DA chapter 42

However, it was undoubtedly suicidal behavior to go and ask the Fishman questions without knowing anything or having any cards in hand. The others had only just entered the instance; either they had not started exploring yet, or they had not had time to do so.

If Yan Xu were not here, they would first explore the scene.

But Yan Xu was here. Anyone who had spent enough time in the Underwater World knew that Yan Xu had become the captain of the inspection team mostly because of his own strength. He had entered the Fish Belly many times and had rich experience. Because of that, even the people in the Management Office did not easily offend him.

Since Yan Xu was experienced and had cleared many high-star cloud layers, the others felt as if they had found a backbone in him right in front of them. After avoiding the Fishman, they hurriedly asked Yan Xu what to do next.

The true core members — Lin Yu, Xiao Yao, and Xiao Tian — stood to one side, watching the others crowd around Yan Xu boldly.

In Underwater World, Yan Xu was disliked by many. Even if those people agreed with him, they were not sincere. Only in Fish Belly would he receive this kind of treatment, because Yan Xu did not need fish spirits and could help them clear the instance. Only a fool would not get close to Yan Xu.

Xiao Yao did not like Yan Xu and had once felt unlucky when he saw Yan Xu in Fish Belly. Now, seeing Yan Xu surrounded by others still made Xiao Yao quite unhappy.

Clearly, Yan Xu had entered the instance with Lin Jia. Xiao Yao believed that Yan Xu should temporarily belong to Sharp Knife. Since he belonged to Sharp Knife, there was no need to tell others.

In Fish Belly, everyone else was competition, except for team members.

Xiao Yao stared at Yan Xu.

Everyone asked Yan Xu what to do and whether they should first look for clues.

Yan Xu answered lazily, “What else? I’m not your kindergarten teacher. You don’t need my approval for everything.”

Yan Xu’s response gave Xiao Yao a sense of déjà vu. It seemed that, in the last Fish Belly, Yan Xu had answered others’ questions the same way.

Xiao Yao noticed, however, that although Yan Xu was not very warm toward others, he also had no intention of standing with Sharp Knife and did not mention that he had entered Fish Belly with Lin Jia.

Indeed, everyone found it strange that Yan Xu would appear in Fish Belly. After all, the Management Office controlled information on all cloud layers in Underwater World. Without fish spirit, one could choose which cloud layer to enter. With fish spirit and the ability to survive, the ability to avoid cloud layer descent relied on information from Bounty Hall. There was no reason for Yan Xu, who held a high position in the Management Office, to be in a cloud layer.

However, no one was foolish enough to ask Yan Xu why he was in Fish Belly. In any case, Yan Xu’s presence benefited them. Who cared why Yan Xu appeared? Of course, Yan Xu had even less intention of explaining proactively.

This was exactly why Xiao Yao was unhappy, like a popular celebrity surrounded by people who don’t mention his relationship with you at all.

Xiao Yao discovered the most important point. He said unhappily to Lin Jia, “Yan Xu clearly already explored the hospital, yet he still let them look for clues. It looks like he doesn’t care about the distribution of the fish spirit.”

Xiao Tian did not quite understand Xiao Yao’s logic, but Lin Jia did. In the previous Fish Belly, Lin Jia had used the excuse, “I found the clues, and I also found the Soup Base,” to get all the fish spirits. Now, by letting others search for clues themselves, Yan Xu was giving them the right to be allocated fish spirits.

Xiao Yao, the eunuch who was anxious while the emperor was not, also noticed that Supreme Emperor Lin Jia had no expression on his face. He could not tell if Lin Jia was happy or angry, though it was clear that Lin Jia was involved.

Xiao Tian asked, “Brother Xiao, why doesn’t Captain Yan care about the distribution of the fish spirit?”

There was ambiguity in her question. Xiao Tian only wanted to ask about the causal relationship in Xiao Yao’s previous sentence, but Xiao Yao only heard the literal meaning. He sneered and said, “Probably Captain Yan doesn’t want to help a tyrant do evil.”

Finally, Lin Jia glanced at Xiao Yao.

Because of the four words “help a tyrant do evil.”

Lin Jia parted his lips. His tone was flat and calm, with no audible emotion: “No one knows we came with him, so those who have grudges against him won’t retaliate against us.”

Xiao Yao froze. First, he did not expect Lin Jia to say such a long sentence about Yan Xu. Aside from some logical explanations, Heaven knew that Lin Jia was always stingy with words.

Second, he had not considered this possibility. Now that Lin Jia had pointed it out so bluntly, cold sweat broke out on his back.

Given Yan Xu’s arrogant and eccentric manner, he had undoubtedly offended many people in the Underwater World. Many people wished they could kill Yan Xu but were unable to match his strength and status, so they could only think about it in their hearts.

He had grudges with many people, Xiao Yao thought.

Yan Xu had grudges with many people. Even before the last Fish Belly, Xiao Yao had had a conflict with Yan Xu because Yan Xu had once investigated Sharp Knife. Due to some unavoidable violations by Sharp Knife, Yan Xu had confiscated a lot of fish spirits. Due to the lack of fish spirits, Sharp Knife had no choice but to send people into Fish Belly. Entering Fish Belly was like standing on the edge of a precipice.

However, after getting to know Yan Xu from Fish Belly, Xiao Yao’s grudge against Yan Xu grew even stronger. Yan Xu had nearly peeled off a layer of Boss Zhou’s skin. Sharp Knife suffered a huge loss at Yan Xu’s hands. Honestly, Sharp Knife had taken note of this debt. If Yan Xu hadn’t been called to Fish Belly by Lin Jia this time, Xiao Yao would have used this chance to kill him.

