high either," Lin Yu pointed at his own head, "Don't worry. My willpower is far stronger than you imagine."

"Those aren't things you can withstand with willpower alone..."

April muttered, then looked at the seawater continuously pouring in. She no longer intended to keep arguing with Lin Yu. "In any case, this should be a human merchant vessel. It was probably attacked by Sea Demons, which is why everyone died. The crew members have no wounds on their bodies, most likely killed by the Sea Demons' shrieks causing direct soul damage... And although the hull has been breached on both sides, there are no signs of looting or plundering. That alone proves the attackers' goal wasn't material wealth."

April analyzed, then made her judgment: "So... if we go up to the deck now, we should still be able to find lifeboats. Those Sea Demons probably didn't deliberately approach, at most they sent a few hands to sink the ship. So they likely wouldn't assume there were survivors, meaning the lifeboats should still be there."

"Based on the divination results, our 【dungeon】 this time is connected to the 'Tide Summoning Festival.' So this merchant vessel was probably heading to the Tide Summoning Festival. We're most likely in mermaid territory... Once we have a small boat, whether we stay put and wait for the mermaids to find us, or search for the Tide Summoning Festival's location ourselves, things should be much easier."

Listening to April's words, Lin Yu gave a slight nod.

Although the Pure Abyss world had essentially no permanent landmass, mostly consisting of sandbars that existed for part of the year as tides rose and fell, with the occasional oversized reef counting as an island, it was surprising that a portion of humanity still lived in this world.

They relied on timber produced by large aquatic plants to build ships and construct floating islands, forming a small number of settlements.

Of course, beneath the Pure Abyss's seafloor existed "hollow cavities" left behind by empires that once spanned the entire Pure Abyss. Some were so massive they could rival a city. Although those were all in the hands of the Sea People who inherited the empire's "orthodoxy," quite a few humans also lived in those cities controlled by the Sea People.

And while humans enjoyed decent relations with mermaids, the Sea People, and even many "sea beasts," they were almost completely hostile toward the Sea Demons.

As for why the two sides were enemies, there was no way to verify it anymore. In any case, the Sea Demons and humans were basically in a state of mutual annihilation, and it had been that way for a very long time.

The sea had swallowed the original cause of hatred between the two races from the past, but it could not erode the hatred itself.

So when April determined this was the work of Sea Demons, besides "motive," there was also "method."

Lin Yu had already obtained a great deal of basic information about the Pure Abyss from Shen Bingmiao, so his deductions were basically the same as April's.

Except...

Regarding this "Sea Demon" attack incident, Lin Yu wasn't as optimistic as April.

After all, the 【dungeon】 intensity that April had experienced was always normal 『Second-Tier』 intensity.

Even though he had displayed his strength, she wouldn't consider every omen encountered in this 【dungeon】 through the lens of "the worst possible scenario."

But Lin Yu was well aware that the 【dungeon】 he participated in had something bizarre about it.

So, he spoke up.

"I basically agree with your thinking, but when searching for the lifeboats, we still need to be careful... Those Sea Demons may not have gone far yet. Or... this ship's sinking might not necessarily be just an ordinary, sudden random attack."

Hearing Lin Yu's words, April frowned slightly. "You mean, all of this could be a conspiracy?"

"After all, the 'Tide Summoning Festival' is involved, and Sea Demons and mermaids don't get along either," Lin Yu said in a low voice. "Sea Demons capable of attacking humans in mermaid territory are already few in number..."

"I can faintly sense that some kind of malicious intent is hidden within this... And I tend to trust my own intuition."

Although April was still not that friendly toward Lin Yu, she also felt there was sense in what he said. She didn't argue for the sake of arguing, but instead thought briefly and said, "You have a point. We should be careful."

"But... there's no need to be overly cautious either. After all, these crew members appear to be ordinary people. Even if there really is a conspiracy, the ones responsible for carrying out this part of it wouldn't be too troublesome."

This time Lin Yu didn't refute April's words, but he still grumbled inwardly.

"That's not necessarily true..."

After all, his own bad luck was one thing.

And on the other hand...

Lin Yu's eyesight was better than April's.

From April's perspective, the holes in this ship might have been made by Sea Demons to sink the vessel and delay the mermaids' investigation.

But...

Lin Yu could determine that this was absolutely not a hull that Sea Demons had swum over from both sides to "bore through."

Although the openings on both sides didn't appear symmetrical, and were even different sizes, a closer look revealed...

Six holes were currently letting in seawater, three on each side.

If one imagined some kind of conical object, like an oversized knight's lance, thrusting three times, then one would discover that the holes actually matched perfectly.

In other words...

This thing wasn't drilled out. It was punched through in three strikes.

Whether this was achieved by some kind of energy attack or some oversized weapon, Lin Yu couldn't know.

But what he could be certain of was... whether or not Sea Demons caused this ship to sink and all its members to die, there was definitely a very troublesome individual involved.

However, he wouldn't remind April of these things right now.

"Let's go. Let's find the lifeboats."

By now the water level had risen considerably more. April looked at the sealed metal trapdoor exit leading from the cabin to the deck and furrowed her brow.

"But... before that, we'll probably have to find the key to open this door from one of the crew members!"

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