316: Chapter 316 How long have you been fighting with the fish?

The grass rustled beneath their feet.

Each blade of grass towered two heads above them; walking through it felt like traversing a green bamboo forest.

Lin Yuan walked in front, his pace neither fast nor slow.

Ye Qingxue followed half a step behind him, her gaze vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

The world after miniaturization was full of unknowns; an ant was the size of a medium-sized dog, and a cockroach was a ferocious beast—who knew what else was hiding beneath this grass?

"The pool is to the southeast."

Lin Yuan's voice was very calm.

"At our current speed, it will take about another twenty minutes."

Ye Qingxue nodded.

She noticed that while Lin Yuan was walking, his gaze was constantly scanning the ground.

It didn't look like he was on guard.

It looked more like he was... looking for something.

"What are you looking at?"

"The silver light."

Ye Qingxue was taken aback.

"The silver light? The one that shrank us?"

"Yes."

Lin Yuan did not stop walking.

"Look closely at the ground; there are tiny silver particles in the crevices of the soil."

Ye Qingxue lowered her head and looked carefully.

There really were.

Extremely minute silver specks were scattered between the soil particles; if one weren't deliberately looking for them, it would be impossible to notice.

"Residual energy from the silver light."

As Lin Yuan spoke, he traced his finger lightly in the air.

Lin Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.

It wasn't spreading evenly.

There was a direction of convergence.

In other words, the silver light didn't descend randomly. Something was attracting this energy.

He suppressed the information in his heart, revealing nothing on his face.

"It's nothing, just looking around."

Ye Qingxue glanced at him but didn't press further.

She knew this man too well.

When Lin Yuan said "just looking around," nine times out of ten, he had discovered something extremely important.

But she wouldn't ask.

When it was time to say it, he would naturally speak.

If he didn't say it—then it meant knowing it now wouldn't be useful anyway.

...

The humidity in the air began to increase.

Water vapor mixed with a faint fishy smell drifted over.

The pool was close.

Then—both of them heard a sound at the same time.

It wasn't the sound of flowing water.

It was a dull, rhythmic thumping, as if some giant creature was constantly churning in the water.

Lin Yuan quickened his pace and emerged from the last cluster of grass blades.

Ye Qingxue followed him out and then gasped.

The pool.

To a person of normal size, this was just a landscape pool in the base, less than three meters long, containing a few ornamental fish—something to look at when bored.

But to them, now the size of ants—

This was an ocean.

The murky water surface extended from their feet to the "horizon," with waves constantly churning and undercurrents surging.

Something was struggling violently underwater.

Immediately after—

"Splash!"

A figure sprang from beneath the surface, flipped half a circle in the air, and was slapped back into the water by a massive force, sending up a great spray.

It was Lan Xin.

The level of disarray the Merfolk Clan princess was in now was enough to stun anyone who knew her.

Her silver-blue long hair was scattered and plastered across her face.

Her originally exquisite dress had been torn to shreds at some point, and her fair arms were covered in bloody scratches from fish scales.

In her hand, she was barely holding together a faint water-blue glimmer—the power of the heart of the ocean.

But that light was as weak as a candle in the wind, likely to extinguish at any moment.

After miniaturization, her range of water manipulation had plummeted from a hundred meters to the centimeter level.

The dignified holder of the SS-rank heart of the ocean could not even suppress a common ornamental fish at this moment.

The fish floated to the surface.

A koi.

Its red and white scales refracted a blinding light on the water surface.

To a normal person, this fish was about the size of a palm, quite pretty.

To Lan Xin—this was a giant beast over thirty times her height in length.

It opened its mouth and charged toward Lan Xin again.

Lan Xin gritted her teeth.

The last shred of water flow in her hand transformed into a water shield so thin it was nearly transparent, barely held up in front of her.

She had been holding out for nearly four hours.

Four hours.

In front of a goldfish.

In her normal state, she could control the entire pool of water with a single finger to slap this fish into a fish pancake.

But now—

"Bang!"

The water shield shattered.

