Chapter 33 Aquaman 14

"Snap."

After the girl turned into bubbles and disappeared, a small black box fell into Xia Qi's arms.

Because the surroundings were too chaotic, Xia Qi stuffed the box into his backpack.

Right after the girl vanished, the system notification sounded.

"Ding! Course progress +10%, total progress 90%!"

"What?!" Xia Qi couldn't help but gasp.

Did she specifically choose this moment to disappear to guide him?

Could it be that he couldn't wait any longer...

Just as Xia Qi was hesitating, another scream echoed.

"Aaah! This time it's not skeletons, it's a group of monsters!"

Tony, at the bow of the ship, cried out in despair, raising his hand to point at the shadows suddenly appearing in the air.

Xia Qi focused his gaze upward and saw shadows of human bodies with fish tails emerging from the churning black mist, as if countless mermaids were riding the waves toward them.

As the group of mermaids drew closer, Xia Qi realized these weren't living mermaids but dead mermaid skeletons and corpses!

Unlike the human pirate skeletons from before, this group included both skeletons and half-dried or rotting corpses. The first batch to board the ship consisted of a dozen bloody mermaid corpses.

These mermaid corpses had no hair or eyes; their pale or decaying skin covered their skulls, and their empty black eye sockets showed no emotion.

Their water-bloated flesh was covered in numerous knife wounds, like spider webs, and the black wounds oozed yellowish pus.

The lower halves of their fish tails were also a mess of flesh, turning the deck into an ocean of black pus and filling the air with a sour stench.

"Disgusting!" Tony took a step back, pulling his teammate, the Cooking God, and retreated toward the fishing boat.

At that moment, a nearly two-meter-tall mermaid leaped forward, shrieking and pouncing on Tony!

"Aaaah! Let go of me!"

Suddenly tackled to the ground, Tony panicked as the mermaid, acting like a madman, opened its mouth, revealing broken sharp teeth, and bit his face, tearing off chunks of flesh and covering his face in blood.

Seeing his teammate being mauled, the male player known as the Cooking God kicked away the crazed mermaid and pulled Tony up. Together, they worked on launching the fishing boat.

However, with more mermaids boarding the ship, the remaining ones charged toward Tony and the Cooking God again.

"Scram!" Suddenly, a folding fan appeared in Tony's hand. He swung the fan, adorned with peach blossoms, unleashing a gust of wind carrying peach petals, instantly scattering the mermaids.

All players gathered on the deck to launch their fishing boats. Some launched early, others late. Xia Qi was the first to slip into the water, and by the time he started rowing, Tony and the Cooking God jumped down.

Both were heavily injured; Tony's half-face was almost gone, and the Cooking God had been clawed across his chest.

Moreover, the other players were in even worse shape.

The young master had several cuts on his chest and an injury near his eye, leaving him weakly lying in a fishing boat as a strong man rowed vigorously.

The female player, having lost a teammate, had her entire arm torn off. She struggled with one hand, barely managing to row next to Xia Qi, looking as if she might fall into the water.

Xia Qi, holding his magic wand in one hand, extended the other to her, shouting anxiously, "Come to my boat!"

His fishing boat was meant for him and the girl, but since she had already turned into bubbles and flown away, there was room for one more person.

"Th-thank you." The female player brought her boat close, threw her bag over, and slowly climbed onto Xia Qi's boat.

Just as Xia Qi was helping her sit steady, a white splash erupted from the water, and a faceless mermaid leaped out, viciously biting her neck!

The mermaid dragged her through the air, leaving a trail of blood, and then splashed back into the water.

Without a sound, the female player vanished, and red bubbles floated up from where she had fallen.

Witnessing someone die right in front of him, Xia Qi's right hand trembled, and he quickly switched the magic wand to his left hand, gripping the paddle tightly in front of him.

Xia Qi thought, the skeletons before couldn't enter the water, so why can these mermaids?

He stared intently at the water.

"Splash—"

A sound of splashing water came from behind him, and Xia Qi swiftly raised his right hand, swinging the paddle backward.

The paddle struck something behind him, and with a loud "smack," the mermaid was knocked back into the water.

Xia Qi carefully listened for the sounds of splashing water and fiercely struck several more mermaid corpses that emerged to bite him.

As he fought, Xia Qi noticed that none of the mermaids jumping out of the water were skeletons, and the more aggressive ones looked less dried or decayed.

Compared to Xia Qi's solo battle, the other players faced even more brutal circumstances.

Due to their late departure, they were surrounded by rotting mermaid corpses, turning their area into a one-sided slaughter.

"Splash!"

After swatting away another mermaid with his paddle, Xia Qi felt lost.

Continuing this way would be endless, and he would eventually run out of strength...

