Chapter 305: The Origin of the Abyss

Our Apartment Complex Transmigrated… Again

"Gurgle gurgle."

"Gurgle gurgle..."

The fish-men hiding inside the mounds of earth swam out from the pits.

Seeing more and more fish-men gathering around them, and the surrounding space becoming increasingly cramped, Du Yu's face turned cold, his hand moving to the harpoon on his back.

"Hummm—"

A low hum came from behind. The fish-men that had been surrounding them immediately scattered like a flock of startled birds, fleeing in all directions like a school of frightened fish.

From behind the school of fish, a massive shark slowly swam over.

As the creature drew closer, Qin Ziwen focused his eyes and took a closer look. This wasn't a shark at all, but clearly a large fish-man that bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to one.

When it came to a stop and spread its long arms, Qin Ziwen looked up. The creature stood over five meters tall, with a broad nose and face. As its lips parted and its teeth opened and closed, sharp fangs like saw blades were revealed.

Judging from its physique, this fish-man was different from both the Artisan Clan fish-men and the Turbid Clan fish-men. Considering the other two clans among the fish-man race, its identity was easy to guess—it was most likely a Hunter Clan fish-man.

Pula swam over and said to Qin Ziwen, "Master, this is a Priest Clan fish-man. It should be the chieftain of this fish-man tribe."

A flicker of confusion passed through Qin Ziwen's eyes. He carefully examined the muscular fish-man that resembled a shark, then turned his head to look at Pula. "If the Priest Clan is this fierce, how strong must the Hunter Clan be?"

With something in his mouth and the inconvenience of speaking underwater, Qin Ziwen was filled with questions but found it difficult to ask them.

"..." The Priest Clan fish-man emitted a low hum. Its voice was very deep, spreading through the seabed and forming ripples of vibrational waves.

"Master, it invites you to the Sea Temple," Pula said. "The Sea Temple is the most sacred place for the fish-man race, generally used only for sacrifices or entertaining honored guests."

Qin Ziwen nodded.

The Priest Clan fish-man opposite them turned around and led the way, with Qin Ziwen and his group following behind.

Along the way, mounds of earth lined both sides. The surfaces of these mounds were visible, constructed from a mixture of shells, coral, and other materials, blended with the seabed's mud and sand.

They somewhat resembled Eskimo igloos.

Most of these mounds weren't very large, and the inhabitants were primarily Artisan Clan fish-men. The small-statured Artisan Clan fish-men nimbly slipped inside, poking their heads out like eels peeking from crevices in underwater reef caves, secretly observing them.

After walking a distance, a massive sea pit appeared ahead. At the center of the pit's bottom, a seabed temple was constructed from piled stones.

The temple's surface was covered in red seaweed, and a Turbid Clan fish-man lay on each side of the entrance.

These two Turbid Clan fish-men lay on the ground, their bellies round and full. Seeing their chieftain approach, they hurriedly rolled over, struggling to get up, then repeatedly bowed their heads like they were kowtowing, appearing somewhat endearingly clumsy.

Upon seeing this structure, Qin Ziwen instinctively used Insight.

[Level 3 Deep Sea Temple: Level 3 Breeding Amplification, Level 2 Waterless Environment, Level 2 Sea Beast Repellent]

Well, well, it really is a building!

Qin Ziwen was somewhat surprised, though not because the fish-men possessed card buildings. After all, based on previous interactions, he knew this group of fish-men had cards.

What surprised him was that this didn't seem to be inside the Home, right? Could buildings actually be constructed outside the Home environment?!

Qin Ziwen became interested. If the fish-men had mastered the ability to construct buildings outside the Home environment, learning it would definitely be useful.

Entering the Deep Sea Temple, the surroundings suddenly became empty. Qin Ziwen stepped onto the ground and looked back toward the temple entrance, where a layer of transparent ripples marked the boundary—that was the deep sea water.

All seawater was blocked outside the temple.

This was a completely waterless environment.

After entering the temple, the fish-man chieftain walked with wet footprints, step by step, to the central stone chair and sat down. On all four sides of the temple, thick whale oil candles illuminated the interior brightly.

It first glanced at Pula, then looked at Qin Ziwen, before opening its mouth to communicate with Pula.

Qin Ziwen looked back behind him; his younger brother and the others had all followed into the temple.

Although the interior space of the Deep Sea Temple had no water, the ground was wet and very damp, with green moss growing all over the surrounding walls.

Finally, after communicating for a long time, Pula turned around to relay the message. "Master, it wants to send a portion of the fish-men to our Home."

"Ask it why," Qin Ziwen said, neither refusing nor agreeing outright.

He wanted to know the reason behind this request.

Pula said, "I already asked. It says because of my presence, it can see that you, Master, can accept different races. It hopes to send out some seeds and entrust them to you. Because of the existence of the Thousand-Eyed Death God, the fish-man race is growing increasingly weak. Their Shedding Abyss has died, and the current fish-man tribe is merely lingering on its last breath."

"Shedding Abyss? What is a Shedding Abyss?"

Pula replied respectfully, "Shedding Abyss refers to the Home."

Through Pula's explanation, Qin Ziwen understood.

For example, why the Home was called a Shedding Abyss.

If you considered the world as a living entity, every moment, the world was constantly growing larger. Whenever the world grew to a certain extent, it needed to undergo a "shedding of skin."

Only after shedding its skin could the world continue to grow.

And those of them who were stripped away from the original world were the old skin that was shed—this was the origin of the word "shedding."

The old shed skin stripped from the world wasn't necessarily just waste.

After all, being stripped from the world, it possessed various incredible potentials.

Traveling through different worlds, they were both falling into an abyss with an unknown endpoint and converging opportunities from countless civilizations.

The Home had infinite possibilities, with internal space that could expand limitlessly.

It was said some ancient Shedding Abysses had grown to unimaginable scales.

This was the origin of the word "abyss."

The fish-man race that once lived here possessed a massive Shedding Abyss. The underwater city they saw on their way here was the remnant of that Shedding Abyss.

After the ancestors of the fish-men descended upon this world, they lost to their competitors.

The Shedding Abyss was heavily damaged, and their ancestors suffered heavy casualties.

As punishment, they were permanently stranded in this ocean world.

When the surviving masters of the Shedding Abyss grew old and died one after another, the remaining fish-men lost their last spark.

From a civilization, they degenerated into intelligent beasts.

The inherited knowledge let them understand that whenever cards appeared at the seabed altar, it meant a new Shedding Abyss had descended.

But simultaneously, the Thousand-Eyed Death God would also emerge from the deep sea fissures. At first, they could still repel or drive it away.

But the Thousand-Eyed Death God was undying. Even if hunted, when the next Shedding Abyss descended, it would still revive.

Sitting on the stone chair, the fish-man chieftain raised its head, gazing at the mural on the ceiling.

Its mouth opened and closed, silently saying something.

Qin Ziwen said to Pula, "Pula, tell it I am a kind person. I agree to its request, but the fish-men who join my Home need to be chosen by me."