Chapter 32 Aquaman 13

The octopus's evil voice faded, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground as it slowly dragged someone out from the next room.

Xia Qi crouched motionlessly on the ground, wondering if this time the octopus had dragged out the young master or a muscular man.

After a while, the octopus climbed up the stairs, and the sound of thuds echoed as someone was thrown down the stairs.

Once the octopus had moved far enough away, Xia Qi cautiously approached the door, gently pulling it open a crack.

He steeled his resolve, gritted his teeth, and decided to follow and see what was happening.

If he stayed in the room, he would never know what the octopus was doing or how to solve the mystery of the game level.

This time, there were no teammates to help him; he could only rely on himself.

When the sound of the octopus faded completely, Xia Qi tiptoed out of the room, carefully closing the door behind him.

Unexpectedly, just as he passed the next room, he heard the sound of a doorknob turning.

Someone else was awake?

Surprised, he turned around and accidentally met the gaze of the person behind the door.

Standing in the gap of the neighboring door, the person held the handle, preparing to close it, with an unmistakable look of shock on their face.

"How did you wake up?" the young master said, stunned.

"How did you wake up?" Xia Qi countered, not answering directly.

The young master was taken aback, did not answer, and instead pursed his lips, preparing to close the door.

Seeing this, Xia Qi frowned, showing disdain.

Was the young master not planning to save his teammate—the muscular man?

Perhaps sensing Xia Qi's condemnation, the young master gave a faint smile and raised an eyebrow. "Life and death are fate, wealth and honor are destiny. Looking at me won't change anything; I won't save him."

Given the recent upheavals, although the young master seemed to have recovered outwardly, his eyes betrayed fatigue, and his mental state appeared poor.

Xia Qi fell silent for a moment, finding the young master's actions too cold-hearted.

Noticing Xia Qi's silence, the young master coughed and, unusually, opened up, his eyes revealing a hint of gloom. "You don't know what I've sacrificed. I'm not doing this for myself."

Xia Qi found the young master's justification contemptible, using harm to others to achieve his goals and considering it justified. He and Cha Gong were truly a match made in heaven.

It was his own momentary impulse that led him to succumb to Cha Gong's plea for help, repeatedly begging him until he finally agreed.

"If... if the one dragged away just now was Cha Gong, would you save him?" Xia Qi suddenly asked.

The young master crossed his arms, still cold, and replied, "Didn't I already tell you? I wouldn't."

The young master hadn't even saved Cha Gong when he fell into the cycle of hell; why would he save anyone in this game level?

Xia Qi looked at him deeply. The young master's persistence in walking a dark path was indeed a skill, befitting a high-level player.

"Don't you fear retribution? Don't you fear that doing too many bad things will bring you misfortune?" Xia Qi rebuked coldly.

The young master laughed uproariously, as if hearing a joke, tears streaming down his face. "Hahaha... Xia Qi, don't you know what kind of game this is? It's a game where the more wicked you are, the longer you live! No one can retaliate against me; I'll wait for the day the game judges me!"

With a twisted grin, he slammed the door shut in front of Xia Qi.

After a while, sounds came from inside the room, indicating that the young master had settled down to sleep, as if his teammate, the muscular man, had never existed.

Seeing the young master's antics, Xia Qi was speechless.

Without lingering further, Xia Qi continued to pursue the octopus.

The conversation with the young master had taken some time, and by now, the octopus had reached the deck.

Xia Qi moved quickly, lowering his breathing, and after about three minutes, he arrived on the deck.

To get a better view and prepare for any emergencies, Xia Qi crouched behind a barrel near the cabin entrance.

After hiding himself, Xia Qi slowly peeked out.

The octopus stood at the bow of the ship, facing the surging sea.

After a while, the octopus extended a tentacle and lifted the unconscious muscular man from the floor.

"Swish—"

A wave nearly five meters high crashed onto the bow, like a raging dragon, drenching the entire deck.

However, the octopus was unafraid, instead becoming more excited, singing a strange song.

The waves at the bow grew increasingly violent, roaring loudly, raindrops falling from the sky, even reaching Xia Qi's face as he hid behind the barrel.

The octopus's tentacles clung tightly to the edge of the ship, and amidst the storm, he sang louder. As his melody softened, the waves calmed, and the water began to sparkle with white, shimmering objects.

Pearl fish leaped from the waves, drawing white lines across the sky before diving back into the sea.

As more pearl fish emerged, a blurry figure appeared between the waves, eventually forming a ghostly image of a mermaid.

Seeing this, Xia Qi's breath caught, almost forgetting to breathe.

Compared to the living, breathing mermaid in his room, this shadowy figure standing in the waves resembled a lifeless statue, its face blurred beyond recognition, with only two eerie green eyes suggesting it wasn't entirely dead.

