Lin Gui focused his gaze, and his heart suddenly tightened.
It wasn't the seawater turning red.
Instead, countless scarlet threads as thin as ox hair were surging frantically from the deepest part of the bottomless abyss.
They were like living tentacles, spreading and diffusing upward, filling every inch of seawater within sight in the blink of an eye.
Eyes of the Netherworld allowed him to see the essence of souls.
The soul of an ordinary living being was a soft blue halo.
A demon's soul, however, appeared as a dangerous red.
The stronger the demon, the more intense and massive its soul halo was.
At this moment, the soul threads that could dye the entire Silent Abyss red...
The strength of their source’s owner was already beyond Lin Gui’s imagination.
His face instantly turned pale, and cold sweat soaked his back.
He asked the merman's soul that was still screaming in his mind: “What is... that thing down there?”
The merman's soul's terror almost broke through the bead’s restraint: “Sathos... the silent demon god... it’s a Demigod, Sathos!”
When he heard the word “Demigod,” the fear on Lin Gui’s face strangely faded a little.
He lowered his head and remained silent for a moment, his eyes flickering intensely.
Ultimately, a nearly cold calm replaced his panic.
Silently, he tightly closed the still-vibrating carriage window and slowly sat back down on the floor of the carriage.
“You... how can you...” The merman's soul was extremely surprised by his reaction.
“Did you hear what I said? A Demigod! Sathos!”
“Every sea it passes through, whether islands or continents... will sink! Sink!!”
“Including the Royal Court of our merfolk—Atlanna!”
Lin Gui looked up, his gray pupils calm and still.
They were already above Sathos; in the face of a Demigod's power, no amount of struggling would matter.
Of course, things might not be as dire as the merman's soul thought.
While a Demigod demon was terrifying, they rarely appeared except during a Dark Tide.
The North Wind caravan had safely passed through this undersea route many times.
Lin Gui believed he wouldn't be unlucky enough to run into trouble right now.
Most importantly, he was already here.
He could only pray that the demon powerhouse below wouldn't even turn over.
“You remember now?”
The merman's soul stopped abruptly.
Its state went from extreme terror to a hint of daze, and then a forgotten sense of urgency suddenly revived.
“Yes! Yes!! That’s right!!”
“I remember! I am the Commander of the Royal Guards of Atlanna!”
“I traveled tens of thousands of miles across the seas, crossing the silent seabed... I discarded my physical body to escape the shackles of Sathos's Law of Sinking in soul form...”
“It was to get out! To seek help from the City-State Alliance!”
Its voice trembled with excitement but was remarkably clear.
“Atlanna is sinking! It is sinking at an uncontrollable speed!”
“Before long, the entire undersea city-state will completely crash!”
“For the lives of millions of my sea folk!”
There was an undeniable determination in the merman's soul's voice.
“I must deliver the news seeking help to the City-State Alliance as soon as possible!”
Lin Gui merely replied indifferently: “Even if you deliver the news to the City-State Alliance... they won't send people to help.”
“Why?!” The merman's soul almost roared, filled with disbelief.
Lin Gui let out a short, cold laugh.
There was no warmth in that laugh, only a cynicism that had seen through the world.
“You’re too naive,” he said, his voice terrifyingly calm.
“The City-State Alliance? They are just a group of factions with their own ulterior motives, bickering at a negotiation table.”
“What they are best at is delaying, passing the buck, and going back and forth.”
“For profit, an alliance treaty signed today can be discarded tomorrow.”
His gray pupils looked at the merman's soul with a hint of pity that was almost cruel.
“As for those races on the brink of extinction because of a Dark Tide or other reasons... do you think the Alliance will extend a helping hand?”
“Their more common practice is to wait for the other party to be weak, then annex their inheritance and divide their land.”
“Or, they simply act as if they haven't seen it and leave them to their own devices.”
“No! Impossible!” The merman's soul argued vehemently, its faith almost collapsing.
“Our merfolk joined the Alliance when the City-State Era began!”
“We paid a massive price to have our race's name written into that 《Mutual Assistance Treaty》!”
“If the Alliance violates the treaty like this and betrays the pact... how will other races see it? The Alliance’s credibility will be utterly destroyed!”
Lin Gui looked at it, his gaze still icy.
“Credibility? In the face of survival, how many copper coins is credibility worth?”
