Chapter 67: The Whale’s Eyes
Even as hope sparked within her, Xu Qingsui mentally cursed the Golden Octopus a thousand times over.
’You stupid mollusk! Why does it always have to be so cryptic? Can’t it just spit everything out at once?’
Though she was cursing it inwardly, she didn’t dare let it show. After all, she was still relying on the Golden Octopus to show her the way.
"What’s the plan?"
[The Host has already devoured the Mutant’s spirit body. Before the spirit body is completely assimilated by the Host, you can release it to control the Mutant’s physical body.]
[Then, you can make the Mutant spit all of you out.]
Xu Qingsui’s mind raced, quickly processing the Golden Octopus’s words until she understood them completely.
A spirit body was equivalent to human brainwaves. Just as the brain controls human actions, a spirit body could control a Mutant’s actions.
Even if a person’s body dies, as long as the brain is still functioning, they aren’t truly dead—like someone in a vegetative state.
This whale was like a whale in a vegetative state. By using its spirit body, she could control its physical form.
"So how do I control it?"
[That is something you will need to figure out on your own. I cannot put it into words.]
With that, the Golden Octopus vanished.
Xu Qingsui couldn’t help but roll her eyes. ’I wonder if that stupid mollusk does this on purpose, always flaking out at the most critical moment.’
But at least she had a plan now, which gave her a general direction to start exploring.
Xu Qingsui began by sensing the spirit body within herself, searching for the whale’s spirit body she had just absorbed.
Before this, she had always thought that once a spirit body was absorbed, it would merge and become her own. It turned out there was an assimilation process.
Apparently, her previous assimilations had gone so smoothly that they were completed before she even noticed.
Recalling the pillar of blue light from when she devoured the spirit body, Xu Qingsui began to search for a blue glow.
Soon, she found a blue sphere of light within her Sea of Consciousness.
Xu Qingsui tried to maneuver the blue sphere of light, slowly channeling it toward her palm.
Seeing the blue sphere of light move at her command, Xu Qingsui’s confidence surged.
Once everything was ready, Xu Qingsui opened her eyes. She sat down on the ground again and casually placed her palm on the floor.
Lu Jingyu saw her solemn expression and silence, and assuming she was deep in thought, he didn’t disturb her.
Xu Qingsui tried to use the spiritual power from the blue sphere to establish a connection with the whale’s body.
After several attempts, she finally felt her spiritual power link up with the whale’s body.
Seizing the moment, she pushed forward, releasing all the spiritual power and taking control of the whale’s movements.
After her initial success, Xu Qingsui’s first instinct was to take control of the blowhole and have it blast everyone out.
But just as she was about to act, she suddenly changed her mind.
’Since I can control the whale’s body, why not just have it carry us out of the maze?’
Surrounded by the high walls of the maze, they were unable to find an exit on their own, forced to run around like headless chickens.
But this whale was outside the maze proper. She could use this advantage and have it take them directly to the exit.
Her mind made up, she took complete control of the whale’s body.
Through the whale’s eyes, she looked down from above at the entire underwater maze.
The maze was so vast that even from the whale’s vantage point, high above it, she couldn’t see the end.
Xu Qingsui suddenly felt that the so-called maze was a complete sham.
If they were really expected to walk out of this maze, they would be trapped inside until they died, even if there were no other dangers.
Xu Qingsui began to feel grateful they had encountered this whale. As it turned out, the whale was their only way out.
But since she couldn’t see the end of the maze, she could only pick a direction and start searching.
A maze was just a series of interconnected, enclosed spaces. As long as she searched methodically, she was bound to find an exit eventually.
With that, Xu Qingsui had the whale start swimming in a chosen direction.
When the whale started to move, the people inside its body felt the sensation.
"Weren’t you supposed to tell us how to get out of here? Just tell us what we should do!"
"Now this Mutant is swimming off to who knows where! By the time we get out, even if we do, we won’t know where we are, let alone get out of this maze."
Xu Ruming was, as always, the one to find fault, and her words never failed to resonate with a few of the others.
However, Shen Ling’an, who was nearby, couldn’t be bothered to stop her anymore.
’No matter how many times she suffers the consequences, she just can’t keep that mouth of hers shut.’
’If she wants to make her own life miserable, then let her!’
Watching Xu Qingsui focus on figuring a way out while Xu Ruming continued to make snide remarks on the side, Lu Jingyu’s expression darkened.
His anger flared, especially when he vaguely heard a few others starting to echo Xu Ruming’s complaints.
"If you think we’re wasting time now, then why don’t you come up with a plan? Think about how to get out of here."
As soon as Lu Jingyu spoke, his voice laced with anger, the chattering team members immediately fell silent.
But Xu Ruming clearly wasn’t ready to back down. She said stubbornly, "Captain Lu, I’m just thinking of everyone. Our time is limited, after all. We can’t afford to waste it all here, can we?"
"If we have to come up with a plan, I think the one you mentioned earlier is perfectly viable. It might not be easy, but at least it gives us a chance if we act on it. That’s better than just sitting around waiting for someone to think of something."
"To put it bluntly, if we start now, we might have already cut our way out by the time a certain someone finally comes up with a plan."
"Captain, I think we can prepare for both possibilities. Why don’t we assign some people to start cutting our way out? Then, if our guide comes up with another plan before we succeed, we can try her method."
Forcing everyone to just sit and wait for Xu Qingsui to come up with a plan was making them anxious and restless.
Enduring that feeling of each day dragging on like a year was unbearable; they would rather be doing something, anything.
Immediately, someone spoke up in support of Xu Ruming’s argument.
Having received support, a smug look immediately spread across Xu Ruming’s face.
Once one person spoke, more and more stood up to join in. Although Lu Jingyu had more faith in Xu Qingsui, faced with so many of them, he had to give them some kind of answer.
Considering that there was no harm in a two-pronged approach, he finally relented.
"Alright then! Since none of you want to wait idly, then organize yourselves and get started."
"Wait, I have something to say!" Just as Lu Jingyu finished speaking, Xu Qingsui’s voice rang out.
Although she was using her spirit body to control the whale, she was also paying attention to everyone’s actions.
When she heard Xu Ruming stand up to stir the pot, she knew things were about to get messy.
Seeing the other teammates chime in and Lu Jingyu about to give in to them, she immediately pulled her focus back to stop them.