It was not a difficult task, but Han Ruochen still found it a bit overtaxing as she tried to clean the mud off the treasure. She did not know what was going on, but she had a good idea that this treasure was certainly buried quite deep in the sediment at the moment. And Han Ruochen’s hunch was indeed correct. She had to dig three feet in the soil by the time she caught sight of something faintly glowing under the mud. The blue glow was unnatural, and it only made Han Ruochen even more curious.

Just what was even buried in this place?

Han Ruochen pursed her lips and started to wipe the remnants of the mud off the glowing object. Once Han Ruochen was done cleaning the final remnants of the mud, she was stunned to find that it was actually just a little stone. It was smooth and circular in shape, etched with silver markings around it.

"What the—" Han Ruochen frowned as she picked up the stone off the ground and then took a good look at it. She was sure that it was nothing special. At most, it had a peculiar colour and nothing else. But to her surprise, as soon as she touched the stone, the system that had been blaring an alarm soon turned calm, and it started to pulse like a heartbeat. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Han Ruochen narrowed her eyes, and she started to examine the stone even more closely. Only then did she take a look at the silver engraving closely. These circular markings, if she was not wrong, were quite similar to the ones that were engraved on the pearl that she had used to awaken the sea system.

Was this a piece of the sea scanning system? Han Ruochen could not help but wonder.

Han Ruochen, however, did not have to wait for an answer to come to her. At that very moment, the sea around her seemed to have gone silent all of a sudden. It was as if she had entered into a void where she could not hear a single sound. Han Ruochen raised her head and looked at the screen that seemed to have fallen into a glitch. It did not seem to be moving at all and seemed to have been frozen.

For a few seconds, it remained like that and did not even flicker.

Fortunately, Han Ruochen could still breathe underwater and knew that the system was with her or else she would have totally panicked after seeing the system’s screen being frozen like that. She wondered what was going on at the moment. However, a second later, the system’s screen started to move again.

[Binding process has started.]

[Please wait for the binding process to finish.]

[Binding Compatible With the Host.]

[Sea Spirit Fragment has been recognised.]

[Synchronisation has begun.]

Han Ruochen’s eyes widened as she looked at the stone fragment in her hand. What? What did the system mean by that the synchronisation had begun? What kind of synchronisation was it speaking of?

But before she could get an answer to the question, there was a violent roar that shook the entire surrounding.

Her pupils could not help but contract.

Shit. She had wasted too much time; the monster had arrived. Han Ruochen immediately rushed out of the cavity, just in time to escape the clutches of the monster. It was a good thing that she moved at that very moment because a second later, the beast broke through the cavity. Its massive body burst through the small gap in the chasm. Its jaw was open wide, big enough to swallow half of the reef opening in one big gulp.

Han Ruochen cursed in her heart.

She ignored the countless gold bracelets and pearls before swimming past another opening, just in time for the pearls to explode all over the place. For a split second, the creature’s attention was diverted, and that was enough for Han Ruochen. She used all her strenght that was left in her body, and shot upward.

Slowly, the surface started to grow brighter.

Just a little bit more.

Behind her, the enraged creature rammed its head against the collapsing rock, sending another earthquake through the trench. This shock not only made the seabed start caving in, but also made Han Ruochen feel a little troubled because she could feel a whirlpool starting behind her.

Damn it!

**

Above the water surface, Tong Zhaodi was peering at the rising and falling currents. She did not know why, but for some reason, the rising water was even more troubled and dangerous. "What’s going on? It’s like there is a big disturbance underneath."

"You are worried about that? Xiao Ruochen has been underwater for so long, and she has not turned up even for a second till now." Zhai Heng’s expression was not good as he stared at the surface of the water that was rising and falling. Even the motorboat could not stay steady with the rising currents. So how could Han Ruochen be fine underneath? He wanted to go under the water and look for her, but there was only one piece of diving equipment that Han Ruochen had taken away.

But before he could do anything—

Bubbles started to form on the surface.

Zhai Heng’s eyes flickered as he leaned forward, and sure enough, Han Ruochen broke through the surface of the water.

Han Ruochen gasped hard as she tried to take in as much oxygen as possible inside her lungs. She had been underwater for a long time, and even if she could breathe underwater, the feeling of breathing over the surface was something entirely different.

Tong Zhaodi nearly cried out of relief when she saw Han Ruochen breaking through the surface of the water. "You! You are alive!"

Han Ruochen did not have the time to feel happy. She slowly climbed onto the motorboat before saying, "Let’s go. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"But why—"

Tong Zhaodi could not even ask what was going on when the sea exploded behind her.