Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

Mu Ningxue never assumed she was born a heavenly beauty. She mostly assumed that these brainless men were only attracted by her extraordinary hair and skin.

As a matter of fact, she was only different because she was sick, yet many men still fell for her. She thought that most men were retarded.

"Are you a Magician too?" the shy young man around the age of twenty asked softly.

The man had black hair and was wearing simple clothes. He was fair-looking, and his eyes were bright, granting him a clean appearance. He was not the kind that people would find annoying at first sight.

"Mmm," replied Mu Ningxue non-committedly.

"Why are you here so early? Is something bothering you?... I'm Senba, I'm here as an intern. Oh, right, I'm from Waseda University," Senba sat beside Mu Ningxue, yet remained the distance of a body away. He did not dare to get too close, as he was afraid she would feel uncomfortable.

Mu Ningxue did not reply. She would not easily tell other people her name, let alone tell the man that she was a representative on the national team.

Although Senba was shy, he was smart enough to realize that the girl was not willing to reveal her information. He quickly changed the topic.

He was clearly acting unnaturally. He stared at the waves splashing on the shore as if he was going to comment on the fine weather, but instead said, "The tide has fallen off further this time. The next tide rise is going to be dangerous. I wonder if the zone masters are able to hold the creatures off… there better not be sea monsters with the ability to create illusions..."

"How is the wave related to the sea monsters?" asked Mu Ningxue.

Senba's eyes flickered. It seemed like he had chosen the right topic. He forced himself to calm down and clear his thoughts before explaining with a firm voice, "Most sea monsters are used to fighting at waterlogged places, especially the armies of sea monsters that have been posing a threat to the East Maritime Fortress. As such, a battle usually takes place when the tide rises. Once the tide rises above the shorter dam, the sea monsters will ride along the waves and invade the fortress. Similarly, when the tide falls, the army of sea monsters will withdraw from the fortress, too! Therefore, the higher the tide, the greater the number of sea monsters that are going to invade the fortress!"

Mu Ningxue had gone back to her room when Lai Hengbao was explaining the situation of the fortress to the team. Therefore, she had no clue about the situation of the East Maritime Fortress.

"If the tide falls further away, does that mean the next tide rise is going to be higher?" Mu Ningxue looked at the tide that was gradually moving away from the dam.

"Yes. Many people think the ocean is mysterious and unpredictable, but the truth is, there's a certain predictability to it. If we can carefully observe its behavior, it allows us to take some safety precautions beforehand… on top of that, no matter how strong the sea monsters are, or how overwhelming their numbers are, they still have to follow the rise and fall of the tide. If we understand the ocean, we'll be able to understand the sea monsters too!" Senba was speaking more fluently. He clearly had put in some effort into researching the tide, and so was feeling more confident!

Mu Ningxue nodded.

Senba was about to explain further after finding the right topic when some noises came from nearby all of a sudden.

The soldiers were yelling, and there were people running, too.

Mu Ningxue followed the noise and saw a petite woman running away from the dam and headed for the sea while ignoring the warnings from the people around her.

"Water, water, water!"

The woman dived into the ocean, as if she was dying of thirst after spending a long time in a desert!

"Quick, save her!" Senba immediately panicked and screamed at the soldiers while pointing at the woman.

Mu Ningxue was fairly confused. Even though it was dangerous to go beyond the dam, there was no sign of any sea monsters along the shore. The woman should be safe still, right?

Senba jumped off the dam and ran straight toward the woman...

Mu Ningxue was even more confused when she saw lots of soldiers making their way toward the woman.

She jumped down from the dam and cast a Wind Track to overtake Senba.

Senba was startled when he saw Mu Ningxue elegantly floated past him as her silver hair was drifting in the wind. He quickly yelled at Mu Ningxue, "Don't let her touch the water, or she's going to die!"

Mu Ningxue immediately quickened her pace to catch up to the woman after seeing the serious look on his face.

However, when she approached the shore, she immediately witnessed a shocking sight. Her feet were soaked in the water as a wave splashed on the shore...

A completely lifeless corpse!

The woman that was well alive a moment ago had turned into a corpse. She was lying flat on the water. Her skin had no sign of blood. It had turned from pale-white to purple.

The body stiffened fairly quickly. Normally, it would take rigor mortis around two hours to set in, yet the woman's corpse had already stiffened.

The soldiers finally arrived at the scene. One of them flipped the corpse over. The woman's eyes were wide open. Her lower jaw was extended as if it was fractured. Blue veins were scattered densely under her pale-white skin, which was almost transparent. She looked like a victim who had died from drowning, and had been dead for quite some time.

"Another one… " the soldier who flipped the corpse let out a sigh.

"It's my fault, I didn't manage to stop her in time. I thought she was only taking a stroll," spoke up the other Japanese soldier with regret.

As they were talking, Senba finally arrived. After taking a glance, apart from a hint of sorrow, he seemed to be extremely angry!

He crouched in front of the corpse and swiftly put on some gloves that he had brought with him before unbuttoning the woman's clothes.

"You… what are you doing!? Asshole, how can you humiliate her like that, even though she's already dead!..." yelled a soldier furiously.

Senba lifted his gaze. He looked like a completely different person from the shy boy from before. His eyes were glittering with determination as he spoke, "It's the only chance I have to inspect a corpse that has just died recently. I must solve the mystery of the strange disease!"

The outraged soldier still thought it was too impolite to do so, but the older soldier beside him stopped him.

The aged soldier studied the serious face of Senba and said, "Let him continue. There have been lots of cases like this recently, but we still don't know what's causing them."

Mu Ningxue turned away when Senba began to perform an autopsy on the corpse. Either way, it was too gruesome to watch the man do his work.

"What's happening?" Mu Ningxue asked the aged soldier.

"It's the drowning curse, a terrifying thing that has been happening in the East Maritime Fortress for a long time. Once in a while, there will be people who suddenly rush toward the ocean out of nowhere and died of drowning in just a few seconds," said the young soldier before the older soldier could say a word.

The aged soldier glared at the young soldier before giving a clearer explanation, "We've considered it a disease, but no one knows what it is exactly… it's a relief that it doesn't happen too often, and everyone thinks the number of people that die of the disease is negligible compared to the people that die in battles against the sea monsters, so nobody is treating it seriously."