Authorâs Note: Starting from this chapter, thereâll be situations where the sea monsters and humans will talk at the same time. In order to clarify and separate the two, infrasonic wave communication will useăă, while regular talking will use ââ.
Splash!
A large fish bounced out of the water, flopping with its stomach upturned due to the electricity. Li Shao snatched it up and quickly sliced off its head with a metal can that served as a makeshift knife. Under the instructions of the captain, Li Shao slashed at the fishâs back; there was a small supply of fresh water stored in a fishâs spinal column, however, it was just barely enough to moisten oneâs throat.
The chief mate had died last night, and his body was pushed into the ocean. Frankly, by now, the ability wielders were struggling just as much as the normal human beings. A-Min was the first to fall; her tanned cheeks were covered in sweat and her pupils were beginning to dilate. Perhaps she would never get to see tomorrowâs sunrise.
As dusk approached, the ocean grew dark. The people sat silently, hopelessly reminiscing about the past and the possible future.
A steady wind had been blowing for the past three days, but nobody rowed. They allowed the lifeboats to be pushed towards the west by the gusts.
After so many days at sea, they were probably far from the Babuyan Islands that the captain had spoken of. Except, the most eerie thing was the fact that there should be plenty of islands in this region of the Pacificsâ yet they hadnât seen a single one.
âIf we headed towards the wrong direction, then where could we be?â An Liâs raspy voice sounded like sandpaper scratching on glass.
âIf we headed east, then weâd be met with endless shorelines. The south would be island clusters, and there may be some small islands sprinkled around the north. But if we continue heading westâŠâ The captainâs bloodshot and sunken eyes lit up with newfound hope. âAs long as the winds donât change, we may be reaching the Mariana Islands! Itâs a paradise there, with an abundance of birds and animals!â Excited as he was, the captain accidentally choked halfway through his speech, which led to a coughing fit.
His words sparked a shred of light in the eyes of the silent crowd.
âMariana Islands⊠Why does that name sound so familiar?â Li Shao murmured hoarsely.
The passengers that were on the same lifeboat as him were slightly better off than the others. At the very least, they had a sip of water twice a day â as well as some food â while the rest of the lifeboats had all gone silent by now. There was even one where its passengers hadnât stirred for a whole day. No one knew if those people were still alive. Only four of the ten lifeboats that had followed them off the Thalassa Goddess remained around them, and excluding the ones that were lost on the first day, the missing lifeboats were the result of every single one of their passengers dying.
Out of the eighty-or-so survivors thatâd left the Thalassa Goddess , only about twenty remained.
âThe Mariana Islands are very big, and about half of them are inhabited by people. There is fresh waterâŠâ
Before the captain could finish speaking, Li Shao interrupted him, âYouâre bullshitting me! I remember nowâ isnât âMarianaâ the trench?! Back in the day⊠I had to memorise a whole damn list of the âdeepest lake, largest ocean, highest ocean, and the deepest point on Earthâ!â
ââŠThe trench is very long, and the island cluster around it is also called âMarianaâ.â The captain didnât even have the energy to argue with Li Shao. Young men⊠so energetic. He still has the spirit to think about these things.
âWould it be dangerous?â An Li had been disappointed so many times that, by now, the worst thing possible was mere death.
âDanger? Miss An⊠do you mean cannibalistic tribes? Or an island full of prehistoric dinosaurs?â The corners of the captainâs mouth twitched up weakly. Due to the red rashes and peeling skin on his face, his expression was inexplicably eerie. âThis isnât the âAge of Explorationâ anymore. Other than certain areas in Africa, you wouldnât find anything like the Pirates of the Caribbean. Even the infamous piracy in the Strait of Malacca has been toned down in recent yearsâŠâ
âReally?â An Li suddenly realised that if all machines had become useless, then humanityâs only resolution was to return to the Age of Exploration.
The captain, obviously having no idea of An Liâs thoughts, continued, âOf course, even some of the biggest islands among the Mariana Islands are only inhabited by a few thousand people. Under current predicaments, itâs difficult to say how many of them are still alive. Take the Thalassa Goddess as an exampleâ we set sail with a ship of about two thousand people! If there are many ability wielders there, we could sail around them once we spot the islands from far away. From there, we can turn towards the smaller, uninhabited islands.â
There were no objections to the captainâs suggestions, for they mightâve been the only solution.
In the ocean, far, far away from An Li and her group.
The silver-scaled merman suddenly paused its movements and looked around as if it was searching for something. Xia Yi was incredibly dizzy from the mermanâs rapid swimming earlier, and when he finally came to his senses, he tried to struggle out of Sirenâs arms.
ăMmm⊠I like you. Come to Challenger Deep with me!ă
Xia Yi didnât understand the noun, but it sounded like the name of some place.