Its gaze was fierce but unfocused, looking at the octopus with an endless emptiness.

Looking at the glowing golden trident in the merman's shadow's hand, Xia Qi's heart was beating incredibly fast.

His mind instantly became a mess. The mysterious person who had been "protecting" their sailboat all along turned out to be a merman!

Xia Qi widened his eyes and incredulously pinched his palm.

At this moment, the octopus extended its tentacles, pushing the muscular man forward and saying with great excitement, "Soul of the Sea God, please come and judge these sacrificial offerings, and help me fulfill my wish!"

After the octopus spoke, the merman's shadow in the waves remained unmoved, its expression perfectly calm.

Not until the octopus pushed the muscular man close to the waves did the merman finally move, slowly raising the trident in its hand.

Watching the octopus carry out all of this, Xia Qi could not suppress the fear in his heart.

He never imagined that this merman was actually a soulless being!

It turned out that from the very beginning, the octopus had made them dive into the water to catch pearl fish and pry away Pearl Reef just to summon this terrifying merman's shadow.

So, what he saw underwater and the merman that killed the first male player must have been this merman's shadow.

Xia Qi's mind raced as he thought about the relationship between this brutal merman's shadow and the merman that appeared beside him every day.

Where was it trying to take him?!

As Xia Qi struggled to think, the trident in the merman's hand, gleaming with a cold light, was about to pierce the muscular man's throat...

In a split second, perhaps due to fate, a wave exploded above the muscular man's head, showering him with countless streams of water.

The cold water seemed to work, as the muscular man's eyelids fluttered, and then he suddenly woke up!

"What are you doing?!" As soon as he woke up, the muscular man saw the trident pressed against his throat and was terrified.

If he had woken up just one second later, he would have met his end!

The instinct for survival caused the muscular man's body to rapidly secrete adrenaline. With one hand, he grabbed the trident and then used the tentacle wrapped around his waist to pull the trident, embedding it deeply into the tentacle.

"Ahh!" The tentacle was pierced through by the trident, causing the octopus to let out a painful scream.

Taking advantage of the octopus loosening its grip, the muscular man grabbed another tentacle and used it to jump back onto the deck!

Before the other tentacles could reach him, the muscular man rolled away, escaping the octopus's attack range.

Even Xia Qi, watching from a distance, couldn't help but cheer inwardly at the muscular man's agility!

Once the muscular man had fully escaped, the merman's shadow in the waves began to fade, and the waves showed signs of receding. Seeing this, the octopus panicked, its eight tentacles trembling with fear. It shouted at the shadow in the waves, "No—"

Before it could finish its cry, the remnant soul in the waves vanished.

In the last moment before the remnant soul disappeared, the merman's shadow suddenly lifted its head, seemingly looking in the direction where Xia Qi was hiding.

Watching the waves gradually calm down, the octopus's entire body trembled violently. It swelled to nearly twice its size like a balloon, turning from black to a burnt red. Then, it roared at the muscular man, "You dared to disrupt my sacrifice! I'll kill you!"

As soon as it finished speaking, all of the octopus's tentacles surged forward, slamming down on the muscular man.

Although the octopus attacked fiercely, the muscular man was no pushover. He pulled out his single-edged sword and swung it with great force.

While fighting, he kept retreating, continuously blocking the octopus's attacks. It seemed he was heading towards the cabin.

Seeing the muscular man's fighting style and retreat route, Xia Qi had to retreat into the cabin to avoid drawing attention to himself.

"Ahh!" By accident, the octopus lost another tentacle.

Taking advantage of the octopus's pain, the muscular man threw an anchor at it, covering his broken arm and limping towards the cabin.

Breathing heavily and moving aimlessly within the cabin, the muscular man turned a corner when a hand suddenly reached out and pulled him towards a pile of barrels.

"Shh!"

The muscular man was forcibly pushed down and made to crouch.

Xia Qi pressed the muscular man's head down with one hand and covered his own mouth with the other, signaling him to stay quiet.

The muscular man was momentarily stunned, and Xia Qi grew anxious, quickly placing a barrel over the muscular man's head.

Then, he crawled into another barrel himself.

They waited quietly in the barrels. Soon, the injured octopus came chasing down from the deck.

"Come out! I'll strangle you!" The octopus growled angrily.

"Bang!" It smashed a table, followed by more crashes as it broke dishes and bowls in the kitchen.

When the octopus approached, it laughed sinisterly and said in the captain's voice, "My little treasure, come out now!"

After searching the cabin for a while without finding them, the octopus vented its frustration by smashing a few cabinets and left, grunting angrily.

Once everything finally calmed down, Xia Qi lifted the barrel off his head.

