NOVEL NEXT Ch. 17
Chapter 17
Zhou Chenhao was bewildered: "Huh?"
So 1 wasn't a prime number?! Forgive him, I had already returned my math knowledge to my teacher!
The countdown continued, 6, 5...
Bai Xuechao rapidly calculated in his mind. At this moment, Xiao 6 even covered his mouth, not daring to speak, afraid of disturbing his mental arithmetic.
Breaking the deadlock was actually very simple; they only needed the four of them.
1+97+83=181
1+97+19=117
1+83+19=103
All four numbers added up to 200.
Actually, 181 and 103 were prime numbers, meaning he could form a prime number with Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi, or with Xia Xiaoxi and Ling Feng.
By the time Bai Xuechao finished calculating, there were still three seconds left.
Time was tight, so he first ran towards Xia Xiaoxi. After all, no matter who he combined with, Xia Xiaoxi was indispensable. As he ran, he was about to call the faster Zhou Chenhao to join, but before his lips could part, he heard that Ling Feng was already actively running towards Xia Xiaoxi.
A few seconds ago, when the numbers appeared, Ling Feng saw that Bai Xuechao's displayed number was 1, and he knew it was bad.
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself.
And 1 is an exception.
This was probably elementary school knowledge, but knowledge that wasn't used for too long would fade, and many people might have forgotten that 1 wasn't a prime number.
Ling Feng wasn't sure if Bai Xuechao would remember, so when he saw the numbers, he quickly calculated mentally whether any of the numbers present, including 1, could form a prime number. But when he finished calculating, he saw that Bai Xuechao had also moved, running towards Xia Xiaoxi, realizing Bai Xuechao had also finished calculating, so he also actively ran towards Xia Xiaoxi.
Before Xia Xiaoxi could react, Bai Xuechao and Ling Feng were already on either side, connecting their display devices with hers.
Zhou Chenhao only started calculating after learning that 1 wasn't a prime number, and he was still doing the math when the problem was already solved.
When the countdown reached 0, 103 was displayed on all three screens.
"Congratulations everyone~" the large screen's tone rippled, displaying an animated GIF of fireworks exploding, as if celebrating, "No little darlings were punished this round! You guys are awesome!"
But the tourists didn't relax; instead, they became even more nervous, because the next round's punishment would use all nine water guns. Based on the previous scene of Zhou Chenhao being punished, they feared they might be torn to pieces.
After the three-second countdown, numbers appeared on the display devices.
This time, it might have been specifically targeting them, as the four of them displayed 15, 82, 99, and 22 respectively; none were prime numbers.
Besides the four of them, two other tourists displayed 28 and 6 respectively.
Although the remaining four tourists all had prime numbers, the numbers were increasingly large: 73, 79, 83, 89.
The countdown was already running.
This game was not inherently difficult, but its viciousness lay in giving them only 10 seconds.
They needed to calculate if their number was prime, which numbers added up to a prime, and then connect the devices.
Fortunately, Bai Xuechao, Xia Xiaoxi, and Ling Feng hadn't disconnected their devices after the previous round. The second after the numbers were displayed, they automatically added up to 119. They immediately found Zhou Chenhao and two other panicking tourists to combine with first, becoming 252, saving them time for mental addition.
There were still 7 seconds on the countdown.
Bai Xuechao remained calm, quickly adding 252 to the numbers of these four people in his mind, getting 325, 331, 335, 341.
Only 331 was a prime number here.
There were still 4 seconds on the countdown.
Among them, Bai Xuechao's mental calculation speed was the fastest. After he finished calculating, he immediately pulled the device, leading these people to run towards the opposite tourist, shouting: "79!"
The young, strong man holding 79 looked joyful when he realized his number was prime, knowing he was safe this round. When Bai Xuechao approached him with a group of people and the clearly non-prime number 252, he couldn't calculate 252+79 in one second, so his first reaction was—run! Surviving the last few seconds meant victory!
"Don't run!" Zhou Chenhao let go of the device and rushed to chase him.
There were still 2 seconds on the countdown.
A string of curses instantly flashed through Bai Xuechao's mind.
Fortunately, Zhou Chenhao's initial speed was indeed very fast, and he darted out almost instantly. The young man, even while running, dared not leave the game's circular platform. Zhou Chenhao caught him in a second, picked him up, and ran back.
Countdown 1 second.
The young man was brought before the group's devices, his hands still flailing and struggling wildly, as Zhou Chenhao forcefully grabbed his device and quickly moved it towards the already combined devices.
The countdown reached 0.
Zhou Chenhao just managed to combine the young man's device with everyone else's.
He let out a breath.
The large screen's display paused for a moment, seemingly calculating whether combining right at the 0-second mark counted as passing. In the end, it still showed the celebratory fireworks display.
Green lights illuminated on all display device screens, indicating that they had achieved a prime number in at least one round, fulfilling the conditions for obtaining the reward.
"Congratulations everyone~" The tone was still as cheerful and vibrant, "Ten friends, come and claim your 'Sea Kingdom Pearls'!"
From a pipe in the wall below the screen, 10 carved beads rolled out, landing with a clatter in the transparent plastic box below.
The game finally ended.
The tourists, looking dazed, walked off the circular platform, returned the display devices to their original places, and took off their raincoats.
After the panic, some were filled with anger, loudly scolding the young man: "Why did you run?!"
"Why couldn't I run?" the young man shouted back even louder, "Right? Why should I risk it!"
Someone even pulled out their phone to call the police, crying as they reported that the Marine amusement park was using killing machines as game punishments.
The protagonist trio exchanged silent glances, praying that the situation wouldn't escalate too much, or else the logistics department would have a headache.
