Regardless, it would still take some time to reach their destination.
With Wu Erhun serving as their transportation, Ren Yi could finally take a well-deserved rest.
The white mist lazily shrunk in volume on Evans's shoulder.
Sigh, finally I can slack off a bit.
Ren Yi let out a long sigh in his heart.
He felt more or less that he and this world were simply incompatible.
From the moment he descended until now, he had hardly had a moment's peace.
When he first arrived, he was trapped in a sealed pod.
Although his true form couldn't move, he had to keep his perception active in real-time to monitor several completely different perspectives.
After escaping, to retrieve the Beacon, he had to go head-to-head with the berserk S-099.
Just as those issues were settled, before he could even catch his breath...
The mad City Lord of the City of the Sky Lake sent a nuclear missile straight at his head.
The survival environment in this world was truly atrociously harsh...
Of course, that wasn't to say the survival conditions for the local humans were any better.
The only silver lining was that the scenery here was quite decent.
Ren Yi quietly watched the distant horizon as the sun rose bit by bit from behind the debris ring composed of countless meteorite fragments.
At first, the dazzling golden sunlight almost completely obscured the "flaws" on the skyline.
But as it rose higher, the sunlight began to turn from orange-yellow to a pale white.
The atmosphere acted like a thin filter, gradually tinting the entire beautifully surreal Star Ring and the magnificent moon in the distance with a cold, ghostly blue.
That was S-002.
It seemed it really did remain high in the sky of this world, casting an eternal gaze.
An otherworldly realm...
The wind swept across the deck, carrying away the last trace of scorching heat.
A rare moment of tranquility.
However, Murphy's Law seemed to always be in effect.
Tranquility was often just an illusion before a storm.
"Splash... splash..."
Ren Yi was the first to notice something was wrong.
The surrounding sounds seemed to have grown slightly louder.
It was the sound of Wu Erhun's "hand oars" paddling through the water with effort.
Only now, the sound of the paddling seemed to have changed.
The originally crisp sound of breaking waves had vanished at some point, replaced by a sticky, heavy, dragging sensation.
Like slapping against glue that was gradually setting.
"Whoosh—"
A gust of wind blew from ahead for no reason.
The wind itself wasn't strange, but it carried a tangible resistance.
At the front of the deck, Wu Erhun's cross, still acting as the figurehead, began to pant heavily.
His features, cobbled together from flesh and skin, twisted in extreme exertion, and the speed of the double rows of flesh oars visibly slowed.
"Thud!"
Suddenly, a dull impact came from beneath the boat without warning.
The entire flesh-and-blood speedboat jolted violently. Wu Erhun immediately let out a pained howl, as if someone had stomped hard on his tail.
Evans practically bounced up, black liquid faintly writhing on his right arm as he stared warily at the surrounding water.
However, there was no need for him to act.
Wu Erhun, stung by the impact, was already cursing in a rage.
Several giant flesh hands on both sides of the hull, tipped with sharp nails, lashed out violently into the frothing water.
"Get the hell out here! What kind of trash dares to bump into your Lord Wu Erhun!"
Splash.
With a harsh sound of water, one of Wu Erhun's hands yanked upward, pulling something out of the Red Tide.
Something extremely bizarre that defied biological common sense.
The reason it was called "something" was that although it was limp and felt like a lump of meat, it didn't struggle at all after being pulled from the water.
It was a deep red, slightly darker than the Red Tide, and encased in a thick, translucent soft membrane.
By now, this protective film had been punctured by Wu Erhun's sharp nails, causing countless jelly-like red semi-colloidal substances to leak out of the hole.
What is this? Fungi? Lingzhi?
Ren Yi spread a thread of perception to touch it.
On that slimy lump of flesh, he didn't sense any active mental fluctuations, nor did he feel any threat.
It was just a piece of dead meat.
After Wu Erhun saw what it was, he just threw it back into the water with resentment.
"Damned 'Meat-food'! Why now of all times..."
"Meat-food?" Ren Yi asked through the mental link.
"Ah, you might not know, Sir."
Wu Erhun's rows of arms slapped the water surface irritably. "Dangerous as the Red Tide is, on the Wilderness, it can actually be 'eaten.'"
"The so-called 'tide-following' is actually about grabbing... I mean, finding a good spot to collect the 'Meat-food' deposited after the Red Tide ends."
Ren Yi was momentarily stunned in mid-air.
Fine, the Red Tide truly lives up to its reputation as the source of life on the Wilderness.
Besides a water source, it even thoughtfully provides this kind of "food" as a bonus.
From drinks to eats, it's a full-service, one-stop shop. It's practically a gift from the heavens.
"But why would this stuff be floating up?"
Evans stepped forward with a frown, looking at the water with a hint of confusion in his eyes.
By now, quite a few of these "Meat-foods," slightly darker than the Red Tide water, could be seen scattered across the surface.
Wu Erhun dodged left and right, but he still couldn't avoid them all and had to use his "hand oars" to push them aside.
"Doesn't Meat-food usually sink to the bottom of the Red Tide? Why is it floating up on its own?"
Hearing the confusion of Wu Erhun and Evans, Ren Yi didn't speak.
His perception had already spread like a spiderweb, silently penetrating the viscous, blood-colored surface and reaching directly into the deepest depths of the Red Tide.
However, when the feedback of his perception outlined the underwater scene in his mind, Ren Yi's thoughts fluctuated violently.
It was a sight enough to give anyone a case of trypophobia.
"I know why these things are floating up," Ren Yi's voice rang in the mental link, carrying a trace of imperceptible coldness.
"Because the bottom can't hold any more."
Rate on N.U.
