Chapter 147

Aberrant Realm 47, Amber Lake. After three hundred years of extraction, its resources had nearly been depleted. Its core monster, the Deep Blue Giant Eel, had begun rampaging frequently. Official reports claimed that thirteen workers had already lost their lives over the past three months.

Ye Zheng knew all too well how management operated. The real death toll was at least twice that number.

This aberrant realm no longer held any real reason to exist. After three centuries of suppression, the core monster, the Deep Blue Giant Eel, wasn’t considered highly dangerous, which was precisely why it had been selected as the trial content for the competition.

Ye Zheng first moved through a small forest before stepping onto a patch of uneven, mottled ground. She nudged the surface lightly with the tip of her shoe. This area had once been woodland. To improve mining efficiency, the land had been completely leveled. Faint footprints could still be seen scattered across it. The officials had already withdrawn all the workers, leaving only the contestants behind.

At the far end of the flattened ground stretched a vast, boundless lake. Beneath the clear, shallow sunlight, it reflected a faint bluish glow.

Ye Zheng walked up to the shore and looked into the water. To her surprise, the lake was incredibly deep. She couldn’t see the bottom at all, and not a single ripple disturbed its surface. Beneath that calm and tranquil exterior lay a cliff-like abyss of blue.

The others soon gathered by the lakeside as well. A troubled expression appeared on Ryan’s face. His ability allowed him to detect the movements of aberrant creatures, but the lake was simply too vast. For now, he couldn’t sense anything at all.

Sykes cast a glance at the boats prepared by the organizing committee along the shore and said, “Let’s head out onto the lake and check.”

To increase the difficulty of the competition, the management of Amber Lake had lifted the suppression placed on the Deep Blue Giant Eel. It could now roam freely across the entire lake. For the contestants, merely locating it was already an extremely challenging task.

Ye Zheng had no objections to Sykes’ suggestion. She wasn’t concerned about where the giant eel currently was. Instead, she stayed inwardly alert to every subtle movement around her.

Once she was out on the surface of the lake, her ability would be like a fish in water. No matter what kind of ability Wen Xiaoxing possessed, she was confident she could handle him.

The four of them boarded the boat. Sykes remained alone inside the cabin, while Ryan and Ye Di fumbled as they tried to figure out how to operate the vessel. Ye Zheng stood by the railing, watching the pale blue surface of the lake.

Her five fingers gripped the railing tightly. 【Stream】 flowed quietly from her fingertips, slipping into the vast lake water without making a single sound.

Ye Zheng closed her eyes and concentrated on the information being transmitted by 【Stream】.

The lakebed was extremely calm. The minerals buried beneath it occasionally released faint energy fluctuations, but aside from that, there were no signs of any aberrant realm creature activity. It seemed the giant eel wasn’t nearby.

In the manga spoiler, she and Pei Xi had been on the same boat, while Ye Di had stood at the bow, preparing to attack. In the distant background of that panel, there had been a forest of yellow-leafed trees. Ye Zheng looked into the distance, but she didn’t see any similar scenery.

“Hey, Ye Di, which direction are you steering toward? We should be heading toward the center. They said the giant eel had been suppressed there before.”

“You idiot, Ryan. If you were locked up for three hundred years and finally set free, would you still be willing to stay in the same place?”

“Once we get to the middle, I can widen the range of my ability and find that big fish. Don’t tell me you don’t want me to help the Crown Prince track it down, Ye Di?”

“Alright, Ryan. It’s not like I don’t know your level. Tsk.”

The two of them deliberately lowered their voices as they argued, but Ye Zheng heard every single word clearly. She couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. These two were so obedient and restrained in front of Sykes, yet they showed quite a temper when dealing with teammates of equal standing. Ye Di had even claimed that Ryan was his friend.

“Wait, Ye Di, stop talking! I think I’ve picked up something…”

Hearing the hesitation in Ryan’s voice, the smile on Ye Zheng’s face disappeared. She lightly twirled the thread of water in her hand, yet she didn’t detect anything unusual.

“Where?”

“In the east… No, the south. Wait, it feels like there’s something in the north too?”

Ye Di snapped impatiently, “What do you mean by that? Are there monsters in every direction? Get a hold of yourself. There’s only one aberrant realm creature in Amber Lake!”

