“Is it really you, Yuan?”
“Ahhh, it’s me, big shot! Why have you suddenly become so huge? You’re like a giant!” Yuan jumped up and down in the palm of Lin Xiaohe’s left hand.
Lin Xiaohe looked at Yuan, who was as tiny as Thumbelina, and sighed with emotion. “I feel like I’m dreaming.”
Yuan’s nose tingled, and he couldn’t help but cry. “Big shot, did you die too?”
“Maybe?” Lin Xiaohe wasn’t entirely sure.
She quickly perked up. “The good news is that the Giant Sound Whale failed, and we successfully saved the Federation! Isn’t that great? Isn’t that happy? Aren’t you proud? Aren’t you honored?”
“I knew it, big shot—you could definitely do it! You’re awesome!” Yuan flattered her with genuine feeling.
After a bout of mutual praise, Lin Xiaohe tucked Yuan into her pocket.
Her pocket had a small tear, which just happened to serve as a window for Yuan to see the outside world.
“Yuan, get ready! The Blue Sea High-Speed Train is about to depart!”
This time, being prepared, Lin Xiaohe kept an eye out for shells and conches as she ran against the wind.
“Xiaohe, there’s a shell over there!” Xinbao spotted a target with its sharp eyes.
Lin Xiaohe quickly ran over and pried it out with her hands.
This shell was even bigger than the one Yuan had been in.
Lin Xiaohe pressed her palms together and rubbed them. “Please, God, bless me with a blind box—please let me get a classmate!”
The shell opened, revealing a sturdy figure.
Lin Xiaohe jumped up excitedly. “Haha, I’m the ultimate lucky charm! I got a Victor!”
Victor was dumbfounded. He craned his neck to look up at this gigantic figure before him.
Huh?!
Big shot?!
Victor thought he must have gone crazy—why else would he be having such an illusion?
“Hey! Victor!” Yuan waved at Victor through the small opening.
With Yuan’s explanation, Victor finally understood the situation.
He scratched the back of his head and grinned naively. “Well, dying is dying. Being able to go beachcombing here with the big shot isn’t so bad either.”
Yuan nodded in agreement. “So this is the afterlife. It doesn’t look too terrible.”
Victor was also stuffed into the pocket.
His eyesight was much better than Yuan’s. “Big shot, ten o’clock direction—there’s a conch!”
Lin Xiaohe trotted over, picked up the conch, and dug inside vigorously. But all she managed to pull out was a tiny pink pearl.
“It must be because I skipped the ritual earlier!”
Victor agreed. “That’s right. With how amazing you are, big shot, Lady Luck will surely smile on you.”
With so many pairs of eyes helping out, Lin Xiaohe’s harvest was bountiful.
“I’m the ultimate lucky charm, I’m the ultimate lucky charm, I’m the ultimate lucky charm!” Lin Xiaohe chanted the mantra in her heart as she devoutly opened the box.
“Wow! Big shot is incredible—you got Lin Ye!”
“Wow! Xiaohe is so amazing—you got Su Xi!”
After opening over a hundred classmates in a row, Lin Xiaohe’s pocket couldn’t hold any more!
She thought for a moment, gathered the shells she had collected, and used the mucus from the conches to glue them together into a large boat.
She placed her classmates on the boat and poked a hole in the bow with her finger.
Doudou kindly sponsored a nearly withered vine. One end of the vine was tied to the boat, and the other end was held in Lin Xiaohe’s hand.
“Beachcombing squad, let’s go!” Lin Xiaohe took off running.
But this time, it was the classmates on the boat who suffered.
Victor shouted at the top of his lungs, “Big shot, slow down! Lin Ye got thrown off!”
Lin Xiaohe slammed on the brakes and hurried back to pick up her classmate.
Fortunately, aside from being a little dizzy, none of them were harmed.
Lin Xiaohe patted her chest with lingering fear. That was scary!
As someone with a family and a home to take care of, she had to restrain her wild, free-loving heart and slow her pace.
Suddenly, the classmates on the boat let out a collective gasp. “Big shot, look ahead!”
There was an octopus covered in shells. At a rough glance, there had to be at least a hundred of them!
As soon as the octopus saw Lin Xiaohe, it frantically tried to escape.
Lin Xiaohe let go of the rope and chased after it like the wind.
The octopus swam very fast, always keeping a distance of about a hundred meters from Lin Xiaohe.
Lin Xiaohe grabbed Fanfan from her right shoulder and hurled it with all her might. “Fire away, Fanfan!”
Fanfan traced a parabola through the air, nearly scared out of its wits. “Lin Xiaohe! I hate roller coasters!”
The more cowardly its attitude, the more fierce its actions.
When Fanfan landed on the octopus, its roots stabbed deep into it. In less than ten seconds, it had devoured the octopus clean.
Fanfan was still unsatisfied. The fish meat in the Blue Sea was so much tastier than mutant beast meat!
Lin Xiaohe rushed over to open the blind boxes.
The number of shells on the octopus was even greater than she had imagined—more than two hundred in total.
“A huge harvest.”
Starting with that octopus, Lin Xiaohe’s luck seemed to gradually improve.
Out of ten shells, she could open nine classmates, one pearl or piece of seaweed, and some other strange things.
Everyone was immersed in the joy of opening blind boxes. Even after all seven hundred-plus classmates had been opened, they still tirelessly searched for shells in the Blue Sea.
Suddenly, a distant, clear, and ethereal whale call came from afar, as if from ancient times.
Everyone looked up in unison. It was an immensely gigantic Giant Sound Whale, whose skin seemed to shimmer with blue light!
It floated in the sky, swimming slowly from a distance, its tail fin trailing a river of stars behind it.
The scene was so breathtaking and magnificent.
…
At that moment, many people in the Federation stared at the blackened exam screens, sinking into a long silence.
Cassian, his eyes red, asked Nuwa, “Has Lin Xiaohe come out?”
[Nuwa] paused for a second and replied regretfully, “No. All 755 examinees have lost contact.”
Cassian went offline.
He had exhausted all his strength and resources. Heaven had given him a genius, only to cruelly take that genius away.
Marshal Chu felt terrible inside.
If it hadn’t been for his small selfishness, if he had clearly explained the exam situation from the beginning, would Lin Xiaohe have encountered so many difficulties and dangers? Would the Federation have lost such a great genius?
He squatted on the ground, covering his eyes.
Lin Xiaohe was only eighteen years old, and her performance was already so stunning. If she were given time to grow, her future would be incredibly dazzling.
But she was dead.
She had led more than seven hundred examinees, fighting alone, and died for the Federation!
Cassius took off his hat and observed a moment of silence for these unsung heroes.
Evander wanted to say something but tightly shut his mouth. He was certain that if he dared to utter a single unpleasant word at a time like this, he would definitely be beaten up by the crowd.
Fourth Star Ring.
Song Wen leaned weakly against his seat. His hand was twitching from being held in the same position for too long.
On the dynamic map, the darkened areas of Haige Star slowly lit up, one by one, until the planet finally regained its original dazzling blue color.
Song Wen closed his eyes. Almost all his strength had been drained from his body. The image of Lin Xiaohe’s pain-filled, death-defying gaze at the final moment kept replaying in his mind.
“Lin Xiaohe, you really did it.”
Unfortunately, you paid for it with your own life.
The adjutant said softly, “Apart from Haige Star, Nuwa has restored contact with the Fourth Star Ring. Cassian proposes holding a memorial service for the fallen examinees.”
Why has the weather been so hot lately? I feel like I’m melting.
