Stranger Danger

When the boat sailed directly on top of the Stomach Fish, it slowly turned its round body as if sensing something. It slowly opened its mouth when its features were facing up.

Compared to its humongous body, the Stomach Fish's mouth wasn't big at all. However, it was still a big ass mouth to measly human beings such as Ye Qing.

After the Stomach Fish opened its mouth, sea water began to flood into it rapidly and create a whirlpool. Hu Da's boat began spinning around the whirlpool and rushing toward the center at high speed.

Strangely, the boat felt perfectly steady despite the rapid movement. It was almost as if they were sailing on calm waters.

The boat disappeared into the whirlpool in just the blink of an eye. Then, the Stomach Fish closed its mouth, blew out a bunch of bubbles, and sank back into the water.

"What do you think? It's magnificent, isn't it?"

The space inside the Stomach Fish wasn't as dark and lightless as Ye Qing imagined it to be. On the contrary, it was so bright it felt like daytime.

The light was coming from a massive, hill-sized pearl hanging high up in the sky. It was emitting countless rays of light just like the sun.

The light was bright but not scorching or piercing like the sun was. In fact, it felt gentle and warm.

The pearl emitted enough light to illuminate every part of the Stomach Fish down to the finest detail. Naturally, Ye Qing was able to see all of it.

As Hu Da said, there existed another world inside the Stomach Fish's stomach. The independent space was several times bigger than the Stomach Fish itself. Hell, it was quite a lot bigger than even the Flying Stream Islands.

Not only that, there were no dirty innards such as the stomach, the intestines and so on inside the Stomach Fish's stomach. There were only floating islands, rows and rows of tall buildings, and roads that led to every direction.

The boats and ships were moored neatly and tidily at fixed locations.

Floating Guards were patrolling the ground, and One Eyes the sky.

Countless boat owners, merchants and more were crossing the streets on their two feet or riding litter-carrying Strangers that were shaped like turtles.

At first glance, the interior space was no different from a port city.

Another person might not be aware of this, but Ye Qing could tell clearly that the floating islands, the buildings, the streets, and even the berths where the vessels were moored—they were really parts of the Stomach Fish's organs. The Stomach Fish had simply transformed them to look and function like a city.

He must say that the Stomach Fish's interior space shared some similarities to the Void Stomach Ghost King's Void Stomach City.

Of course, the Void Stomach City had more infrastructure and was way bigger than this.

After they were done mooring the boat, Hu Da led Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou to a wide street—which was really one of the Stomach Fish's intestines—and said, "We simply need to follow this street until the end to leave here."

"If you don't want to walk yourself, you can rent those Carry Turtles instead. They only carry one person at a time though, and they ask for an obscene price for their service. Only fools and show-offs with more money than sense would choose to ride a Carry Turtle. Or maybe they think walking a couple extra steps is going to kill them?"

Hu Da said with obvious jealousy as he watched the Carry Turtles blitzing past him at high speed.

Ye Qing smiled but did not expose Hu Da's lie. Instead, he examined the surrounding buildings and architecture with interest.

"Are you curious about this place, Brother Ye?" Hu Da asked after noticing that Ye Qing would not stop looking around.

"A little, yes," Ye Qing replied honestly.

"Ah, that's a shame. Outsiders aren't allowed to stay here for a prolonged period of time, nor are they allowed to go anywhere as they please. I've come here several times before, but I'm not very familiar with this place either. I won't be able to provide you with any more information than I already have."

Hu Da sighed before continuing, "I personally do not think that this shabby place has anything interesting to offer though. If you ask me, you should go to the City of No Return. Now that is a place to die for."

"The City of No Return is also inside a Stomach Fish's stomach, but that Stomach Fish is way bigger than this one, meaning that the space inside its stomach is bigger as well." "Oh? There's a bigger Stomach Fish?"

Ye Qing asked curiously, "What is this City of No Return? And why is it called such an ominous name?"

"Hehe. That's where you're wrong, brother. There's a saying called, 'One does not return from the City of No Return'. It is easily one of the most famous places on Floating Island."

Hu Da clearly grew animated when he spoke of the City of No Return. "The City of No Return is the place where all the treasures under the heavens, the jewels of the four seas, and the travelers from all directions are gathered. Here, they can enjoy the most delicious food, drink the most fantastic wine, listen to the most wonderful songs, witness the most precious valuables, play the most exciting games, enjoy the most beautiful scenery, enjoy the greatest service, and experience the most wonderful things."

"In conclusion, the City of No Return is the place of everyone's dreams. Anyone who enters that place will never want to return. Hence the saying and the name."

Hu Da would continue to tell them more tales regarding City of No Return while gesticulating with joy and gabbling forty to the dozen.

Seeing how excited Hu Da was, Ye Qing could not help but ask, "How did you know all this? Have you entered the City of No Return before, Brother Hu?"

"Urk!" Like an old crow that was caught by the throat, Hu Da suddenly fell silent. A long time later, he finally admitted in an awkward voice, "Hehe, like a poor man like me can possibly afford to visit such a place. I'm just telling you what's on the grapevine."

"By the way, I heard that it takes this much to stay in the City of No Return for just one day."

Hu Da lifted a finger.

"Ten gold pearls?" Ye Qing asked.

Here in this region, gold and silver were the main currencies just like on the other side of the ocean. But instead of ingots, they were forged into pearls of equal weight instead. The people here called them gold pearls and silver pearls.

One gold pearl was equal to one hundred silver pearls. That was enough money to sustain an ordinary household for half a year. Therefore, ten gold pearls were worth a lot of money.

However, Hu Da snorted when he heard Ye Qing's guess. "Try bolder."

"A hundred gold pearls?"

"Again."

"A thousand?"

"It's ten thousand."

Hu Da licked his lips excitedly. "It's ten thousand gold pearls a day!"

Ye Qing must admit that he was a little surprised. Was this City of No Return really as magical as Hu Da claimed, or were the people here just plain stupid when money was involved?

Hu Da continued, "Moreover, money is not the only prerequisite to enter the City of No Return. There is also destiny to consider."

Ye Qing asked, "What does that mean?"

"The City of No Return is built inside a Stomach Fish's stomach, and unlike this one that Stomach Fish loves to travel. It never stays at the same place for more than three days."

Hu Da explained, "Therefore, the City of No Return does not have a fixed location. You may be rich, but you won't be able to spend those money if you can't find the City of No Return in the first place."

"Therefore, it takes both wealth and destiny to enter the City of No Return. Or to put it bluntly, you need to know where the City of No Return is currently at. Only then can you enter the paradise of everyone's dreams."