The two mermaid dolls visibly flew into a rage.
When they were angry, their hair floated as if caught in an invisible storm, their sharp nails elongated, and fangs protruded from their mouths. They no longer resembled delicate mermaid dolls but seemed more like monsters sealed within doll bodies.
One could easily mistake them for haunted dolls.
Unfortunately, before they could explode in fury and wreak havoc, Gu Jiu had already walked into the bathroom. She didn’t spare them a single glance, displaying her disdain for them with unabashed clarity.
For the petty and vengeful mermaid dolls, this was utterly intolerable.
In a fit of rage, the two mermaid dolls extended their sharp claws and shredded the leather sofa, the sound of tearing fabric echoing in the room. They gnashed their teeth on the sofa with the ferocity of sharks, their jagged teeth reducing the wooden structure to splinters. Even the little paper figures nearby struggled to keep them under control.
“What’s all the noise?”
A cold, indifferent voice interrupted, and the rampaging mermaid dolls froze mid-action. They withdrew their claws as if nothing had happened, and their fangs retracted.
Gu Jiu stepped out of the bathroom, her hair still damp. She noticed the sofa, now reduced to tatters, but didn’t seem particularly bothered. After all, this wasn’t her home. Whatever the mermaid dolls destroyed wouldn’t upset her; on the contrary, she might even praise them for it.
The sea breeze tonight was fiercer than the previous night.
As it swept across Love Island, the plants rustled noisily. The curtains flapped wildly, slapping against the walls with loud thwacks.
The intense wind gave the impression that the entire island was trembling.
Gu Jiu shut the window, leaving it slightly ajar to let some air in and keep the room from becoming stuffy.
However, the sea breeze carried a strange odor that was increasingly unpleasant. Even after spraying air freshener, the smell lingered. She frowned, trying to place the scent. It seemed to have appeared after her afternoon nap and resembled the smell she noticed when they took the boat to Love Island.
“Ah Jiu, what’s wrong?”
Lu Ji emerged from the shower, noticing her deep in thought. He assumed she had discovered something and asked softly.
Covering her nose, Gu Jiu replied vaguely, “The smell in the sea breeze is getting stronger. I don’t know what might happen tonight… I doubt Master Qi can handle it.”
For someone like Qi Yuheng, a clean freak to the extreme, this game world was undoubtedly a nightmare of a challenge.
Lu Ji merely acknowledged her words with a hum, clearly uninterested in other men’s troubles. Instead, he asked, “Are you okay?”
Miss Gu was notoriously particular; would she be able to endure this odor? While Lu Ji didn’t find it bothersome himself, he didn’t want her to suffer. Checking through his inventory, he realized he didn’t have any air-purifying items. It seemed he’d need to gather some auxiliary tools next time.
“I’m managing.”
Gu Jiu rubbed her nose. No matter how unpleasant it was, she would have to endure it for now. It wasn’t as though she could sleep with a gas mask on.
As bedtime approached, the two lay on the bed. Gu Jiu remarked, “I wonder if there’ll be another dream tonight. If there is, just aim for the fish-faced monster’s head.”
Her violent declaration drew a chuckle from Lu Ji. “Exactly, hit it hard to keep it from disgusting us further.”
That night, Gu Jiu once again slept snuggled against Lu Ji.
She had no choice. The air reeked of a fishy, putrid stench that only grew stronger. Clinging to Lu Ji and breathing in her crisp, snowy scent was the only way she could endure it.
Being held tightly by her, Lu Ji felt like his whole body was on fire, burning with both heat and joy. Despite the discomfort, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of delight as he drifted off to sleep with a contented heart.
—
The dream returned to the familiar sunny beach, where the soft sea breeze blew and gentle waves lapped at the sandy shore.
“Ah Jiu, where’s the gift you promised me?”
Hearing the voice, Gu Jiu turned toward it. Unsurprisingly, it was the fish-faced figure disguised as Lu Ji. A stench of decay emanated from the fish-faced man, identical to the smell carried by the sea breeze.
Her eyes flickered subtly as she smiled and asked, “What gift?”
The fish-faced man replied matter-of-factly, “The coral stone with a fish-eye pattern that you found in the sea during the day! Didn’t you go out of your way to get that for me as a gift?”
He seemed utterly delighted, as if his claim were an unquestionable fact.
