Matryoshka Off-Limits

Chapter 128: Mermaid Coast

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"It's been cloudy lately, so there aren't many sunset views." Wen Shi said, "It's almost completely dark at 8pm, how about setting off at that time?"

Fatty: “Sure.”

The two separated on the fourth floor. Wen Shi continued to go upstairs. The fat man did not take a step immediately. He looked at Wen Shi's figure walking upstairs and knew that he must be careful of this man tonight.

A side quest that does not have a clear deadline for completion has a generally controllable difficulty. Normally, the player's focus will be on how to deal with the principal after choosing a camp, but the other party did not discuss any camps along the way.

Wen Shi returned to the dormitory, locked the door, and asked Jian Qingrong directly: "What stage has your pollution source plan reached?"

Jian Qingrong said truthfully: "Now that you have fed yourself with blood, you can prepare to devour it."

Wen Shi leaned on the table with his arms folded, and pondered: "How long does it take to devour time?"

"After losing the heart, that part of the body shrank quite a bit, about half an hour."

Wen Shi: “Faster than I thought.”

Taking out the little octopus that was struggling to run towards Wen Shi, Jian Qingrong said calmly: "Otherwise I wouldn't have brought it out."

The little octopus is brought along to work as a porter and a eater.

Both sides start devouring at the same time, doubling the efficiency.

"..." A good capitalist, when he gets ruthless, will not forget to squeeze even his own eyeballs.

"I can use the pollution source to take the body to another place to devour it, but there is a problem."

Wen Shi nodded directly: "I know."

Watering the pollution source will not attract the attention of the Mermaid King. After all, the principal has done such stupid things many times before. The trouble is that once the absorption begins, it is very likely to be noticed by the Mermaid King, and then it will notify other mermaids to come to the rescue.

With the principal here, it is not easy for mermaids outside the school to enter Mingzhu College. The trouble inside the school is Teacher Ruan and the mermaids hiding in dormitory building No. 32.

Wen Shi: "I will lure away one of the mermaids, and you will immediately take the trunk to another place to devour it, and I will be responsible for suppressing the other one."

Jian Qingrong suddenly looked at him.

Wen Shi: "I know what's going on."

The plan seemed very dangerous, but in fact, it was not risky at all, and he was absolutely sure of success.

"Luring the mermaid away is secondary," Wen Shi said calmly, "I mainly want to see what tricks the people from Wangcai Bank use to deceive people."

The coin that was split into two by the IOU made him feel vaguely uncomfortable. Wen Shi needed to figure out what hidden dangers might be around him.

At last, he whispered the detailed plan. When Yaerlin heard Wen Shi mention that the Mermaid King did not completely trust his people, he suddenly laughed: "You missed a possibility. If that happens, we can close the net in advance."

·

At eight o'clock in the evening, Wen Shi went downstairs on time to find Fatty.

It gets dark early on cloudy days, and there are still two hours before lights out. The dormitory manager currently doesn’t care much about the players coming in and out.

There are countless rumors about Dormitory No. 32. Normally, no students would take the initiative to approach it. After the two of them went out, they walked all the way in that direction. Even the fat man with a huge body looked very small in this cold and dark environment.

Wen Shi mentioned: "Old students who performed with me said that accidents often happened when the building was being built here."

Upon hearing this, the fat man released a set of advanced drone assembly props, and the electronic screen in his hand received the images sent from above in real time.

After a moment, he stared at the screen: "How can it not be an accident? Look at it from a high altitude, what does it look like?"

The zoomed view on the electronic screen gives a better overview of the outlines.

There are three long and narrow roads ahead, all of which intersect at a central point. Dormitory Building No. 32 is built at the intersection, and it is like a long nail, firmly fixed on it.

"nail?"

Fatty: "In the past, there were always strange things happening when abandoned mass graves were developed. In the end, many of them were used to build schools. I'm sure you've heard a lot of these rumors."

Wen Shi nodded.

"In addition to the low cost, it is said that cultural energy can suppress evil spirits. Young people have strong yang energy and don't believe in these things, so they can scare away evil spirits." The fat man pointed to several small paths in the picture and said, "These roads are for attracting cultural energy. You can see that they all lead to the teaching building. If a dormitory building is built at the intersection, a group of hot-blooded students can live in it, and it may be possible to suppress evil spirits."

He put away the props and looked forward seriously: "But the things here are obviously not suppressed, and the building is not even finished."

Wen Shi thought that was a thing of the past. The heart of the Mermaid King contained great power. Now that the heart was gone, this piece of land would naturally be much better.

What he has to deal with tonight is not some monsters, but mermaids and a colleague beside him.

