Chapter 83

“Which side sent you here as a pathfinder? Tsk, what a huge investment. Sending someone like you to your death—did you offend someone?” On the Mermaid Ship, Jian Jian asked curiously.

That annoying Yin Luo had been sent to the deepest layer of the dream, and the White Rabbit Plushie had fallen into dormancy.

The others in this shallow dream layer weren’t even worth fearing, so Jian Jian was completely relaxed. He even had the mood to talk to this “ant” in his mind.

Comrade “Ant” was Lu Ziyu, the one Jian Jian had initially overlooked. He was also currently the only pure newbie still maintaining consciousness.

This young man, who dressed flamboyantly and had the face of a playboy—looking like he and Zhao Jun would get along very well—had already taken on a non-human appearance.

His hair had grown to his waist. His skin was so translucent that his bizarre, pale blue skeleton and his organ-less abdominal cavity were clearly visible.

His lower body had become wispy like smoke, trailing out when he moved, looking like a swimming fish tail.

Most crucially, behind his clothing, his chest hid a cluster of hazy blue light, formless, swimming within his body like a fish—that was his heart.

He was gradually transforming into a mermaid. Or rather, a mermaid was descending into his body.

The mental contamination had reached a severe stage. His body was no longer under his control. In his ears, unfamiliar ballads and the murmurs from the deep sea rang incessantly, making him dizzy and nauseous, wishing he could drown in the song the very next moment.

But in the end, this man, on his very first game, relied on his terrifying willpower to forcibly maintain his sanity. He could even fire back a few retorts: “Who sent me? Hah, don’t overcomplicate things, dwarf. No one sent me, no one commanded me.”

“I am the Son of Destiny, a man of great fortune. This is my fated tribulation.”

“A mere cannon fodder like you doesn’t understand a damn thing about the Son of Destiny.”

Jian Jian’s face turned cold. He just assumed the other didn’t want to answer and was spouting nonsense.

The mermaids of the Sea of Mist weren’t the little mermaids of fairy tales, with beautiful looks and enchanting voices.

Aside from their voices indeed having special abilities—capable of causing mental contamination and traversing dreams—the mermaids here had absolutely nothing to do with the pretty mermaids of stories.

After all, the thing summoned by sacrificing over seventy human lives could never be as beautiful as a fairy tale.

They shuttled through the Sea of Mist. They were believers of the evil gods, entities that absolutely could not be tainted.

Nor was obtaining the Heart of the Mermaid that simple. The essence of this ritual was to use despair and death to lure the mermaids, use the soul of the “Rainbow Bridge” to pave a path connecting the mist dream, then use secret arts and a mortal body to trap the formless mermaid, and finally harvest its heart.

So for a fresh newbie to be able to contend against such a legendary creature through sheer willpower alone—Jian Jian suspected Lu Ziyu was treating him like a fool.

It was about as preposterous as a child in a kindergarten craft competition suddenly pulling out a hand-built Gundam.

“Since you’re not planning on leaving any last words, then go and meet your lord directly!”

Jian Jian’s already thin patience was exhausted. He was itching to leave this place.

It was true that he was skilled in dreams, but that didn’t mean he could have an easy time on this aberrant Mermaid Ship.

Just as the more sensitive one’s spiritual intuition, the easier it was to fall into madness, the tighter one’s connection to the Sea of Mist’s dream, the easier it was to be assimilated and contaminated.

The siren’s heart was about to form. Clearly, his goal was nearly achieved. Using the life of a player he’d never met to trade for his own—Jian Jian thought it a very fair deal.

“How ungrateful!”

Just as the bubble of rainbow light was about to touch Lu Ziyu’s chest, he suddenly stopped.

The viciousness on the baby-faced boy’s face switched in the blink of an eye to a look of post-disaster relief. He patted his chest and muttered, “Let your fellow Daoist die, not this poor Daoist. You go meet his lord instead.”

“Huh?”

Lu Ziyu, who had been ready to sacrifice himself heroically, was completely dumbfounded.

“Your survival quest should be complete by now, right? Why aren’t you leaving?”

This time, Lu Ziyu understood. Without a second word, he chose to teleport back to the real world.

If he stayed any longer, he really would become a legless mermaid forever. How could he, the self-proclaimed handsome and dashing Lu Ziyu, accept that?

…

“Young Master Roland, wh-what are you doing? Have you gone mad?!”

