Ruan Yuan waved her fan, fanning the flames on the ground and causing the fire to grow larger. The remaining sea snakes fled in a panic.
Before long, the room was cleared of any living sea snakes, leaving only their corpses scattered on the ground.
The fire continued to burn, its flames consuming the sea snake corpses. They weren’t too worried about the fire damaging the house; in this game world, buildings weren’t so easily destroyed, or players wouldn’t struggle so much to complete missions.
As expected, the fire soon died down, not even a single ember spreading further.
“Thank you, Miss, and you too, Ah Ji,” Ruan Yuan and her companion said gratefully. “How are things on your end?”
Gu Jiu replied casually, “Just some octopuses. We’ve dealt with them.”
Just some octopuses?
Ruan Yuan and her companion were momentarily speechless. They doubted that Gu Jiu’s situation had been any less dangerous than theirs, but considering how quickly she had resolved it and still had time to come support them, it seemed she really could dismiss it as “just some octopuses”—nothing worth worrying about.
Just like the sea snake corpses, the octopus tentacles quickly dissolved into a pool of black water, emanating a foul, rancid odor.
The sheer number of sea snake corpses filled the entire room with a sickening stench. The four of them couldn’t stand it any longer and hurriedly retreated out of the room.
Once outside, they instinctively turned their attention to the room where Qi Yuheng and his group were staying.
“Do you think we should check on Boss Qi?” Lu Haidi asked.
Just as he finished speaking, the door to their room was violently thrown open. Qi Yuheng staggered out, followed closely by Ge Guang, who asked, “Boss Qi, are you alright?”
Qi Yuheng’s only response was to rush to the garden railing in the hallway and start vomiting profusely.
Spotting Gu Jiu and her group standing in the hallway, Ge Guang’s face lit up with relief. “You guys okay?”
The four shook their heads in unison. Compared to Qi Yuheng, who was retching uncontrollably, they indeed seemed fine.
Gu Jiu and the others glanced at Qi Yuheng’s bent-over figure before looking toward Ge Guang’s room. Through the light from the hallway, they could see that their room was just as wrecked as theirs. The same nauseating stench wafted out, nearly making them gag.
Realizing Qi Yuheng was getting worse, Ge Guang hurriedly shut the door to keep the smell contained.
Ge Guang explained, “Our room was swarmed by gray sea spiders. Some of them were as long as half a meter. These spiders clearly aren’t normal marine creatures. When killed, their bodies immediately decay into pools of black water, releasing this horrific stench… Do you think the strange smell in the evening sea breeze came from them?”
“It must be,” Ruan Yuan said with certainty, her face full of regret. “The sea breeze was clearly off, and we didn’t even prepare for it.”
“Would it have made any difference?” Ge Guang pointed at the still-vomiting Qi Yuheng.
Even if they had prepared, the creatures would still have crawled out to attack the players. The only way to avoid them would be to stop breathing entirely.
The group fell silent. Ruan Yuan hadn’t meant it that way, but Ge Guang’s example using Qi Yuheng left her unable to argue.
After a while, the players in the other two rooms on the third floor finally emerged as well. Upon stepping into the hallway and seeing Gu Jiu and her group, they froze in surprise.
“Did you guys get attacked by sea crabs too?” one of them asked.
Gu Jiu’s group looked over and recognized Brother Nian, who was dragging Skinny Monkey behind him. Skinny Monkey appeared to be unconscious, slung over Brother Nian’s shoulder like a sack of luggage without a shred of care.
Noticing everyone’s gaze on Skinny Monkey, Brother Nian explained, “He was getting in my way, so I made him pass out for a while.”
Ah, that explains it!
Remembering how Skinny Monkey behaved after eating the mysterious fish sashimi, they could understand Brother Nian’s actions. However, without a partner to help fend off enemies, Brother Nian had a tough time during the earlier attack and ended up covered in wounds.
“We were attacked by octopuses in our room,” Gu Jiu said. “They had sea snakes, and over there were sea spiders.”
After exchanging information, the players discovered that each room was attacked by different creatures. The only similarity was that none of these were normal marine animals; they were likely some kind of supernatural entities. When killed, they emitted a nauseating odor that was unbearable.
Due to the severe damage to the rooms and the unbearable stench inside, no one wanted to stay in their rooms any longer. They decided to move to the first-floor lobby.
The storm outside had subsided, and the world had returned to the calm of night. Only the sound of turbulent waves reminded the players of the unrest in the sea.
The lights in the first-floor lobby were on, dispelling the darkness outside.
Having battled fiercely for half the night and narrowly surviving, the players were all wounded. They sat in the lobby—some tending to their injuries, others resting.
A choking sob suddenly broke the silence, quickly turning into uncontrollable weeping.
Everyone turned to look and saw that the one crying was a male player. He was weeping bitterly, tears and snot streaming down his face, all the while calling out “Sister Shu.”
Soon, they recognized the male player crying out “Sister Shu” as the “Brother Wang” who had eaten the mysterious sashimi earlier.
Looking around the lobby, they indeed did not see the female player called “Sister Shu,” so they deduced that something must have happened to her during the earlier sea creature attacks.