The two men walked forward with their own ulterior motives. The fat man kept trying to find topics to talk about, just to see if Wen Shi would mislead him about anything. However, when they were about to reach the abandoned building, Wen Shi always played the role of a listener.

The deserted building had no windows, and the square black holes seemed like something could come out at any time. There were snake nests and rat holes in such dark and cold places, so Wen Shi walked very carefully. The dormitory building was built later, and the mermaid's trunk was undoubtedly buried underground.

Looking around, he and the fat man saw the well under the big tree almost at the same time. There were several very thick iron chains tied to the well, which looked very out of place here.

Wen Shi took out his cell phone to illuminate the well. There were a few drops of dark red blood on the edge of the well. The color looked fresh. It should have been a very scary scene, but Wen Shi had only one thought after seeing it: what a waste.

The blood was most likely spilled accidentally by the small octopus during transportation.

The fat man quickly stuck his head out to look, and the bottom of the well was pitch black.

Wen Shi pointed the flashlight at the well, and it was still dark. The fat man put a candy to resist mental pollution in his mouth, and instantly spiral black fog spread out in front of his eyes, and the upper torso without limbs was directly exposed in front of him.

"Oh my god." The fat man got goosebumps all over his body. Although he was mentally prepared, there was a hideous crack in the middle of the pale skin and the empty hole under the chest was facing his face. The fat man was still frightened.

He cried out in surprise: "Could desecrating a corpse mean taking out one's heart?"

"..." You misunderstood Jian Qingrong. At most, he was just pouring blood into the open chest cavity.

After sighing a few words, the fat man pulled Wen Shi to hide behind a tree, waiting for the uninvited guests tonight.

Wen Shi's focus was on the fishy smell he smelled in his nose, which was similar to the feeling of surging water vapor when the mermaid appeared last night. This made him completely certain that the mermaid was nearby.

For the next ten minutes, the fat man stared ahead with one eye and watched the movements of the people around him with the other eye.

It's abnormal that no props were taken out for defense.

Just when a severe alarm sounded in his heart, Wen Shi finally took action. He took out the [Aoki Sword] from his backpack.

Among Wen Shi's many skills, he used sword skills in almost every dungeon, but few people in the virtual world knew about it. Those players who survived the dungeon with him and witnessed the power of the long sword were basically unwilling to mention it to others. Some of them were grateful for being helped through the dungeon, while others were just witnesses who wished they could forget it forever.

The fat man took a look at the ordinary long sword and rolled his eyes: "When the blasphemer comes later, we will attack from the front and back. You take the lead and attract his attention, and I will flank him from behind."

Wen Shi smiled and said, "You're not going to run away from the back?"

The fat man said bluntly: "If you don't trust us, we can sign a contract."

Wen Shi did not respond, but changed the subject and said softly: "The moisture in the air is very abnormal."

They were standing by the well, it was normal to feel a little wet and cold, but after he specifically mentioned it, the fat man also felt that it was too humid, much more so than the usual campus temperature.

Once you notice this element, even the smell in the air starts to feel a little off.

Wen Shi asked: "Is there any way to find the source of the moisture?"

This was the first time that Wen Shi guided Fatty to do something since they arrived. While Fatty was alert, he had to look for possible sources of danger.

He had many tricks. He took out something similar to a metal weather vane. The vane spun around like a fly for no reason, and finally stopped at a location: the edge of 32 abandoned dormitory buildings and the intersection of the road extending to the east.

The lush crowns of the ancient trees made the area darker than all the shadows, and Wen Shi couldn't even see the outline clearly.

Staring at the weather vane, Wen Shi smiled: "Want to take a gamble?"

The fat man became more alert.

Wen Shi did not use anti-eavesdropping props, so the NPC could not hear the discussion about game elements: "I'll give you a chance to team up with the NPC to kill me. Let's bet on whether you can successfully help the NPC kill me."

When fighting monsters, players always have no shortage of ways to trip them up.

The fat man was speechless: "You dare to mention it, which means you have taken precautions and countermeasures in advance."

Wen Shi turned his gaze towards the shadows. Given the cunningness of the mermaid, if he did not take the initiative to attack, the mermaid would definitely hide in the dark and watch them both suffer, and then consider whether to take action. In this case, he might as well maximize the benefits.

He threw the written contract scroll to the side, and the fat man's face changed when he saw the treaty on it.

[Bet: 10,000 points.]

Content of the bet: 1. Player 460872 takes the initiative to attack the NPC hiding in the dark. Player 444444 can assist the NPC. If the attacker can survive that night, player 444444 needs to pay 10,000 points.

