Cold, salty, suffocating.
His consciousness drifted in a lightless deep sea, wrapped in piercing cold and viscous seawater. Every struggle brought crushing pain to his chest and the burning curse deep within his soul.
"Cough... cough cough..." Ling Feng suddenly opened his eyes. Violent coughing made him curl up as he vomited mouthful after mouthful of salty seawater flecked with dark purple light. His vision blurred, the world spun, and an endless, deafening roar of waves filled his ears.
He found himself sprawled across a narrow, slippery black reef that rose and fell wildly with the raging waves! The reef was only a few meters wide, like a lone boat on an angry sea, liable to be swallowed whole by the next towering wave at any moment! The sky was lead-gray, heavy dark clouds hanging low as though pressing down upon his head. Icy raindrops the size of beans lashed his body like whips. The gale howled, rolling up walls of pale waves over ten meters high. Carrying the force to destroy everything, they crashed fiercely against the reef again and again, spraying freezing foam across the sky!
Where was this...? The depths of the ocean?!
"Ling Feng! You're awake!" A voice choked with tears yet filled with surprise rang out amid the storm, nearly drowned by the crashing waves.
Ling Feng turned his head with difficulty, and his blurred vision gradually focused. Hu Liena was curled up beside him, soaked through. Her black combat outfit clung tightly to her body, tracing breathtaking curves, yet she was shivering from the cold, her lips purple. She shielded Ling Feng with her body, blocking most of the freezing spray and fierce wind battering them. Her seductive face was covered in droplets and salt stains, pale without a trace of color. Her purple