Chapter 19: You Are Not the Fish, How Do You Know the Joy of the Fish?

“System, modify my respiratory system for me.”

“Confirm modification?”

Wait. “System, does the modification consume energy?” He did not have any energy reserves to use for modification right now.

“This type of modification is only a form transformation and does not consume energy.”

That was good, then let the modification begin!

“Beginning modification of the Host’s respiratory system.”

“Increasing the density of lung alveoli, strengthening the capillary exchange network, raising the oxygen exchange rate to 80%, increasing lung capacity by 50%. Duration: one hour!”

After the modification began, Lin Lei did not feel any pain, which made him let out a sigh of relief.

Very quickly, Lin Lei felt some heat in his chest cavity. Something inside was growing and changing. It was a very wonderful feeling.

This feeling lasted for an hour, and the modification was completed. Lin Lei did not feel any special changes, except that his mind was much clearer. It was like breathing pure oxygen, refreshing and pleasant.

“Beginning skin modification, increasing the density of subcutaneous capillaries, changing the permeability of the skin’s stratum corneum, increasing the density of skin pores. Duration: half an hour!”

If the first item only strengthened Lin Lei’s ability to hold his breath underwater, this second item was the true strengthening of underwater breathing ability.

This modification was very fast. After half an hour, Lin Lei touched his skin and felt that it was really different. It actually felt a bit like frog skin, very slippery and much more sensitive.

Uh, did I become a monster? Lin Lei did not feel any panic now, but rather found it very novel.

“System, are all of these reversible?”

“All System modifications are reversible!”

That was good. Although Lin Lei did not mind other people’s gazes, he did not want to turn himself into a monster either.

“Is the modification complete, System?” Lin Lei was eager to try, preparing to experience the feeling of swimming freely in the sea.

“Last item, adding the ability for human nostrils and ear holes to close automatically underwater, growing transparent eye membranes over the eyes. Duration: ten minutes.”

Alright, now I really am a monster. Have you seen any human with double eyelids? Most things that have this are amphibians and reptiles. Although Lin Lei knew this was a change made by the System to protect his eyes and ears, he still could not help but grumble a bit.

Ten minutes passed quickly. After the message that the System modification was complete came through, Lin Lei could not hold back anymore. With a splash, he jumped into the seawater.

The ice-cold seawater immediately surrounded Lin Lei. He felt cool breaths drilling into his body through his skin. It was very comfortable.

This should be the respiratory function of the modified skin. It was not bad. At least Lin Lei swam in the water for half an hour, and apart from feeling a bit stuffy, there was no obvious sense of suffocation.

Lin Lei floated to the surface and looked back. The Floating Island had already become a black line on the horizon. He did not expect to swim so far in one breath.

Swim back? Lin Lei thought about it and decided against it. Since he was already out, he might as well just keep going. Even if he returned to the Floating Island, he could not make any useful preparations.

The trees on the Floating Island had very high water content and were brittle in texture. They could not be used to make a boat at all.

In that case, let’s keep swimming. There were more than four thousand kilometers of water waiting for him to swim.

“Detected that the Host’s speed in water is thirteen meters per second. Perform modification according to fluid dynamics?”

How would this be modified? The creature most suitable for living in the water and swimming the fastest was of course a fish. When Lin Lei thought about himself covered in scales with a spindle-shaped body, he shuddered. That would be a real monster.

“No need for major changes. If possible, just add some flesh webs to my hands and feet to let me swim faster.”

“Received reasonable suggestion from the Host. Starting modification immediately. Duration: two hours.”

This was already a major change crossing human genes, so the System gave a modification time of two hours.

These changes happened silently. By the time Lin Lei realized his swimming speed was obviously much faster, he discovered that the modification on his feet was already complete. Now his feet were powerful propellers.

The flesh webs on his hands also slowly grew out. They did not grow between his fingers, but instead a layer of flesh membrane appeared between his upper arms and his lower ribs. When he opened his arms, the membrane spread out. With a stroke backward, a powerful reaction force was transmitted back.

When the arms extended forward, the membrane would also retract, reducing forward resistance. This modification was very impressive. It did not affect the flexibility of Lin Lei’s arms, especially his hands, but it increased Lin Lei’s swimming speed to twenty-five meters per second. That was extremely fast.

Of course, this kind of modification only produced such a monstrous effect because the physical energy of two 1.5-ton One-horned Armored Rhinoceroses was concentrated onto Lin Lei, who weighed only ninety kilograms.

The current Lin Lei was a standard human-shaped monster. His body contained terrible energy far beyond his size.

Lin Lei could take a full breath and stay underwater for two whole hours. His skin breathing could supply more than seventy percent of his oxygen needs, and this was even during intense exercise.

If it were simply holding his breath, four hours would probably not be a problem. The System’s modification was truly magical!

