Although the humanoid sculpture appeared small due to its curled posture, the water level where they were located barely reached their knees. There was no way a sculpture should completely disappear the moment it entered the water.
In the current situation, it looked as if the sculpture had simply melted at the bottom of the water.
With the addition of this unknown entity into the already murky water, Wu Tianzhen felt an immediate sense of fear of the unknown.
Feeling uneasy, he subconsciously looked at Zhang Qiling, only to find that Xiao Zhang was currently staring face-to-face with an unnamed sculpture in front of him.
Neither of them spoke, nor did they move, and for a moment, it seemed as if Zhang Qiling and this humanoid sculpture had forged a magical friendship that transcended eras and races.
“Xiao Ge, what are you…” Wu Tianzhen walked over and stared at the sculpture for a long time, but couldn't discern anything. He could only turn and ask, “Is there something wrong with this sculpture?”
“…”
Zhang Qiling remained silent for a moment, then simply shook his head gently.
“Let’s go.”
With that single word, he turned and walked away.
The water that came up to his knees offered some resistance, but Zhang Qiling’s figure remained stable and his posture upright as he walked through it. His movements were not small, nor was his speed slow, yet the murky water did not make much of a splashing sound.
However, this silence was soon broken by the noisy “swish swish” of water as Wu Tianzhen and Fatty followed behind.
Zhang Qiling did not look at them; he stared straight ahead, each step he took was firm, as if he already knew where the end of this space was.
Wu Tianzhen noticed this, and even observed Hei Yanjing leisurely following behind without any objection.
This indicated that the blind and the mute had once again reached an unspoken agreement. Xiao Ge was not walking aimlessly, but had found the correct direction after confirming it with Hei Yanjing (at some unknown time).
Wu Tianzhen: …So why exactly? Is this really reasonable?
He couldn't help but start to bubble with questions, each bubble bursting with a cry of "I don't want this, I don't want this."
Logically, if he asked Zhang Qiling now, he would get an answer. However, Wu Tianzhen was being stubborn and truly didn't want to be a burden anymore. He was determined to discover something himself.
But looking around, aside from the sculptures scattered everywhere like chandeliers, there was only a large expanse of water. Where could—
Wait, water?
Wu Tianzhen, who was closely following Zhang Qiling, suddenly stopped. Fatty, who was trudging behind him, almost pushed him out with his belly.
“Tianzhen, what are you—”
“Wait, Fatty, don't speak yet!” Wu Tianzhen interrupted Fatty and stood still in the water, closing his eyes to sense.
When he quieted everything down, he finally realized something was wrong—
The water gently brushed against his calves. Although the flow was not fast, it was clearly moving in a fixed direction!
And the direction from which the water was flowing was exactly where Zhang Qiling was heading! Xiao Ge wanted to find the source of this water!
“I know!” Wu Tianzhen opened his eyes excitedly, only to find that Zhang Qiling, who had been walking at the forefront, had stopped at some point and was quietly waiting for him to sense the water flow.
Realizing this was Xiao Ge’s unique way of showing concern, a warmth surged in Wu Tianzhen’s heart. Just as he was about to express his gratitude, he suddenly heard a round of applause.
“Clap clap!” Hei Yanjing clapped beside him, seemingly delighted, but his words were incredibly annoying.
“Congratulations, Wu Tianzhen, I declare you’ve graduated from kindergarten!”
Wu Tianzhen: ?????? (Killing intent rising)
Just as war was about to break out, their space suddenly trembled violently!
To call it a tremor would be an understatement; in fact, the commotion could be described as earth-shattering.
The water currents reversed, sculptures collided, and Wu Tianzhen was almost thrown completely over, but Fatty, behind him, grabbed his arm.
Amidst this chaos, all that could be heard was a series of thudding sounds as countless sculpture chains snapped, and they fell into the water.
“What the hell is going on, is it an earthquake?!” Fatty blurted out, but quickly realized something was wrong, “Holy crap, no, we’re inside a fish’s belly!”
“It’s a giant whale, this whale is moving!” Wu Tianzhen shouted, then was abruptly choked by a mouthful of black water. The taste was a mixture of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty. Wu Tianzhen, thinking of those humanoid sculptures playing hide-and-seek in the water, felt utterly disgusted and wished he could take Hei Yanjing down with him on the spot.
…It wasn’t that the black water had anything to do with Hei Yanjing, it was just that he didn’t want this menace left in the world.
It was a long time before the shaking subsided, as if the giant whale had finally found a comfortable position and settled down.
The few of them steadied themselves. Now, among the hanging sculptures, there were several empty chains. Those sculptures that had entered the water had disappeared without a trace, just like the first one.
Wu Tianzhen felt that he shouldn’t dwell on this matter; thinking about it made him shiver. So, he looked at Zhang Qiling, wanting to continue forward.
But upon looking, he found Zhang Qiling staring fixedly in one direction, and for some reason, he was once again making eye contact with a sculpture, just like before.
…Did the whale’s tremor bring them together in a new moment of mutual appreciation?
Wu Tianzhen was baffled, but soon he noticed something amiss.
…Were the arms of this sculpture extended like this before?
As swift as lightning, the moment this small anomaly was discovered, the sculpture suddenly split open its mouth!
A dense cluster of pink, finger-tip-sized spherical objects flashed past its mouth, wriggling madly in the shadows. Faintly, one could even hear the sticky sound of them pressing against each other.
Immediately, the sculpture exploded, scattering into pieces. Each fragment seemed to have eyes and lunged directly at them!
Fatty dodged them with ease.
The unlucky objects that flew towards Zhang Qiling and Hei Yanjing were directly sent to the Western Paradise to meet the Buddha.
Although Wu Tianzhen was flustered, he had ultimately received “Education from the Blind” and managed to evade the attack of these creepy things.
Those fragments, whether intact or broken, splashed into the water and quickly disappeared. The water surface calmed, as if they had never entered.
“Damn, what are these things…” Wu Tianzhen climbed out of the water, finally understanding what Zhang Qiling had been looking at. But now that he understood how absurd the sculptures were, he became even more terrified.
Suddenly, something patted him on the back.
Wu Tianzhen instinctively thought it was Fatty messing with him from behind and waved his hand without looking back. But soon, he saw Fatty standing in front of him with Zhang Qiling and Hei Yanjing.
Wu Tianzhen: ! ! ! ! !
Hei Yanjing wore a gloating smile, and Wu Tianzhen slowly turned his head, only to meet the gaze of a human hand resting on his shoulder.
…He literally met its gaze. On that hand, the dense pink spheres, resembling snail eggs, suddenly all flipped over to reveal a dark pupil!!!
“Holy crap—!!!”