The tail fin swept across, sending Lan Xin flying, and she slammed heavily into a rock at the bottom of the water.

She opened her mouth, and her mouth was filled with murky water.

Her consciousness began to black out.

No.

If it went on like this, she would really die here.

Die in the mouth of an ornamental fish.

She was the Princess of the Merfolk Clan, the last bloodline of the deep-sea survivors—and her ending was to be bitten to death by a koi from a landscape pool?

No one would believe it if this obituary were written.

Just at the moment her consciousness was about to sink into darkness—

Above the water surface, separated by a layer of water, a voice came through.

It was slightly distorted, yet exceptionally clear.

"Qingxue, at the three o'clock position on the water surface, create a shadow zone. A diameter of two centimeters is enough."

The tone was as calm as if he were ordering what porridge to cook tonight.

It was Lin Yuan.

...

Three seconds.

Lin Yuan stood on the edge of the pool, using only three seconds to make all his judgments.

The first second—water depth, water temperature, turbidity, aquatic plant distribution, rock positions, all recorded.

The second second—the positions, swimming speeds, and behavioral patterns of the two fish locked.

The koi was attacking Lan Xin; there was another goldfish at the other end, currently motionless.

The third second—the plan was formed.

"Received."

Ye Qingxue did not hesitate.

Her Dark Attribute Ability was released instantly, and a patch of ink-black shadow spread from her palm, covering a small area of the water surface.

It suddenly became dark underwater.

The koi's vision was interfered with, and its attack motion paused for a beat.

In that split second—

There was something extra in Lin Yuan's hand.

A silver device the size of a grain of rice.

"What is this?" Ye Qingxue asked.

"A sound wave generator. It simulates the koi's mating frequency."

He tossed it casually, and the device fell into the other side of the water, sinking to the bottom of the pool.

It emitted a low-frequency vibration that the human ear could not capture.

The effect was immediate.

The koi stopped attacking abruptly, its whole body trembling as if it had been electrocuted—then it turned around and charged frantically toward the sound wave device.

It was so fast that it kicked up a small wave on the surface.

"..."

Ye Qingxue watched the retreating back of the koi as it rushed away, her expression complex.

"Mating frequency?"

"Yes."

"How did you know the koi's mating frequency?"

"I previously rolled a book called 'Ornamental Fish Behavior' and flipped through it casually."

"You remembered it just by flipping through it?"

"I didn't remember everything. Only the useful parts."

Ye Qingxue opened her mouth, then closed it again.

...Alright then.

If other people's systems rolled up idle books, they probably wouldn't even flip through them.

This man not only flipped through it but also remembered it.

And he used it precisely in a completely unexpected situation a few days later.

Sometimes she really wanted to pry open Lin Yuan's brain to see just how much miscellaneous knowledge was packed inside.

"Let's go."

Lin Yuan had already entered the water.

His movement into the water was extremely light, barely splashing at all.

...

Lan Xin was about to lose consciousness.

The water flow had become quiet. The koi that had chased her for four hours was nowhere to be found.

But she no longer had the strength to think about the reason.

The light of the heart of the ocean extinguished completely.

She just leaned against the rock at the bottom of the water, her silver-blue long hair spreading out in the water like a withering sea anemone.

Then—

A hand reached down from above.

It steadily supported her waist.

The warm body temperature came through her soaked clothes, dispelling the chill accumulated from four consecutive hours of soaking in cold water.

Lan Xin's consciousness returned a little.

She lifted her head with difficulty.

In her blurry vision, she saw a face.

Very close. Close enough to see the water droplets hanging on his eyelashes.

"...You came."

Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

"Yes. Don't talk, save your strength."

Lin Yuan supported her as he floated upward.

The rhythm of his swimming was not fast, but extremely steady.

As if there were no danger at all underwater.

Lan Xin leaned in his arms, feeling inexplicably at ease.

The four hours of fear, despair, and the suffocating feeling of near-death—at this moment, all receded.

The water surface was getting closer and closer. Light shone through the water layer, casting mottled shadows on his profile.

Just a little bit more—

"Lin Yuan, watch out!!"

