Chapter 142: Observe the creatures
【Remaining Simulation Attempts: 6】
Buzz buzz buzz...
Lin Ye opened his eyes in the prison transport vehicle.
He had indeed intended to commit suicide after gathering sufficient information, but he never expected to die in a gunfight.
The other side had struck first.
The opposing squad leader showed no interest in communicating with Lin Ye, instead planning to capture both him and the young girl to extract information about the subway station anomalies.
Although experiencing some physical discomfort after passing through the Silent Land, Lin Ye compensated for his physical weaknesses with extensive experience. Combined with the decent spiritual energy concentration in this world, he and the young girl quickly eliminated the entire advance team.
Just as Lin Ye planned to retreat to the Aquarium station to continue gathering information, the opposition unexpectedly launched some type of portable spiritual energy missile into the Ticket Hall. The young girl was critically injured protecting Lin Ye, and the burly man was blown to pieces.
An enraged Lin Ye charged to the surface with the young girl and the Train Attendant Aberration. After eliminating hundreds of opponents using various methods, Lin Ye was ultimately gunned down in the chaotic crossfire.
Before closing his eyes for the final time, Lin Ye saw an enormous shadow nearly half the size of the city appear above the urban skyline. The opposition seemed to have found some method to deal with the Train Attendant.
The young girl had been right - there were indeed four stages to the Aberration.
'Damn it, I lost my temper.'
This meaningless conflict left Lin Ye deeply frustrated. If he hadn't possessed simulation abilities, the other side would have paid dearly for someone's arrogance.
As first-stage symptoms began to manifest, Lin Ye calmly contemplated various questions about rune knowledge.
The prison transport vehicle once again stopped outside the subway entrance. Repeating his previous actions, Lin Ye was the first to enter the subway entrance.
This time, Lin Ye intended to complete this simulation mission, so he didn't engage in extensive communication with the Captain. He simply proceeded normally to the restroom where he found that ticket leading to the Silent Land.
Lin Ye then repeated his actions from the previous simulation: meeting the young girl, deceiving the earpiece Captain, capturing the burly man, and finally arriving successfully at the Aquarium station.
Lin Ye found a spot to sit beside the staircase leading to the Ticket Hall and gestured for the young girl to sit beside him.
Obediently hugging her knees, the young girl sat next to Lin Ye. Leaning against the wall beside the staircase, they watched the dark seawater beyond the glass walls.
Just being on the platform, Lin Ye could feel an indescribable sense of oppression. If not for his strong mental energy, he would have already collapsed.
Before the pressure from that seawater could overwhelm him, Lin Ye activated his special ability: Safe Zone.
Lin Ye established a cubic safe zone with one-meter sides around them. The oppressive feeling vanished instantly, and the seawater outside no longer appeared so terrifying.
Lin Ye could actually expand the safe zone since there were many geometric structures with one-meter sides. He could also position the safe zone closer to the staircase leading to the Ticket Hall. But after some consideration, he ultimately abandoned these ideas.
Expanding the safe zone might reduce its protective strength, and the one-cubic-meter safe space was already sufficient.
Lin Ye also had no intention of fleeing to the Ticket Hall. Without resolving the Aquarium anomaly, he couldn't complete the simulation mission, making escape meaningless.
If the Aquarium anomaly still persisted after an hour, Lin Ye would visit the Botanical Garden and church during the next simulation. If all else failed, he would perform a ritual at the Aquarium to summon the Abyssal Evil God and destroy this place along with it.
At that time, he would also take the opportunity to see what exactly the fourth stage of the illness contained.
"Can you handle this? Don't kill it."
Due to its massive size, most of the burly man's body remained outside the safe zone.
"Okay."
The young girl extended several tendrils, dragged the burly man out of the safe zone, and excised the excess portions outside the protection area. Fine tendrils quickly grew from the incision sites, healing the wounds.
After pulling the remaining half of the burly man back into the safe zone, the young girl looked toward Lin Ye, only to find him staring at the glass wall before them.
A massive blue-gray semi-transparent eyeball pressed against the glass wall. The eye was so enormous that they could only see the eyeball itself, unable to glimpse whatever being it belonged to.
"It seems to be watching us..."
The young girl studied the patterns on the eyeball with curiosity. This was her first time seeing the details of an eyeball so clearly.
"Because we're the exhibits in this aquarium. Rare specimens like us aren't common, so of course it would take a longer look."
Lin Ye also carefully examined the patterns on the creature's eyeball, which resembled some kind of runic structure.
After watching for a while, the eyeball disappeared into the depths of the dark seawater. Shortly after, a school of small fish emitting blue light appeared outside the glass wall.
Each fish was only palm-sized, but the entire school consisted of thousands of identical fish without any variation.
All these small fish watched Lin Ye with one side of their eyes, synchronously waving their tails in perfect unison.
Outside the safe zone, the burly man's severed limbs twitched a couple of times before gradually transforming into numerous identical small fish that hopped about outside the protective area. They opened their fish lips, emitting strange calls.
Ignoring the small fish jumping outside the safe zone, Lin Ye watched through the glass wall as the school moved with perfect coordination.
After a while, seeing that Lin Ye remained unaffected, the fish school departed from the glass wall and disappeared into the ocean depths.
The few hopping small fish collapsed to the ground, dead.
"So beautiful. Pity they're not edible."
The young girl rested her head on Lin Ye's shoulder, her long hair intertwining with his body as she admired the gigantic sea creatures gradually approaching outside the window.
"Indeed a pity. This is my first time visiting such a place. I should have brought some snacks."
Thinking of the delicious food at the Restaurant station, Lin Ye suddenly felt that going without food might be acceptable.
Massive aquatic plants, various deep-sea leviathans, ruined underwater structures, strange statues... All sorts of things passed by the glass wall, briefly observing the two before moving on. When a gigantic blood-red eyeball covered in fleshy strips finally moved away from the glass, the platform shuddered and began gradually returning to normal.
The safe zone's duration hadn't yet expired, and Lin Ye wasn't in any hurry to leave.
"Why didn't you kill it? That might have prevented my escape."
Lin Ye asked the young girl.
"I don't know either. Originally I planned to trick you into going to the Botanical Garden to turn you into a vegetable, keeping you here with me forever. But later I changed my mind."
The young girl sighed, poking the small fish corpses outside the safe zone with her tendrils.
"Well, I'm truly grateful for that. I have no desire to become a vegetable."
Lin Ye felt relieved that he hadn't believed the young girl's nonsense about going to the Botanical Garden. Otherwise, he might not even have gotten the chance to simulate again.
"Let's go. It's time to leave this place."
The young girl stood up, pulling the half-sized burly man toward the staircase leading outside.
"Come on. If you don't leave, I can't either."
The young girl turned back to address Lin Ye, who still sat on the ground.
"What will happen to you after we leave?"
Lin Ye stood up, knowing the simulation was about to end.
"How should I know?"
The young girl smiled, pulling Lin Ye as they left the subway station.