Chapter 648: Real Adventure Game |
After the Massive Tendril Monster broke free of control, the giant shadow did not attack them, it simply abandoned them and kept moving forward, like a machine following a preset route.
Lin Ye did not command the Massive Tendril Monster to tail the giant shadow, instead he sent a parasite that had detached from the Parasitism Network to follow it.
“Why did it stop?”
Outside the window was pitch black. Ayla dared not project her mental energy into that inky seawater, so she had no idea what was happening out there.
“Which do you think is better, the seabed or the surface?”
When deciding what to do next, Lin Ye decided to ask his companion for her opinion.
“The surface feels a bit safer, but I’d choose the seabed.”
Ayla answered without much thought.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to leave like this. Since this is a once-in-a-lifetime graduation trip, it should have a proper ending, right?”
Ayla smiled as she replied.
“You’re right, it should be like that.”
Lin Ye commanded the Massive Tendril Monster to begin submerging. To him, if they chose to ascend, the enemy might simply release them, since the Organizers were obviously tied to the Sea; once out of the Sea, things could be different.
But there was another possibility: surfacing could be extremely dangerous, because normal people would choose to rise, so there might be something wrong above the water.
Diving to the seabed was the more aggressive option. If the Unknown at the deepest bottom was some kind of resource, the Organizers would likely stop them from going further, or take even more extreme measures.
Lin Ye was looking forward to that possibility.
The Massive Tendril Monster had completely blended into the darkness; Lin Ye had no idea where they were, he could only judge up and down by the water pressure.
In this pitch-black liquid they encountered no other creatures. It felt like a biological no-go zone, with no sign of life.
Lin Ye created several Fluorescent Jellyfish to try to illuminate the nearby water, but they did little; the surroundings remained utterly black.
“So quiet.”
Ayla stared at the dark window. It was a dead silence that made one uneasy.
“Yeah, but this state probably won’t last long, unless the Organizers truly don’t care what we do here.”
If that were the case, Lin Ye would have to seriously consider what to do while they were here.
“Hope the other side doesn’t rush over.”
Ayla took a very delicate glass lantern out of a spatial item, lit the wick, and the soft light brightened the cramped space.
“Since we’re idle anyway, want to play a game?”
While studying the Human Face he’d left behind earlier, Lin Ye suggested.
“What game?”
Ayla looked at Lin Ye with interest.
“A more realistic survival game. You’re an adventurer who fell into the Black Sea. Now, what would you do?”
Lin Ye put a tiny doll formed through flesh-and-blood Alienation in front of Ayla, and a nearby tendril sprayed black seawater, submerging the doll.
The little doll bore some resemblance to Ayla.
“I’ll sense the surroundings and look for anything that can help me escape the Black Sea.”
The little Ayla struggled in the liquid; around her was only the pitch-black Sea, nothing that could help. In helpless thrashing, black patches quickly spread across her body, and she became a black little doll.
“You’re dead. Game over.”
Lin Ye said regretfully.
“Huh? That’s it? Dead already?”
Ayla had never played such a terrible game before.
“Can’t help it; this is reality. You can only last a few seconds in the Black Sea. The first thing you must do is take out something from your spatial item that can keep you alive.”
Lin Ye tossed another new little Ayla into the black seawater.
“I’ll use spiritual energy to fly up and escape the Black Sea!”
This time Ayla reacted quickly.
A dark shadow snatched the little Ayla who had flown up.
“You were grabbed by an enemy. The enemy used you as material to craft a valuable item. Game over.”
Lin Ye again spoke with regret.
“Why are there enemies too?”
Ayla couldn’t help raising her voice.
“If there were no enemies, why would you enter the Black Sea? Do I really need to say this?”
Lin Ye looked at Ayla with a caring-but-dumbfounded expression.
“If it were just me, I wouldn’t be able to reach the deepest seabed at all, and I wouldn’t be chased by the Organizers.”
Ayla retorted.
“But you have a very reliable relic. With the power of that relic, you might be able to approach the deepest seabed, or even be transported to the Sea’s surface.”
Lin Ye created another little Ayla and placed her in front of Ayla.
“Then I’ll rely on the relic’s power to find a way out.”
Ayla picked up the little Ayla, preventing Lin Ye from tossing her into the water.
“The relic’s power is limited, and this is only a game.”
Lin Ye produced dozens of dark shadows above the water; those shadows patrolled the surface, looking very dangerous.
“Then I concede.”
Ayla said decisively.
She did not want to play a game where every step presented multiple ways to die.
“Too bad, I’d already thought through the endings.”
A giant shadow rose from the seawater, and a mass of Human Faces surfaced with it.
“Can this game actually be beaten?”
Ayla looked at those Faces crowded in the water and felt relieved she had made the right choice.
That was: don’t play the game.
“Yes. If you make the right choice every time, you’ll probably resolve the Organizers after about the 143rd correct choice.”
The surrounding tendrils absorbed that seawater and, along with it, sucked in what was inside.
“So that means if I choose wrongly every time, I’d die at least 143 times?”
Ayla imagined over a hundred little Aylas dead from different methods piled together; she had never encountered a game so sadistic.
“No. Although this is just a game, you only have ten lives, not one hundred.”
Lin Ye answered seriously.
“Even with a relic, you can’t always make the right choice. No one would play this game, right?”
Ayla toyed with the little Ayla between her fingers. On trips with classmates she used to play light, silly games and found them boring; now she wanted to apologize to those games. Those boring games were more suitable for travel.
“Actually this game isn’t as hard as you think. If your only goal is to survive, you only need to make thirteen correct choices.”
Lin Ye looked upward. The giant shadow was crashing toward them at a speed far exceeding the Massive Tendril Monster, and at the same time a large number of Human Faces floated up from below, each producing a faint spatial fluctuation.