Yun Luohe traded five portions of Dark Cuisine for the Radiation-Proof Diving Suit.She hadn’t expected that.She’d sent Wu Jing a long list of tradable supplies, but none of it interested him. To be exact, he barely glanced at it. His Luck was excellent; in the European Emperor Association he was among the best, pulling high-grade supplies daily. He lacked neither tools nor weapons, and the few things he listed as truly desirable were things Yun Luohe couldn’t bear to part with.The rest of the European Emperor Association wouldn’t trade those either.The higher the skill level, the sharper the eye. Only players with middling development would admit they couldn’t make real use of what they were holding—no blueprints, no supporting materials—so they might as well exchange it for what they needed immediately.Even so, Wu Jing still hadn’t found anyone to trade with.Yun Luohe tried a few times. He kept saying no. She had no idea what would actually catch his eye. She opened her backpack, saw the Dark Cuisine she’d just made, and thought: you’re this picky and claim you’ve got everything—this, you definitely don’t.She screenshotted the Dark Cuisine details and sent them over.“Do you want this? Top-tier anti-radiation food.”Wu Jing: “Let me see.”“Not bad.”“Got anything else?”Hilarious.He really did bite.Yun Luohe: “I’ve got more, different effects and different prices. Can I trade them for your Radiation-Proof Diving Suit?”“You give me ten.”“Ten is too much. Five at most.”She could tell he was hooked.Wu Jing: “Fine. Show me the rest—I’ll pick.”At the moment, the Dark Cuisine Yun Luohe could produce were: Octopus Tentacle Mango-Coconut Ice, Lizard Venom Fang Soup, Crimson Frosting Cake, and Coffee-Garlic Grilled Fish.She’d already made the first two; their effects were, respectively, cooling/heat relief and Sanity gain.She prioritized them because she needed them right now.But after eating Crimson Frosting Cake, you’d feel ravenously hungry; Hunger skyrockets, Stamina points drop, which in turn boosts HP regeneration and adds Strength.Ingredients: Honey, Red Mushroom, Crimson Moss, and Golden Egg.The effect was strong—better suited for combat.In the hands of a low-combat player like Wu Jing, it could work wonders.As for Coffee-Garlic Grilled Fish, that was different: coffee plus garlic-flavored grilled fish—smells good, tastes bitter. After eating: Stamina +50, Sanity −30. Not remotely suited to this season.She hadn’t planned to make much of it.Make one to notch some proficiency, fine.Once she finished cooking the remaining Dark Cuisine, she unlocked two more entries in the guidebook and received the rewards—Bitter Melon Tea and Mint Candy.Both increase Sanity.Yun Luohe bundled up five portions of Dark Cuisine and sent them to Wu Jing, and very quickly got the Radiation-Proof Diving Suit in return.Truthfully, the materials for this suit weren’t that rare; it’s just scarce-for-now value. Only Wu Jing had the blueprint and materials. Give it a little time—once more players pull the blueprint—it won’t be expensive.With the suit secured, Yun Luohe got ready to head into the sea.It was getting late.She put on the Pearl Scale Armor, took the Thunder Vortex Trident, wore the Lucky Necklace, and equipped the Merman Pearls and other gear suited for underwater use.From Si Qi she’d traded for two bottles of Night Vision Potion. At this point Si Qi could already produce Night Vision Potion, not in large quantities, but if Yun Luohe asked, it was guaranteed.All set, Yun Luohe used a High-Grade Diving Card and slipped into the sea.With autumn, the day–night temperature swing was brutal.Daytime hit nearly 30 °C, but at night the water was only about 10 °C. The moment she went under she couldn’t adapt, hands and feet going numb with cold; she had to swim for quite a while before she found her rhythm.At least the Radiation-Proof Diving Suit clung to her skin and blocked the radiation threat in the seawater.She checked the Survival Wristwatch. The constantly jumping radiation readout knit her brows.The seabed had never been exactly peaceful; under the radiation fog it was even more dangerous and unpredictable.Yun Luohe moved forward slowly through the dim water.The seafloor had changed drastically. Compared to summer, autumn’s seabed was desolate.Once-vibrant coral reefs were veiled in an uncanny gray fog. Some corals had already bleached and died, leaving only jagged skeletons; the sea grass had dulled.Most fish had lost their former agility; some bodies were twisted and deformed, their swimming crooked, occasionally bumping into reef rock.Very likely radiation damage.Yun Luohe gripped the Thunder Vortex Trident, eyes wary on all sides, not daring a shred of carelessness.She’d come down to search for new supplies and scout other Underwater Ruins.So far she’d found three. Seven remained.Suddenly, a ghostly blue gleam flashed ahead in the water.Her heart tightened, vigilance spiking.As she drifted closer, she saw them—their bodies more than twice the size of ordinary jellyfish, their tentacles trailing—One slip and you’d be tangled and shocked.Beyond that school of jellyfish, she saw a field of blue light.She waited, peered carefully—turns out it was a pod of whales.To be precise—They were swimming at full speed for the deep, trying to escape the Fluorescent Green fog surging behind them.A huge bank of green fog rolled after them—the most toxic of the radiation fogs.Its spread was fast; in a blink it blanketed a wide swath of sea.Who knew how those whales had provoked Fluorescent Green fog.But as it neared, Yun Luohe felt her Sanity plummeting, waves of dizziness crashing over her; the scene before her eyes blurred and