“Phew!”
With a crisp sound of water breaking and a gasp for air, Hai Lanyue surfaced like a mermaid, flicking water droplets from her hair, and scooped five plump, cherry-blossom-colored pearls from the water.
“Found some pink pearls by the reef again. Adding those to the ones we collected before, we should have enough pink pearls now, right, Tunzuo?”
Hai Lanyue swam over to Tunzuo with a beaming smile and gently placed the pink pearls, which emitted a soft glow under the sunlight, into the box by Tunzuo’s feet.
Seeing Hai Lanyue swim over, Tunzuo lowered his head, inspected the condition of the pearls she’d just gathered, counted the total in the box once more, then pulled out a pen and, on the material list rustling in the sea breeze, heavily crossed out the entry for “Shallow Sea Pink Pearls.”
“Excellent quality. That wraps up the pink pearl task. Good work, Hai Lanyue. Get on the ship and rest for a bit—take it easy.”
Tunzuo nodded in satisfaction, his soul flame flickering in his eyes.
Bubbles rose from the seafloor one after another, and upon closer inspection, each bubble contained a milky white gas.
Tunzuo used his mental energy to gather the gas bubbles together, while Yuge beside him shaped spatial bricks to compress and package them.
During this process, Naiya purified the collected gas, preventing any impurities from mixing in.
“You’re welcome to rest, but I think I’ll swim for a bit longer. I spotted some pretty shells on the seafloor earlier—I want to pick them up and see if I can find anything else useful.”
Hai Lanyue politely declined Tunzuo’s invitation, diving back into the water with her lingering love for the sea, leaving only a ring of ripples spreading outward on the surface.
Watching Hai Lanyue swim farther and farther away, Tunzuo couldn’t help but feel a swell of emotion, a gratified smile tugging at his lips.
“She’s truly a water witch through and through—so at home in the sea. It feels like the moment Hai Lanyue hits the water, her whole spirit brightens up. Add her ridiculously good luck to the mix, and her material-gathering efficiency is off the charts!”
However, just as he finished praising the reliable Hai Lanyue, a series of continuous splashing sounds in the distance wiped the gentle smile off Tunzuo’s face.
He glanced toward the source of the noise with a slightly exasperated look.
Not far off on the sea surface, water sprayed and waves churned as if a giant whale was causing havoc.
But looking closely, there was no deep-sea leviathan—it was Olivia racing against a school of giant tuna.
The giant tuna were massive, their muscles sleek and streamlined like shuttles, swimming at incredible speed and leaving white streaks across the sea surface.
As for Olivia…
The proud Golden Dragon Witch was currently flailing her limbs desperately, chasing close behind the school of fish.
“This big idiot…”
Tunzuo covered his face with a hand, at a loss for how to judge Olivia’s behavior.
Trusting Olivia’s solid strength, Tunzuo had assigned her to deal with some of the trickier monsters in the shallow sea area.
Of course, Olivia completed the task well—it was just the method of execution…
That left Tunzuo speechless.
At first, Olivia stuck to the efficient method of capture, finishing quickly.
But as time wore on, she somehow got tunnel vision, especially after losing a few rounds to the giant tuna school.
She held a grudge, and her competitive fire was fully ignited.
So Olivia used no magic, no tools—she insisted on relying purely on her physical prowess to take down the tuna school that had been toying with her.
“Hey! You freak dragon! How much longer are you going to waste?! The pink pearls and helium-chlorine gas are already collected! Hurry it up! Our time is precious!”
Having reached his limit, Tunzuo cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at Olivia at the top of his lungs.
Olivia, hearing Tunzuo’s impatient call, paused mid-stroke, floated sullenly to the surface, and reluctantly stopped chasing the tuna.
“Oh… got it…”
Not wanting to make Tunzuo angry, Olivia had no choice but to obey.
Golden lightning surged in her palm, condensing into a dazzling thunder spear.
Even though the reluctance in her eyes was practically overflowing, for the sake of keeping on schedule, Olivia swung her arm violently, hurling the spear toward the tuna school’s path with an aura that tore through the sky.
“Boom!”
Where the golden thunder detonated, the sea was blasted into a crater, water currents churning chaotically.
When the vaporized steam dispersed, the giant tuna that had been lively moments ago were floating on the water, charred black all over, emitting a faint aroma of rendered fat.
Olivia condensed a large net with her mana, scooping up all the captured giant tuna, then dragged her haul back to Tunzuo’s side.
