Chapter 247 - 237: Mysterious Waters
Chapter 247: Chapter 237: Mysterious Waters
"Sister Tang Mo, it must have been so hard for you, being out there all alone."
Da Yu watched Tang Mo row for so long and still look so relaxed, his heart filled with envy.
He actually knew Sister Tang Mo was ranked number one in all of Huaxia. But when they’d first met and he learned her name, he hadn’t made the connection.
After all, how could Huaxia’s top expert so coincidentally come to his remote hometown? Besides, Sister Tang Mo seemed so easy to talk to, without any airs at all.
But the more he interacted with her, the clearer it became to Da Yu that Sister Tang Mo was no ordinary girl. She was definitely the number one on the rankings.
"Hard? It’s alright. You get used to it after a while."
Tang Mo meant what she said. In her past life, when she had first started struggling to survive in the apocalypse with no family or friends by her side, it had indeed been hard.
But later, she had slowly gotten used to it.
At first, she couldn’t help but cry alone at night. Later, she wouldn’t even shed a tear if a mutant beast tore a chunk of flesh from her shoulder.
No one would offer pity. Crying, no matter how miserably, was useless. Not a single person could truly empathize.
Everyone was too busy fending for themselves.
"I wish I were as strong as Sister Tang Mo."
Da Yu was fifteen this year. When his parents were still around, he had been a carefree child.
But his parents’ sudden departure had instantly turned him into the head of the family, and the weight on his shoulders was nearly crushing him.
’If only I could be as strong as Sister Tang Mo.’
"What would you do if you became strong? Leave this place?"
The people of the small fishing village seemed to have no desire for power. This was the first time Tang Mo had heard anyone from here express a desire for strength.
"No. If I become strong, I can go into deeper waters to look for my parents, I can catch more fish, and I can give my sister a better life."
The boy’s wish was simple and unadorned. More than anything, the people here loved their hometown.
Tang Mo nodded. It was a good thing to demand more from oneself; that was the only way to face the unknown.
After all, just because things were calm and peaceful now didn’t mean they would stay that way forever. The world was changing far too quickly.
Tang Mo and Da Yu rowed for a long time. The farther they went, the deeper the color of the water became.
As they went, Da Yu cast his net, and the fish he caught were clearly getting bigger and bigger.
As they ventured deeper, the sky was like the fickle face of a young girl—clear and cloudless one moment, then filled with lightning and thunder the next.
Fortunately, Tang Mo had a lot of equipment. She had already installed a self-made canopy frame on the boat, which protected them from the scorching sun during the day and the rain when it fell.
Luckily, although the weather was volatile, the wind and waves weren’t too strong. For the most part, the sea surface was unnervingly calm.
Finally, Tang Mo’s boat reached a stretch of sea where the water was as dark as ink.
That wasn’t a color the sea should be. This area was already beyond the farthest point Da Yu had ever traveled.
Seeing the growing unease on the boy’s face, Tang Mo finally told him to stop.
"This is the spot."
Tang Mo took out plenty of water and food, enough for the two of them on the return trip.
Every time Tang Mo went out to sea, she would bring Jingjing along to let it sunbathe on the boat. This time, she pointed at Jingjing and said to Da Yu.
"I’m going down in a bit. Jingjing will stay on the boat so we can stay in contact."
"Through this Little Fox?"
Da Yu was clearly baffled. An ID Watch seemed much more reliable than this fox.
"Don’t look down on foxes."
Jingjing, who had been lazily sunbathing the whole time, spoke up.
Da Yu jumped in fright and pinched himself hard. The fox could actually talk. ’Am I dreaming?’
"I’m going down now. You wait here for me. If anything happens, Jingjing will tell you what to do."
Tang Mo had her reasons for not using the ID Watch to communicate.
In a crisis, fumbling with an ID Watch would waste precious time. Plus, in certain situations, there might not be a signal.
But Jingjing was different. It was telepathically linked with her.
No matter what happened to her, as long as she called out to it in her mind, Jingjing would immediately sense it.
"Sister Tang Mo, you’re going in the water just like that?"
Seeing Tang Mo standing on the edge of the boat, ready to jump, Da Yu hurriedly stopped her.
"Aren’t you going to tie a safety rope?"
The people from the fishing village sometimes went into the water too, but they always tied a safety rope to themselves.
If someone struggled underwater or stayed down for more than 50 seconds, the people on the surface would immediately pull them up.
But all Tang Mo did was take off her shoes and change into a full-body diving suit.
"It’s fine, don’t worry. I’m part fish."
Worried the young boy was getting too nervous, Tang Mo even cracked a joke.
Tang Mo didn’t need a safety rope. For one, she was heading for what might be the deepest part of the ocean, and no rope would be long enough.
Secondly, she knew how to swim and wasn’t afraid of the water.
Tang Mo had experimented with this before. She could use her spiritual power to create an isolated, sealed space around herself.
There was only oxygen inside; water couldn’t get in.
So she wasn’t afraid of running out of oxygen in the water.
"You don’t need to worry about her. Just think of her as a superhero."
Seeing that Da Yu still had a look on his face like he was about to cry, even Jingjing couldn’t bear to watch anymore.
Tang Mo stood at the edge of the boat and used her spiritual power to envelop herself in a space of about three cubic meters.
Why such a large space?
Because the larger the space, the more oxygen it contained. She didn’t know how long she would be down there, so of course, she gave herself more leeway.
Also, with her current level of spiritual power, she didn’t care if the bubble was a little bigger or smaller; to her, it was just a drop in the bucket.
Ever since Tang Mo’s spiritual power leveled up, it was far superior to what it had been before.
However, the only downside was that her previous spiritual power was a silvery white, which was almost transparent.
But now it shimmered with a golden light. If she wanted to condense it into a physical sphere around herself, there was no way to hide the color.
A glowing person standing inside a giant golden sphere of light—no matter how you thought about it, the scene was anything but ordinary.
But thankfully, when Da Yu saw the golden light emitting from Tang Mo, he was completely put at ease.
’The Little Fox was right. Sister Tang Mo really is a superhero.’
Tang Mo quickly jumped into the water. To save energy and sink faster without having to swim, she held a 110-pound bag of rice to her chest.
With this weight, she sank even faster.
Inside the sphere of light, it was almost as if Tang Mo were on solid ground. Because of this, she could fearlessly open her eyes and watch her surroundings as she descended.
The ocean truly was another world, far more wondrous and mysterious than the land.