Chapter 335: Treasure |
Sunlight pierced through the jagged ripples of the water. Within this liquid medium, the rays almost seemed to transform into a flowing substance.
When a scenery reached a certain level of breathtaking beauty, it truly evoked a deep sense of emotion within a person.
Right now, Shimizu Yu was deeply moved.
However, it was not entirely due to the magnificent scenery of the underwater world before her. More than that, it was the profound experience of truly immersing herself in a fantasy world.
The supernatural existed in this world. Shimizu Yu had learned this truth several months ago. At first, she had been incredibly excited. After all, she had loved fantasizing about such things since childhood. When those fantasies became reality, it naturally led to several nights of insomnia from sheer excitement.
Yet, reality ultimately differed from fantasy, and the discrepancy was massive!
The magical world she had anticipated was violently torn apart by the bared fangs and brandished claws of terrifying vengeful ghosts one after another.
While she did have a fair amount of interest in horror stories and supernatural incidents, a personal experience was simply too terrifying. Twice she had followed Hoshino Gen into a supernatural incident, and both times she had narrowly escaped death... So, if given a choice, she was deeply reluctant to participate in such events again.
Furthermore, she felt that Hoshino Gen must have noticed her thoughts. Therefore, after the Nagano Nai Ghost School Incident, he never brought her into that frightening and dangerous world again.
But now... With no oxygen tanks and no diving equipment, she plunged into the ocean within a solitary floating bubble. Without even a pair of goggles separating her from the water, she was taking in this magnificent sight from the truest possible perspective.
Never had there been a moment quite like this one, where she so tangibly realized that she was already standing in the very fantasy world she had always hoped for.
"I doubt there is anything good in the shallows. Let us head deeper to take a look," Hoshino Gen said. He then gave Shimizu Yu a faint smile and added, "Most deep-sea creatures are rather deformed. If you get scared, remember to speak up early."
Shimizu Yu paused for a moment, lifting her gaze to look at him. "Are they scarier than a vengeful ghost?"
"Ha..." Hoshino Gen chuckled and shook his head. Fair enough, this idiot had faced life and death directly, even having tangled with vengeful ghosts before.
Seeing Hoshino Gen shake his head, Shimizu Yu broke into a bright and beautiful smile. "Exactly! If you could protect me when facing vengeful ghosts, why would I be afraid of some ugly deep-sea fish?"
"..." Hoshino Gen fell silent for a moment before reaching out to grab Shimizu Yu's wrist. The bubble enveloping them instantly shrank, clinging closely to their bodies. Immediately after, Shimizu Yu watched as the scenery before her rapidly retreated, scattering an unknown number of fish schools along their path.
She had no idea how long this rapid descent lasted. Looking down, Shimizu Yu noticed that the submerged beach they had just been over was completely gone. Now, beneath them was a bottomless dark blue ocean abyss.
Just as Hoshino Gen had said earlier, they had arrived in the deep sea.
The bubble expanded back into a large sphere and began to slowly descend toward the abyss below. The water before them gradually transitioned from a pretty, dreamlike light blue into an unsettling dark navy. Of course, this was not a change in the water's actual color, but rather the result of the sunlight overhead growing weaker and weaker as they approached the seabed.
"Vwooom—"
Surging ripples rolled through the water ahead as an ethereal, hollow cry pierced through the azure depths. Into their line of sight, an unfathomably massive creature broke through the resistance of the water, appearing right before Hoshino Gen and Shimizu Yu.
Shimizu Yu had already clutched tightly onto the hem of Hoshino Gen's clothes... A whale. It was not as though she had never seen the world's largest mammal before, but viewing it through the glass of an aquarium was a completely different matter from encountering one head-on in the deep sea.
It was just like how people visiting a zoo could laugh and joke at lions and tigers through the safety of an enclosure, but if they actually encountered them in the wilderness, who could possibly laugh?
Furthermore, the whale before them was simply too gigantic! It genuinely gave off a sense of deja vu, reminiscent of humans encountering a giant monster in a tokusatsu film!
Shimizu Yu nervously swallowed her saliva. She glanced at Hoshino Gen's profile and, noticing that he remained composed and at ease with a smile still on his lips, she could not help but sigh in relief. Lowering her voice as if terrified of disturbing the passing whale, she whispered, "Is that a blue whale? It is so big!"
"Probably. I believe they are an endangered species. I have never seen one before either," Hoshino Gen chuckled dismissively. They continued their steady descent atop the bubble as the passing whale swam right over their heads.
Shimizu Yu's gaze followed it for a long time. Only when the giant ocean beast completely disappeared into the distant blue did she withdraw her eyes. "What a magical experience..." she murmured.
Hoshino Gen remained silent, his gaze sweeping over their surroundings. He occasionally adjusted the descending trajectory of the bubble. At this current depth, the visibility was already extremely low. Shimizu Yu pressed closely against his side; clearly, faced with the mysterious and unknown deep sea, she could not help feeling a bit anxious.
Snap!
Hoshino Gen suddenly snapped his fingers, and two orbs of light instantly flared to life outside the bubble. They were not blinding, but the improvement in visibility was clear to the naked eye.
So much so that as Shimizu Yu strained her eyes to peer downwards, she even faintly made out... the silhouette of a shipwreck!
Her mouth dropped open in astonishment. Vigorously shaking Hoshino Gen's arm, which she had been tightly gripping, she exclaimed, "Look! Over there! A shipwreck!"
"I see it," Hoshino Gen replied, rolling his eyes without a hint of surprise.
"Could there actually be treasure?!" Shimizu Yu's beautiful almond eyes shone brilliantly, her voice laced with inexplicable excitement. It was not that she was interested in gold and silver, but the sheer act of diving into the deep sea to explore and hunt for treasure filled her with excitement!
"Why would I come all the way down here if there was not?" Hoshino Gen chuckled.
Hearing this, Shimizu Yu froze for a brief moment before it dawned on her. Astounded, she asked, "Did you already know there was a shipwreck and treasure here? How did you know?"
"I saw it."
Hoshino Gen could not be bothered to explain it to her, but this girl had always been full of curiosity and absolutely insisted on getting to the bottom of things. "How did you see it? This place is quite far from the island we have been staying on these past few days, isn't it? Did you come here by yourself earlier?"
"...What I saw was the ghostly aura," Hoshino Gen said speechlessly. "Are you going to ask me what a ghostly aura is next?"
"Well, I will not need to ask that. After all, it sounds pretty self-explanatory... Is there a ghost down here?" Shimizu Yu shrank her neck back, lowering her voice as she pressed her body almost entirely against Hoshino Gen.
"Correct." The shipwreck on the seabed was already right before their eyes. Simply by looking at its full wooden structure, one could tell that it was no modern cruise ship. Judging from its design and material, it was safe to estimate that the ship had sunk around a hundred years ago.
Hovering just outside the shipwreck, Hoshino Gen spoke calmly. "A ghostly aura means there is a vengeful ghost here. A vengeful ghost means someone died. For someone to die in the deep sea like this, it would either have to be a shipwreck or a plane crash. My personal preference leaned toward the former, and facts have proven my guess correct."
"As for whether there is treasure... the vengeful ghost itself is the treasure." Hoshino Gen smiled. Taking a single step forward, the bubble carrying him and Shimizu Yu tunneled straight into this ancient, decayed vessel that had been lost for a hundred years.