The moon hung beyond the clouds, casting light over footprints of varying depths along the island beach.
Bai Chunian’s steps grew heavier; abdominal cramps wracked him. He sank to his knees at the shore, icy seawater washing repeatedly over his thighs, carrying away the blood dripping from his neck glands.
The mineral embedded in his ear glimmered with dark blue, pulsing like a heartbeat, guiding him. Bai Chunian could sense Lan Bo’s direction. He waded into the deeper water, but moving through it was far more exhausting than on land. Even his endurance, previously reset by Dr. Han, was nearly depleted.
“Lan Bo… stay close to me…” Bai Chunian’s vision darkened. Saltwater suddenly flooded his mouth, the sea rushing into his ears, drowning out even the sound of wind. Silence of the ocean swallowed him completely.
He lost consciousness. His communicator vibrated lightly, but he could no longer perceive it.
Lan Bo swam deeper through the deep-water reagent storage, clutching the temperature-controlled case. Finally, he reached the filtration system at the bottom.
The water pressure at this depth exceeded what a normal human or diving suit could endure. Therefore, no anti-agent devices or codes were installed on the filter. Lan Bo manually stopped the propeller, tugged it off, then extended his sharp claws to tear at the filter mesh. The reinforced mesh, designed for durability and corrosion resistance, was not easily damaged, so he had to bite and pull to make an opening just wide enough to fit an arm through.
Water rushed past his ears with a faint, strange sound. Lan Bo raised his deep-blue fins, listening for noises from above.
It was an unfamiliar sound.
The deep-water storage’s security doors open automatically from the front when someone approaches. The intruder was closing in fast, carrying a murderous aura.
The sound drew closer. The space was tight; Lan Bo could not maneuver his tail freely. He spread his hands, and seawater solidified into a hydraulically-steel chainsaw. As it struck the filter, sparks of blue light flashed, cutting a large hole. Lan Bo bit and tore the steel mesh, squeezing through with the case.
The moment he exited the storage, the final security door opened. Eris descended from above, nearly grabbing Lan Bo’s tail.
Eris was an artificial lifeform—a modified experimental subject. He did not need to breathe; suffocation had no effect, giving him an even greater advantage underwater.
A heavy scent of blood clung to him, mingling with the water and carrying a faint note of brandy-like pheromones.
“I heard your eyes shed pearls. If I pluck them and keep them in a fish tank, will I find pearls every morning?” Eris spread the water around him, pointing at the case. “Hand over the HD reagent. You’re not using it anyway. I don’t know what it does, but Nyx told me to grab it.”
Lan Bo glared.
Pain throbbed faintly in his chest. Since he had shared part of his heart with Bai Chunian, he could feel Bai Chunian’s injuries clearly.
This was no time to struggle with Eris. Rushing to find Bai Chunian, Lan Bo flicked his tail, transforming into a streak of deep blue lightning, swimming dozens of meters away.
He suddenly stopped. His tail and surrounding seaweed became entangled. Overhead, a reef collapsed, crashing down in a flood of debris. Lan Bo raised his hands to shield himself, but jagged rocks cut a deep gash along his forearm, exposing bone.
Cursed by Eris, Lan Bo’s misfortune had struck again. His J1 ability, Misfortune’s Descent, consumed minimal energy, allowing continuous activation.
As Lan Bo struggled, Eris advanced.
“You… you’re asking to die…” Lan Bo shook the blood from his arms. His wounds slowly healed. Enraged, he emerged from the rubble, swimming above the reef. His hands, now sharp claws, gripped the rock edges, and his tail turned blood-red.
The seawater spiraled into his hands. Even the silver fish nearby were drawn into the vortex. A hydraulically-steel weapon formed in his grasp. A heavy, transparent AT-4 rocket launcher landed on his shoulder, trapping a few of the struggling silver fish inside, drifting slowly within the barrel.
This anti-tank rocket launcher, forged from hydraulically-steel in the water, showcased Lan Bo’s fury.
The cannon’s rear emitted a sapphire flash. A transparent projectile shot toward Eris, blowing apart collapsed reef stones, sending powerful currents through the seabed and uprooting coral.
Eris was thrown ten meters by the blast, tumbling across the soft sand before coming to rest.
Lan Bo sneered coldly. “Once I find Randi, I’ll tear you apart. Puppets sure are arrogant.”
