【Hunting! Becoming stronger! Going back!】
"……Um."
Xi Wang couldn't help but smile, nodded, reached out and touched its snow-white belly, and said softly.
"Hunting, getting stronger, and then... returning to land."
But after that... what should it do? It's just a Honkai beast... a special Honkai beast?
Maybe we could ask Professor Mei and Mebius to help? Ask them to shelter a Honkai beast in the name of "research"?
[Two-legged beast, cute! I like it! ]
"........."
Xi Wang looked at its jubilant and somewhat honest appearance, feeling the happy emotion it exuded, and felt a little helpless.
...I don’t know if it will succeed.
【Twolegs, night, hunting! 】
"Well...it's time to start the night hunt."
After eating the last bit of wreckage, Xiwang quickly followed it into the dark deep sea and began to search for "rare prey" hidden in the deep sea.
You were quite lucky today, as you encountered a giant octopus. This guy had many tentacles and was very strong. It seemed to be more difficult to deal with than the eel-shaped Honkai beast at noon. It took you some effort to deal with it... but the harvest was also rich, and you can enjoy a rare midnight snack.
[Two-legged beast, awesome! Cute, good, I like it! ]
Perhaps because it was a rare midnight snack today, it was in a particularly good mood and was humming its own song while eating.
"Two-legged beasts... this is what you call humans. It's normal."
Xiwang didn't feel anything about this title, but after thinking about it for a while, based on the friendship between you, Xiwang still spoke.
"But you can call me Wang. This is my name."
【Hope? Name?】
"It's just like a name that refers to me specifically. Well... after all, we are considered "friends", so it's only right that I tell you my name."
【Hope? Friend! Hello! 】
It wiggled its tail fin happily, and then took a bite of the octopus's tentacle.
[Look, like! Cute! Close! ]
【name, no, hope, don't know, hope, friend, unhappy】
...It must be trying to express that it has no name, so it's worried that I'll be unhappy?
Xi Wang roughly understood what it meant... Tsk, how come he can now understand the language of Honkai beasts so clearly?
[Name, hope, help! ]
It exposed its belly and wagged its tail fin towards Xi Wang, expressing its grievance.
[Name, no, friend, unhappy, hope, help! ]
"...You want me to help you think of a name?"
[Look, understand, good! Cute! Like]
It affirmed Xiwang's words and expressed emotions of anticipation and joy.
"Um……"
Xiwang was thinking while eating his midnight snack.
Then Xiwang seemed to suddenly think of something, and a name that was very suitable for it popped up in his mind, or Xiwang thought the name "killer whale" was very suitable.
This name suddenly popped up in my mind, as if I had a deep impression of it...but Xiwang felt that it was indeed very suitable for me.
After all, it also happens to be a feminine name.
"Why not call me [Skadi]?"
Xiwang said so.
[Skadi? Good! I like it! Skadi, the name!]
It seemed very satisfied with the name, and swam happily around Xiwang holding the tentacle of an octopus beast in its mouth.
[Skadi, look, friend! Okay, let's do it together! ]
"Yeah, friend."
Seeing it so happy, Xi Wang didn't want to interrupt it. He just nodded slightly and responded to it casually.
But after a while, Xiwang thought of another question.
"Speaking of which... Skadi."
"Why did you save me in the first place? And why did you keep following me?"
Although Skadi is intelligent, as a Honkai beast, it should be hostile to humans.
[Look, Twolegs, be friendly! Skadi, help! ]
[Two-legged beasts, land, collapse, confrontation, awesome! Good! ]
[The ocean is collapsing. So bad!]
[Hate it! Hunt it! Eat it!]
"……what did you just say?"
Xi Wang's expression became a little strange.
"Do you know about the collapse?"
Chapter 44: An Increasingly Deviant Existence
It’s strange. I could actually hear the word “Honkai” from the mouth of a Honkai beast. Moreover, this Honkai beast is hostile to Honkai and wants to “hunt” other Honkai beasts... Am I dreaming?
If Xi Wang had not been certain that his life in the ocean during this period was real, he would really have doubted whether he was still in the dream of the Eighth Herrscher.
"Where did you learn the word collapse?"
[Collapse? Two-legged beast, tell me, water, memory, fragments! Come on land! Ocean! Skadi, know! ]
Skadi tried hard to express to Xiwang how she knew the word, but her expression was too fragmented, forcing Xiwang to think carefully about its meaning.
【Look! Water! Debris! Land is coming! Know! 】
"Don't worry, let's do it one by one... You learned this word from us humans, right?"
[Hope! Smart! Skadi, vocabulary, knowledge! Twolegs! Know!]