“Besides, who can prove you were attacked?”
“Who can prove it was the Demigod Sathos that caused the sinking?”
“Even if it is proven, will the Alliance provoke a Demigod... for the sake of the merfolk who are deep in the ocean and irrelevant to their interests?”
His words were like an icy dagger, piercing through the last of the merman's soul's hope.
“Of course, that’s just my personal opinion.”
Lin Gui's tone softened slightly, as if throwing a glimmer of light into the cold deep sea.
“Perhaps under the pressure of public opinion, the Alliance really will send reinforcements in the end.”
“For example... a symbolic party of ‘Heroes.’”
He shifted the topic, seemingly casually offering a pointer: “After all, you still have a compatriot in the Alliance.”
“A merfolk who holds considerable prestige in the current City-State Alliance.”
Upon hearing this, the light of the merman's soul, which had scattered due to fear, suddenly condensed.
“Anya! You’re talking about Anya, the Voice of the Sea!”
Hope was rekindled in its voice.
“Yes, I can go find her! The singer who has soothed countless souls with her voice!”
“With her influence among the races, she will definitely be able to persuade the Alliance!”
It urged urgently, its soul halo vibrating slightly: “Take me to her! Right now!”
Lin Gui's expression remained unchanged as he said calmly: “Don’t worry, I will commission the North Wind caravan to deliver you to Dawn City.”
His gaze drifted seemingly unintentionally toward the figure outside the window who was maintaining the bubble.
“Speaking of which, there is a Legendary merfolk mage right outside.”
“Master Percel holds a highly respected position on the Twin Reefs; perhaps he could...”
“No!”
The merman's soul interrupted him, its voice suddenly turning sharp.
After a brief silence, it lowered its voice, each word sounding like it was being squeezed from between its teeth: “Just leave me to this caravan.”
Lin Gui nodded slightly and didn't ask further.
That moment of silence had explained everything.
Why not ask for help from his own kind?
Why would he rather trust a caravan of human strangers?
Politics in the deep sea was never simpler than on land.
Factional infighting, power struggles, and even... blood feuds.
After being reassured several times, the merman's soul finally shrank back into the depths of the bead in a state of apprehension.
The ominous red light gradually faded away, and the bead returned to its original gray appearance.
Lin Gui tucked it back into his pocket and let out a heavy sigh in his heart.
Regarding the Dark Tide, there were some truths he couldn't speak plainly to the merman.
Every Dark Tide’s source was mysterious and unpredictable.
However, its final path was often led by a Demigod-rank demon.
A Demigod-level existence possessed power that was nearly the same as the laws of the world themselves.
With a single thought, they could cause mountains to topple and seas to change course.
They were terrifying beings that could truly crush a Legendary and view thousands of lives as ants.
And that "silent demon" named Sathos was exactly such a Demigod.
Because of it, stretches of coastal land on the western side of the Akara Continent had fallen into the sea.
The Forbidden Zone called the Silent Sea spanned the entire western side.
It completely cut off any possibility of crossing the ocean from the west to reach the continent on the other side.
However, Lin Gui hadn't expected Sathos to end up sleeping in this narrow Blackwater Bay.
According to news released by the City of a Thousand Towers, that Dark Tide had eventually disappeared into the western Atlanna Ocean.
And what Lin Gui hadn't told the merman's soul was...
The Tide of Silence led by Sathos had already retreated eight years ago.
And the merfolk's royal court, Atlanna, had also been missing for exactly eight years.
In other words, the merman's soul had slept for a full eight years during this period.
Eight years...
That magnificent undersea city-state had likely long since completely crashed under that irresistible force.
It was now sunk at the bottom of the abyss where not even light could reach, transformed into a forgotten ruin.
He didn't speak this cruel guess aloud.
He needed this wisp of a merman's soul to harbor hope as it went to Dawn City.
To complete the commission issued by the system, for which the reward was Merman's Gills.
A spell that could allow him to breathe freely underwater...
Lin Gui had flipped through countless ancient texts but had never heard of any magic that could grant a land creature such a nearly instinctive ability.
This magic bestowed by the system had a value that was perhaps far beyond his initial imagination.
For the sake of this reward, he had to keep this persistent soul “alive.”
Even if the hope it pursued might have been completely extinguished as early as eight years ago.
Rate on N.U.
