Pokémon: World of Wonder

Chapter 389 Underwater Operations

Behind this ring of coral reefs, piles of garbage lay on the seabed, and every now and then a few figures could be seen appearing and disappearing among the garbage.

As agreed upon beforehand on the shore, Zhang Lin was responsible for guarding the surroundings to prevent sudden attacks from wild Pokémon, while Jiang Ye, Trint, and Liu Ya were responsible for collecting the trash.

After the four of them roughly marked out an area, Zhang Lin floated above, so he could keep an eye on the other three. Terlint then untied the net that was tied to his back.

After the three people tied the rope together and pulled it apart, a triangular net was completed. The remaining task was to move the garbage into the net.

Jiang Ye casually picked up a clothesline pole and carefully picked out some plastic bottles and garbage bags from the sand and put them into the net. Perhaps because they had been soaking in seawater for a long time, all the garbage had faded to a pale white color.

Besides these plastic wastes, there are also stainless steel and iron pots, pans, furniture, toys, and the like.

Jiang Ye originally wanted to try moving a broken table by himself, but he didn't expect that once he grabbed it with both hands, he couldn't move it at all by himself!

First, Jiang Ye's body was submerged in seawater, resulting in abnormally high pressure, unlike the pressure that could be felt from 2 or 3 meters of seawater. Second, when he began to move around a lot, the seawater seemed to be resisting his presence.

The seawater rejected all his movements, and every large movement was extremely strenuous, making him feel as if he were not soaking in seawater, but in a non-Newtonian fluid!

Secondly, there's the trash soaking in the water. I could feel it when I was collecting small trash before, but now it's very clear when I'm moving large furniture.

These things stuck in the sand seem to be sucked in by something. When you reach out to try to pull them out, a force that is like gravity but not quite gravity is resisting you, as if it is resisting your movement.

After failing to move the table, Jiang Ye silently picked up the broken clothes hanger he had collected and began to follow the example of Trint and Liu Ya, picking up only small pieces of trash.

Now, a garbage bag hanging on a scrap metal ship, a pair of dead fish eyes met Jiang Ye's gaze, and then suddenly pounced on him!

Looking at the gaping maw so close to his face, Jiang Ye quickly thought for a moment before managing to turn his head and use the dagger as a brace to firmly wed his head in front of the fish's mouth!

With his eyes fixed on the enormous fish tooth only centimeters away, Jiang Ye's pupils contracted, but before he could react, the fish-shaped Pokémon began to shake its body frantically, trying to fling the foreign object out of its mouth.

Jiang Ye's knife was flung away, and Jiang Ye, who was tightly gripping the dagger, was also thrown away. Although the Pokémon was stabbed by Jiang Ye, it did not bleed, probably due to the characteristics of the knife.

Jiang Ye was now far away when he finally saw what kind of Pokémon had attacked him—it was a Slug!

Although it was unclear how a Pokémon that inhabits the deep sea ended up living in such shallow waters, the Spotted Fish shook its head and then looked at Jiang Ye with dead fish eyes, somewhat annoyed.

It's as if it's saying, "How dare you fight back!"

Then the spotted fish twisted its body suddenly, like a sea serpent, and slowly approached Jiang Ye, its mouth opening and closing as if trying to swallow him whole!

Jiang Ye stood still. The hunting fish was swimming too slowly. He picked up a piece of garbage bag and stuffed it into the hunting fish's mouth. Then he punched it and knocked it over, leaving it floating in the water, unable to tell which way was which.

At this moment, Zhang Lin came down from above, saw Jiang Ye doing this and nodded in approval. Then he grabbed the tail of the spotted fish and used it as a long knife, twirling it a few times before throwing it away.

The dizzy spotted fish drifted on and on until it disappeared from Jiang Ye and Zhang Lin's sight.

The next half hour, with the help of Terlint and Liu Ya, was finally enough to stuff all the small and medium-sized trash in the area into the net. What remained were a few large items.

During this time, Jiang Ye actually encountered Pokémon from almost all depths in a shallow sea, from shallow to deep sea, from tropical to frigid zones. Jiang Ye even saw a big guy in the dim darkness, but he didn't know if it ate a Groudon or a Wailord.

Trint and Liu Ya were also attacked by some Pokémon that were hunting in the garbage dump, but they were dealt with relatively easily under Zhang Lin's care.

After Jiang Ye and the other two worked together to stuff all the large pieces of trash into the net, they each took one corner and slowly began to pull the net upwards, while Zhang Lin led the way.

After some effort, Jiang Ye and the other three finally returned to a spot not far from the lake. Feeling the pressure and restraint on their bodies slowly weakening, Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

Once they reached the lakeside, Jiang Ye easily scooped up the net he had been struggling to scoop up earlier. Guided by a dolphin pushing a long-board transport cart, Jiang Ye loaded the trash onto the cart. The dolphin nodded, then turned and hopped away with the trash.

"How are you feeling?" Jiang Ye had just relaxed when he turned around and saw Zhang Lin coming up to him and asking with a smile.

Jiang Ye laughed and said, "It feels strange, like being held in someone's hand."

Hearing Jiang Ye say this, Zhang Lin nodded: "That's right, this sea area has developed a very strange state due to the influence of the palace-like tomb under the lake."

"The area roughly extends directly beneath the entire island. All life within this area is under its own extreme pressure, meaning that almost all marine life can survive in this area. Isn't that amazing?"

Ultimate pressure?

Jiang Ye agreed, "It is indeed very amazing. So, Brother Zhang, what about you?"

Zhang Lin looked at Jiang Ye meaningfully and said, "Jiang Ye, let me tell you something you may or may not know: the Six Kings Trial is not essentially for the purpose of fighting."

"These six trials are designed to push your physical abilities to their current limit, so the final battle of the trials is not the goal; the process in between is the most important."

"So the result of the Six Kings Trial is not important. What is important is the process of the trial. Just like me, after arriving on this island, I felt that my progress in a short period of time was not satisfactory, and for some other reasons, I stayed."

"When I feel ready, we can go directly to the next island by water."

“We are fundamentally different from Trint and the others. They already have the Water Seal on them, so going down there is no difference from swimming in a normal pool. We, who go down with just a Breathing Bead, will be crushed by the limitless membrane.”

As he spoke, Zhang Lin grabbed Jiang Ye's elbow and pulled hard on the skin. Jiang Ye silently watched as his skin was stretched to a level of flexibility and elasticity comparable to that of a Ditto.