https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-917-The-Secrets-of-the-Sunlithe-Sixteen-Visiting-Jenny/12827205/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-919-The-Sunlit-Secret-Realm-Part-18-The-Volcano/12827211/
Chapter 918: Sunlit Secret Realm (Part 17) - Hidden Boss Emerges
Chapter 918: Sunlit Secret Realm (Part 17) - Hidden Boss Emerges
After obtaining the "Fireproof Stone," the players from Blue Star each gathered their fishermen and set sail into the lake to fish.
An hour later, the medium-sized fishing boat controlled by Su Yu smoothly left the harbor, heading toward the chosen fishing spot.
The fishing process was uneventful.
The entire operation was handled by the fishermen, leaving Su Yu with nothing to worry about.
Upon reaching the chosen fishing spot, the fishermen cast their nets and baits into the lake, spreading the net evenly in the water. Then, they settled in for a long wait.
This wait lasted four hours.
At 11:00 AM, the bow of the medium-sized fishing boat, Su Yu lounged with his legs crossed, a twig dangling from his mouth, gazing up at the azure sky.
During these four hours, he had nothing to do except chat idly with the fishermen. The rest of the time, he spent in deep thought.
His thoughts were many.
First, who was the hidden boss, or was it possible that there was no such hidden boss at all?
Second, he pondered a lot about the Skrullians.
The 16 Skrullians were a formidable force within the secret realm. (Four Skrullians had died during last night's fishing, but they were replenished by morning, maintaining their total number at 16).
This morning, the Blue Star players had encountered the Skrullians at the dock.
However, due to the rules of the secret realm, the two groups merely exchanged wary glances and did not engage in conflict.
He wondered if they had discovered the underlying issues of the secret realm and if they might uncover its secrets before him.
...
At 11:00 AM, while Su Yu was still deep in thought, a fisherman's voice called out from the cabin: "Little brother, we're about to haul in the net!"
Su Yu had instructed the fishermen to notify him immediately once they started hauling in the net. Now, the notice had come.
"Alright, got it." Su Yu snapped back to reality, standing up from the bow: "Thank you all for your hard work. Start hauling in the net now, and I'll handle it if we catch any Firefin Fish."
"Firefin Fish? Impossible, right? How could there be any Firefin Fish today?" The fisherman snorted, disbelieving.
Firefin Fish only appeared in the village once every few years, so how could they show up today?
But considering that three had appeared yesterday, he didn't argue further.
Shaking his head, the fisherman turned to help his companions haul in the net.
Su Yu stood by the fishermen, watching silently.
He had considered donning a diving suit to check the lake for Firefin Fish.
However, entering the water now would startle the fish and affect their catch, so he decided to stick to the original plan.
...
With the fishermen's efforts, the net was gradually hauled back in.
As the net neared the surface, Su Yu could clearly see a large number of fish thrashing about in the water.
However, he soon noticed a problem: were the fish in the net redder than usual?
Su Yu remembered the scene from yesterday when they hauled in the net. The fish then were of various colors, but today's were noticeably redder, unlike yesterday.
The fishermen, being experienced anglers, quickly noticed this obvious difference.
"Huh? Why are the fish all red? Am I seeing things?"
"Hmm, now that you mention it, I do think the fish are a bit redder."
"Could it be the light, or—Firefin Fish?"
"No, there are no Firefin Fish," Su Yu's gaze swept over the net, speaking earnestly: "So far, I haven't seen any Firefin Fish, but the fish we caught are generally redder, which is indeed a fact."
"Quickly, haul the fish up, and we'll examine them more closely once they're on deck," one fisherman shouted.
The fishermen worked together to haul the heavy, fish-laden net out of the water.
Seeing the fishermen struggling, Su Yu lent a hand.
...
Splash!
The net was successfully hauled onto the fishing boat, and the fishermen spilled the fish onto the deck.
The entire process was accompanied by a pungent fishy smell.
Ignoring the fishy odor, Su Yu immediately picked up a fish that had rolled to his feet and began to examine it closely.
