Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups-Chapter 175 - 153: The Sacrifice Begins

Deep into the night.

Silver lightning cleaves the sky, opening a tear in the heavy dark clouds.

A sudden downpour ensues, with the sea churning tumultuously.

The surging waves strike the rocks beneath the cliffs, creating giant splashes and generating thunderous roars.

At the towering Cape stretching into the sea.

A group of people dressed in white, despite such adverse conditions, gather here.

Around them, simple rain shelters and a high platform have been constructed.

It seems a special sacrificial ritual is about to be conducted.

Chen Jiandong stands at the edge of the cliff, gazing out toward the sea.

As if an endless Abyss stretches beneath his feet along with the waves, forming a stunning tableau.

Such a grand and rare view of nature surely presents a perfect opportunity.

For amplifying the Spiritual Energy of the ritual participants, the effect would even be better.

Thinking this, Chen Jiandong steadies his mind, turning to a few assistants in charge of the ceremony:

"It’s almost midnight, everyone should get ready."

Upon the command, the assistants immediately begin their preparations.

Underneath the rain shelter, a red carpet is laid out, and nearly a hundred official members of the True Thought Society sit cross-legged.

Each person receives a cup of slightly murky milky liquid.

Without any hesitation, they all tilt their heads back, gulping down the content.

After consuming the unknown liquid, everyone’s eyes emit a faint green glow, and their skin also shows subtle signs of hardening and greening.

The contents of the cup, a concoction made from surplus "Special Sea Products" of the True Thought Society.

It drastically enhances spiritual power and Physical Strength within a short time.

Enabling the members to withstand various adverse effects and immense spiritual shocks that may arise during the praying process.

This is especially true for the physically weaker new members.

Chen Jiandong’s gaze sweeps over everyone, then he looks towards a few vaguely visible fishing boats on the sea.

In his mind, he thinks: "I hope the fishing crew will have a sufficient catch tonight."

Indeed.

The purpose of holding this ceremony is not just to worship the divine as rumored.

But to unite all members of the True Thought Society’s spirit and will, collectively building a communication bridge across time and space, to make contact with a dormant higher-dimensional consciousness.

Apart from expecting divine gifts that will allow the members to awaken special powers.

It also serves to catch those powerful peculiar things emerging from fissures on the ocean floor.

Among these are highly nutritious deep-sea creatures, antique jewels from ancient shipwrecks.

Occasionally, priceless "Ancient Relics" also emerge.

Today marks the bicentennial great tide.

Based on historical experience and forecasts from the Truth Stele, more Ancient Relics are bound to appear.

Thus, for the True Thought Society, this operation is crucial.

The president has arranged two sites for prayers.

One here, mostly comprising of new members.

Besides aiding in prayers, it also serves to deceive exterior foes.

The other is in a hidden underground cave, primarily led by high-ranking ritual members.

They undertake the difficult task of constructing the temporal-spatial circuit.

A few other senior officials are managing five fishing boats, taking the fishing crew separately into the sea.

The focal fishing location is right in front of the Cape, in the deepest, darkest part of the Abyss.

Seeing everyone sitting upright, all eyes fixed on him.

Chen Jiandong subsequently gathers his spirits, taking his place on the high platform.

Ready to lead his companions in establishing meditation goals, starting the prayer ritual in this storm.

.........

Click—

Training camp base building.

A middle-aged man stands in front of a window, a cigarette stub in his mouth, staring absently at the stormy rain-filled night outside.

"Hey, close the window, the rain is pouring in!"

Another younger man comes over, reminding him.

"Oh, my apologies."

The middle-aged man quickly snuffed out his cigarette butt and reached out to close the window.

He turned around and saw a group of people leisurely playing cards around a table.

They were all backpackers touring Yong’an Island.

Due to the accommodation shortage in town, they circled around but couldn’t find a suitable place to stay.

So they decided to return to the training camp base and planned to pay extra to stay another night.

When they returned in the evening, they found the place completely deserted, even the staff had vanished.

The entire building was empty and looked somewhat eerie and terrifying.

Everyone gathered in the ground floor duty office, planning to make do for one night and see the situation tomorrow.

Strangely, though they had slept soundly here the previous few days, tonight they felt not the slightest bit tired.

Since they couldn’t sleep and had nothing better to do, they started a card game to pass the time.

"Hey, have you heard about the Water Demon? A lot of tourists have gone missing on Yong’an Island over the years, they say they were captured by the Water Demon!"

In the midst of playing cards, someone suddenly spoke in a grave tone, trying to sound mysterious.

"Captured by the Water Demon?"

A young woman couldn’t help but snicker: "To scare people, you guys really can come up with anything. You’re so bored."

The others laughed along, dismissing the idea as ridiculous in this era of scientific advancement.

That topic, however, did stir up the conversation among them.

Outside the window, the stormy weather persisted, with lightning and thunder.

Crack!

A bolt of lightning struck fiercely.

Suddenly, "snap," the overhead light went out.

The room plunged into darkness.

"Hey, what’s going on? We were just getting into the game, why did the light suddenly go out?"

"Damn it, I was just about to play a strong hand!"

"Strange, could it really be haunted?"

In the now dark duty office, everyone was making a racket and crying out in shock.

"Don’t make such a fuss, it’s just that the lightning blew the fuse."

The middle-aged man who had been smoking earlier spoke calmly, then motioned to another person:

"Aqiang, come on, let’s go check the main switch together."

Outside the thunderstorm raged, with lightning flashing intermittently.

Briefly illuminating the darkened ground floor lobby for half a second.

Aqiang stood at the opened door of the duty office, his eyes wide as though trying to discern something.

"Aqiang, what do you see?"

The middle-aged man moved closer to him, asking quietly.

Aqiang stared intently at the dark lobby, sounding uncertain:

"I, I thought I just saw a water ghost..."

"Really?"

The middle-aged man immediately tensed upon hearing this.

The others squeezed forward too, peering out the door.

"Maybe it’s another guest from upstairs, you saw it wrong, right?"

Someone said doubtfully.

"When we arrived, we checked the upper floors; besides the top floor being sealed, we didn’t find anyone else..."

Someone swallowed nervously.

As another flash of lightning streaked across the sky, visibility was briefly restored.

An eerily odd silhouette began to emerge.

Simultaneously, a "pat" sound of footsteps also resonated.

Despite the stormy weather, this sound had a particularly striking impact, pounding on everyone’s hearts.

It was as if someone was walking slowly towards them, wearing rubber boots filled with water.

As the figure drew closer, its apperance gradually became clearer to everyone.

The skin was bare, a dark grayish-green, and seemed to be partially covered with fine scales.

The head was disproportionately large, with bulging, fish-like eyes, and its limbs bore webbing similar to that of a frog.

It looked like a hybrid creature of human and fish.

Moreover, as it approached the duty office where everyone was, an abnormal, foul smell also surged towards them like seawater.