Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 248: Chapter 238: Underwater World

Tang Mo peered through the air surrounding her, and then through the seawater beyond the glow, witnessing a magnificent sight.

She had originally imagined the world beneath the sea to be mysterious and silent, like a taciturn old man.

But that wasn’t the case at all. Humanity had burdened the unknown depths with too much solemnity; in reality, the undersea world was far more lively, colorful, and charming.

Tang Mo watched as schools of small, colorfully-patterned fish swam past her.

She also saw countless cute little creatures, most of which she had never seen or heard of before and certainly couldn’t name.

They didn’t seem afraid of her, even tentatively hovering just outside her sphere of light.

The deeper she sank, the more beautiful the scenery became. If the sights above were charming, then the sights below were magnificent and majestic.

The creatures in the depths were larger. Some looked docile and affable, giving Tang Mo a friendly flick of their tails, while others were fierce and terrifying. Yet, even the fearsome ones just swam past her indifferently, each minding their own business.

The creatures here seemed to share one common trait: they weren’t aggressive.

This wasn’t to say they lacked the ability to attack. On the contrary, they looked much more powerful now than they had before the apocalypse.

But it was as if they were under some kind of restraint, their sharp edges reined in, making them docile.

Tang Mo descended in silence, her eyes wide as she took in the magnificent, colorful world of the deep sea. It was a world so magical, so harmonious.

After an unknown amount of time, Tang Mo descended into an even deeper part of the ocean.

In these depths, not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate. If not for her night vision, her surroundings would have been pitch-black.

Just as Tang Mo was about to search for something in the darkness, a powerful suction pulled her downward.

By the time Tang Mo sensed trouble, she was already plummeting. She looked down but couldn’t make out what was pulling her.

She struggled desperately to ascend, but she was inside the sphere of light and could only rely on her spiritual power to lift herself.

Urged on by Tang Mo, the sphere of light began to rise.

But the force from below was simply too powerful. Even Da Yu, the large fish above her, was being slammed downward. If Tang Mo hadn’t dodged quickly, it would have smashed right into her sphere of light.

"That’s..."

Tang Mo focused her spiritual power, fighting against the strange suction as she looked down.

In the darkness, she thought she saw enormous teeth and stretches of pink, tender flesh.

A bold guess formed in Tang Mo’s mind.

’It’s worth a shot.’

She quickly assessed the situation. Her chances of escape were still quite high even if she went down. Since she had come this far, there was no reason to turn and run when she was on the verge of discovering the truth.

So, Tang Mo simply gave up the struggle, allowing the suction to pull her down.

"Jingjing, have Da Yu go home first. Don’t worry about me. Remember to protect him."

What she was about to do was fraught with danger, and she had no idea how long it would take. Tang Mo sent a command to Jingjing, telling it to have Da Yu return home first.

Tang Mo plummeted along with the fish around her, falling into a gaping maw and then sliding down a massive gullet.

The walls of the passage were coated in a sticky liquid. Fortunately, Tang Mo had her Protective Shield, otherwise, it would have been quite an ordeal.

She slid for a long time. When she finally came to a stop, Tang Mo found herself standing on solid ground.

To be precise, it wasn’t the ground, but the inside of some enormous creature’s stomach.

That’s right, a stomach. If her guess was correct, Tang Mo was now inside the stomach of a colossal deep-sea beast.

Tang Mo knew that many giant sea creatures were so massive they swallowed their food whole without chewing.

Even though she was inside, she was confident she could find a way out.

Besides, she had a hunch that the mysterious disappearances of many people and shipwrecks from Xiao Yu Village might be connected to this very beast.

"It’s a human!"

Sure enough, just moments after arriving, Tang Mo heard a human voice.

Tang Mo looked up. On the pink "walls" above, several small houses built from wooden planks were firmly fixed in place.

Seeing that another person had arrived, several people emerged from the houses and came down to surround Tang Mo.

Tang Mo counted a total of five people: two couples, one of whom had a small child with them.

’Looks like Sister Lai’s husband isn’t here.’ Tang Mo sighed, feeling a pang of sadness for that strong, independent, and optimistic woman.

"It’s been a long time since anyone new came here."

The speaker, a middle-aged man, was clearly their leader. His tone was a mixture of happiness at welcoming a newcomer and sadness for the predicament she was now in.

"Where is this? Who are you?" Tang Mo asked, even though she already had a good idea of the answers.

"We’re the ones who came here before you. We’ve been here for a long time. This is the stomach of a colossal deep-sea beast. All of us, including you... we were all eaten."

’We were all eaten.’ The phrasing was a bit comical.

"You were eaten and you’re still alive after all this time?" Tang Mo looked at the small houses on the wall. ’They’re not just surviving,’ she thought, ’it looks like they’re living pretty well.’

"Even though we were eaten, this beast surfaces to breathe about once a month, so there’s plenty of oxygen."

’This is the stomach, not the lungs. How could there be enough oxygen?’ Tang Mo couldn’t figure it out.

’Maybe it has something to do with post-apocalyptic mutations. The anatomy of these mutant beasts can no longer be explained by human biology.’

"Then what about digestion?"

Tang Mo looked at the scattered fish on the ground that had been swallowed along with her.

’If nothing gets digested, shouldn’t there be a lot more piled up in here?’

’Where did all the food other than these humans go?’

"Of course, it’s not a free ride. About once a week, a corrosive liquid flows in. The volume isn’t too great—it only comes up to about a person’s height. When that happens, all the fish and shrimp flopping around on the ground get washed away with it."

A person’s height was probably less than a tenth of the height of this entire space.

At least, when Tang Mo looked up, she couldn’t see the top at all.

The man explained patiently to Tang Mo.

He had been here the longest. They had no shortage of food and no need for clothing, so they had all prepared to live out the rest of their lives here.

But their biggest problem was loneliness. There were too few people to talk to.

’Corrosive liquid?’

’A person’s height?’

Tang Mo looked at the two houses fixed to the wall and understood why they had built them that way.

Suspending themselves up high like that certainly saved them a lot of trouble.

"You can eat the fish for food, but what about water?" It would be impossible to survive with only food and no water.

"The water... you’ll find out later," the man said, looking a bit embarrassed.