“Damn you!”
Underwater was no advantage for Eris. He regained his stance to pursue, but Lan Bo had already streaked hundreds of meters ahead in a bolt of blue lightning.
Lan Bo pressed his hand to his violently beating chest, raising his ear fins to catch the ocean’s signals. He could feel Bai Chunian’s faint heartbeat, nearly audible.
“Randi…”
The water flowing across each blue scale carried Bai Chunian’s scent. Lan Bo swam in circles, searching, frozen mid-current. He feared Bai Chunian might be slowed by shark-like scales, might sink from exhaustion, or drift beyond his reach.
Eris drew closer, a dark shadow enveloping Lan Bo.
Lan Bo suddenly froze. Looking down, he saw his lower body engulfed in molten lava. His scales curled and peeled, skin slowly consumed by the magma.
Around him, merfolk voices hissed insults.
“Fanliber. (Traitor to the sea folk.)”
“Hoti coon, kimo goon. (You abandoned us when lava struck.)”
“Boliea abanda kimo. Nowa siren. (We cast you out, unfit to be king.)”
The scorching heat seared him. Every ounce of strength went into suppressing the lava; he could not spare any to protect his once-beautiful scales.
The molten rock swallowed him into the depths. He could not breathe.
The Curse Master’s M2 differentiation ability, Horror Reel, shrouded him in darkness, burying him in life’s greatest pain—forever trapped in the past of hatred and curses.
Lan Bo lost consciousness, slowly sinking into the sea.
“Looks like he’s in pain. I wish I could see what hurts him so much,” Eris said as he swam toward him, seizing the case from Lan Bo’s grasp. Lan Bo’s fingers clenched it tightly. Eris drew a dagger, prying at his palm. “Hmm? Hands are quite pretty, even the webbing glows. Might as well take it back for a bedside lamp. Wow, why’s he wearing a cat-claw ring?”
Eris raised his dagger and brought it down hard on Lan Bo’s wrist.
Lan Bo’s hand twitched, gripping the case tightly. He swung it in a wide arc, smashing it against Eris’s head. The two collided and then separated, creating distance once again.
“I have ruled the sea folk for two hundred years,” Lan Bo said, lifting his right hand. “I am often called a tyrant. I no longer care for the lives of those who misunderstand me. Only the sea, bound to me in life and death, and one sincere youth concern me.” Water spiraled into his palm, forming a furious vortex. “Your petty tricks are not even worth my attention.”
The razor-sharp currents, trailing streaks of blue lightning, circled Eris, forming a transparent cage that trapped him on the ocean floor. Slowly, it sank into the sand.
Even though Eris had reached the level of a Level 9 mature Curse Master and commanded the Puppet Master’s silver gears, he still could not overcome Lan Bo’s advantage underwater.
Lan Bo swam toward the shallows like a ghostly blue wraith, accompanied by glowing jellyfish.
Above, the roar of helicopter rotors echoed over the surface.
Nyx piloted the helicopter. Wangliang clutched the hourglass in a corner, while Crocodile carried the now-extracted Chiseng bone. The bone leaned against his shoulder, asleep, its long golden-green eyelashes fluttering in the wind. Peacock-like tail feathers shimmered, clinking like crystal in the breeze.
A streak of blue lightning approached the surface. Crocodile shouted, “Lightning Phantom is coming up!”
He had barely recovered from the previous injuries and now faced the IOA task force. Gritting his teeth, he braced the helicopter-mounted machine gun and fired at the water where the lightning struck. Bullets rained down, sending splashes into the air and puncturing the water’s surface.
A brief silence followed.
Suddenly, Lan Bo shot from the sea, leaping seventeen meters high with the hydraulically-steel rocket launcher on his shoulder. A transparent shell fired at the helicopter.
“Goon! (Die!)”
The M2 differentiation ability of the stingray, high-explosive water shell, struck with immense force and area of effect. The helicopter could not evade. The fuselage was hit, tossed violently, smoke and flames erupting.
The explosion suppressed the gunfire and awakened Chiseng bone.
Lan Bo twisted, diving back into the ocean.
Eris surfaced in disarray, silver hair plastered to his head, clothes shredded by water blades. He sent a gold thread from his wrist to the smoking helicopter, hoisting himself out of the water.
Nyx remained calm, placing a hand on the drenched Eris’s neck and turning the silver gear.