Thinking this, Xia Qi suddenly looked toward the distance.

Not far away, the captain, now in octopus form, carried the female co-pilot on his bald head, swimming deeper into the fog, seemingly with no intention of returning.

At this moment, Xia Qi keenly noticed that the female deputy was holding a very familiar fish tank, which sparkled with light. It looked like the captain's pearl fish.

"Pearl fish?"

A flash of insight crossed Xia Qi's mind. The last time he completed a task, he had secretly taken two pearl fish.

These two pearl fish were still in his backpack, kept alive in a bottle of cheap rum filled with water.

Without hesitation, Xia Qi reached into his backpack and pulled out one pearl fish. As expected, after taking out the pearl fish, no more mermaids attacked him for a long time.

The pearl fish really worked!

He wasn't sure if these pearl fish were companion fish or partners to the mermaids, but they seemed to confuse the mermaid corpses.

Xia Qi placed the rum bottle in his chest and then vigorously followed the direction of the octopus, rowing hard.

Compared to Xia Qi, who led the way, the players behind him also showed their skills to escape. Despite being severely injured, they managed to fight their way through the bloated mermaid corpses, trailing far behind Xia Qi and the captain.

Everyone rowed desperately for nearly an entire day, and the mermaids chasing them gradually decreased.

Night fell again, and the sea surface once more became calm.

The octopus suddenly stopped in the distance.

Seeing this, Xia Qi put down his oar and took out a bag of cooked shells to replenish his energy.

Because the captain, now an octopus, swam too fast, Xia Qi had to exert himself to keep up with his speed. By the end of the day, his arms ached terribly, and he was almost exhausted.

After eating the shell meat and drinking water, Xia Qi finally had time to inventory the items he had collected.

Due to the female player being dragged underwater by a mermaid, her backpack and its contents now belonged to Xia Qi. Now, he had six boxes in total.

These six boxes belonged to the male player from the first room, the female player from the second room, the strong man, the female player just taken by the mermaid, the young girl, and himself.

Excluding the male player's fish tail and the female player's tail fin, Xia Qi opened the remaining boxes. Inside, he found:

In the strong man's box, there was a mermaid's hip fin;

In the female player's box, there was a mermaid's nail;

As for his and the young girl's boxes, they contained a mermaid's eye and silver-white hair, respectively.

Xia Qi was already familiar with the mermaid's hair, but seeing the bright blue eye, he almost threw the box away.

He couldn't bear to look at the eye in the box, gripping the edges tightly as if he wanted to crush it.

Frowning, he muttered softly, "Why, why did you give me the eye?"

"What do you want to tell me?"

Although he kept questioning, the eye could not answer him.

"Snap."

Xia Qi closed the box and stuffed it back into his backpack.

Only after putting the box away did he realize that tears had welled up in his eyes.

Sitting alone on the boat, it took him nearly thirty minutes to regain his composure.

Gazing at the dark night sky, Xia Qi shook his head and sighed silently.

He tidied up his belongings and prepared to sleep.

Worried about sleeping too deeply, Xia Qi took out a silver dinner knife and cut a wound on his palm.

Just then, the octopus poked half of its head above the water, leisurely moving its tentacles as it swam towards Xia Qi.

Xia Qi clenched his injured hand and glared coldly at the octopus beside him. "What do you want now?"

Still planning more mischief?

"This night, I won't do anything," the octopus said in the captain's voice.

"Aren't you going to perform the ritual?" Xia Qi asked coldly.

Xia Qi didn't believe the octopus wouldn't cause trouble; perhaps it was planning to use him as a sacrifice to the mermaid shadows once he fell asleep.

"Oh, you naughty little thing, you know everything!" The octopus reverted to its original voice and chuckled. "Though the ritual wasn't fully completed, we are very lucky—the soul of the sea has shown us the way!"

Xia Qi looked suspiciously at the black, cunning octopus before him. From what it had just said, although the ritual wasn't completed entirely, it somehow achieved the octopus's ultimate goal.

So, they were heading to a place, a destination the octopus had been plotting for a long time.

Thinking of this, Xia Qi couldn't help but sneer. The octopus truly had a ruthless heart, using their lives as sacrifices for its own purposes...

After saying this, the octopus continued excitedly in the captain's voice, "I am truly blessed by the heavens!"

The octopus kept talking to itself, but Xia Qi ignored it. At this moment, the female captain patted the octopus's head and said, "Can you be quiet so I can rest?"

"Hmph! If you find me noisy, go underwater and be quiet yourself!"

The octopus grumbled and swam away.

Seeing the octopus finally leave, Xia Qi put away the silver dinner knife and decided against cutting his palm again.

It seemed unnecessary.