Ye Qingxue's voice exploded from above, carrying undisguised panic.

Lan Xin's heart sank abruptly.

She used her last bit of strength to turn her head and look—

The second fish.

The goldfish at the other end of the pool, which had remained motionless all this time, had been attracted by the commotion at some point.

It was extremely fast.

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

From the bottom right, it charged straight at them at an angle that was almost impossible to evade.

Lan Xin subconsciously tried to condense water—

Her Superpower didn't react at all.

She was already empty. She couldn't manipulate even a single drop of water.

It's over.

She closed her eyes.

And then—

Nothing happened.

No impact. No pain.

Only an extremely short, muffled thud.

"Puff."

No, it wasn't a "puff."

More accurately—it was the sound of bones shattering.

Lan Xin snapped her eyes open.

Then she saw it.

Lin Yuan hadn't even turned his head.

He had simply thrown a backhand punch.

Just one punch.

Casual. Careless.

Like shooing away a mosquito that had landed on his shoulder.

The goldfish's head—shattered.

It wasn't "injured." It wasn't "repelled."

The entire head was structurally pulverized.

The corpse slowly flipped over in the water, white belly up, and sank silently.

The current stirred by the punch formed a small vortex, which returned to calm after a few seconds.

Lin Yuan didn't stop once during the entire process.

His swimming speed and rhythm were exactly the same as before.

It was as if that punch—had merely brushed aside a piece of obstructing seaweed.

Lan Xin was completely stunned.

She stared at the sinking goldfish corpse.

That fish was of a similar size to the koi that had been hunting her for four hours.

An opponent she had barely survived by fighting for her life.

Something of the same level, in front of this man—

One punch. Backhand. Without looking back. His expression hadn't even changed.

She suddenly felt that her life-and-death struggle over the past four hours was utterly absurd.

It wasn't that she was weak.

It was that this man was unreasonably strong.

...

The two of them surfaced.

Ye Qingxue quickly reached out to help pull Lan Xin ashore.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm... I'm fine now."

Lan Xin knelt by the pool, gasping for air.

Drenched from head to toe, her long silver-blue hair clung to her cheeks; she looked incredibly disheveled.

She caught a glimpse of Lin Yuan out of the corner of her eye.

He had also come out of the water. His clothes were just as soaked.

But for some reason—he didn't look disheveled at all.

Wet black hair clung to his forehead, and water droplets slid down his jawline.

He casually brushed the stray hairs back from his forehead, his movements as natural as if he had just stepped out of a resort hotel pool.

...No.

Now was not the time to think about this.

Lan Xin looked away and coughed a few times, clearing the water she had choked into her lungs.

"Cough, cough... thank you."

"Mm."

Lin Yuan's reply was extremely brief.

He wasn't even looking at her.

50 meters.

According to their current size conversion—it was about five centimeters at normal scale.

Right inside the base.

Something was continuously attracting silver light energy.

He closed the panel.

"How long were you fighting the fish?"

"Almost... four hours."

Lan Xin's voice was still a bit weak.

"The heart of the ocean's power dropped too much after being miniaturized; the control range is only at the centimeter level. That koi was like a whale to me now..."

She gave a bitter smile.

"The dignified Princess of the Merfolk Clan, almost bitten to death by a goldfish. If word got out, I wouldn't be able to hold my head up for the rest of my life."

"You held out for four hours."

Lin Yuan finally gave her a proper look.

"To maintain SS-rank Ability combat effectiveness for four hours in a miniaturized environment, anyone else would have died long ago. You didn't do badly."

Lan Xin was stunned.

This was probably the closest thing to a "compliment" she had heard since she met Lin Yuan.

Even though his tone was still the same—as flat as if he were stating a weather forecast.

But for her, who had just crawled back from the gates of hell, these few words were more effective than any flowery comfort.

Her eyes reddened slightly.

It wasn't from being aggrieved.

It was the four hours of fear and despair finally finding an anchor to let go of.

Because he had come.

Ye Qingxue knelt down to tend to the abrasions on Lan Xin's arm.

