The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

Chapter 128 Detective Leo

[Peek-a-boo: Your eyes finally know where to look. Current effect: You can detect faint clues in complex environments and have a low probability of discovering hidden objects.]

The ocean unfolds before Leo from a new perspective, "as a clue"—

He saw translucent, winding streaks of light on the rock face.

"I saw rings of water pressure patterns inside the cave, like fingerprints."

I saw patches of uniform, dark sediment deep within the cracks in the rocks.

I also saw tiny plum blossoms peeking through extremely narrow crevices in the rocks.

There are too many clues in the ocean, and they certainly don't point to just one kind of creature: sea urchin.

Passing by a bottomless pit, the clues in the darkness became denser and the patterns more intricate, and a hypothesis formed in Leo's mind—

Could these clues point not only to living things, but also to something else?

There's no hidden stash of money in plastic buckets underwater, but there's no shortage of wealth here.

This hypothesis flashed through Leo's mind, but then the "new pistol" appeared.

The underwater clues came flooding in, seemingly without any discernible pattern, but this was no challenge for our great detective, Leo.

Summarizing patterns from a jumble of clues is exactly what Leo excels at and enjoys doing.

He discovered the route to his solo voyage by investigating seemingly unrelated details.

The great detective quickly devised an investigation plan. To find the suspect, the sea urchin, from the complex clues, he first needed to categorize the clues and then slowly figure out which ones were left by the sea urchin.

Don't rush, the investigation isn't over yet.

The final step is to observe the patterns in the clues and write a "Sea Urchin Investigation Report".

Because the [Gaze of the Microcosm] cannot be activated for too long... Leo will still have to find it himself in the future.

After diving around underwater to get a general understanding of the terrain and sea conditions in the area, and confirming that there was no danger, Leo surfaced to get some air.

Among the various clues underwater, the "winding light trails" were the most numerous and densest, making them Leo's first subject of investigation.

However, before the formal investigation, the great detective had already made some judgments and guesses about this.

Among the known clues, these "winding light trails" are the most numerous and densest, and since the sea is full of fish, these "winding light trails" are highly likely to have been left by fish.

However, this guess still needs to be verified.

After taking a deep breath, Leo plunged into the sea and swam toward what he remembered as a densely packed area of ​​winding, shimmering light.

Upon arriving at the reef covered with winding trails of light, Leo activated his Microscopic Eyes to observe the shapes of these trails.

They are interwoven in a net-like pattern, with old and new layers overlapping.

Leo took off his cut-resistant gloves and touched the brightest and deepest part of the "light mark," finding that it felt no different from the rest of the area, with no obvious abnormalities.

At this moment, a faint feeling of dizziness appeared, and Leo immediately turned off [Microscopic Eyes].

This is the ocean; no risky actions are permitted. If you feel unwell, you must immediately shut down the area.

However, disabling the skill does not mean the investigation is over.

Detective Leo carefully examined the rock face, going up to catch his breath two or three times in the process, and finally found an excellent experimental site.

It was an extremely deep, horizontal, honeycomb-shaped pit, bottomless, but not wide in diameter, about the size of a palm.

With the skill usage interval long enough, he activated [Microscopic Vision] again and quickly memorized the trajectory of the light trail along the outer edge of the pit.

Then, he turned off the skill, inserted the long shovel used to pry open the sea urchin into it and stirred it wildly, while using his other hand to vigorously pound on the rock wall.

During the day, fish like to hide in places away from the light. From the outside, it looks like a rocky reef riddled with holes, but the holes and crevices connect to hidden interlayers and secret caves, and the space inside is quite large.

Soon after, five or six small fish of various sizes swam out of the pit.

Leo's goal this time wasn't fishing, but investigation, so he didn't catch a single fish.

The cave entrance quieted down, and he opened the Microscopic Eyes again, discovering that the light trails at the outer edge of the pit had indeed changed!

There are some new marks, and some places have become brighter.

Now the great detective can begin writing his investigation report on this part.

"The 'winding trails of light' are the footprints left by fish. Their skin secretes a water-soluble mucus that is invisible to the naked eye and feels normal to the touch, but can be detected by the 'microscopic eye' in a secluded environment."

To ensure the rigor of the investigation, Leo went to several other locations to conduct experiments and collect samples, and in addition to the above findings, he summarized several new patterns—

The thickness of the light trail can be used to determine the size of the fish;

The brightness of the light trail can be used to determine how long the fish has been there; a bright trail indicates that the fish has not been there for long.

Although the target of this hunt was sea urchins, these discoveries are very important.

The seas that Leo will be venturing into in the future will definitely become more and more complex, and the danger level will increase dramatically.

If Leo finds the footprints of a large fish nearby, he can prepare in advance or evacuate immediately, which could save his life.

Leo activated [Microscopic Eyes] once again. Although there were still countless clues in front of him, he automatically clicked to hide the most numerous winding light traces.

The area in front of me is much cleaner now.

After observing for a while, Leo swam toward an area covered with water pressure patterns resembling fingerprints, which was his second target for investigation.

"Sea urchin! Let's see where you can hide now!"

"You're here to see Leo too?"

"Leo went back to his hometown as soon as he returned to Malzamemi," but there were many people in the village who wanted to find him.

First, Orlando came to him to reconnect.

Later, after having lunch with his mother, Bianchi came to the shipyard to train Leo.

Later, Aurelio also came over and said he wanted to talk to Leo.

Around 2 PM, the fourth customer appeared... it was Salvi from the tobacco shop.

"Isn't Leo inside?" Salvi asked the three people sitting by the door.

Orlando replied enthusiastically, "He went to the sea and hasn't come back yet."

Salvi asked Orlando, "Did Leo go fishing?"

Orlando shook his head: "It doesn't seem so. I heard they went to find sea urchins."

"Looking for sea urchins?" Salvi raised his voice. "We're fishing perfectly fine, why would we need sea urchins?"

Because Leo was in the newspaper, all the unsold newspapers sold out today.

Salvi came over to ask Leo if there were any plans to be in the newspaper again so the two of them could make a profit together!

"Leo has learned how to find sea urchins and wants to try it out." Bianchi looked into the distance. "He should be back soon."

Bianchi didn't know which sea area Leo had gone to, otherwise he would have chased after him.

Aurelio shifted to the side, squeezing out space, and asked Salvi, "Want some?"

Salvi sat down and joined them: "If it's just a trial, it shouldn't take much time. I'll wait for him."

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