I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

During your observations, you haven't discovered any special abilities in it. Unlike a crab, it doesn't have a thick shell and heavy pincers, nor does it possess the cloaking ability of a transparent jellyfish. It seems to be simply strong—a powerful body, strong water control… that seems to be all.

But upon closer examination, it becomes clear that as long as one has a strong enough ability to control water, one can roam freely in the "ocean," after all, this is the "sea."

[And yet, this very being would show you such an extremely friendly attitude... it's truly hard to understand.]

Perhaps you should respond to its friendliness.

You focus your gaze on the remains of the Honkai Beast in front of you.

Furthermore, you also need "nutrients" to recover.

You must live... Yes, you will live, and return to them alive.

Even if Gabriel's genes become active again, so what? Even if he devours the remains of Honkai Beasts, so what?

You will survive.

You opened your mouth and bit down.

[I don't know if it's just your imagination, but the surrounding seawater seemed to churn with joy at that moment, like a mother seeing her child, who had been refusing to eat, finally open their mouth to eat.]

"Damn it, how could you even think of that?"

As you devour the remains of the Honkai Beast, you feel utterly bewildered by your sudden thought.

To be honest, the Honkai Beasts weren't actually that bad. At least the first bite didn't have that bloody taste of raw meat; instead, it had a soft, fishy texture, with the outer skin being a bit tough.

You feel like there's something wrong with your perception, but it's not a big deal because you can definitely feel your body recovering. After receiving the "nutrients," you feel much better.

[Furthermore, eating Honkai Beasts doesn't provide much satiety... It seems you're not actually "eating" the Honkai Beasts, but rather absorbing them directly as energy.]

[“Eek—” It chirped lightly, seemingly very happy, seeing that you had finally started to “eat.”]

It begins to lead you to hunt other Honkai Beasts, and along the way, it will give you most of the remains while only eating a small portion itself.

It seems to really like you, and this feeling comes out of nowhere, leaving you feeling a bit inexplicable.

But now, you're a little more accepting of it.

[At night, it takes you back to the deep sea, relying on your sense of water to navigate in the darkness, and continues to hunt for "prey" in the deep sea. Then, it rests briefly near dawn, and only swims back to the surface when the sun shines on the sea.]

Only at this time will it become quiet, seemingly asleep, and you will also begin to rest after observing it for a while.

To be honest, the pitch-black environment of the deep sea always reminds you of some unpleasant things, but after getting used to it a few times, you get used to it a little... After all, the deep sea is not like that room from before. The ocean is vast enough that you don't feel confined, and your sense of water can replace your sight, and you can even perceive your surroundings more clearly.

Of course, more importantly... this place will not be harmed.

Although the Honkai Beasts existing in the deep sea are much stronger than those in the shallow ocean, their numbers are very small, making them extremely rare. Therefore, it is surprisingly a safe place to take a short break.

Under its guidance, you gradually became familiar with life in the "ocean," even falling asleep while soaking in seawater... Of course, you still retained your awareness of the surrounding water to prevent any accidents.

For the next few days, it took you on a "hunt," and your condition quickly recovered. Although you still couldn't construct "rivers" directly in the air due to the seawater, you could now hunt most Honkai Beasts on your own without its help.

Out of a sense of gratitude, you gave it most of the Honkai Beast remains you had "hunted"... More importantly, you felt you had recovered enough to go back.

"Let's leave tomorrow and try to return to land—that's what you're thinking as you dive into the deep sea at dusk."

As always, we searched for rare and powerful "prey" in the dark depths of the sea, but unfortunately, you didn't find any today. Looks like we're out of luck for midnight snacks.

However, you didn't pay much attention to it, since there are indeed few "prey" in the deep sea, so you decided to take a good rest today.

Perhaps because it wasn't yet its usual resting time, it happily swam around you. Although it didn't actually touch you, it still seemed very cheerful, constantly emitting light chirping sounds.

The continuous calls gradually became more orderly, sounding like some unique melody that belonged only to it... It sounded like it was singing, and it was clear that it was in a very good mood.

Of course, this can also be considered a "trap." If any Honkai Beasts from the deep sea are attracted by its "song"... then you might be in for a treat.

As for whether you can defeat the attacking Honkai Beasts... so far, you haven't encountered any Honkai Beasts that you can't defeat.

[“Mmm—” As it approached its usual rest time, it let out a light chirp and revealed its snow-white belly to you. You understood, and gently touched it with the seawater, and it radiated a happy mood.]

Then it gradually quieted down, as if it had fallen asleep. You waited for a while, as usual, and then you began to doze off.

However, it didn't get a proper rest tonight.

[After you fell asleep, it quietly woke up, gently swaying its tail fin to avoid disturbing you, and trying its best to control the surrounding water flow to prevent you from noticing its movements.]

[...However, it seems to have forgotten its enormous size; no matter how careful it is, you still manage to catch its movements—after spending this time together, you've become quite familiar with its actions.]

However, given its previous friendliness, you didn't wake up immediately, but waited quietly, preparing for a less-than-ideal ending.

It approached you, cautiously crossing the distance it usually maintained when interacting with you.

Then, it opened its enormous mouth—stuck out its tongue—and gently touched you.

【…? 】

Chapter Forty-Two: The Painting Belonging to Xi Wang

[It must be stated again that it is a killer whale Honkai Beast that is nearly thirty meters long. Its enormous size means that whatever it does will be very noticeable, so... when its huge tongue "touches" you, you have no choice but to wake up.]

After realizing you were awake, it barked twice apologetically, while also conveying a slightly panicked and aggrieved feeling.

