The rain grew heavier, as if it would swallow the entire Island.
A gale rose on the Island, its howls ripping the tin roofs from buildings. A group of people scrambled up ladders to make repairs.
In the living room of a three-story house not far away, a stove radiated heat.
Qin Ziwen and Yang Long sat facing each other, surrounded by a circle of people.
"Brother, I’m going out to take a look." Qin Ziwu stood up. The rain outside was heavy, and to prevent a sneak attack from the people of Hongding Mansion, a large group had gathered at the edge of the Urban Village.
"Mm, be careful."
Qin Ziwen stretched his hands out over the stove to warm them, the flickering firelight casting shifting shadows across his face.
Yang Long rubbed his wet hair with a towel, wiped his hands, and tossed it into a nearby basin. He sighed. "Good thing this isn’t a typhoon. If it were, we’d probably lose half our roofs."
"They’re not having an easy ti over in their building, either," soone interjected. "The walls are full of holes. I just saw them trying to plug them up."
Just then, a bare-chested man with short eyebrows and a yellow beard slipped in from the rain like a mud loach. "Boss, Boss."
He was barefoot, and water stread from his body onto the floor, leaving a trail of wet footprints.
Yang Long couldn’t help but glance over. ’Another strange character,’ he thought.
"Aren’t you cold?" Qin Ziwen asked, looking up.
"Not cold. This little bit of rain is nothing. It actually feels nice, like I’ve co ho." Yan San chuckled and leaned in to whisper a few words in Qin Ziwen’s ear.
Sothing flickered in Qin Ziwen’s eyes. "Really?"
"It’s the honest truth," Yan San said, thumping his chest in assurance.
"Chairman Yang, sothing’s co up. We’ll talk later." Qin Ziwen rose to his feet, and Deng Guang opened an umbrella for him from behind.
"Of course. Don’t let keep you." Yang Long quickly stood to see him out, his gaze following until the figure vanished into the curtain of rain.
He was curious, but he knew he had no right to ask.
Down by the sea, the rain hamred the ocean’s surface into a blur.
The water churned and surged.
Two heads broke the surface.
The one on the left had upturned eyes, a wide nose, dark skin, and a ferocious expression. The one on the right had deep-set eyes and gills on its cheeks.
It was Yan Wu and the Fishman, Pura.
Deng Guang, following behind Qin Ziwen, stole a few extra glances at Pura. He had seen this individual on the ship before.
But looking at his features, he didn’t seem quite human.
’How could a person look like that?’
"You said you think there’s sothing wrong with this rain?" Qin Ziwen asked, looking at Pura.
Before they set out, he had instructed Pura to stand guard beneath the ship and imdiately notify everyone on board if any Sea Beasts approached from the depths.
But unexpectedly, Yan Da had co to him just now, saying Pura felt sothing was off about the rain.
"Yes, Master. This is no ordinary rain." Pura’s voice was hoarse, and he hesitated, as if wanting to say more but holding back.
Qin Ziwen glanced around. Besides Deng Guang, Du Yu, Yan Da, and Yan Wu were also present.
"We’re all friendly here. Speak freely."
Seeing that, Pura continued, "Sir, sothing is wrong with this rain. Before it started, while I was lurking beneath the ship, I heard a sound from the deep sea. I’ve recalled it now—this must be the Sacrificial Rain for a Deep Sea Hunt."
"What is the Sacrificial Rain of the Deep Sea Hunt?"
Pura explained, "We Fishn live at the bottom of the sea. If we co ashore, we can’t even use half of our strength.
So, if we want to hunt on land, we have the masters of the Sacrificial Race within our tribe perform a ritual to summon the Sacrificial Rain, calling forth a downpour.
In the rain, while the movents of us in the Fishman Race are not as agile as in the water, our strength and other abilities are not affected."
"So, you’re saying the Fishn in the sea are coming to attack us? Why? Why now of all tis?"
Pura shook his head. He didn’t know, either.
