"…Naive," the fat man patted Wu Tianzhen's shoulder, both shocked and impressed by the grand spectacle of undersea life below.
"I was so foolish, truly."
"Fatty here knew your uncanny abilities were not to be underestimated, but I never imagined that even two pats on the mouth couldn't stop you from unleashing your might!"
Just as he finished speaking, the fat man suddenly seemed to recall something, slapping his thigh with the surprised expression of someone discovering a new continent.
"Holy crap, Tianzhen, Teacher Wu!" He looked Wu Tianzhen up and down, who was staring blankly. "If you used this ability to buy lottery tickets, wouldn't it mean you could win anything you wanted!"
"Good heavens, then we wouldn't have to toil so hard digging around everywhere. We could just open a livestream and count money!"
"And if Little Brother just sat there as the money-counting signboard, it would be like compounding interest!"
Wu Tianzhen: …?
"Give it a rest!" He pushed away the fat man's increasingly animated face with a slap.
"You know he doesn't like being in front of the camera, and we're not short of money. You're really setting your sights on Little Brother."
The fat man immediately snapped back to reality, recalling Zhang Qiling's brutal treatment of the miniature camera back in Cangshan. He smacked his lips and dejectedly abandoned the idea.
"Fine then…" The fat man, having lost a path to riches, looked gloomy and handed the snake horn he had been clutching tightly to Wu Tianzhen.
Wu Tianzhen: ???
"What are you looking so confused for!" the fat man said indignantly. "These things all came because they heeded the call of you, the Evil Sea King. Don't you have to personally deal with them?!"
"Here, tie a rope to this treasure and lower it down. You can swing it around the boat a couple of times to let them know that the Evil Sea King's whiskers are not to be trifled with!"
"Consider it your penance, more or less~"
Wu Tianzhen: I really thank you (death glare emoji).
And so, when Zhang Qiling emerged from the sea, brushing aside the damp black hair from his face and spotting the distant boat—
He happened to see Wu Tianzhen, holding a long rope like he was reminiscing about his childhood, repeatedly sprinting around the deck in a "little airplane coming~" pose.
And as he moved, the sea creatures surrounding the bottom of the boat would scatter and then gather, making it look like some sort of unholy ritual was taking place.
Zhang Qiling: …
Honestly, he didn't know if it was because Hei Yanjing and the fat man had mentioned it too many times, but a thought suddenly flashed through his mind—
Wu Tianzhen had successfully been crowned Sea King.
Hei Yanjing, who popped up beside him, feigned putting a small awning over his glasses with his hand and let out a surprised "Wow," before lowering his hand and starting to applaud wildly like a seal.
"Amazing, Mute~" he clicked his tongue twice, his tone filled with fake praise. "I was wondering what you took the snake horn for, turns out it's an important prop for pushing the Sea King onto his throne!"
"It's all my fault, I'm so useless, I didn't realize Sea King Wu's wishes~"
As he spoke, with a look of pained sincerity, he scooped up a handful of water from the sea and splashed it directly into Zhang Qiling's eyes.
Seeing Zhang Qiling turn his head impassively to avoid it, he even cupped the water, circled around, and splashed it again.
"I'll punish myself with a drink, hahaha!"
Zhang Qiling: …Damn idiot.
Although he thought this in his heart, Little Zhang was a (generally) well-behaved young man who didn't curse, so he just stared silently at Hei Yanjing, who was playing with seawater like scattering flowers, for a moment, then turned and headed towards the boat without looking back.
"Little Brother, is that Little Brother? Little Brother is back!!!"
Wu Tianzhen, who had been running wildly on the boat, suddenly spotted Zhang Qiling and Hei Yanjing approaching. He stopped abruptly in his excitement. At this moment, the sea creatures finally found an opportunity, and with a bang, they surged forward, intending to capsize the boat and send it to the seabed in one go.
The dense sea creatures piled on top of each other like a human pyramid, their slimy, slippery bodies rubbing against each other.
From the boat looking down, it was fine, just a dark mass. But from Zhang Qiling's direction, the scene was very unfriendly, looking like a pile of strangely shaped worms.
Wu Tianzhen and the fat man, leaning on the railing and looking down, both thought that Little Zhang was about to display his superb martial arts skills of walking on walls and leaping over eaves, and were quite worried that the creatures would be too slippery for Zhang Qiling to stand steadily.
But clearly, Zhang Qiling, who had lost patience due to Hei Yanjing's harassment, did not have the leisure for such things.
Wu and Pang felt as if the air had frozen for a moment. An invisible wave swept past at extreme speed, and then the dense sea creatures instantly became sluggish, as if they had fainted, sinking into the seabed one by one.
After Zhang Qiling quietly boarded the boat, they saw the sharp Qilin tattoo that had quietly appeared through the open collar of his black shirt. It was likely that Little Zhang, who preferred action to words, had directly knocked them out and sunk them with his Qilin tattoo.
For some reason, although Zhang Qiling's gaze towards them was as usual, clear with a touch of innocence untouched by the world, Wu Tianzhen and the fat man both felt that Little Brother might be in a bad mood at the moment.
They were a little puzzled, but this confusion was quickly resolved when they saw Hei Yanjing beside them laughing elegantly yet annoyingly.
"Change your clothes."
Zhang Qiling had no intention of engaging with the current Hei Yanjing. He said to Wu Tianzhen and the fat man, then went directly into the cabin, trying to find the most pleasing hooded sweatshirt from the pile the fat man had brought him.
The three on deck looked at each other. At this moment, Wu Tianzhen keenly noticed that Hei Yanjing's complexion seemed to have improved.
It wasn't that Hei Yanjing had been putting on a bad face before, but rather, his complexion had improved.
The previous Hei Yanjing, although he looked powerful and dashing, always had a strange pallor on his face.
It wasn't quite like Little Brother's healthy-looking pale complexion; Hei Yanjing's paleness was like a metallic, dead stillness?
Wu Tianzhen only regretted that his Chinese grades weren't outstanding enough to describe the exact feeling in his heart.
But no matter what, the current Hei Yanjing looked much better.
…But why? Was it related to that strange pool?
Unable to figure it out, but knowing it was a secret understanding between Little Hei and Little Zhang, Wu Tianzhen finally gave up thinking.
It was only then that he suddenly realized he was still holding the very long rope. So he quickly dragged the snake horn at the end of the rope up and, under the fat man's pained gaze, handed the snake horn to Hei Yanjing.
"Um, thank you for the snake horn…" Rationally, he knew he should thank him, but emotionally, he really didn't want to. Wu Tianzhen felt as if every word was burning his tongue, making him feel like ants were crawling all over him.
But unexpectedly, Hei Yanjing looked at him and the fat man with a strange gaze, and suddenly grinned slyly.
"No need to return it, it's a gift for you~"