"Go!"

Han Ruochen did not waste any time and hauled herself onto the dock. Seeing her pushing her body up, Tong Zhaodi and Zhai Heng immediately helped her up. "What? What is going on?" Zhai Heng asked while looking at the surging sea. He did not know what was going on under the sea, but he had a feeling that there was something dangerous hiding under the water.

"There is no time to explain," Han Ruochen said in a hurry. "We need to get out of here, and we need to get out of here as soon as possible." Her entire body was aching due to the dive. The strange blue stone in her hand was no longer glowing faintly. It was as if the spiritual energy that was stored within the blue stone had been sucked dry.

Han Ruochen did not know what was going on, but she did not pay attention to the blue stone and the energy stored within it.

She threw the stone into the bag that she carried with her and then rushed to the steering wheel. Catching hold of the wheel, she turned it to the left before accelerating it as much as she could.

"What is going on?" questioned Tong Zhaodi when she saw the woman hurrying inside the small captain’s cabin. "You disappeared for so long that we all thought that you were dead. Now you come back and act all worried. Can you at least tell us what is happening?"

"Are you hurt?" Zhai Heng asked in a low voice. He saw the many scars on Han Ruochen’s arms and legs. It seemed like there was something amiss. Clearly, whatever happened below in the water had not been simple.

However, before he could even ask what was going on, the sea behind their boat erupted.

BOOM!

A massive wave slammed into their vessel this time around. The impact was hard enough to tilt the entire vessel sideways. Tong Zhaodi screamed and clutched hold of the edge of the water just as a gushing wave came hurtling over to the motorboat and doused her with water from head to toe.

"What is happening?" Zhai Heng screamed as he held onto the back of the seat on the motorboat.

Han Ruochen cursed as the dark water started to churn behind them sinisterly. It was as if a void had opened and was determined to suck them all into it. Han Ruochen put even more speed into the motorboat, but nothing seemed to be working. Soon, their motorboat started to get dragged back into the whirlpool. And then something enormous surfaced.

A gigantic pale body. It was half-submerged in the ocean like a moving mountain. Scarred skin glistened beneath the light while the seawater poured from massive, ridged fins. Those ancient eyes were staring at her from above the surface. They looked around before they settled down on Han Ruochen.

Han Ruochen did not know whether she was feeling it or imagining it, but the pressure around them seemed to have become suffocating.

Tong Zhaodi’s face turned pearly white as she looked at the gigantic sea creature. "That...what is that thing?"

Even Zhai Heng felt a little scared. He had seen a lot of things, but he had never seen anything like this before. What kind of monster was this? He stepped in front of Han Ruochen. Even though he had no idea what kind of monster was in front of him, he knew that there was no way he could have dealt with it; he still wanted to stay in front of Han Ruochen. As if he could deal with it!

However, the creature did not attack them.

It simply floated there silently before coming to the boat.

Its eyes were staring at Han Ruochen as if it were assessing her.

Han Ruochen’s sea scanning system flickered urgently. Her eyes widened—

[Deep Sea Guardian Detected.]

[Current Behaviour: Following the Host bound to it.]

[Threat Assessment: Neutral...Pending. Depends on Host’s actions.]

Han Ruochen blinked her eyes, as she could not understand what was going on. Guardian? Was this thing the sea guardian? No —could anyone tell her why this thing was even following her?

Was this related to the blue stone that she had picked up in the sea? Han Ruochen hurriedly asked the system, "Is this because of the blue stone? Did something happen?"

The system did not respond at once. Instead, it flickered for a while before responding with a blue screen.

[Sea Spirit Fragment Resonance confirmed.]

[Deep Sea Guardian Has Identified Host As: Carrier.]

[Protection Instinct Activated.]

Protection? Was this thing going to protect her from now on?

Tong Zhaodi pointed shakily at the monster. "What are you doing? Move! We have to run Sister Ruochen or else it will kill us all."

And her scream turned even more hysterical when she saw the guardian drifting toward them.

The fishing boat started to rock violently under the movements of the guardian. But maybe the beast knew that its actions were causing trouble for Han Ruochen, so it slowed down and even stopped moving strongly.

"Han Ruochen, what are you doing?" said Zhai Heng. he turned and looked at the woman behind him before saying in a hurried voice, "Move! Steer the boat away."

Han Ruochen, however, did not move. It was as if she could not see or hear what was happening around her. She should have been scared, but she was not the slightest bit afraid. Instead, she felt something strange. It was as if there was a sort of connection between the two of them, like the creature’s emotions brushed slightly against her mind through the bond that the two of them had formed.

There was loneliness and confusion, but the one thing that made Han Ruochen’s heart ache was the ancient exhaustion that the creature was carrying within its heart. The sea guardian stopped just a few metres away from Han Ruochen’s boat and then lowered its head as if it were afraid of harming Han Ruochen and the boat.

Like a giant puppy.