***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to JustSomeOne for the donation! ^^
***
[Oh damn! Just moments ago, he was scheming against that poor sucker—setting him up with allies and enemies alike. Yet now, here he was, face-to-face with the man himself. Karma sure worked fast.]
[Pfft! Who cares about some evil god? Wifey, don’t back down! That idiot still has no clue he’s been played—just slap him with another blame while you’re at it!]
[This isn’t about right or wrong anymore. Imagine your lover was sick… only to find out it was all a lie. That they just abandoned you.]
[Hiss— So now it’s the CEO running into his runaway little wife? Now that’s spicy…]
Ruan Qing’s body trembled slightly. The moment he confirmed those footsteps belonged to "Qi Lintian", he activated the Demon’s Eye in his hand.
His striking features made him too recognizable, so he had kept the black robe draped over himself, the hood pulled low, obscuring his identity completely. No one could’ve guessed who was beneath it.
Yet despite that, he instinctively lowered his head further.
The Demon’s Eye’s disguise was impossible to see through—for anyone but its true owner.
Ruan Qing didn’t know if it could fool "Qi Lintian", but he had no other choice. He had to gamble.
The footsteps grew closer.
His body stiffened, but he dared not react, letting Li Yi’an support him as they moved down the hallway. His grip on the boy’s shoulder tightened slightly.
Most guests were crowded in the dining hall, leaving the corridor eerily empty—just the three of them.
The distance between them shrunk. Closer… until they brushed past each other.
The angle of the light cast the tall man’s shadow over Ruan Qing, engulfing him in a suffocating aura of dominance.
Miraculously—neither stopped.
"Qi Lintian" hadn’t recognized him. As the footsteps faded behind him, Ruan Qing released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
But—
His relief was cut short.
A deep, velvety voice rang out from behind him. The footsteps halted.
"Stop."
Ruan Qing’s scalp prickled. Every muscle locked up, every cell in his body screaming at him to run.
But even if he could run—he wouldn’t. Fleeing would confirm his guilt in an instant.
Forcing himself to obey, he froze.
"Qi Lintian’s" gaze burned into the two figures ahead, zeroing in on the one shrouded in black. His eyes narrowed.
Danger flickered in their depths.
The next second, he strode toward the two of them.
As the footsteps drew closer, Ruan Qing’s mind tensed, his slender, pale fingers tightening around Li Yi’an’s supporting hand.
He didn’t have much strength left—his grip wouldn’t hurt the boy—but Li Yi’an seemed to understand anyway.
With a look of confusion, the boy tilted his head up at Ruan Qing. "Daddy, what’s wrong?"
Daddy?
The moment "Qi Lintian" heard the boy’s address, his steps faltered slightly. His brows even furrowed in suspicion.
Just as he was about to close the distance, a terrified scream erupted from the dining hall nearby, followed by the shattering of plates.
"AH—!"
"There’s a monster!"
"Run!"
The screams instantly threw the guests into chaos. Those who had ventured out to eat now stampeded back toward their rooms, desperate for safety.
The once-empty hallway was now packed with people, all shoving and scrambling to get inside.
And in the brief moment "Qi Lintian" was distracted—the two figures vanished, swallowed by the panicked crowd.
Under the threat of monsters, ordinary people would naturally panic and flee, their first instinct to hide.
That father and son should be no exception.
"Qi Lintian" pressed his lips into a thin line and withdrew his gaze.
Had he lost his mind? He hadn’t even seen the man’s face or build clearly, yet for a moment, he’d thought it was Xia Qing.
Lowering his eyes, "Qi Lintian" studied his own hand. His power had been suppressed—a result of his own acquiescence.
The moment someone had tried to restrain him, he’d sensed it.
Yet he hadn’t resisted. He’d allowed them to seal his strength away.
Without his true form, he couldn’t fully control his power. Even when he didn’t actively use it, it would unconsciously corrode everything around him.
That must have been how he hurt Xia Qing.
The only solution was to truly leave the depths of the sea—to reclaim his original body. Otherwise, he would keep unintentionally harming those near him.
So, after his power was suppressed, "Qi Lintian" had gone in search of a way to free his true form from the abyss.
Yet when he finally returned to his room—it was empty.
Xia Qing was missing—or more accurately, he had hidden himself.
The cruise ship was only so big, and no one could leave it. Using his powers, he could easily locate someone.
But he had just allowed his powers to be suppressed. If he forced them now, they would spiral further out of control—and there was a high chance he might end up hurting Xia Qing.
"Qi Lintian" had no choice but to suppress his irritation and focus on finding a way out of the ocean depths.
There were many ways to escape the seabed, but the only method that wouldn’t damage the ship was through the Evil God summoning ritual.
When "Qi Lintian" saw that the insignificant humans were already preparing to perform the summoning again, he simply returned to the depths and waited to be properly called forth.
***
Meanwhile, while "Qi Lintian" was distracted, Ruan Qing seized the chance to escape with Li Yi’an. By the time they stumbled back into their room, both of them collapsed onto the floor, utterly exhausted.
The hard floor was uncomfortable, but Ruan Qing paid it no mind. He turned his gaze to Li Yi’an, who was lying beside him, breathing heavily, and gently ruffled the boy’s hair.
"You’re pretty clever."
If not for Li Yi’an’s sudden cry of "Daddy!" earlier, Ruan Qing wouldn’t have had time to order the hypnotized guest to scream.
That scream hadn’t come from just anyone—it was from one of the people Ruan Qing had implanted with a hypnotic suggestion.
The guests were already terrified of the monsters. With just a little nudge, they wouldn’t stop to question whether the threat was real—they’d just flee back to their rooms.
And the closest rooms to that dining hall? They were at the far end of this hallway.
Li Yi’an gave a shy smile, his voice tinged with pride. "An'an is a prodigy, you know."
Ruan Qing chuckled, his delicate features softening with amusement.
Li Yi’an blinked up at him. "Can I call you Mommy?"
Ruan Qing: "...No."
Li Yi’an: "Oh."
***
The news of the monsters’ return threw the ship into chaos once more, plunging the atmosphere back into tension and danger.
Ruan Qing had only meant to disrupt "Qi Lintian’s" focus—but he hadn’t expected real monsters to appear on the ship.
Ruan Qing’s heart sank as he saw the monsters outside—Lin Zhiyan and the lead staff member.
They hadn’t used the new summoning array he provided. Instead, they reverted to the old method: slaughtering the ship’s guests as sacrificial offerings.
Perhaps, from the very beginning, those two had never intended to follow his plan.
After a century of obsession, did anyone truly believe such madmen could be swayed? The moment they learned of the evil god’s disappearance, they must have resolved to summon it back at any cost.
By now, the sixth day of this nightmare, the many-eyed monsters had grown far more vicious—and far stronger—than before.
Even if the ship’s security systems were still active, the creature could now smash through doors effortlessly, butchering survivors where they hid.
Safety no longer existed.
