Chapter 224

Chapter 224

After resting for an entire day, Evan's soreness in his body had mostly subsided, and the tightness in his chest had lightened a lot.

He quickly gathered his belongings, securely fastened the pouch containing Gold Sala and the doll around his waist, and checked the love poem for Sara in his inner pocket. After confirming everything was in order, he went through the discharge procedures.

Stepping out of the temporary hospital, Pearl Island looked even more devastated than he had imagined.

The once lively beach was littered with broken boat wreckage, torn fishing nets, and scattered pieces of clothing. Several wooden houses near the shore had been destroyed by cannon fire, with embers still smoldering among the rubble. The air carried a mix of sea salt, gunpowder, and the acrid smell of burning.

Soldiers of the patrol, dressed in neat uniforms, were conducting inspections across the island with stern expressions. Occasionally, they could be seen taking away suspicious individuals, drawing fearful and uneasy stares from the surviving residents watching from a distance.

Evan avoided the patrol's line of sight and walked along the coastal path to the vicinity of the Royal Exchange.

From a distance, he saw a long queue forming at the entrance of the exchange, made up of pearl divers waiting to sell their pearls. Each looked tired but couldn't hide their excitement. He pulled aside an old fisherman who had just completed his transaction and asked in a low voice, "Uncle, have the pearl purchase prices really gone up?"

The old fisherman nodded, his voice carrying a sense of relief at having survived and a longing for wealth: "They've gone up! More than doubled! Ever since the Ghost Ship appeared yesterday, many pearl divers got scared and fled. Fewer people dare to dive, so pearls have become scarce. To stabilize morale and recoup the losses from this incident quickly, the Royal Family has raised the purchase price, especially for high-quality black pearls—they say there's even a premium!"

At the mention of "black pearls," Evan's heart stirred.

He recalled the black pearl he had found earlier, and also the sea where the ghost ship had appeared—the seabed must have changed, since such eerie ghost ships appeared there, possibly harboring a large number of black pearls.

Though that area was fraught with danger, if he could find enough black pearls, he could earn far more gold coins than expected. Not only would the cost of his mother's medicine for the next season would be covered, but he could also return to Sara sooner.

After a brief hesitation, Evan made his decision. Instead of joining the trading queue, he turned and headed toward the docks by the seaside. A few intact small wooden boats remained there, abandoned by previous pearl divers.

He selected a relatively sturdy one, checked the oars and hull to confirm there were no damages, then pushed the boat into the sea, jumped aboard, and rowed vigorously toward the waters where the ghost ship had appeared.

The sea surface was still murky, and the wind and waves were stronger than usual. The small boat bobbed and pitched like a leaf on the waves. Evan's rowing movements were steady and forceful, his gaze cautiously scanning the surrounding sea.

The butterfly doll had already ascended, circling not far above his head, sending back psychic signals indicating "temporarily safe surroundings." But Evan could clearly feel that the atmosphere in these waters was colder than elsewhere, as if countless eyes were watching him from the deep sea.

After rowing for about an hour, Evan finally reached his destination.

This was precisely the sea area where the two ghost ships had clashed. Debris from the ships and scattered bones still floated on the surface. Sunlight fell on the water but couldn't dispel the chill here. Evan stopped rowing, letting the boat drift with the current. He took a deep breath, channeled the Supernatural Factor within him, and prepared to dive.

He secured the pouch on his body, then turned over and jumped into the sea. The icy water enveloped him instantly, far colder than other areas of the sea, making him involuntarily shiver.

He didn't pause, driving his body downward. The mouse doll emerged from the pouch, scouting ahead, the glow from its tiny paws glaringly bright in the dim seawater.

As the depth increased, the surroundings grew more eerie.

Where coral reefs should have grown, there was now only a stretch of black sand, scattered with white bones—unknown whether human or marine. The water was eerily silent; no sound of fish swimming could be heard, only the thumping of his own heart and his breathing echoing in his ears.

Evan activated his Supernatural Factor, letting it spread along his fingertips to form an invisible sensing network. Soon, he detected a strong psychic fluctuation, even stronger than when he had found the black pearl before.

He swam in the direction of the fluctuation and saw rows of neatly arranged shells on the sandy bed. These shells were unlike any he had seen before—their outer shells were deep black, smooth as mirrors, with no traces of seaweed or parasites attached, as if they had been carefully tended.