Sure enough, throughout the night, Xia Qi was not hypnotized by the familiar song, but for some reason, he felt that the man was getting closer to him.

A windless night passed, and Xia Qi dozed lightly. After hearing a gentle sound of water, he woke up once again.

On the morning sea, the gray fog had dissipated, and the sky had returned to its familiar deep blue. In the distance, the octopus, with the female deputy on its head, was propelling itself forward using its tentacles.

Xia Qi ate a quick meal before picking up his oar and rowing to catch up.

After a while, under the blue sky and white clouds, Xia Qi saw a black island.

The island was shrouded in black mist, and above it, countless shadows of mermaids circled endlessly. These shadows emitted piercing screams, and even from a distance, Xia Qi could feel their intense anger and resentment, weighing heavily on his heart.

In the midst of the black mist hovering above the island, there were two emerald green flames, like eyes filled with hatred, coldly gazing down at them.

Seeing these flames brimming with resentment, Xia Qi's heart pounded rapidly.

After spotting the island, the octopus sped up, forcing Xia Qi to grit his teeth and paddle furiously to keep up.

Although the mermaid island appeared close, it was actually quite far away. Thirty minutes later, Xia Qi finally reached the shore.

Finally arriving at the shoreline, Xia Qi steadied his boat.

"Ding! Route progress +10%, total progress 100%!"

Xia Qi let out a long breath.

The mermaids and the girl had been guiding him here, and now he had finally arrived at his destination.

The moment he stepped onto the shore, the swirling mermaid shadows in the sky suddenly descended upon him en masse.

This time, it was the souls of the mermaids blocking his path, not the physical bodies and skeletons of the mermaids.

Compared to the mermaid corpses and skeletons, these souls still looked ghastly, each missing limbs or tails. They formed a wall of mermaids in front of Xia Qi, not only blocking his way but also reaching out to grab him fiercely, like a pack of demons emerging from hell.

Surrounded by these repulsive mermaid souls, Xia Qi felt suffocated.

He endured the disgust and raised the pearl fish in his hand, causing the ghosts to retreat slightly.

However, they still blocked his path, preventing him from moving forward.

Xia Qi looked up at the octopus excitedly climbing the hill and muttered softly, "One isn't enough, should I add another?"

Pulling out another pearl fish only made the ghosts retreat a little more.

"Do I really need a whole bucket of fish..." Xia Qi frowned. At this point, where would he find a bucket of fish for the ghosts?

Every step he took forward, the ghosts diligently blocked his path. Frustrated, Xia Qi returned to the seaside to catch more pearl fish.

Fortunately, there were some pearl fish in the shallow waters, but Xia Qi had no fishing net or tools. He couldn't use sharp sticks either, so he had to catch them bare-handed.

Rolling up his pants, Xia Qi waded into the icy water.

Watching the pearl fish swim freely, like birds in the sky, Xia Qi helplessly spread his hands, feeling helpless.

These slippery pearl fish were nearly impossible to catch bare-handed.

Xia Qi took out his True Love Magic Wand and tried to think of a spell, but after much thought, he couldn't come up with a way to use spells to catch fish.

He had gathered plenty of offensive spells, but none suitable for catching fish.

Standing in the water, Xia Qi stared at his system backpack, lost in thought.

After a while, when he saw the forgotten bottle of pink perfume in the corner of his backpack, he remembered that it could charm enemies.

"Looks like... I'll have to try if the perfume works on fish."

Though he was reluctant to use Margaret's perfume, in this situation, he had no choice.

"Item Name: Passionate Rose Perfume (Bound)."

"Usage Effect: Spraying the perfume on yourself can charm enemies."

"Other Notes: This rose-scented perfume with sandalwood and amber undertones will make you irresistibly attractive to your target!"

Xia Qi frowned in annoyance as he reluctantly took out the "Passionate Rose Perfume" and sprayed a tiny bit on his right finger.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he dipped his finger into the water, the nearby pearl fish went wild.

Countless white light points rushed towards him from the pale blue water, as if he were a lighthouse attracting all the pearl fish.

These fish gathered around him eagerly, rubbing against his legs, making him feel ticklish. It was almost like getting a foot massage.

Xia Qi scooped up dozens of pearl fish with a small wine barrel effortlessly.

That should be enough.

Carrying the wine barrel, Xia Qi walked out of the water and headed toward the mermaid ghosts.

This time, the mermaid ghosts did not harass him; instead, they silently parted to let him through, looking at him with reverence.

Following the path the octopus had taken, Xia Qi climbed a small hill. As he did, a gentle breeze brushed past his ear, carrying a faint whisper that seemed to call his name.

"Qi..."

The author has something to say: Countdown to cracking the instance...