I set you up on a blind date, and you've managed to overcome all the weirdness?

The mermaid turned her face away again, this time even more, not wanting to look at this human who was spouting nonsense any longer.

Even though she said she was bored, she still didn't take back the rune.

This level of hypocrisy is almost on par with Saya's.

"Say what you want."

Lin Yan lowered his hand and stopped pressuring the mermaid who liked to put on a brave face.

He felt someone watching him from behind, so he turned to look out the window.

Just as they were talking, the Deep-Sea Cradle stopped crying.

The faces on its body had all turned around and were now staring straight at the office.

To be precise, they were watching Lin Yan.

It sensed the presence of a living person, someone who had intruded into its hunting grounds and approached its prey.

Bubbles rise from the water.

The previously calm water began to boil.

The pressure came instantly, enveloping Lin Yan.

Lin Yan heard a cracking sound coming from his left hand.

The water film used for breathing had developed several cracks, and the oxygen was gradually becoming harsh on the throat.

The mermaid's time is running out.

Just as Lin Yan was pondering how to break the deadlock, a roar came from outside the window.

On the side of the Deep Dive Cradle closest to Lin Yan, a dozen or so faces opened their gaping maws.

The next moment, more than a dozen jets of black water burst through the window and shot straight at the mermaid locked to the wall.

It wanted to eliminate the mother organism before its prey could be rescued!

Lin Yan turned to look at the mermaid.

She did not struggle.

The chains pinned her to the spot, preventing her from moving or even gathering the strength to form a water shield.

She closed her eyes.

Proud as she was, she would never allow herself to succumb to death.

"There's no escaping it."

Lin Yan quickly made a judgment: the surroundings were completely blocked by water columns, and the mermaid had no way to escape.

Explosions rang out one after another.

The mermaid seemed to realize something and opened her eyes in a panic.

Between her and the water column.

A not-so-broad back stood firmly in the way, unmoving.

Lin Yan had no spiritual power, and faced with this attack, he exerted the limits of his physical body to forcefully flash in front of the mermaid and withstand the fatal blow.

A dozen or so jets of water, each carrying a hidden current, slammed into his back, leaving him with a backless dress.

Lin Yan grunted and fell forward, but he desperately braced himself with his hands to prevent the impact from hitting the mermaid.

With a "poof," Lin Yan couldn't hold back and spat out a mouthful of blood, and a cloud of red mist rose between the two of them.

The wound on his back was so deep that the bone was visible, but fortunately, the physical training he had undergone during this period had improved Lin Yan's endurance.

The current intense pain only makes his vision slightly blurry.

"Are you... insane?"

The mermaid's voice trembled as she looked at the blood-covered mortal kneeling before her.

There were several bloody holes on his shoulder, from which blood was still seeping out, forming thin, red streaks in the water.

"Since you dared to jump in, why didn't you use her power?"

"Didn't you make a death pact with that guy with the scissors?"

"If you had used her authority to protect you at this time, you wouldn't have been injured like this!"

Lin Yan was panting heavily, the oxygen provided by the runes becoming increasingly scarce.

At this moment, he not only had to endure the excruciating pain in his back, but also had to soothe the narrator in his mind who was screaming in fear of death.

Hearing the mermaid's question, Lin Yan forced a bitter smile.

How could he not want to use it?

If he could borrow Saya's authority, all he needed to do was "separate," and that damned thing outside would have been cut in two with a single scissor.

But just half an hour earlier, when the torrential rain had just begun and the mermaid had just gone missing...

"Brother! Something terrible has happened!"

"The cult of the grotesque has spread a distorted, digitally altered video of that old woman without a mask online."

"The old woman was enraged and tore through space to attack!"

"Brother, her true form is currently thousands of miles away, and her causal connections are severely disrupted. You absolutely cannot forcibly extract her authority now!"

"If you forcefully borrow power, not only will you be unable to withstand the causal backlash from crossing long distances and boundaries, but you will also expose the old woman's location to those filthy things!"

This is an open conspiracy.

The only solution is to ignore the mermaids from the beginning.

But it was clear that Lin Yan couldn't swallow this insult.

Now, in this inverted underwater city, with the mermaid trapped, Lin Yan can only rely on himself.

But he didn't explain these things to the mermaid.

Lin Yan spat out a mouthful of blood, stood up, and shielded the mermaid behind him.

"Cough, cough..."

Although Lin Yan now has difficulty even standing up straight, he still speaks with a nonchalant air.

"There's no need for that."

"It's not like I need her to bail me out in everything."

"I told you, I am your agent."

"No one can bully Lin Yan's people except me."

He raised his sword and pointed it directly at the deep-sea cradle outside the window.

"Today, either we both die here, or we both get out of here alive."

Lin Yan swallowed the blood from his throat. Through the ripples of the water, he saw out of the corner of his eye that the mermaid was looking at him with an unfamiliar gaze.

Before this, the mermaid's gaze always seemed distant.

Whether it's giving out red envelopes, offering suggestions, or mediating at the heavy machinery factory, it's all good.

She accepted his kindness, but never stopped scrutinizing him.

The scrutiny was top-down; it was the work of a freak who had lived too long evaluating a useful human being.

But now, that gaze has changed.

A boundary she had drawn for far too long was breached by a mere human.

In a bizarre world, when faced with a high-level source of pollution like the Deep-Sea Cradle, no bizarre thing will remain.

Even the 100,000 followers she just recruited wouldn't.

And this mortal man before her, who had no spiritual power whatsoever, actually used his flesh and blood to block an attack for her.

In all the years, this was the first time she had been protected by someone.

[Ding! The "Mermaid from the Sewers" is experiencing intense emotional fluctuations. Calculating favorability...]

[Ding! Affection +15! Current Affection: 90]

The system notification sounded, and Lin Yan was stunned. What was the point of increasing favorability at this time?

No, this seems to work. Lin Yan seemed to have thought of something.

But the current situation doesn't allow him to relax even a little.

Suddenly, Lin Yan felt a chill on his left wrist. He looked down and felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

The runes were almost invisible, and the breathing membrane covering him was rapidly dimming.

He had even more difficulty breathing, each breath carrying a heavy moisture, and a dull ache began to throb on both sides of his chest.

Not only that.

After a brief pause, the deep-sea cradle outside the window burst into even more frantic cries.

That attack not only failed to destroy its mother, but was also blocked by an ant.

The faces on the pieces of meat all stared wide-eyed in anger, as if they had been insulted.

It tumbled and wriggled in the water, causing the surrounding buildings to collapse.

The next moment, it pressed down on Lin Yan like a dark cloud looming over the city!