After drawing cards, the evil god became my source of吐槽 (tu cao, a form of humorous commentary/criti

Chapter 141 Black Sea Basin (6)

Just as she thought of this, at the edge of her mental perception, a previously relatively calm ripple point that was almost blended into the background noise suddenly erupted with a strong fluctuation with a clear intention to attack!

Their target was their magical blanket, which floated in mid-air and emitted a faint glow.

"pay close attention!"

An Jing gave a low shout, his reaction as fast as lightning. With a thought, the levitation carpet suddenly rose rapidly upwards!
Almost at the same moment!

Wow——! ! !
The inky black sea below suddenly exploded! A grayish-white shadow burst out of the water at an astonishing speed, kicking up viscous black spray, and shot straight up to the height they had just been at!

That was a fish.

But it is by no means an ordinary fish.

Its body is nearly as long as an adult's arm, and its entire body is a deathly grayish-white. Its scales are as rough as sandpaper, and its head is oddly large, taking up almost a third of its body.

What's most terrifying is its mouth, which, when fully open, can almost swallow its own head. It is filled with countless long, sharp, backward-curving fangs that gleam coldly in the dim light.

This is a completely mutated, aggressive, animal-type mystery.

Because its thinking is relatively simple and direct, and its mental fluctuations are highly concealed, An Jing was only able to clearly capture it the moment it launched its attack and its murderous intent surged!
The gray fish leaped incredibly high, its massive fangs and jaws almost grazing the bottom of the suddenly rising floating carpet! The fishy wind it stirred up even made the faint light at the edge of the carpet flicker.

066 and 034 felt a blur before their eyes, a gust of evil wind rushed towards them, and then they saw the ferocious monster fish leap from their feet, tracing an arc before crashing heavily back into the dark seawater, splashing up a viscous spray, and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The two people's faces instantly drained of color, turning as white as paper.

066 bit her lower lip hard to keep from screaming, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest. 034's legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the blanket, panting heavily. Her glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose, her eyes filled with the terror of surviving a close call.

An Jing's expression remained calm, but her eyes grew even colder.

She manipulated the levitation blanket to maintain a higher, safer altitude, fully deploying her mental energy, vigilant against any potential attacks.

At the same time, she also felt that the energy of the floating blanket beneath her was being rapidly depleted.

Roughly estimated, the remaining duration is probably only about ten minutes.

The view from above was slightly better, allowing them to make out the outline of the sea in the distance. An Jing quickly processed the information he had gathered through mental probe in his mind.

Core location, approximate energy level, quantity and distribution characteristics of accompanying mysteries, details of missing ships...

Key information has been obtained. Further investigation would significantly increase the risks, and the hovercraft's battery life is insufficient.

"Return."

She made a decisive decision and used her mind to urge the levitating blanket to change direction.

The gray fog was quickly left behind, and the color of the seawater below seemed to gradually transition from extreme inky black to deep gray. A few minutes later, the familiar, dark-colored outline of the beach appeared below.

An Jing controlled the suspended blanket to descend smoothly.

The moment their feet touched solid ground, 066 and 034 were almost completely exhausted. 034 even rolled directly onto the beach and couldn't get up for a long time.

066's legs went weak, and he leaned on his knees, breathing in the air, which was still fishy and putrid, but at least fresher than the sea air.

An Jing leaped down lightly and immediately looked around, his mental energy sweeping across the area like a radar.

Then, her gaze fixed on the beach, her eyes suddenly narrowing. The beach was now covered with many messy, deep scratches.

The marks are fresh; the grains of sand at the edges are still slightly sliding.

The crawling tracks were irregular, crisscrossing, some pointing towards the sea, others meandering towards distant reefs or the depths of the gray fog. The width and depth of the tracks varied, unlike those left by human hands and feet, more like those of some multi-legged creature or something dragged by a heavy body…

The 035, which was supposed to be waiting by the reef, was nowhere to be seen.

The surroundings were deathly silent, with only the sluggish sound of the waves slowly lapping against the beach.

Not only An Jing noticed it, but 066 and 034, who had just recovered from their shock and weakness, also immediately noticed the strange thing on the beach and the missing figure.

"What about 035?"

034's voice trembled as he scrambled to his feet, not bothering to brush the black sand off his body, and looked around in a panic.

"He...he said he'd wait here! Where did he go?!"

An Jing didn't answer his question. Her sharp gaze swept over the messy, fresh crawling marks on the beach. The edges of the marks were still deformed by the subtle movement of the sand. A faint smell of rotting seaweed mixed with a pungent fishy odor lingered in the air, different from the pure, rotten, sweet smell from before.

She walked slowly to the widest and deepest crawl mark, which started right next to the reef that 035 had originally leaned against. She squatted down, her fingertips hovering above the mark, but she did not touch it.

With his mental power, he carefully sensed the remaining faint energy fluctuations and... a very faint fragment of emotion belonging to 035, one that was filled with extreme terror.

Following the clearest drag mark towards the sea, the mark blurred as it touched the edge of the inky black seawater, eventually disappearing beneath the viscous liquid.

“He was dragged away.” An Jing stood up, stating this cruel fact calmly. Her tone was flat, as if she were simply reporting the results of an investigation.

066 covered its mouth, its face even paler than when it was at sea.

She knew that entering the mysterious magnetic field to carry out missions meant that injury or even death were possible outcomes. During training, the instructors had repeatedly emphasized the harsh reality. But when death so suddenly and casually befell a comrade who had just been alive, the impact still made her feel dizzy and suffocated.

034 felt a wave of fear wash over him, cold sweat instantly soaking through his inner shirt. He stared intently at the drag mark leading to the sea, then suddenly looked in the direction An Jing and the others had flown back from. If… if he had also chosen to stay… then wouldn’t he be the one being dragged away now? The thought sent chills down his spine, and his stomach clenched.

For a moment, the atmosphere on the beach became so heavy it felt almost tangible, making it hard to breathe. The fishy, ​​putrid smell brought by the sea breeze seemed even stronger, and the gray fog churned silently overhead.

An Jing didn't dwell too much on 035's fate. Life and death are predestined, especially in mysterious missions where personal choices often directly lead to the outcome. She was more concerned with the traces themselves and the information they revealed.

She moved along the edge of the crawl marks, meticulously analyzing their shape, depth, and spacing with her mental power. Judging from the force and manner of the dragging, the thing that pulled away 035 was quite powerful, and there was probably more than one individual.

The appearance of these traces indicates that this seemingly calm beach is not a safe zone. Things in the seawater are already, and are, moving ashore. The expansion of the magnetic field and the mysterious activity within it are both increasing.

An Jing was immersed in her analysis and investigation, her mental energy acting like the finest sieve, filtering every inch of information remaining on the beach. She was patient, like the most experienced hunter, waiting for her prey to reveal a flaw, or for the environment to reveal more clues.

However, the creatures in the sea seemed to gradually lose patience.

Just as An Jing crouched down to carefully discern the subtle energy differences at the intersection of the two different crawl marks, at the edge of her mental perception, where the dark, viscous, undulating seawater met the beach, several ripples that had previously lurked in the shallow water or under the shadow of the reefs began to move.

It wasn't a violent impact, but a slow, tentative movement towards the beach.

An Jing paused almost imperceptibly in his probing motion.

She sensed it.

More than one. At least three or four different sources of mental energy are quietly approaching their location from different directions, along the boundary between the sea and the beach, or directly from the sand beneath the shallow water.