“Young Master Roland has been possessed by the foul creatures of the Sea of Mist! That must be it, that must be it! Mr. Ke Ke, Mr. Ke Ke, quickly use your secret art to destroy him! You said we wouldn’t die, you said so!!”

“No, Roland, you can’t do this, you can’t! I wasn’t involved in the Sarn Family’s troubles at all. I was coerced, I was coerced too! Please, forgive me!”

“Please… Aaaah!!”

Amidst the splatter of blood and the sound of tearing flesh, Lawrence’s harrowing scream nearly pierced eardrums. “I curse you, I curse you! Roland, may you die a wretched death! Soon, very soon, you’ll be coming to join me!!”

What does your cursing Roland have to do with me, Yin Luo?

The white-haired youth felt a bit puzzled. Then he waved a hand, and flesh buds burst out of the walls like mad dogs, gnawing the big, dark, fat man clean.

“Mm, seems like there’s still one missing.”

Yin Luo counted on his fingers and set out to find the last remaining fish that had slipped the net.

“Teacher Lin, Teacher Lin, where are you?” The youth’s soft voice echoed in the cabin.

The more he killed, the more Yin Luo couldn’t distinguish where he was or why he was there.

All that remained in his mind was to slaughter all those little black-smoke-wreathed, displeasing-to-the-eye people murmuring strange words. Every time one of them was devoured by ice and flesh, Yin Luo felt his heart grow a little more full.

This wondrous feeling was almost addictive.

One last puzzle piece. Once he obtained the final one, he would achieve complete satisfaction.

A voice in his heart said.

Thus, just as Jian Jian awoke from the disorientation of the soul swap, he saw an ice spike glinting with cold light stabbing straight for his brow.

He instinctively tilted his head and manipulated the dream, shifting his body to a different spot.

“Yin Luo?!”

Damn it. Staring at the white-haired, red-eyed figure, Jian Jian couldn’t believe he had misjudged so badly.

Yin Luo blinked and said slowly, “Oh, not Teacher Lin. It’s you.”

“Jian Jian.”

Jian Jian was delighted. Since the other still retained consciousness, there must be room for negotiation.

“Yin Luo, I’m sorry. I apologize. I didn’t expect someone of your caliber to be hiding among the newbies. I was blind! Just let me…”

Again, black ice surged from behind the wall, nearly piercing his neck.

“Damn it, what are you doing?!” Jian Jian, whose speech had been cut off, raged impotently.

This little person was even more annoying than all the previous ones combined, Yin Luo thought.

Thus, he decided to make this one die more slowly and more painfully.

Black ice crystals spread over the flesh, toyingly drilling out from the most unexpected angles, forcing Jian Jian to concentrate, letting streams of rainbow light flow over his body, constantly modifying the structures ahead to block the black crystals and change his own position.

But the normal Mermaid Ship was turning into flesh. Once the wooden cabins became flesh, it was as if they had transformed from “dream” into a different kind of “reality,” rendering them completely immune to Jian Jian’s power.

Jian Jian was becoming more and more restrained. His power had already been greatly drained to advance this sacrifice. On top of that, in Yin Luo’s home ground, he couldn’t replenish his Dream Force. He was already running out of options.

If this continued, he really would be worn down and killed here.

Jian Jian didn’t want to die. He absolutely didn’t want to.

Clearing instance after instance hadn’t made him take life and death lightly. On the contrary, it was as if invisible shackles had been placed on him. He was forced to claw forward with all his might, terrified that if he relaxed in the slightest, the chains binding him would drag him right back to hell.

He still had one ability—Spirit Synchronization.

Jian Jian’s expression contorted. “You forced me! You won’t let me live! In that case, we’ll die together and see who can survive!!”

His eyes once again turned into nested rings of rainbow colors, staring straight at Yin Luo.

It was a pity that this time, the eyes he met were a pair of red pupils even crazier than his own.

…

On the real Mermaid Ship.

Shan Dan, bored to the point of playing cards with robots, twitched his ears and watched in shock as the rainbow-colored light cocoon next to him trembled violently. Then, from the bottom, the magnificent seven colors began to be stained black.

Like ink dripped into clear water, the black spread upward with destructive force, corroding the entire light cocoon into a deathly, frozen black.

In that instant, Jian Jian’s aura vanished.

