Chapter 282: The Hunter of Knowledge

Under the illumination of the whale oil lantern burning quietly nearby, Morris opened the book on the folk customs of the city-states before him, slowly relaxing his mind and lowering his mental defenses. This allowed his thoughts to embrace the knowledge and let the book’s power seep into his soul.

He could feel his unprotected mind emitting an increasingly enticing “scent” across the vast, Boundless Sea.

An unguarded, reckless scholar had opened his heart on the high seas, and the hungry shadows lurking in the depths of the world must have already sensed this bait. These writhing, blind shadows couldn’t resist the temptation, but they were still hesitating. Their barely rational, slightly civilized minds, which pursued knowledge, instinctively disliked the environment aboard the Vanished. This made them hesitate.

But they wouldn’t hesitate forever—those entities lurking in the spiritual realm, the deep sea, and even subspace didn’t possess true wisdom.

Morris slowly turned a page, his eyes scanning the lines of text.

Folklore knowledge was what could most attract the attention of those shadows. Folklore condensed the fear, awe, and simple understanding of nature that humans had accumulated over a long period of time. It was a rough amalgamation of human nature, a mixture of sweet emotions and solidified knowledge, perfect for hungry knowledge seekers to feast upon.

Another page turned, causing tiny dust particles to dance and disperse between the pages under the slanted lamp light passing through the curved paper.

Yet, the cabin remains quiet, with the captain overseeing from one side and the sun fragment on the other.

Morris didn’t feel disheartened and continued to read the next line of text. But then, his eyes caught a slight trembling of the words at the edge of the paper.

This signaled the intruder was getting closer.

As predicted, the invisible knowledge hunter could no longer restrain itself and approached the edge of the real world. Its tentacles began to probe Morris’s mind through the pages through the disguise of text, warping and twisting the original symbols into something more.

They’re non-existent texts depicting non-existent knowledge.

Clever hunters often disguise themselves as prey, and knowledge seekers frequently disguise themselves as “knowledge” when luring scholars. Reading them is the first step in falling into a trap.

Morris looked at the rows of unrecognizable characters that appeared on the paper, feeling the power emanating from them that enticed him to read, and whispered, “It’s here.”

The next second, the hidden “hunter” within the pages and text seemed to suddenly sense something. A sharp and chaotic scream abruptly filled everyone’s ears. Then, the pages of the large book began to flip wildly, and the black text on the pages seemed to take on a life of its own, leaping and struggling to transform into ink, trying to break free from the yellowed paper!

Duncan observed this and allowed a slight smile to cross his face.

“Alright,” Duncan nodded, quickly doing some mental calculations, his tone slightly nuanced, “If the strongest invader summoned while reading is a Dog-like ‘hunter,’ then it doesn’t seem very dangerous...”

As he spoke, he looked at Nina: “Nina, you can do your winter vacation homework on the ship in the future. If something really appears, just beat it up yourself – just be careful not to burn anything.”

Nina suddenly laughed: “Oh!”

Then Duncan looked at Dog again: “You mean to tell me you didn’t even know you were a ‘hound chasing knowledge’?”

“I didn’t know,” Dog shook his grotesque head, his voice muffled, “I told you, I was in a daze before...”

On the other hand, Shirley pondered for a long time before suddenly saying, “But shadow demons like Dog can’t read, so what are they chasing knowledge for?”

“Alice is studying cooking,” Duncan said casually, “Maybe it’s just a hobby.”

Shirley nodded vaguely, glanced down at her partner, who quietly crawled under a nearby table, and with his massive claws holding his head, he muttered, “Don’t ask me, I don’t know anything... This place is too damn scary...”

Duncan couldn’t help but smile and shake his head, suddenly feeling that the atmosphere on the ship had been improving day by day since more people joined them. Now they had these pleasant daily moments; he wondered what it would be like when Vanna came aboard.

With a happy mood and a little anticipation for the future, he stepped forward and kicked the pile of black bones on the floor that had gradually cooled down.

This was just a heartless deep sea shadow demon, nothing like Dog.

“Alice, clean up this mess.”

...

Under the bright and warm sunlight, Vanna, who was walking in the church courtyard, suddenly felt a chill and shivered involuntarily.

She looked up at the sunlit path in the courtyard and sighed deeply after a while.

What was meant to come would always come.