The first two scents mentioned by Shen Rongyu made Ji Qingzhuo start considering the possibility of him being some kind of plant. It was only when he mentioned citrus that she realized.
In the small cabin beneath the deep sea, the silence was extreme, allowing even the slightest movement to be detected. Ji Qingzhuo's pen, which recorded her statements, paused, and the soft sound of scribbling abruptly stopped.
Shen Rongyu looked at her lowered head and chuckled softly. His laughter was low, tinged with a hint of playfulness.
Soon, the short and swift sound of writing resumed, and Ji Qingzhuo crossed out the phrases of scents in the table. Her pen scribbled haphazardly on the paper, and finally, she added four words in the margin: "false information."
"Mr. Shen," Ji Qingzhuo noticed that her so-called "normal physiological reaction" became even more apparent. She felt nervous, a sense of emotional loss of control.
She realized that her emotions seemed to be manipulated by the other party, and she didn't like that feeling of losing control.
Ji Qingzhuo looked up and said, "You can't do this. When I collect information, I hope you can provide me with genuine information, not..."
"Of course, this is genuine information," Shen Rongyu blinked at her, his eyes filled with amusement.
Ji Qingzhuo lowered her head and changed "false information" to "useless information" in her notebook. She had the precision inherent to a researcher.
"I think this is just a useless flirting trick," Ji Qingzhuo accurately described Shen Rongyu's behavior just now.
"Miss Ji," Shen Rongyu called her.
"Hmm?" Ji Qingzhuo put her pen and notebook back into her pocket and turned to look at him.
A faint blush appeared on her turned-up face.
"You're blushing," Shen Rongyu ruthlessly exposed a fact.
Ji Qingzhuo was momentarily stunned. She touched her cheek with her hand. The surrounding temperature was clearly cold, but her face felt warm.
She blushed because of the "useless flirting trick."
"I'm leaving," she said.
When dealing with people, she was always like this—dry and straightforward. When she felt overwhelmed, she would simply run away.
Shen Rongyu nodded and watched her leave. He saw her stumble on a step while climbing out of the cabin, but she quickly regained her balance. This was a rare occurrence for her.
Ji Qingzhuo was confident that Shen Rongyu's scale could ensure her safety in the sea. She assessed him as being more dangerous than the devil shark.
On her way back, she didn't encounter any danger. When she had worn the devil shark's pheromone bracelet and descended into the sea, she still encountered some small fish and shrimp that couldn't sense the devil shark's scent. But this time, with Shen Rongyu's scale, she encountered no living creatures.
Living beings have an instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, and for all creatures, Shen Rongyu was a dangerous existence.
When she reached the shore, it was already dark. A solitary moon hung quietly over the sea, shining brightly. The satellite of this planet was very close, so the moon appeared exceptionally large and cast a huge reflection on the sea of the dark night.
Ji Qingzhuo removed her diving equipment and put it back in her bag. Before and after going into the sea, she would buy a glass of citrus water from the pub owner.
But this time, she didn't buy citrus water. Instead, she went straight back to her car.
Ji Qingzhuo's home wasn't far from the middle of the Nightwave Sea's coastline. It was also close to the sea, but the continental shelf here extended farther and was mostly shallow, making it more stable and habitable than the turbulent Nightwave Sea in the central region.
The Nightwave Sea had not been developed yet, so the land prices here were not expensive. Therefore, Ji Qingzhuo, who was frugal, could buy a coastal villa at a low price.
She had personally designed the villa's blueprints. On the side facing the mainland, the house appeared as a normal human structure, with a classical design, pink walls, tiled roofs, and surrounded by lush vegetation.
On the side facing the ocean, the design of the house is much more avant-garde. In addition to the necessary structure, the entire other half of the house is made of high-strength tempered glass. The space between the two layers of glass is filled with gaseous insulation material. When the lights are on inside, the house is transparent and bright, allowing the entire ocean view to be taken in from indoors.
Since there is no one on the sea, Jiqingzhuo enjoys this view very much. She took off her shoes and walked into the house, feeling like she was walking on the surface of the waves.
When she remembered that there was a humanoid creature in the sea, Jiqingzhuo's hand hesitated for a moment before she turned on another switch to tint the gas between the layers of glass on the floor, blocking the view.
She found Shen Rongyu underwater, but her current situation did not improve at all. She still owed a huge debt and would not be able to repay it soon.
Jiqingzhuo turned on her electronic device, facing the ocean, and quickly typed, recording today's research findings in her personal database.
In the meantime, she also began to collect information about the sunken ship, hoping to find some clues related to Shen Rongyu.
