Hyperthermal Hell || Apocalypse Paradise #1 [Complete]

101: Shen Lianqi and His Friends

"To be honest, it pains me to admit that I have no directional sense."

Red flames danced, casting a wavering light on Lin Sanjiu's face. Roasted over the flames, the fats in the fish melted and oozed out like oil, making a tantalizing sizzling sound. Every now and then, a few precious drops would fall into the fire, stirring the red flames.

"Besides, I'm unfamiliar with this place, so I didn't know I would end up at the bottom of the ocean after jumping 300km south." Shen Lianqi laughed wryly as he touched the pair of shoes in his hand as if out of pity. "Even though the Munitions Factory has already stopped the production of this old model, it still costs a lot at the black market. I didn't expect it to get damaged by seawater. Sigh... The Munitions Factory probably didn't design this anticipating that someone would jump into the ocean."

Lin Sanjiu also hadn't expected to meet Shen Lianqi a few thousand meters under sea level. Moreover, a Shen Lianqi... like that.

She wondered if it would be too impolite if she asked him about "that" since they were only acquaintances.

Lin Sanjiu took some time to compose herself and finally pulled her eyes away from his body. She started turning over the half-cooked meat in her hands, acting nonchalant. Since she didn't have metal skewers or a wooden stick, she had chosen a few long bones from the fish and threaded the pieces of meat with the makeshift bone skewers. "You've been living here, in the deep sea, for a month?" she asked as she focused her attention on the skewers.

"Yes," Shen Lianqi answered openly. "This is a very deep marine trench. Without those Escape Boots, I thought of climbing out, but it's a few thousand meters, too hard. Luckily, there are still some mutated sea creatures here, so I didn't starve to death. As time went by, I started feeling that living here, in the bottom of the sea, was quite untroubling."

"So, the weird gigantic fish was one of those mutated creatures?" Lin Sanjiu frowned, pondering about it. "But, why did I see a McDonald's?"

"Do you know what a Deep-sea Dragonfish is? It is a species of fish that has a light-producing appendage, a photophore, on its lower jaw to lure its prey toward it..." Shen Lianqi explained while he gestured around his own lower jaw. "When I first arrived, I was lucky. The dragonfish did not notice me but instead focused its attention on another mutated... cough... who knows what that was. The fish's photophore glowed, and the unknown creature foolishly walked into the dragonfish's mouth, as if hypnotized. That unknown creature looked really happy, so I guess that, to that creature, the dragonfish's head must have looked like a female's nest. It probably entered the fish's mouth seeking a mate, but then the dragonfish closed its mouth and bit it into two."

Hearing his explanation, Lin Sanjiu recalled hearing about how some deep sea creatures use their photophores for hunting. She suddenly shivered. She was probably smaller than the other mutated creatures here, so the dragonfish had not even cared to bite her. Had it done so, she would have probably died, considering the daze she'd been in previously.

"While on this topic, I must say, Miss Lin, you are incredible! The gargantuan dragonfish died within mere seconds..." Shen Lianqi sighed. "You said that it died from... Versu Poison?"

Yup. Lin Sanjiu nodded.

Previously, when Lin Sanjiu entered the "McDonald's", the door opened automatically for her. When she walked in, she didn't touch anything. However, when the floor started tilting, Lin Sanjiu fell on the floor, and that was when her skin came into contact with the "McDonald's" — more accurately, the dragonfish's mouth. Once there was direct contact, the dragonfish died from [Versu Poison] six seconds later.

"It all happened too quickly, and I haven't really recovered from it yet." She smiled, feeling slightly embarrassed by his praise.

"Haha! But you sure were quick when it came to barbecuing that fish!" Shen Lianqi commented, laughing. Then, he smacked his lips while looking enviously at the fish. "Sigh, since you poisoned it, only you can consume it..."