Seeing its seemingly apologetic expression and its aggrieved demeanor, you were speechless... You had initially thought it was one of those cunning Honkai Beasts that would betray you after gaining your trust, but it seems you were overthinking it. It's still the same憨憨 (simple and honest) creature, simply wanting to "pat you."

It could be said to possess some intellectualism and wisdom, but not much.

You're starting to wonder if you're seeing the world in a negative, bleak light. Perhaps you should try to be more friendly towards other things?

[But in the end you gave up on that idea... You're not Alicia, and you can't face the world the way she does; your experiences also prevent you from doing so.]

However, for certain special cases, you can also put in a little more effort.

For example... how it is now.

Perhaps because of the impending separation, or simply because you were influenced by its consistent kindness, you sighed helplessly, stepped forward slightly, and extended your hand.

[He proactively and gently touched its snow-white belly, which it had exposed as a sign of friendliness and apology.]

It seemed a little surprised, but that was quickly followed by joy. Its tail fin swayed happily, and then it stretched out its head to let you touch it, even deliberately sticking out its tongue to let you touch it...

[You don't really understand, but it's always been happy, its joyful mood never stops, so you just let it be.]

After playing around for a while, you felt it was about time, so you returned to the shallow waters.

The morning sun shone on the sea, its rays refracting through the surface and into the azure waters, making the figures of countless Honkai Beasts visible to the naked eye. Perhaps because you two major threats lurked in the deep sea during the night, there were an unusually large number of Honkai Beasts in the shallow waters... In any case, the morning "hunt" has begun.

After enjoying your "breakfast" as usual, you didn't follow it to continue the "hunt." Instead, you stayed where you were. When it realized you weren't coming, it returned to your side, swimming slowly around you and making soft chirping sounds, looking puzzled.

You expressed your intention to return to land, and although you weren't sure if it could understand you, you tried your best to convey your meaning.

[It unexpectedly understood, let out a sad cry, then radiated anticipation and blessing, and manipulated the seawater to guide you in a direction.]

You construct a "river" following its direction, and it quickly follows behind you, as if to bid you farewell.

You're somewhat surprised that you've become so close to a Honkai Beast, but this strange friendship should probably end here... right?

When you arrive at a place where you can "dimly see land," and when you say goodbye to it again and want to continue moving towards land, that feeling returns—that feeling of being unable to control the sea, that feeling of being dragged by the sea, washes over you once more.

[I don't know if it's because you've recovered, but you can vaguely sense the "emotions" of reluctance and worry coming from the seawater, like a mother stopping her child from going to a dangerous place.]

As the "mother," the ocean is naturally far more powerful than you, her rebellious "child," and at least for now, you are unable to break free from its power.

No matter how much you struggle, you are eventually dragged back to the ocean. Once you are far from the land, and can no longer even see it, the sea calms down and flows gently, caressing your body like a mother, as if comforting you... but you are not happy at all.

In an attempt to get back to them, you tried again, almost out of spite, but were ultimately pulled back.

You're starting to get anxious and frustrated. You've tried several more times, but the result remains the same; you're still in the ocean.

You tried several more times, even injuring yourself at one point, but as the last rays of dusk faded and the cold moonlight shone through, you finally gave up, exhausted, and lay down on the sea, letting the current carry you away.

A strange sense of despair enveloped my heart.

Fortunately, all the bad emotions you felt from being trapped in the ocean have been alleviated by your previous obsessive and almost insane actions. You quickly adjusted your mindset, recovered, and made plans for the future.

You are prepared to join the strange "ecosystem" of the ocean, relying on "hunting" to enhance your strength until... you can escape the ocean.

As for whether you will suffer a backlash from Gabriel's genes during this process... you no longer care about that.

You will survive, you will return to them.

You believe it so much.

Besides... you're not exactly alone here.

[“Eek—” Its soft cry sounded beside you, radiating concern. At the same time, it placed the remains of a huge Honkai Beast, which it was still carrying in its mouth, in front of you, then moved away, gently swaying its tail fin, as if to comfort you.]

It seems to think that eating is all it takes to soothe your emotions... In that sense, it's kind of cute.

You felt somewhat helpless, but you still accepted the "food" it offered.

Perhaps your strange friendship with it can continue for a while longer...

----------

rustle--

In the quiet environment, the only sound is the soft rustling of the paintbrush against the canvas.

In this deepest place filled with darkness, the young girl sits quietly in the only light, painting silently.

The nun was doing handicrafts nearby, occasionally looking up at the girl who was engrossed in painting, smiling serenely and gently.

"........."

The nun's expression caused the being hidden in the darkness to retreat slightly, as if in fear of her.

However, none of this could disturb the girl painting. She seemed to have finished the last stroke of the painting, slowly put down her paintbrush and palette, picked up a small box from the side, opened it, and then picked up the cherry blossom-colored pastries inside with her paint-stained hands, stuffing them into her mouth little by little like a small animal.

"Gresh, wash your hands before eating..."

A somewhat helpless reminder came from the shadows nearby.

"It's alright, Kosmo... the paint is water, you can eat it."

Greta swung her dangling legs and responded softly.

"No, Gretchen."

Aponia, standing beside Gretchen, was much more decisive. She put down her handiwork, dampened a handkerchief, and stepped forward to first wipe the paint off Gretchen's face. Then she gently wiped Gretchen's hands, and finally took the dessert box, picking out cherry blossom-colored pastries and slowly feeding them to her. Gretchen ate them little by little, appearing very obedient.

As for Kosmo, he was cleaning up the spilled paint to prevent Gretsch from stepping on it again later.

"...Kosmo, I've finished drawing... Could you please give it to Sakura-neechan for me?"

After finishing her snack, Gretchen looked at Kosmo, who had finished cleaning, and asked softly.