“It must be because it’s too far away. I…”

Ryan’s voice trailed off, growing quieter and quieter, as if he were embarrassed by his own uncertainty. Under Ye Di’s scornful, mocking stare, he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

Ye Zheng, who’d been standing silently by the railing, suddenly turned grave. The Deep Blue Giant Eel was a monster that had been sealed away three hundred years ago. Much of the information about it had been lost during the development of the Amber Lake industry. For example, no one knew exactly how massive it was, or how long its body truly stretched.

The previously calm surface of the lake suddenly rippled. Almost instantly, Ye Zheng activated 【Stream】, condensing a razor-fast water spear beneath the surface and firing it at lightning speed in a specific direction.

Just as the spear was about to strike something, the still water erupted into violent waves. The boat lurched and rocked fiercely. Ye Zheng instinctively steadied herself, but the perception transmitted through 【Stream】 was abruptly severed.

She didn’t need to probe any further now. She already knew the giant eel’s location.

Its massive, elongated body had silently encircled this entire stretch of water, coiling around the area like a towering wall and trapping everything within it, including their boat.

“What happened?”

“Damn it! That has to be the eel!”

The boat pitched and lurched violently. Ye Di, who had just regained his composure, manipulated the underwater plants to barely keep the vessel steady. Sykes, who’d been seated inside the cabin, braced himself against the railing before stepping out. With a grim, tense expression, he stared out across the lake.

The once calm, pale blue surface of the lake was now churning at a terrifying speed, forming a massive spiraling vortex. The immense suction force looked as if it could swallow their fragile boat whole at any moment.

Ye Zheng clutched the railing tightly with both hands to keep her balance. When she glanced downward, she saw the deck trembling and shuddering, faint cracks already beginning to spread across it.

Even though Ye Di could anchor the boat using water plants, the hull itself simply couldn’t endure such relentless, violent motion.

That giant eel was at least a hundred meters long. Its body still remained some distance from the boat. It was intelligent enough not to rush in blindly. Instead, it circled the entire area at high speed, generating an unavoidable vortex at the center of the water.

Just as expected from the core of an S-Class aberrant realm, it was both powerful and cunning.

Under such turbulent conditions, even Ye Zheng’s 【Stream】 couldn’t suppress the raging waters against the force of nature. Ryan was already dry-heaving from the intense rocking. The giant eel was too far away, well beyond the effective range of his ability to control aberrant creatures. Sykes’ expression darkened further, his face heavy with frustration. Even his 【Destruction】 couldn’t inflict any damage from such a distance.

Ye Zheng didn’t panic. She had a natural affinity for water. A mere vortex could only destroy the boat and drag them into the giant eel’s underwater domain. Once the eel’s main body drew close, it wouldn’t be difficult to counter-kill it in the water.

“Ye Zheng, find a way to drag that giant eel over here. I’ll deal with it!”

Sykes’ face turned pale, his brows drawn tight together. Even his forced voice carried a faint, barely concealed weakness.

Ye Zheng studied his face and suddenly understood. No wonder he’d insisted on staying inside the cabin as soon as they boarded. The Crown Prince was seasick, and the violent rocking only made it harder for him to endure.

The vortex spun like the tightening coils of a python, constricting the prey trapped within its grasp. Ye Zheng stood on the deck, which was on the verge of breaking apart, and looked toward the distant churning waves. The giant eel was the monster Sykes and the others were supposed to handle right now, but she had no reason to waste much effort on it.

Besides, she’d already made a promise to Wu Shu.

This wasn’t the first time Ye Zheng had slacked off. In the Royal Team, she did it even more without guilt.

She shifted slightly so Sykes could see her tugging on the 【Stream】 in her hands. At the same time, she lowered her brows and bit her lip, putting on the appearance of trying her hardest while being powerless. This was already the greatest respect she could show the Crown Prince.

Sykes, who was desperately holding back nausea and dizziness, almost lost control and vomited when he saw this. He had fought her before. This gal actually dared to slack off right in front of him!

Sykes strode forward. His pale face flushed red with anger at Ye Zheng’s actions. Just as an internal conflict within the Royal Team was about to erupt, Ye Di’s startled cry rang out.

“The vortex seems to have disappeared… Someone’s coming!”

Sykes, his face flushed red with anger, lowered his gaze and realized that at some point, the nearly shattered deck had started to tremble less and less violently.

In the distance, across the gradually calming surface of the lake, a boat was slowly making its way toward them.

