Yuan Si swam toward the center of the reservoir for over half an hour. Her diving suit only provided thirty minutes of air, so she stayed near the surface, making it easy to pop up for a breath. Even so, she saw countless fish of all shapes and sizes. She recognized crucian carp, common carp, grass carp, silver carp, and more.
The second time she surfaced for air, Yuan Si didn't immediately swim deeper. Instead, she turned her head to check her current position.
She wasn't in the exact center of the reservoir, but she was already a good distance from the shore.
Yuan Si surveyed her surroundings and decided this spot would do. 'Alright,' she thought, 'my day of fishing begins here.'
Once she decided to get to work, she checked her equipment one more time. After confirming everything was in order, she slowly descended. Just then, a school of carp swam by. Yuan Si didn't hold back, deciding to use them to kick things off for the day.
But first, she needed to change her equipment. With a flick of her small hand, the dagger she held transformed into a bee sting. She then slowed her movements, holding perfectly still, and extended her spiritual power to envelop her body as completely as possible. This would numb the senses of the nearby fish, making them unaware of her presence.
As the school of fish leisurely swam past her, Yuan Si saw her chance and struck. Her hands shot out simultaneously, trying to spear as many fish as she could.
Yuan Si had lost count of how many times she'd attacked with both hands at once back in the apocalypse. But now, in this body, her reflexes were sharp, but her body couldn't keep up. After the panicked school of fish scattered, she counted her haul: only eighteen fish.
With a flip of her small hand, the bee sting turned back into a dagger. Kicking her little feet, she pursued the fish and swam to the surface. Unconscious fish couldn't be put into her space, so she used the dagger in her hand to stab each one in the head. One strike, one kill. In no time at all, the fish were all dead. Yuan Si grabbed them and tossed them into her space.
She had aimed for the large ones, so the smallest fish in this batch weighed at least ten pounds.
After stowing away the fish, she took her time at the surface to catch her breath, then dived again.
On her way down, she encountered several more groups of fish, some in schools, some lone swimmers. She always picked off the biggest ones. By the time she reached the bottom of the reservoir, her space was already holding a considerable haul.
When Yuan Si's toes touched the silt at the bottom of the reservoir, she knew she'd reached it. She estimated that, at this spot, the reservoir was about seventy to eighty meters deep. This would be incredibly deep for an ordinary person, but for Yuan Si, wearing a diving suit made from the hide of a mutant animal, it was no problem at all. She had tested this suit before; its limit was a depth of around six hundred meters.
She scanned her surroundings, confirmed there was no danger, and then picked a direction and swam off.
She had used her dagger quite a bit on the way down, leaving a faint scent of blood in the water. No schools of fish would come near under these conditions, so she needed to find a new spot to lie in wait.
For the next three hours, Yuan Si moved from spot to spot, catching fish. She maintained a rhythm of surfacing for air every twenty minutes or so, and her haul grew to be quite impressive.
As she constantly changed locations, she moved closer and closer to the center of the reservoir. This time, as her feet once again touched the silt at the bottom, the hairs on her body suddenly stood on end. Danger was approaching.
Yuan Si was a battle-hardened superpower user. She never feared danger, but she never underestimated it, either—that was how she'd managed to live into her thirties. This time was no different. The moment she sensed danger, her mind began racing. She analyzed how to best use her position to her advantage. The fight had to be quick; she needed to surface for air within fifteen minutes. Factoring in the time it would take to ascend, she had about eight minutes to fight.
Though her thoughts were many, in the next instant, Yuan Si had already adopted the best combat stance. She shuffled her small feet in the silt for a few moments, and then, like a fish, her whole body vanished, burrowing into the ground.
This wasn't because Yuan Si had some kind of Earth Ability. She had simply discovered that the layer of silt was thick, soft, and loose, so she burrowed into it to hide.
Yuan Si lay hidden and motionless in the silt for three or four minutes before she felt something huge swimming over from the distance.
Only when the massive creature drew near did Yuan Si extend her spiritual power to observe it.
'Whoa, that's terrifying,' she thought. 'I can't believe a medium-sized reservoir would have a water snake this big.'
That's right. What was now prowling the reservoir floor was a massive water snake, over twenty meters long with a waist as thick as a bucket.
It had a small head, a large belly, a dark gray back, a pale yellow underbelly, and a slightly flattened tail.
Yuan Si couldn't identify the species, but she knew in her heart it had to be a mutant variety. She'd never heard of any normal water snake growing to such a monstrous size. Plus, its triangular head was a dead giveaway that it was venomous.
'In that brief moment, I've already run through a hundred different battle plans. In the end, considering my tight schedule, I can only choose a strategy of surprise and a single, decisive strike. After all, my gear is top-notch. In this plane, I'm practically an unstoppable force.'
The great water snake was still circling the reservoir floor, searching for the intruder. It had followed the scent of blood all the way here, but to its frustration, the trail went cold. This infuriated it.
Aside from that other annoying pest, nothing foreign had entered these waters for a very long time.
Just as the great water snake was turning its massive body, swimming back and forth across the bottom, a person suddenly shot out from the silt directly beneath it.
Yuan Si had timed it perfectly. With a push of her small feet against the silt, her little body shot up toward the snake's torso like a cannonball.
The water snake had already sensed the enemy directly below it, but its immense size made it too slow to dodge. Not that it was particularly afraid. Its hide was like armor; an ordinary cannonball couldn't even breach its defenses.
Yuan Si had no intention of clashing head-on with the behemoth above her. She went for her most reliable weapon, the bee sting, aimed for the seam between its scales, and stabbed viciously. That's right—this wasn't a light prick, but a deep thrust.
Yuan Si didn't know enough about the creatures of this plane to guess what dosage would be needed to completely paralyze a water snake of this size. She wasn't going to take any chances. She decided to hit it with a heavy dose, ensuring a single strike would be enough to take it down.
As expected, the stinger of a mutant bee came with a quality guarantee. The great water snake had only turned its head halfway around when it froze mid-motion. In the next moment, its entire body crashed into the silt with a heavy THUD.
Yuan Si had anticipated it would fall and had already retreated a good distance. Even so, the impact of its heavy body sent out a current that still tossed her tumbling through the water.
Yuan Si drifted for a moment, closing her eyes and waiting for the dizziness to pass. Once her head cleared, she opened them and quickly swam back to the snake's body.