Silvanus was watching, too—the man standing by the lake.
As if sensing their gaze, the man by the lake suddenly turned to look back. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but his eyes landed directly on Silvanus.
And at that mont, Silvanus got a good look at his face.
He looked just over twenty, tall and broad—probably around 1.9 ters. Unlike the other villagers, his build was lean and strong, but not in an exaggerated or showy way.
What drew the most attention, however, were his striking features: white hair, white eyebrows, and even white eyelashes. Only his eyes were a vivid crimson red, and his skin was paler than most.
There was no doubt about it—he had albinism, a person with a dical condition. But in a remote village like this, he likely represented sothing ominous, a terrible curse or dark on.
[What the hell? No one told the corpse retriever would look like this!!!]
[The whole village must’ve done sothing to him—he didn’t do anything wrong!]
[Sure, the villagers were in the wrong, but that also ans he’s one of them => he’s a villager => he’s also guilty. See? Being attractive doesn’t make you innocent, so people need to stop twisting the facts.]
[There’s no way a villager would look like this—he’s not one of them!!!]
[So stubborn it’s sad—but I get it hahahahaha]
[Is no one seeing where he’s looking? I swear the corpse retriever is staring straight at Silvanus!!!]
[It just feels like Silvanus has that main character aura...]
[Silvanus harem lassssgoooooo]
To Silvanus, this man looked more "human" than anyone else in the village. There was no doubt in his mind—this man had to be the corpse retriever, the one the village chief had warned them to stay far away from, the one bearing the curse.
The corpse retriever stared at Silvanus, his brows faintly furrowed. Just then, Ryan stepped forward and blocked Silvanus with a friendly smile, tugging at the corners of his mouth.
The corpse retriever’s expression remained unreadable. He turned away and resud his work.
To everyone else, it probably looked like he had just glanced at them and wasn’t interested. But Silvanus could sense the slight disgust the man directed toward him.
What the heck? Even if you hate my personality, at least don’t hate this ridiculously handso face of mine!
"He must be the corpse retriever..." Bryan muttered as if seeing him in person was sohow beyond his expectations. Or maybe it was just that he hadn’t expected him to look like this.
"He’s... kind of hot, though..." Julie mumbled, the two faint, unusual red patches on her cheeks visible.
Aboli couldn’t help but say, "Don’t forget what the village chief said. You’re always too soft, Julie. Careful, you don’t end up cursed."
"I think the villagers are the ones who are cursed!" Julie muttered angrily. It was clear she was more than a little displeased with the village, especially after the way everyone had stared at her since they arrived.
Aboli agreed with her—those villagers did look strange and unsettling.
Bryan clapped and said, "Alright, let’s get to work. Everyone, get ready."
As soon as Bryan spoke, the others quickly switched into work mode.
They started warming up to avoid cramps or issues once they got into the water. A few others swiftly suited up in diving gear and strapped on their oxygen tanks.
Ciel chuckled and said, "Earlier, everyone complained that Silvanus was being fussy for insisting on bringing an oxygen tank—now we’re finally seeing how useful it is."
Before this, they had thought that, for people like them, carrying oxygen tanks would be a hassle and ruin the imrsive experience. But after hearing what the village chief said, they all felt a bit uneasy.
"Exactly. Too bad the one who suggested it has lost his mory," Aboli shrugged.
Silvanus stood off to the side, head lowered, fingers laced together. He looked small and helpless.
Lucian frowned and said coldly, "Get in the water. Everything was settled yesterday. Stop lingering around saying pointless things."
"I haven’t even said anything yet!" Aboli snapped, furious. She strapped on her oxygen tank and jumped into the water, no longer paying Lucian any mind.
Ripples spread across the lake’s surface from her dive, but it quickly returned to stillness.
"This lake is a little creepy... the color of the water is kind of terrifying," Julie murmured.
It was true. The water had darkened almost to black—not the transparent, deep black of a clean lake bottom, but a murky, opaque black. It nearly felt like what lay before them wasn’t water but sothing else entirely. Only soone with nerves of steel like Aboli could dive in without hesitation.
Julie dipped a foot into the lake. Even with her wetsuit on, she could feel a bone-deep chill seeping into her skin.
She instinctively jerked her leg back. Sothing about the lake made her hesitate.