“Honestly, I was just about to catch them.”
Olivia pouted, dumping the net full of giant tuna onto Shub’s back, climbing onto the sheep, and grumbling complaints.
“These guys are fast, but they have no endurance. Give me fifty more seconds—no, thirty—and I definitely would’ve caught them. Besides, I wasn’t even trying hard…”
“Oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah, I know you could do it. There, there, the Dragon Witch is the strongest.”
Tunzuo picked up a knife and began skinning and deboning the giant tuna, his face completely impassive.
Olivia’s stubborn tone clearly wasn’t moving his heartstrings.
“Go call Hai Lanyue back. Just one more material and the shallow sea area is done.”
“Oh…”
Olivia was crestfallen at Tunzuo’s dismissive attitude, pouting in displeasure.
But given the current situation, she couldn’t say much, so she dove back into the sea to find Hai Lanyue.
Before long, Olivia returned to Shub’s side, leading a beaming Hai Lanyue whose hands were full of beautiful shells.
“Okay, all witches are here.”
Tunzuo wiped the remaining blood off his hands, gave the material list a quick once-over, and confirmed nothing was missing before turning to Olivia and Hai Lanyue.
“Just need a bit of iron ore. Any area with a deposit will do—no trouble involved.”
Tunzuo pulled out the material area distribution map Mickey had stuffed into his pocket before they left, scanned it, and quickly locked onto the nearest iron ore deposit.
“Let’s go, Skinny Sheep!”
“Baa!”
Shub let out a gentle call like a steam whistle, her four hooves treading the waves as she carried the three witches and a pile of assorted materials toward the target sea area.
While the Fluffy Sheep was in motion, Tunzuo stood at the sheep’s head, looking back toward the silent sea in the distance—deep, dark, and devoid of light.
There, utter stillness reigned—no sound, no light.
Tunzuo’s eyes grew thoughtful as she tapped her lips with a fingertip.
Just now in the shallow sea area, her mental energy had worked perfectly without any obstruction.
But the moment she made contact with the Silent Sea, her connection to her mental energy was severed.
No matter how she tried, there was zero feedback.
This clearly meant the Silent Sea was under a curse targeting mental energy.
Or perhaps—not just mental energy.
Since this folded space was created by Antuxi, Fafnir, and Andersen working together, certain rules within it must be tailor-made, deliberately targeting herself and Olivia.
Tunzuo gazed meaningfully at Olivia beside her, wondering what kind of mechanism the Silent Sea would reveal if it were specifically designed to counter Olivia.
“Her own daughter masters a new ability, and she deliberately creates trials to ban that exact ability. Really not letting us have any fun, is she? Mommy’s little tricks really are…”
Just thinking about it made Tunzuo feel drained.
She could already sense that the entire folded space would show her and Olivia its deep “affection,” not to mention the hefty bounty on her head.
“Sigh. So many witches, so little peace.”
Just as Tunzuo was sinking deep into her bleak fantasies, a sudden cry for help shattered her thoughts and yanked her back to reality.
“Help! Help me, meow! I’m here! Save me, meow!”
A mischievous voice tinged with trembling and sobs rang out, especially piercing across the empty sea.
“Little ghost, look over there.”
Olivia frowned, raising a hand to point in a direction, her slit pupils contracting as she locked onto a figure not far away.
Tunzuo followed Olivia’s finger.
Not far off on the sea surface, a white-furred catgirl with two tails was clinging to a drifting log, trembling all over, shouting desperately for help—it was Guocha from the Capital Academy elite team.
Seeing this, Tunzuo and Olivia exchanged a glance, leaned down, and patted Shub’s head, signaling the sheep to move toward Guocha.
The moment Shub reached the log, Guocha scrambled onto the sheep’s back without hesitation, shaking off the seawater-soaked fur.
“Huff, huff—”
Guocha patted her steel chest plate, still shaken, briefly calming her frightened little heart before looking gratefully at Tunzuo and the other witches.
“Boo hoo hoo, thank you for saving me, meow! I thought I’d be soaking in the sea until the competition ended! I love you guys the most, meow!”
Guocha jumped up excitedly, spreading her arms wide and lunging at Tunzuo, trying to give a grateful hug.
But just as she launched into midair, a hand shot out and grabbed her firmly by the scruff of the neck—that fateful spot.
“Meow?”
Guocha hung suspended in midair, limbs dangling limply.
Before she could react, a cold silver sword pressed against her throat.