ăThe water there is different from here. It is very calm, very pretty, and has many twisting and turning pathways. There are plenty of little things that sparkle and glow. It is Cetoâs favourite place to stroll around and my favorite place to sleep.ă
Siren continued with describing the place called âChallenger Deepâ while the oarfishâs voice sounded dully from a distance away.
ăSiren, wait for me.ă
Ceto was swimming with its body wrapped around the giant crab. Though itâd bound the crab tightly (because of the many times the oarfish had wrapped itself around it), this newest burden basically prevented the oarfish from swimming with any speed or balance. As it bounced up and down in the waves, Ceto was still blaming its companion.
ăWhat good does being so heavy do you? I canât even swim!ă
ăI didnât even, gululu, call you out for your terrible skills! The squid brought me here all the way from Antarctica and it didnât complain even once! Look at your poor excuse of âspeedâ and total absence of steadiness! Iâm about to throw up the marlins I ate for lunch!ă
ăHah?! You bastard! If itâs so good, then go find that giant squid!ă
ăHumph! Will do! EurybiaââăThe giant crab changed the hertz in its infrasonic waves so that it could travel further at a lower frequency.ăCome pick me up!ă
After a while, an echoing infrasonic wave came from somewhere far up front.
ăCrawl yourself, Iâve been cooked from the heat!ă
ăâŠâŠă
ăHahahahahaâăThe oarfish, pleased with the result, continued to twist and bounce like an underwater rollercoaster.
The huge bump in the middle of its body was the poor crab. Looking at the course of Cetoâs swim, it definitely ranged from the surface of the ocean to a sudden drop of tens of meters. In the midst of that, there were also 360° spins, gradual ascends, and landslides. When the oarfish passed Siren on the way, Xia Yiâs eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
Wait⊠Maybe he should be expressing some anger towards his situation?
Xia Yi, under his occasional outburst of emotions, first stared at Siren, and then at the rolling oarfish. He then realised that he had no way to talk to these non-humans; even if he could find the right words, they wouldnât understand him.
As they travelled further away from the shore, Xia Yi was beginning to panic despite the merman staying within ten meters of the surface.
What was in the ocean? Ok, other than these sea monsters, sharks and whales, and even the marlin they ate for lunch could flip a small boat with their speed and strength. Although he had this special ability, just how dangerous would it be for him when he entered into the vast ocean unprepared like this?
Sirenâs purple eyes were focused in one direction as it took a deep breath.
ăWhat an alluring scent.ă
Without letting go of Xia Yi, the merman changed its trajectory and once again began to swim.
If someone could see the birdâs-eye view of where Siren was going, theyâd discover that the merman was heading straight for An Liâs lifeboats.
Those peopleâs devastation, fear, and boiling intense emotions, such as the urge to turn against each other for food, had lured a creature that pursued darkness.
An Li engulfed the fish in flames, her colourless face tense as she dared not relax for a second. She was extremely tired, but they couldnât eat a completely raw fish. Anyhow, it wasnât as if they still cared about the quality of their food. So long as the fish wasnât raw or burnt, it was good enough.
âWeâre lucky today⊠thereâs a lot of fish here,â Li Shao mumbled as he gutted the remaining fish and covered them with a recycled wrapper. They had to finish all of these by noon tomorrow or else these fish would go bad, and eating spoiled fish would probably kill them quicker.
âIf only we could tie several live fish together with a rope and then string them behind our boat. That way, we could âraiseâ them in the ocean and use them as food stock.â
The young girl who caught the fish with her electricity ability was named Na Lin. She was also an artist under Xing Hua Entertainment <sup>1</sup> In chapter 3, the company was named Chao Hua Entertainment; perhaps the author had forgotten about this, or made a mistake , but she was even less famous than Xia Yi. Na Lin had no assistant and the majority of her job was spent acting as a background dancer for other major celebrities. Though sheâd released a solo last year, the results were plain; Na Lin was amongst the artists that had potential and were signed by the company at a cheap cost. Though she had yet to become famous, Na Lin had the looks, talent, and skills. Knowing when and how to speak, she wasnât a brainless idiot. All she needed was an opportunity. Girls like her who had dreams yet no background were willing to do anything. Her goal while on board of the Thalassa Goddess was to find that opportunity. When the catastrophe struck, she didnât scramble to find food. Instead, she hid and later squeezed herself onto the ability wieldersâ lifeboat through knowing An Li.
In a team, you always had to prove your purpose and convince the others that you were a necessary asset.