"This Sacrificial Rain... can your Sacrificial Race summon it at will? How difficult is it?" ’Is this a basic attack, a passive ability, or an ultimate move?’ Qin Ziwen wondered.
"The Sacrificial Race can summon it, but not often." Pura thought for a mont before giving a vague answer.
"Then they definitely have a purpose for calling the rain at this specific ti," Qin Ziwen concluded.
The sound of hurried footsteps ca from behind them. Qin Ziwu ran over. "Brother, this is bad! Over at the Gated Community, a ton of Fishn have appeared on the surrounding reefs!"
Qin Ziwen’s expression darkened at the news. ’Are these Fishn raiding my ho base?’
"Let’s go. Tell the people left guarding the ship to be careful." After a mont’s thought, Qin Ziwen had Pura co back with him.
The hunched, bizarre-looking Pura followed Qin Ziwen from the shore into the Urban Village.
Countless people stopped in their tracks along the way to stare at him.
Only after Qin Ziwen had led Pura through the anchor point and returned to the Gated Community did Yang Long voice his confusion. "Erhu, what was that? Cosplay?"
The portly man known as Erhu replied, "Brother Long, I don’t think that was cosplay. I saw the gills on his face actually moving."
Yang Long was stunned. He felt like he understood less and less of what was happening.
He discreetly pinched himself.
His face was etched with worry.
After returning to the Gated Community with Pura, Qin Ziwen saw Jia Liangcai and Zhao Pu running over. "Chairman, a lot of Fishn are on the reefs outside! We can’t understand a word they’re saying."
Qin Ziwen glanced at Pura. "It’s fine. I brought a translator with . Alright, tell everyone to get ready. We can’t let our guard down."
"Yes, sir." Jia Liangcai nodded and hurried back to relay the orders.
Arriving at the south gate, Qin Ziwen looked through the entrance to the dark reefs outside. They were covered with Fishn. A quick scan revealed at least seventy or eighty of them standing on the uneven rock.
Most of them looked similar to Pura. Perhaps it was face blindness, but to Qin Ziwen, all these Fishn seed to be cast from the sa mold. They all looked more or less the sa, with two eyes, a nose, and two gills on their faces. The only differences were slight variations in height and weight.
However, on a few reefs near the ocean’s edge, three of the Fishn stood out. They were huge, powerfully built, and had very dark skin.
They were half-reclined on the rocks, with rolls of thick fat that looked like stacked tires.
They had upturned noses, small eyes, and huge mouths, and they were so fat they looked like enchanted catfish.
Compared to the quiet Artisan Race Fishn around them, these three fat Fishn were exceptionally noisy. They used appendages that looked more like fins than hands to repeatedly slap their own bellies, letting out cries of "AWOO! AWOO! AWOO!"
"Are those... enchanted sea cucumbers?" Qin Ziwen’s eye twitched. But the Fishn were only making noise, not actually attacking. ’It seems they want sothing,’ he thought.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to co ashore.
At that mont, an Artisan Race Fishman standing at the front, near the Gated Community’s south gate, was babbling on and on, but no one inside could answer.
As ti went on, the surrounding Fishn grew restless.
"AWOO! AWOO! AWOO!" The three fat Fishn were shaking their heads and writhing on the spot, their necks twisting almost like pretzels. One of them spun so hard it got dizzy and, with a SPLASH, toppled back into the sea.
Just then, Qin Ziwen stepped out.
A crowd of people was massed behind him, and the Fishn seed to guess that he was the group’s leader.
The eyes of everyone present, humans and Fishn alike, all focused on him.
"Pura, translate for . What was he saying just now?"
Pura, who had been hiding behind Qin Ziwen, slowly erged from the shadows of the crowd.
He lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over the group of his kinsn. They exuded a barbaric air, clad in garnts woven from shells, fish scales, and coral. A flicker of disdain crossed his eyes.
"My master asks why you have co ashore."
When they saw Pura step out from behind Qin Ziwen, the surrounding Fishn were stunned. They clearly hadn’t expected one of their own to erge from the human ranks.
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