Chapter 304: The Abandoned Underwater City |
Pula said, "Master, it says that as long as you hold this in your mouth, you can breathe underwater."
"Brother, holding this in your mouth lets you breathe in the sea? Isn't that a bit unbelievable? Should I give it a try?" Qin Ziwu looked rather skeptical.
"Your ulterior motive is way too obvious." Qin Ziwen shot him a sidelong glance.
Qin Ziwu chuckled sheepishly upon hearing this.
"Go ahead and try it." Qin Ziwen tossed the Spirit Jade Coral to Qin Ziwu.
"You're really giving it to me?" Qin Ziwu was pleasantly surprised.
Qin Ziwen said nonchalantly, "You'd better wipe it off before using it. Who knows how many mouths this coral has been in."
Hearing his elder brother's words, Qin Ziwu's expression stiffened. He suddenly felt the coral in his hand smelled... funky.
In the end, Qin Ziwu found a rag and scrubbed the coral repeatedly. He placed one end in his mouth and sank into the sea.
He ran to Qin Ziwen's side and quickly reported, "Brother, with this coral in your mouth, if you breathe through your mouth, it really feels just like breathing on land. Maybe even better. I feel like it's actually sweeter and fresher than the air on land, with a cool, soothing sensation in the throat."
"However, there's also a problem. Once it's in your mouth, you can't speak underwater. If I try to talk, water gets into my mouth. Also, having something stuffed in your mouth is still a bit uncomfortable. Holding it for a long time makes your jaw a little sore..." Qin Ziwu felt it was somewhat strange.
"Any other drawbacks?" Qin Ziwen asked.
Qin Ziwu pondered thoughtfully. "Drawbacks? Let me think."
After thinking for a moment, he clapped his hands. "I remember! After going underwater, you can only breathe through your mouth, not your nose. If you try to breathe through your nose, you'll choke on water too."
Qin Ziwen said to Pula, "Did you hear that? Repeat these drawbacks and relay them to them. I need more sincerity. Do they expect me to go into the sea alone? For this kind of coral, provide me with 99 more."
Hearing his elder brother's words, Qin Ziwu's mouth twitched slightly. He leaned close to his brother's ear and whispered, "Brother, aren't we being a bit too much? I feel the other party is still quite sincere."
Qin Ziwen nodded deeply in agreement. "I also think my demands are a bit excessive."
Qin Ziwu was puzzled. If his elder brother knew this, why was he still making these demands?
Qin Ziwen then abruptly changed his tone. "So, if even such an excessive demand from me can be met, then they truly are great benefactors."
Qin Ziwu suddenly understood. Yes, if even such harsh conditions could be continuously satisfied, it could only mean the other party had even greater needs, or it might even be a trap!
From his contact with the fish-men, these creatures were not simple. They were pure carnivores.
Qin Ziwu grew wary. "Could it be a scam?"
"Let's wait and see." Qin Ziwen wasn't in a hurry. The other party had sunk costs. The one who should be anxious was them.
After quite a while, ripples appeared on the sea surface, and a fish-man emerged.
It wasn't the one from before. It looked somewhat fearfully at Qin Ziwen, raised its hands, and presented a seashell.
Qin Ziwen gave Pula a look. Pula stepped forward and took the seashell, which was the size of a pot lid.
Upon opening it, inside were placed nine pieces of Spirit Jade Coral.
Counting the previous one, that made a total of ten Level 1 Curios.
Qin Ziwen sighed with emotion. Thanks for the gift, top donor! That's one-tenth of the target already met.
This newly arrived fish-man chattered away, gesturing continuously with its hands.
Pula said, "Master, it says the previous fish-man relayed the message incorrectly, causing you to misunderstand. It has already been executed. The chieftain of their tribe sincerely invites you to descend into the sea."
"It seems our fish-man tribe chieftain is getting a bit impatient. To make it continue to cough up the goods, we need closer contact." Qin Ziwen waved his hand. "Let's go. Since the invitation is so earnest, let's go down and take a look."