Na Lin had successfully achieved that. Sheâd never thought highly of Li Shao, but she knew that offending others was always the worst solution to choose. Throughout their voyage, sheâd kept silent. Now, upon hearing Li Shaoâs foolish words, she rolled her eyes towards the sky and muttered, âYou might as well ask me to catch a shark and string a rope through its gills. You can then tie it to the boat and we can travel faster that way!â
âYeah, thatâs a great idea!â Li Shao looked up, clearly excited.
An Li finally couldnât take his stupidity any longer and kicked him hard. âShut up!â
âAn-Jie?â Li Shao shrunk back in confusion.
âEven if you had ropes that were strong enough to hold a shark by its gills, where are you going to tie the other side to? Your nose? Thatâs not the lifeboat going faster, thatâs you getting pulled underwater to be the sharkâs lunch! And stop with the daydreaming of raising fishes in the water behind our boat. Donât you know how strong fish can be in the ocean?! Is your ability brainwashing now? Or did it suddenly morph into directing brain waves? Could you control the fish to swim where you wanted them to go? Weâre already lost, so stop giving us more trouble!â
Li Shao didnât make a sound as the rest of the group hungrily took in the aroma of grilled fish.
They didnât know that beneath the waves, a ginormous shadow was nearingâŠ
ăAbyss, Iâve lost three of my big-eyed emperor fish. Have you seen them?ă
ăThe ones that went out as bait for your hunting have yet to come back?ă
ăYeah, exactly. Iâm full already, but three of my pets didnât come back!ăThe Lionâs Mane Jellyfish floated in the water; its vibrant appearance wasnât the result of refracting lightsâ rather, it was born like this. Jellyfishes that lived in the deep sea mostly shared this characteristic, and they illuminated a large area around them. As Nereusâs many tentacles swayed to the waves, the big-eyed emperor fish that swam amongst them seemed like they were traversing through a dense and dangerous jungle.
Nereus turned its body over in frustration.
Its little treasures knew how to follow its infrasonic waves back, so they couldnât have gotten lost.
Above the surface, An Li froze for a moment before clutching her head with a painful expression.
âAn-Jie? Whatâs wrong⊠Ah!â The second person to double over in pain was Li Shao.
One by one, everyone else, to various extents, felt a needle-like sensation pierce through their eardrums and vibrate in their brains. The captain, looking around in blatant confusion, was the only one who didnât feel anything.
Tens of meters underwater, infrasonic waves continued to be emitted.
ăIâve called many times, but they havenât come back! Tell me, Abyss, did you chomp up my treasures just because you were hungry?!ă
ăNo way! I wouldnât even feel humans on my teeth, much less your little fishies⊠Humph!ăThe blue-ringed octopus spurted a sprout of water in disdain and turned to leave.
ăDidnât you say that you donât have teeth?!ă
Nereus was furious. With a splash, countless stinger-covered tentacles lashed out, and like a net, they descended from above the octopus. Obviously, Abyss wouldnât let the jellyfish win like this. Thus, it also spread open its eight tentacles to roughly slap away its wannabe capturer. The two wrestled back and forth, stirring up giant waves above the sea. The lifeboats that were caught in the middle were mercilessly tossed, their passengers terrified without even knowing what they were terrified by.
ăYou! Itâs definitely you!ă
ăNereus, are you mad?! I said it has nothing to do with me!ă
Even though Nereus was larger in size, it was much lighter in weight. As such, the octopus could slam the jellyfish away with a hard flick of its tentacles. Despite it becoming dizzy from all the octopus-induced spinning around, Nereus still wouldnât give up. Its venomous stingers reached out and jabbed themselves into Abyss.
ăOw! That hurts!! Youâre not the only one thatâs venomous, Nereus! Iâm telling you, my venom is over ten times stronger than yours! Donât make me!ă
The octopus indicated that there was an extent to its endurance and patience.
But the jellyfish showed no fear as it retaliated even harsher.
ăCome on then! Your venom will at most leave me with cramps! Like Iâll be scared of you!ă
Blue-ringed octopuses possessed a potent neurotoxin that was fatal to any organism with a nervous system. However, despite having a nervous system, jellyfishes didnât have a brain for that system to connect back to. This meant that Nereus was very dumbâ wait, what? Anyways , what was meant to be said was that the destruction of oneâs nervous system was deadly to all higher-level creatures because the venom would destroy communication between the brain and the nerves, resulting in the victim being unable to move or control any part of their body, thus dying from asphyxiation. But in Nereusâs case⊠jellyfishes had too simple of a composition =___=
In a raging fit, Abyss spurted a jet of water as two of its tentacles slashed hard, whipping Nereusâs giant body up into the air along with a wave of water.
âAhhhhhââ
Hmm? Was that a human scream?
1
In chapter 3, the company was named Chao Hua Entertainment; perhaps the author had forgotten about this, or made a mistake