At his first glimpse of Chu Xuanzhen, Shen Yangge rubbed his eyes hard with his hands, unsure of what he was seeing.
At his second glimpse of Chu Xuanzhen, Shen Yangge gaped, then reached up to rub his eyes again.
At his third glimpse of Chu Xuanzhen, Shen Yangge flicked his tail without another word, spun like a "propeller," and sank beneath the surface, swimming far away. He thought that as long as he was fast enough, the orca would never catch him.
The orca was still a long way behind him. If he picked up speed, swam farther away, then changed direction and headed elsewhere, it definitely wouldn't keep chasing him.
But he had been far too naive, and he hadn't considered why he had been discovered so quickly.
As he swam madly to shake off the orca, he couldn't help looking back. Only then did he realize that everywhere he passed, he left a faint trail of tiny, gold-leaf-like specks of light, dreamlike and ethereal.
The orca followed that golden trail, swimming faster and faster.
Shen Yangge couldn't help rolling his eyes. A punishment really was a punishment. This ability that blatantly exposed his whereabouts was truly deadly.
On top of that, he wasn't a real mermaid, which cut his swimming speed by more than half.
If something other than an orca were chasing him today-some other omnivorous sea predator-he might already be dead.
Danger lurked everywhere on this journey.
Shen Yangge felt the obstacles Database had placed in his way, along with the Virus System's torment, which only made matters worse.
He sighed, sending a string of bubbles slipping from his mouth. Who knew what dangers he would encounter if he kept swimming into the deep sea? He had already been discovered anyway.
If he kept swimming,