At that moment, Gu Jiu finally understood. The butler’s earlier suggestion about “giving your lover a gift” wasn’t referring to the person she was pretending to be a couple with, but rather this fish-faced figure in the dream. No wonder the butler hadn’t said much after the players returned in the evening.
“Ah Jiu, give it to me!” The fish-faced man’s tone became impatient.
“Alright, I’ll give it to you,” Gu Jiu said gently. As the fish-faced man reached out with a face full of expectation, he was greeted by a fist crashing straight into him.
A barrage of punches rained down like a violent storm, accompanied by Gu Jiu’s furious shout:
“Give you my ass! Have you even looked at yourself in a mirror? What makes you think you deserve a gift? Just because you’re pretending to be Lu Ji doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you! Dream on…”
The fish-faced man was left stunned, his mind reeling from the onslaught. He clutched his head in shock and anger, fleeing beyond her reach.
With disbelief and rage written all over his face, he yelled, “How can you treat your lover like this?”
Blowing on her reddened fists, Gu Jiu’s nails began to gleam faintly with a reddish hue, transforming into claw-like “witch’s nails.” She responded calmly, “Why shouldn’t I? Haven’t you heard the saying ‘fighting shows affection, scolding shows love’? If you don’t even understand that, how dare you talk about love? If you want to date me, you’d better be ready to suffer! Now, come here and let me beat you up again—I’ll teach you that falling in love isn’t easy.”
The fish-faced man: “.…”
Unable to endure such a violent “lover,” the fish-faced man finally gave up and ran off.
Gu Jiu, too, broke free from the dream.
As soon as she awoke, she heard a commotion outside. Rain was pounding against the glass with a chaotic pitter-patter. The storm raged violently, as though it intended to destroy the entire world.
“Lu Ji, is it raining?” Gu Jiu glanced toward the window.
Lu Ji responded with a soft hum. In the game world, he rarely needed to sleep; rest was unnecessary for him.
Outside, the pitch-black night was filled with the ferocious howls of the storm. The rain lashed against the glass so fiercely that the window, unable to withstand the force, suddenly burst open with a loud crack. A torrent of icy rain poured into the room, splashing onto the bed where the two lay.
The rainwater soaked the floor, and the wind toppled furniture, sending it crashing to the ground.
From outside came a loud, pounding noise—bang, bang, bang—as if something heavy was battering the walls. The sound was so loud that even the violent storm couldn’t drown it out.
Gu Jiu’s expression grew serious. Without hesitation, she grabbed her glasses and put them on.
Suddenly, Lu Ji pulled her with him as they rolled to the other side of the bed. The two leapt off the bed just in time to avoid a dark shadow that had burst in through the open window.
The shadow slammed down on the bed, which collapsed with a loud crack.
As the second shadow struck, Gu Jiu finally caught a clear view of the black object: it was slippery and resembled the tentacles of an octopus. The tendrils were incredibly long, stretching into the room through the window and sweeping wildly across the space.
A series of crashes and bangs filled the air as the black tentacles shattered furniture and other objects in the room.
The assault wasn’t limited to the window—tentacle-like appendages began creeping in from the balcony as well, relentlessly attacking the two of them.
The two mermaid dolls and the little paper figures hurriedly scurried to a corner of the room, distancing themselves from the balcony and window.
Despite their entangled fish tails, the mermaid dolls moved with astonishing speed. A single flick of their tails sent them sliding effortlessly across the smooth floor, evading the black shadows’ strikes.
Gu Jiu glanced at the mermaid dolls, who were cowering with them, and quipped, “They’re coming after you, and you’re just going to sit there and take it? Useless!”
The mermaid dolls: “…”
When the mermaid dolls glared at her indignantly, Gu Jiu casually pulled out a slender blade. A flash of ominous red light streaked across its surface as she cleanly sliced through one of the attacking tentacles. The severed piece fell to the ground with a soft thud, its cross-section unnaturally smooth, like freshly cut tofu.
The black tentacle writhed briefly before dissolving into a puddle of inky black liquid, releasing a potent, nauseating stench of rot.
Covering her nose, Gu Jiu finally understood where the foul smell in the sea breeze had originated.
The mermaid dolls stared in wide-eyed shock, their expressions frozen.
Meanwhile, the five little paper figures clapped enthusiastically, mimicking seal-like applause with their tiny hands. The sound, perfectly timed, only made the mermaid dolls’ awkwardness more pronounced.
Seeing this, Gu Jiu chuckled softly. She had figured out the mermaid dolls’ cowardly nature. They were petty, vengeful, and spiteful. If you didn’t overpower them from the start, they would trample all over you, which would undoubtedly spell trouble for any player.
