Resting for a minute, we headed back. This time, Lin Xi asked me to run alongside her. Since there were no cars on the road, the two-lane highway was all ours. We ran all the way back to the small town and reached the hotel entrance. Lin Xi pressed the button on her watch and let out a long sigh. I noticed that about a third of her tight-fitting suit was soaked with sweat, indicating she had run with all her might.
"Did you used to train?" Lin Xi asked, her face flushed, wiping sweat.
"What? Track and field? No," I shook my head, denying it. I really hadn't trained.
"Look how far we ran on the way back," Lin Xi extended her wrist. I saw that the return leg, this half of the journey, was a total of 7.8 kilometers, taking 23 minutes. The pace was an incredible 2:56 per kilometer!
That's only slightly slower than Kipchoge, the marathon runner. The domestic record in this scorching summer heat could be easily broken, and I could practically guarantee winning every race!
Huh, I seemed to have found another way to make money!
"Ah... well, I was just pushing myself," I said humbly. "If I ran another kilometer, I'd completely collapse!"
Lin Xi looked at me playfully and asked in a low voice, "Has the Bai Ze within you truly not awakened?"
I stepped forward, standing close to her, and met her gaze. I whispered, "Captain Lin, please take a good look. Am I truly Bai Ze?"
After about five seconds of staring, Lin Xi couldn't withstand the energetic look of a man who had just exercised. She shyly dodged, "Let's go, let's go, time for food!"
"I'm going upstairs to take a shower first, I'm too tired," I slumped my body, feigning exhaustion.
I wasn't tired at all. In fact, I could have run another round at an even faster pace. There was no doubt that this was also the contribution of the demon core that the Whale God had given me.
Lin Xi didn't know about this. Back at Tianchi, the distance was too great, and it was dark. The exchange of demon cores was a secret between just me and the Whale God.
While Lin Xi entered the hotel lobby, I looked down at the demon core within me. It was still spinning at high speed. However, its color had returned to a very dark hue. It wasn't like last night, after I swam across Tianchi carrying the Whale God, when its color had faded slightly. This indicated that it hadn't lost much energy, and perhaps had even been nourished and strengthened by my physical exertion.
Back in the room, the Eagle Demon and Chen Ke were still asleep. However, the Whale God in the inner suite had already woken up. Her complexion was a faint to moderate purple aura, roughly between the initial and intermediate stages, very similar to Lin Xi's. It seemed she had stabilized. For an ordinary person, this kind of purple aura, between a 1 and a 2, would indicate a top-tier expert. But for the North Sea Whale God, this must be a disastrous fall. Similar to stocks, because it had fallen so drastically, it had triggered a circuit breaker. It might remain at this level from now on.
Her starting point was a ceiling that most people couldn't reach in their entire lives. How infuriating!
The Whale God came out of her room and shared a smile with me. Compared to the coldness when we first met yesterday, there was much more familial warmth.
I also nodded gently at her. The Whale God walked over, hugged me, and kissed both my cheeks. I understood; this wasn't flirting, but a Caucasian gesture, equivalent to a handshake. "Good morning."
"Good morning, Diana," I changed her address. She had become human now, so she naturally deserved a human name. I'd ask Lin Xi to help her get an ID later, and call her by this name. If anyone asked, I'd say she was a direct descendant of Di Renjie of the Tang Dynasty. That sounded pretty impressive. It seemed that not only in Yanxia, but globally, various ethnicities had a concept of bloodlines, liking to trace their ancestors back to prominent figures to appear to have a long family history and superior genes.
However, this was even more prevalent in Yanxia. This was why Yanxia people generally had little interest in Islam, because we were a nation that worshipped ancestors.
The suite only had one bathroom. As soon as I turned on the shower, the Eagle Demon came in, saying she urgently needed to use the toilet. I had to turn off the faucet. After she left, I continued washing. Just as I applied shampoo, someone else entered, "Hehe, boss, I'm sorry, I couldn't hold it!"
It was Chen Ke. After a flush, he left again.
"...Are you guys using this like a city gate?" I complained. Fortunately, Lin Xi and Diana hadn't come in. After I finished my shower, Lin Xi entered, also took a quick rinse, changed into a down jacket, and we went downstairs together for breakfast...