Chapter 2204: Oil Painting

Chapter 2204: Chapter 2204: Oil Painting

Seeing Shard not speaking, she gave a teasing glare and asked somewhat discontentedly:

"Why don’t you comfort me a bit? That way you could win my favor, and maybe I’d be willing to follow you to your cabin for reproductive activities. Isn’t that what all you males think?"

"I’m feeling curious about you. When I touched you, I could immediately sense what you really are."

Shard looked seriously into her eyes:

"You were never born, your true form is just the last hint of life lingering in death. Given that, how are you so knowledgeable about humans, so knowledgeable about the world? Madam, may I speculate that you actually know everything, you know what will happen here. No one knows of your existence, did you hear the cultists’ plans?"

The girl, with pursed lips, lost her gentle expression and once again reverted to her appearance when Shard first appeared:

"If you’re willing to kneel down and lick my feet, I can tell you how to save everyone on this ship."

Shard laughed:

"Alright, it seems you’re not as mature as I imagined. Did you learn about humans and the world through observation? I’m sorry if the first impression this world gave you is so dangerous and miserable, I can’t deny that, but now you need my help."

"You’ve got it backward, it’s you who need my help, you want to know the cultists’ plot from me. Yes, as long as you ask me, I can tell you what they’re doing, although I have no power to stop them or even touch anything tangible, you seem quite capable."

The young girl continued, but Shard still shook his head:

"No, indeed you need my help. You want to live, don’t you?"

The girl with flaming red hair immediately froze, then turned her head away. Although she continued dancing with Shard, she wouldn’t let him look into her eyes again:

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about."

"If you want to live, if you’re unwilling to succumb to the death I described, then please ask me, tell me that you want to live."

Thus, silence fell between them, but their bodies still maintained their dancing movements, and they danced quite well. Professor Ivins watched the two young people in the crowd, then suddenly asked Miss Teresa beside him:

"Schultz, do you like that man?"

"Yes, Professor."

The Blonde Witch admitted frankly, so the old professor said with a smile:

"From my life experience, catching him would be more difficult than catching a Unicorn."

"But isn’t it challenging that way?"

Miss Teresa gazed intently at Shard’s back:

"Especially since, aunt feels the same about him too..."

Of course, Shard was unaware of the witches’ conversation, because the girl dancing with him, after a moment of silence, looked at him with red eyes:

"Do you like making girls cry so much? Is that what counts as a gentleman?"

"Then what’s your answer? Are you willing to seek my help, if so, please say it."

Shard asked, the girl with red eyes looked up at him, their hands tightly clasped together:

"Yes, I want to live, I want to live~ I want to live!"

The sound of gales and waves once again replaced the music of the ball, and the light suddenly shrank towards the campfire, causing everyone to return to the floating platform.

The "Miss Malone" with restored black hair was now being held in Shard’s embrace, but she looked even more confused and bewildered:

"What am I... exactly?"

"Do you have the answer now?"

Shard then asked the witches, but both Miss Teresa and Miss Maxim remained silent, only Professor Ivins thoughtfully asked Shard:

"One nonexistent, one close to death, both lack the ability to become a complete soul."

Shard nodded with a smile:

"As expected of a professor from Zaras Literary Academy, you guessed correctly, I think this speculation will soon be verified."

He thought for a bit:

"According to the experience from the first three fishing attempts, everyone needs four attempts to succeed. Now, we’ve tried fishing for Miss Malone twice, and I think the next time will be the moment we uncover the answer; the fourth will be when we leave this place. Miss Teresa, Miss Maxim, Professor, for the next fishing, do not follow me into the Illusionary Realm; stay a bit further to adjust yourselves. I believe we have one last battle to undergo."

The witches nodded and retreated toward the center of the floating platform with their campfire. Having experienced the two Illusionary Realms that were almost akin to reality reconstructions, they each have their own gains. Miss Malone held onto Shard’s arm, unwilling to let go, leaving Shard to maintain the stance as he cast the fishing line once more.

A few seconds later, the fishing line tightened. This time, Miss Malone, who had not helped before, finally assisted Shard in pulling up the item from the water, exhibiting a strength far surpassing that of an "ordinary person."

