Super Soldier in the City-Chapter 2085 - 2148: Into the Fish’s Mouth

Li Yifei and Xu Shanshan both saw the big fish, the same one they witnessed after jumping from the airplane, ugly and bumpy all over. To lure it away, Li Yifei even had to let Xu Shanshan leave first while he diverted the big fish and stabbed many holes in its body with a long sword, cutting away a lot of its flesh.

Of course, those injuries were just minor scratches for the big fish, far from fatal. Li Yifei thought they would never encounter it again, but the mysterious formation in the hallway brought them back to this place.

Facing the slowly approaching monstrous fish, Li Yifei and Xu Shanshan sensed danger. In their current situation, there seemed to be no good way to deal with the fish. Should they lure it away again? But they weren’t near the island’s edge now, and the depth below was unknown.

"What should we do?" Xu Shanshan asked, "This time I’ll distract it. Honey, you swim away."

"No, remember what we talked about earlier?" Li Yifei shook his head. The two surfaced, only able to vaguely see the silhouette of the big fish. Seeing Xu Shanshan shake her head, Li Yifei continued, "We use tactics. We can’t escape even if we wanted to; the big fish is too fast. Last time was sheer luck!"

"Then what do we do? Let’s fight it!" Xu Shanshan still gripped her sword tightly.

"The big fish is bumpy all over. We could cling to it, but last time when I grabbed it, it would crash into coral and make sharp turns trying to shake me off... Hm? Use strategy?" Li Yifei blinked, about to say something, but suddenly the big fish accelerated.

Perhaps seeing old enemies made it furious. Without pause, the big fish accelerated straight toward Li Yifei and Xu Shanshan, its mouth full of sharp teeth opening wide. Even underwater came the booming sound as the fish moved too fast, splitting the surface with a roar.

In the water, with nowhere to gain leverage and the big fish rapidly closing in, if the two couldn’t move quickly, they could likely be swallowed whole.

"Push me!" Li Yifei shouted urgently. With nothing to push against in the water, they could only push off each other, and a strong push was needed.

Xu Shanshan understood, releasing True Qi outward, striking Li Yifei’s chest with one palm, while Li Yifei kicked Xu Shanshan’s shoulders with both legs, both of their bodies quickly springing backward, even briefly leaping out of the water.

At the same moment, the enemy fish lunged forward with its gaping mouth, exploding out of the water. Li Yifei, in mid-air, quickly used the force from Xu Shanshan’s push to flip backward, narrowly avoiding the foul-smelling mouth, as did Xu Shanshan.

The big fish bit at nothing, its body jumping out of the water and thudding back down.

This couldn’t be a long-term solution. As Li Yifei sank back into the water and turned to the surface, he thought of a possibility. Logically, the previous two formations were also dangerous. The first was meant to trap people to death, the second involved the risk of being killed by the Wolf Monster if one’s strength wasn’t enough, and this third formation was truly formidable. Li Yifei was certain this monstrous fish was the one they encountered earlier because its back still bore the wounds he left, even beginning to fester after days in the seawater.

But if this was a formation, there must be a way to break it. What was that method?

Surrounded by ocean, could the key be on the seafloor? Or... Li Yifei thought of a possibility, shouting to Xu Shanshan, "I have an idea. Whatever happens, don’t move. I’ll let it swallow me. If it’s still open-mouthed like this, I might be transported if it swallows me. If you don’t hear me call, I’ve been transported, and you should quickly follow."

Li Yifei shouted quickly because the big fish charged again, mouth open.

Xu Shanshan heard him, instinctively wanting to refuse. She should be the one to test it, but she couldn’t shout back because Li Yifei already stood still and was swallowed in an instant by the huge mouth.

Li Yifei’s vision went dark, enveloped in the fish’s stench, entering a vast space. Judging by the fish’s size, several people could fit inside its mouth without feeling cramped. To avoid its sharp teeth, Li Yifei curled his body.

A dull sound echoed beside him. Li Yifei landed not on something soft but on a hard surface.

Opening his eyes, joy filled Li Yifei’s heart. It worked. Indeed, breaking the formation lay here. Entering the fish’s mouth, he emerged in the hallway, having moved more than ten steps forward.

Xu Shanshan heard no response from Li Yifei. After the big fish swallowed Li Yifei, it swam far away but didn’t leave. It quickly turned, swimming toward Xu Shanshan with such speed that in the blink of an eye it closed much of the distance.

