His knees were slightly bent in the water. Not only had he transformed, but Zhou Qi’an also possessed an extra lighting effect; a faint glow from an unknown source always lingered around the young man.
A nearby mutated alligator stirred restlessly, inching a bit closer, its open mouth filling the water with a foul stench.
Its probing lasted less than three seconds. Soft yet sharp as steel wire, strands of his hair silently coiled around the mutated alligator’s head. With a gentle twist, the ferocious head was severed from its body, and a large gush of black blood instantly exploded in the lake.
Compared to that day at Liangye Villa, as his body’s evolution deepened, the hair that Zhou Qi’an had always disdained as useless had now become a natural, deadly weapon in the water.
The completely unexpected scene made A’Ling subconsciously open her mouth, about to say something in disbelief.
She even forgot she was underwater.
Gurgle gurgle.
Water with a faint fishy smell rolled down her throat, and A’Ling quickly closed her mouth again.
The next moment, she discovered something even more terrifying.
“The wristband!”
The waterfall-like strands of hair, concealed by the black blood, had unknowingly reached them. In the reverse current of the water, there was a faint floral scent, but unfortunately, the scent was also masked by the blood, so neither A’Ling nor Zhao Sanxun noticed it at first.
As the water washed over their eyes, the two fell into a brief trance, and their wristbands were swiped away without them noticing.
Zhou Qi’an himself felt a little drowsy.
“The extract Ying Yu gave me is really effective.”
The hypnotic value of the cyclamen was maximized.
The dose wasn’t large, so A’Ling and Zhao Sanxun quickly came to their senses, but their patient wristbands were already gone.
[You have obtained Patient Wristband * 2]
[Hint: It will represent your patient identity in the dream]
[What do you need two for?]
Ignoring the system prompt’s snark, Zhou Qi’an, now holding the wristbands, swam towards A’Ling and the others like a merman.
Normally, being close to him now would be a good thing, as they could use his intimidating presence to deter some of the underwater creatures. However, since both of them had used a high-level focus-fire item on Zhou Qi’an, the nearby mutated monsters were uncontrollably drawn to him.
Zhou Qi’an controlled his hair, no longer hunting with it.
His speed was incredible. For Zhao Sanxun and A’Ling, just like when they had turned against him earlier, it was almost impossible to evade.
Zhao Sanxun was forced to release a poison skill.
But he also knew this was a terrible move. The poison couldn’t get past the circle of creatures to attack Zhou Qi’an; instead, it would only deepen the monsters’ aggro.
The only thing he could do was use the few seconds of paralysis the poison mist caused the water monsters to escape.
A’Ling made a gesture, meaning to team up.
Zhao Sanxun had the same idea.
Although Zhou Qi’an was swimming towards them, he suddenly looked towards the nearby Kerr—or more accurately, at his shoulder.
The wound Kerr had sustained from the flesh mound monster had reopened after being submerged in water, and sweet, fresh blood was seeping out. Some mutated water spiders with a keen sense of smell were already eagerly coming to suck the blood.
Their eyes met, and Zhou Qi’an pointed meaningfully towards A’Ling’s direction.
A vicious chill rose in Kerr’s heart.
“Just now, Boss and A’Ling attacked at the same time. They must have found a way to leave the dream. No…”
While Zhou Qi’an was snatching the wristbands, Kerr was busy dealing with the spiders and didn’t know exactly what had happened.
The only thing he was sure of was that, according to their agreement, he had to backstab A’Ling once before leaving the dream. If she left, it would mean he had violated the contract item, and he couldn’t afford that price.
“Survival is what matters.”
Kerr was both furious and resentful. He had thought he had the upper hand in this deal, and that a well-timed backstab wouldn’t have a major impact.
Who knew he would end up in this situation.
He started to move towards Zhao Sanxun to rendezvous.
Zhou Qi’an once again stopped at a perfectly calculated position.
On the other side, seeing Kerr swimming over with water spiders chasing him, A’Ling immediately thought of an escape route: use him to buy time to retreat. Unfortunately, she was still in the thinking stage; Kerr was different, he had already made up his mind!
When they met, Kerr pretended they were going to escape together, but in the next second, he suddenly attacked A’Ling. The axe he had previously used against Zhou Qi’an was slower underwater, and he swung it directly at A’Ling’s head.
