Alexander naturally didn't notice Jin Jianshu's little thoughts; his brain had already entered a rapid processing mode. Since childhood, he had deliberately trained his mind, making him very adept at logical reasoning. Alexander's mind was constantly summarizing and synthesizing information, drawing several relatively vague conclusions.

("Dagon Cult," "recent kidnappings nearby," "possible mastermind behind the scenes," "Annan's whereabouts"...)

By organizing all the information, he came up with about five or six general conclusions. By eliminating the weaker and less likely information, he arrived at an answer...

"Bingo, found it! Come and take a look here..."

The young black man jumped excitedly from the sofa and brought his laptop over to the mahogany table.

"Right here, seven years ago, Brazilian millionaire Dupuis disappeared near Annie Cape. He was wearing a casual jacket and a plaid tie, carrying a gold-plated pen and a limited edition Tituba watch..."

The information he found was from an old newspaper clipping, a missing person notice.

"It's clearly marked here. The watch was pre-ordered by the millionaire, and his initials were engraved on the back..."

Everyone then realized and immediately turned the watch over, indeed finding the initials on the back.

"This millionaire was probably murdered, and his watch ended up in the hands of that person we just saw..."

"Not necessarily; it could have been picked up by someone after the millionaire disappeared."

The group started discussing it but couldn't reach a consensus.

Alexander ignored them and continued to ask, "Could you check how millionaire Dupuis came here, and what he was doing?"

"This isn't mentioned in the newspaper. All we know is that he was en route to Plum Island for a vacation by boat, but it also mentions he once traveled through the Manuset River mouth by ship..."

"Does the town have any operating boat services?"

"There were several in the past, but the port was repeatedly shut down by the government, leaving just some fishermen and a small cargo terminal. A few boats travel to Newburyport, Arkham, and Boston..."

Janet suddenly spoke up: "This was my cousin Annan’s hometown. I visited here when I was young."

"Small cargo terminal, what kind of goods do they transport..."

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"Fresh fish or seafood, I suppose. You’d have to ask the locals here."

Janet shrugged, indicating she knew very little.

Alexander sat back on a chair, rubbing his temples to sort out his thoughts, feeling there were still things unclear.

"I have a rough understanding now. By using elimination, I can infer some clues. Now, it depends on the situation on Xu Lin’s side."

To advance the storyline in their game, they needed to progress the main plot and understand the development trends ahead of time. Everything before the next scene unfolds is unknown, and they can only rely on themselves to find clues.

Every seemingly insignificant clue often represents a hidden lifeline beneath the surface.

...

Xu Lin stepped out of the dense, foggy cedar forest, approaching the legendary Marsh Refinery ruins.

These ruins have a long history and remain today. Xu Lin’s sharp gaze scanned the soot-covered, crumbling structures lurking in the shadows, his eyes flashing with a sharp glint.

"Madara drove here in the middle of the night; something must be up!"

He had followed Dr. Madara from the Vitt family from the town hospital, taking a long detour to finally reach this charred refinery.

—In the original "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," the Marsh family built this shell factory to cover up the gold obtained from the deep ones of the underwater city Y’ha-nthlei beneath Devil Reef.

"Annan went missing here. Could it be that the Dagon cult is using this place as a base?"

The towering spire within the ruins glowed faintly in the dark, while tendrils of mist drifted around. In such a night setting, anyone would shiver, slowing their steps until they halted.

But Xu Lin strode forward without hesitation.

The ruins were strewn with charred debris, some wooden, others remnants of walls and roofs. He crossed the yellow police tape encircling the area and wandered through the interior of the damaged buildings.

Suddenly, from within the mist came a series of guttural, chilling murmurs, accompanied by a rancid, fishy stench wafting from afar—a dreadfully repugnant odor.

Xu Lin stopped, listening intently as the whisper-like sound vanished, returning the world to silent stillness.

"Was it an auditory illusion?" Despite his keen hearing, Xu Lin couldn’t help but question if he was too anxious, leading to hallucinations in this quiet night.

Just as he began to doubt himself, the flame emblem on his left hand pulsed as if igniting with every heartbeat.

It was a warning sign. He grew alert, scanning the misty surroundings, suddenly noticing strange shadows moving within the fog.

There were quite a few of them. So Madara set this bait to lure me into a trap.

Those lurking "things" in the night mist growled like beasts, the fishy stench worsening his anxiety.

Time to break out...

Xu Lin sprang into action, leaping with the agility of a superhuman, bouncing off a low wall, and racing towards the edge of the ruins.

Beastly clashes and roars echoed, followed by the patter of footsteps.

He vaulted over the outer wall, as nimble as the wind, speeding towards the arbor forest, pursued by a throng of shadows.

"Come forth, Sacrificial Blade!"

Xu Lin shouted, drawing a weapon from the void with his right hand—a medieval flail-like object.

However, the head of the flail was half-composed of a skull, covered in dark red spikes.

"Clang!"

The black chain jingled in the air as Xu Lin hurled the iron ball, smashing heavily into a nearby shadow, the creature's bones cracking under the massive force, throwing it to the ground.

Without stopping, Xu Lin gripped the chain in both hands, swinging it in a circle. In an instant, the skull flail ignited with azure flames, sweeping through the air, crashing into several attacking shadows.

As the numerous shadows caught fire, they howled in agony, the flames clinging to their bodies, consuming their half-human, half-fish grotesque forms.

"Capture him..."

Commands rang from afar, urging the other deep one hybrids to swarm towards him.