Chapter 430 - 420: Sailing Carnival 22

"I have some cotton candy here. Want some?"

As she spoke, Moira Lynch produced a piece of red cotton candy from seemingly nowhere. To be more precise, it was a waterlogged piece of cotton candy.

Hugh Finch looked at the soggy cotton candy. Even though he knew Moira Lynch wouldn’t harm him, his expression inevitably twisted.

The cotton candy couldn’t have been poisoned, but that didn’t mean Moira Lynch wouldn’t play a prank on him.

She’d pulled plenty of pranks before. Moira Lynch had a rap sheet.

But after a moment’s hesitation, Hugh Finch chose to trust Moira Lynch, taking the soggy cotton candy and eating it in one gulp.

The waterlogged cotton candy had a terrible texture, but at least it was sugar.

And since eating the cotton candy, the nervousness he’d been feeling had miraculously calmed.

Although he still desperately wanted to know what was going on, he felt bizarrely serene.

’Alright, so that’s what the cotton candy was for.’

"You’re hogging it all! Any more cotton candy?"

Kai York suddenly popped up from behind them, her eyes scanning Moira Lynch up and down.

Moira Lynch knew what she was looking for and pulled out an opened bag of cotton candy.

Then she glanced at the time and said, "Just make sure you finish it before midnight."

Kai York happily took the cotton candy and asked casually, "Why?"

"Because this bag of cotton candy expires after midnight."

Kai York had just picked up a piece of cotton candy and was about to pop it into her mouth, but Moira Lynch’s words made her freeze, her hand hovering in mid-air. She was stuck, not knowing whether to eat it or not.

After a moment’s hesitation, Kai York put the cotton candy in her mouth anyway. ’So what if it’s expired?’ she thought, unconcerned. ’It’s not like it’ll kill me.’

Once everyone was gathered, the burly captain appeared before them again, his sharp eyes sweeping over the crowd.

The man, who normally didn’t move unless he had to, had uncharacteristically come down for a stroll. With his hands behind his back, he slowly passed by each and every person.

The other players, not knowing what was going on, assumed something was happening and instinctively straightened up, puffing out their chests as the captain passed.

But while the others might not have known the captain’s purpose, Moira Lynch knew exactly what he was doing.

After making a full circuit, the captain returned to his post. "We’re short one person," he asked. "Where did they go?"

Just then, a crewman came over. "Captain, we found bloodstains and signs of a struggle in that person’s room."

Hearing this, the captain’s eyes flew wide. "Go find them now! You must find this person."

"Yes, sir!"

After the crewman left, the captain turned to the crowd and slowly explained, "I’ve gathered you all here today because a valuable item has gone missing from the freighter. We’re out at sea; it’s impossible for an outsider to have gotten aboard."

The implication was clear: the thief was one of them.

"Of course, I don’t wish to suspect any of you. So, I must inconvenience you all by asking you to wait here a moment while my crew searches your rooms to clear your names."

As he spoke, the captain’s gaze swept over each of them, as if trying to spot a crack in their expressions.

However, he was destined for disappointment.

He found no tells, only a deluge of complaints.

The moment they heard they were being treated like thieves, the players erupted, shouting in protest.

Moira Lynch, meanwhile, had hidden herself in a corner to avoid being jostled by the agitated crowd. She took the opportunity to observe the people there and see who exactly was missing.

After scanning the crowd for a moment, Moira Lynch immediately knew who was missing: the Marshal of the Realm.

Speaking of The General, Moira Lynch quickly spotted MoonlitTears in the crowd.

She had her head bowed, whispering to a player beside her.

Moira Lynch was too far away to hear their conversation, but she did notice a small detail.

The player speaking with MoonlitTears had hands of two different sizes.

’That’s probably normal, though. Some people’s jobs require them to use one arm more than the other. Over time, that arm naturally becomes more muscular.’

’Looks like MoonlitTears thinks The General is a lost cause and has already found a new patron.’

Seeing that she wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, Moira Lynch simply found a corner, took a small folding stool out of her Space Button, and sat down.

After a bout of clamoring, the players were quickly placated by the captain.

It just goes to show, he wasn’t just a captain because he could sail a ship; he was also great at making empty promises.

Just then, the freighter, which had been sailing smoothly, gave a slight lurch. It was immediately followed by the piercing blare of an alarm.

"Trouble! Something’s attacking the freighter! All hands, to your stations! Prepare to engage!"

The captain reacted instantly, barking out orders with lightning speed as he himself headed for the bridge.

Meanwhile, after steadying herself, Moira Lynch grabbed the railing with both hands and leaned over to look at the surface of the sea.

Thanks to the night-vision ability of her beauty contact lenses, Moira Lynch clearly saw a dark shadow flash across the surface of the water.

And within the range of her spiritual power probe, a school of bizarrely shaped fish appeared.

Stonefish!

’I’ve been searching for so long I was about to give up, and I just happen to run into them now?’

’But why didn’t I notice them before?’

’Whatever, I’ll worry about that later. First, I need to catch these fish.’

Moira Lynch extended her spiritual power and discovered a large school of Stonefish, big and small, gathered beneath the freighter. They were eagerly preparing to tear into the ship’s hull.

She quickly locked onto several of the largest ones.

After locking onto her targets, Moira Lynch didn’t hesitate for a second. She instantly gave them a new home.

The few Stonefish that had been about to ram the freighter were instantly bewildered.

’Who am I? Where am I?’

’How could the freighter have vanished in the blink of an eye? The entire environment has changed!’

’My dudes, who even gets this? One second you’re in a spacious open-plan condo, and the next, you’re in a cramped studio apartment. Why are there so many other fish in here?’

The few Stonefish used their massive size to quickly carve out a spot for themselves in the small ocean, but that was the extent of it.

To be fair, while it was called a small ocean, Moira Lynch’s pocket sea wasn’t actually small.

But Moira, in her pursuit of maximum profit and abusing the fact that fish couldn’t die in her space, had stuffed it to the absolute brim.

It was already crowded, but she had been constantly adding more over the last few days. And now she had just dumped in several behemoth Stonefish all at once.

And the most direct consequence of this was that the seawater... sloshed out.