Evan's heart leaped with joy, and he swam faster. Using a short blade, he gently cleared the sand around a shell and dug it out whole. The shell was cold to the touch and noticeably heavier than ordinary ones.

He didn't open it immediately but continued digging. In just half an hour, he had collected a full armful of black-shelled shells, about a dozen or so.

After confirming there was no abnormality nearby, Evan clutched the shells to his chest and surfaced rapidly. When his head broke the surface, he gasped for air, placed the shells on the boat, then climbed aboard, grabbed the oars, and rowed away from that area—he dared not linger long, fearing unknown dangers.

He rowed to a relatively safe shallow area, stopped the boat, and began opening the shells one by one. With successive "click" sounds, black pearls were revealed.

These black pearls were larger and rounder than the one he had found before, with a deep luster like ink jade, smooth and flawless.

Evan picked up a black pearl and examined it closely in his palm, his heart filled with joy.

However, the moment his fingertip touched the pearl, a piercing chill suddenly emanated from it, spreading through his finger to his entire body.

Startled, Evan immediately dropped the pearl back into the shell. He could clearly feel that the chill wasn't from the sea's coldness but carried a thick aura of death, very similar to the undead aura emitted by the ghost ship.

Frowning, Evan reached out again, carefully using his Supernatural Factor to touch one of the black pearls. This time, he sensed not only the chill but also a strange energy flowing inside the pearl.

This energy carried a strong curse-like aura, as if it could erode one's soul, stirring up despair and murderous urges. He could even faintly see fine black lines appearing on the pearl's surface, resembling a twisted face, which flickered and vanished in the sunlight.

"Death's curse..." Evan muttered to himself, filled with shock.

He finally understood why so many black pearls had appeared in this sea area. These pearls had formed under the influence of the ghost ship's eerie, deathly aura and curse power, each tainted with a curse of death.

He looked at the dozen or so black pearls on the boat, conflicted. Although these pearls were cursed, their quality was excellent, and at the current purchase price, they'd sell for a fortune.

But if he sold these cursed black pearls to the exchange, he didn't know what disaster they might bring to those who bought and wore them.

If he gave up, his previous adventure would be wasted, and he'd have to put off going back to Sara.

Just as Evan hesitated, the butterfly doll suddenly sent an urgent psychic signal.

He looked up and saw a Royal Family patrol ship heading his way in the distance.

His heart tightened. Without further hesitation, he packed all the black pearls and shells into the pouch, quickly rowed the boat toward a nearby coral reef that had clearly just risen from the sea surface, still covered in seaweed.

He knew this was not the time to hesitate; he had to hide these black pearls quickly and avoid the patrol's inspection.

After the boat ran aground on the shoal, Evan leaped ashore, dragged the boat behind a rock, and then jumped back into the sea.

The cold seawater enveloped him again, even more oppressive than when he had dived into the ghost ship area. He adjusted his breathing, and using the glow from the mouse doll's paws, slowly descended toward the coral reef.

The water in this area was especially murky, with suspended sand blurring his vision. He could only vaguely see the outlines of dark rocks around him, and all he could hear was the water swishing past him—so quiet it made him uneasy.

As he descended deeper, the full shape of the coral reef came into view.

This was no ordinary coral colony; it was a massive cluster of coral, like a giant dark green spiderweb tightly wrapped around a huge shadow below.

Swimming closer, Evan saw that the shadow was the outline of a sunken island—bare, jagged rock layers weathered by age. Some rock crevices held broken pottery shards and dried wooden remains, indicating the island had been submerged for quite some time.

The coral had grown attached to the surface of this sunken island, with thick branches spreading like blood vessels, covering most of the island except for a few spots where gray-brown rock was exposed. Evan was curious why this island had sunk and why, after the ghost ship appeared, a section of the coral reef had emerged from the sea.

He swam slowly along the interface between the coral and the sunken island, looking for a suitable place to hide the black pearls. During his swim, he noticed an irregular shadow faintly visible through a gap in the coral thicket.

He signaled the mouse doll to investigate. The glow illuminated the gap’s depths—it was a hole hidden by dense coral branches!

The hole’s edges were irregular, covered with sharp rocks. The surrounding coral seemed deliberately grown there, tightly concealing the entrance. If Evan hadn’t passed by at that angle, he would never have noticed it.

A faint flow of air, different from the surrounding seawater, slowly seeped out from the depths of the hole, carrying a hint of dryness.

"Could it be... empty inside?"

A strong curiosity stirred in Evan's heart.