As soon as Xi Xi got out of the car, she was startled by the utterly astonished face of Ms. Chu in front of her.

A sense of doubt welled up in her heart, and she quickly stepped forward to ask the reason, her expression immediately changing.

Just moments ago, Chu Zhiqin and Shaliman were fishing by the sewer ditch when suddenly, without warning, ripples appeared on the water's surface, followed by a huge black shadow leaping out of the water!

Chu Zhiqin was startled by this sudden change. When she came to her senses and tried to see what it was, she could only make out a blurry outline.

Sallyman, on the other hand, saw it very clearly; according to her description, it appeared to be an unusually large fish.

Despite the murky sewage, the large fins of the fish were still faintly discernible.

Moreover, the moment this mysterious aquatic creature leaped out of the sewage, it splashed up countless water droplets, which then scattered in all directions like a torrential downpour.

Poor Chu Zhiqin and Shaliman couldn't dodge in time and their clothes were unfortunately soaked by the splashing water.

“This fish looks really strong! If we try to catch it with this thin fishing rod we have... even if we break the line, it will be difficult to pull it ashore.”

Chu Zhiqin said to Xi Xi with lingering fear, and pondered for a moment. Then she gave Xi Xi a subtle wink and suggested in a low voice, "Why don't you try to find a fishing net and see if you can catch it?"

Xi Xi immediately understood her mother's intention, and she quietly shook her head in reply to Ms. Chu.

Today's "Blessing with a Clever Pen" usage has been exhausted. If she could draw a fishing net with special functions, she might still be able to give it a try. However, if she just finds an ordinary fishing net in the trading hall, Xi Xi thinks it might not be as good as a fishing rod.

Xi Xi turned her gaze to Shaliman, who was still sitting on the shore, holding her fishing rod tightly and looking ready for battle.

“Fishing nets are different from fishing rods,” Xi Xi explained to Chu Zhiqin, seemingly also considering the feasibility of using a fishing net. “A fishing rod can catch fish without bait, but a fishing net requires bait, and besides, there’s so much trash in the water…”

Fish bait… Xi Xi paused, then walked thoughtfully toward the sewage ditch. She saw that the already murky waters were now filled with even more garbage than before.

If there really are fish in such a filthy sewage ditch, what do they eat? Do they eat garbage, perhaps...?

Thinking this to herself, Xi Xi began to ponder. Meanwhile, Xi's mother and Shaliman reunited and continued fishing.

Chu Zhiqin was adamant that she did not need Xi Xi's help under any circumstances.

She sat steadily on a huge rock, gripping the fishing rod tightly with both hands, staring intently at the water, as if afraid of missing the slightest movement.

Meanwhile, Xi Xi was not idle either. She had an indescribable feeling in her heart, as if a thick fog was covering her mind, preventing her from seeing the truth of the matter.

This feeling grew stronger, making her restless. After racking her brains for a while, Xi Xi finally decided to take out the fragments of the diary from her pocket.

She had read these fragments several times and they seemed to have no further value to her, but Xi Xi still arranged them neatly in reverse chronological order and then carefully read them page by page.

As she read, she constructed images in her mind, seemingly trying to merge the scene before her with the contents of the diary.

"As the gravel rolled into the trough, the noise around me finally stopped... But after a while, I heard splashing sounds again, and the sounds became more and more intense, like someone walking in the water."

The events recorded on Day 9 are puzzling. When the train conductor tried to scare away a rat with pebbles, both the pebbles and the rat inexplicably fell into the water...

Xi Xi recalled the day she obtained the fragment of Day 9's diary, and the scene just now where she and Shaliman were throwing stones into the sewage ditch.

When Sallyman kicked the pebble into the water, they clearly saw signs of life rising on the surface, but when they threw the pebble back into the water afterward, nothing happened... Why is that?

Why are some stones okay to use while others are not?

Xi Xi frowned. She keenly realized that the pebble itself might not be the key to causing the underwater creature to appear, but rather it just happened to meet some triggering condition.

So Xi Xi began to read intently. She studied each word carefully, hoping to find a clue.

As she read the contents of Day 7, a sudden inspiration flashed through her mind, her eyes widened, and an idea came to her.

"I was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat, but after taking only a few steps I fell into a deep pit, which made my leg injury even worse... The surrounding area was full of moss-covered pebbles, and I couldn't stand up. I could only move little by little and hide in a corner."

Moss-covered pebbles! Could this be it?!

Xi Xi seemed to realize something, and stood up as if struck by a sudden enlightenment. It turned out that the puzzle was so simple; they had just been going in the wrong direction all along!

Previously, I had focused all my attention on the pebbles that appeared frequently in the text, completely ignoring what was attached to the surface of the pebbles.

Thinking of this, Xi Xi quickly stood up and began searching around.

There were many pebbles around, but very few were covered in moss.

She turned over stone after stone in a relatively damp corner. When she saw that the entire surface of one of the stones was covered with moss, she was overjoyed.

A soft, moist sensation immediately came from her fingertips. Xi Xi quickly took out a sickle from her waist, carefully placed the blade against the moss, and gently scraped it.

Soon, she successfully scraped off a large patch of moss.

Xi Xi casually plucked a small tuft of moss and tentatively threw it into the gushing sewage ditch beside her.

In an instant, the water flowed upstream in the canal, creating a long wave!

Chu Zhiqin and Shaliman, who were standing to the side, were instantly dumbfounded, staring blankly at the ripples spreading out of the sewage in front of them.