Cave Refuge

To verify his guess, Zachary did not act rashly at this time; instead, he quietly waited on the Wave Rider.

He didn't have to wait long for the crew from the fourth ship to, just like the crew from the previous ship, line up with vacant expressions and climb over the railings to jump into the water by themselves.

After falling into the water, these crew members also came to their senses and, just like the previous batch of crew members, were directly controlled by the Water Whip and dragged to the bottom of the sea, where after they drowned, they were taken away by the merfolk.

But this time, Zachary did not continue to wait on the ship; instead, he used the water avoidance art to follow behind those merfolk.

Because he had already used his Divine Sense to observe the underwater situation during the previous encounter, and perhaps because the area near the Great Whirlpool was the territory of the merfolk, there were not only no school of sea creatures in this area but also no sign of the Mysterious Ship.

However, this was better; after all, the absence of anything else lowered the likelihood of Zachary being discovered.

Since his Divine Sense had already firmly locked onto the merfolk ahead, Zachary did not follow too closely, but hung back at a distance.

When those merfolk entered the Underwater City, Zachary also gained a preliminary understanding of this city through his Divine Sense.

Because the city was built underwater, it was not like the cities isolated underwater seen in movies or anime.

Therefore, all buildings in the city were submerged, and the city's means of transport did not stick to the ground like ordinary cities but moved freely between tall buildings.

If the cities before the natural disaster were merely cities on a flat plane, then the city before him now resembled an urban model of the future, a 3D city where transportation was not limited to the ground.

Upon entering the city, one of the merfolk handed over the crew member they were carrying to a companion, and then broke away from the group toward another direction, while the remaining members of the group, perhaps because they were back on their own turf, unconsciously showed a relaxed expression and chatted and laughed as they headed in another direction.

In such a situation, Zachary did not need to focus solely on one group; as long as the merfolk remained within the range of his Divine Sense, even if they all dispersed, Zachary would still be able to see their positions.

The merfolk who had left the group entered a building, which appeared to be the office space of the merfolk. To avoid any accidents, Zachary did not use his Divine Sense to delve further into it.

When his attention returned to the group of merfolk, he discovered that they had brought the drowning crew members to the edge of the city.

Following the direction in which the merfolk were heading, Zachary finally saw a large bubble. This gigantic bubble clung tightly to the ocean floor, and had it not been for the way its surface continuously changed shape with the water flow, Zachary would have thought its material was made of glass.

Watching as those merfolk dragged the crew members all the way and tossed them directly into the bubble, they themselves, however, did not enter the bubble.

At this moment, the humans inside the bubble, seeing that the merfolk were bringing new people over, immediately ran towards them. As these people approached the drowning crew members, their first action was not to save them but to frantically search the bodies of the crew members.

It wasn't that these people were psychotic and wanted to do something indescribable, but rather they wanted to quickly strip anything of value from those still in a drowning condition.

After a few people clumsily removed the outerwear of the crew members and took it away, and after making sure there were no valuable items left on them, several of them started kicking the stomachs of the crew members who were still drowning.

As their stomachs were violently attacked, the crew members instinctively began to convulse and, likewise involuntarily, started to retch and vomit.

It was because of this instinctive reaction that they ended up spitting out the water that was choking their throats.

When they unconsciously expelled the water blocking their airways, those originally drowning slowly came to from their unconsciousness.

If these crew members had been ordinary people, they would have died from lack of oxygen long after the merfolk dragged them into the water.

However, the crew members lying on the ground at this time were Martial Artists, and although their Cultivation Levels varied, their ability to hold their breath was definitely far superior to that of ordinary people.

Looking at the actions of those who came to steal, one could tell that this was not their first or second time dealing with such a situation, although they did rob those crew members lying on the ground of their belongings.

But regardless, these people did save the lives of the crew members; after all, if they hadn't kicked the crew members' stomachs a few times, it is likely that the crew members' water-induced syncope could have turned into actual death due to the prolonged absence of treatment.

And judging from the practiced behavior of those people, they had treated more than one person this way.

At this time, the entire process from robbing the belongings to kicking to save people inside the bubble was clearly witnessed by the merfolk standing outside the bubble.

The merfolk looked at the people inside the bubble with disdain, continually making judgments as if watching a monkey show.

Only after they saw the crew members, who had been unconscious from drowning, spit out the water that was stuck in their mouths, did the merfolk nod in satisfaction, and then, as if casting a spell, they made a few hand gestures before leaving the area.