Chapter 680: Fishing
Chapter 680: Fishing
"Thank you... thank you..."
The female custodian, her head pinched by the Twinfish Director's fingers and forcibly extracted from the fish's mouth, was covered in slime as she knelt on the shore, her eyes red with gratitude.
"If it weren't for you, I might have been eaten by that fish."
"...No problem. If I hadn't chatted with you, the Twinfish Director probably wouldn't have remembered to save you either."
Leon Ryan gave an awkward tug at the corner of his mouth, then handed over his jacket. He tilted his head back again and called out to the Twinfish Director above, "Your Highness, apart from ensuring our safety, did Bull Director say anything else to you?"
"Nope." The Twinfish Director shook her small—no, large head. "Joan of Arc just asked me to keep an eye on you all. If someone manages to get out of their own fish tank, tell them they've passed... um... passed the Selection, and take note of their name."
"If no one escapes from the fish tanks after two hours, then take everyone out of the tanks... I'm done talking! There seems to be some movement in that fish tank over there, I'll go check it out. Good luck to you all!"
So, does escaping the fish tank mean passing the selection?
After the Twinfish Director released her grip on the fish tank and disappeared into the sky above, Leon Ryan furrowed his brows, pondering the situation in the Pisces Palace.
The Twinfish Director was acting like a child, unable to take on the task of teaching the Pisces Secret Art, let alone selecting a suitable successor to the Director's position. So, the other Directors had created these bizarrely oversized fish tanks as a substitute.
According to the information revealed by the Twinfish Director, these fish tanks, which were used to test the custodians, should contain the secrets of the Pisces Secret Art. Anyone who could comprehend and use this knowledge to enter the Pisces Secret Art would find a way to escape from the tanks.
Hmm... So, I should start by feeling around.
...
Amid the puzzled gaze of the petite female custodian, Leon Ryan crouched down after a moment of thought and began to touch the ground beneath his feet.
After feeling around for a while without finding what he was looking for, he started walking towards the misty mountains in the distance. However, he had barely walked for a while before disappearing into the fog and mysteriously reappearing from another direction.
"Mr. Ryan?" The petite female custodian tugged at her jacket, unsure of what he was doing. Gathering her courage, she asked, "What... what are you looking for?"
What am I looking for...? Of course, I'm searching for the boundary of this 'fish tank' so I can touch it!
Even if I can't directly learn the Pisces Palace's Anomaly Observation Secret Art, obtaining information about this fish tank anomaly would still be a valuable find.
However, it felt like the designer of this fish tank was intentionally targeting him. After walking a certain distance in any direction, he would be enveloped in white mist and returned to his original position, never reaching the 'main body' of the fish tank.
"Nothing... Just consider it my exercise routine." Leon Ryan brushed off her question and glanced at the female custodian wearing his jacket. Then, as if remembering something, he turned towards the clear lake beside him and stared at the giant carp within.
Could these oversized carps be the key to solving this puzzle?
With this suspicion in mind, Leon Ryan decided to dive into the lake and investigate. However, these strange fish were enormous, with eyeballs over five feet in diameter. When they swam, it was like a fleet of dump trucks racing through the water—an absurd sight.
Without the ability to use anomalies, diving into the lake to touch the fish would be a risky endeavor. The petite female custodian had already demonstrated the consequences of such an attempt, and even if the Twinfish Directorate hadn't come to rescue the swallowed person from the fish's mouth, the experience would still be too harrowing.
It seems like it's better to focus on legitimate methods for now, rather than trying to exploit loopholes...
Having temporarily put aside his thoughts of fishing in the lake, Lyon sat on another rock by the shore, attempting to comprehend the Anomaly Observation secret technique of the Pisces Palace.
And as he focused his mind, he began to grasp some of its intricacies.
The Lionhead Carps in the lake appeared to swim aimlessly, but their movements followed a subtle pattern. Each carp swam along a unique path, never colliding or overlapping with the others.
The lake, in a three-dimensional sense, seemed divided into numerous lines as thick as the carps themselves, entangled like a ball of yarn, creating a chaotic mess.
However, just like the seemingly chaotic and tangled ball of yarn, the carps' movements were interconnected. Despite the apparent disorder, each line was connected end-to-end, forming a perfect sequence.
If one could find the end of the line and unravel it...
"Ah!"
As Lyon squinted, searching for the carp that was the starting point, the female cleaner, wearing Lyon's coat and shivering slightly in the wind, suddenly exclaimed and stood up with joy.
"I understand! Their swimming paths are actually the same!"
Hmm? She figured it out too?
Hearing the female cleaner's words, Lyon turned his head, slightly surprised, to look at her.
If he recalled correctly, at the Sagittarius Palace, her progress in the Archer Secret Technique had already been acknowledged by the Archer Director. And now, it seemed her talent in the Pisces Secret Technique was also quite impressive.
"Ah, sorry, I got too excited..."
The little female cleaner, noticing Lyon's gaze, shrank back and quickly apologized. Then, with a slightly excited expression, she said:
"Mr. Lyon, I've figured out the pattern of those fish! They are all the same fish! The Director told me that the Anomaly Observation secret technique of the Pisces Palace involves a small degree of time manipulation. So, what we see isn't a group of fish but different stages of the same fish.
The Pisces Noble presented these fish to us, starting from a specific 'beginning' point. At regular intervals, a fish from that moment was taken and placed in the lake.
Most of the fish we see are from the 'future,' with only the first fish representing the 'present.'
If we find that fish, we grasp the 'reality' of what's happening, and we should be able to leave this place!"
"Impressive," Lyon complimented sincerely. "Have you found the 'real' fish?"
"Not yet..."
Hearing Lyon's question, the little female cleaner's expression froze slightly, and she said with a hint of disappointment:
"The paths of these fish are too chaotic, and they seem to be connected. I... I can't tell which end is the beginning. Do you have any ideas?"
Lyon had no leads, but he did have a plan.
Looking at the soaked female cleaner and recalling the earlier scene of the fish feeding frenzy, Lyon smiled apologetically and stood up. He approached the slightly panicked woman and asked:
"Sorry, but could you go back in the lake once more?"
"..."
(Д)???
(End of Chapter)
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