Chapter 226
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Chapter 226: Title
Ye Linlang had been buried under mountains of work for three straight days, relying on her lightning-fast cognitive processing just to keep up. For ordinary people, this workload would have required at least half a month to clear.
She collapsed dramatically into her seat. "System, is everything sorted now?"
【All post-departure matters have been resolved.】
The response gave Ye Linlang an ominous twinge. Her expression darkened. "What’s this ‘post-departure’ business? Stop speaking in riddles."
【Regarding the three days following your return…】
Ye Linlang’s eye twitched as she surveyed the newly materialized document stack beside her. At least this batch seemed manageable – a few hours’ work at most. But tackling it now was out of the question. Since none required immediate attention, her current priority became crystal clear.
Without even bidding farewell to the system, she blinked out of the digital space and materialized on a sun-drenched beach.
"Perfect vacation weather," she declared, snapping her fingers. A reclining chair and umbrella popped into existence. She draped herself across the furniture like liquid, conjuring sunglasses with a magician’s flourish.
The scene around her contrasted sharply with her crisp white shirt and tailored black pants – business formal amidst a sea of swimsuits and board shorts. Another snap brought a frosty beverage into her palm, condensation already beading on the glass.
The sunlight seemed to dim respectfully around her presence. Salt-tinged breezes coaxed her toward slumber. Ye Linlang strictly compartmentalized her life – urgent tasks handled promptly, but work never encroached on designated rest periods.
This was Qionghai City in Zhongxia, where turquoise waves kissed sugar-white sands along the thriving coastline. Twenty-degree perfection. She settled the sunhat over her face, preparing to nap. No deity suffered such indignities – endless bureaucratic drudgery coupled with identity restrictions during downtime.
Blame fell on Ye Er’s shoulders. With her former identity occupied, maintaining separate appearances became necessary. This current visage was one of many disposable aliases, interchangeable until authorities took notice.
Just as sleep’s tendrils embraced her, a thunderous boom shattered the peace. Ye Linlang jolted upright, vacation curse confirmed once more. The beach became chaos – screaming tourists stampeding inland as the ground shuddered.
She remained statuesque, analyzing the tremor rippling through her chair. Seismic origin: oceanic. Magnitude: 6.5-7.0.
"Status report," she demanded, squinting at the horizon’s blur. "What’s causing this?"
【Sea monster activation.】
"Already?" Memory files unscrolled. Of course – humanity’s maritime legends given flesh during the Age of Sail. She’d personally coded those mythic horrors, quaint when palm-sized but nightmare-inducing at scale.
【Your warning protocols have been tripped.】
Well, once again, humanity’s own recklessness had stirred trouble. Did this mean her vacation would be cut short again? Ye Linlang’s expression darkened as she resolved that when Blue Star reached Tier Fourteen, she’d finally pursue her true passions.
Though by then, she mused, there’d likely be nothing left on Blue Star requiring her intervention.
Nothing could escape Ye Linlang’s perception across the planet. While methods existed to obscure celestial mechanisms and deceive cosmic laws, concealing anything from her living awareness remained impossible.
This sea monster’s emergence, after all, formed part of her carefully orchestrated design.
A luminous screen materialized before her, unraveling the seismic event’s intricate origins.
…
Lin Fan had been an ordinary student from a second-tier university before the Awakening of Spiritual Energy granted him limited underwater respiration – constrained by both duration and depth.
Initially, this three-meter diving capacity seemed utterly mediocre. Though useless for grand endeavors, it secured him employment as a swimming pool lifeguard.
Eighteen months into the spiritual resurgence, his perseverance bore fruit.
Despite his power’s apparent mundanity, Lin Fan’s relentless cultivation ethic shone through. He balanced Taoist practices with honing his Awakened Powers, achieving mid-tier one status – a formidable accomplishment on contemporary Blue Star.
His aquatic abilities evolved remarkably: three hundred-meter dives became feasible, sustained for days through combined use of his Breathing Technique and Awakened Powers.
Power often corrupts, and true restraint proves rare. Fortunately, Lin Fan’s initial limitations prevented legal transgressions during the Awakening’s chaotic dawn.
Early lawbreakers – those who’d assumed their powers placed them above consequence – faced harsh government crackdowns. Public executions and imprisonments served as sobering deterrents to Practitioners and extraordinary individuals alike.
With combat abilities absent and illicit paths closed, Lin Fan turned his attention to submerged treasures.
While ordinary people struggled with scuba gear and depth limitations, he navigated the underwater world with terrestrial ease.
Ancient shipwrecks littered the ocean floor – Western exploration vessels and Zhongxia’s Ming Dynasty treasure ships alike. Time might have claimed delicate goods, but porcelain and precious metals likely endured.
The challenge lay in locating these relics. Charting courses from historic ports, Lin Fan began his maritime search.
Fortune favored him remarkably. Mere kilometers from shore in a rented dinghy, his three hundred-meter dive revealed astonishing discoveries.
Unaware he’d drifted into peculiar waters, Lin Fan’s heart surged when the shipwreck materialized through the gloom.
He approached eagerly, only to freeze before the leviathan’s scale. Floating in seawater sheathed in Spiritual Energy, even his enhanced vision struggled to comprehend the colossus stretching beyond hundred-meter estimations.
The fleeting wonder of why such a wreck remained undiscovered dissolved before potential riches. Perhaps fate itself guided him here.
…
"Remarkable luck indeed."
Ye Linlang’s lips curved knowingly, as though privy to the diver’s thoughts within the sunken vessel.
Had she not known better, Lin Fan’s post-Awakening journey might have been mistaken for protagonist favoritism in some million-word fantasy epic.
She skimmed his life experience with disinterest. The recent tremors stemmed from his secret realm intrusion – catastrophic beyond the realm’s boundaries, yet unnoticed by the oblivious diver.
This underwater quake’s 8.5-9 magnitude epicenter, though dozens of kilometers offshore, already drew seawater away from Qionghai City’s beaches. The impending tsunami would ravage coastal regions across the South China Sea.
Current serenity deceived – this seismic event merely heralded greater upheavals in her designs.
The Special Bureau’s impending crisis concerned her little. Her gaze lingered on the screen where Lin Fan now explored the wreck’s surface.
Whether she observed or departed mattered not – "history’s" trajectory remained immutable.
"System, monitor Lin Fan’s movements. The sea monster’s debut warrants proper theatricality." She stroked her chin, already resigning to her interrupted vacation.
Relocation remained possible, but perhaps concluding this respite proved simpler. Future opportunities would arise. As Ye Linlang vanished from the shore, tsunami-born tremors began reverberating across Blue Star.
