Chapter 25: What on Earth Is This Thing?

"That's right, exactly," the voices echoed. "Don't judge me by my size—even if my attack power is lacking, now that I'm a merfolk, I have wisdom. With my own hands, I can forge weapons of my own and slay the fearsome beasts of the deep sea."

A chorus of voices rose and fell in the chamber.

Lin Qiu, however, only nodded slightly. These merfolk weren't wrong. No matter how strong your attack, if you lack intelligence, you're nothing more than a brute. With wisdom, just as in the human world, one can conquer even the heavens.

Yet as he gazed at the merfolk sitting beneath the great bell, a hint of displeasure flashed in his eyes.

Two days and two nights of forced control—it had to be the work of that individual. But what exactly was he plotting? Lin Qiu was filled with curiosity.

The murmuring around him gradually faded away.

At that moment, a burly figure, muscles knotted and bulging beneath his skin, strode forward. His face, thick with coarse features, radiated a menacing air.

His eyes were enormous, nearly taking up a third of his entire face—the largest eyes Lin Qiu had seen on any sea beast thus far.

"What in the world is that?" Lin Qiu was taken aback. Ever since his rebirth as an orca, he had discovered that the ocean's creatures were far more numerous and complex than he had ever known. The sea was full of mystery—its depths and breadth could be roughly measured, but the true number of species within remained unknowable.

After all the nations had unified, it was found that humans still knew less than a tenth of the beings inhabiting the oceans. The deep sea was beyond the reach of most divers, and many creatures dwelled in its sunless depths, leaving humanity's knowledge woefully incomplete.

Take, for example, the big-eyed sea beast before him, crowned with a single unicorn-like horn ten centimeters long. Even transformed into a merfolk, it exuded a savage presence. It was clearly no ordinary fish, but rather, it gave Lin Qiu a sense of taboo.

"Things are getting stranger and stranger," he muttered under his breath, frustration welling up inside him.

Once, as an orca—one of the ocean's undisputed overlords—he had believed his ancestors were invincible in ancient times. Before the age of mutations, he had virtually no rivals. But after the sea's transformation, even a lowly seahorse could bully him.

Such was the importance of bloodline—the fortune of one's birth. In the animal world, noble lineage brought absolute dominance. Like an adult mouse quailing before a newborn kitten, the pressure of superior blood was inescapable.

As the unfamiliar fish approached and sat cross-legged beneath the bell, the merfolk's eyes opened.

"Gray eyes?" Lin Qiu frowned, surprised. This merfolk's eyes were entirely gray, without a trace of white—just pure, unbroken gray. And from this being, Lin Qiu sensed a palpable aggression. The moment those eyes opened, the atmosphere grew tense.

The air itself seemed to thicken, the space around them pressing in. Many of the more intelligent but weaker species began to back away, fear in their eyes.

"Blind one—was it you meddling behind the scenes?" The burly figure stepped forward, bluntly calling out "Blind one," which made Lin Qiu chuckle despite himself.

"Little one, do you find that funny?" The so-called blind one turned to look at Lin Qiu. There was a mysterious aura swirling in those gray eyes.

As their gazes met, Lin Qiu felt his mind grow hazy, as though he'd been thrown into a washing machine and the switch turned on—his thoughts spun, and he felt unbearably ill.

Shocked, he instinctively averted his gaze, his heart pounding furiously.

"System, what is this creature? How can just a look be so powerful?"

"This is a mysterious deep-sea species—the Petrifying Fish."

"Petrifying Fish?" Lin Qiu was puzzled. He'd never heard of such a thing.

"The Petrifying Fish is born blind—a natural sightless one. But its eyes function as a sensory system, detecting scents and constructing a flawless holographic image without the slightest error."

"Any creature caught in its gaze will feel dizzy—a kind of paralyzing mental assault. If the target is fully paralyzed, the Petrifying Fish will bite, turning the victim to stone."

"Is that even possible?" Lin Qiu was truly stunned.

Wasn't this just like the Medusa of Western mythology? Anyone meeting Medusa's gaze would turn to stone, and this Petrifying Fish possessed a comparable power.

"Don't be so shocked," the system replied. "There are countless wonders in the natural world, more than you could ever imagine. And do not look into its eyes for too long, or your body will soon go rigid."

"The ancestors of the Petrifying Fish, in the Triassic period, were among the ocean's supreme rulers. They once reigned over ancient ocean cities as powerful lords."

"I see now," Lin Qiu realized, his mind clearing. "That fellow must be trying to emulate his ancestors, seeking to rule this ancient city, to command the fates of countless fish."

"Hmph!" As Lin Qiu turned his head, the Petrifying Fish sneered, ignoring him. Just an orca—not even worth his notice.

Others might not see through Lin Qiu's true form, but the Petrifying Fish could. Born blind, its sense of smell resided in its blind eyes, forming a perfect holographic image in its mind—clearer than any vision. In his gray-eyed vision, Lin Qiu was nothing but an orca.

But so what? He still held Lin Qiu in contempt.

"Blind one, I'm talking to you—are you deaf as well as blind?" The burly figure, enraged at being ignored, strode up to the Petrifying Fish.

"A mere Wild Boar Fish dares to act so insolently before Lord Petrifying Fish?" the Petrifying Fish retorted, a mocking smile on his lips. In his gray eyes, faint circular ripples appeared.

"Think I don't know what your eyes can do?" The Wild Boar Fish—that was the burly one's true form—sneered. He quickly snapped his eyes shut and crouched low, reverting to his original body.

Lin Qiu watched in disbelief.

Before him now stood a unicorn wild boar, bristling with black hair, each hoof adorned with a fish's fin.

But in the very next instant, Lin Qiu's expression turned odd.

For as soon as the Wild Boar Fish revealed his true form, he collapsed to the ground.

"What happened?" Lin Qiu wondered in confusion. The Petrifying Fish hadn't even made a move—so why had this one fallen?