Lost Whale

"There's an enemy!" Lin Yue had clearly noticed the strange phenomenon too. She pressed close to Chen Xi's ear and whispered a warning.

The breath tickled, and Chen Xi instinctively rubbed her earlobe.

"They've got their eyes on me."

When a Transcendent died, there was roughly a thirty percent chance that the Legend Husk they had mastered would remain behind.

Even the most ordinary Legend Husk, one that could control plant growth, could fetch several million on the black market.

Such enormous profits were enough to drive a small number of Transcendents with poor morals down the wrong path.

Over time, this behavior had even given rise to a profession: Underground Hunters, extraordinary criminals who specialized in hunting Transcendents.

The two pretended not to have noticed anything amiss and simply kept walking briskly as before, as if still embarrassed.

Being targeted just because they'd visited the Oceanarium had been a misstep.

Chen Xi silently added it to her list of mistakes.

It was also her fault for relying too much on the Ability Panel. Since it didn't mention an affinity for marine life, she'd naturally assumed none existed.

But...

"If they want my life, they'll have to prove they're capable of taking it."

After keeping an eye on the forums these past few days, Chen Xi had realized there was something very counterintuitive that had been true all along.

That was, she and Lin Yue already counted as experts in Tianhai City.

A considerable number of Transcendents had mastered Legends with no combat ability at all. As long as the two of them didn't run into a Second Rank Transcendent, they could more or less go wherever they pleased.

Most powerful Transcendents chose to join the Countermeasure Bureau or other civilian organizations.

Only those who couldn't make it in respectable circles chose to become Underground Hunters, criminals who operated in the shadows.

"Let's get out first. There are too many people here. This is obviously their turf."

As she walked, Chen Xi watched the people around them in case anyone suddenly attacked.

"But there's a good chance they won't let us leave. Stay alert."

"Okay," Lin Yue replied.

The two stayed wary of their surroundings, walking toward the exit with their full attention focused.

But to their surprise, the other party never showed up, even after Chen Xi stepped outside the Oceanarium.

"What?" Lin Yue was at a loss.

The other party had gone to all that trouble, only to do nothing?

Chen Xi's expression remained calm. She didn't stop walking. "Keep going."

Just as expected, the moment they blinked, they were back inside the Oceanarium.

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

Chen Xi clearly remembered the middle-aged man whose fish scales she had spotted. He was standing in almost exactly the same place as before.

"Regression?" Lin Yue's guess was wildly imaginative, no doubt thanks to her habitual way of thinking.

"How did you even come up with that?" Chen Xi shot her a sidelong glance.

Lin Yue realized that what she'd said did sound a little off and tried to bluff her way through. "I saw it on the forums."

"Spend less time reading trash accounts."

"Let's keep going," Chen Xi said evenly. "It's probably some kind of domain ability."

"Maybe we were pulled into the domain as soon as we entered the Oceanarium."

The two stayed on guard as they hurried toward the exit.

Just as they were about to leave the Oceanarium, the surroundings changed again.

They were back where they'd been when they'd just left the glass window.

"Back again."

Chen Xi had only taken a few steps when the fish scales of that familiar stranger dazzled her once more.

Luckily, she'd been prepared this time and had narrowed her eyes in advance.

"Let's keep going." She refused to believe the other party had enough power to keep this up for days and starve them to death.

"Okay." Lin Yue nodded and followed her toward the exit.

Only after Chen Xi had silently counted a full two hours did the two of them return to that familiar spot again.

This was already their forty-third "loop."

During that time, Lin Yue had tried staying put and splitting up, but once the time was up, they would both return to where they'd started.

"Are they going to trap us here forever?" Lin Yue was on the verge of tears.

Who could have guessed that they'd run into this mess just from casually visiting an Oceanarium?

If Chen Xi hadn't been with her, being trapped here alone for a few more hours would have driven her to kill herself just to trigger a time regression.

Chen Xi wasn't nearly as anxious. She even had time to tease her.

"Aren't you a Prophet? Then can the great Prophet predict how we can break out?"

Even at a time like this, Lin Yue didn't forget to maintain her persona. With a straight face, she explained, "My prophecies are random."

Seeing her put on airs again, Chen Xi felt oddly satisfied.

"I won't tease you anymore. I found a way."

As soon as she finished speaking, the eerie, snickering sound rang out from deep within her again.

[Snicker]

With its slightly ethereal quality, the sound immediately gave Chen Xi a clue. She often watched the Ocean Channel because she was bored, after all.

It was a whale.

That was right. The ones attacking them weren't Underground Hunters, but a whale lurking in the shadows.

"Lost Whale, a Second Rank Legend. It has human-level intelligence and is extremely friendly."

"It likes to use illusion domains to toy with Transcendents who pass through its territory. It usually wanders around the Silent Sea, but for some reason, it suddenly appeared in the Oceanarium today."

Chen Xi recounted the truth coolly, without the slightest trace of anger at having been toyed with.

"Tch, this is no fun." The same childish voice rang out again.

But this time, the sound didn't come from inside their minds. Lin Yue clearly felt it coming from beside her left ear.

The blonde girl whipped around. A tiny, transparent blue whale no bigger than her palm appeared in her view.

"So you're the one causing trouble!" Enraged, Lin Yue strode forward. Before Chen Xi could say anything, she had already reached the little whale.

Lin Yue was practically pressed against the glass window, only a Shadow Form away from diving in to beat up the whale.

Anyone would have been angry after having their lovely date ruined.

"Date?" The little whale seemed to have heard something unbelievable and hurriedly covered its mouth with a fin.

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

It apologized, but its tone was obnoxiously smug.

"You can read minds?!" Lin Yue's heart jolted. She then summoned shadow tentacles to tie the whale's mouth shut. "Shut up!!!"

Chen Xi, standing to the side, caught the key word.

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

She studied Lin Yue's flushed face again and decisively activated the Flawless Succubus's appraisal ability.

Pink heart-shaped patterns appeared in the black-haired girl's eyes.

Appraisal failed.

Their relationship wasn't enough for her to awaken the Succubus's innate ability.

I really was overthinking it.

Chen Xi shook her head slightly. A date or anything like that was probably just a slip of the tongue on Lin Yue's part.

So was this how girls acted around each other?

She had thought Lin Yue might have feelings for her...

Meanwhile, Lin Yue was still arguing with the whale, her face red with anger, and had no idea what she'd missed.