When Qin Siyang's vision returned, the island beneath his feet had become a flat expanse covered in white bones.
A fish made of white bones had appeared before him.
Qin Siyang knew he had passed the trial.
But he was also a little puzzled.
Seven islands had clearly appeared, so why had he passed the trial as soon as he set foot on one of them?
Hadn't this journey been a little too complicated, making a mountain out of a molehill?
Still, none of that mattered to him anymore. As long as he had passed the trial, the trip hadn't been wasted.
The fish was over a meter long and hovered half a foot above the ground. Its bones were pure white, without a scrap of flesh anywhere, like a skeleton someone had stripped from a corpse.
Its eye sockets were empty, with ghostly blue flames burning within them.
Despite having no flesh, scales, skin, or organs, faint white mist continually seeped from between its joints as it hovered in midair.
The only problem was that four or five ribs seemed to be missing from its belly.
That made the already skeletal fish look even more forlorn and desolate.
The fish said nothing, the ghostly flames in its eye sockets fixed on Qin Siyang.
Qin Siyang scratched his cheek and looked around the flat ground as though nothing were wrong, then mimed a basketball shot to ease his embarrassment.
The toe-curlingly awkward silence lasted so long that Qin Siyang felt goosebumps rising before the fish finally spoke.
Its voice seemed to emerge from the gaps between its bones, carrying a hoarse rasp. "You could actually have passed the trial right at the start. After all, you accomplished all of this without even using a skill."
Qin Siyang smiled respectfully. "May