Shan Dan immediately understood what had happened. “What a pity. Mind-Eroding Dream. You’ve been contaminated.”

He muttered to himself, “Using Dream Force so frequently in a dream of the Sea of Mist… aren’t you afraid of dying too quickly?”

The rainbow dream had turned into a black nightmare. Whether Jian Jian was dead or alive, he would forever remain here now.

At the same time, the fully fleshified Mermaid Ship convulsed madly as if it had eaten something indigestible. Seawater seized the cracks and immediately surged in. Shan Dan couldn’t even stand steady.

He never imagined that a Nightmare-level instance could produce this kind of situation. “Is… the instance about to collapse?”

The man, half his body encased in metal, made a snap decision. The metal spread to encase his entire body, airtight, like a mecha from a sci-fi movie.

The energy crystal on his chest activated, and a massive beam of light shot from his palm. Accompanied by a deafening roar, he blasted a hole nearly three meters in diameter through the writhing, proliferating flesh of the cruise ship. The edges even gave off a charred aroma.

He hovered in mid-air. An energy field formed an isolation zone one meter around him, keeping the seawater at bay.

At the final moment, Shan Dan hesitated, then turned back and fired a shot deep into the cabin, obliterating some of the flesh’s activity.

“Lin Yujing, this is all I can do for you. You’re on your own.”

“On my own my ass! Can’t you finish what you started and see me all the way through?!” From the depths of the cabin came Lin Yujing’s cursing voice.

Although Shan Dan’s blast had opened a path, it also further stimulated the dying Mermaid Ship. Shan Dan’s departure now made it focus all its strength on him, the final “prey.”

Like a giant python that has caught its prey, even as danger approaches, its first instinct isn’t to flee—it’s to constrict its catch even tighter.

Countless flesh buds sprouted, wrapping around Lin Yujing’s limbs. His bones creaked as if they would shatter the next second.

“Tch, I really am unlucky.” Lin Yujing sighed.

He watched the seawater gradually swallowing him, felt those living songs that tried to break through his defenses and burrow into his consciousness. He knew he could no longer delay.

Any plan, any concern—none of it compared to the immediate, pressing crisis.

He freed a hand, tore free of the flesh buds, and gripped Elegant Water. His eyes turned sharp and cold. Just as he was about to pierce his chest, a white figure suddenly appeared in his vision.

The white figure wasn’t swimming quickly—it could even be called leisurely.

Yet the viscous, eerie seawater parted for him. The writhing flesh buds were also eerily silent and docile. Everywhere he headed was a clear, smooth path.

Lin Yujing was momentarily stunned, then grinned wantonly. “Oh, the little mermaid’s here?”

The “mermaid” bore an exquisitely fragile face. With a wave of a hand, he froze Lin Yujing into a black ice lump. The ice blocked the seawater’s contamination but also left Lin Yujing too frozen to speak.

Yin Luo let out a cold laugh. “That’s right, Frog Prince.”

“For services rendered, life-saving fee: two million. Remember to transfer when we get back.”

“This is outright robbery!!”

Lin Yujing’s grin froze. For a split second, he felt his life wasn’t that expensive.

[Hidden Quest Complete: Eternal Slumber]

[Quest Reward: New faction unlocked. Can change Main Quest once.]

[Change Main Quest?]

…

[Respected Player, Main Quest “Obtain the Heart of the Mermaid” has been changed.]

[New Main Quest initiated: A Little Extra Job]

[Quest Description: As a Senior Investigator of the Ophan Empire’s Anomaly Investigation Bureau, you personally botched this mission, earning three years of forfeited bonuses and a demotion. However, luckily, a certain important figure noticed your little tricks. He casually rewarded you with wages and bonuses you couldn’t have saved in thirty years and arrogantly asked if you, this outsider, would be willing to serve as His eyes observing the earth.]

[Note: This is a long-term quest. Please choose carefully.]

[Quest Reward: The Duke of the Sun’s gaze.]

[Quest Hint: The S■■’s gaze? Hahahaha, what insane rewards! But aren’t you already under the Sun’s gaze?]

[Your faction has been changed.]

[Main Quest Complete.]

[Return to the real world?]

In the lightless, soundless seawater, Lin Yujing lay with his eyes tightly shut in Yin Luo’s arms, a picture of frailness.

In his mind, he calmly answered the system broadcast: “Yes.”