And he had to kill him. Otherwise, once Yan Xu left Underwater World, he would pose a huge threat.

Thinking this, Xiao Yao broke out in another layer of cold sweat. If he thought this way, what about others?

The last time at Fish Belly, Xiao Yao behaved himself and did not cause trouble because Deputy Chen was also there. Solving two people at once was not easy. But now, the situation was different—Yan Xu was alone. If the plan was careful enough, killing him in Fish Belly might not be impossible.

Xiao Yao’s unhappiness immediately faded. Luckily, Yan Xu had not revealed the truth. He wasn’t afraid of trouble, but he didn’t want to be dragged down if Yan Xu was ambushed in Fish Belly. No one wants to be the scapegoat, especially since Xiao Yao truly had a grudge against Yan Xu.

Looking at Yan Xu again, Xiao Yao’s previous hostility faded. He said sincerely, “But Yan Xu is ruthless. If he revealed that he was with us, even if others wanted to act, they’d still have to think carefully about it.”

When he said this, he himself did not notice there was a trace of admiration in his tone.

Compared to Xiao Yao’s emotional roller coaster, Lin Jia’s stable mood seemed overly calm. He said lightly, “Didn’t you call him a mad dog?”

Xiao Yao: “…”

It was a very strange feeling. It felt like Lin Jia was not mocking Yan Xu but scolding him???

Lin Jia said nothing more and raised his eyes toward Yan Xu’s direction.

Over there, Yan Xu had already finished speaking with the potentially ill-intentioned supporters. Calling it “talking,” it was more like intimidation. He showed them the revolver he was carrying. In Underwater World, this gun itself existed outside the rules, not to mention it was now in Fish Belly.

Yan Xu was warning them: behave yourselves and you won’t eat bullets.

The others were clearly bluffed by Yan Xu. Their expressions turned ugly as they dispersed, each person going off to find clues.

After everyone left, Yan Xu looked toward the three people from Sharp Knife. His gaze first landed on Lin Jia. There was no other reason—this person was too outstanding. Tall, slim, and well-dressed, he was impossible not to notice.

He raised an eyebrow and said impolitely, “Why are you standing there like a fool? This isn’t kindergarten. There’s no need to ask Teacher Yan before doing things.”

Xiao Yao gritted his teeth. Why were they standing there like fools? Wasn’t it because they were waiting for Yan Xu to finish his speech? Yet this guy showed no appreciation at all.

Xiao Yao was about to say something when Lin Jia beside him answered, “Got it, Teacher Yan.”

Xiao Yao: “… ”

Yan Xu: “…”

Lin Jia turned and went toward the second floor of the inpatient building. Xiao Yao and Xiao Tian hurriedly followed.

Yan Xu watched the three figures. He stared at Lin Jia’s back for five seconds before looking down.

“My terrible joke—and he actually picked it up?”

Yan Xu muttered. He did not know Lin Jia very well, after all. From what he knew from the last Fish Belly meeting, Lin Jia did not seem like someone who would pick up on jokes. But now he did, proving once again that Lin Jia was hiding something.

And it was related to him.

Soon, Lin Jia’s figure disappeared into the stairwell. Yan Xu clicked his tongue, finding it very interesting.

Everyone carefully searched the inpatient building for clues. Although Xiao Yao and Xiao Tian had not searched when they entered, Yan Xu and Lin Jia had already swept through before them.

Since Yan Xu and Lin Jia were searching for clues, Xiao Yao and Xiao Tian were not needed.

However, when they saw that Lin Jia was still searching, Xiao Yao and Xiao Tian followed.

They followed him for nearly an hour, sweeping the entire building back and forth twice. Lin Jia was still searching, and the others were carefully searching for clues to ask the Fishman.

Xiao Tian didn’t quite understand, so she quietly asked Xiao Yao, “Brother Xiao, we’ve gone around this building at least three times.” She glanced at Lin Jia, who was walking in front. Lin Jia paused for two seconds at a dead corner before leaving again.

“Brother Jia has come to this corner three times, too. Brother Xiao, why continue?”

Xiao Tian originally thought that Lin Jia wanted to search until he found clues. However, after following him around the building several times, she realized that he was not searching for clues but simply repeating the same behavior.

“And before we entered Fish Belly, Brother Jia and Captain Yan seemed to have already finished exploring. Why didn’t they just tell the others the result? That could also save some time.”

No one wanted to ask the Fishman questions, but the delay cost lives because the Fishman mutated over time.

Xiao Yao rubbed his buzzcut and glanced at Lin Jia, then Yan Xu, who was a few steps behind Lin Jia. He explained to Xiao Tian, “Even if we tell them the search result, they won’t believe it.”

Xiao Yao had been in the Underwater World for many years—he was a true veteran. He knew the human nature in Underwater World very clearly—it was worse than in the real world.

The struggle for survival brought out the worst in most people.

He earnestly told Xiao Tian, “Remember this: Even if someone offers clues, let them go in one ear and out the other. In Fish Belly, you can only trust your own eyes.”

Seeing Xiao Yao’s serious demeanor, Xiao Tian couldn’t help but look at Lin Jia again.

When she and Xiao Yao entered the Underwater World, he had not planned to search for clues himself either. He completely trusted Lin Jia.

This contradicted Xiao Yao’s conclusion.

Seeing Xiao Tian’s expression, Xiao Yao knew what she was thinking. He placed a hand on her head and said, in the voice of someone more experienced, “But if a person completely loses trust, life in the Underwater World becomes too hard and bitter.”

Xiao Tian only partially understood, but she remembered the words in her heart.

She raised her head and looked at Lin Jia, then at Yan Xu.

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