Tunzuo narrowed her eyes, gaze icy, the sword tip against Guocha’s throat while keeping her guard up, wary that the other elite team witches might suddenly charge from all directions.
“Stay still.”
“Talk. You’re the troublemaker cat from the Capital Academy elite team—why are you here? And where are the other witches from your team?”
Tunzuo maintained her vigilant stance for quite a while, but nothing happened.
Aside from the trembling catgirl before her, all was calm.
“Meow, I don’t mean any harm, meow.”
The sword at her neck scared Guocha into a flood of tears.
She raised both hands high overhead in a French military salute, spilling everything about her whereabouts.
“I’m all alone, meow. I can’t do anything bad. I really don’t know where my teammates went, meow. When I came out of the spatial rift, I was already here…”
“You’re alone?”
Hearing this, Tunzuo raised an eyebrow and released her mental energy, conducting a sweeping detection of the surrounding nineteen nautical miles.
After a moment, the result matched Guocha’s claim—above the sea, below the sea, not a single witch anywhere.
After processing the information, Tunzuo silently lowered her silver sword.
The tense atmosphere in the air eased slightly, but Tunzuo didn’t let Olivia release Guocha.
Instead, she stood before the catgirl, her expression serious as she began the interrogation.
“Name.”
“Guocha Acropolis, meow.”
“Do you know why you’re here?”
“Um, to score points, to win a good ranking for the Capital Academy, meow.”
“Where are your teammates?”
“Um… I don’t know, meow. When I fell out of the spatial rift, I was the only witch.”
“So, how about I eliminate you for points right now?”
“No, don’t, meow! I’m very obedient! I can do anything! Please don’t eliminate me, meow! I just joined the competition—I don’t want to leave without any screen time, meow!”
Tunzuo’s last, overly blunt threat scared Guocha half to death.
All her fur stood on end like a dandelion as she begged for mercy.
Her pitiful state didn’t seem fake.
Looking at Guocha’s timid demeanor and eyes that didn’t seem to be lying, Tunzuo weighed the options in her mind and made a decision.
“Fine, let’s keep her for now. Having a hostage witch on hand might let us negotiate with the Capital Academy elite team.”
Tunzuo sighed, waved her hand, and signaled Olivia to put Guocha down.
Olivia released her grip as instructed, but the moment Guocha touched the ground, Olivia’s finger twitched, and several streaks of golden light sank into Guocha’s body, sealing her mana circuits.
Even though Guocha appeared to pose little threat, one can never be too cautious around witches.
Especially with Tunzuo carrying a massive bounty on her head—Olivia wasn’t about to take risks.
Precautionary measures were necessary.
“Hehe, I’m the most well-behaved, meow. No need to seal me.”
Guocha let out a dry laugh, obediently kneeling by the ship’s edge, curling herself into a ball like a harmless little kitten.
But even so, Olivia still had several questions she’d been mulling over.
“Junior, did you just enter the Capital Academy this year? I’ve never seen you before.”
An unfamiliar face not in her memory kept Olivia’s suspicions churning.
“Meow? No way, I’ve been at the Capital Academy for years. I just don’t show my face often.”
“Don’t show your face? Then why did you suddenly join this year’s academy competition?”
Olivia’s relentless questioning pressed Guocha into shrinking further into the corner.
It seemed Olivia carried more weight than Tunzuo after all.
“Because I’m studying the space-time school, meow. You know how hard the space-time school is, senior—I only figured things out this year, so I don’t need to be in closed cultivation anymore. That’s why I can show my face at the academy competition, hehe.”
Guocha explained to Olivia with a bright smile, looking a bit embarrassed.
The space-time school? That makes sense.
The space-time school was indeed notoriously difficult to crack, often requiring long periods of seclusion for enlightenment.
So Guocha’s explanation held up in Olivia’s view.
“Enough, stop playing pitiful. You work if you’re on the ship. I don’t keep idle witches other than myself. Prisoners work too, understand?”
Tunzuo stared at Guocha.
Even though her mana was sealed now, a free pair of hands was something Tunzuo naturally wouldn’t waste.
“Hehe, I know the rules, meow. As long as you don’t make me go in the water, I’ll do anything.”
Guocha agreed readily, fully embracing her “prisoner of war” status.
Seeing this, Tunzuo said nothing more, simply picking up the map in her hand and giving the order.
“Speed up, Shub. Head for the target area!”
And so, Tunzuo’s squad, along with the stray catgirl they’d picked up, continued their charge across the sea to complete their mission.