The wounds on Eris’s exposed flesh stitched themselves shut, restoring much of his lost energy. He bent one leg, sitting beside the smoke-filled helicopter, sticking his tongue out with a grim smile at Lan Bo. “Think you can still decide things once you’re ashore?”
Lan Bo’s half-body emerged from the water. He lifted the case, asking coldly, “You want the reagent inside?”
Nyx frowned. “Eris, get it back. Don’t let him destroy it.”
Eris immediately leapt from the helicopter, reaching for the case in Lan Bo’s hands.
It was already too late.
“Come get it from the seabed,” Lan Bo said, biting off most of the case and tossing the remainder into his tooth-filled mouth, chewing and swallowing it.
Eris realized there was no turning back.
The HD lateral-development reagent was extremely rare. It could immediately generate a companion ability related to the user’s gland traits, permanently. Normally, companion abilities could only be probabilistically obtained during differentiation and were not inherently offensive. But possessing even one granted immense auxiliary enhancements.
Nyx clenched his fists. Lightning Phantom was already powerful—what would happen if Lan Bo gained another companion ability? He dared not imagine.
Lan Bo flicked his tail. It flushed red, gold patterns spreading across each scale.
The stingray’s third companion ability, Koi Blessing: temporarily extreme luck.
Eris: “???”
Lan Bo didn’t yet understand how to use the new ability. Suddenly, a collision jolted his lower back.
He turned and saw Bai Chunian floating on the water, his head bumping Lan Bo’s waist.
“Randi… Randi.” Lan Bo immediately set aside his opponent, lifting Bai Chunian and pressing his cheek to him, infusing soothing pheromones into his body.
He smelled blood on Bai Chunian, then noticed the bite marks on the neck gland.
“…Wei. (Why?)” Lan Bo gently touched the water-bleached wound. “Ne boliea quaun eiy. (My queen was bitten [gland])”
Bai Chunian twitched, coughing violently, lifting a weak hand to rest lightly on Lan Bo’s shoulder. Seawater trickled through his fingers.
“Scythe… lend me… once more.”
Lan Bo patted his back reassuringly. Raising his right hand, seawater condensed into droplets, gathering in his palm to form a rock. The rock stretched, transforming into a crackling electric scythe.
“This was always yours.”
Bai Chunian weakly, astonished, lifted his head.
Lan Bo inspected the scythe’s smooth, icy surface. “The ocean has two hearts. One is the heart of the living, in my chest, the source of life for all sea creatures. The other is the heart of the dead, the Dead Sea Heart Rock, collecting the wishes of the departed in the deep. Holding it is ominous.”
A glimmer appeared in Bai Chunian’s eyes.
“Lend it to me…”
Lan Bo pursed his lips. “But it’s not what you need right now.”
“Mm.” Bai Chunian’s weakened beast ears drooped, betraying his exhaustion.
Lan Bo’s scythe melted, returning to its rock form. He reshaped the rock into a sturdy, translucent beast muzzle, enclosing Bai Chunian’s sharp teeth and jaw. A fine chain extended from the muzzle, its end held firmly in Lan Bo’s hand.
“Ready to go.” Lan Bo loosened the faintly glowing blue chain, inspecting it carefully. “With me here, it won’t run out of control.”
Eris hung from the helicopter by his cursed gold thread, staring in astonishment at Bai Chunian. His hair had turned white, and his eyes glowed a deep, dark blue. His teeth, restrained by the beast muzzle, were growing wildly, approaching the ferocity of a male white lion.
“A familiar…?” Eris murmured.
Bai Chunian’s body traced a silver-white arc under the moonlight, hurling Eris violently from the helicopter. His arm strength had dramatically increased compared to the previous fight. Yet Eris still could not detect any pheromonal waves from an A3 ability emanating from him.
The two barely touched midair before separating. Eris was speechless, stunned by the overwhelming power Bai Chunian displayed.
He looked down at his own right arm—below the forearm had been severed without effort, and he felt nothing.
Nyx watched Bai Chunian intently, veins bulging on his hands as he piloted the helicopter, knuckles whitening.
The beast muzzle Bai Chunian wore clearly provided no enhancement; it only constrained him. Normally, messenger-type experimental subjects would gain immense strength from a familiar. Why would a Divine Messenger rely on it to suppress power instead?