twisted.So the Radiation-Proof Diving Suit couldn’t fully block Fluorescent Green fog.It could only block the Gray and Blue fog.She hastily pulled out Clear-Mind Mint Balm, rubbing it into her temples and philtrum. The cool bite cleared her head a little, and the Sanity drop slowed.Yun Luohe joined the whales’ desperate flight.In the chase with the Fluorescent Green fog, some whales had already fallen out of formation, clearly affected by radiation.She sped ahead and smeared Clear-Mind Mint Balm on their hides as she passed.This should help them too, she thought.Sure enough, some of the whales she treated gradually regained a bit of vigor, their tail-fins beating with more power.Relieved, she kept swimming with the pod, dabbing Mint Balm on any stragglers as she went.But the crisis wasn’t over.The Fluorescent Green fog pursued like a living thing, relentless. As time passed, the surrounding fog banks drifted this way too, the haze thickening.Breathing started to feel difficult.Her Sanity kept dropping.This wouldn’t do. She couldn’t let Sanity fall below 60.With her mind taking damage, her perception dulled badly; even [Scanning Eye] wouldn’t trigger.Brow furrowed tight, she jabbed herself with a dose of medicine.Negative effects cleared; her whole body felt fresh, and her head snapped clear.Just then, the pod suddenly veered, angling toward a massive fissure in the seafloor.She had no time to think—she dove after them headlong into the crack.Inside, it was pitch-dark. The Survival Wristwatch’s light barely lit a few meters ahead.Good thing she’d used a Night Vision Potion; she could still make things out.Cold currents, carrying fine sand and gravel, hammered her body.The Radiation-Proof Diving Suit could resist radiation, but in these riptides it still took effort to keep control.The fissure wound and twisted like a beast’s torn-open maw, pricking at some deep animal panic.She had no idea how long she swam before the space ahead opened up; a strange blue glow poured in from deeper still.The whales, as if drawn by a force, all arrowed toward the blue light. Yun Luohe sensed something uncanny up ahead and hurried after.As she closed in, she saw it clearly—a gigantic blue vortex.Its diameter was at least a hundred meters. Innumerable ghost-blue crystals hung suspended in its core, turning slowly.With every rotation, a gentle blue wave spread outward. Wherever it reached, the cloudy seawater turned crystal clear; even the sea grass and fish warped by radiation seemed to regain some spark of life under that blue.An automatic purification ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) system for the sea?Makes sense—if the water couldn’t self-clean, everything down here would die out.This thing was basically a colossal water purifier.Murmuring under her breath, she glanced at the Survival Wristwatch; the radiation readout dropped markedly as she approached the Blue Crystal Vortex.But just as she marveled at the sight, a chill stabbed her back.Bad!She spun, ready to fight.Dozens of octopuses, each glowing with eerie phosphorescence, burst out of the shadows.You’ve got to be kidding.Her eyes went wide.That many!These octopuses were more than twice the size of common ones, eight arms speckled with luminescent spots.She remembered seeing juveniles of this phosphorescent octopus for sale at the Desert Night Market—price: 5,000 Sand Coins.Grown, they were said to serve as underwater lighting and even drive off enemies.The problem was, these weren’t juveniles. They were all huge. Not raised from young, so they couldn’t be tamed to drive enemies; instead, they were her threat.The dozen-plus phosphorescent octopuses were downright uncanny, green points flickering over their bodies, radiating lethal menace.The moment they spotted Yun Luohe, their tentacles writhed; a dense storm of arms surged at her, making her scalp prickle.The closest octopus spat a clump of phosphorescent ink, the jet tracing a black arc through the water straight at her.She twisted aside—but the others spat ink right after.Damn it.She couldn’t dodge them all; a streak grazed her forearm.A bone-deep chill ripped through her body. On the Survival Wristwatch, Sanity plunged at a rate visible to the naked eye—minus 8 per second.“Not good.” She swore under her breath and leveled the Thunder Vortex Trident.The weapon had bonuses against sea creatures. She had to finish this fast—cut them down now—or the consequences would be ugly.With Sanity dropping this fast, it wouldn’t be long before her body started to fail.She swept the trident; a blue blade lanced from the tips and cleaved at the nearest octopus.Hit, the octopuses spat even more ink, all while whipping their arms and lunging at her.Yun Luohe wove through the gaps in the ink, every trident stroke driving straight for a vital spot.But there were too many, and their attack speed was vicious. Her Sanity kept draining.She yanked out the mint balm and smeared it over her cheeks and temples; the menthol cool dulled the psychic shock of the glowing ink for the moment.The Sanity loss slowed a little.With a breath of space, she started thinking how to handle these octopuses.She triggered [Scanning Eye] to study them and found faint green fog coiled around their bodies.Were they this aggressive because of radiation exposure?The whales had just escaped; these octopuses got hit instead?How else to explain the frenzy—charging her even after taking hits from the Thunder Vortex Trident; even after their bodies ran dry of ink, still trying to spit.Straining to spit when there was nothing left.A little absurd—but Yun Luohe wasn’t laughing.

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