"It seems that you learned the meaning of these words from us humans..."
This answer was somewhat unexpected, but Xiwang was not surprised. After all, the meanings of the words expressed by Skadi matched the meanings in his cognition, so they must be human words.
"And you learned this knowledge because of water, right?"
[Hope, smart! Like! Water, memory, fragments, land, ocean! ]
"Water will record some things, and when it flows from the land into the ocean, it will also flow into the ocean with the recorded things, right?"
[Fragments! Fragments! Put them together and you will know!]
"The memory is fragmented? So we need to piece it together again to know?"
【Hope! Smart! Friends, like it! 】
Skadi swam happily, eating the last bit of the giant octopus Honkai beast.
"........."
Xiwang finally understood what was going on with Skadi.
According to it, there are some "other things" in water, which can be regarded as the "memory of water". After all, it is the water that "records" these things. When water passes through land, it will record some things, and then flow into the sea along streams and rivers, bringing what it has recorded into the sea.
Although a drop of water can record very little, and a puddle of water can only record fragments of an event at most, there is still a lot of water. As long as you are willing to sort it out, you can still piece together these broken "memories" and get what you want.
And it was from this that Skadi learned the human word expressions, as well as the situation of humans and Honkai on land.
Xiwang felt a sense of déjà vu... Isn't this the "dream" you've had these past few days? !
Now it seems that it was not a dream at all, but you received the broken "memories" in the ocean.
This is good news, as it means you can use this method to know the situation on land... although it is difficult. After all, there is so much water in the ocean that it is extremely difficult to find the "memory" you need from it. Moreover, you must piece together the fragmented "memories" to know the whole coherent thing. It can be said to be like "looking for a needle in a haystack" in the true sense of the word.
But this is still a hope, at least it is better than having no idea about the situation on land.
But at the same time, this is also bad news... According to this speculation, Xi Wang can receive the "memory of water", which can be said to be further accepted by the "ocean". In other words, he is closer to the existence of Honkai beasts like Skadi.
But it doesn't matter, he will persevere until he returns to them.
And now there is one last question...
"Skadi...you know you are a Honkai beast...right?"
Xiwang asked the question softly.
[Know! Skadi, Honkai Beast! Bad! Hope, Skadi, friend! Hope, good! Like! Close! ]
It seems to have a clear self-awareness...
"Then why do you hunt other Honkai beasts?"
[Collapse! Damage! Hate it! Skadi, blood relative! Eat it! Gone! Collapse! Hate it!]
"……Feel sorry."
Xiwang thought of the killer whale in his previous "dream"... He seemed to have accidentally come into contact with Skadi's past, but did it have intelligence at that time? Xiwang still remembered that vivid emotion.
However, having inadvertently revealed its scar, Xiwang still apologized sincerely.
【Hope, friend! Good! 】
Skadi stuck out her tongue and licked Xiwang, as if to indicate that she forgave him.
[Land, Twolegs, good! Collapse, bad! Twolegs, like! Twolegs, Skadi, together! Hope, Skadi, friend! ]
It seems that Skadi learned about the humans on land fighting against the Honkai through the "memory of water", so she regarded humans as allies... That's why she saved herself at that time. In addition to her own love for humans, there was also the element of "saving allies" in it.
This way, we can understand why Skadi did all her previous actions.
【Look, touch! My friend, touch! 】
Skadi opened her mouth towards you and stuck out her tongue, motioning towards you.
"Okay...why do I feel like I have a pet?"
【pet?】
"It's the companion of mankind."
[Partner! Wang, the two-legged beast! Skadi, the pet! ]
"… You should forget it."
Xi Wang touched its tongue in silence, and then expressed helplessness at its overly straightforward thinking.
[Hmm? Skadi, that's not right?]
Skadi expressed a feeling of being aggrieved, like a little girl who had made a mistake... No, no, she is just a child, right? What on earth was I thinking?
"What I just said was not quite right, just forget it."
Xi Wang rubbed his head and said with a headache... He felt that there was really something wrong with his cognition.
[Hmm! Wang, the two-legged beast has more knowledge! Skadi has less knowledge! Skadi, be obedient!]
"........."
Why does it feel like I'm cheating on a child?
【At night, rest! During the day, be quick! In the morning, hunt! 】
It seems that it wants to rest. Yes, the biological clock in its body is also telling Xiwang that it is time to rest.
They restrained their own breath and hid in the seabed, deceiving the Honkai beasts that only stayed in the shallow ocean, making them think that there were no high-threat individuals here, and then wandered around in this sea area. In this way, Xiwang and Skadi would be able to catch these Honkai beasts upstream tomorrow morning and enjoy a breakfast.