While bandaging, she looked up at Lin Yuan.

...It was like this every time.

He saved someone as if he were casually twisting off a bottle cap.

He killed a giant fish that others had to fight desperately to handle as if he were swatting a mosquito.

Then he immediately started thinking about the next thing.

She was sometimes really curious—in Lin Yuan's eyes, was this world different from what everyone else saw?

"Can you walk?"

Lin Yuan looked at Lan Xin.

"Give me two minutes."

Lan Xin took a deep breath.

A silver-blue glimmer lit up from within her—Song of Healing.

Although her Superpower was also weakened, it was enough to do some basic repairs on her own wounds.

Two minutes later, she stood up. She was still a bit weak, but at least she could walk.

"Let's go."

Lin Yuan turned around.

"The others are still waiting."

The three of them walked back.

Lan Xin followed between the two, suddenly glancing back toward the pool.

The water's surface had returned to calm. The goldfish whose head Lin Yuan had shattered had probably already sunk to the bottom of the pool.

"By the way—"

She suddenly remembered.

"What about that koi that was lured away? The sonic device will eventually fail, won't it?"

"The device battery lasts for six hours."

Lin Yuan didn't look back.

"After six hours, the sonic waves stop. The koi will return, find its prey gone, and won't linger. A fish's short-term memory doesn't last that long."

Lan Xin opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Ye Qingxue continued walking forward expressionlessly.

Both women fell silent at the same time.

—This man even calculated the memory span of a goldfish?

"How do you even know things like this?" Lan Xin finally couldn't help but ask.

"Common sense."

"That is definitely not common sense!"

Lin Yuan ignored her.

His attention had returned to the system panel.

The scanning progress was still advancing. The direction was confirmed, the distance was confirmed, but what exactly the convergence point was—he still needed more data.

The upcoming base-wide rescue operation would help him complete the remaining scanning coverage.

A line of text quietly popped up in the bottom right corner of the system panel:

[Ding! Goddess Lan Xin's affinity has increased to Lev. 2.]

[Unlocking resource upgrade—]

[Intelligent Building Module Lev. 1 → Lev. 2]

Lin Yuan's pace faltered for a moment.

He opened the detailed panel.

[Intelligent Building Module (Lev. 2)]

[New Feature ①: Nano-scale Precision Assembly—Modules can operate normally at micro scales, with a minimum assembly precision of 0.1 mm]

[New Feature ②: Environmental Adaptation—Modules can automatically adjust size and structural parameters according to the current environment; performance does not degrade under extreme conditions (high temperature/low temperature/miniaturization/high pressure)]

[New Feature ③: Energy Shield Integration—Each module comes with a micro energy shield, which can form a building-grade protective dome after combination]

Lin Yuan looked at the panel, his expression changing slightly.

Nano-scale precision assembly. Normal operation at micro scales.

He was currently the size of an ant.

A Lev. 1 construction module at normal scale was a silver cube the size of a fist.

It was completely unusable after miniaturization; the buildings created would be even smaller than they were.

But Lev. 2 could do it.

It could adapt to the current miniaturized environment and build normal-proportioned structures at the ant scale.

In other words—

He could now build houses for over five thousand people in the micro world.

Build defensive fortifications.

Build safe passages.

Even build a mobile fortress.

And there were energy shields.

Building-grade protective domes.

Lin Yuan quickly ran through his next plans in his mind.

The transfer, marching, and defense of over five thousand people—all of it now had a hardware foundation.

This system upgrade's resources seemed as if they were tailor-made for him!

He closed the panel.

The corners of his mouth curled up in a tiny arc.

Ye Qingxue noticed.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Lin Yuan continued walking forward.

"I just feel that—saving people has a pretty high rate of return."

Ye Qingxue glanced at him.

She was already used to it.

Whatever this man did, it would always circle back to the three words: "is it worth it."

Rescuing a beauty was no exception.

...But she didn't hate that about him.

Because it was precisely this kind of meticulous calculation that had kept everyone alive until now.

"Walk faster."

Lin Yuan's voice came from ahead.

"The others are still waiting."