Ye Zheng turned her head and stared without blinking at the approaching vessel. The instant her eyes met those familiar green ones again, the unease that had been lingering in her heart finally eased, just like Amber Lake as it once more returned to its calm state.

✧✧✧✧✧

“I never expected the invincible Crown Prince to get such terrible seasickness.”

Pei Xi stood on the deck, casting a glance at Sykes, who was clutching the railing. His tone carried a trace of mockery.

Sykes let out a cold laugh. “Say one more word, and I’ll toss your entire team into the lake to feed the fish.”

The powerful vortex had nearly torn apart the Royal Team’s boat, leaving it completely unable to continue sailing. The Cloud Soarers team, having noticed the disturbance from afar, had launched an attack on the giant eel from the outer perimeter. The creature had retreated. Now, faced with the stranded Royal Team, they still chose to invite them aboard.

After all, if they refused to take them in, Sykes would absolutely be capable of throwing them all into the water and then calmly seizing control of the Cloud Soarers’ boat without the slightest hesitation.

Pei Xi pressed his fingers against his brow, feeling a headache coming on. He didn’t really want to deal with Sykes, but he was even less willing to deal with another certain person from the Royal Team.

He shifted his blue eyes and glanced toward the far end of the boat. Two boys of similar height stood at the bow with their backs to him, speaking quietly about something unknown.

Ye Zheng alone was already difficult enough for him to understand. Now, on top of that, there was this enigmatic Wen Xiaoxing. Especially since Wen Xiaoxing had specifically brought up Ye Zheng, yet his attitude had been impossible to decipher.

The boat, carrying eight people, sailed steadily across the undercurrent-filled waters of Amber Lake.

“We meet again, Saintess. Seems like we’re truly bound by fate, don’t you think?”

Wen Xiaoxing leaned back against the railing, turning his head slightly to look at Ye Zheng’s profile as she gazed out over the lake. His greeting was warm.

Ye Zheng merely shifted her eyes to glance at him once, offering no reply. Wen Xiaoxing didn’t show the slightest sign of irritation. Instead, a hint of longing appeared in his expression as he stepped a little closer.

“When we first met, I said I was looking forward to seeing you. That wasn’t just empty talk.”

“From the moment I was born, I’ve been looking forward to this day.”

Ye Zheng finally turned her head and looked straight at the boy’s face. His eyes were large and round, with slightly drooping outer corners, giving him an especially obedient appearance. His green eyes resembled fresh spring grass, clear and brimming with vibrant energy. Aside from his gaze being a bit too direct, he really did look like the “Zhao Mei” she had disguised herself as.

Oh, and there was one more thing that didn’t quite line up. It wasn’t that he didn’t resemble Zhao Mei, but rather that he didn’t quite seem human.

“Remember to blink once every five seconds.”

Ye Zheng offered the reminder kindly.

Wen Xiaoxing finally blinked once. Then Ye Zheng witnessed a genuinely horrifying scene. He started blinking rapidly. His eyelids opened and closed so fast that they nearly formed afterimages, like a finely crafted machine suddenly glitching.

“Thank you for the guidance, Saintess.”

After a while, Wen Xiaoxing stopped the unsettling behavior. His blinking returned to a normal rhythm, and his cute, delicate expression settled back into place.

“Wen Jian didn’t have time to teach me much before he couldn’t hold back and sent me out to deal with you.”

Ye Zheng wasn’t surprised at all to hear Wen Jian’s name. Only he could create something like this.

“He must’ve put in a great deal of effort to create you. He really is willing to go all out just to kill me.”

Wen Xiaoxing scratched his head. “Creating me was easy enough. It’s keeping me going that takes real effort!”

“Keeping you going?” A hint of curiosity flickered in Ye Zheng’s eyes.

“Let’s drop him. You don’t like him either, right? So why bother talking about someone we both dislike?”

Wen Xiaoxing grinned brightly and brushed the topic aside. Ye Zheng watched him with her cold, dark eyes. Then, all of a sudden, a faint smile touched her lips, gentle like ice and snow slowly melting.

“Then let’s talk about something we both like. For example, what exactly is your ability?”

Ye Zheng lowered her head slightly. Her tone sounded as though she were coaxing a younger brother into revealing a piece of hidden candy. A long time ago, she’d coaxed Ye Di in much the same way.