He chose to hide in empty rum barrels because the captain was naturally fond of rum. Even during the day, the captain's body reeked of alcohol. As long as they hid in the barrels, the octopus couldn't detect their location due to the strong smell of rum.

The muscular man removed his barrel and leaned against the wall, exhausted.

With a complex expression, he looked at Xia Qi, never expecting that Xia Qi would be the one to help him.

"Xia Qi, thank you," the muscular man said tiredly but sincerely. "How can I repay you?"

He always valued loyalty, and since Xia Qi saved him tonight, he would do anything for Xia Qi in the future.

Xia Qi looked at him calmly. "You escaped on your own."

The strong man managed to escape from the octopus's grasp through his own luck and skill. Xia Qi decided to save him because the octopus's sacrificial ritual had already been interrupted. Even if he hadn't intervened, they would still face the terrifying skeleton ship the next day.

Whether or not he saved the strong man wouldn't change the fate of the entire ship. Therefore, his actions were truly driven by his dislike of the octopus's character.

The strong man shook his head: "Please ask me for something in return; otherwise, I'll feel guilty."

After all, when he used to follow the young master, he hadn't given Xia Qi any good treatment.

Xia Qi thought for a moment and suddenly said, "I want the box you have. Can you give it to me?"

Ever since he learned that these boxes contained parts of a mermaid, he had been eager to retrieve all of them, regardless of whether they were necessary for passing the level.

Hearing this, the strong man let out a long sigh of relief. "The box is in my room; I'll bring it to you tomorrow."

Xia Qi suddenly felt fortunate about his decision just now. If he hadn't saved the strong man from the octopus, the box would have ended up with the strong man's teammate, the young master.

Trying to get the box back from the young master might be even harder than saving someone.

"Alright." Xia Qi nodded and slowly stood up.

Unexpectedly, Xia Qi's request was so simple that the strong man felt incredulous once again. Even after Xia Qi had left, he continued to express his gratitude towards his back: "Thank you, Xia Qi..."

The next morning, the strong man kept his word and, while Xia Qi was entering the bathroom, secretly slipped the box into his pocket.

After doing so, the strong man gave Xia Qi a meaningful look.

Then, he raised his voice and yelled at Xia Qi, "Can't you see I'm brushing my teeth? What are you doing here? Are your eyes blind?"

Xia Qi was amazed by how quickly the strong man could switch his demeanor, wondering if he was an expert at playing martial roles in opera.

Before Xia Qi could react, a sarcastic voice sounded behind him: "Tsk tsk, spewing nonsense early in the morning. Why bother brushing your teeth? Don't waste the toothbrush!"

Xia Qi's eardrums nearly burst from the shrill voice. He turned around and saw Tony, the player with the sharpest voice, standing right behind him.

At that moment, Tony was glaring at the strong man, assuming the strong man's words were directed at him.

Enraged by Tony's insult, the strong man snapped, "What do you want now?" "If you curse me, I'll curse you back!"

"Get lost!"

Seeing the two rivals start arguing again, Xia Qi quickly retreated from the bathroom. Before the conflict spread to the water station, he hurriedly fetched a bucket of water and went to his room to wash up.

After finishing his morning routine, Xia Qi raided the kitchen for food and water, then carried the girl out of his room.

For some reason, he felt as though the girl had become lighter...

At that moment, in the neighboring room, the strong man also enthusiastically helped the young master out of his room.

In a place where the young master couldn't see, the strong man suddenly turned around, gave Xia Qi a meaningful look, and shook his head in disappointment.

Seeing the strong man's expression, Xia Qi was startled. It turned out that the strong man knew the young master hadn't saved him yesterday.

But judging by the young master's complacent attitude, he seemed unaware that his teammate had turned against him.

Xia Qi helplessly shook his head.

The young master's cleverness had backfired. It was uncertain how far the young master could go in this game without his teammate's protection.

Carrying the girl down the corridor, Xia Qi warned everyone about the danger they would face today. Then, he headed to the deck.

At what should have been a sunrise-filled morning, there was no sign of the sun. The sailboat was surrounded by thick fog, and a continuous drizzle fell, exuding a heavy aura of death.

Xia Qi carried the girl to a suspended boat and nervously awaited the impending disaster.

Soon, dark clouds gathered overhead, and rolling black mist emerged from the depths of the fog. However, the skeleton ship Xia Qi had imagined did not appear.

Just as he was puzzled, the dense fog gradually dispersed, revealing a gap where a man's singing began...

As the singing started, Xia Qi felt a sharp pain in his temples. He staggered a few steps and leaned against the ship's wall, sliding down weakly.

Sitting down with the girl in his arms, he suddenly felt the weight in his hands lighten.

Looking down, he saw the girl who had been lying in his arms transform into countless blue bubbles. These bubbles drifted towards the gap in the fog on a gentle breeze!