ATFBETIBM Chapter 367.2

The first merfolk’s body was covered in thorns, somewhat resembling a bulging pufferfish.

After looking at the first three murals, Bai Lixin roughly guessed that this depicted the history of the birth of merfolk.

Initially, there was only one merfolk, but over time, they multiplied, forming a community. From the third image, he learned that merfolk had learned to use tools from a very early period.

However, due to the simplicity of these drawings, the merfolk’ heads were matchstick figures with a circle and two dots. Fortunately, the tails were also drawn.

Thanks to these tails, he could identify them as merfolk.

The previous characteristics of merfolk weren’t fully reflected in the murals.

After viewing the third mural, he continued to look further.

The fourth image showed merfolk sharing prey, featuring not only mermen but also mermaids and merfolk children.

In the fifth image, a group of merfolk stood there, each holding a somewhat short spear, as if conducting some kind of ceremony.

What were they doing?

The merfolk seem to be kneeling.

Bai Lixin scrutinized the fifth image. Was this a sign of their faith?

Just as Bai Lixin wanted to continue viewing, he discovered that several murals had become extremely blurry.

He controlled the submarine to swim continuously, and quickly passed this blurry area.

Beyond the eroded murals, he soon reached the latter part.

Towards the end, a heroic merman was born out of nowhere, holding a harpoon. His hands were raised, looked like a weightlifting champion.

All the merfolk knelt in front of him, surrounding him.

Behind this merman, there was something like a halo, highlighting his uniqueness.

He seemed to be the leader of the merfolk at that time.

Perhaps he was the merfolk’s faith.

The red-tailed mermaid moved again.

Bai Lixin quickly followed and saw the red-tailed mermaid starting to dive downwards.

Due to pressure concerns, he didn’t dare descend too quickly, only slowly following from behind.

Soon, he followed her back to the shrines. She stopped at the topmost shrine, pointing to the severely corroded name at the top.

In fact, the higher the shrine, the more severe the corrosion.

If you think about it, the higher the shrine, the longer the time.

The mermaid pointed at the first name on the shrine.

She looked at the mural above, then pointed at this name.

Could she be saying that this is the name of the merman in the mural?

Bai Lixin quickly took out his phone from the backpack and took a photo.

Although it’s likely to be the name of the “faith,” the name on the shrine had become messy. Apart from seeing a few lines, nothing was visible anymore.

Even though he didn’t understand why the mermaid was helping him, this was indeed a crucial clue.

As he was thinking about this, the system’s voice rang out in his mind.

[Ding! Congratulations, player. Task 3 has made progress. For specific details, please check the system task bar.]

Bai Lixin opened the task bar and saw the progress on Task 3 [Find the Merfolk’s faith. (Progress 30%)]

At 30% progress, Bai Lixin lowered his head, his gaze falling on the few lines on the phone screen.

It seems he was on the right path.

The escape system’s voice rang out in his mind: [Master Bai Lixin, it’s time for you to return.]

[The seawater flows back twice a day. The second time will occur two hours from now. If you miss this one, you’ll have to wait for the next one tomorrow at noon. By then, Dr. Olay will discover you’re missing.]

Bai Lixin put the phone in his backpack, [Alright, let’s go back now.]

After saying that, he used the searchlight to flash twice into the distance, bidding farewell to the red-tailed mermaid.

Then he started driving the submarine back in the direction he came.

On the way back, he saw the giant whale again.

Several hours had passed, and it was still continuously feeding.

Seeing this, the escape system commented: [Is this a “foodie” fish or a “foodie” spirit? It eats so much.]

Bai Lixin: [The whale’s size is enormous. To sustain its daily consumption, it needs to keep feeding continuously, there’s no other way.]

It took two hours to return to the other side of the cave entrance.

Not long after Bai Lixin arrived, the backflow began.

It was still a typhoon and it was still extremely dangerous.

Having experienced it once, Bai Lixin was much more stable this time, even having the leisure to look around.

In the water-filled cave, the green-skinned monsters curled up at the entrance of a stalactite cave.

They seemed to be afraid of water and huddled there without daring to move.

However, appearances were deceiving. When a small fish swam by, they reached out to grab it, even sticking their heads into the water.

But they didn’t stay in the water for long, soon after, they retracted their heads.

The red-tailed mermaid from earlier probably got injured during such an encounter.

But something was strange.

This was the deep-sea area, and these green-skinned monsters clearly couldn’t breathe underwater, they looked more like land creatures.

How could land creatures appear in the deep sea?

Were they brought down by tectonic movements?

But if that’s the case, as species evolve, these green-skinned monsters should theoretically evolve gills to breathe underwater.

However, they didn’t.

With this doubt, Bai Lixin quickly rushed out of the passage and entered the safe water.

It was dawn by the time he returned to the research institute.

He used the invisibility skill card and sent a private message to Xia Chi.

Soon, Xia Chi, under the pretext of morning exercises, opened the institute’s gate, and Bai Lixin returned to the institute smoothly.

Xia Chi: [Brother, you finally came back. I was worried about you all night and couldn’t sleep.]

Bai Lixin silently glanced at the marks on Xia Chi’s cheek, [Oh, I believe you.]

Xia Chi: [How did you come back? Did you drive the submarine? Where’s the submarine?]

Bai Lixin: [Where else would it be? Of course, it’s in my backpack.]

Xia Chi: [???]

Awesome! …