Chapter 641: Graduation Trip |
"You're quite the eater."
Even when it came to food he enjoyed, Lin Ye wouldn't overindulge, because restraint was the foundation of true flavor.
"I don't have any memory of eating before, only that I seemed to taste something incredibly delicious."
Ayla stared at the pot, feeling an urge to take it away with her.
"That's probably the power of good food. If you like it, I can give you the recipe."
A tendril wrapped in biological epidermis climbed up the Cube. Lin Ye wrote the broth-making process on that piece of epidermis.
"...Why does this recipe look so similar to the process of making spiritual energy items?"
Ayla took the recipe and glanced at it.
"Because many techniques share the same principles. If you can't understand the essence of things, you can't create true cuisine."
"...Alright."
Ayla decided to seal this recipe in a spatial item, sparing her family's chefs, who couldn't produce true cuisine, from the trouble.
"That's probably the limitation of ordinary people."
Lin Ye sighed, and the tendrils joined in, letting out sighing sounds as well.
"Are we still staying here? Shouldn't we be leaving?"
Ayla actually enjoyed participating in various competitions, especially ones she could win.
"Haven't you noticed? We're no longer in our original position."
At Lin Ye's reminder, Ayla looked around and found that all the fishing enthusiasts had vanished, and no one else remained on the distant cubes either.
"What's going on? You didn't let those tendrils eat everyone, did you?"
Ayla didn't want to win that way.
"I'm not that extreme. Since the tendrils below stopped snatching the catches, those people were all teleported away."
After Lin Ye took control of the massive tendril monster below through his parasitic creatures, he let those people go.
Perhaps because of Lin Ye's actions, no more fishing enthusiasts were teleported to this area afterward.
"That's good. What are we doing now?"
Ayla didn't think Lin Ye would stay here this long without a reason.
"Through that tendril monster below, I discovered something interesting—this isn't a fishing competition at all."
Lin Ye had originally wanted to take a break through the fishing competition, but like Ayla, he didn't like losing either.
"Huh? Then what kind of competition is this?"
Ayla asked, somewhat surprised.
"This is a competition to dive deep into the sea. The goal is probably to see who can reach the deepest part of the ocean first. Fishing is just choosing which sea to dive into. If you keep fishing, you'll keep switching entry points until you die in some dangerous sea."
If not for the tendril monster knowing the inside story, Lin Ye wouldn't have thought of heading to the deep sea either, since there were no hints here at all.
"What? That's so treacherous? What do we do? I can't go too deep."
As a land creature, Ayla had a natural fear of the deep sea.
"It's fine. I've been preparing. The tendril monster below will take us diving into the deep sea."
As Lin Ye spoke, the Cube began to slowly sink. Countless pitch-black tendrils, blotting out the sky, reached upward, wrapping the Cube inside.
"...Is it too late to get off now?"
Ayla really didn't want to explore the deep sea. Other places were fine, but the deep sea was genuinely terrifying.
"You really don't want to go? Or are you habitually refusing?"
In the darkness, Lin Ye lightly tapped the tendril monster's body. A window made of transparent material appeared there, letting the faint light from outside into this lightless space.
Even in the deep sea, there was still a faint glimmer of light.
"Then let's just take a look... Actually, dying in the deepest part of the sea would be a pretty romantic way to go. Not unacceptable."
Ayla showed a bright smile. She pressed close to the window, looking outside with some excitement. Truth be told, she had never been to the deep sea, so naturally, she had never encountered its terrifying aspects.
Everyone knew the deep sea was a terrifying place, but if no one actually went there, wouldn't that terror be wasted?
"I'm not going to kill myself."
Lin Ye also looked out the window. He dared to enter the deep sea because he had his special ability. As long as he could adapt to the deep-sea environment, he could handle most problems.
Of course, if a group of deities were waiting down there, then he'd take back everything he just said.
The massive tendril monster, like a giant submarine, quickly dove toward the deepest part of the sea. Both Lin Ye and Ayla were spiritual energy users, so pressure changes didn't affect them.
"Wait, isn't there a building over there?"
Ayla suddenly spoke up.
"I see it. Want to go in and take a look? But it might be a trap set by the organizers. Feels like there's nothing good inside."
Lin Ye wasn't very interested in a building floating at this depth.
"That's what makes it feel like an adventure."
Ayla took out a raincoat from her spatial item. It was a high-level spiritual energy item.
"Uh, you want to go out?"
Under Lin Ye's control, the massive tendril monster swallowed the building and, through squirming and squeezing, moved it close to the Cube.
"...I don't necessarily have to go out."
Ayla put away the raincoat and cautiously approached the building.
The building's large door opened automatically, and several terrifying-looking monsters ran out, lining up on both sides of the entrance to welcome Miss Ayla inside.
"No need to be so careful. Before it came in, I had already dealt with everything inside."
Lin Ye didn't even bother getting up. There was no way he'd let an unknown building get that close.
Ayla looked speechlessly at a slime monster offering her a torch, its fuel being the monster's own slime.
"This isn't an adventure."
Ayla returned to the window. Staying by Lin Ye's side gave her a sense of safety, like being back home.
"We haven't reached the dangerous part yet. If you're tired, you can sleep for a while. I'll wake you when we get there."
Lin Ye continuously expanded his Parasitism Network outward. He had his special ability, but that was only a safety net—best if he never had to use it.
"Are you my classmate on a school trip with me?"
Ayla was afraid she might just sleep through until the competition ended.
"Your school takes trips? I only ever went to the movies with my whole class back in elementary school."
Lin Ye said, somewhat nostalgically.
By the way, he didn't like the movie they showed back then, and the tickets were pretty expensive too.
"Then let's make this a two-person graduation trip. I happen to be graduating soon."
Ayla leaned by the window, watching the scenery outside like she was riding in a car.
"That works."
Some tendrils crawled over, setting up a table between them and laying out all kinds of food on it.