Lost Whale

"Enemy attack!" Lin Yue had clearly noticed the eerie phenomenon as well, whispering a warning against Chen Xi's earlobe.

Feeling a tickle from her breath, Chen Xi instinctively rubbed her earlobe.

"They've set their sights on me."

When a Transcendent dies, there is roughly a thirty percent chance they will leave behind the Legend Husk they once harnessed.

Even the most common Legend Husk capable of manipulating plant growth can fetch a price of several million on the black market.

Such exorbitant profits are enough to lead a small portion of morally bankrupt Transcendents down a crooked path.

Over time, this behavior even gave rise to a profession—Underground Hunter—supernatural criminals who specialize in hunting other Transcendents.

The two pretended not to notice anything amiss, continuing to walk briskly as they had been, as if merely feeling awkward.

To be targeted simply because they were visiting the Oceanarium was a grave miscalculation.

Chen Xi silently added this incident to her mental list of mistakes.

She could only blame herself for relying too heavily on her Ability Panel; since it didn't list an affinity for marine life, she had naturally assumed it didn't exist.

However...

"If you want my life, you'll have to see if you have the skill to take it."

Through her observations on the forums over the past few days, Chen Xi had discovered something that had always been quite counterintuitive.

That is, she and Lin Yue were already considered experts in Tianhai City.

A significant portion of the Legends harnessed by Transcendents possess zero combat capability; as long as they didn't run into a Tier 2 Transcendent, the two of them could basically walk anywhere they pleased.

Most Transcendents with real strength choose to join the Countermeasure Bureau or other civilian organizations.

Only those who cannot stand in the light choose to become shady Underground Hunters.

"Let's get out of here first. There are too many people here; this is clearly the opponent's home turf."

Chen Xi observed the surrounding crowd as she walked, wary of a sudden outburst of violence.

"But it's highly unlikely they'll let us leave. Stay alert at all times."

"Understood," Lin Yue replied.

The two scanned their surroundings with caution, focusing intently as they made their way toward the exit.

Yet, to their surprise, the opponent did not appear even as Chen Xi stepped out of the Oceanarium entrance.

"What?" Lin Yue was somewhat bewildered.

The opponent went to such great lengths, only to do absolutely nothing?

Chen Xi's expression remained calm, and she did not choose to stop. "Keep walking."

Sure enough, the very next instant, the moment the two blinked, they were back inside the Oceanarium.

Not only that, but everyone else had also returned to their original positions.

Chen Xi remembered quite clearly the middle-aged man whose fish scales she had spotted; his position was almost identical to where he had been just moments ago.

"Time Regression?" Given her tendency for imaginative leaps, Lin Yue's guess was truly wild.

"How did you even jump to that conclusion?" Chen Xi shot her a sidelong glance.

Realizing that her comment was indeed a bit off, Lin Yue tried to gloss over it. "I saw it on the forums."

"Stop reading trash accounts."

"Let's keep moving," Chen Xi said, her face unchanging. "It's most likely a domain-type ability."

"It's possible we were pulled into the domain the moment we stepped into the Oceanarium."

The two continued to walk briskly toward the exit, remaining vigilant.

Just as they were about to step out of the Oceanarium's perimeter, a sudden change occurred in their surroundings once again.

The two were back to the moment they had just left the glass window.

"We're back again."

Chen Xi hadn't taken more than a few steps before she was blinded by the fish scales of that familiar stranger once more.

Fortunately, she had been prepared this time and had squinted her eyes in advance.

"Let's continue." She refused to believe the opponent's mana was vast enough to sustain this for days and starve them to death.

"Right." Lin Yue nodded and walked toward the exit alongside her.

By the time Chen Xi had silently counted for two full hours, the two had returned to that familiar spot yet again.

This was already their forty-third "loop."

During this time, Lin Yue had tried staying in one place or splitting up, but as soon as the time was up, they would both be reset to the very beginning.

"Are we going to be trapped here forever?" Lin Yue felt like crying.

Who could have guessed that a simple trip to the Oceanarium would lead to such a mess?

If Chen Xi were not here, she would have committed suicide to trigger a Regression after being trapped here for a few more hours.

Chen Xi, however, was not nearly as anxious and even had the leisure to tease her:

"Aren't you a Prophet? Can the great Prophet predict a way to break this deadlock?"

Even at a time like this, Lin Yue did not forget to maintain her persona, explaining with a straight face: "My prophecies are randomized."

Seeing her start to put on airs again, Chen Xi felt a sense of satisfaction.

"I'm done teasing you; I've found a way out."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a strange, snickering sound echoed from the depths of her mind.

[Pfft]

It carried an ethereal quality, and because she often watched the Ocean Channel out of boredom, Chen Xi identified the culprit immediately.

It was a whale.

Yes, it was not some Underground Hunter attacking them, but a whale hiding in the shadows.

"Lost Whale, Tier 2 Legend, possesses human-like intelligence and is extremely friendly."

"It likes to use its illusion domain to prank Transcendent beings passing through its territory. It usually only wanders near the Silent Sea, but for some reason, it suddenly appeared in the Oceanarium today."

Chen Xi recounted the truth with indifference, showing no anger at having been toyed with.

"Tch, no fun." A voice as childish as a child's rang out once more.

But this time, the sound was not in her mind; Lin Yue clearly felt it coming from her left ear.

The blonde girl whipped her head to the side, and a miniature, transparent blue whale the size of a palm appeared in her field of vision.

"So you're the one looking for trouble!" Furious, Lin Yue moved with lightning speed; before Chen Xi could say a word, she had already lunged at the little whale.

Lin Yue was practically plastered against the glass window, just one step away from activating Shadow Form to go in and beat the fish up.

A perfectly good date had been ruined; anyone would be angry.

"A date?" The little whale seemed to have heard something incredible and hurriedly covered its mouth with its fins.

"Sorry, I didn't know you two were on a date."

It spoke words of apology, but its tone was insufferably smug.

"You can read minds too?!" Lin Yue felt a jolt in her heart, then summoned shadow tentacles to bind the whale's mouth: "Shut your trap!!!"

Chen Xi, standing to the side, caught the keyword.

"...What do you mean by a date?"

She scrutinized Lin Yue, whose face was flushed red, and decisively activated the inspection ability of the Flawless Succubus.

Peach-colored heart-shaped patterns rippled in the black-haired girl's eyes.

Appraisal failed.

The relationship between the two was not enough to awaken her succubus talent.

As expected, I was overthinking it.

Chen Xi shook her head slightly; a date or whatever, it must have been a slip of the tongue on Lin Yue's part.

So, is this how girls usually get along?

She had actually thought Lin Yue might have had those kinds of feelings for her...

On the other side, Lin Yue, still red-faced from arguing with the whale, had no idea what she had just missed.