Evening had arrived, and the Blue Abyss Aquarium was closing for the day.
Numerous parents led their reluctant children out of the aquarium. From time to time, the sorrowful cries of little kids could still be heard.
Gradually, the streetlights began to glow. Shops and residential buildings near the aquarium lit up, and the occasional sound of car horns could still be heard on the streets. In addition… there was the distinctive siren of the Youxun patrol vehicles.
Because the aquarium covered a large area, quite a few Youxun had been dispatched this time. They were setting up cordon lines at the entrance and placing the Xianyi to prevent any unexpected incidents.
This time, the person in charge of directing the operation was none other than Li Meng’s former mentor—Sister Nan.
“Li Meng, are you sure there’s a Guiyi inside this aquarium? I heard from my subordinates that they’ve come several times but never detected any Nether Breath.”
After instructing her team to handle their tasks, Sister Nan answered the call from Li Meng.
“That’s right, Sister Nan. We learned about some cases from the director. They were so bizarre that Xiao Qian and I believe a Guiyi must be behind them. It’s just using some method to evade detection.”
“Xiao Qian? Is there another Nether Body with you?”
“Ah… yes! Xiao Qian… is my new partner. We’re currently investigating the Guiyi together.”
Realizing she had slipped up, Li Meng quickly used the “partner” excuse to brush off the matter of Qiu Qiqian. However, the change in her tone definitely couldn’t escape Sister Nan, who had extensive experience.
“A new partner? I haven’t heard about this…”
Sister Nan muttered softly.
“Never mind. I’ll be upfront with you. Because there have been many incidents lately, our time is limited. If we can’t find decisive evidence of a Guiyi’s presence within one hour, we’ll have to leave to handle other matters.”
“Understood. We’ll find the target as quickly as possible. I’ll hang up now.”
Beep… Beep…
After the call ended, Li Meng let out a long sigh. Every time she spoke with Sister Nan, she felt a bit nervous—probably a lingering aftereffect from her training days.
“How did it go? What’s the situation?”
Qiu Qiqian, who had been casually wandering nearby, returned and asked after seeing Li Meng finish the call.
“People from the Youxun Sentry Post and the Association Branch have arrived. They’re setting up a cordon outside right now. However, because there’s no decisive evidence yet, they won’t activate the Xianyi for the time being. We have one hour to find that Guiyi’s Nether Breath, or they’ll leave.”
“One hour? That should be enough…”
Qiu Qiqian turned around again and looked at the water tanks lining both sides of this branch hall. Soft blue lights shone from inside the tanks, casting mottled shadows across the walkway.
“According to what we learned from the staff, this branch hall is where the last victim encountered the anomaly.”
Li Meng put away her phone, stepped forward to stand beside Qiu Qiqian, and quickly scanned the entrance area.
She didn’t sense any Nether Breath… Could it be deeper inside?
“I’ll check this side. You check that side. It’ll be faster this way.”
Li Meng nodded and accepted Qiu Qiqian’s suggestion. The two then moved forward in sync, each examining one side.
Because Qiu Qiqian could switch between physical and spiritual forms, she could directly enter the water tanks—unlike Li Meng—and carefully inspect the interior without disturbing the fish.
Of course, the most important part was that she didn’t have to worry about getting wet.
However, while searching for Nether Breath, Qiu Qiqian was also thinking about something else.
‘Back in my original world before I reincarnated, I never blushed or got flustered when telling dirty jokes or watching those kinds of videos. So why did I become like this after reincarnating? I get embarrassed so easily now.’
‘It couldn’t be that the “World: We fixed the bug where Qiu Qiqian wasn’t pure enough,” right? That would be way too absurd.’
“How strange…”
After searching for a while, Li Meng couldn’t help but touch the acrylic glass in front of her and murmur, “Logically speaking… even for a low-level Guiyi, its Nether Breath shouldn’t dissipate this quickly.”
According to the information they had gathered, the cleaner had only encountered the anomaly three days ago.
Three days… Nether Breath shouldn’t have completely vanished yet…
“Could it be the type that can actively recover its own Nether Breath?”
Li Meng whispered in speculation.