Someone went over and patted the grieving male player, asking, “What happened to your partner?”
The male player said sorrowfully, “Just now, Sister Shu sacrificed herself to save me. She was… she was…”
Ah, they understood. His partner had been killed by the nocturnal sea creatures while saving him.
Seeing the male player crying as if he had lost a lover, those around him didn’t know how to comfort him. In the game world, losing a partner was quite common. But the problem was that after eating the strange fish sashimi, this male player had become infatuated, treating his partner as a lover more important than his own life. With his lover suddenly dying to save him, it was normal for him to cry like this.
Listening to his incessant sobbing, the group of players felt a headache coming on.
They had just gone through an intense battle and were still on edge. Suddenly, someone was sobbing in their ears—not only was it unpleasant, but it also made their heads throb.
A hot-tempered player shouted, “Stop crying! Isn’t it normal for people to die in a place like this?”
The male player paused his crying, lifted his tear-streaked face, and said sadly, “My lover is dead!”
“Dead is dead. What’s there to cry about?”
“I’m heartbroken!”
“….”
Well, there was no reasoning with him. The player who had tried to console him backed off with a blank expression, unwilling to bother with his crying anymore.
Ruan Yuan and the others sat together, also getting a headache from the sobbing.
“Boss Qi, are you alright? Your face is even paler than Lu Ji’s,” Ge Guang asked with concern, noticing that Qi Yuheng’s face was so pale he looked more like a patient than Lu Ji.
Being used as a comparison, Lu Ji glanced at them but remained indifferent.
Qi Yuheng rubbed his head and said, “I’m fine.” He looked at Gu Jiu and the others and asked, “Earlier when you slept, did you enter a dream?”
Everyone present nodded in agreement.
“Did any of you give the fish eyes to that fish-faced creature?” Qi Yuheng asked.
The group shook their heads again. Now that they understood the true nature of the fish-faced monsters in the dream, they wouldn’t be easily deceived again, let alone hand over the fish eyes.
Qi Yuheng’s expression softened slightly. It seemed that this group of companions could be relied upon.
He continued, “I believe these fish eyes are a critical clue. At the very least, they are extremely important to the fish-faced creatures. It’s best not to give them away lightly.”
No sooner had he spoken than a startled gasp rang out.
The group turned their heads and saw a player looking devastated. “I… I gave the fish eyes to the fish-faced creature.”
His partner immediately panicked. “Why would you give it to the fish-faced creature? You knew it wasn’t anything good—why did you hand it over?”
“I just thought the fish eyes were disgusting. The fish-faced creature kept asking for them and hinting at me, so I gave them away.”
“You…!”
It turned out that not just this player, but several others had also handed over the fish eyes to the fish-faced creatures in their dreams.
It wasn’t entirely their fault, as in the dream world, players’ willpower was easily influenced by the fish-faced monsters. One careless moment, and they ended up giving away the fish eyes.
Fortunately, after handing over the fish eyes, they woke up from the dream without any immediate consequences.
Realizing how many had been deceived, Ge Guang and Lu Haidi felt a sense of relief.
Ge Guang said, “When that fish-faced creature disguised itself as Boss Qi and asked me for the fish eyes, I nearly gave them away. How could I refuse Boss Qi, someone I deeply respect?”
“Same here,” Lu Haidi added with lingering fear. “If it had taken on Ruan Yuan’s appearance, asking me for the fish eyes, I definitely would’ve handed them over without hesitation.”
Ruan Yuan chuckled and teased, “So it’s my fault, huh?”
Lu Haidi quickly backtracked. “No, no, not at all!”
Thanks to Qi Yuheng’s warning, the players became more vigilant.
They hadn’t been in the game world for long and had yet to encounter any truly formidable ghosts or monsters—the earlier attacks by sea creatures didn’t count, as they weren’t overly dangerous. This lack of experience had lulled them into a false sense of security, which was why some players had been tricked into giving away the fish eyes.
Though they hadn’t figured out who or what the “Sea God” was, it was now clear that the fish-faced creatures in the dream were a key part of the mystery.
Outside, the sky finally began to lighten.
The morning sky remained gray and overcast, carrying a slight chill in the air that hinted at the possibility of another storm.
The storm from the previous night didn’t guarantee calm weather today. On the contrary, it felt like an even fiercer storm was brewing.
The butler appeared once again in the first-floor lobby.
He announced, “It seems you all had a good rest last night.”
The players: “….” Could you at least open your eyes when spewing such nonsense?
The butler continued, ignoring their reactions, “Today’s challenge is to venture into the island’s forest and find a ‘Love Stone.’ Once found, you must present it to your lover.”
Love Stone?
Hearing the name, the players instinctively thought of the defensive item called “Love Stone” they had purchased in the game store before entering this world. Could this be the moment to use it? However, when they saw the “Love Stone” that the butler presented, they quickly dismissed their assumption.
“This is the Love Stone. Please don’t get it confused,” the butler said.
The “Love Stone” in the butler’s hand looked like a bloody heart, though smaller, resembling a piece of dried, preserved meat.
The players’ expressions were filled with disdain. This so-called Love Stone—just looking at it was enough to make anyone lose the courage to pursue love!