『Fate Singularity!』

Not only did Wen Xiaoxing show no caution, his voice actually grew more excited.

“Fate… Singularity? Is it that kind of ‘strange’ singularity?”

At Ye Zheng’s question, Wen Xiaoxing’s green eyes lit up with delight. “You know about singularities?”

“A singularity is said to be the origin point of the world, extending through time and space all the way to the end of existence.”

Ye Zheng half lowered her gaze. It was something Qin Lu had once told her. Qin Lu would occasionally dig out strange books from forgotten corners, filled with bizarre names and deep knowledge that was often hard to grasp. Even Qin Lu herself couldn’t always fully understand them, but that never stopped her from eagerly sharing them with her students.

The reason Ye Zheng remembered the concept of a “singularity” so clearly was probably because she herself had always been fascinated by the beginning and the end of the world.

“Ah, just as expected of the Saintess. You’re way smarter than those idiots. My ability really is connected to singularities, the universe, and space-time.”

Bang!

Wen Xiaoxing’s excited voice cut off abruptly. He staggered and crashed heavily onto the deck with a dull thud.

Right after that, the railing behind him shattered. Surging waves burst through the gap and coiled around his body.

“It’s another vortex! Everyone, hold tight!”

“Damn it, that giant eel is causing trouble again! Find a way to strike its main body!”

Curses and panicked shouts echoed across the deck, yet the bow of the boat remained strangely quiet. One person stood upright and unmoving on the violently rocking deck, while another was pinned down by the rushing water, struggling to lift his head.

Ye Zheng looked down at Wen Xiaoxing from above. Her voice was soft and gentle as she delivered utterly merciless words.

“I’m truly sorry. No matter what your ability is, you’re going to die in that giant eel’s mouth.”

Wen Jian had already sent someone to infiltrate the competition with the intent of killing her, planning to disguise the assassination as nothing more than an accident during the match.

But she could just as easily use this same match to ensure Wen Xiaoxing died in an “accident.”

Ye Zheng hadn’t intended to make her move this soon, but this guy was simply far too irritating. She didn’t want to put up with him any longer.

While the others on the boat were occupied with trying to stabilize the hull, Ye Zheng’s position just happened to completely block Wen Xiaoxing from sight. For the moment, no one noticed what was unfolding at the other end of the boat.

“It’s not the giant eel! It’s… it’s you who created the vortex!”

More than half of Wen Xiaoxing’s body had already been dragged into the lake water. His hands stubbornly clung to the broken edge of the railing as he looked up at Ye Zheng.

No wonder Ye Zheng had seemed distracted the whole time. She had been secretly preparing her ability, imitating the giant eel’s method to create an “accident” for him!

Ye Zheng looked down, not even bothering to give this monster a smile. She raised her foot and mercilessly kicked the struggling Wen Xiaoxing!

Wen Xiaoxing’s hands slipped. His entire body fell into the turbulent lake water. Amid the noisy chaos, Ye Zheng pulled out a gun and fired several shots at Wen Xiaoxing as he bobbed in the water.

Blood gradually spread across the surface. Ye Zheng looked at the lake and saw her own reflection, along with Wen Xiaoxing’s corpse, whose eyes remained wide open in death.

He no longer wore that annoying cheeky grin. His head hung down, and his large green eyes stared fixedly at his own chest, as if he wanted to personally witness the fatal wound.

He died in a very ugly way. 【Stream】 would carry the dead Wen Xiaoxing through the vortex she had created and deliver him straight into the mouth of the Deep Blue Giant Eel, leaving not even a corpse behind.

Ye Zheng was about to drag Wen Xiaoxing’s body completely into the water when she glanced at his eyes and suddenly felt an inexplicable discomfort in her heart.

Before she could sort out this strange emotion, a blinding white light suddenly flashed before her eyes, something on Wen Xiaoxing’s body was reflecting light!

The intense white light flashed past. Ye Zheng closed her eyes from the sting. In that instant of closing her eyes, a powerful sense of crisis surged into her heart.

Back in the rest area, a white light had also flashed before her eyes.

The sound of churning waves and the shouts of the young men gradually receded like the tide.

A gentle breeze carrying the fragrance of the forest brushed across her face. When Ye Zheng opened her eyes again, she found herself standing on soft ground.

“So this is… the Fate Singularity?”

Ye Zheng’s expression turned grave.