Despite the formidable power from the water, what was reeled in was nothing more than a roll of oil painting canvas. Shard had a good idea of what it was, so as he picked up the waterlogged, heavy canvas, Glimmer once again manifested beside him.

"So, is this the ship cabin of the Radiant Messenger?"

Compared to the expansive deck and banquet hall, this scene was noticeably smaller. But the interior decor of a luxury cruise liner’s first-class cabin indeed exceeded Shard’s expectations. The metal cabin’s side walls were overlaid with expensive wood as a cover, the surface was fully carpeted with red wool, and the furniture positioned around flashed under the bright gas lamps.

Of course, he was not here for sightseeing, so after glancing around a bit, he looked at the others in the room aside from himself.

Inside the first-class cabin is a suite-like setting, and the current location is the bedroom inside the suite. The soft bed, large enough for four people, leaned against the wall, with an easel set up next to it.

Shard stood right behind the easel, surrounded by paint palettes, various brushes, and other artistic tools. He noticed the canvas was empty, so he looked over to the bed before quickly lowering his head:

"This is truly..."

Miss Malone’s original hair color was black, it appeared blue on the deck, red during the ball, and now it had changed to blue again. Shard was paying so much attention to hair color because last time, that head of blue hair covered fair skin, and Miss Malone, naked, using a very challenging pose, rested her head sideways on the bed, unabashedly exposing her body to the ’artist’ behind the easel. Her snow-white skin reminded Shard of a lamb, and the hair strands hanging from the side made her seem exceptionally alluring.

Seeing Shard lowered his head, the girl still laughed and said:

"Didn’t you say you wanted to paint an oil painting? I’m already prepared."

Her body was entirely solid at this moment.

Head down, Shard was facing the cat with its small head poking out from his chest. The cat looked at Shard for a moment before retracting its head; this time, it could not assist Shard.

A light chuckle from "her" reached his ears, and Shard knew "she" was mocking him. But even if he sat down to complete this painting that he was not meant to finish, he faced a big problem: as an Outlander, he did not know how to paint oil paintings... he couldn’t even draw simple sketches.

In the chaos of his thoughts, Shard’s mind was not entirely consumed by the "lamb." He knew the events occurring now were present in Miss Malone’s memory. This should be the "stolen" first-class cabin, and after they finish painting here, he imagines they’ll be dating on various parts of the ship.

Thinking this, Shard suddenly looked at the blank canvas, understanding the significance of this scene.

"Come on, maintaining this pose is tiring."

The girl with blue hair urged again, forcing Shard to grit his teeth and sit down behind the easel, randomly picking up a brush. He didn’t know how to choose the colors, but unexpectedly, once he grabbed the brush, his arm began moving on its own.

He could fully control his "uncontrolled" right arm from drawing, but Shard didn’t do that. Watching the brush leave the first trace on the canvas, he felt assured and began chatting with the girl on the bed:

"Speaking of which, which part of your body are you most satisfied with?"

This sounded rather improper, but Shard knew he had to ask this.

And the girl with blue hair laughed as she responded:

"Of course it’s the bridge; when they designed me, the architects specifically considered the location and height of the bridge. I dare say, during our era, there’s no ship with a more beautiful bridge than mine."

Her tone was quite proud and smug, and Shard nodded, striving to keep his eyes on the canvas rather than peering past the canvas to gaze at that bridge.

"Besides that, you’re quite satisfied with your height, aren’t you?"

"Of course, but I’m more pleased with the paintwork. You see, even under this yellow gaslight, my paintwork can shimmer. On a good day at sea, when the sunlight directly hits, you can’t imagine how beautiful my paintwork is."

She laughed again, her fringe gently swaying. Shard was quite thankful that he came here alone this time:

"Please don’t move too much; I’m depicting your movements."

"Yes, yes, you’re very observant."

The girl giggled again, then asked Shard:

"So how do you feel about my hull? I want the truth, don’t think you can easily fool me like a naive human girl."

"Well... you know, typical language struggles to evaluate your beauty precisely. Let me finish this painting, I’ll use my brush to depict the most beautiful you."

Shard said, having comprehended the vital significance of the "painting" process in soul shaping, thus he didn’t want to perform extra tasks, but the girl persisted:

"Then tell me, which part of me do you like the most? If you don’t speak up, I’ll be upset."