Chapter 883: Underwater Chase

Regarding this invading native of the Misty Islands, Lin Yu knew the other party was definitely no simple character.

After all, anyone capable of learning about Old Zheng's inheritance and harboring covetous intentions could not be a simple character.

They had to be at least on the level of the Soul-Draining Vine - and considering their progress was clearly faster than the Soul-Draining Vine's, they would obviously be stronger than that parasitic vine.

If he made the worst-case estimate... the other party might well be among the strongest natives of the Misty Islands.

But even so, Lin Yu believed he held the initiative.

Because this was, after all, the Sixth Island!

First of all, the other party's choice to sneak into the Sixth Island quietly from underwater meant they didn't want to conflict with the Lord of the Sixth Island - this infiltrator didn't have full confidence they could defeat the Lord of the Sixth Island.

Therefore, on the turf of the Sixth Island, having already earned the favor of the Lord of the Sixth Island meant he stood in an invincible position.

What's more...

Lin Yu's "backup" wasn't limited to just the Lord of the Sixth Island.

If the other party truly had a way to evade the Lord of the Sixth Island's notice, Lin Yu could still activate the tracker on his body and wait for the Tycoon to arrive and save the day!

He only needed to hold out for a period of time - and Lin Yu didn't think there was anything that could instantly kill him if he went "all out with his trump cards"!

And this was still based on the worst-case estimate.

The more likely scenario... was that the other party wouldn't dare make a move against Lin Yu at all.

After all, given that they had snuck in so covertly and were a native of the Misty Islands, there was a high probability they would choose to negotiate with Lin Yu first.

"Once negotiations begin, I'll have room to maneuver again."

That was also why Lin Yu chose to locate the other party as quickly as possible.

His mental energy extended forward, and Hannah's feedback came in continuously.

"Croak! Reporting to Director, originally this waterway's span should only be about three of your fists wide, leading straight out to the Abyssal Sea."

"But now, it's been expanded enough for two people to walk side by side... The other party's method wasn't excavation, but rather something like 'dissolving' the rock with some kind of technique. So the surface of this new underwater passage is fairly smooth, with some 'sediment' accumulated at the bottom from the dissolved rock."

As Hannah spoke, Lin Yu mused.

"Seems like the other party really is a native of the islands, with a body shape relatively close to a normal person's size..."

"Don't continue forward for now, Hannah."

He could sense that Hannah had already traveled quite far through the underground water system, having put some distance between herself and him.

"Croak, Director, but shouldn't we be chasing after him - I can already sense it, I'm about to catch up to him!"

"After all, a lot of this sediment looks like it was just produced, not even fully settled to the bottom yet."

As Hannah spoke, Lin Yu nodded.

"Precisely because you're about to catch up to him, you should pause for a moment - after all, if he discovers you, you'll be in danger."

"Judging from the fact that you could catch up to him, he can't be moving too fast since he's busy widening the waterway."

"So... wait there for a moment. I'll come down personally."

Lin Yu said, then took out the Fusion-Type Memory Metal Respiratory Tract from his item space and fused it with his body.

Then, he jumped straight into the pool of water!

Compared to the "Dark Current waters" in Night Valley that gave people an intensely uncomfortable feeling due to the massive turbulence of souls and mana, and the near-boiling waters of the Fire Hell in the Prison Mountain Realm due to extreme temperatures, the pool on the Sixth Island of the Misty Islands was admittedly a bit chilly, but overall wasn't too outrageous an experience.

Lin Yu slowly exhaled the air from his lungs, sinking deeper and deeper.

The GPWW Specialized Combat Suit also activated during the descent, causing slight changes to Lin Yu's body structure - webbed membranes grew between his fingers and toes, simulating the body structure of amphibious creatures skilled at swimming that he had seen and analyzed before.

Soon, Lin Yu reached the very bottom of the pool, and having already probed with his mental energy, he immediately located the artificially widened underwater passage.

Just as Hannah had said - although the shape of the passage was somewhat irregular, with cross-sections alternating between nearly perfect circles and egg shapes... the inner walls were indeed very smooth, not looking like they were widened by "excavation" or similar methods.

The bottom of the passage was covered with fine sand-like rock debris mixed with some mysterious substance, confirming that Hannah's analysis was correct - the rock walls of these passages seemed to have been "dissolved" by some kind of substance.

Lin Yu paddled his limbs and swam into the passage, his speed no slower than when Hannah the octopus had been swimming.

In fact - because the passage had almost no obstacles, clearly having been cleared out by whoever widened it - Lin Yu's swimming speed kept increasing.

In no time at all, Lin Yu reached Hannah's current position.

"Whoosh!"

Lin Yu's limbs didn't stop moving, and he gave Hannah an instruction.

"Hold on to me, Hannah!"

"Croak! As you command!"

Hannah said, then latched onto Lin Yu's shoulder as he swept past her.

For Hannah, this was a maneuver she had performed far too many times, so she was quite adept at it - despite Lin Yu's speed, Hannah didn't miss her grip. ℴ

"Croak, Director, your swimming speed is even faster than my elders - in terms of straight-line speed alone, only Uncle Ka could rival you!"

Clinging to Lin Yu's shoulder, Hannah couldn't help but exclaim excitedly as she felt the torpedo-like speed.

"Is that so," Lin Yu said, feeling a hint of pleasure at Hannah's praise. "Looks like if I ever go to the Pure Abyss in the future... I won't need to worry too much!"

The Pure Abyss Realm was even more extreme than the Misty Islands - a world entirely of water, with almost no land at all.

Although Lin Yu had participated in the Banquet God's dungeon, and that deity's domain should be in the Pure Abyss Realm, Lin Yu didn't feel he had truly been to the Pure Abyss - just like the dungeon inside the Inverted Tower hadn't been much help in understanding the Misty Islands.

So, aside from the Gray Domain, among the six realms commonly known, the Pure Abyss was indeed the only one Lin Yu had never visited.

And if Hannah said his swimming speed could match "Ka" the Chosen One... that meant he would probably count as a fast swimmer in the Pure Abyss too.

As long as he had the ability to escape, he'd always have a bit more confidence.

But then again...

Those were matters for the future.

The immediate priority was using his incredibly fast swimming speed to catch up to the one ahead.

And after swimming not much further, Lin Yu quickly noticed...

At the end of the passage ahead, a dark silhouette was slowly using some kind of tool to coat the rock walls.

He didn't hide himself, continuing to approach at high speed.

Sure enough, that somewhat broad dark figure sensed the change in water currents behind them, turned around, and warily looked at Lin Yu.

"Who are you?!"