“Tsk, I can’t find any useful information at all.”
Qiu Qiqian clicked her tongue, showing a hint of impatience.
“Where the hell did that Guiyi go? There isn’t even a single trace.”
She walked back to Li Meng’s side. Seeing Li Meng staring blankly at one of the empty water tanks, she thought there might be something unusual inside and leaned over to take a look.
But aside from the rockery and the flowing water, she didn’t notice anything.
“No, I didn’t find anything on my side either. I was just thinking—could this Guiyi be the type that can actively recover its own Nether Breath?”
“Does that kind of Guiyi exist?”
“Yes, but very rarely. According to the Association’s research, those that actively recover their Nether Breath do so either to reabsorb it and reduce consumption, or to block the possibility of other Guiyi entering their Inner World… But no matter which it is, they’re very troublesome.”
“True. So how do you usually handle this kind of Guiyi?”
“Sometimes we happen to encounter them in reality and deal with them on the spot. If we don’t run into them… assuming their Nether Breath lingers on some living creature, there’s a high chance it can’t be recovered due to interference from the creature’s own field… Oh, right!”
Li Meng suddenly clapped her hands and exclaimed, startling Qiu Qiqian, who had been biting her finger in thought.
“We can go find the victims! Since they weren’t taken into the Inner World, we can start with them. Not only can we determine the opponent’s strength from the Nether Breath on their bodies, but we can also ask about other details.”
“Hmm… that makes sense. But if we do that, it’ll be hard to find anything tonight…”
“Woooooo—ahhhhh—”
That extremely penetrating, ethereal sound rang out again.
This time it was incredibly close, as if right beside Qiu Qiqian’s ear.
Qiu Qiqian abruptly turned around and looked around, her nerves instantly tense.
‘What’s going on… Isn’t this kind of hallucination trope supposed to happen to ordinary people? Why is a Guiyi like me experiencing it too?’
“Xiao Qian? Xiao Qian? What are you looking at?”
“Woooooo—ahhhhh—”
Li Meng’s voice gradually faded and was ultimately drowned out by the whale call that struck straight at the soul.
An invisible force suddenly yanked at Qiu Qiqian’s consciousness.
By the time she came back to her senses, she seemed to have been pulled into… a deep sea.
Below her was a pitch-black abyss without daylight. The icy seawater stung her skin. Even though her own body temperature was already no different from a corpse’s, she still felt the cold.
Above, there was only the faintest trace of light—barely enough to tint the dark abyss with a hint of azure.
There was nothing nearby… or perhaps… it was already filled with something?
Qiu Qiqian floated there. At least as a Guiyi, she didn’t need to worry about breathing.
Was this… being dragged into the Inner World?
No… that couldn’t be right. She and Li Meng had a “binding” relationship. If she had really been pulled into the Inner World, Li Meng should be here too.
Then… what exactly was this place…
“Woooooo—ahhhhh—”
This time, the whale call was incredibly close.
The ethereal sound felt especially eerie in this deep sea. It didn’t sound like a normal call—it sounded like a wail, a cry filled with resentment.
Gurgle…
Something brushed past behind Qiu Qiqian. The resulting wave gave her a slight push against her back.
No way… This trope… It couldn’t be the “don’t turn around” killer, right…
Qiu Qiqian swallowed hard and slowly turned her head to the side…
A massive bloodshot eye was staring directly at her.
Almost the instant Qiu Qiqian trembled subconsciously, an invisible force violently blasted the giant creature away. Then, several black arms tore through the air and shot straight toward the enormous figure.
“Xiao Qian?”
In a daze, Qiu Qiqian heard Li Meng’s voice again.
When she regained her senses, she found herself back in reality.
She hadn’t used her telekinesis, nor had she summoned those black arms.
She was simply standing there.
“Xiao Qian, did you… fall into an illusion?”
Li Meng asked with concern, gently stroking Qiu Qiqian’s head.
“Yeah… I really seemed to have fallen into an illusion just now… It’s rare for something like this to happen to me.”
Qiu Qiqian didn’t struggle. She simply stood still and let Li Meng check on her.
“By the way, didn’t you hear… the whale call?”
“Whale… call?”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.