"Heart of the Ocean (Enhanced) has taken effect."

As the system prompt sounded, the sewage water submerged Liu Zheng's mouth and nose.

Although the Heart of the Ocean's effect was active, he still felt suffocated.

It was the stench that suffocated him.

What he smelled from the bank was just the initial notes; only when you stirred this stagnant water could you fully appreciate the true base aroma.

He felt like everything from his forehead down needed amputation.

Surprisingly, when Liu Zheng actually jumped into the water, that corrosive alternating hot-and-cold sensation didn't reappear.

Aside from being extremely smelly, it wasn't much different from ordinary sewage.

It didn't even have that thick, greasy feeling—it was actually quite refreshing.

This put Liu Zheng somewhat at ease.

Although with the Heart of the Ocean's effect he certainly wouldn't die, losing too much flesh and blood would still affect his combat effectiveness.

"You, come here!"

He hooked his finger at the Skinless Monster, his attitude extremely arrogant.

The Skinless Monster stared coldly at him, licking its claws.

The claws carried not only blood but also large amounts of shredded flesh.

"Huh?"

Only then did Liu Zheng belatedly realize he was injured.

He touched his waist—a fist-sized chunk had been torn from his right side.

But it wasn't a big problem. With the 100% recovery speed bonus, the wound was healing at an astonishing rate.

Liu Zheng waited a few seconds, and seeing the Skinless Monster showed no intention of coming over, he simply initiated the attack himself.

The tentacle wrapped around the Boning Knife and swung it out like a rope dart.

With his current strength, this move was equally impressive in its force.

However, in the eyes of the Skinless Monster with its excellent dynamic vision, Liu Zheng's attack wasn't particularly fast.

It even had time to consider whether to dodge or counterattack.

Finally, it made its decision.

The Skinless Monster swung its claws again, though this time the expansion was much smaller.

But according to its calculations, this level of force was sufficient to tear apart the prey before it.

It just didn't know that this world had things called items.

The sharp claws accurately struck the middle section of Liu Zheng's tentacle, but only tore through half before being blocked by the bone inside.

"Heart of the Ocean" Effect Two: Damage received in water reduced by 50%.

"Didn't expect that, did you?"

He grinned viciously and swung the tentacle again.

The violent movement expanded the wound once more, sending large amounts of blood gushing out.

But Liu Zheng didn't care at all.

Opportunities were fleeting—only by being fast and decisive could you seize them.

The Boning Knife traced an irregular arc and plunged into the Skinless Monster's back.

This monster's defense was far less formidable than its offensive power. Combined with the two damage bonuses stacking, the Boning Knife sank in to the hilt.

"Ah!!!"

The Skinless Monster let out a hoarse scream.

Liu Zheng's hair stood on end—it sounded exactly like a human male's voice.

The Skinless Monster gave him a hateful look, then turned and ran.

"Damn it, my knife!"

Seeing this, Liu Zheng immediately gave chase.

That knife was borrowed—if he lost it, White Feather Chicken would definitely skin him cleaner than the Skinless Monster.

With the Heart of the Ocean's bonus, his speed in water wasn't much slower than on land.

Meanwhile, the severely wounded Skinless Monster moved increasingly slowly.

As one gained and the other lost ground, Liu Zheng gradually caught up to it.

Just as he prepared to attack, a rustling sound suddenly came from the opposite river bank.

The sound quickly approached, soon turning into a rolling thunderous noise.

Liu Zheng's heart tightened, and he immediately submerged his entire body in the water.

In his blurred vision, palm-sized black mice emerged from the darkness one after another.

They formed a circular formation, each biting the tail of the one in front, connected head to tail.

Upon reaching the riverbank, the rat swarm immediately transformed, gathering toward the center to form a sphere.

The rat ball rolled forward, across the river surface, toward the Skinless Monster.

The Skinless Monster made threatening cries while desperately trying to escape.

