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Chapter 631: New Year, New Hope, New Female Lead?

Maxin was stunned, and his blood turned cold.

He blinked his eyes hard and looked around. He could not believe what he had just seen. A second earlier, Lin Sanjiu was standing on a platform, but seconds later, she had disappeared into the billowing sea.

“What the hell happened? Where is she?”

Maxin waited for a little longer, but Lin Sanjiu did not emerge from the ocean. He glanced over his shoulder at the grand prize. When he saw Ji Shanqing’s expression, his heart gave a little start, and the penny suddenly dropped.

He did not know what or who Soulsqn was yelling at as the androgynous young man had gotten all his attention. All color had leached out from his face while his body was shaking and his teeth were chattering.

“Si...” The grand prize muttered something through chattering teeth, but his voice was so low that it got lost in the wind chimes. Maxin could not hear him well, so he raised his voice and asked, “What did you just say?”

Ji Shanqing paid him no mind as if he did not exist. His entire body trembled like a paper-thin autumn leaf caught in the wind. His hair was in total disarray and as he opened his mouth to say something again, Maxin was able to hear him this time. “Sis.”

Although he was indisposed towards the grand prize, Maxin could not help sighing.

Nonetheless, death was an everyday occurrence in the apocalyptic world, and Maxin had gotten used to it. Although he did not have any ill feelings towards Lin Sanjiu, he did not feel much about her sudden death. For him, the young man in front of him was the trickiest.

Growing up in the slums, Maxin had mastered the skill of differentiating a dangerous person since childhood. He was confident that Ji Shanqing certainly fell into such a category.

Although what he did earlier seemed like revenge on the surface, in actuality, it was more like a form of warning, a kind of signal to inform them that he was not a weakling or somebody who could be easily taken advantage of. Nevertheless, ironically enough, mostly only weaklings needed to send out such a signal. This trait was even more profound when they sensed danger around them.

Right now, since the only person who could contain the threat factor was dead, Maxin was totally clueless about what would happen next. Just as he felt helpless about the situation, the young man on the platform turned his head and called out to him, “Maxin!”

The call pulled him out from his thoughts, so Maxin had no choice but to reply however reluctant he was, “Yeah?”

Maxin had never seen a person who could become so pale until he met the grand prize. He seemed like the reflection of the moonlight on a lake before a storm arrived. When Ji Shanqing was peering at him, Maxin had a feeling that his gaze could pierce flesh and see his insides. Besides that, there was also a strange voice in his heart that kept telling him Ji Shanqing knew he was a little afraid of him. The grand prize withdrew his steely gaze and spoke in a condescending tone, “Go and scout the area.”

“What?” Maxin thought his ears were playing a trick on him.

“You’ll replace my sister and make a recce of the area in the black camp,” Ji Shanqing said indifferently, “The game has already started. We don’t have the luxury of loitering about and doing nothing.”

“Okay, I’ll do it, but your sis...”

“I’ll go find her,” Ji Shanqing said, beckoning Maxin with a nod to follow him. “Let’s go together. I might need to use some of your help.”

Then, the grand prize ended the conversation.

Once again, Soulsqn was left behind. Both Ji Shanqing and Maxin traveled together through five platforms.

Since he did not want to follow in Lin Sanjiu’s footsteps, Maxin was very careful with every step he made. There was not a Special Item in the world that granted them the ability to jump over a fixed distance. Maxin had no idea how the woman from the white camp did it, but leaping over a hundred meters consecutively without breaks was a strain for both him and the grand prize. No, judging by his heavy breathing and his shaky legs, Maxin was certain that the grand prize was having a harder time than him.

‘He seems weaker than I thought. All I need to do is to push him from behind and he’ll fall straight into the sea. He doesn’t know how to swim, so there’s no way he could escape the yellow shadows before they engulf him.’

When both of them reached the platform where Lin Sanjiu fell into the sea, Ji Shanqing crouched down at the edge. Then, he raised his head and studied Maxin.

“There were times I thought you’d push me into the water,” he stated. His tone was so calm that he seemed like he was asking some trivial matters. “Why didn’t you?”

Maxin’s blood ran cold, and his heartbeat picked up its pace when the grand prize threw him that question. He did not know how to answer him. Putting on a calm facade as he battled to hide his real emotions, he stared at the sea and replied, “That’s not necessary. This is where your sister fell into the water, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Ji Shanqing withdrew his gaze from Maxin and continued to stare at the yellow sea. Squinting his eyes, Ji Shanqing propped himself forward. “Can you see that?”

“What?” Maxin did not notice what Ji Shanqing had seen since he was standing behind him.

“Below the yellow shadows, just on the top layer, there’s a large clump of entangled yellow silhouettes.” Ji Shanqing’s voice quivered just like a vase on the verge of shattering. “Do you have a cane or something similar?”