The severed tentacle recoiled quickly, retreating from the room.
This seemed to enrage whatever lurked outside, and the attacks grew fiercer. Countless black tentacles now surged through the window and balcony, writhing like a swarm of predatory eels. Each tentacle was as thick as a grown man’s arm. When they struck the walls, cracks spread like a spiderweb, sending chunks of plaster cascading to the floor.
The cabinets, sofa, chairs, and other furniture were obliterated under the assault.
Unfazed, Gu Jiu stood her ground. Any tentacle bold enough to approach her was swiftly severed with a single strike.
She wielded the Lingyuan Blade, a weapon she had purchased in a previous game world. According to the in-game shop’s description, it was designed to vanquish malevolent ghosts who had committed heinous crimes. Though these black tentacles were neither ghosts nor ordinary sea creatures, they appeared to be some kind of spiritual anomaly—and the blade worked wonders against them. Each time she cut off a tentacle, the enemy’s momentum visibly waned.
Lu Ji, on the other hand, had drawn a black longsword. Though the blade appeared unremarkable—its edge even seemed blunt—it was just as lethal as the Lingyuan Blade.
With a flash of his sword, several tentacles were severed in one clean sweep.
Eventually, the tentacles were overwhelmed and retreated reluctantly. As they withdrew, Gu Jiu caught sight of a pair of blood-red eyes in the darkness outside the window. The eyes glared at them with a mix of hatred and unwillingness.
When the battle ended, the storm outside began to abate as well, the howling wind and rain gradually subsiding.
The room was left in ruins, completely uninhabitable. Realizing there was no way they could sleep there anymore, Gu Jiu opened the door and stepped out.
The noise from their villa had been considerable, but the other rooms weren’t faring any better. The sound of crashes and chaos echoed from nearby, indicating that other players were dealing with similar situations.
Gu Jiu walked to the door of the neighboring room and glanced at Lu Ji.
Lu Ji and Gu Jiu, understanding each other without needing to speak, acted in unison. Lu Ji raised his foot and kicked the door with force. Despite its sturdy appearance, the wooden door was sent flying open, revealing the startled voice of Ruan Yuan from inside.
“Brother Lu, set it on fire, quick!”
The two stepped inside and were greeted by a shocking sight—sea snakes writhing everywhere.
The snakes had slithered in through the windows and balcony. Despite being out of water, their movements were not hindered in the slightest, and the entire room had transformed into a sea snake nest. Ruan Yuan and Lu Haidi were surrounded, with four little paper figures sticking close to them, guarding their perimeter.
The two players and their tiny companions had managed to carve out a small safe zone.
Hearing the sound of the door being kicked open, the two looked toward it. Upon seeing Gu Jiu and Lu Ji, their faces lit up with joy.
“Miss Gu, the room’s full of sea snakes! Be careful—they’ve got razor-sharp teeth!” Ruan Yuan warned.
Gu Jiu raised her hand, summoning the Lingyuan Blade. As a sea snake lunged at her face, she swung the blade, slicing the snake cleanly in half from head to tail. The two halves dropped to the floor, releasing a nauseating stench.
Gu Jiu strode forward, her every step leaving behind a trail of snake corpses scattered on the ground.
Ruan Yuan and Lu Haidi, who had been desperately using fire to fend off the snakes, were dumbfounded by the sight.
Logically, fire should have been the most effective weapon. But to their surprise, the flames only served to drive the snakes back temporarily without inflicting significant damage. In stark contrast, Gu Jiu, wielding her mysterious blade, was cutting through the snakes with unmatched precision and efficiency, making it look as easy as slicing through vegetables. Not a single strike missed its mark.
Then their gaze shifted to Lu Ji, who was no less formidable.
Wielding her black longsword, she swept it through the air, sending arcs of sword light cutting across the room. Wherever the light fell, sea snakes were reduced to bloody chunks, their bodies scattered across the floor. The scene was equally brutal and effective.
The pair of them looked like divine warriors as they fought their way through the sea snake-infested room, finally reaching Ruan Yuan and Lu Haidi.
Ruan Yuan was so moved that she was on the verge of tears. They had truly clung to the ultimate powerhouses—both Gu Jiu and Lu Ji were terrifyingly strong. The sea snakes, which had seemed like an insurmountable threat, now felt like a trivial nuisance in their presence.