Chapter 422 - 412: Sailing Carnival 14

After hearing Moira Lynch’s explanation, the other party hesitated for a moment before demanding, "Why should we believe you?"

Although their tone was still hostile, it was a vast improvement over before.

Moira Lynch continued to press on.

From the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk’s perspective, their suspicion was perfectly reasonable.

After all, while Deep Sea Blue Merchildren were precious, adult Deep Sea Blue Merfolk were still targeted by poachers.

Fortunately, their primary habitat was the deep sea, making them extremely difficult to capture. Furthermore, adult Deep Sea Blue Merfolk were incredibly powerful—true titans of the sea. Ordinary poachers were simply no match for them.

Moreover, adult Deep Sea Blue Merfolk had a fierce and unyielding nature. When cornered, they would fight to the death, determined to take their enemies down with them.

That’s why obtaining a complete, intact hide from an adult Deep Sea Blue Merfolk was incredibly difficult, to say nothing of capturing one alive. It was practically impossible.

Even the Merchildren who were captured usually only survived for three months.

From the moment of their capture, they would refuse all food and drink, eventually starving themselves to death.

Theodoric Graham must have known this, which is why he chose to target the Merchildren.

"I can return the six Merchildren to you right now, but you also have to honor our agreement and stop troubling this cargo ship."

’Proving my sincerity? Simple.’

’After learning about the combat prowess of adult Deep Sea Blue Merfolk, all Moira wanted now was to get this group of volatile demigods on their way.’

After another moment, a reply finally came. "Fine. But I have one condition. You must personally bring our children back. And besides our children, you must also return the other members of the Aquatic Race that you captured."

Moira Lynch, of course, had no issue with the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk’s request.

’As long as the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk didn’t ask her to return the fish she’d caught recently, she was fine with it.’

’Now *that* would have made her heart truly bleed.’

’As for the ones found in the container, they were useless aside from being pretty. Some were even poisonous.’

To Moira Lynch, those fish were purely ornamental.

However, since they demanded she go in person, Moira Lynch decided it was best to be cautious.

"No problem. I’ll head over to you now. Also, let me repeat: I am not a poacher. I am not in league with them."

When there was no response, Moira Lynch didn’t mind and continued, "We were hired by the Aurelian Clan to open a new shipping route."

After ending the call, Moira Lynch didn’t get up right away. Instead, she began to search through her dedicated item storage.

’I remember seeing a body-double item while organizing my inventory.’

Just then, Patience suddenly spoke up:

[Body Double Item, No. 412: Chihuahua’s Double. A single-use item that creates a perfect replica of the user to undertake dangerous tasks in their stead.

The double created by Chihuahua’s Double is identical to the user. By attaching a wisp of spiritual power, the user can control the double freely. Effective duration: one hour.]

"That’s it, that’s the one. Thank you, Patience. I didn’t realize you’d cataloged all the items," Moira Lynch said, her voice full of sincerity.

’She was suddenly very grateful she’d gotten Patience from the system. It saved her so much trouble.’

[You’re welcome, Master. It’s what any competent Intelligent Brain should do.]

’In Patience’s view, Moira Lynch trusted it completely. She was even willing to spend money to upgrade its system. In all this time, she had never once berated it, nor had she ever considered replacing it, even as newer Intelligent Brain models were released.’

’Could there be a more perfect master?’

None!

Not! One!

She took out the item, Chihuahua’s Double.

The item actually looked like a snarling, frantically barking Chihuahua.

After using the item to create a body double identical to herself, Moira Lynch attached a wisp of spiritual power to it.

The double, its eyes previously closed, slowly opened them.

It first moved its hands and feet, then glanced around, its gaze finally landing on the original Moira in front of it.

’Huh, the feeling of looking at yourself really is different from looking in a mirror.’

’This must be what it feels like for identical twins to look at each other.’

Before Moira could admire her handiwork any longer, the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk began to press her.

"I’ll be right there!"

With that, she popped a Sea Pearl into her mouth—even a double needs to breathe—opened the window, and slipped right out.

Her room’s window opened directly to the sea, which conveniently saved her the trouble of having to sneak around.

The instant she hit the seawater, a frigid, suffocating sensation washed over her.

But soon enough, the Sea Pearl took effect, and she adapted to the underwater environment.

Fully submerged, Moira reached down to scratch her arm. ’Why is it so itchy?’

But because of her temperature-regulating clothes, the scratching felt unsatisfying, like trying to scratch an itch through a boot.

’Oh well. It’s probably just goosebumps from the cold water.’

Moira Lynch didn’t give it another thought and began swimming toward the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk’s location.

Thanks to her daily dose of Yoyo Fruit, Moira’s movements in the water were as graceful as a real fish’s, and she was remarkably fast.

Even so, it still took her ten-odd minutes to reach the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk’s position.

This was mainly because the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk had stopped and waited for her once they knew she was on her way. Had they both been moving toward each other, the journey would have taken half the time.

When she arrived at their location, Moira saw dozens of Deep Sea Blue Merfolk.

The moment she appeared, dozens of pairs of sharp eyes fixed on her, and Moira couldn’t help but shudder.

The feeling was just like being targeted by a lion pride on the African savanna.

’She didn’t need to check to know that every hair on her body was standing on end.’

’Truly the ocean’s apex predators.’

’If a real fight broke out, all the players on the ship combined probably wouldn’t be a match for them.’

Their sharp claws looked capable of tearing prey to shreds with ease.

Looking closer at the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk, she saw their scales were different from those of the Merchildren. Theirs were a deep blue, like individual gemstones that glittered even in the dark. They also resembled well-forged armor, glinting with a metallic sheen.

Furthermore, the adult Deep Sea Blue Merfolk no longer resembled kappas; they had truly become creatures of myth, like the Mermaids from fairy tales.

Moira swallowed nervously and swam to a stop before the leader of the Deep Sea Blue Merfolk.

The lead Merfolk glanced behind Moira. Seeing nothing, its brow furrowed. "Where are my children?"