Maxin craned his neck and looked in the direction the grand prize was pointing at. Indeed, like what the grand prize said, there was a huge dark clump beneath the layer of yellow shadows on the top. Besides that, looking from its outline, it did look human. Maxin took two steps back, and after he was confident that the grand prize could not see him, he rummaged through his inventory, looking for the item that the grand prize had requested from him. After a few seconds of searching, he then said, “I don’t have a cane. That kind of thing is useless, so I should’ve thrown it away.”

“What do you have then?”

“A rope? I’m not sure...” Before Maxin could finish his sentence, Ji Shanqing turned around and stared at him. Maxin’s reaction was fast as he immediately hid his inventory. With a raised brow, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“If my sister is underwater, we don’t have much time left. We have to act fast,” Ji Shanqing drew a deep breath to calm himself down and commanded, “Come over here.”

“What do you want?” Maxin asked, remained standing firm on the platform.

“I don’t care how you do it. Scatter that clump of shadows.” Ji Shanqing stood up and retreated to the side with his arms crossed in front of his chest, “Hurry.”

“How am I going to...”

“I’m sure you know how to do it. I noticed that you’ve used at least two Special Items when you were swimming, but you still have a mermaid’s tail that you didn’t use. All of your Special Items are heavily skewed towards surviving underwater. I don’t think this is a coincidence. You’ve adapted to the sea, and you even chose to participate in a swimming competition rather than other sports on land,” Ji Shanqing said quickly, “Let me guess. You survived through the apocalyptic world by hiding underwater, didn’t you?”

Ji Shanqing was right.

The danger he would face in the water was way much lesser than what he would encounter on land. By hiding himself underwater, he would be able to steer himself away from encountering duoluozhong , Pocket Dimensions, or other posthumans, while securing his food sources at the same time. Besides that, Maxin had always been an aquaphile since childhood. He just did not get many chances to swim since he was poor.

“I can try.” Maxin compromised in the end after he thought for a few moments. “But I can’t promise you anything.”

“You’re a kind person.” A fleeting smile flashed across Ji Shanqing’s face. He was not complimenting Maxin or showing his gratitude. He was merely stating a fact that he had observed about him.

Although Maxin knew Ji Shanqing would not attack him at that moment, exposing his back while using a Special Item at the edge of the platform was something he did not really welcome. He put the mermaid’s tail on his hand, and with a swipe of his hand, the scales on the mermaid’s tail expanded and crawled up to his arm. Looking from the side, it seemed as if his arm had grown into a fishtail.

As if they sensed him, the yellow shadows all gathered under the spot where Maxin was crouching. He carefully dipped the pointy end of the tail into the water.

Truth to be told, the mermaid’s tail was not inferior to his other Special Items at all. The moment it touched the surface of the sea, water would gather around it and transform the entire mermaid’s tail into a large water whip. In the end, a vortex was formed. The vortex grew larger and faster with every stroke of Maxin’s arm. He was cautious as no seawater that had been imbued with the yellow shadows spilled onto the platform they were standing on.

Ji Shanqing let his long hair flow downstream as Maxin was getting nervous.

“Keep it going,” Ji Shanqing encouraged, “You’re about to touch the ball of shadows.”

The mermaid’s tail revolved even faster. The huge water whip controlled by the mermaid’s tail had created a vortex about ten meters deep within the blink of an eye. Eventually, the clump of yellow shadows was exposed to the air. It seemed like a human being wrapped by countless snakes. However, they were soon washed away by the force of the vortex.

A spherical object flew out from that clump of yellow shadows and hit the platform with a loud clunk. Ji Shanqing quickly went forward and picked it up from the water.

It was a huge birdcage.

Perhaps because he was protected by the birdcage, the man appeared a little shaky, but he was still alive. Ji Shanqing hurled the birdcage onto the ground and yelled out loudly, “My sis is still down there! Hurry, keep it going!”

A shudder of excitement swept through Maxin, driving him to move his arm even faster. When he saw a person moving up from the sea, he stopped. To his relief, the vortex was dissipating and the sea was calming down.

He had a favorable impression of Lin Sanjiu. Not only was he delighted to see her again, but most importantly, the person that could contain Ji Shanqing had returned.

Both of them held their breaths as they looked at the figure swim towards the surface of the sea.

With a huge splash, a face emerged from the sea. As he drew in a few deep breaths, he offered a bright smile at the duo.

“Hello!” Zeus rolled his snaky neck as if he was limbering up. “You have found God! Congratulations!”

Both of them were stunned.

Maxin did not have to turn around to see Ji Shanqing’s face as he could easily picture the latter’s face inside his mind. It must be ghastly pale like the snow of a blizzard storm.

“Ahem!” Zeus cleared his throat theatrically. He tugged at his black tank top and announced, filling the air with his clear voice, “New year, new hope, new me! I’m now going to announce the new rules. You’d better open your ears and listen carefully!”