The fish he picked up was a Grass Elemental Fish, entirely emerald green, as beautiful as a block of jade.
However, if he remembered correctly, the Grass Elemental Fish from yesterday were only "emerald green" and definitely did not include red.
But today, the head of this Grass Elemental Fish was noticeably tinged with a faint red, making the red and green combination extremely unappealing and drastically lowering its beauty.
The fishermen also picked up the elemental fish to examine them closely.
After their observations, they all furrowed their brows.
They had never seen this before. What could be the reason?
Why were the elemental fish turning red?
One of the fishermen even asked Su Yu, "Young man, do you know what's going on? Why are these fish turning red?"
Su Yu shook his head, his lips twitching involuntarily. "Shouldn't I be asking you? Why are you asking me? Anyone here know why these fish are turning red?"
"No idea."
"Don't know."
"Never seen it before."
"Maybe it's due to the area? The elemental fish around here might have ingested something that turned their bodies red?"
"Should we try fishing in another spot to see if the same thing happens?"
"Sure," Su Yu nodded.
But then he added, "However, please wait for me a moment. I'll dive down and check if there's anything suspicious at the bottom of the lake."
With that, he took off his jacket and retrieved a diving suit from the ship's cabin.
"Something suspicious?" The five fishermen exchanged confused glances, unsure what Su Yu meant.
"Exactly," Su Yu said as he put on the diving suit. "Have you considered the possibility that there's a massive Elemental Fish King in the lake?"
"An Elemental Fish King?" The fishermen looked bewildered. What was that?
But one of them seemed to understand what Su Yu meant.
He slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "I get what the young man is saying. He thinks there's a massive elemental fish in the lake, and it's the leader of the other elemental fish. But the leader suddenly turned to a fire attribute and used fire elements to pollute the other elemental fish, causing them to turn red, right?"
"Exactly, that's pretty much it," Su Yu nodded, appreciating the fisherman's insight.
"I'll be back soon." His diving suit was now fully on, and he leaped from the ship's edge into the water with a splash.
Plunging into the depths, Su Yu swam toward the bottom of the lake.
...
The Sunlight Lake wasn't very deep. After descending about thirty meters, he reached the bottom.
Unfortunately, he didn't find the "Elemental Fish King" he was looking for.
The light at the bottom was very poor, and he could barely see anything, only faintly making out the shadows of ordinary elemental fish.
However, upon reaching the bottom, he noticed something strange—the water temperature seemed quite high!
When he first entered the water, it felt very cold, similar to the swimming pools he used to swim in as a child. But at the bottom of the lake, the water was warm, almost like a hot tub. What was going on?
Without an oxygen tank, Su Yu couldn't stay underwater for too long.
He soon surfaced, returning to the ship.
...
"Did you find anything, young man?" As Su Yu climbed back onto the deck, still catching his breath, the fishermen immediately asked, "Did you find the Elemental Fish King you mentioned?"
"No, it was too dark at the bottom to see anything clearly," Su Yu replied.
He then added, "But I did notice that the water at the bottom was quite warm, almost like a hot tub, while the water at the surface was very cold."
"The water at the bottom is hot?" The five fishermen exchanged puzzled looks again.
They had swum in the lake before, and according to their memories, the water should get colder the deeper you go. Why was it getting warmer?
One of the fishermen mused, "Could there really be an Elemental Fish King? Maybe it just passed through the bottom, using fire elements to pollute the other elemental fish and raise the water temperature?"
"That's a possibility," Su Yu nodded.
But he was starting to sense that it might not be that simple.
Was it just the Elemental Fish King passing by, or was there something else?
For some reason, he suddenly thought of the words "volcanic eruption."
Could it be...
He didn't dare to think further.
"Let's continue fishing," Su Yu said, looking at the fishermen with a serious expression. "But we won't go to the nearby fishing spot. Instead, we'll head to the far western side of the lake to check it out."
Their fishing boat was currently on the eastern side of the Sunlight Lake. Going to the western side would require traveling across the lake lake surface of the lake, a journey that could take over three hours.
"To the far western side?" The fishermen were taken aback.
