Chapter 260: Escape from the Sea
Tu Ran had imagined many places where she might be transported after entering the Threshold.
The forest where she met Pangpang? A fertile plain with low danger levels? Or perhaps a plateau with extreme weather?
After considering countless possibilities, she never expected that the place she stepped into was—the ocean!
The sea!
An endless expanse of ocean!
It was worse than the polluted seas of the Federation.
The entire surface of the sea was black, like ink, with waves surging and rippling, making it impossible to see anything beneath the surface.
And she had plunged directly into the sea from a vortex in mid-air.
Caught off guard, Tu Ran had no way to avoid it and choked on a mouthful of water, her body sinking rapidly.
She struggled to swim, finally managing to float on the surface, her head bobbing above the water as she coughed violently.
After coughing for a long while, Tu Ran finally eased the discomfort in her throat.
As she slapped the water to keep herself afloat, she craned her neck to survey her surroundings, searching for any land where she could temporarily rest.
However, she found nothing; all she could see was the black ocean and the dark waves, while the sky appeared a strange gray.
It seemed there was not a single living thing in the entire world besides her.
Tu Ran wanted to curse; what kind of bad luck was this?!
As she muttered angrily, she picked a direction and swam vigorously towards it.
The seawater was cold, making her shiver. The Executive Department uniform soaked up the water, becoming particularly heavy and severely slowing her down.
Tu Ran decided to take off the uniform. The icy seawater enveloped her entire body, feeling even colder. She gritted her teeth and quickened her swimming pace.
Every time she swam a certain distance, she activated [Teleportation] to catch her breath, then used it again, repeating this cycle. This way, she neither overexerted her abilities nor swam too slowly.
Right now, she could only hope not to encounter any aliens.
The island region was considered one of the highest survival challenges within the Threshold, where danger lurked everywhere and aliens appeared unpredictably. The mortality rate of the pioneers who came here was extremely high.
That was under the condition that the survivors did not go into the sea.
Now, she found herself in the vast ocean, unable to see anything beneath the surface, and the danger level had risen sharply.
After swimming for over an hour, Tu Ran’s limbs began to ache, but as she looked around, she still saw no land.
Her heart sank to the depths. If she continued to swim like this, she had no idea when she would reach the shore, and her stamina wouldn’t hold out for much longer.
[Diamond Body] was working to restore her frozen limbs, a warm current slowly spreading from her internal organs to her extremities.
The sky grew darker, seeming to blend with the seawater, and there was not a glimmer of light in any direction. Besides the sound of the water surging around her, there was nothing else.
Suddenly, Tu Ran held her breath and focused, floating on the water’s surface and stopping her forward movement.
She heard some unusual sounds.
From the depths of the ocean came a noise, as if a massive creature that had been dormant in the depths was awakening, rolling over and rotating its body, creating a small whirlpool that gradually approached her.
Tu Ran immediately pulled a handgun from her space and tucked it behind her waist, then took out a curved knife and held it tightly in her hand.
She cautiously scanned her surroundings, keeping a close watch for any movement on the surface of the water, her ears perked up, listening intently for the faint sounds. She was completely on edge, fully alert.
Her heartbeat skyrocketed without her noticing, and her limbs quickly began to warm up.
“Chirp… chirp… eat… chirp… eat…”
The fragmented sounds bubbled up from beneath the surface, accompanied by small bubbles.
It was an alien creature.
Judging from the source of the sound, there was only one.
Tu Ran stared at a dark object that was visible beneath the water, circling around her.
It was not very large, about three to four meters long and elongated. From the shadow it cast, it resembled a typical fish.
That creature was also observing her, and she could feel its gaze.
Silently, Tu Ran placed her fingers against her mouth and bit into it, letting the fresh red blood flow out as she smeared it onto the top of her helmet.
A vibrant mushroom quickly began to grow, and while Tu Ran couldn’t see its colorful appearance, she could see the purple glow it emitted, the only light in this dark world.
As the vibrant mushroom grew, the creature beneath the surface became agitated, swimming around her at an increasingly rapid pace, the surrounding circle becoming smaller.
Tu Ran quickly repeated calming words to soothe its emotions. “Stop moving, stay right there.”
The dark shape beneath the surface froze.
“Stick your head out.” She wanted to see what it looked like and whether the Federation had any records on this type of alien.
The creature obediently poked its upper body out of the water, revealing a shiny dog-like head that struck Tu Ran’s eyes.
She couldn’t believe it—was this a hybrid of a fish and a dog?
The head in front of her was shaped like a dog’s, with eyes, a nose, and ears that looked identical to those of a dog. The only difference was that it had no fur; its slick skin resembled that of a sea lion.
As for the aliens currently recorded by the Federation, Tu Ran had never seen one that looked like this.
She couldn’t help but want to see what its body looked like beneath the water.
Protecting the hallucinogenic mushroom on her head, Tu Ran commanded the alien, “Jump out of the water.”
The fish-dog alien adjusted its direction, creating some distance between them, then, like a dolphin, it leapt gracefully out of the water.
Tu Ran saw its entire form.
It had a dog’s head, a sea lion’s body, fish fins, and from its body extended eight or nine long tentacles that resembled those of an octopus.
It maintained the alien’s bizarre, hybrid style.
The alien landed back in the water, splashing enormous waves.
The water cascaded over Tu Ran, and she wiped her face before commanding, “From now on, I am your master, and you will listen to me.”
The alien stared blankly at her, not moving.
Those black gem-like eyes had the innocent and harmless quality of a dog, prompting Tu Ran to soften her tone.
“Come here, come to my side.”
The alien obediently swam over, pressing against her body, then turned its head to look at her eagerly, waiting for her next command.
Tu Ran climbed onto its back, gripping the folds of skin around its neck tightly.
“Do you know which direction the nearest land is?”
The tentacles behind the alien stretched out toward her, pointing to the right like fingers.
“Swim in that direction now and take me to land.”
The alien’s tentacles retracted, and its tail swung around to swim toward the right.
As expected from an alien that could survive in this sea, it moved extremely quickly. Tu Ran held tightly onto the skin around its neck to avoid falling off.
Having found a means of transportation, Tu Ran felt a bit of relief; she could finally catch her breath for a moment.
The wind blew against her, carrying the coolness of the sea, wrapping around her.
Her lower body was submerged in the water while her upper body was only covered by a thin shirt. The light emitted by the hallucinogenic mushroom on her helmet grew fainter and eventually withered away, disappearing entirely, and the universe returned to its all-consuming darkness.
