Chapter 20: The Terrifying Giant Octopus

In the pitch darkness, Lin Lei did not know how far he had swum, nor could he tell the direction.

He could not hear any sound in his ears; anyway, apart from his sense of touch, all his other senses had lost their function.

He was now like he was in a chaos, for without a reference point, the passage of time became slow and imperceptible.

This feeling was wonderful, as if he were the only one existing in the universe, able to clearly feel the trajectory of time’s flow.

As time passed, even the wonderful feeling faded, and suppressed emotions like loneliness and panic inevitably surfaced.

However, Lin Lei did not feel it was unbearable; even loneliness, when savored carefully, had its own unique flavor.

Loneliness was like frost, sharp and cold, keeping him awake at all times; panic was like a knife, scraping against Lin Lei’s heart, making him feel his own reality.

Finally, Lin Lei felt a slight tightness in his chest; he smiled with realization. So only two hours had passed; he had just thought his life had spanned the entire universe.

Lin Lei adjusted his direction based on buoyancy, preparing to swim towards the water surface.

But something flexible suddenly wrapped around Lin Lei’s ankle and forcefully dragged him towards the deep sea.

Damn, what was that? A Monster? A mutated octopus? There are such ghostly things on Blue Rain Star!

The pulling force from his foot was immense; if Lin Lei swam upwards with all his might, he might be able to hold on for a while, but he was already feeling slightly suffocated and was just about to surface for air.

Lin Lei’s intuition told him he was no match for the owner of this tentacle in the sea; resisting would only accelerate his defeat, so after struggling a bit, Lin Lei relaxed his whole body and let the tentacle drag him into the deep sea.

Without moving at all, Lin Lei could still survive for a while relying on skin breathing alone.

“System, reduce oxygen consumption and maintain minimum physiological needs!”

Lin Lei wanted to see exactly what kind of big shot was pulling him.

“Host’s request completed. Body oxygen consumption reduced to 75% of normal levels. Apart from the brain’s external stimulus excitation points, the whole body is in a semi-dormant state.”

“Whole body oxygen demand will be entirely provided by the skin.”

Lin Lei immediately felt his consciousness become groggy, in a state between sleeping and waking; aside from feeling his body sinking rapidly, all sense of danger and panic disappeared to who knows where after losing their material support in the brain nerves.

After sinking for an unknown length of time, a stream of information from the System suddenly entered Lin Lei’s mind, clear like blocks of ice jade!

Loki Behemoth (Blue Rain Star prehistoric creature)

Tentacle extension length: 150 meters

Weight: 31.3 tons

Physical Energy Level: 25.6 Standard Energy Level

Maximum Energy Level of a single thick tentacle contraction: 2.5 Standard Energy Level

Lin Lei’s consciousness instantly recovered, and his whole body immediately regained its vitality.

The first moment, he made a judgment about his environment: judging by the water pressure, the depth here was about 2,000 meters. There was faint light around, indicating he had reached the seabed.

With the help of this inexplicable light, Lin Lei saw clearly the true face of this terrifying behemoth before him.

Who could tell him how that mutated octopus from “Deep Rising” ran over here? Although this guy changed its vest and its styling was slightly different, those dozen or so thick, sexy tentacles, the countless tiny tentacles, the big round head, and those blue eyes, plus the aura from its terrifying figure—it was too similar, strikingly alike!

Lin Lei did not know how to describe his current feeling. There was a bit of relief, because the big octopus’s tentacles did not have mouths full of sharp teeth, at least Lin Lei had not found any yet.

But this also meant that Lin Lei’s death might be being strangled alive by the tentacles and then eaten, a even more tragic way to die.

Looking at this behemoth’s size, Lin Lei had no thought of winning a fight at all; he was thinking about how to escape.

Lin Lei quickly scanned the surrounding environment and found that the ground here actually emitted a faint glow, which was the source of the light here. This was strange; looking at the material of the ground, it didn’t look like those luminous ores.

His gaze swept along the ground. Suddenly, he discovered an unusual spot not far away. It looked like a hole, a small hole no more than two meters high and one meter wide, at least a passage the Loki Behemoth could not enter.

