Void Cultivation

Chapter 373: Chapter 372- Fundamentally wrong

Grey’s eyebrows instinctively drew together into a slight frown as a low grunt escaped his lips. The young girl was obviously petrified after seeing him, so much so that she had frozen completely the instant their eyes met.

Grey could already feel a headache coming on.

Especially after remembering his encounter with her master two weeks ago.

Now, of all places, they had run into each other again. Barely two weeks after everything that had happened on the Dead Sea.

What an unfortunate coincidence.

"You... You..." the young girl stammered, her lips trembling slightly.

Grey immediately realized what she was about to say and quickly spoke before she could finish.

"Calm down. I have no intention of hurting you." His voice remained calm, though there was a trace of helplessness hidden beneath it. After a brief pause, he continued, "What happened on the Dead Sea was..."

His sentence gradually trailed off as a complicated expression surfaced on his face.

How was he supposed to explain something like that?

The young girl, who had not expected such a response, stared at him blankly for a moment. Surprise flashed across her face before she hurriedly collected herself and nodded repeatedly.

"I-I understand..."

Whether she truly understood or was simply trying to reassure him, Grey couldn’t tell.

He wasn’t even certain whether his explanation had been enough to calm her down or merely prevented her from screaming on the spot and calling for her master.

Still, there was little else he could do.

The events that had unfolded on the Dead Sea were not something he could simply explain with a few words.

After standing there for another brief moment, Grey quietly turned around and walked toward the exit of the medicinal shop.

Their meeting today had been completely unexpected.

Likewise, what had happened at sea was never something he had wanted to do willingly.

If circumstances had been different, he would never caused her to join in the matter.

But if he hadn’t...

He would most likely be dead by now.

Naturally, he wasn’t about to explain something like that to the young girl.

Seeing that Grey was leaving, the girl finally snapped out of her daze.

She instinctively took a step forward before hurriedly calling out,

"Wait!"

Grey slowly stopped.

He turned around and looked at her with a faint frown.

If she intended to make a scene or exaggerate what had happened, he would simply leave before she could say another word.

However, the words that left her mouth completely caught him off guard.

"I... I don’t know your name..."

Her voice was so soft it was almost no more than a whisper.

Yet Grey heard every single word with perfect clarity.

For the first time since entering the shop, genuine surprise appeared on his face.

A slight crease formed between his brows.

He remained silent for several seconds, contemplating whether revealing his real name was the right decision.

Eventually, he made up his mind.

"...Grey."

His answer was simple and devoid of unnecessary emotion.

Without waiting for a response, he turned around once more and calmly walked through the doorway.

He never looked back.

Within moments, his figure disappeared beyond the entrance before vanishing down the bustling street outside.

The medicinal shop gradually returned to its previous silence.

The young girl remained rooted to the same spot, staring blankly toward the doorway through which Grey had disappeared.

Only after several long moments did she softly lower her head.

A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she whispered to herself,

"So... his name is Grey..."

---

After stepping outside, Grey instinctively swept his gaze across the crowded streets, searching for any sign of the captain.

Unfortunately, there was nothing.

It was as though she had disappeared into thin air.

Grey wasn’t particularly surprised by this.

By now, he had already grown accustomed to the captain’s strange habits.

She seemed capable of appearing and disappearing whenever she pleased, without leaving behind even the slightest trace.

After walking through another street, a slender figure quietly emerged beside him without making the slightest sound.

She walked shoulder to shoulder with him as though she had been there the entire time.

The figure possessed a graceful, slender waist and was dressed in flowing white robes that fluttered gently with each step.

Her long, snow-white hair flowed freely down her back without a single bang covering her forehead.

Her eyes were as blue as frozen ice, calm yet strangely distant.

Even her skin was pale as freshly fallen snow, giving her an almost unreal appearance.

The person walking beside him was naturally Violet.

Grey displayed no surprise whatsoever at her sudden appearance.

He merely cast her a brief glance before looking ahead once again.

The longer he spent around this captain, the more convinced he became that she was an extraordinarily strange person.

No...

She was even stranger than he had initially thought.

Before Grey could say a single word, Violet calmly spoke first.

"Who was that girl?"

Her icy blue eyes remained fixed ahead as though she were merely making casual conversation.

"She looked shocked... almost frightened when she saw you."

Only then did Grey notice that the apple she had been holding earlier had completely disappeared.

He hadn’t even noticed when she had finished eating it.

She had devoured the entire apple in an almost inhuman manner.

Grey answered Violet’s question with one of his own.

"Where did you go?"

His tone was calm, his expression as indifferent as ever, as though the answer held no particular importance to him.

When he had stepped out of the shop earlier, Violet had vanished without leaving so much as a word behind. He had no idea where she had disappeared to, nor had he cared enough to search for her.

As though delighted that Grey had finally asked, Violet’s lips curved into a gentle smile.

"I simply walked around to the side of the building and hid near one of the windows," she replied casually. "From there, I had a perfect view of the confrontation between you and that little girl."

She paused for a brief moment, recalling the scene.

Resting the fingers of her unbandaged hand against her chin, she continued thoughtfully.

"To be honest... she looked absolutely terrified the moment she laid eyes on you."

Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she turned to Grey.

"I’m rather curious. What exactly happened after I left you alone in the Dead Sea?"

Another second passed before something seemed to occur to her.

A mischievous smile slowly spread across her face.

"Or..." she began, deliberately dragging out the word, "did the two of you secretly elope during that short time and become lovers?"

Her expression became one of pure, innocent curiosity, as though she genuinely believed such an absurd possibility deserved serious consideration.

Grey fell silent.

He slowly turned his head to look at Violet, his face twitching ever so slightly.

For a long moment, he didn’t know what to say.

Eventually, only four words left his mouth.

"You’re completely brain-dead."

His voice remained perfectly flat, devoid of the slightest ripple of emotion.

Without waiting for a response, Grey continued walking forward as though nothing had happened.

However, Violet, who quickly matched his pace, couldn’t suppress the soft laughter escaping her lips. A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she covered her mouth, clearly amused by his reaction.

"Oh my..." she giggled. "Please don’t compliment me like that. You’re making me blush."

Grey didn’t even bother looking at her this time.

He had already reached a conclusion.

Something was fundamentally wrong with Captain Violet.

Whether it was the way her mind worked or simply her overall mental state, Grey could no longer tell.

Either way, he was convinced that she was not a normal person.