Chapter 377 - 349: The Sky-Toppling Sea Ridge
Outside the window, the downpour hammered the sea.
Qin Ziwen grabbed his raincoat and strode toward the balcony.
Rain poured down like a waterfall, visibility practically zero.
But in the gray expanse between heaven and earth, the coastline—once dozens of meters from the Gated Community’s entrance—had now completely vanished.
The wooden planks of the floating bridge near the shore had long been splintered by the waves, their fragments swept up by the surf and smashed against the retaining wall.
The sea level was rising in a way that defied all logic.
Mogu’s pale golden pupils narrowed into a thin line.
Its body trembled uncontrollably—not from fear, but from an instinct that resonated deep within its bloodline.
Its gaze fell upon the distant surface of the sea.
A section of the ocean there was bulging upward in an unnatural way.
It wasn’t a wave. It was an entity of unimaginable size, rising from the depths!
As this behemoth surfaced, the entire sea seemed to "respond." The water wasn’t being pushed aside; it was being displaced and lifted by its colossal body! This was the true cause of the rising sea level!
Mogu felt its sixth sense screaming a shrill warning.
"Ugh..." Du Yu squeezed his eyes shut, his brow furrowed, and nearly collapsed.
His hunting instinct granted him an Insight far keener than any ordinary person’s.
But at this moment, that extraordinary Insight felt like a sharp dagger being stabbed into his brain.
On the distant horizon, Qin Ziwen finally saw it.
A black silhouette of unimaginable size was slowly rising, like a submerged mountain range breaking free of its restraints and surfacing.
Its massive body, layered and coarse like a reef, pierced the ocean’s surface. In the midst of the torrential rain, the part that was exposed was already larger than a typical Island.
The next second, he saw countless thick columns of water suddenly erupt from the side of that "mountain"!
Immediately after, the sea level dropped visibly, forming a vortex around it.
It reminded Qin Ziwen of a whale filter-feeding on krill.
The vortex swirled for over ten minutes before gradually dissipating.
Out on the sea, the terrifying black silhouette began to slowly submerge again.
The water rushed back to fill the void, creating a low, rumbling thunder.
Finally, all that remained on the sea was the surging swell and the still-raging storm.
Qin Ziwen didn’t know whether to feel relieved or terrified.
The unimaginable Giant Beast hadn’t seemed to notice them, just as a walking person wouldn’t bother to look for an ant nest in the sand beneath their feet.
"Could you hunt that?" Qin Ziwen asked, turning his head toward Mogu.
Mogu was silent.
A rare look of melancholy crossed its cold face. "Master, it has surpassed the very limits of the Extraordinary. It’s not a creature our level can face. Even a hundred of me would stand no chance."
"Haha, a Giant Beast like that isn’t our enemy. As long as we don’t provoke it, we should be fine," Qin Ziwen said with a laugh, just teasing Mogu.
"Master, that Giant Beast... it looked a bit like the mountain range we saw on the seabed before," Mogu said in a solemn voice.
"Could it be that very same mountain range, just woken up?"
"No." Mogu paused before adding, "Even if they were of the same species, it couldn’t be the same one. The mountain range we explored felt dead to me, completely devoid of life. If it were alive, it would never have allowed those little things to make their nests inside it."
Qin Ziwen thought of the many Extraordinary Creatures he had seen inside the mountain’s belly.
If the underwater mountain range was truly the carcass of a dead Giant Beast, then the multitude of Extraordinary Creatures living within it would make sense.
It would explain why a seemingly ordinary mountain interior could produce a Grade-6 Marvel like Silver Marrow in such quantities.
And why there would be a rare species like the Silver Bobbit Worm, which could produce the pure Silver Blood.
When a whale falls, ten thousand things are born.
Perhaps only a being of this magnitude could, upon its death, transform into an unimaginable treasure trove capable of nurturing so many Extraordinary Creatures.
’That Silver Marrow and Silver Blood are truly good stuff.’
He had previously thought that Extraordinary Sea Beasts possessing Silver Blood might not be particularly rare, since he had found quite a few in the mountain range.
Now, he realized that wasn’t the case.
’The remaining Silver Bobbit Worms in the mountain range are a resource I can’t miss out on. But there’s no need to wipe them out completely. The best approach is to leave some to breed, allowing for a continuous harvest.’
After the unnamable deep-sea behemoth resubmerged into the ocean, the rain gradually began to let up.
Raindrops drizzled onto the sea’s surface.
An unexpected guest arrived on the Island.
Yang Long’s hair was soaked from the rain, and his steps were hurried. As he looked at the dry surroundings, a trace of envy flashed in his eyes.
"Chairman Qin, we found a cave on the island," Yang Long said in a low voice. "Inside the cave is a pool of water, and growing over the pool is a tree that looks anything but ordinary. There’s also a fence around it, like something left behind by a previous Transmigrator."
"Oh?" A spark of interest lit up in Qin Ziwen’s eyes.
The word "cave" caught his attention.
After all, the Heaven-Reaching Fruit had been discovered in a cave.
"What’s there?"
"A very large fruit tree."
Qin Ziwen’s eyes narrowed.
’This sounds familiar.’
Qin Ziwen asked, "Why didn’t you dig it up yourself?"
Yang Long gave a bitter smile. "There’s something in the pool. Two of my brothers were dragged down by it. I thought it over carefully. Even if I spent all day getting it, I wouldn’t be able to hold onto it."
He looked up at Qin Ziwen. "I want to sell the information for a good price."
"Fine. But I can only appraise it and give you a price after I have the item in hand."
"Of course. Thank you, Chairman Qin." Upon receiving Qin Ziwen’s reply, Yang Long felt a wave of relief mixed with bitterness. If he hadn’t been forced into a corner, who would willingly give such an opportunity away?
Unfortunately, they had made too much of a commotion at the time. Too many people knew. If he didn’t speak up, someone else would.
And if someone else sold the information to Qin Ziwen for a good price and then tried to take his position, it would be a disaster.
So after thinking it through, he decided it was better to be the one to sell the information himself.
"I’ll go make some preparations. Have some hot water first, you don’t want to catch a cold." Qin Ziwen stood up, poured him a glass of warm water, and then went to find Zhao Pu, telling him to verify the information over in the Urban Village.
Many residents from the Urban Village commuted to work here every day, so the Node had been left open. That was how Yang Long had come over.
Zhao Pu was in charge of cooperative efforts with the Urban Village and had some informants under him.
Before long, Zhao Pu returned in a hurry.
"Chairman, Yang Long did indeed take some of his trusted men out. Two of them didn’t come back. But he’s keeping a tight lid on the details, so we don’t know anything more specific."
"No matter. Let’s go take a look."
With the information confirmed, Qin Ziwen took Mogu and Du Yu through the Node, arriving directly in the Urban Village.
The Urban Village was littered with puddles from the receded seawater, and some residents were busy cleaning up washed-up seafood.
Seeing Qin Ziwen, many people stood up to greet him. "Boss." "Chairman."
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