"Co on, Julie, think about the mission reward. This is not the ti to hesitate. Or would you rather stay on land like Silvanus?" Ciel frowned at her.
He was right. Since Silvanus had lost his mory, there was concern he might’ve also forgotten his swimming and diving skills. That would be dangerous in the water, so the final decision was to remove him from the mission team until his mories returned.
Of course, if Silvanus never recovered his mory, he wouldn’t receive any reward.
Julie thought of the massive payout and imdiately shook her head. "No! I can do this! It’s just diving, like we always do!"
Ciel nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly! That’s all it is!"
Re-energized, Julie plunged into the water without further hesitation.
Lucian and Ryan also put on their goggles—but notably, neither brought an oxygen tank.
Silvanus furrowed his brow slightly and said with concern, "Why aren’t you two bringing oxygen tanks? It’s dangerous underwater..."
"It’s only dangerous for the average," Lucian sneered, then jerked his chin at Ryan and added, "You can worry about him, but don’t worry about . Whatever’s at the bottom of this lake doesn’t have what it takes to ss with ."
He said it like there was sothing monstrous down there.
Ryan couldn’t help frowning a little. "Stop talking nonsense."
Then he turned to Silvanus and reminded him, "Just stay on the shore. We’ll be back soon."
Lucian sneered, "You’re not dumb enough to fall into the water alone, are you?"
Silvanus seriously wanted to knock Lucian’s teeth out—he was just that annoying. He turned his head to Ryan instead, nodded, and said, "Got it. Be careful."
He treated Lucian like he was invisible. That attitude annoyed Lucian, who jumped into the water with a scowl, sending a splash that soaked Silvanus.
Ryan chuckled and said, "Really makes wanna kill him."
Ryan was smiling, but Silvanus could tell he wasn’t joking.
Still, he chose to play dumb. "Don’t say that. Go do the mission."
Ryan also went down into the lake. Just then, Bryan’s voice rang out, "You guys are close, huh? Those two still won’t abandon you despite your mory loss."
Silvanus smiled awkwardly at that and replied, "Lucian cares about ? I think you’ve got it wrong—he looks like he wants to tear apart."
Bryan laughed. "Nah, you just don’t understand his personality yet. Alright, don’t overthink it. You’ll get your mories back soon. Everything will be fine."
Silvanus watched Bryan’s figure dive into the water. If he hadn’t known Bryan was a villain, he would’ve thought he was just a dedicated team captain doing his job.
"What a bunch of idiots."
A hoarse, cold voice suddenly cut through the air at that mont. The corpse retriever—who had been silent and focused on his work the whole ti—spoke. His bright red eyes locked onto Silvanus, and for a second, Silvanus wasn’t sure whether he was calling him an idiot or if he ant his teammates who had just gone underwater.
Silvanus smirked and replied lightly, "Yeah, they’re a little foolish. Otherwise, they wouldn’t trust this much."
The corpse retriever raised his eyebrows slightly, a flicker of emotion flashing across his otherwise expressionless face—as if he hadn’t expected Silvanus to respond like that.
[What what WHAT is going on???]
[The fox mask is finally slipping, kkkkkkk]
[Just imagine if the others underwater knew Silvanus called them idiots, hahahahaha]
Silvanus smiled and walked quickly toward the corpse retriever, getting close—so close their faces were almost touching. He asked, "You’re the village’s corpse retriever, right? Can we get to know each other? I’m Silvanus. What’s your na?"
Even as Silvanus leaned in, close enough that their faces nearly brushed, the corpse retriever didn’t move. His gaze lowered, catching the sight of Silvanus’s overly long eyelashes and those sparkling green eyes, lively like a fox’s.
Silvanus blinked, patiently waiting for a reply.
"Silas."
Silvanus smiled, and before Silas could get annoyed enough to punch him in the face, he quickly stepped back, letting his gaze shift to the tools near Silas.
He saw a thick, coiled rope with a large hook-like chanism at the end—constructed from nurous sharp, barbed rods. They were hung from a horizontal wooden plank stacked with more long hooks. This was probably Silas’s corpse-retrieving device. From the look of it, Silvanus could already guess how it worked.
With a "hook" that big, once it was thrown into the water, it would almost certainly snag on the clothes of the dead...
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