Chapter 194: Chapter 193: Fear Descends
Even though Sherry was pestering him, Potter still kept his sanity and didn’t rashly agree to Sherry’s request, and instead asked, “What exactly do you want me to agree to?”
“Um…” Sherry seemed to be thinking seriously before finally deciding, “When we return to the academy, you have to treat me to a big meal.”
Is that it? Potter was stunned.
“What? You don’t want to?” Seeing Potter’s stunned expression, Sherry pulled a face, somewhat angrily, “I’ve been painstakingly keeping watch for you here, and you even teased me earlier, not even willing to buy me a meal?”
“No no no,” Potter finally reacted and hurriedly said, “I’ll treat, I’ll treat.”
“That’s more like it,” Sherry was satisfied and released Potter’s shoulder, waving a hand generously, “You can go now.”
“Is it finally over?” Potter thought to himself, and without hesitating, he turned and walked away. Just as he was about to go up the stairs, he heard Sherry call out, “Hey, Potter, be careful yourself!”
“Uh…” Potter faltered, originally wanting to respond and tell Sherry to also be careful, but he swallowed his words in the end.
“Better say it next time; otherwise, if I say it now, I might really not be able to leave,” Potter thought. “Women are really troublesome, demonically troublesome; can’t let a woman stop his progress on the wizard path.”
Shaking his head, Potter went down to the first level of the deck below.
Potter knew that a male Third-Level Wizard Apprentice named Parker was on guard here, just like Sherry—a direct disciple of Wizard Quinton. However, Parker’s personality was greatly different from Sherry’s; he was the most reclusive among all wizard apprentices. Therefore, there was no need to worry about him being clingy.
Thinking about these things, Potter stepped on the wooden floor of the corridor, preparing to simply check on how Parker was doing, and then go up to inspect the deck. But at a glance, seeing the empty corridor of the cabin, he was slightly taken aback—the Parker who should have been guarding the corridor was nowhere to be seen.
A flash crossed Potter’s eyes as thoughts raced through his brain.
Had Parker abandoned his post?
Maybe, but it was highly unlikely.
He knew very well that although Parker might have a reclusive character, when it came to work, he was even more reliable than him. Parker was the oldest among all wizard apprentices, and because his talent limited him from breaking beyond the Third-Level Wizard Apprentice grade, it cultivated his reclusive and non-communicative nature. But with age also came the advantage of considering everything thoroughly and being dependable; logically, there was no way Parker would abandon his post while on guard duty.
So where had Parker gone?
Potter’s eyes flickered and in the next moment, he called out in a low voice, testing, “Parker?”
The corridor was as silent as a tomb, with no response at all.
Potter couldn’t help feeling increasingly vigilant, looking around the corridor, slowly taking steps forward.
Upon walking from one end to the other, he neither saw Parker nor any trace that Parker had left behind.
Potter suddenly spotted something; a crimson spot was on the ground and when he bent down and touched it, it smeared onto his fingertip.
In an instant, Potter’s expression grew immensely grave.
A drop of blood might not explain much, but it also could explain many things. At least, it had given him a dreadful hunch.
Potter took a deep breath, the next moment, he turned swiftly and ran toward the staircase, heading down, preparing to alert Sherry and Danell below to be careful.
Potter’s steps were hurried as he quickly descended to the second level cabin, turning his head to look toward the end of the corridor where he knew Sherry was standing.
But in the next moment, Potter froze in place.
Where his gaze landed, there was nothing but a swirl of air and nothing else.
Spinning around abruptly, Potter looked towards the other end of the corridor, still nothing—there was no trace of Sherry anywhere in the corridor, she had disappeared without a trace.
“No, no, not , not …” Potter muttered under his breath, a sense of urgency and panic rising in his heart, his mind somewhat scrambled.
However, he quickly forced himself to calm down: Parker from the deck above had disappeared, maybe he truly had urgent business to attend to. And here, Sherry’s disappearance on this level might mean she had gone down to the third level of the cabin. Yes, that must be it. After all, Sherry couldn’t stay still, not as reliable as Parker, perhaps she ran to the third level cabin to chat with Danell.
Thinking this, Potter, holding onto the last vestige of hope, dashed quickly towards the third level cabin.
Potter swiftly reached the third level cabin, scanned it furiously, and clenched his fists.
The corridor of the third level cabin was still completely empty.
The corridor of the third-level cabin, and three Wizard Apprentices vanishing simultaneously without reason, this couldn’t be a coincidence, it absolutely couldn’t be!
Potter’s expression turned extremely grim as he quickly walked to the end of the corridor, to the spot where he had last seen Danell.
Bending over, Potter groped along the floor, trying to find some trace, but this time not even blood was present.
Potter stood up, his gaze sharpening as he removed a pendant from his neck and clenched the Blood-colored Gem on the pendant tightly in his hand. Mana surged rapidly within his body, making him extremely alert, ready to launch an attack at any moment.
But there were no enemies, or perhaps he simply couldn’t see them.
Potter clenched his teeth, unable to vent his anger.
Just then, he suddenly heard a loud “bang” from the cabin next door as if something heavy had fallen to the ground, like someone fitfully sleeping had tumbled out of bed.
Potter’s eyes flashed as he stepped forward and knocked hard on the door.
After a while, the cabin door creaked open. It was pitch-dark inside, and a groggy student poked his head out, squinting and not fully awake, and asked, “Is… is there something wrong?”
“I…” Potter had wanted to ask the person in the cabin if he had heard anything just now, but after saying one word, he stopped.
He suddenly realized it was a foolish move: Given the killer’s capabilities, if he had indeed acted, he definitely wouldn’t have allowed unrelated people to hear a sound. Asking such a question, he surely wouldn’t receive any useful information. And by posing it, he was certainly telling the student in front of him that the Wizard Apprentices guarding the corridor had met with trouble, and who knew how this might spread among the regular students come dawn.
Thinking this, Potter took a deep breath, his expression tense as he said, “It’s nothing, just a reminder to be careful when you sleep at night. You know it’s not safe aboard the ship, so if someone knocks on your door at night, don’t just open it, at least… ask for their identity first.”
“Um…” The student inside gave Potter a strange look.
“That’s all, get back to sleep,” Potter said.
“Bang.” The student decisively closed the door, and Potter felt sure the person inside must think he was crazy. But Potter didn’t mind these trivial matters, clutching the Blood-colored Gem in his hand, he quickly made his way up the stairs to the deck.
On the deck, there was still a Wizard Apprentice responsible for the night watch. Now he needed to ensure his safety. Even though it was highly possible that he, too, had disappeared, he had to check.
With this thought, Potter walked onto the deck, then paused abruptly.
In an instant, all the hairs on Potter’s body stood on end, his muscles tensed, his heart rate sped up, and as he stared at the scene before him, his eyes gradually widened.