2. After player 460872 survives, he cannot maliciously retaliate against this incident in the future.]

When Wen Shi wrote the IOU, the fat man's player number was on it, which was quite easy to remember.

"What if the NPCs attack indiscriminately?"

The fat man was stunned. Considering the strong water smell and the mermaid's style of doing things, this sentence was very credible.

It doesn’t really matter whether he is a mermaid or not. The main thing is that the content of the contract is very tempting. The bet does not mention anything about what benefits he can get if he wins, but there is a previous loan relationship. Now that Wen Shi is dead, most of his things can be recovered by [Wangcai Bank].

"how?"

Wen Shi stated that as long as the other party signed the contract, he would take the initiative to attack the mermaid.

The fat man thought quickly and soon sorted out a logical chain. Pei Wenwei was most likely an accomplice of the blasphemer, otherwise he would not have turned against them for no apparent reason. In other words, whether he signed or not, he would confront the mermaid.

But Pei Wenwei can also inform his accomplices at any time that they will not come tonight, or he can simply not show up and let his accomplices be killed, thus completing the mission.

The fat man didn't know what kind of person this person was.

There are many different opinions in the virtual world. Players who create a second round of endgames just after entering the game are at least not kind. Other big guys are willing to take him to play, and the inducement is also 3S copies. It is not certain how much it has to do with personal virtue.

"It's a good deal." Wen Shi raised the corner of his mouth.

Gambling on your life is not expensive.

Ten thousand points are nothing to the fat man. When chased by mermaids, he only needs to slow down their pace. The mortality rate is as high as 90%.

The contract specifically states that there will be no malicious retaliation afterwards. In other words, if an attack is launched directly without signing a treaty, the other party will retaliate at all costs.

"I have a lot of good stuff." Wen Shi lowered his eyes and rubbed the hilt of the sword with his fingers. "It's easy to hire a big guy to kill you. If you want to do it, you have to spend money."

Fatty: “If…”

Wen Shi knew what he was going to say: "Ji Yuanzhi and the others won't help me deal with the mermaids."

While Wen Shi was answering, the fat man silently used the skill [Abacus].

Wen Shi knew clearly what Pan Pangzi was doing. He once said that there was a 70% probability of predicting a player's chance of survival.

In just a few seconds, blood appeared in the corners of the fat man's eyes, and Wen Shi's mouth twitched. Even though they knew that the skills would backfire, they still used them without mercy.

"Bet." The fat man always believes in probability.

The system prompts that the contract item has taken effect, and Wen Shi, whose survival rate was calculated to be low, picks up his sword and walks towards the shadow.

The mermaid hiding in the dark was just as Wen Shi thought, ready to wait for them to take action against the blasphemer later to judge whether they had really surrendered.

When the mermaid saw Wen Shi coming, the gloomy aura around him became heavier, and he had a feeling that the sword in the other party's hand was pointed at him.

Without any nonsense, he activated the skill directly when Wen Shi stopped.

"One sword, flatten it."

The Qingmu sword slashed through the air, and all the overwhelming sword energy rushed towards the mermaid in an instant.

"Shit!" The fat man was shocked and stepped back.

No one said Pei Wenwei is an attack skill.

It was clearly a very powerful move, but after Wen Shi used the skill, he did not stand still like a mountain as usual, but instead retreated.

The sword energy mainly went towards the mermaid's tail. The scales suspended in the mist were instantly covered in blood. The sharp sword energy should have chopped off the tail, but it was blocked by a force at the last moment.

Blood flowed down along the curve of the tail little by little. The mermaid with a beautiful face looked almost like an icy lake, as if the thin ice would shatter at any time and she would fall into an abyss.

Standing in front of the well that seals the Mermaid King, the mermaids can borrow the power of the Mermaid King to the maximum extent.

Wen Shi was not surprised by this result. If he used the sword skill again, the power would be even greater. In terms of strength, it would not be difficult to kill a merman in one second. However, as early as when he used the sword dance in Fengguan Village, he found that no matter how powerful the sword skill was, some NPCs would be protected by the game mechanism.

The fact that the sword did not completely defeat the mermaid meant that it was not so easy to kill her.

Wen Shi chose to run away.

There was no way the fat man would let him get away so easily, so the prop [Thousand Spider Silk] that he had prepared long ago was about to extend towards Wen Shi’s trouser legs.

Wen Shi, who was running in front, suddenly turned around and smiled chillingly. Almost at the same moment, a figure appeared beside him, and the summoned zombie activated the skill [Sound of Nature].

clang!

Notes dance in the air.

"Yulia!" The fat man's expression changed slightly.

This was an unexpected helper.