A’Ling’s expression changed. Not just her, even Zhao Sanxun didn’t expect Kerr to suddenly attack.
“You…”
Opening her mouth only let in water; there was no way to question him.
A’Ling’s body suddenly changed shape, becoming even more grotesquely bent than the monsters, dodging the axe and counter-attacking.
A magical scene occurred. Kerr’s body twisted and deformed in the same way, his arms and legs bending like paper clips in all directions to successfully evade the attack, and he continued his lethal assault.
A moment of surprise made A’Ling lose focus for a second, and her shoulder was cut.
It all happened so suddenly. A second ago, they were all forming an alliance. While Zhao Sanxun was stunned, he suddenly saw something that made his face turn ugly to the extreme.
Not far away, the blue-haired Zhou Qi’an was holding a white silk banner. Using his hair as a brush and the mutated alligator’s black blood as ink, he formed artistically styled words: ‘Stop it! Don’t you two fight anymore!’
“…”
Bastard.
After watching them kill each other with satisfaction for a while, Zhou Qi’an prepared to surface for air and process the current information.
A’Ling’s initial species evolution was likely some kind of mimic octopus, able to change her form at will. But the most overpowered thing was Kerr’s [Copy] skill. Although he had read about it beforehand, seeing it in person, Zhou Qi’an still couldn’t help but be slightly shocked.
This skill was indeed too powerful. The good thing was that the game wouldn’t let him use it a second time so soon.
Thanks to Kerr, he had helped him test and force out A’Ling’s skills.
No matter who won, their strength would be greatly diminished when they tried to deal with him later.
Overjoyed, Zhou Qi’an swam a grateful heart shape for them. This beautiful ripple in the water only intensified the anger in Zhao Sanxun’s eyes.
“Haaah~”
The air on the lake’s surface smelled much better.
In the two minutes before he surfaced, some of the water snakes that had been active on the surface suddenly moved away.
The youth, Zhang Zhuzi, had wanted to dive down to see, but seeing the College Student not moving, he sensed something was up and didn’t act immediately.
The next second, Zhou Qi’an suddenly popped his head out of the water, and the youth was stunned—
What a beautiful head.
The focus-fire item’s duration had expired, and the underwater creatures surrounding Zhou Qi’an dispersed.
Preparing to dive again, Zhou Qi’an didn’t waste any words after surfacing. He glanced directly at the College Student, “Let’s go. Cross the lake.”
Without a second glance at the messy aftermath under the water, as if it were just marine debris, his mind returned to the mission.
The College Student was startled and quickly followed.
The youth, surprised, also dived back in.
When Zhou Qi’an wasn’t speaking, the cold and stern aura he exuded made him seem like some kind of icy deep-sea creature himself.
Completely unaware of the impression he was giving others, Zhou Qi’an kept an eye on both sides.
“Strange.”
He wondered to himself, why were there so many skeletons at the bottom of the lake? If they were small fish and shrimp, it would be understandable, but they all looked like large creatures.
The further they went, the more skeletal remains there were. Zhou Qi’an decisively changed direction, veering off to the side.
The lake water was freezing, washing over the players’ cold sweat.
With his new skin, it was as if he had unlocked a special buff. They didn’t encounter any more mutated aquatic creatures along the way. After swimming for an unknown amount of time, the water level ahead gradually shallowed, and the few of them breathed a sigh of relief in unison.
They were about to reach the shore!
Zhou Qi’an switched to swimming behind the youth, with the College Student following him, a new underwater skewer formation taking shape.
The youth’s eyelids twitched. The risk of being the first to go ashore was the greatest.
No wonder the other guy hadn’t offered any benefits and was willing to let him follow all along; this was what he was waiting for.
Thinking about how the underwater creatures kept a respectful distance from this person, the youth decided not to take advantage for free and cooperated by leading the way ashore.
He was fully prepared, but luckily, he didn’t encounter a jump scare upon surfacing.
Even better news was that the blood-face that had been following them in the sky had stopped at a certain point above the lake.
Zhou Qi’an stepped ashore, dripping wet, and looked back at the spot where the blood-face had stopped. It seemed to be the area where the animal skeletons were particularly numerous.
The blood-face was transformed from a patient. During the chase in the outpatient building, it was injured by Zhao Sanxun’s item. In its injured state, it seemed it didn’t dare to cross this water line.