Lin Lei’s eyes lit up. Ignoring everything else, as long as he risked his life to get in, he should be temporarily safe. The hole was not big; even if the big octopus’s tentacles could reach in, only one could enter. So what was there to fear? If one came in, he would break one; if they all dared to come in, he would make this Loki Behemoth go bald, and see how it would survive in the sea in the future!

Lin Lei grabbed the tip of the tentacle wrapped around his ankle, tore it hard, and directly ripped the tentacle off, then quickly swam towards the hole.

The hole was only about 200 meters away; at full strength, it would only take 7 seconds. It was a matter of life and death. Lin Lei used every ounce of his strength, complaining only that he was not swimming fast enough.

The injured Loki Behemoth let out an angry roar. It was hard to make sound in water, but Lin Lei still “heard” the Loki Behemoth’s anger. He just felt his whole body shake, pushed by a powerful water wave, and immediately felt chest tightness and dizziness.

Wow! This grandson has such a powerful Lion’s Roar Kung Fu; it’s really killing me! Lin Lei regretted it now; if he had known, he would have asked the System to transform him into a streamlined shape. A monster or not, his little life was what mattered!

Yes, just remodel him like a sailfish, then his speed would definitely be incredibly high, and he would have entered that hole long ago.

How could he be in this situation now, having only swum half the distance?

The Loki Behemoth’s tentacle speed was not to be underestimated. Seeing its prey escape, a tentacle up to 150 meters long shot towards Lin Lei like a snake, while in front, thick tentacles blocked the way.

This… with pursuers behind and an ambush in front, what could be done!

Lin Lei was truly helpless. He and this Loki Behemoth were not on the same level. Leaving everything else aside, just in terms of size: he was 1.85 meters, and the Loki Behemoth was 150 meters; they really differed by two orders of magnitude.

Was size and physique something that could be used to show the gap with orders of magnitude?

The helpless Lin Lei shouted: “System! Turn on Emergency Mode!” This narcissistic System wouldn’t say failure wasn’t allowed, right? He just wanted to see how it would control his body to turn the tables.

No, that wouldn’t do! If after turning the tables, his body’s energy was exhausted and he was riddled with holes by the System, what would he do? He would be the one suffering. Lin Lei remembered the encounter and consequences by the small river very clearly.

In a flash, Lin Lei added: “System, I want to successfully reach that passage ahead.”

“Emergency Mode activated. Reaching the target location is the primary objective!”

“Extracting 50% of deep genetic energy, extracting 50% of physical energy, activating Vortex Destructive Force Field, duration 3 standard seconds.”

Lin Lei only felt a wave of weakness throughout his body, the result of energy being forcibly extracted. Fortunately, the System understood his request and only extracted 50% of the energy, not enough to make him faint.

The System activated the field, and the seawater around Lin Lei immediately began to spin crazily, forming a cone-shaped tip in front, while generating huge propulsion force from behind.

Lin Lei was no longer Lin Lei; he was a water bomb. His speed reached a crazy level, and the thick tentacles blocking the front were directly pierced through by the cone formed by the seawater and the force field without any pause.

As for the Loki Behemoth’s tentacles that were pierced, they were directly twisted off by the Vortex Destructive Force Field without any hesitation.

“Bang!” Lin Lei crashed directly into the hole, and went quite far in, finally hitting a hard object with his head. If Lin Lei hadn’t realized the situation was wrong and desperately paddled water backwards, his head would definitely have been smashed.

This was murder! Blatant murder! Lin Lei angrily accused the System in his mind.

“The charge of murder does not stand. The System has estimated all factors within; there is no possibility of Host death!”

Deep breath, deep breath! Lin Lei tried hard to suppress the anger in his heart, but he obviously forgot that he was at the bottom of the sea at this moment, so someone in a certain cave at the bottom of the sea tragically choked on water.

After all this trouble, Lin Lei didn’t have time to be angry anymore. Thinking about it, it was indeed as the System said; he was safe now.