Lin Lei, moving quickly through the deep sea, basically did not look at the pitch-black depths of the ocean. This instinctive fear of unknown areas could not be overcome in a day or two.

As long as he looked down for a long time, he felt a nameless sense of falling, as if the deep ocean floor had a mysterious gravity. This was an illusion, Lin Lei convinced himself like this.

Along the way, Lin Lei did not feel lonely. From time to time, he could see black shadows of various sizes flashing past him. These were all the original inhabitants of the sea.

Some of these fish were just passing by, but some came following the scent, harboring malice.

Of course, of this type of guys, the lucky ones ran away with great sense after hitting a snag; the unlucky ones became Lin Lei’s meal.

After Level 2 Reinforcement, Lin Lei’s body Energy Level reached ten levels. Even in the sea, he was still in the upper middle of the food chain and was not so easy to mess with.

Back then, Yan Siyu’s Protective Force Field Energy Level was at least 2.85. But after being hit by a speeding sports car, although it did not break through her force field, it still caused serious shock damage.

This showed that the attack Energy Level produced by the high-speed sports car when crashing was at least above 2.5, approaching the upper limit of Yan Siyu’s Protective Force Field.

Lin Lei’s current maximum explosive attack Energy Level was 3.1. In other words, a full-power punch could forcibly blow up a sports car speeding towards him. What kind of concept was this!

This was equivalent to him punching with full force in the sea. The water current driven up could become like a giant iron hammer, knocking his opponent unconscious.

Therefore, as long as he did not encounter giant beasts like the blue whales on Earth in the sea, or be attacked by groups of powerful carnivorous fish, Lin Lei was basically safe.

But he did not dare to relax his vigilance at all. This was not Earth, and there was no common sense or experience to follow.

Also, he could not use the creatures on the Floating Island as a standard. Thinking about that Floating Island now, it looked weird no matter how he looked at it.

It was too stable there. Time seemed to stagnate there, and various species lived in an orderly manner.

Even more magically, Lin Lei had lived there for so long and did not encounter any storms. The wind did not even blow much, let alone rain; not a single drop.

That Floating Island definitely had a very powerful protection mechanism.

And the current Lin Lei had already left there. After swimming for more than twenty hours, he encountered the terrifying storm above the ocean of Blue Rain Star.

Lightning that connected the sky and the ground, like cracks opening to another space, wildly poured down from the sky.

Mountain-like giant waves surged up wave after wave, added with that howling gale, it was simply an image of doomsday.

Damn it! The weather changed just like that. Just now the sky was full of starlight. Although there was only one planet, it was bright enough, and the light it emitted filled the sky. Now it had become so terrifying.

Lin Lei still wanted to admire this scene on the sea surface. He felt that he was the petrel in Gorky’s writing, except he was more leisurely.

Lin Lei, enjoying himself, was soon hit head-on by a giant wave. The impact was so strong that even with Lin Lei’s powerful body, his head went dizzy, his ears buzzed, and he was almost knocked unconscious.

Too dangerous! Lin Lei took a deep breath and dived into the deep sea, preparing to dive through from the bottom.

Because of the storm, the bottom of the sea was already pitch black, even for Lin Lei whose vision had been widened. It was truly lightless here, and the temperature was not enough to radiate sufficient infrared energy.

In such an environment, Lin Lei could not determine the direction at all and could only ask the System for help.

“External magnetic field interference is strong. Unable to locate based on geomagnetism.”

This damn System actually went on strike! Fine, Lin Lei angrily accepted this sad reality after being angry for a while.

He did not care anymore and just swam in a random direction, hoping this was not the direction of the Floating Island. That would be a real tragedy.

The safest way originally was to stay on the seabed and wait for the storm to pass, but he was not sure how long the storm would last. If it lasted for half a day, wouldn’t he suffocate to death? He dared not go up to breathe in such a chaotic place again.

Maybe next time the wave smashing over had a big dead fish in it. With such a huge impact force, a dead fish would also become an iron hammer. Then it would not just be a matter of dizziness.

Not to mention, if lightning struck his head, it would definitely be an injury he could not bear. He hadn’t lived enough yet and didn’t want to be struck by lightning!

It was safer to swim out first. Now his speed reached ninety kilometers per hour. In two hours, he could cover 180 kilometers. He didn’t believe he couldn’t get out of the storm area.

At this time, the sea surface was turning upside down, but the place one thousand meters deep underwater where Lin Lei was located was still very quiet. Apart from being a bit scary dark, Lin Lei thought it was not bad.

He had swum for more than twenty hours and covered more than 1,600 kilometers. It seemed that the 4,325 kilometers was not that far away. Another forty hours of swimming and he would definitely reach the Hebrew Continent.

It really was that human effort could achieve anything.

Now Lin Lei’s body was powerful, and there was the System to regulate his body. As long as he didn’t give up, he could swim for a long, long time without sleeping.

Hebrew Continent! I am coming! Lin Lei shouted in his heart.