"Town Leader! Town Leader!" Someone from the back of the group shouted.

The blond man turned around. The one calling out was a man in a leather jacket, a bag of unknown material slung over his shoulder, filled with dart-like objects whose tips reflected a chilling light.

Jiang Cheng and the young master also looked in the man’s direction.

The man seemed very flustered, his face pale. "Town Leader," he said, staring straight at the blond man without looking at Jiang Cheng and the others, his pupils trembling, "Listen!"

The formerly noisy crowd quieted down instantly, and Jiang Cheng and the young master also held their breath.

They didn't notice anything, didn't hear anything, they were simply infected by the atmosphere of Black Stone Town. The atmosphere at that moment was very strange.

Gradually, the blond man seemed to sense something, his pupils shrinking into slits.

"How… why is it here so fast this time?" said another burly man beside the blond man. He seemed terrified, the clothing he wore trembling.

The young master raised his head slightly, looking into the blond man's eyes. Before he could speak, the blond man suddenly looked at him. Their gazes briefly met, and the young master frowned even deeper.

"It's coming…" the blond man suddenly said.

The loli girl patted the tall man who was gripping her arm tightly, as if to comfort him, then looked at the blond man with a scrutinizing gaze.

She didn't like people acting mysterious, and she hated being drawn into someone else's rhythm before any abnormal signs were detected. It only made her feel stupid.

"Who's coming?" the loli girl said calmly, "Please be clear."

Her voice at this moment was a breath of fresh air. Upon hearing the calmness in her voice, Fatty's breathing became much smoother.

But the blond man was clearly flustered. Without looking at the loli girl, he said to the young master, "We're leaving. Take care. And!"

His already turned body swiveled back, and he quickly said, "To break its curse, you must ensure that the light in the lighthouse never goes out. Only the light from there can reignite and dispel its anger!"

"Only then will you have a chance to survive!"

Before the town leader could finish speaking, most of the people he had brought were already gone, some even disappearing into the darkness, leaving only the flickering torches.

The torches drifted in the darkness like wandering souls, flickering precariously, as if about to be swallowed by the sound of the waves.

After speaking, the blond man, who claimed to be the acting town leader of Black Stone Town, also ran towards the brightly lit Sea City, his speed no slower than the others.

Soon, the torches merged together, becoming distant specks of light, making it impossible to distinguish who was who.

Fatty recalled the blond man and the fear on the townspeople's faces. It didn't seem like they were faking it. He subconsciously turned his head to ask the doctor for his opinion.

But when he saw the doctor's eyes, he froze.

Jiang Cheng stared calmly at the Sea City, the faint light flickering slowly in his eyes, reflecting the city's image. But what Fatty found strange was that the city reflected in Jiang Cheng's eyes was much clearer than what he saw.

Fatty was stunned for a moment.

It wasn't until Jiang Cheng shifted his gaze, catching Fatty staring at him, that Fatty regained his senses. His first reaction was to swallow hard.

"Tsk," Jiang Cheng glanced at him, speaking in his usual dramatic tone, "I knew someone was peeking at me while I was sleeping. Now I've caught you!"

Fatty almost cried, "… Doctor, can you be serious?" He pointed to the sea in the distance and said, "Didn't you hear what the blond guy said? We're cursed. If the lighthouse flame goes out, we're all doomed."

At this moment, the young master walked over, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Did you guys hear any sounds just now?"

"No."

"No."

The loli girl also walked over, pulling the tall man's hand. Because of the height difference, the loli girl had to raise her hand in the air to accommodate the man.

The tall man seemed to realize that it was because of him that everyone had been exposed. The large man hunched over, advancing cautiously like a cat, shrinking behind the loli girl as if her small body could completely shield him from being discovered.

Fatty looked back and forth between this strange duo, and a rather inappropriate thought suddenly arose in his mind. It seemed that the loli girl wasn't holding a person, but a pet.

And a very clingy one at that.

After stopping, the loli girl looked at Jiang Cheng and the others, shaking her head. "I didn't hear anything either."

But judging from the scene just now, the blond man and the others were clearly startled by some kind of sound. And it seemed that they were very afraid of the sound, so much so that they ran away before they could finish speaking.

"I'm afraid it's not fear of the sound," the young master said, "But fear of the thing making the sound." He paused, glanced at the sea, and slowly said, "Didn't you hear him say it? It… is coming…"

The young master was extremely gifted in expressing himself. He was simply narrating a fact, without any flashy techniques, yet he was very reassuring.

The same sentence seemed easier to accept when spoken by him.

"The thing this 'it' refers to is the key," he took a simple breath, "It may even be related to the root of the curse."

"So what should we do now?" Fatty asked, "Like they said, make sure the lighthouse doesn't go out?"

After saying these words, Fatty paused, then, in a tentative tone that suggested he was just throwing it out there, he lowered his voice and said, "But I think those people are weird, and their origin is also problematic. What if they're ghosts trying to trick us?"

A city that suddenly appeared on the vast sea, a group of townspeople visiting late at night with torches, a curse of unknown origin, and a vast, desolate building, and the 'it' that made the townspeople pale in fear.

If it hadn't appeared before their eyes, listeners would have taken it as a Norse mythology story to satisfy their curiosity during leisure time, or a clumsy creation by novelists.

Everything that had appeared before their eyes had subverted the existing understanding of the mission, at least for Jiang Cheng and Fatty.

According to previous assumptions, everything that appeared in the mission had once happened in the real world, but these…

"Should we… go back first?" Fatty swallowed and suggested.

Just as Jiang Cheng and the others were walking towards the hidden door, the loli girl, who was dragging the tall man along, suddenly stopped. She turned around in confusion, looking at the obedient man behind her.

The man gripped her hand slightly, even hurting her.

The next second, the man leaned down, approaching her ear in a very restrained manner. "Sister," the man whispered, "I heard the sound they were talking about…"