Meanwhile, deep in the abyss of the ocean, Shen Rongyu stretched and stood up.
His dragon tail was still bound, but it did not hinder the movement of his upper body. Within the cabin, he could drag his rotten tail.
When he stood up straight, the thing lying beneath him revealed its true form. Jiqingzhuo indeed had no experience in collecting samples or gathering information, so she did not notice anything unusual about this container in her panic.
Shen Rongyu lay in a coffin, and although most of the coffin had been eroded by seawater, faint traces of strange patterns made with black pigments could still be seen on the surface. The patterns were twisted and carried an evil aura.
When he stood up, the chains also made a clattering sound. Behind his back, seven black iron nails were embedded into his spine. However, after so many years, the black iron had corroded.
Shen Rongyu reached behind himself and pulled out all the black iron nails from his body.
He casually grouped the black iron together with the chains, threw them aside, and completely lifted the lid of the coffin that contained him. The lid of the coffin was covered with talismans, densely packed, and it was unclear what material the talismans were written with, but they had not faded even after being soaked in the sea for so long.
Shen Rongyu simply ripped off all the talismans from the coffin lid, as if he was tearing down the small ads posted in an old residential area, and bundled the talismans together with the black iron nails.
In addition, the structure of the cabin itself had a long history and followed the principles of ancient feng shui. The entire layout of the sunken ship was designed for him, who was sealed in the coffin.
Shen Rongyu destroyed it quickly, and this gloomy cabin was neatly tidied up by him, becoming bright and clean.
Finally, Shen Rongyu found the other half of the stone tablet that Jiqingzhuo had touched today. The piece she found did not contain any crucial information, so he threw it away.
Shen Rongyu destroyed all the suspicious "trash." The cluster of black iron nails, talismans, and inscriptions turned to ashes in his hands and disappeared into the sea.
At the same time, Jiqingzhuo searched the internet but did not find any information about the shipwreck in the Night Wave Sea. The information left from thousands of years ago had not been included in the electronic database, so if she wanted to learn more, she would have to go to old libraries and find ancient books.
She leaned back in her chair and temporarily set aside the matter, starting to think about how to repay the debt she incurred from buying the Night Wave Sea.
Jiqingzhuo couldn't sell the Night Wave Sea to repay the debt. She knew what would happen if the sea fell into the hands of businessmen.
She didn't have the talent for management, not even for her own financial investments, which were taken care of by a bank manager.
Jiqingzhuo took on an online teaching job, teaching one-on-one for a high pay. After all, her education alone was impressive enough.
She connected the call with the other party, who didn't say anything, and she remained silent as well.
It wasn't until the other party politely greeted her, "Hello, teacher," that she responded briefly, "Hmm…"
Then she took the books from her shelf and began to explain in a slow and monotonous tone about "Building and Analyzing the Data Model of Ocean Tides and Satellite Gravity Relationship."
An hour later, the other party voluntarily ended the call.
Jiqingzhuo was still immersed in her lecture and only realized after a while that the teaching call had been disconnected.
She noticed that the other party had given her a poor rating on her teaching profile page.
"The classroom atmosphere was not lively, and I couldn't understand anything. I feel like this teacher is mocking my intelligence. Bad review!"
Fortunately, the other party had still paid. Jiqingzhuo didn't care much about the review because her credentials were impressive enough, and she quickly received bookings for tomorrow's classes from other people.
However, these bookings coincided with the time she was supposed to collect samples from Shen Rongyu.
Jiqingzhuo didn't like to break appointments, so she decided to go underwater tomorrow and connect for the teaching sessions.
At the same time, she also took on several data analysis projects. When added up, she could maintain a similar income to what she had before quitting her job. However, it still wasn't enough to repay her debt.
Jiqingzhuo was busy all day and felt tired. When she went to sleep at night, she yawned and caught a whiff of the scent of lily flowers.
Even though her current financial situation was tight, she still sat up and immediately ordered a set of peach-flavored mouthwash online.
The next day, she arrived underwater with the data and instruments she needed for teaching. She had brought a lot of things and her backpack was filled to the brim.
By now, Shen Rongyu had cleaned up the cabin he was in. All the eerie suppression talismans and objects had been destroyed. He now appeared like an innocent, unfortunate creature trapped at the bottom of the sea.
When Jiqingzhuo arrived, she was surprised. She also noticed the peculiarities of the internal structure of the cabin yesterday and had planned to carefully observe it today, but…
Mr. Shen Rongyu, why are you so clean and tidy, disposing of everything?