Chapter 209 (1/2)

As a deep-sea creature, Nangong Wuyue possessed greater perception underwater. She sensed that something was amiss when the team dived closer to the bottom of the lake. The unusual magnetic field made her a little sick.

Hao Ren was not affected. But, he noticed Lil Pea behaving strangely as she swam beside him: she swayed slowly to one side, her body tilting as if she was drunk. She knew she was sober, but she was confused as she had to constantly adjust her posture. After much struggle, she finally corrected her swimming posture and clung to Hao Ren. She remained motionless and slightly terrified—her instinct was to seek shelter when she sensed something was not right.

“She may have talent in magnetic field navigation. The magnetic field down here is affecting her.” Nangong Wuyue tried to explain as she had also noticed Lil Pea’s strange behaviour. She was just trying keep Hao Ren at ease. “It’s okay. Magnetic fields of this level are not going to be harmful. It would only confuse a deep-sea creature’s sense of navigation. Anyway, just keep your eyes open. There could be something strange and unusual out there.”

Hao Ren nodded. He checked his armour charge before pulling behind Nangong Wuyue. Meanwhile, Y’zaks had summoned two balls of demonic fire in his hands. Vivian tried to summon her bats but realising that bats could not swim, she only had a layer of Blood Fog as protection, just in case. As she swam, she left behind a blood-like trail; Lily saw it and spoke without even thinking, “You’re having a heavy, gushing period…”

The two almost came to blows in the water.

The faint shadow became clearer. Hao Ren had roughly ascertained that he was almost at the bottom. He kept his eyes open while he continued to descend until the red vision came to an end. He was met with a vast area of black at the bottom of the lake.

Nothing was unusual there. The lake bottom was of solid ground, not of mud but of some black gravel and strips of strange, long slabs. Y’zaks summoned a few balls of inextinguishable flame, and visibility was greatly improved as a result. Hao Ren could see not far ahead, the lake bottom was gradually sloping upwards: it was probably be the base of the island.

“There’s a burning smell.” Lily frowned. “It’s strangely sour.”

Nangong Wuyue picked up a piece of slab with her tail, examining it curiously. “Looks like it’s man-made… See, one side is very smooth like it has been polished.”

More slabs were found as they looked further ahead, giving the impression that these were fragments blown up by an explosion in the middle of the lake. The first thing that came to Hao Ren’s mind was the light at the bottom of the lake during the night the Orb went missing two months ago. However, he quickly dismissed the possibility: it seemed like the slabs had been there for a very long time, and there were no signs of new impact. The fact that the slabs were covered in layers of aquatic, light-shy creatures meant they had been lying at the bottom of the lake since a long, long time ago.

Hao Ren took the stone from Nangong Wuyue and shoved it into the Dimensional Pocket. He had collected quite a lot of things during his few days in this world—mostly things he considered of value. “Let’s bring them back and study them when I’m free.”

The siren maiden nodded. Her long snake-tail was as agile as her arms, picking up slabs, and passing them all to Hao Ren. At the same time, she muttered, “I think I should’ve transformed into a squid…”

Holding Lil Pea in his arms, Hao Ren stared angrily at Nangong Wuyue. “Since the moment you shapeshifted into a sea snake, she has been playing with her tail for like half a day. Please don’t influence her with more weird knowledge while her worldview is still in its infancy. Okay?”

Nangong Wuyue twitched her mouth before wheeling around and moving on.

The exploration team searched around and finally found something suspicious in the stone field at the bottom of the lake.

Large pieces of gravel were rolled and tossed out, exposing the fresh deep-water mud. Lots of huge gullies were created probably due to the shockwave from the huge explosion not long ago.

Lily did not have to say it, Hao Ren could already smell the weird and unbearable stench spreading througout the lake. Although Nangong Wuyue’s special ability made everyone “water-resistant”, for the sake of exploration, they could still detect smell. Lil Pea wrinkled her nose in discomfort. She rubbed her face against Hao Ren’s sleeve and grunted. Seeing that, Nangong Wuyue created a pure-water bubble so that Lil Pea could stay inside.

“There’s strange debris in the water.” Vivian frowned as the stench also made her sick. She looked up and noticed the upward slope was so steep that it formed a conical shape. This meant they had reached the base of the island. As she looked around, suddenly a strange shadow appeared beside the conical island base. “Over there! Something big!”