Waves of sound vibration came from outside the cave; those were the angry and painful howls of the Loki Behemoth. Even though he was underwater, Lin Lei still felt it was extremely ear-piercing.

This Loki Behemoth was miserable enough too. Having several tentacles broken by a bug-sized little thing was probably something it couldn’t figure out. Presumably, after today, it would never eat small things again, haha.

Thinking of the unlucky Loki Behemoth, Lin Lei, who had only bumped his head and was in pain, felt much better, and was in the mood to observe this underwater cave.

It also glowed with a faint light, making it effortless for Lin Lei to look around. He didn’t expect that a closer look would startle Lin Lei greatly.

The inside of the cave was not rugged rocks, but flat, unknown material. Lin Lei touched it with his hand and only felt that the material was fine and smooth. He knocked on it, and the sound was muffled, seeming very thick.

Anyway, all of this certainly could not have been formed naturally; there was a strong artificial smell here.

Could it be an Alien base on Blue Rain Star? Hmm, this possibility was very high.

Didn’t that mean he could ask them for help and let them take him away from this ghost place? Lin Lei was excited for a moment.

Lin Lei wasn’t afraid of Aliens; they were also intelligent creatures and looked like humans. Maybe because of the existence of that Star Alliance, Aliens wouldn’t do experiments on Earthlings; they could communicate.

Because the guys who could set up bases on alien planets definitely had a higher civilization level than Earth, at least Fifth-grade, just like the Layite People, possessing the ability of interstellar navigation.

At least they wouldn’t be more barbaric than Earthlings. Hehe, Lin Lei had high expectations for this possibility.

Hmm, there was another possibility. This might be an underwater base left by the intelligent creatures of Blue Rain Star from the previous epoch, that is, 80 million years ago.

This possibility was not non-existent, but it was pitifully small. Leaving everything else aside, what base could be preserved for 80 million years? And coincidentally, when Lin Lei came, this hole, which was most easily covered, was revealed.

This was too coincidental, a bit unreliable.

Well, stop thinking about it. Let’s look for any special places here and see where the entrance is.

Lin Lei started to wander around the cave. He wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t wandered; this cave had a network of paths, with seven or eight forks. If Lin Lei didn’t have a good memory now, he would have gotten lost long ago.

Hmm, what was this? A door?

Finally, Lin Lei really discovered a door. Hmm, it was round, with writing on it, and something like a password input device. It was actually still working, and the dial on the input device was still emitting a faint light.

Damn, how to get in? Looking at the technology of this door, it was seamless, even more airtight than a spaceship, and he didn’t know the password, so how could he enter?

Lin Lei was extremely curious now. Although he knew curiosity could kill the cat, Lin Lei wasn’t a cat, he was a tiger!

“System, do you have a way to crack the password?”

“Please, Host, place your hand on the password input panel.”

The System didn’t say whether it could or not, but directly ordered Lin Lei to do it. Lin Lei followed the instruction and put his hand up.

There wasn’t much change, except for a series of unknown symbols flashing quickly on the dial. These symbols were the same as those on the input device; the System should be cracking it.

After all, Lin Lei trusted the System’s ability immensely, so he wasn’t in a hurry and just waited leisurely.

“Hiss—” With a rapid sound of airflow, the round door cracked open from the middle, revealing the passage entrance. What was even more amazing was that the seawater was actually blocked by an unknown force, and Lin Lei couldn’t see the scene inside; it just showed a pitch-black area. This thing should be some kind of field, right? He didn’t know if he could pass through it.

“Please, Host, place both palms on the primary Protective Force Field.”

“Ah? Oh.” Lin Lei rubbed his hands and pressed them up. It felt like pressing on a soft balloon, but with a little force, the balloon hardened, and there was a firm counter-pushing force.

“Field identity authentication completed. Host may enter and exit at will.”

What did the System do? Lin Lei knew nothing about it, but he believed the System wouldn’t harm him, so he stepped one foot in. He only felt something soft brush over his body, and Lin Lei arrived in a new world.

Then, he was completely stunned!