Learn one small skill every day

High-temperature magma flowed on the seabed, turning it into a hellish place.

The seabed here is about 5,000 meters deep, far less than the 89452 meters deepest trench in the Terra Ocean.

Even Bai Miao's distance estimation is still effective.

Bai Miao felt that he could perform better in the sea.

In terms of vertical distance, with a light source, one can see to the end of ten thousand meters at a glance, which is much stronger than the perception ability of most marine fish in Terra.

That meteorite is now a continuously glowing heat source, and it continues to bring large amounts of scorching magma to the seabed.

The underwater volcanoes also seem to have been triggered by this meteorite, making the seabed quite dangerous.

But Bai Miao still couldn't see any trace of civilization here.

It seems the cascading effects of the meteorite have not yet officially begun.

Bai Miao did not continue to dive, but quietly observed from a depth of about 100 meters.

After so many cycles, Bai Miao couldn't believe that Shi Yan hadn't reacted.

It's impossible that she wasn't aware of the meteorite landing.

Sure enough, in less than a minute, Bai Miao saw a group of creatures that looked like mermaids surround the meteorite.

It's clear they came prepared.

It's more accurate to call it a long ribbonfish with human hands than a mermaid.

Their bodies are very flat, but their fingers are very dexterous, and they look like they are using tools to dig at the sand and gravel around the meteorite.

The surrounding seawater must have been boiling, with a temperature exceeding 200 degrees Celsius, but these mermaids continued to operate as if they were completely unaffected.

But the good times didn't last long. As one of the mermaids stopped working and became too weak to float, more and more mermaids began to rise to the surface, all of them appearing to have lost their vital signs.

Meanwhile, in the waters above, marine predators are already waiting for this feast that has been delivered to their doorstep.

Then, the thing that Bai Miao was most worried about happened.

After consuming the mermaid, the predators went into a frenzy, rampaging wildly, and then time was restarted.

After the new cycle began, Bai Miao informed the others.

"There is a civilization in the sea, most likely the one that Shi Yan is in charge of, because the meteorite civilization is suffering a catastrophic disaster."

"But I still can't understand why, even though I sent the meteorite out, it still restarted me?"

Without the guidance of the smoke in the previous cycles, those mermaids would not have been able to appear at the meteorite landing site as scheduled.

They seemed to be trying to bury the meteorite at the bottom of the sea, but they suddenly died during the operation, and their bodies were then eaten by the upper levels of the food chain.

These predators, having devoured the carcass, went berserk again...

Food chain bioaccumulation?

The meteorite contained harmful substances that killed the mermaids and drove the fish that ate them into a frenzy.

"Kaguya, you know more about medicine than I do. What are the chances that a terrible virus is spreading in the deep sea?"

"The marine conditions in Terra have always been complex... The conditions of the seawater vary in different areas and at different depths. If it is fish, they can adapt. But if it is microorganisms, they can only survive in a specific range. The possibility of widespread spread is extremely low. However, a virus that is very adaptable can appear in a small area and multiply in large numbers, which happens almost all the time. But if this happens in a specific location, the probability is very low."

"Broadcast the situation I encountered in the last cycle so that all the crew members can think about what might be going on."

Bai Miao felt like he was getting stuck in a rut.

Why does it restart when I send the meteorite away, and restart when the meteorite falls down?

This is so contradictory!

Didn't I already help solve the meteorite problem?

Emma organized the information and then announced it to all the crew members.

"A notice to all crew members of the Endless Energy: We have entered a time loop... The following is a summary of some details from the last loop. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the captain or the captain's secretary."

Not long after the announcement was released, Wang Xiang came to find him.

Bai Miao had a very good impression of this crew member who could give a lot of important advice. If Zhuo Xinzhi hadn't received the reward last time, he would have originally planned to let him choose one as well.

If he can provide a significant clue this time, it would be a good reason to let him choose a prop.

"Pent, do you have any clue why the game restarted when I moved the meteorite, and also when I let it fall? Wasn't the meteorite the culprit that caused the restart?"

After listening to Bai Miao's question, Peng Te shook his head, then nodded: "Captain, have you considered the possibility that Shi Yan didn't want your help?"

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Chapter 139 Misunderstanding

"When a meteorite falls, it causes time to restart. Destroying or sending away a meteorite also causes time to restart. And the time restart point happens to be after we manipulated the meteorite. So we can guess that it was our help in resolving the meteorite crisis that caused the restart."

Wang Xiang habitually pushed up his glasses, even though he wasn't wearing them at the moment.

"After the meteorite fell into the sea, the large predator that devoured the mermaid went into a frenzy. It must have been caused by some kind of influence from the meteorite itself, which could be a virus or pollution. At the same time, the frenzy of this large predator is something that the civilization Shi Yan belongs to cannot handle. If the predator is allowed to continue its rampage, it will lead to the extinction of the civilization."

