Chapter 1132: Chapter 1130: Expulsion
How could this be...
Rachel, already stunned by the sight, clearly had a weaker mental fortitude than Li Min.
Even so, the ferocious blow before her nearly sent her hard-earned clarity of mind into a tailspin.
Though unable to comprehend, she still desperately pulled Rachel back while a frigid frost rapidly gathered in front of them to form a shield.
She did not believe she could create a defense stronger than the cliff itself, but something had to be done—
The crisp sound of shattering ice struck Li Min hard as she realized that sharp spikes were wildly sprouting from the freshly formed ice shield, spreading forward all the way down to the water below the cliff.
No...
Despite being well aware that the powers within the Sea of Ashes were unstable, she never anticipated a problem at this moment.
Instead of avoiding detection, her actions had inadvertently become an attack on the Divine Being—despair rose within Li Min for a moment.
However, amidst the overflowing frost, Li Min, ready to face the wrath of the Divine Being as she dragged Rachel along, found the next moment to be surprisingly quiet.
Gone?
On the sea’s surface littered with floating ice, there were no longer any traces of the immense tentacle.
"Did that thing... hide underwater?"
By now, Rachel had also come to her senses, her voice trembling slightly.
"No."
Li Min shook her head.
"It’s not there anymore, I am certain of it."
"It left?"
Rachel paused for a moment, instinctively relaxing before a multitude of doubts flooded in.
"Why did It come? Not to kill us?"
"It seems so, given its actions just now. If It really wanted us dead, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to escape."
Nor could we have resisted.
Looking at the cliff that no longer existed, Li Min quietly added that thought.
"I always feel that wasn’t the legendary Sea God; It wasn’t that wild, definitely a Divine Being... Is that what you encountered?"
"Yes."
Rachel nodded affirmatively.
"Strange, if It attacked like just now, it’s hard to imagine you would have had the chance to flee here. And these antics as well... wait a second—"
Li Min seemed to realize something.
"It’s not killing, It’s driving us away!"
Driving away...
Rachel felt a chill as she absorbed her friend’s deduction, murmuring to herself.
"It does seem like that... Each time It strikes once and then leaves, but always at critical moments, leaving us with only one choice, herding us step by step into this place... like a flock of sheep..."
The more she spoke, the more terrified she became, Rachel’s expression turning bitter.
"Regardless of the purpose, it seems you hit the nail on the head. Things are far less optimistic than we imagined."
"Don’t lose heart."
Li Min calmly consoled.
"Look on the bright side, at least we don’t have to run outside anymore. Our intention to make contact has already been achieved."
"...You’re right."
Although her friend was now unrecognizable, the familiarity of her approach brought some comfort to Rachel.
"So what do we do now? Venture deeper and see if we can shake this guy off?"
"Or should we meet up with the others?"
Rachel gestured toward the direction from which they came, her implication clear.
Rather than being targeted alone by an enigmatic creature, it would be better to dive into a crowd to disperse its attention.
"When I left, I was already supposed to explore a bit. Now, returning with such news would definitely serve as a proper report."
"No, none of that."
Li Min decisively rejected her suggestion.
"Don’t go looking for them, don’t venture deeper; let’s find a place to hide."
"Just like you said before, I know a great place."
...
"It’s hard to imagine that such a cave could exist on top of this."
Moments later, as Rachel surveyed her surroundings, she couldn’t hide her surprise.
The place Li Min had brought her to was a cave close to the top of the Floating Island, a position considerably concealed.
Not only was it not small, but due to the lack of living organisms, the gray-white walls even seemed strangely dry.
"The boat we were on previously is entirely unrecognizable; I can’t figure out what force could erode a cave like this on top."
"That’s because it wasn’t eroded."
Resting in a corner to conserve as much energy as possible, Li Min casually explained.
"Just as you can’t imagine how such a solid island could disappear overnight."
"Although they seem like unconscious dead matter, they grow, rising and falling with the tides of the Sea of Ashes."
"This also means they will dissipate unpredictably, or you could call it death."
"Everything here is just like that."
As if responding to Li Min’s words, without any warning, a drizzle began outside, instantly turning the cave entrance into a curtain of water.
The rainwater was the same deathly pale gray as the sea.
"You didn’t bring me here just to shelter from the rain, did you?"
Rachel, whose previous two suggestions had been outright rejected, surprisingly seemed in a good mood.
She even felt like making a joke in the face of this sudden change.
"Can you explain now why we need to hide?"
"Simple, I’ve just thought of a reason why It drove you all here."
Li Min didn’t beat around the bush.
"It’s not about playing tricks or expecting you people to repent for anything, It might be looking for food."
"Looking for food?"
The answer shocked Rachel, and she clearly had trouble understanding it.
"But It didn’t eat us."
"You’re not the food, you’re the bait."
...
"It drove you here to wait for something else."
"Use us to lure out the real food?"
Rachel caught on immediately.
"That’s why It neither kills us nor lets us leave... It does seem a lot more reasonable now."
"But isn’t there a saying that anything from inside the Sea of Ashes, once it leaves, becomes meaningless? Why would It seek out this kind of food that would kill Itself?"
"I can’t explain it clearly either, but for now, it seems to be the most reasonable explanation. I can only understand that It has to ignore that due to some special reason."
Li Min shook her head.
"But it doesn’t matter, as long as the other baits do their job, we will know the answer to the question."
"So that’s why you didn’t let me go meet up with them..."
Rachel pondered.
"Yeah, what we need to do is to outlive the other baits until they lose their meaning."
"Bait gathered together is more likely to attract the hunter, so during this time, we need to minimize contact with them."
Li Min’s voice got progressively lower towards the end; Rachel looked at her curiously and noticed that the latter was intently looking towards the cave entrance.
Following her gaze, a silhouette became visible through the curtain of rain, and in the next moment even poked its head in to look.
"Sorry for interrupting, may I come in to take shelter from the rain?"