Xu Shanshan clenched her fists without any hesitation. If Li Yifei was swallowed, bitten to death, then she wouldn’t live either. If this was the way to break the formation, then she needed to be swallowed by the big fish as well.

When the big fish was about to appear in front of her, Xu Shanshan closed her eyes and curled her body without hesitation. With a whoosh, Xu Shanshan felt her body lose control, being sucked in by a tremendous force.

"Phew!" Li Yifei breathed a sigh of relief. Xu Shanshan suddenly appeared beside him. Li Yifei had already prepared, opened his arms to catch Xu Shanshan so she wouldn’t fall to the ground.

Feeling a pair of strong hands holding her, Xu Shanshan immediately opened her eyes and saw Li Yifei looking at her with a smile. Xu Shanshan was instantly overjoyed, opened her arms to hug Li Yifei’s neck, and made a cooing sound.

"Alright, alright, it’s fine now." Li Yifei patted Xu Shanshan’s back and slowly put her down, but Xu Shanshan wasn’t willing to let go, still wrapping her long legs around Li Yifei’s waist.

"Bad guy, next time this happens, tell me in advance. You have no idea how worried I was just now!" Xu Shanshan said, pounding on Li Yifei’s back. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Li Yifei nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, next time something like this happens, I’ll tell you in advance." But in his heart, he was smiling wryly, thinking, in such moments, how could I inform in advance? I acted on a spur of the moment, risking everything for the gamble. If I got it wrong, I’d be in the fish’s belly now, unable to let you hold onto me.

Their clothes were also wet, and after drying them with True Qi, a layer of salt remained on their bodies, clearly indicating they had been submerged in seawater rather than an illusion.

So far, they had traveled halfway; there was still a small part of the road ahead. Li Yifei looked back, wondering if it was similar to a Monopoly game; along the way, there were many squares, each representing a formation method. If they broke the formation, they could reach the next station. Otherwise, there would be danger.

Some squares allowed jumping instead of progressing grid by grid.

The two moved forward again, this time the scene shifted, suddenly revealing a Go board, and from the looks of it, it was an endgame.

Here, it was an open area, surrounded by flat ground, with only a pavilion. Inside the pavilion stood a small table, on which a chessboard was placed, surrounded by four seats. The chessboard had several black and white pieces. Li Yifei and Xu Shanshan walked hand in hand into the pavilion, clearly saw the chessboard.

Frowning slightly, although Li Yifei had a certain level of expertise in chess and Go, he was still far from being a master, let alone facing such endgames.

Xu Shanshan pouted her lips, not very curious about such things, so she naturally couldn’t provide any help to Li Yifei. As for Li Yifei, he sat down, not rushing to look at the chessboard but first took off his backpack and took out the leftover beef jerky, shared some with Xu Shanshan, and started chewing it in the mouth. Several minutes later, Li Yifei seemed to remember he needed to look at the chessboard.

Regarding Go, those who loved it from ancient times naturally regarded it as the highest form of existence. For Li Yifei, it was just leisure; all those master rankings and national Go masters were things Li Yifei didn’t care much about. His eyes were on the chessboard, and after a few minutes, he began to understand a little.

But only a little. Given his skill level, deducing the movements of the black and white pieces, Li Yifei initially could see some possible moves, but after simulating a few steps, he became confused.

This was a chessboard, some pieces were already placed on it, and just when Li Yifei felt confused and unclear, he saw a scene of clashing armor and horses, as if glimpsing a battlefield, with black and white pieces slaughtering each other, or the black pieces besieging a group of white pieces, or the white pieces forming a dragon trap in which the black pieces were strangled to death.

After watching for a long time, he even felt his eyes aching, forcing Li Yifei to look away from the chessboard and gaze into the distance for a moment.

Seeing Li Yifei frown and ponder with various gestures, Xu Shanshan thought he was contemplating, so she quietly ate beef jerky beside him, filling her stomach.

"How’s it going?" Maybe five minutes, maybe ten, maybe longer had passed; Li Yifei was still immersed, so Xu Shanshan couldn’t help but ask.

Li Yifei brought his focus back, shook his head, sighed softly, and said, "I can’t find a way. Initially, I thought it wasn’t difficult, but after thinking for a while, I discovered this endgame is extremely challenging. Whether I’m black or white, I couldn’t make a move because any step could instantly lose the whole game."

Xu Shanshan listened with wide eyes and asked, "Is it possible that the moves made first are wrong?"