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【Deep Sea Shadow】Like a ghost, it stopped at a distance of about one nautical mile.

The last glimmer of sunlight was swallowed up.

Now, all that remains in front of you is a hideous and silent giant silhouette, the vibrant life of the daytime gone.

Ivan's excitement hadn't subsided yet.

He nudged Klaus with his elbow:

"Hey engineer, what do you think might be up there?"

Klaus surveyed the deep darkness, his tone as if he were delivering a technical report:

"Wild boar, bear, fruit, poisonous mushrooms... or a monster a million times uglier than that lanternfish, capable of biting us in two."

"Don't be such a spoilsport!"

Ivan casually patted him on the back.

"Think about it, the feeling of having your feet on solid ground, a real house, a soft bed..."

"Then I hope there are already built villas up there, complete with bathrooms and central air conditioning." Klaus still didn't seem very interested.

He retorted expressionlessly:

"Otherwise, some captain might smile and say, 'Engineer, this view is nice, build us a house...'"

He paused, then emphasized, "I am a mechanical engineer, not a civil engineer."

Upon hearing this, Ren Yi, who had been dozing off against the ship's railing, was no longer sleepy.

Immediately turn around and smile ✧(≖ ◡ ≖✿):

"Although I don't understand it, the principles of mechanics are the same... If I'm wrong, then just pretend I didn't say anything. After all, I said from the beginning that I didn't understand it, but I believe in your abilities."

Klaus: "..."

He immediately shut his mouth, giving the other party no further opportunity to expand their business.

"Mr. Arbitrary".

Aurora stood at the bow, a hint of relaxation in her expression. She had just attempted to purify the nearby waters and air using her Lv2 ability.

"This area is not polluted, neither mentally nor physically."

Nodding indicates that you understand.

The assessment of the [Chenghai Envoy] was quite reliable, but he still planned to observe further before making a decision.

"Don't go too far from the boat until it's daylight and we're sure it's safe."

Currently, the ship [Deep Sea Shadow], which shares his vision, is his only source of security and survival; most of his abilities are tied to the ship.

No boat,

He can only be considered an ordinary human with an exceptionally strong physique.

Including Ivan, their combat effectiveness on land would probably be halved.

Indeed, the ship is the core asset.

[But this map is really weird...]

[Is it possible that this is the end of the beginner's area, a "resource integration zone" with diverse ecosystems?]

[Wouldn't that be even more dangerous! Predators from all sorts of environments would be having a party together!]

"Little Jiu, have you ever been to the mainland before?"

As soon as Renyi finished speaking, the little octopus emerged and slowly changed color from light blue to yellow.

That was the color of doubt; Xiao Jiu's two tentacles were even twisted into question marks.

Arbitrarily, it is assumed that this indicates a lack of understanding of the concept of "land".

But actually,

Xiao Jiu does indeed have some very distant memories of land.

It had been to the edge of the land when it was young.

But there were rotting corpses everywhere, the air was filled with a pungent smell, and even the sand tasted bitter, which frightened it so much that it quickly burrowed back into the deep sea to eat two small fish to calm its nerves.

Since then, it has never been interested in going near places that resemble land.

"land?"

"It doesn't taste good."

"Ugh, there's an annoying guy over there!"

It tried to stop Renyi by wrapping its tentacles around Renyi's fingers, but Renyi didn't understand Zhangyu and took it as a tantrum, even laughing and poking its head.

Xiao Jiu deflated and lay flat like an octopus cake, motionless.

For it, the deep sea is home, and the land is a dirty, nutrient-poor garbage dump.

It didn't understand.

These little pets—

Aside from the big guy who likes weird, shaky things, the others all seem pretty smart. Why would they be so foolish as to run off to the junkyard? (￣～￣)ξ

……

The night was peaceful, but no one slept well.

As the first rays of sunlight pierced through the mountains the next day, casting a sharply defined outline on the mysterious continent, everyone stood on the deck.

Upon closer inspection, this coastline is far more magnificent than it is at night.

The golden sands shimmered, and the lush jungle and snow-capped mountains created an eerie yet beautiful scene, like an oil painting.

Because they were worried that if they got too close, they would run aground.

So let [Deep Sea Shadow] stop at the edge of the reef.

Klaus frowned more and more deeply: "The texture of this sand... seems too fine."

"Fine texture is a good thing! It means the beach is of high quality!"

Ivan peeked out, then climbed over the fence. "Whatever! I'll go scout ahead for you!"

He hopped and skipped on the rocks, quickly approaching the beach.

"On the beach, Ivan Verkov was here!"

He only uttered half of his grand pronouncements.

Instead of the expected solid feel, Ivan felt as if he had stepped into a bottomless clump of mud.

"--Um?"

After the last syllable, he silently sank down in a comical pose with his hands raised.

The next second, only a head was visible on the golden "sand".

The air froze for half a second.

"Ivan!"

Klaus instinctively reached for a rope or something similar and threw it over.

"Don't panic."

With a mere thought, [Deep Sea Shadow] immediately slid towards that deadly beach.

Ivan, buried in the sand, was stunned for a moment.

He tried to struggle, but found that the more he moved, the deeper he sank. The sticky, weightless feeling enveloped him, rendering him completely powerless.

He's like a radish planted in the ground now.

It's still the kind where the head is facing upwards.

"Damn it!" Ivan cursed, getting a mouthful of dust in his mouth.

Seeing that the beach had already reached his chin, he simply gave up struggling, held his breath, and let that force completely engulf him.

It was cold and sticky, but there was no feeling of suffocation.

Once inside the sand, he felt right at home. He could clearly feel that he was still in the ocean, only now the seawater contained countless fine grains of sand.

The sand and gravel floating in the sea formed this 'beach'...

cheated!

With a powerful kick, Ivan leaped upwards like a swordfish.

"Sizzle—!"

A dozen meters away from where he disappeared, the water surface... no, it should be the surface of the beach, suddenly exploded, and a figure covered in mud burst out of the ground and crashed heavily onto the nearby reef.

"Pah! Pah! Pah!"

Ivan coughed up mouthfuls of seawater mixed with yellow particles, wiped his face, and yelled at the people on the ship:

"There's the sea below! This is a fake beach!"

[Deep Sea Shadow] has already approached.

His appearance was rather comical—

Its two eyes darted around under the yellow mud, making it look like a wild man just pulled out of a mud pit.

Klaus's tightly pursed lips twitched slightly.

Ren Yi then genuinely laughed: "Thank you for your sacrifice, Ivan."

This is not meant to be sarcastic.

Thank goodness it was Ivan; if it had been someone else who stepped on it, they probably would have been killed.

Ivan climbed onto the ship, cursing and swearing.

"This is outrageous!"

"It might be drift sand formed from volcanic ash," Jiro Sato said weakly.

He casually stretched out a finger and picked up a bit of mud from Ivan's shoulder. The texture of the stuff was peculiar; it was as fine as flour, but when rubbed with his fingertip, it had a slightly grainy feel.

[Floating volcanic ash]

[Review: It looks like gold, but walking on it is like life itself. PS: A true warrior dares to face the quicksand of life!]