The moment the piano sounded, a feeling that was ten times more painful than in class exploded in my mind, and the mermaid and the fat man moved slowly at the same time.

The fat man spat it out, and was still analyzing Wen Shi's actions. He chose to escape after a blow, and his purpose could only be to lure away the mermaid. Then the purpose of his trip was very clear. When the mermaid left, the blasphemer would do something to the torso of the Mermaid King.

No wonder they wanted to make a bet, they wanted to lure me away at the same time.

The fat man was vomiting violently and hesitating whether to stay or not. However, the situation of the mermaid king's torso seemed to have nothing to do with him, and the side quest of killing the blasphemer did not give a clear punishment.

I have to say that Pei Wenwei is really good at calculating people's hearts. After calculating that the other party's survival rate is extremely low, the fat man is eager for the mermaid to hunt him down.

After more than ten seconds, the mermaid regained its ability to move, but the serious injury slowed down its speed.

The fat man tempted at the right time: "He must not be able to use that trick, otherwise he wouldn't run away."

The mermaid was already in a state of rage. Even if it disturbed the king today, it would kill this damn traitor!

Wen Shi spent 300 points to buy a one-time speed-up item. The effect of the item was not as good as [Sprint], but it was better than nothing. Along the way, he felt that his heart was about to jump out of his throat while running.

The zombies were always one step ahead of him.

Wen Shi really wanted to take this rebellious son back, but he needed the help of the wandering zombies to deal with the fat man's difficult props.

Eight hundred meters to go.

The distance advantage gained by running 15 seconds ahead was being reduced. The cold wind blew in his face, making his eyes hurt, and Wen Shi ran in one direction with purpose.

In the last 500 meters, the mermaid's curly hair spread out wildly, and the props in the fat man's hand were blocked by the zombies.

The zombie was unable to get rid of the sticky silk thread for a while, and the fat man frowned. Props like [Thousand Spider Silk] were obviously used to cheat people. The game would impose many restrictions on its effectiveness and power. He had no way of using it again in a short period of time.

The fat man didn't hesitate at all. His eyes darkened. He took out the coin that turned into the IOU and said in a low voice, "Freeze."

Using the IOU, the people at Wangcai Bank can freeze the points and actions of the debtor for two seconds. When they use this right, the backlash to themselves is severe, and it is limited to two times.

Wen Shi, who was about to run to the lake, paused. The mermaid was not as fast as the fat man after being seriously injured, but in these two frozen seconds, the terrifying hair reached Wen Shi first.

"I see." Wen Shi had always wanted to test what tricks the people at Wangcai Bank had to cheat people, and this turned out to be the case.

Similar to time stop, but not as powerful as Yu Xingzhou's time stop skill, and can only limit a single target.

After knowing what was going on, Wen Shi sneered inwardly. He had already seen how mermaids killed people, so he released the old ghost directly. The old ghost blocked the hair that was cutting towards Wen Shi's neck.

The tough hair was like a chainsaw, almost cutting his hand bones.

The old ghost wanted to cry but had no tears. Why was it that every time he was called out, nothing good happened

Wen Shi had already retreated to the edge of the lake. The mermaid behind him suddenly moved her cheeks and unexpectedly spit out an ice cone made of condensed water vapor from her mouth.

The ice cone came rushing through the air, and the mermaid looked a little tired, but the attack power of the ice cone was unquestionable, and it went straight through the thin chest, causing blood to splatter.

When they saw the ice cone successfully pierce the target's heart, the fat man and the mermaid both felt a moment of relief.

Wen Shi's body fell straight towards the lake behind him. The moment it touched the water surface, it did not create any splashes, but instead turned into nothingness.

The game prompt sound came—

"You have triggered the hidden map."

"Goodbye." Wen Shi mouthed to the fat man, the coin representing the debtor that belonged to him sparkling between his fingers, exuding a sense of provocation in silence.

Triggering the hidden map alone is the reward for completing the quest to find the lost heart.

If he did not trigger the map immediately, Wen Shi would use [One Sword to Settle the Problem] for the second time. Ten thousand points is the total possible expense tonight, and someone needs to pay for it. Fatty is the best choice.

The mermaid rushed to the lake, but found that there was no one in the lake except the blood in the lake that proved Wen Shi had existed.

Ignoring the angry roars on the shore, the world turned dark at that moment. Wen Shi thought expressionlessly that once he found half of the mermaid king's heart, it would not be long before he could force the principal to step down. He had even thought of a new name for Mingzhu College in the future -

Carp leaps over the dragon gate.

Just call it Dragon King Academy, to celebrate this memorable day.

(End of this chapter)