Chapter 874
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Chapter 874: The Giant Shadow of the Deep Sea
Two figures plunged straight down into the sea.
Lin Qiye extended his hand, tracing something in the water. Moments later, massive magic circles unfolded, and several sea creatures emerged in the water: a gigantic squid, a silver electric eel crackling with electricity, and a smaller but incredibly fast sea turtle…
These sea creatures floated in the deep water, each bowing slightly to Lin Qiye before dispersing in different directions.
Among the many caretakers at the Psychiatric Hospital of the Gods, there were plenty of “mysteries” capable of moving freely in the sea. In this environment, they possessed greater mobility than Lin Qiye himself, and having them assist in the search could significantly improve efficiency.
Lin Qiye waved at a lanternfish the size of a small boat, which immediately swam beneath him and Jialan, carrying their forms as it swiftly glided through the water.
The reason for choosing this lanternfish as Lin Qiye’s “mount” was that its faint glow could dispel the seawater, creating an environment indistinguishable from land, no matter how deep they descended.
The lanternfish’s pale yellow light dispelled the darkness of the deep sea, and Lin Qiye’s mental energy spread out, scanning the surrounding waters like a radar.
“It’s really deep down here.”
Jialan glanced down, seeing nothing but the nearly pitch-black water.
“This closed loop is much larger than I imagined,” Lin Qiye replied.
Last night, while riding the Nimbus Cloud in search of a way to leave, he discovered that the area covered by this time loop was vast. The fishing village occupied only one-thirtieth of it, with the rest being sea. However, he hadn’t dived into the depths at that time and was astonished to find how incredibly deep it was.
In the silent sea, the lanternfish carried the two of them, steadily sinking deeper…
At this moment, Jialan began to feel a bit flustered.
The lanternfish’s back was smooth and arched, and aside from the lantern that Lin Qiye held, there was no other place to stabilize herself. Jialan awkwardly stood on the lanternfish’s back, struggling to maintain her balance and prevent herself from falling. Her hands quietly reached out, as if wanting to wrap around Lin Qiye’s waist, but she felt shy, her cheeks flushed, and for a moment, she was at a loss.
Just then, Lin Qiye’s hand suddenly reached out, grasping Jialan’s slender wrist and wrapping it around his waist.
“Hold on tight, don’t fall off,” Lin Qiye’s voice came.
Feeling the warmth from his arm, Jialan froze for a moment, and the next second, her face turned as red as a burning cloud, reaching all the way to her ears.
“Ah? Oh… okay.”
She swallowed hard, her heart racing wildly. After hesitating for a moment, she mustered her courage and took a half step forward, burying her face against Lin Qiye’s back.
The two of them leaned against each other, riding the lanternfish as they weaved through the deep waters.
In the dim and eerily quiet environment, the only sounds left were their slightly heavy breathing, and the atmosphere grew increasingly delicate.
Jialan pressed against Lin Qiye’s back for a while, blinking her eyes.
“Qiye, your heartbeat is so fast.”
“You heard wrong.”
Lin Qiye, facing away from her, felt his cheeks warm and pretended to be calm as he spoke.
“Oh…”
Jialan stuck out her tongue.
Time passed second by second. Jialan pressed tightly against Lin Qiye’s back, her face flushed. Just as she was about to say something, Lin Qiye suddenly looked up, gazing into the distance.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s something over there.” A glimmer flashed in Lin Qiye’s eyes as he communicated with the lanternfish beneath them, urging it to speed toward that direction.
In the murky, dim depths of the sea, the pale yellow light rippled outward. As Lin Qiye and Jialan approached, the outline of a massive shadow at the bottom of the deep sea gradually became clearer.
“A mountain?” Jialan looked up at the indistinct giant peak in the shadow, surprised. “How can there be such a large mountain in the sea?”
“No, that’s not a mountain.”
Lin Qiye’s mental energy swept over the black peak, his expression grave. “That’s a corpse… the corpse of a giant beast.”
Jialan was taken aback and looked up carefully. As the lanternfish drew closer, she could gradually see the details of the giant shadow. Black scales, as large as a fishing boat, densely covered its surface like ancient, sharp blades. Even after being washed by the sea for countless years, there was no sign of decay.
Several sea creature caretakers swam around the giant shadow, communicating telepathically:
“What the hell is this thing?”
“Huh? How come you can still use human slang?”
“Oh, this is what Manager Li taught me; it rolls off the tongue pretty well.”
“…Isn’t this guy way too big? What level was it in life?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, I’ve never heard of such a thing existing. The strongest ‘mystery’ in our sea area was only about one-fifth its size.”
“How did such a creature end up dead here?”
“…”
Jialan couldn’t hear their conversation, but Lin Qiye understood them clearly. He frowned slightly and asked telepathically:
“Does the size of a sea creature relate to its level?”
“Pretty much,” the lanternfish replied. “The ‘mysteries’ in the sea are different from those on land. Generally speaking, the stronger the ‘mystery,’ the more terrifying its size. It’s a result of natural selection…”
“What about it? What level do you think it was?” Lin Qiye pointed to the giant beast’s corpse in the deep sea.
“It?” The lanternfish pondered for a moment. “I’ve never seen a ‘mystery’ of this size… Perhaps it has surpassed this level.”
Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying… this thing could be a god?”
“Possibly.”
Lin Qiye fell silent.
At the bottom of the sea surrounding the fishing village lay a corpse suspected to belong to a god-level sea beast… Could this be the reason for the existence of the time loop?
Lin Qiye rode the lanternfish, quickly circling the giant beast’s corpse. Even with his current level, spreading his mental energy completely, he couldn’t glimpse the entirety of the giant beast’s body…
Suddenly, Lin Qiye seemed to discover something, his pupils contracting sharply.
“What did you find?” Jialan asked, puzzled.
Lin Qiye rode the lanternfish to the front of the giant beast.
In the center of the beast’s fearsome face, a single eye was tightly shut. Below it, a deep gash about six or seven meters high was carved into its body, with broken bone fragments scattered around, resembling its teeth.
Lin Qiye extended his hand, pointing to the deepest part of the gash.
“Over there… there’s a living person.”