Unfortunately, its threats were ineffective, and its escape speed wasn't fast enough.

The rat ball quickly caught up to the Skinless Monster.

Many become one, one becomes many.

The rat ball disintegrated into countless black mice, completely submerging the Skinless Monster.

"Ahhh! It hurts so much. Save me, someone save me?"

The Skinless Monster emitted horrifying screams.

Listening to the distorted sounds from underwater, Liu Zheng felt a chill run down his spine.

Had the Skinless Monster once been human too?

Or was this just a trap to lure humans?

He wouldn't get the chance to find out.

Because the rat swarm soon left the Skinless Monster's body and reformed their circular formation.

All that remained of the once muscular monster was a pile of bones picked completely clean.

"Squeak squeak!"

One black mouse chirped several times in Liu Zheng's direction.

The rat swarm soon reached the riverbank, their pairs of multicolored eyes fixed on Liu Zheng beneath the water.

He remained completely calm.

If the rat swarm could enter the water, they would have simply swum across earlier.

Sure enough, after a stalemate lasting a while, an exceptionally large black mouse chirped several times.

Under its command, the rat swarm balled up again and disappeared into the darkness on the opposite riverbank.

Liu Zheng emerged and waited for a while. Seeing that the rats had indeed left, he finally went ashore.

"The snipe and clam fight, and the fisherman benefits."

He walked to the bone pile and sighed.

He took two heavy hits and soaked in that foul water for so long, yet gained nothing from it.

At least the rat swarm didn't take the Boning Knife, otherwise it would have been a total loss.

Actually, Liu Zheng had felt somewhat tempted earlier, wanting to drag a few black mice into the water to test them.

But after some thought, he decided against it.

If he made a deadly enemy and the rat swarm camped on the bank waiting for him, that would be troublesome too.

He picked up the Boning Knife, then suddenly had an inspiration and chopped down at the bone pile on the ground.

Bone fragments flew, leaving a shallow knife mark on the bone.

"Just as I thought."

Liu Zheng nodded with satisfaction.

The Skinless Monster had such explosive power—its bones must be very hard too.

Otherwise, it would fracture its own bones before even attacking prey.

Liu Zheng picked up four bone clubs.

Now even if he returned the knife, he had backup weapons.

Judging the distance, he was about 300 meters from the entrance.

After some thought, he decided to try fishing here one more time.

Liu Zheng jumped back into the Sewage River and consumed the Appetite Stimulant.

After waiting about ten minutes, still no fish took the bait.

If this were reality, he might still suspect it was just bad luck.

But now he had the "Never Return Empty-Handed" buff active, plus the Appetite Stimulant effect bonus.

If he still couldn't catch fish under these conditions, it could only mean this section of river truly had no fish.

Or perhaps try the opposite bank?

Liu Zheng raised his head and looked at the dark passage ahead. Get full chapters from Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

That should connect to other sewer spaces, and there should be other tributaries.

After feeling tempted for a few seconds, he still gave up on the idea.

What if the rat swarm was waiting for him there right now?

He didn't want to be the turtle that actively crawls into the jar.

Since he wasn't planning to explore new paths, Liu Zheng decided to go another 500 meters forward.

If he went another 500 meters and still found no fish, then there truly were none.

After all, he was almost out of French plane tree's street by now.

He got up onto the bank and walked forward along the riverside.

After walking about 200 meters, he made a new discovery.

There were several black lumps on the ground.

Liu Zheng crouched and poked at them a couple of times with the Boning Knife.

After careful study, he determined these should be baked potato skins.

And they'd been over-baked.

Liu Zheng leaned in and sniffed, faintly detecting a pine resin aroma.

He didn't think there would be pine trees in the sewer.

Which meant someone had brought these baked potatoes down from above.

Who would bring baked potatoes to eat in the sewer, making it seem like some spring outing?

Remembering what French plane tree had said earlier, Liu Zheng's expression shifted.

Could it be that person?