39: Ready to be the bait?

Luo Chen smacked his lips, licking off the remaining liquid from the corners of his mouth. He had spent energy crystals to get it, so he couldn't waste it.

He returned the sparkling clean bucket to the Catfish spirit, who took the empty bucket, tossed it casually, and it landed steadily back in its original spot.

The Catfish spirit clapped its greasy palms and said seriously:

“Kid, listen up. Your trial mission is to evade my pursuit in this lake. If I catch you, it counts as a failure.”

“You have three chances to fail. During this time, you can return to shore for a brief rest. However, the time spent on shore cannot exceed one-third of the total trial duration, otherwise the trial will be immediately deemed over.”

“After returning to the water from shore, I will let you swim for two minutes first. After three failures, your current trial ends, and no energy crystals used will be refunded.”

“Your time is bought with energy crystals; every second is precious, so don’t waste it. The trial begins now.”

As soon as the words fell, Luo Chen felt dizzy.

The Catfish spirit grabbed his clothes, lifted him, and forcefully flung him into the lake.

Splash!

A huge splash of water shot into the sky.

Luo Chen struggled to surface, wiping the water droplets from his face, only to see the Catfish spirit’s body on the shore twist and deform, transforming in the blink of an eye into a giant Catfish over three meters long, which then plunged into the water.

“Hehe! Kid, are you ready to become fish bait?” The Catfish spirit’s voice sounded particularly muffled in the water.

Seeing this, Luo Chen’s heart tightened, and he frantically swam towards the shore.

At this moment, he felt like he was back in the Sanshan Reservoir world. The strong instinct for survival made him forget everything, only caring about escaping frantically.

“Whoosh!”

Fortunately, he used to swim often. Just as the Catfish spirit’s teeth barely touched his toes, he successfully climbed onto the shore.

He sat on the shore in disarray, coughing violently and spitting out the lake water that had choked his lungs.

Hoo… Hoo… He panted frantically, but then a sound of footsteps came from ahead.

Luo Chen looked up in horror, only to see that the Catfish spirit had also climbed ashore.

He hastily retreated, exclaiming, “Hey! How can you climb up too? What are you going to do?”

Ah~

With a loud shout, Luo Chen was thrown into the lake again.

“You… you… that’s cheating!”

“Hehe! You little brat. The rules allow you to stay on shore, but they didn’t say I’m not allowed to come up and throw you back, did they?”

The Catfish spirit stood on the shore, looking at Luo Chen floundering in the water, a hint of cunning flashing in its small fish eyes.

“You… you… this is a personal vendetta.”

“Hehe! You kicked me several times, and you won’t let me get a little revenge?” After he finished speaking, two minutes had passed, and the Catfish spirit jumped back into the water.

“Ah—!”

Accompanied by a scream, Luo Chen was once again thrown into the lake. The icy lake water filled his nostrils, and he faintly heard the Catfish spirit’s triumphant laughter from the shore.

The subsequent trial was pure torment. Whenever Luo Chen, exhausted, climbed onto the lake shore and before he could even rest, the Catfish spirit would immediately appear, throwing him back into the center of the lake from various tricky angles.

But with each torment, Luo Chen found that he swam faster and reacted more nimbly.

He also discovered a pattern. The giant Catfish’s massive body meant it could only charge straight ahead, and he could use this to quickly dodge to the side just as it was about to collide with him.

With this discovery, Luo Chen’s time in the water grew longer and longer, even allowing him to “play” with the fish for several minutes.

“Four minutes and twenty seconds.” After another successful escape, the Catfish spirit jumped ashore and smiled at Luo Chen, “You little brat, your progress is…”

His words abruptly stopped. Luo Chen had vanished from this space.

Seeing Luo Chen leave, the Catfish spirit sighed and sat on the ground, “Sigh! I haven’t had enough fun yet, and it’s already over.”

“How was he? That kid.” A figure slowly appeared behind him.

“His talent is not bad. But he has the mark of the god of fertility on him. Are you sure bringing him under the command of our Hunting God Hart won’t provoke the wrath of Aps?” the Catfish spirit asked curiously.

“What’s there to be afraid of? Aps isn’t the only god of fertility; the god of fertility from the previous era still exists there,” the figure said nonchalantly.

“Moreover, the great Hunting God is not afraid of this god of fertility.”

“You’re amazing, you’re incredible. As a direct descendant of the Hunting God, you naturally have more say. I, this little rookie, don’t have such great ability,”

The Catfish spirit rolled its eyes and said grumpily.

“What does ‘incredible’ mean?” The figure was a little puzzled.

“It means you’re very handsome,” the Catfish spirit explained casually.

Suddenly, a lizard-human shaped creature appeared not far away.

The Catfish spirit had to stand up, compose its expression, and with a slight smile, said, “Hello there! Welcome to the domain of the Hunting God Hart.”

... Luo Chen coughed violently, spitting out the choked lake water. When he came to his senses, he found himself back on the Train.

Looking at the familiar surroundings, he let out a sigh of relief and slowly lay on the ground. The familiar lights made him squint, and at that moment, calls came from all directions:

“How was it?”

“Did you succeed?”

Luo Wan Ning, Xue Shang, and others gathered around Luo Chen, who was lying on the ground, asking with concern.

“I don’t know either.”

Luo Chen propped himself up in a daze, shaking his head, looking utterly bewildered. He had just escaped the Catfish’s gaping maw, sat on the shore to rest, and the next second he was back on the Train.

They were asking him, but who was he supposed to ask?

“Look at your Train Conductor attributes. You should be able to see if you’ve awakened there,” Xue Shang suddenly remembered and reminded him.

Upon hearing this, Luo Chen immediately summoned the light screen on his watch and opened his Train Conductor attributes:

【Your Basic Attributes:

Strength Level: Awakened Stage One (Gene Activation: 1.73%)

Divine Blessings: Hunting God*, god of fertility.

Combat Power: 100;

Speed: 20;

Health: 217;

Stamina: 110

*Intelligence: 96;

*Appearance: 86;

*Procreation: 27;

(PS: *Marked content is only affected by special gene activation)】

“I succeeded!”

Looking at the words “Awakened Stage One” on the screen, Luo Chen clenched his fists, clearly feeling his strength had increased significantly.

I’ve become stronger again.

“Health 217.” Luo Wan Ning exclaimed, “Doesn’t this mean you can live to 217 years old?”

“Really? Awakening also increases lifespan?” Dongfang Yuyao also leaned over, looking at the light screen. Seeing only the number after “Health,” she immediately exclaimed, “It’s true!”

For a moment, every woman present had a peculiar glint in her eyes, lost in thought. A longer lifespan also meant slower aging, and everyone present could be considered among the top beauties.

The prettier a woman, the more she cares about her appearance and the harder it is for her to accept the fact of aging.

Now that such an opportunity presented itself, no one would fail to seize it, especially since living for another hundred years, who wouldn’t want that?

Chen Tianxiang tilted her head and said innocently, “Living so long, wouldn’t Brother Chen become an old monster?”

“What old monster? That’s an immortal,” Luo Chen said, patting Chen Tianxiang’s head, refuting her.