Lu Yan never thought that this word would once again be associated with himself.
He was naturally emotionally flat and fragmented, rarely feeling fluctuations in emotion, not even anger until recently.
Lu Yan had only told the dead that he had lived in fear since childhood.
The irrational fear was numbing and maddening. It wasn't until Lu Cheng was taken away that this negative emotion subsided.
Lu Yan realized clearly that it wasn't leaving Lu Cheng that made him feel relieved. Instead, he finally understood that the "little brother" wasn't something he had imagined. It was a real existence, just like a flower or a tree. No one knew when the little brother had woken up, but Lu Yan knew.
After many years, this feeling found him once again. Just as the system had said, the little brother was awakening, no matter how.
Tang Xunan fastened his shirt buttons again. "Don't be afraid, no need to apologize."
Tang Xunan was willing to believe in the future he had seen. Lu Yan would live well.
*The Noah stayed by the coast for two days. On the third dawn, the ship finally set sail.
Lu Yan had once wondered how such a large ship could navigate without an engine. The answer soon presented itself.
Captain Octopus's tentacles squeezed out from the drainage pipes, slicing through the water like paddles.
The ferry headed into the depths of the ocean.
Among those boarding the ship were not only flesh fish but also various ocean pollutants unheard of by Lu Yan.
Being amidst them felt like being in a seafood wholesale market, with freshly caught fish strewn all over the floor.
The system murmured in his ear, "[Squid with mustard, frozen bluefin tuna, sashimi of bluefin tuna, salmon belly, sea urchin, sweet shrimp... Ah, so tantalizing. So fragrant. So plump.]"
Then it gulped down a mouthful of saliva.
Lu Yan: "Do you have to talk about this at 2 in the morning?"
[If I don't say it now, there won't be another chance in a few days. Don't find me annoying.]
The system's voice sounded inexplicably aggrieved.
Lu Yan pursed his lips. "Why are pollutants also boarding the ship?"
[R'lyeh can promote evolution. Going there a few more times will bring your dream of dominating land, sea, and air one step closer.]
These pollutants boarding the ship had all paid their fare with flesh fish collected from around the world, ranging in quantity from 50 to 100.
The believers of the Deep Sea Club, being live fish and of the best quality, were kept in a separate cabin.
Other flesh fish weren't so fortunate. They were tied to the mast, resembling both drying clothes and salted fish.
Although Lu Yan already smelled like a pollutant, he wasn't one after all. To avoid accidents, most of the time, he stayed in his room, waiting for the ship to arrive.
The voyage of the ship was longer than he had imagined. After all, biological energy couldn't keep up with mechanical energy for now.
As the destination approached, the color of the sea turned darker and darker.
On a stormy night, Lu Yan, feverish, snuggled in Tang Xunan's arms, feeling a bit groggy. But suddenly, the ship began to shake violently.
He instinctively asked the system, "Have we arrived?"
But this time, the system didn't answer.
Pouring water gushed in from outside the corridor.
Lu Yan's eyes opened to a swollen slit, and the next moment, he was lifted up by Tang Xunan.
"There's a pollutant attacking the ship. It's okay."
Although ocean pollutants had expanded their diet to include not only humans but also other pollutants, flesh fish were still their favorites, instinctively.
A huge blue whale undulated in the seawater, covered with ascidians on its body. It was unusually large, like an ancient dragon long extinct. It even had two slender hind limbs below its belly, perhaps in a few hundred years, this dragon could climb ashore. Just like its ancestors swam from the shore to the seabed many years ago.
The Noah was over a hundred meters long, but the blue whale in the sea seemed just as huge.
Lu Yan finally understood the meaning of what the system said about the captain's duty to protect the passengers.
The tentacles acting as paddles extended once again, swelling. Like a cow's tail driving away flies, they drove away the blue whale.
The other squid crew members, woodenly, picked up flesh fish one by one and threw them into the sea from a distance.
But the blue whale still refused to leave, bumping into the cruise ship below.
Captain Luo Yi emitted a roar of fury. "I really can't do anything to you, but if the ship sinks! None of you will ever eat fish again! Moreover, are you betting that it will never wake up!?"
The huge pollutant no longer wriggled but carried a string of flesh fish in its mouth as it left.
Ascidians on its body began to stir. In the past, they had been nibbling on the flesh and skin of the blue whale's back.
Although they could only eat a limited amount due to their small size, over time, the surface of the blue whale's body was covered with pits.
Strings of white ascidians hung on ropes like wind chimes. Their crimson tongues protruded from the middle holes, swiftly devouring the flesh fish.
Some satiated ascidians swam with the tide, looking for suitable places to reproduce. Others, still hungry, returned to the blue whale's back. Soon, they occupied most of its back.
Tang Xunan held Lu Yan tightly, his brows furrowed.
This blue whale had never been detected by the Prevention and Control Center in the past.
But according to the captain, there were more pollutants of this level in the sea.
On this ship, due to being continuously exposed to strong pollution sources, Tang Xunan's dormant threshold had once again increased, even approaching the level of fifteen thousand.
He had thought this trip home to visit his family would be smoother, but now it seemed that the future was still full of variables.
The blue whale left on a rainy night, diving back into the deep sea.
The captain stood at the highest point, shouting, "Dear passengers, don't panic. It's just a small accident on the journey. We're about to reach our destination, and the chairman has been waiting there for a long time! The underwater city will not disappoint you."
The flesh fish, still immersed in illusion, flapped their fins, emitting joyful chirps.
Tang Xunan exhaled slowly.
In his arms, Lu Yan, after a brief moment of wakefulness, fell asleep again.
He used his wings to shield them from the rain falling from the sky, gently repeating, "Don't be afraid, Yan Yan. Don't be afraid. Sweet dreams."
In the distance, a huge vortex appeared in the center of the ocean. The ferry, over a hundred meters long, floated in it like a grain of rice, inconspicuous.
The vortex was like a black hole in the universe, devouring everything.
Tang Xunan knew clearly that it was the place Lu Yan had mentioned many times.
R'lyeh.
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