### Chapter 39: Escape

### Chapter 39: Escape

After bidding farewell to Semaya, Ji Jing returned to change his clothes. After all, he wasn't a real mermaid, and wearing wet clothes was quite uncomfortable.

While changing, he glanced at the small wings on his lower back, which were now larger than an adult's palm. Even with clothes covering them, they were still quite noticeable.

Holding the yuan pearl Semaya had given him, Ji Jing pondered the chances of successfully escaping if he tried now.

A light tapping came from the window. Ji Jing opened it, and a bird the size of a palm flew in, then dropped a key embedded with a chip into his palm.

—This key was the closest thing to an exploration ship key that Ji Jing had found while controlling birds and beetles in Ask Xiuzhu's room. Unfortunately, he hadn't found his own optical brain or necklace.

But time was running out. The beetle he used to monitor Ask Xiuzhu had relayed information that Ask Xiuzhu had parted ways with Semaya and was heading this way. He had to escape now.

So, after getting the key, Ji Jing wasted no more time. He packed all the nutritional fluids from the mini-fridge into a backpack and left, disappearing into the darkness.

A few minutes later, Ask Xiuzhu arrived at Ji Jing's door.

He opened the door with his fingerprint, but the room was dark and empty, with no sign of Ji Jing.

Ask Xiuzhu turned on the lights and scanned the room, frowning deeply.

The bathroom door was locked from the inside. He knocked, "Ji Jing?"

There was no response.

Ask Xiuzhu kicked open the bathroom door, but it was empty.

At that moment, Ask Xiuzhu's face turned grim.

He immediately contacted the guards at the base, ordering them to be on high alert.

Before the call ended, an alarm sounded from his optical brain.

Ask Xiuzhu's expression hardened as he demanded, "What's happening?"

The guards at the base, staring at the infrared imaging screen, were stunned. "It's... it's a whale... a whale is attacking our base facilities!"

Ask Xiuzhu nearly exploded with rage, "How is that possible?"

Although there were some large creatures in these waters, they were usually gentle and would not attack humans unless instructed by the mermaids.

Unless... Semaya discovered that he was lying and broke the agreement?

For the base, the most vulnerable part was the long connecting pipe.

A humpback whale, comparable in size to a small starship, was attacking the middle section of the pipe.

First, it rammed the closed pipe with its head, causing it to deform and bend, then lifted its massive tail and slapped it down hard.

"Crack... Pop~"

In an instant, the closed pipe snapped, triggering alarms in both ends of the base.

Seawater rushed in, pressure changed abruptly, gravity became unbalanced, and the safety defense system malfunctioned, causing the entire semi-circular base to tilt uncontrollably.

Meanwhile, Ji Jing, underwater, spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the surrounding water red.

Controlling a humpback whale was too much for him, even for just a few seconds, almost causing his head to explode.

Fortunately, he was submerged in cold seawater, so he quickly regained consciousness after a brief fainting spell.

Ji Jing endured the excruciating headache from depleting his mental energy and swam toward the base.

As he approached the base, Semaya appeared with several mermaids, blocking his path.

Seeing Ji Jing, Semaya was shocked.

He heard the commotion and alarms and brought his people to investigate, only to find Ji Jing.

"Ji Jing, what are you doing here?"

Ji Jing displayed a perfectly timed look of surprise, despite knowing that Semaya had betrayed his escape plan to Ask Xiuzhu. He did not confront him angrily.

He never placed all his hopes on Semaya; ultimately, he could only rely on himself.

However, since they met, he decided to use the opportunity.

After feigning surprise, his expression turned tense and fearful. He grabbed Semaya's arm and pleaded, "Semaya, help me! Save me! Ask Xiuzhu is chasing me. Can you stop him?"

"What?!"

Semaya exclaimed, hardly believing his ears. "Ask Xiuzhu is chasing you? Has he gone mad?"

Ji Jing nervously glanced behind him, spotting a speedboat rapidly approaching.

"Semaya, I'm not lying. See that speedboat? Ask Xiuzhu is on it. If he catches me, he'll kill me!"

Hearing this, Semaya immediately led several mermaids toward the speedboat.

Their large tails propelled them forward, matching the speed of the boat.

But Ji Jing had no time to watch; he continued swimming toward the base.

The base was in chaos, with the tilted platform partially submerged in seawater. Everyone was rushing to higher ground.

Some were trying to fix the safety defense system's malfunction, but for some reason, some critical components had been mysteriously damaged.

No one noticed a slender figure climbing onto the platform in the darkness, using the key to unlock the hatch of an exploration ship anchored at the edge, and then entering it.

The clamps securing the exploration ship were extremely sturdy and difficult to open without specialized tools.

But Ji Jing was running out of time. He didn't have the luxury to open them slowly, so he had to try using his mental power to destroy the clamp mechanisms.

His head spun and throbbed with pain again, and blood began to trickle from his nose.

But the good news was that controlling inanimate objects was much simpler than controlling living ones.

With a "click," the clamp released, and the exploration ship slid into the sea.

However, a minute later, the exploration ship, which had already been completely submerged by the sea, burst out of the water.

Ji Jing did not immediately leave. After surfacing, he extended his mental power towards the clamps securing another exploration ship and the large spacecraft.

—He needed to ensure that Ask Xiuzhu couldn't catch up.

After another bout of dizziness and pain, the other exploration ship slid into the sea.

But Ji Jing's exploration ship also shook violently, nearly plunging back into the water.

While wiping the blood from his nose, Ji Jing struggled to maneuver the exploration ship upward.

Although he wanted to destroy the large spacecraft as well, his mental power had reached its limit.

If he overused his mental power any further, he would truly die, so he had to abandon the idea of destroying the large spacecraft.

The exploration ship ascended very slowly, occasionally dropping significantly, partly because Ji Jing was not skilled at controlling it and partly because he was constantly on the brink of unconsciousness.

Adding insult to injury, just as Ji Jing managed to raise the exploration ship several hundred meters into the air, the large spacecraft below suddenly started up.

Then, a particle cannon fired towards Ji Jing's exploration ship.

Ji Jing had no time to maneuver the exploration ship to dodge; it felt like his head had been struck by a heavy hammer, and he instantly lost consciousness.

The exploration ship, its propulsion system destroyed by the particle cannon, dragged a trail of smoke as it plummeted downward.

**Author's Note**

Thank you to "Feng Yao Zhuo Huo" for the nutrient fluid, and thank you to "ydddddfe" and "Gugu Lu" for the nutrient fluid as well.

Editor is not working today, will update the V chapter the day after tomorrow!