“Split up?” the youth’s question interrupted Zhou Qi’an’s thoughts.
The latter turned back around.
In the shallow grass of the wilderness-like area not far away, the patients were scattered around, lying down. No more, no less, the remaining sixteen patients were all here.
As for the patient they had forcibly taken to the special inpatient department, they were probably not among them because the procedures hadn’t been completed.
Zhou Qi’an: “Let’s wait a bit.”
The youth clearly had the same idea, which was why he remained standing in place when he asked the question, wanting to wait for the rest of the people in the lake to gather before tackling the dangers ahead together.
During this time, the three of them observed the surrounding terrain.
Zhou Qi’an was the most meticulous. The prompt had said there would be treasure near Zhang Xiuxiu. If the hidden item wasn’t on Zhang Xiuxiu herself, could it be buried in the ground?
After he finished a preliminary exploration along the lakeshore and failed several attempts at long-range remote viewing, there was another disturbance on the lake surface.
A’Ling and Zhao Sanxun came up.
A part of A’Ling’s clothes on her shoulder was soaked in blood, which had been promptly stopped with a healing item. Zhao Sanxun’s face was dark, and the look in his eyes towards Zhou Qi’an was no longer concealed, filled with a fiery rage that made him want to devour his flesh.
He hadn’t not helped Kerr, but A’Ling had hidden a damaging weapon, and with the other creatures swarming, staying there to fight meant death for everyone.
Now that Kerr was dead, even though Zhou Qi’an definitely had a hand in it, the feud between him and A’Ling was irrevocably sealed.
Zhou Qi’an read the situation and asked knowingly, “Mr. Kerr, my strong backup, didn’t make it ashore?”
The copy skill was at a disadvantage. If it couldn’t defeat the enemy in one blow, it was easy to be turned against in the aftermath.
But he died a worthy death. With Kerr dead, those newspapers vanished with him and would not be seen by A’Ling, who also had the nursing assistant identity.
Zhao Sanxun gritted his teeth and forced a smile, “Let’s find the person first.”
A’Ling stood to the side without speaking, still unable to figure out why Zhou Qi’an could transform underwater and control these underwater creatures.
There must be something else special about him.
Transformation wasn’t an effect that could be brought by an item. Could it be… evolution?
A’Ling vaguely felt she had thought of something.
In the brief moment she lowered her eyes, a guess suddenly surfaced in her mind: the direction of his initial species evolution.
The Whaler’s Association said that Zhou Qi’an had offended them. She hadn’t thought much of it before; bounty hunting was common in the game. But now, A’Ling felt the association’s name might be the answer.
Could Zhou Qi’an’s evolution direction be a whale?!
She forcibly suppressed the contemplation in her eyes. If used well, this information could yield unexpected gains.
The College Student noticed the faint smile on A’Ling’s lips and couldn’t help but purse his lips.
In just this short time in the dream, she had been hit with an axe and had a fight in the lake, a brawl that certainly involved the consumption of items. And yet, she was still smiling foolishly?
Sensing someone looking at her, A’Ling raised her eyes.
The College Student said sincerely, “Actually, not every girl who loves to smile has good luck.”
His Brother Zhou had a jinx on people who loved to smile.
“…”
Everyone was gathered. Zhou Qi’an took a small step forward, and a nearby patient who was lying still immediately showed signs of opening their eyes.
He stepped back and looked at the others.
They all shook their heads, clearly having no better ideas.
A’Ling withdrew her death glare from the College Student. When it came to the mission, she wasn’t foolish enough to hide information. “Counting from the left, the second and third patients are not the ones we’re looking for.”
When they had pushed the door earlier, Han Li had run the fastest and didn’t see the names. But A’Ling had seized the moment of the patients’ transformation to see the hospital wristbands that slipped out from their patient gowns.
“The lake water,” Zhou Qi’an glanced at the blood-face in the air. “The patients probably won’t enter the water.”
It was more like they directly transformed into blood-faces and floated over. Assuming they were chased by patients later, they could try to hide underwater.
“It’s getting foggy,” the College Student noted the change in the environment. It was just a casual remark, but unexpectedly, everyone tensed up.
He quickly looked at Zhou Qi’an, thinking he had said something wrong.
Zhou Qi’an narrowed his eyes. “This dream might be ending soon.”