"Based on the above inferences, it can be concluded that the conditions for restarting are that the meteorite crisis has triggered a chain of events that could lead to the extinction of a civilization, or that the crisis must be resolved by a civilization that is not its own."

After listening to Peng Te's analysis, Bai Miao felt that it was almost entirely correct.

The meteorite didn't fall into the sea on time, which Shi Yan judged to mean that it was dealt with by outsiders, thus triggering a restart.

When the meteorite fell into the sea, Shi Yan discovered that the civilization was currently unable to handle the subsequent series of crises, which also triggered a restart.

This guy is pretty awkward.

Bai Miao couldn't understand the reasoning behind Shi Yan's design.

We're already caught in this cycle, can't we even help?

Or is it that you can help, but can't directly solve the problem?

Bai Miao decided to go find Shi Yan this time to get to the bottom of things.

There are ten days until the meteorite falls, and the Endless Energy can reach the impact site in about a day at full speed.

Upon arriving at the location, Bai Miao put on a diving suit and went into the sea alone.

When they were still more than a thousand meters from the seabed, Bai Miao saw a vast horde of mermaids coming from all directions.

They carried a large number of metal objects, seemingly wanting to build a metal enclosure around this area.

Each mermaid carries a small stone that emits a pale blue light, which serves as a tiny source of light.

Bai Miao was pondering how to communicate with the mermaids in the water when he realized that they seemed to be staring at him.

Then Bai Miao saw a mermaid make a few hand gestures towards him, and then put her hands in front of her to form an "X" shape.

Bai Miao didn't understand, but he didn't continue diving. Instead, he just watched the group of mermaids busy themselves.

They don't really think that a makeshift metal shield can stop a meteorite, do they?

Even though the meteorite's power was greatly reduced after falling into the sea at a depth of 5,000 meters, the meteorite itself was still incredibly massive, not to mention the terrifying temperature on its surface when it fell.

Because this meteorite is composed of a metallic substance with extremely high thermal conductivity, almost even its core was heated to several thousand degrees Celsius.

Does anyone know what these mermaid gestures mean?

Bai Miao transmitted the images he had just seen back to the Endless Energy, awaiting the results from the minister and Emma.

Wired transmission can reduce the impact of seawater to some extent, but more than 50% of the transmitted images are still distorted and warped.

By comparing the gestures with a database, Emma provided the meanings behind them.

For example, making an X sign means you want the other person to stay away.

The underwater mermaid civilization uses this ancient sign language as their language.

However, since it was a language, Bai Miao's linguistics came into play. After learning a few basic expressions, Bai Miao began gesturing towards the group of mermaids below.

The group of mermaids looked at Bai Miao's sign language, exchanging glances, seemingly unable to understand why the person above would say, "It's dangerous to stuff a huge meteorite down your ass."

Bai Miao realized that his meaning might have been completely changed in the eyes of the mermaids, but seeing the mermaids stop what they were doing meant that his sign language was still having some effect.

As long as you can get the other party to notice you, the misunderstanding can be gradually cleared up.

"I want to have sex with your team leader."

The mermaids suddenly all looked at the one in the center.

Bai Miao noticed that this one had harder scales on its skin and more glowing stones on its body.

More importantly, it appears to be female.

This must be the leader?

But soon Bai Miao saw about a dozen male mermaids swimming towards him, their eyes filled with anger.

So what did my previous statement mean? Did it mean I said I wanted to fight the leader one-on-one?

They gestured with their hands: "Don't approach the leader!"

Bai Miao quickly responded, "I just want to talk; your actions are pointless."

The attacking mermaids seemed even angrier.

Bai Miao had to deal with the attacks from these mermaids first.

However, upon closer inspection, these mermaids do look rather repulsive.

They have human faces, but they are located directly below the fish's head, and they appear to have both gills and lungs as respiratory organs.

The fish has arms on both sides of its slender body, webbed hands, and retractable fins at its elbows. However, it does not use its hands to assist in swimming, but relies on its dorsal and caudal fins.

The fin at the elbow appears to be an attack organ.

After dodging the mermaids' attack, Bai Miao quickly tied their bodies into a knot.

It may not seem to cause much harm, but it is extremely insulting.

Then, Bai Miao slowly floated up under the almost predatory gazes of these mermaids.

Seeing that the group of mermaids stopped chasing after the group at a depth of about 2,000 meters, Bai Miao estimated that their habitat could only be below 2,000 meters.

What was Shi Yan thinking, allowing a civilization to develop in the deep sea...?

A civilization cannot develop without fire, but in the deep sea, let alone fire, even light is hard to obtain.