Three days later.

Xinbadi slowly rose from the sea in a hanging basket.

"How was it?" Muli eagerly greeted him as soon as he took off his heavy helmet. "Was the underwater world interesting?"

The desert wasn't much better. Although it was home to many strangely shaped animals and plants, it wasn't as relaxing as nothing at all. Every time he sank into the sea, he felt like he was being swallowed. The ubiquitous pressure made it difficult to move and even breathe. Xinbadi thought so, but when he saw Muli's expectant eyes, he swallowed the words that came to his lips. "How should I put it... The scenery was quite beautiful."

"That's great... I wish I could go down and see it too," Muli sighed.

Looking at her light brown eyes, Xinbadi suddenly remembered that a year and a half ago, when the clansmen set off from Azurewater Port to the southern end of the desert, she had the same expression on the stone boat. In the face of an uncertain future and an unfamiliar environment, she could still spare the energy to comfort herself, and she seemed like a freak among a group of panicked people.

For some reason, he felt a little uneasy in his heart.

"Well done, your performance surprised me." Next to be lifted out of the water was Rex, who applauded as he stepped off the hanging basket. "Balance, lung capacity, composure, sense of direction – all the qualities needed for diving are so outstanding. Is this an innate talent of the sand people, or are you naturally good at it? No offense, but when chatting with Muli xiaojie, she mentioned that you weren't a powerful warrior in the clan."

Muli stuck her tongue out at Xinbadi and turned to chat with her assistant.

"The Fishbone Clan lives in an oasis with a pool. When we were young, everyone liked to see who could dive the deepest, so it can't be said that I have no experience..." Xinbadi said helplessly, "But she's right, even at that, I'm not the best in the clan. If Kaluoen were to try, one day might be enough."

"Kaluoen? Who's that?"

"The strongest of the younger generation in the clan, whether it's hunting or fighting, he's no less than his peers in the big clans. But he only participated in one dispatch team, and now he should be working in Azurewater Port... It's too late if you want to find him."

"Is that so," Rex shrugged. "I don't think so."

"Don't think what?"

"That he's stronger than you." The Fjordlander took off his diving suit bit by bit. "To go deep into the sea, technology isn't the first thing. First, you need an open heart."

"An open... heart?" Xinbadi was stunned.

"Accepting the unknown, overcoming oneself, that's the difference between a pool and the sea." He looked towards Daqing Port. "Incredible changes are happening here. The Kaluoen you mentioned only wanted to come here once. In that alone, he's far behind you. If I were looking for him, I probably wouldn't even be able to convince him to wear a diving suit and go underwater."

Xinbadi glared at him unhappily. "If Muli hadn't said she wanted to try it herself, I wouldn't have agreed to you."

He originally wanted to take them to find the water cave and leave with ten gold dragons, and let this group do whatever they wanted, but he didn't expect Muli to be very interested in that special device. When she learned that the salvage work needed a helper, she almost immediately raised her hand.

Helpless, Xinbadi had no choice but to agree to help the Material Association to the end and personally follow Rex into the water cave. Before he had verified whether the diving suit was safe, he didn't feel at ease letting Muli take the risk, let alone staying with a Fjordlander. Although he knew that she would still go underwater one day, at least the risk was much smaller.

"Hahaha," Rex said with a dismissive smile. "But you finally crossed this boundary and took a step towards a new field, didn't you? Perhaps that's why Muli likes being with you more?"

"Wait, you... what are you saying?"

"What, haven't you noticed?" He spread his hands. "That girl mentioned your name quite a lot when chatting with me. She said that you weren't very brave when you were a kid, and you often cried with your head in your hands after being beaten, but you had a kind heart, but you restrained yourself a lot when you grew up, and you became much more silent."

Xinbadi twitched the corner of his mouth. "She really... told you everything."

"I guess it's easier to open up to outsiders," Rex grinned. "I don't quite understand the customs of the sand people. Perhaps personal martial strength is indeed important, but you may have always underestimated yourself."

"You don't understand anything," Xinbadi muttered.

Although he said that, he didn't feel much disgust in his heart. It was incredible even to himself that he would become so familiar with a Fjordlander in just a few days. At first, he was clearly guarding against the other party contacting Muli alone before reluctantly staying to help.

Thinking carefully, Xinbadi found that there was no contempt in the other party's words and deeds, and it was surprisingly easy to get along with him, which was very unusual compared to those self-righteous Nordic nobles or Fjordland merchants. Perhaps it was also for this reason that Muli ran to the Material Association's camp whenever she had time.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked Rex this question.

"You ask why..." the latter thought for a while. "There's no special reason. We've had enough of discrimination and contempt."

Had... enough? Xinbadi couldn't help but be stunned. How could someone who could offer a reward of thirty gold dragons at one go have a high status? Where did the contempt come from? But before he could continue to ask, an assistant had already walked over. "Teacher, all the equipment has been debugged. We can officially start the dive at any time."

"How about it?" Rex looked at him. "Diving shouldn't be unfamiliar to you, right?"

He had to suppress the doubts in his heart. "As long as these things you made don't have any problems."

"Of course, I've been researching it for almost ten years. To ensure nothing goes wrong, I've invested almost all my savings in it..."

"What?"

"Cough cough cough – no, it's nothing, don't mind it," Rex turned his head away. "In that case, I announce that we will enter the water cave after noon and start the first adventure!"

……

The reason for choosing noon was simple. Since the air supply pipe could meet the depth requirements, ensuring good visibility became the top priority for diving. At this time, the sun was directly above the cliff, almost directly hitting the sea surface, and the seabed more than fifty meters deep was clear at a glance, not to mention the water cave located halfway up the rock wall.

If they waited until low tide in the evening to take action, they would easily get lost.

"I'll wait for you at the entrance," Rex gave a thumbs up after putting on his helmet and sank into the sea in the hanging basket first.

About a quarter of an hour later, the assistant nodded to Xinbadi. "It's your turn."

Xinbadi took a deep breath and put the heavy helmet on his head. Muli stepped forward to help him tighten the interface, then shouted close to the helmet, "Good luck, I'll be here waiting for you to come back!"

He looked at her deeply, then turned and walked towards the hanging basket.

With the roar of the steam engine, Xinbadi slid down little by little. The blue sea surface churning with waves got closer and closer to him, gradually occupying his entire field of vision. For a moment, he had the illusion that he wasn't falling, but that the sea was actively welcoming him, wanting to swallow him in one gulp.

A familiar sense of fear reappeared in his heart.

But it only lasted for less than a breath before he adjusted.

"Accept the unknown, overcome oneself."

Appearing in his mind were not only Muli's sparkling eyes, but also Rex's words.

Xinbadi sighed and accepted the embrace of the sea.

In an instant, the whole world turned into a clear blue, and sunlight sprinkled down from above, like countless swimming golden snakes.

After slowly sinking twenty meters, the hanging basket stopped moving.

A deep cave that seemed to be surging with cold currents appeared in front of him.