Chapter 36: On the Verge

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: On the Verge

Tang Ling scolded in a low, flustered voice, yet her eyes couldn’t help but steal a glance at Lin Ji.

Lin Ji, however, looked as composed as ever, as if he hadn’t heard those suggestive words at all.

Gu Yihan, on the other hand, found this kind of scrutiny a bit difficult to bear.

To hide her embarrassment and prove her worth, she took a deep breath, and her gaze instantly became sharp.

She raised her right hand. She didn’t take her bow; instead, she simply made a slashing motion in the air toward a discarded thick wooden plank at the edge of the deck.

Swoosh!

A sharp sound of breaking air rang out.

A visible, faint cyan wind blade whistled out from her fingertips.

The solid wooden board, a full three centimeters thick, was instantly sliced in two.

The cut was as smooth as a mirror, even emitting a wisp of blue smoke from the friction caused by the high-speed airflow.

The deck fell silent instantly.

Su Qingyue and Shen Manyun’s eyes widened, their shyness quickly fading, replaced by profound shock.

Is this the power of a C-grade talent?

In just half an hour, Gu Yihan had become this strong?

The way the women looked at Lin Ji changed once again.

If their previous attachment was merely for survival, it was now filled with an intense craving for power.

"Get ready to work," Lin Ji ordered calmly.

"Lower the speed. Move closer."

As the catamaran sailboat cut through the thick sea fog, the scene ahead finally became clear.

A rusted, stranded cargo ship, resembling a steel beast, lay quietly amidst a cluster of reefs.

The hole at the cargo ship’s waterline was currently a scene of carnage.

Several shattered, broken rafts floated on the sea surface.

In the murky water, a few mutilated male corpses bobbed with the waves, clearly having died not long ago.

And on the cargo ship’s deck and the surrounding reefs, monsters that would make anyone’s skin crawl were everywhere.

They were two-meter-long mutated amphibious creatures—gel salamanders.

They could swim in the water and crawl on land using their four limbs.

These monsters had no scales; instead, they were covered in a thick, tough layer of translucent mucus.

Lin Ji activated his Eye of Insight to scan them.

[LV2 · Gel Salamander]

[Weakness: The surface gel is extremely sensitive to cold; it will crystallize and become brittle when chilled.]

"Su Qingyue, watch closely."

Lin Ji reached out and pulled Su Qingyue toward him by her shoulder, pointing at the distant monsters while speaking in a low voice.

"These things are afraid of the cold. If a fight breaks out later, you’ll be responsible for freezing them."

"Gu Yihan will be responsible for shattering the crystals. You two need to coordinate well."

Su Qingyue felt the warmth of Lin Ji’s large hand and her body stiffened slightly before she nodded vigorously.

"I understand."

Meanwhile, at the breach in the cargo ship.

Two LV2 rafts lashed together were stationed there.

Five men stood back-to-back, locked in a fierce struggle with the surging gel salamanders.

These five coordinated with great precision; they were clearly all Awakened.

The leader, a burly man with a scarred face, was the most prominent.

His entire body was covered in a layer of grayish-brown rock armor, allowing him to tank the attacks of several monsters without losing ground.

[C-grade Talent: Rock Armor]

Behind him was a thin man throwing fireballs, a fat man manipulating currents of water, a one-eyed man with a crossbow, and a physically imposing strength-enhancer.

The combat power of this team made even Lin Ji turn cautious.

However, what truly horrified the women on Lin Ji’s boat was not the strength of these men.

It was on the mast of that raft.

Two rusted iron dog chains were tethered to two completely naked women.

The two women were covered in bruises and scars, their eyes hollow and numb.

They were like stray dogs, tied in demeaning positions that would make any man’s blood boil.

Clearly, they were being used by this group as nothing more than sexual tools and bait.

Seeing this, even the softest-natured Shen Manyun trembled with rage.

As a woman herself, the chill and anger radiating from her very bones made her feel suffocated.

Su Qingyue clenched her hands so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"These animals..."

Gu Yihan gritted her teeth and directly raised her Storm Hunter Bow.

If they hadn’t met Lin Ji, perhaps these former campus belles might have fallen to the same fate—a living death.

"Captain, I want to kill them!"

Gu Yihan turned to Lin Ji, her eyes flashing with murderous intent.

Lin Ji’s expression remained unchanged, his gaze as calm as a deep pool.

He reached out and pressed down on Gu Yihan’s trembling shoulder, lowering her bow.

"Don’t be in a hurry."

Lin Ji’s voice was soft, yet it carried an indisputable ruthlessness.

"Those men have decent talents, especially the one playing with rocks; his defense is very high."

"Charging in now would only let those monsters reap the benefits while we fight."

Lin Ji watched the heated battlefield in the distance, his lips curling into a cruel arc.

"Let them fight first."

"Wait until their mana is depleted, until they are covered in the gel salamanders’ mucus and exhausted..."

"Then we will go over and help set them free."

The area where the cargo ship was grounded had extremely complex terrain.

Jagged black reefs were everywhere, the waves crashing against them with a dull roar.

Thick sea fog drifted between the rocks, providing natural cover for an ambush.

"Furl the sails and move closer."

Lin Ji commanded in a low voice.

The catamaran sailboat slid silently into a gap between two massive reefs.

Only half of the hull remained visible as they used the shadows to observe the battle ahead.

With the assistance of the life detector, Lin Ji clearly saw the fighting style of the five-man team.

The scarred man led at the front, covered in heavy rock armor.

Though he had no weapon, that armor was the best defense; he endured the gel salamanders’ bites, each of his punches tearing away chunks of flesh.

"That person covered in rock has incredible defense," Gu Yihan whispered into Lin Ji’s ear as she leaned in to analyze.

Having just been empowered, she was not only radiant but her powers of observation had also become much sharper.

"Besides him, the one with the crossbow is the biggest threat. If we act, it’s best to take him out instantly."

As soon as Gu Yihan finished speaking, Su Qingyue also quietly moved closer.

She unobtrusively squeezed onto Lin Ji’s other side, a trace of competitive stubbornness flashing in her cold eyes.

"I think we should freeze the fire-user first."

Su Qingyue bit her lower lip. Her voice was somewhat timid, but she still summoned the courage to speak.

"Fire counters wood. If he’s allowed to throw fireballs over here, our sails will be ruined."

The two women pressed against Lin Ji from the left and right, a subtle scent of gunpowder filling the air between them.

Lin Ji said nothing, simply watching the battlefield in the distance.

The thin man hiding in the back was conjuring fireballs; though they weren’t very powerful, they were effective for constant harassment.

The fat man beside him used seawater to create small whirlpools, slowing the monsters’ movements.

The remaining two—a bald man and the one-eyed man—were busy as well; one used a stone to crazily deliver finishing blows, while the other used a crossbow to snipe weaknesses from a distance.

This team’s coordination was quite good; they had clearly adapted to this cruel world for some time.

Just as Lin Ji was calculating to wait until they were nearly spent before making a move, a sudden, unheralded sea breeze swept through.

The whistling wind not only dispersed some of the sea fog but also caused the sailboat’s partially lowered sail to billow out.

A crisp snap rang out.

In the midst of the noisy battlefield, this sound was exceptionally jarring.

"Who’s there!"

The one-eyed man in the enemy team, who had been responsible for lookout, whipped his head around.

His E-grade eagle eye activated instantly, his pupils shrinking to the size of needles.

His vision pierced through the thinning mist, accurately locking onto the flash of the white sail behind the reef.

"Boss! There are rats over there!"