One of them tried to dissuade Su Yu, "But young man, we're very far from the western side. If we go there now, we'll catch far fewer fish this time."
"It's fine, trust me," Su Yu said earnestly.
...
Since Su Yu insisted, the fishermen, being employees, didn't argue further.
Five fishermen adjusted the sails and paddles, guiding the medium-sized fishing boat toward the westernmost part of the lake.
For the rest of the afternoon, Su Yu found himself with nothing to do. There was simply no work for him to do. During this time, the only thing he could confirm was that the elemental fish they had caught were indeed influenced by fire elements. Whether these fire elements came from the so-called "Elemental Fish King" or some other source still required further investigation.
Three hours later, the medium-sized fishing boat arrived at the westernmost part of the lake. The fishermen cast their nets and waited patiently for the time to retrieve them.
Another four hours passed, and it was now 6 PM. It was time to pull in the nets again, and the fishermen came to the deck to inform Su Yu.
Su Yu instructed the fishermen to start reeling in the net while he stood by and watched. As the net was about to leave the water, Su Yu's sharp eyes caught a glimpse of a fiery red shadow among the fish.
"By the gods! It's another Firefin!" The fishermen also noticed it, their eyes widening in shock.
It was another Firefin! Why had it appeared so frequently over the past two days?
As soon as the fishermen voiced their concerns, Su Yu took action. He decisively activated and threw the "Fireproof Stone."
The "Fireproof Stone" transformed into a red streak of light, heading straight for the net's pocket. This time, the Firefin was at the top of the pile of fish. If it spewed flames, it could easily burn through the net. However, it was unaware of the approaching "Fireproof Stone."
The "Fireproof Stone" shattered in mid-air, quickly forming a deep red protective shield that enveloped the entire net. The Firefin tried to spew flames to burn through the net, but to its surprise, the flames wouldn't come out, as if stuck in its throat.
Then, it saw a glinting fish spear flying toward it, wielded by Su Yu. The fish spear struck its head with pinpoint accuracy, and the Firefin felt a sharp pain before losing consciousness.
...
A few minutes later, the Firefin and the other elemental fish were dumped onto the deck. Unlike the excitement of yesterday when they first caught a Firefin, the fishermen today were worried and frowning.
After the events of the past two days, the fishermen had realized that Firefins would likely appear in large numbers in the future. But these creatures could burn through the nets, posing a significant threat to their fishing industry. How would they continue fishing in the lake without someone with Su Yu's skills?
They couldn't farm the land, and they couldn't fish. How would they survive?
Su Yu didn't pay much attention to the fishermen's concerns. He picked up the nearest earth elemental fish and examined it closely. He noticed that the fish's body had turned a noticeable shade of red, even more so than the batch caught in the morning.
"This isn't a good sign," Su Yu muttered, shaking his head.
He put on his diving suit and dove back into the water from the side of the boat. Five minutes later, he returned from the lake bottom, pulling himself onto the deck using the rope.
This time, his expression was even more serious.
"Brother, did you find anything?" one of the fishermen asked urgently.
Su Yu hesitated, not wanting to cause panic by sharing the information. But after a moment's thought, he replied, "I found that the water temperature at the bottom of the lake is the same as it was at noon—basically lukewarm."
The fishermen's faces turned deathly pale.
They all knew this was a serious matter.
"Let's head back. It's getting late," Su Yu said, looking at the fishermen and sighing softly.
If his judgment was correct, something big was about to happen.
...
By the time they returned to the Sun Village, it was already 7 PM. This was the last batch of adventurers returning, as it would soon be dark.
The dock was bustling with activity, with people bustling about. Standing at the bow of the fishing boat, Su Yu could see the figures of Zhong Feng, Yun Zhongmu, and the others from a distance.
Su Yu's catch this time was not substantial, only about 300 kilograms, including the Firefin. However, he had a growing suspicion about the identity of the mastermind behind these events. The information he had gathered today seemed to confirm his suspicions.
Now, he just needed to reveal the truth and find a way to solve the problem.
Hopefully, everything would go smoothly.
(End of Chapter)
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