The team wasn't too large, otherwise, escaping later would be difficult.
The seven-person team each held a piece of Spirit Jade Coral in their mouths, and each carried five Deep Sea Oxygen sacs in their pockets as a precaution.
Treading water, everyone gradually submerged into the sea.
Underwater, numerous fish-men drifted and swam in the seawater.
Compared to being on land, the fish-men in the sea were clearly much more agile.
From a distance, they looked like nimble dolphins.
Surrounding them densely were at least a hundred fish-men, encircling them in the middle.
Du Yu quietly moved closer to his Master, his right hand resting on the curved blade at his waist.
Qin Ziwen took out the scale from his chest. Upon seeing the scale, the group of fish-men lowered their heads, showing submission.
Suddenly, commotion came from the fish-men ahead.
Immediately after, the formation parted. From the rear of the group, a female fish-man nearly two meters long swam forward.
She was significantly taller than the surrounding Artisan Clan fish-men.
Compared to her, the nearby Artisan Clan fish-men looked like dwarfs surrounding a princess.
Compared to male fish-men, although female fish-men also had protruding snouts, small eyes, and large lips—features not aligning with human aesthetics—their figures were extremely hot. Unlike the bare-chested male fish-men, the female fish-men wore simple garments, with a string of shells hanging across their chests. Years of swimming in the sea left their bodies with almost no trace of excess fat.
This female fish-man came before Qin Ziwen.
She turned around and bent over in front of Qin Ziwen.
Her arms stretched forward, floating prone in the water.
Starting from the nape of her neck, a deep groove ran down along her spine, with the slightly raised back muscles on either side resembling folded butterfly wings.
On both sides of her waist, the cinched waistline and the rounded curve of her hips outlined an elegant silhouette.
Qin Ziwu's eyes widened. The seaweed apron tied around the female fish-man's waist was lifted by the seawater currents... He inwardly exclaimed, "Holy crap!" These barbarians have no sense of propriety or shame!
Where is the morality? Where is the decency! This is utterly disgraceful!
"Master, she invites you to ride on her."
Pula gestured beside him.
Qin Ziwen narrowed his eyes.
First, he extended a finger and shook it.
Then he pointed to the other six people around him.
He then made a gesture for the number seven.
Pula understood immediately. "Understood!"
He went over to communicate with the fish-men.
After quite a while, six more female fish-men came over, each lying prone before one of the men.
Cao Biansheng's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at the Guild Leader.
So this was the Guild Leader's way of sharing?
Riding a female fish-man, Qin Ziwen felt no embarrassment.
Because he didn't consider them human.
In his view, these fish-men were no different from Chitu or the Crowned Eagle.
The fish-men were very fast, much faster than their walking speed.
In less than ten minutes, the surroundings had plunged into the true darkness of the deep sea.
Ahead, a fish-man raised a luminous pearl. Its faint glow only illuminated the water for about forty or fifty meters around.
After another moment, countless faint, greenish fluorescent dots suddenly appeared on the seafloor ahead, like an inverted constellation of stars suspended in the abyss.
By this eerie, faint light, an immense, boundless black shadow gradually unfolded across the seafloor.
This was a submerged, abandoned city at the bottom of the sea.
Tilted giant towers stood like the ribs of colossal beasts.
Broad streets and squares were buried under thick layers of sediment. Some glowing marine creatures swam within the abandoned city. Deep within the city, terrifyingly large black shadows swept past.
Qin Ziwen originally thought this was the destination, but the fish-men circled around, swimming past the outskirts of the city.
After swimming forward for another stretch, they finally stopped within a forest of pink coral.
This gentle slope was densely covered with pink coral. At the same time, numerous raised mounds were situated among them, looking like grave mounds.
At that moment, some fish-men peeked out from the mounds, secretly observing these foreign guests.
Seeing this scene, Qin Ziwen felt a sense of familiarity. He remembered. This was exactly one of the three images that had been shown to him at the beginning of the Island map.
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