With a strong sense of dizziness, Shen Zhifei briefly lost consciousness, holding onto Zhao Xiaokui instinctively, refusing to separate from her.
“Cough, cough—” spitting out the water from her mouth, Shen Zhifei, who had just opened her eyes, was momentarily dazzled by the intense sunlight.
The July sunlight was still scorching, especially in the areas near the equator where it almost directly hit, making its impact particularly formidable.
Shen Zhifei’s skin felt dry, with a fiery and stinging sensation, under the relentless assault of the sun. She had no idea how long she had been lying under the sun, to the extent that even as a supernatural being, she couldn’t escape the sun’s attack.
However, she was not inclined to deal with her own injuries, turning her attention to check on Zhao Xiaokui’s condition.
At a glance, she saw a long, golden fishtail.
The mermaid girl with deep brown seaweed-like long hair kept her eyes closed, looking peacefully as if asleep. Just looking at her from the waist up, it would be challenging for anyone to resist her stunning beauty. However, below the waist, the style began to change abruptly. Instead of legs, starting from the navel, fish scales grew, converging together to form a tail that exceeded two meters in length.
Most of the fishtail was immersed in the water, twitching occasionally, like a malfunctioning electrical device.
“Xiaokui, Zhao Xiaokui, wake up. Xiaokui, can you hear my voice?”
Shen Zhifei tried to wake up Zhao Xiaokui, but it seemed like Zhao Xiaokui couldn’t hear her at all, showing no response.
She attempted to probe into Zhao Xiaokui’s consciousness, directly finding her dormant awareness. However, what used to be an operation with no obstacles encountered a hindrance this time—within Zhao Xiaokui’s consciousness, for some reason, a barrier suddenly appeared. When Shen Zhifei hit it, it was like crashing into a kindergarten’s protective wall and was quickly bounced back.
She didn’t know why Zhao Xiaokui fell into a coma. At this moment, the only thing she could be sure of was that Zhao Xiaokui should not be in immediate danger.
The sun was intense, and calling out to Zhao Xiaokui had consumed quite a bit of Shen Zhifei’s strength. When she lifted her head, she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.
She knew that this was because her body was issuing a warning due to excessive energy consumption.
The spiritual essence in her consciousness constantly reminded her that continuing to stay in this place was definitely not a good idea.
As a Star Seer, Shen Zhifei had to trust her spiritual intuition more than the average person.
With no time to explore this unfamiliar beach, as soon as she sensed unease, she immediately lifted Zhao Xiaokui from the ground.
The mermaid’s fish tail was too long, dragging on the ground, leaving long traces on the beach as they moved.
Fortunately, in a place like the beach, leaving traces was easy, and making them disappear was just as simple. The waves from the ebb and flow, with a gentle sweep, could smooth out all the wrinkles on the sand.
Guided by her sixth sense, Shen Zhifei found a very concealed cave hidden behind a large rock.
Without hesitation, she entered the cave with the mermaid girl in her arms.
From the outside, the cave wasn’t conspicuous at all. Even without the large rock in front, it was just a cave that was only slightly taller than half a person.
Entering required bending and lowering the head, so as not to bump into the ceiling.
However, once inside, it was easy to see that the space was quite vast. The terrain gradually rose, and as Shen Zhifei walked, she even found a dry patch of ground. Even during high tide, this cave seemed temporarily safe.
On the other side of the cave, there was no solid ground but instead, seawater poured in, forming several small pools. Shen Zhifei chose a pool that looked relatively clean and deep, placed Zhao Xiaokui in it, watched the mermaid sink to the bottom, and then finally sighed with relief. She returned to the dry platform she had seen earlier and sat down.
Shen Zhifei first took out the things she had with her.
The phone was a lost cause. Even though it was a high-tech gadget she obtained from the Nightwalkers, it couldn’t withstand the mermaid girl’s several outbursts, and its electronic components had long burned into a mess. Not to mention it took a swim in the water, making it difficult to even turn it on, let alone make a call.
Other electronic devices were also basically scrapped. Even the mechanical wristwatch she wore was damaged due to the ultrasonic vibrations, and it stopped ticking.
Except for the chocolate bar in her hand, two energy bars, a Swiss army knife, a magnesium rod for starting a fire, and some personal identification, her body carried nothing else.
While superhumans had strong resistance to hunger, when they were really hungry, they could eat a lot.
Looking at the chocolate in her hand, Shen Zhifei didn’t hesitate. She tore it open and began to eat it greedily.
Being a Star Seer had its advantages; Shen Zhifei didn’t have to worry about conserving the limited food in front of her because her spiritual intuition told her that filling her stomach was the correct choice.
Shen Zhifei wasn’t too concerned about herself and Zhao Xiaokui being stranded on the deserted island forever.
