You're Not a Useless Girl

"Xiao Chen, I can hold my breath underwater for such a long time!"

"Xiao Chen, I can see so clearly in the water; I can even see the sand on the bottom perfectly!"

"Xiao Chen, the fish in the water aren't even afraid of me!"

"..."

Following Lin Zichen's suggestions, Shen Qinghan continuously experimented with various actions in the water to test her affinity for it.

After each attempt, her small face would be filled with astonishment; she never expected she could perform so many miraculous feats underwater.

She suddenly felt as if she didn't really know herself at all.

Lin Zichen watched from the side the entire time, his own face equally filled with surprise.

The abilities Shen Qinghan displayed in the water were not a whit weaker than his own, despite him possessing the [Water Fusion Fortune] attribute.

For her water affinity to be this heaven-defying—if this wasn't a supernatural ability, what was?

Bed-Wetter King? More like Water Elementalist!

For the remainder of the time, Lin Zichen kept having Shen Qinghan perform various underwater tasks to see if her body underwent any peculiar changes.

For instance, abnormal dilation or contraction of pores, sudden spikes or drops in body temperature, or sudden acceleration or slowing of her heartbeat.

But after observing for a while, he found nothing.

When Shen Qinghan was submerged in the water, her physical state was no different from an ordinary person's; there were no special changes whatsoever.

It seems that just observing her by my side won't yield any answers. I'll have to go back and search online or flip through relevant books to have any hope of solving this puzzle...

Lin Zichen thought to himself.

Just as he was pondering this, Shen Qinghan, who had been holding her breath for over ten minutes, burst out of the water with a splash.

Her entire face was flushed red.

She took deep, gasping breaths of fresh air.

Once she caught her breath a moment later, she looked at Lin Zichen with an expectant expression and asked, "Xiao Chen, how long did I hold it for?"

"11 minutes and 02 seconds," Lin Zichen replied after glancing at the timer on his phone.

Without professional training, it was simply impossible to hold one's breath underwater for that long.

Yet, Shen Qinghan had never even stepped foot in a swimming pool in her life, and here she was, holding her breath for such an incredible duration—it was simply heaven-defying.

Realizing this, Shen Qinghan suddenly became excited. "Xiao Chen, it seems I'm quite gifted when it comes to water. I'm not a useless good-for-nothing girl after all!"

"You were never a good-for-nothing. You ranked in the top 100 of the entire district for the academic portion of the high school entrance exam—that's a score most people can only dream of."

"But in front of you, I'm just a..."

"...I already told you, you're not a good-for-nothing."

Before Shen Qinghan could finish her sentence, Lin Zichen, who was floating in front of her, interrupted.

After that, the air around the two fell into a quiet silence.

Only the sound of the surging seawater and the whistling of the sea breeze lingered and swirled around their ears from time to time.

After about three seconds, Shen Qinghan finally revealed a sweet, lovely smile and said, "Mm, I'm not a good-for-nothing. I wasn't before, I'm not now, and I won't be in the future."

This was a smile from the bottom of her heart, filled with the most genuine joy.

At this moment, Lin Yansheng shouted to them from the shore: "Xiao Chen, Hanhan, come over quickly for barbecue!"

As the voice traveled over, a tempting aroma of grilled meat drifted along with it.

Just by smelling it from afar, Shen Qinghan couldn't help but swallow her saliva. She looked at Lin Zichen with a gentle smile and said, "Xiao Chen, let's go, let's go eat barbecue!"

With that, she turned toward the shore, eager to swim back and feast.

But just as she was about to make a swimming motion, she suddenly froze in the water for some reason, her expression looking rather strange.

Seeing this familiar, awkward expression, Lin Zichen realized what was happening. He went numb instantly, quickly pretending he knew nothing and swimming rapidly toward the shore.

Although he was stunned, he knew Shen Qinghan didn't do it on purpose and didn't blame her at all.

After all, as far as Shen Qinghan was concerned, there were some things she truly couldn't control.

That night.

Lin Zichen lay on his bed with his phone, describing each of Shen Qinghan's heaven-defying performances in the water one by one to search for them online.

The result: absolutely nothing.

He was truly defeated. How could the search engines of this world be so useless, knowing nothing about anything he asked?

First there was the "Abyssal Giant Butterfly," then the "Life Origin," and now Shen Qinghan's "heaven-defying water affinity"—he couldn't find information on any of it.

This world was truly mysterious, so mysterious that everything was an unknown.

It had that specific beauty of "if you don't study science, life is full of myths everywhere."

He shook his head and put down his phone.

Taking advantage of the dead of night when no one was around, Lin Zichen left his seaside villa to go swimming and train in the ocean.

He had originally intended to go for a run, but the moment he thought of that indescribable sensation of being submerged in water, he couldn't help but change his plans to swimming instead.

At his current stage, his craving for water was stronger than it had ever been before.

The reason for this transformation was entirely due to the effects of the Biological Attribute, Water Fusion Fortune.

He figured he would have to soak in the water a few more times; once he grew accustomed to it, got bored, and the novelty wore off, he would eventually return to normal.

[You swam 10 kilometers, Blood Qi +8888, full-body muscle strength +2000, full-body muscle coordination +2000, water affinity +1000, swimming technique +1000]

[You dove 10 kilometers, Blood Qi +8888, full-body muscle strength +2000, full-body muscle coordination +2000, water affinity +1000, oxygen deprivation tolerance +1000, water pressure resistance +1000, diving technique +1000]

After spending over two hours, Lin Zichen finally completed his swimming workout.

He sat on the shore to rest for nearly half an hour, and feeling sufficiently recovered, he dove headfirst back into the water.

But this time, he wasn't swimming for exercise; instead, he held his breath to explore the underwater world.

[You are using your eyes in the dim seabed, oxygen deprivation tolerance +1, water pressure resistance +1, underwater vision +1, night vision +1...]

After some exploration, Lin Zichen discovered that the underwater world looked far richer than the land.

To summarize it simply with two idioms, it was brilliant and colorful, and full of diverse forms.

The marine life surviving down there was far more varied and bizarre than the creatures on land.

"The ocean truly is the origin of life; its foundation seems far deeper than the land. I hope that one day, I can evolve to the point where I can survive underwater, and thus explore the mysterious seabed..."

Carrying this fantasy that might one day become reality, Lin Zichen continued to hold his breath and explore the seabed, training his oxygen deprivation tolerance and water pressure resistance.

[You are holding your breath in the dim seabed, oxygen deprivation tolerance +1, water pressure resistance +1]

[You are using your eyes in the dim seabed, oxygen deprivation tolerance +1, water pressure resistance +1, underwater vision +1, night vision +1]

[You are moving in the dim seabed, underwater mobility +1, water affinity +1...]

Just like that, Lin Zichen spent nearly two hours intermittently holding his breath and training on the seabed. Seeing that the time was about right, he finally surfaced and returned to the seaside villa to rest.

PS: Setting out my bowl, asking for monthly tickets and recommendation votes!