As the incident with the finless porpoises gained traction, Yang Lin once again found himself trending online.
Yang Lin himself was long past being affected by such things; it wasn't the first time.
Fame on the internet didn't bring any substantial benefits to the Xihong Zoo. A bonus would have been more practical.
What he was more concerned about now was the reward for his latest mission.
"Ding! The finless porpoises have been successfully treated. Mission rewards are being distributed."
"Congratulations to the host for obtaining 5 Talent Points and the skill: Beginner Underwater Breathing."
Upon hearing the system's prompt in his mind, Yang Lin's face immediately broke into a smile.
With these 5 Talent Points, he was just one point away from reaching Level 2 system upgrade.
Once he could spend these Talent Points, he would successfully upgrade the system to Level 2 and unlock the ability to allocate points to himself.
"Right, what exactly is this Beginner Underwater Breathing?"
With that thought, Yang Lin quickly opened the system panel.
As expected, next to the previous skills, there was now a new skill: Beginner Underwater Breathing.
[Beginner Underwater Breathing: A passive ability, no host activation required. When the host is underwater, it will slightly enhance underwater mobility and increase breath-holding time.]
Reading the system's description, Yang Lin's eyes lit up.
A passive skill, that was much rarer than an active one.
"I wonder how much of a 'slight enhancement' this is to underwater mobility, and how long I can hold my breath at most."
Just as Yang Lin was preparing to test it out in the zoo's artificial lake, a staff member ran into his office in a panic.
"Director, there seems to be something unclean in the artificial lake."
Yang Lin was initially taken aback by this sudden statement.
"Something unclean? Did some kid pee in there?"
"No! It's something else, something unclean."
Seeing the employee's terrified expression, Yang Lin slammed his desk and stood up.
"No way, who would be so inconsiderate as to poop in the lake?"
"It's not poop, it's a ghost! There's a ghost in the artificial lake!" The employee then looked at Yang Lin nervously. "Director, hasn't someone drowned in this lake before?"
"What nonsense are you talking about! How could anyone drown here? There wasn't even anyone around here before."
"Let's go and see."
As soon as he spoke, Yang Lin rushed out.
At the same moment Yang Lin was rushing out of his office, a large crowd of curious tourists had gathered near the zoo's artificial lake.
Many of them were excitedly recounting their experiences.
"I'm telling you, I really encountered a ghost. I kept hearing singing from inside the zoo."
"At first, I thought it was coming from the zoo's speakers, but then I realized Xihong Zoo doesn't even have cameras, so where would speakers come from?"
"Yeah, yeah, at first I thought someone's phone had fallen into a corner, but you know what I discovered?"
The tourist then put on a spooky expression.
"I discovered that the music was actually coming from the lake."
Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in a commotion.
"That's impossible, how can there be music in a lake?"
"You must have misheard, or maybe someone's phone fell in."
"Does anyone have a phone that's that waterproof?"
"I remember last time I was here, I saw a huge dark shadow in the lake, about two or three meters long. I thought I was imagining things then."
"I saw it too, so maybe there really is something unclean in this artificial lake."
Suddenly, the way everyone looked at the artificial lake changed.
There was fear, excitement, but mostly curiosity.
It was at this moment that Yang Lin appeared beside them.
The tourists immediately recounted their experiences to Yang Lin.
"Dark shadows? Singing? Strange noises?"
"Could it be the giant salamanders? No, giant salamanders only make noises at night, they just lie there sleeping during the day."
While pondering, a thought suddenly struck Yang Lin.
"Could they have followed us?"
Realizing this, Yang Lin immediately returned to the administrator's office.
When he emerged again, he was wearing a swimsuit.
Seeing Yang Lin in a swimsuit, the tourists were all astonished.
"What is the director planning to do? Is he going to go into the water himself?"
"I don't think that's necessary."
"If there really is something unclean in there, the director might not come back."
"The director probably wants to prove to us that there's nothing unclean in there."
"Look, the director is getting ready to go in."
Amidst the crowd's chatter, Yang Lin, now in his swimsuit, slowly walked into the artificial lake.
Before anyone could react, Yang Lin dove into the unfathomably deep water like a fish.
In a few moments, he disappeared from sight, leaving everyone stunned.
"The director has this skill too? He's such a good swimmer."
"Yeah, he just dove in and disappeared without a trace."
At first, the tourists didn't notice anything amiss.
However, after a minute passed, their expressions slowly began to change.
"The director is a really good swimmer, it's been a minute and he still hasn't surfaced."
"Yeah, but I can understand. When I was a kid, I could hold my breath for three minutes while diving for sea urchins."
"It's probably fine."
Two minutes passed, and some people began to worry.
"It's been two minutes, why hasn't the director shown his head yet?"
"He hasn't... you know... kicked the bucket, has he?"
"It's not that bad, only two minutes. Let's wait a bit longer."
Five minutes passed, and even the most optimistic among them started to sense that something was wrong.
"Should we call 911? Why isn't he up yet?"
"Maybe the director has abnormal lung capacity. Let's wait a bit more."
"The world record is 24 minutes. Forget it, I'm calling the police."
"Is there anyone who can swim? Let's go down and see what's happening."
At this moment, some people had already pulled out their phones, ready to dial emergency services.
Others, who were swimmers, were preparing to enter the water.
However, just then, a large amount of bubbles suddenly emerged from the center of the artificial lake.
Seeing these large bubbles, everyone's attention was instantly drawn.
The next second, a figure, under everyone's gaze, suddenly leaped out of the water.
He leaped a good one to two meters high.
But that wasn't all; following closely behind this figure, another one emerged.
Instantly, the surface of the artificial lake was filled with splashes.