As long as Zhao Xiaokui woke up, being a mermaid, the ocean was her domain, and they could quickly leave this place.
Thinking like this in her mind, but when Shen Zhifei looked at Zhao Xiaokui, there was still a hint of worry in her gaze.
She didn’t know when Zhao Xiaokui would wake up, and this sandy beach gave her an uneasy feeling.
So, upon waking up, she didn’t even explore; instead, she hastily found a hiding place for herself and Zhao Xiaokui, concealing them both. Despite the clear blue sky and ample sunlight outside, she felt that within the shadows, there lurked an indescribable horror.
…
Phyllis, who had explored the underwater passage, quickly surfaced from the lake and shared the good news with everyone.
Someone asked, “Should we inform others about this?”
After the disappearance of the evil god in the town of Fula, although yellow sand still swept in the air from an unknown source, the wind was noticeably less powerful. Braving the wind and sand, Bai Jingru walked to the forest by the lake, picked up the engineer shovel obtained from the Nightwalkers, and directly chopped down a tree. She said, “Before we leave, let’s put up a sign here. With all the information going back and forth, who knows if this passage has a time limit?”
Phyllis remained in the water, not coming out. She said, “Bai is right. Seize the opportunity to leave now. Even if the passage doesn’t disappear, leaving with a group of people will reduce the consumption of resources inside.”
Others agreed with her proposal, while Bai Jingru just glared at her. What does “Bai is right” mean? It felt like since they met, this blonde girl would always agree with whatever she said.
Bai Jingru was not an inexperienced maiden. Even before the unexpected event, she had been in a few relationships, so she was not clueless about matters of the heart. She noticed Phyllis’s attempts to please her and her eagerness right from the start.
After leaving the mark, everyone returned to their vehicles. Closing the windows tightly, the driver calmly headed towards the water’s surface.
Most of their cars were modified to adapt to different environments on land and in water. Driving underwater for a short period was no issue at all.
However, knowing there was no problem and watching the water level rise gradually, with less sunlight penetrating, accompanied by the gurgling sound of bubbles, everyone inevitably felt a sense of emotional oppression.
In silence, one by one, the vehicles sank underwater.
The dizziness felt during the passage of the ruins returned. Everyone, including the driver, briefly lost consciousness.
Upon waking up again, their vehicles had automatically entered the buoyancy mode, drifting on the boundless ocean.
Before they could set their position and determine their orientation, a white warship appeared not far away where the sea and sky met.
Recognizing the familiar flag, the members of the Alliance of Gods breathed a sigh of relief. Arthur used the communication device, saying, “It’s a warship from our City. I will send a request for assistance.”
Arthur was from City E, adjacent to City Y. Seeing a warship belonging to City E on the sea surface indicated that they weren’t transported too far.
Soon, the people from the E City warship rescued both the vehicles and the individuals.
The collective action of the supernaturals wasn’t a secret to the high-level authorities of various countries. When the E City warship’s captain saw them floating on the sea, he couldn’t help but feel curious, eager to grab someone and ask for a clear explanation.
However, the Nightwalkers and Bai Jingru’s group were only concerned about one thing: since they came out from here, what about Zhao Xiaokui and Shen Zhifei?
…
The searched-for Shen Zhifei was currently walking alone in the forest along the seashore.
She repeatedly tossed a small pebble into the air and caught it in her hand, using it for divination.
The spiritual sensitivity to danger was immediate, similar to a sixth sense that only activated when danger approached. Divination, on the other hand, was a more long-term way of perceiving threats. However, with her frequent divinations, she could only get a vague result about whether there would be a life-threatening danger in the next hour.
If the answer indicated danger, she would immediately switch to divining whether returning to the cave was safe.
In terms of wilderness survival, Shen Zhifei was not adept. Though she had been camping a couple of times with her teacher during her studies abroad, those were regulated camping grounds where students set up their tents and lit a campfire was considered quite impressive. If the hiking teacher was in a good mood, they might teach you to recognize some useful plants around.
Studying in Europe, her location was in a different temperature zone from where she and Zhao Xiaokui were stranded. The vegetation on the land was completely different, rendering most of her previous knowledge useless.
Shen Zhifei relied entirely on divination to speculate where she could find food.
Finally, beneath a coconut tree, she found a coconut crab larger than her hand.
Shen Zhifei, trying it out as a last resort, sighed in relief as she looked at the gigantic crab.
She lifted the coconut crab, grabbing it with one hand, while the other hand habitually tossed a pebble into the air.
Actually, whether she tossed it or not didn’t matter; it was just a matter of a minute or two.
When the pebble landed in her palm, the difference in sensation caused Shen Zhifei’s expression to suddenly change.