Bai Xuechao, meanwhile, stepped forward alone, picked up a plastic pearl from the plastic box, thought for a moment, and also helped himself to the protagonist group's three, planning to distribute them later.
The young man and the young fellow who scolded him argued more and more fiercely, red-faced and red-necked, already grabbing each other's clothes, looking like they were about to fight.
Their shouting and cursing attracted the attention of tourists in another game area, who all ran over to break up the fight.
"Oh dear, you're out to have fun, be happy and don't fight!"
"What's there to argue so much about playing a small game? Both of you take a step back."
"Do you even know what happened, and you're here trying to mediate!" The young fellow had a fiery temper, cursed everyone who tried to mediate, and then loudly recounted what had just happened.
His voice was very loud, attracting all the tourists in the vicinity to listen. By the end, he glared fiercely at the young man.
The young man still looked defiant, shouting loudly: "I wanted to protect myself, what did I do wrong?"
After hearing the account, the tourists looked at the water guns around the circular platform, then at the cracked platform and broken pole, not quite daring to believe it, but also not daring to go up and try if it was real.
Someone suggested: "If it's that dangerous, then let's leave!"
The others echoed, walking towards the aquarium exit.
Zhou Chenhao was also a little tempted, asking: "Should we also go out and switch to another ride? Like a carousel, that should be safe."
Find a safe ride to gain Lights-out time and hold on until the SAIDB arrived for support.
"Don't worry," Bai Xuechao patted his shoulder.
Zhou Chenhao was puzzled: "Don't worry about what?"
Bai Xuechao said: "They can't get out."
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, shouts came from the main entrance of the aquarium. Someone yelled: "Why can't this door be opened?!"
"See?" Bai Xuechao said calmly, "You can't leave without finishing a ride."
Xia Xiaoxi held the Sea Kingdom Pearl she had obtained and asked: "We're still two short, what should we play next?"
Ling Feng glanced at the mini-game introduction poster on the wall nearby. There were a total of five mini-games. He said: "They're all casual puzzle games. We still have four left to play. You two choose two you're better at; I'm fine with any."
As they spoke, some tourists, after trying everything to open the door and failing, returned, sitting on nearby rest chairs to call for help, or simply collapsing and silently wiping away tears. Others were squatting by the door, waiting for tourists outside to open it.
"I'm not good at anything," Xia Xiaoxi said. "If I had to choose, it would be 'Rock-Paper-Scissors Calculation.' Addition and subtraction within ten are still very easy."
Zhou Chenhao said: "I'm not good at anything either."
"In that case," Bai Xuechao said, "let's eliminate the two you're least good at."
Zhou Chenhao answered without hesitation: "Five what master! I can't play tangrams!"
"'Wisdom Puzzle'?" Xia Xiaoxi thought for a while before choosing. "My memory isn't very good, but 'Wisdom Puzzle' looks harder than 'Memory Matching Cards.' I can't assemble it blind."
In the end, they chose to play 'Rock-Paper-Scissors Calculation' and 'Memory Matching Cards'.
Some tourists, seeing that the few of them were actually going to play games, couldn't help but ask in surprise: "You still have the mood to play games?" They were locked in here, and they still had the mood to play?
Zhou Chenhao found it difficult to speak plainly about special ability-related matters, so he could only subtly hint: "Haha, maybe we can get out after finishing this ride?"
Whether anyone believed it or not, they all walked towards another game area.
'Rock-Paper-Scissors Calculation' and 'Memory Matching Cards' were in the same area.
First was 'Rock-Paper-Scissors Calculation'. Tourists needed to stand in the infrared area of the game device. In front of them, a display screen would show rock, paper, or scissors. The tourist's goal was to make a hand gesture to lose to the screen within 3 seconds. After losing to the screen, an addition or subtraction math problem within ten would appear on the screen. Tourists were given 3 seconds to memorize the answer. Afterwards, it would revert to the hand gesture interface. After repeating this for five questions, they would start making hand gestures to answer the previous five questions, then memorize five more.
Each round of the game had 10 questions, and the game time was 2 minutes, which was quite fast. It could accommodate ten tourists playing simultaneously.
If the game was lost, their heads would be attacked by an inflatable hammer.
Of course, if it were them playing, this inflatable hammer would 100% not be inflatable.
Zhou Chenhao walked to the row of devices against the wall, touched the large inflatable hammer held by a mechanical hand, and let out a "whoa."
He said: "It's iron."
He also tried to shake the inflatable hammer in the mechanical hand, felt its weight, and let out a second "whoa."
He added: "And it's solid iron."
Xia Xiaoxi also leaned over to look and touch, then immediately started studying with Zhou Chenhao on how to dodge if they failed the game and were about to be hit.
It was quite touching; they hadn't even considered that they might pass on the first try.
Bai Xuechao noticed the gaze from the side, turned to meet Ling Feng's ocean-deep blue eyes, and took the initiative to say: "Should someone try playing it first?"
Ling Feng was stunned for a moment, realizing Bai Xuechao was asking him because the choice could only be between the two of them. He nodded: "Alright."
"Then I'll go," Bai Xuechao walked to the device at the very edge, opened the infrared area's fence door, and walked in.
He found that Ling Feng was indeed very cautious and slow to warm up, quite difficult to get close to.
It might have been because he didn't release any Lure-pheromone during their first meeting, which meant he had X8 pills. And even when he usually went shopping, he would take X8 to conceal Lure-pheromone, but he didn't take it in a Marine amusement park with such high foot traffic, which was somewhat subtle. However, his deliberate not taking it was due to other arrangements, so it had to be this way.
So what he needed to do now was to take the initiative to test the waters, and through this act of selflessness, make Ling Feng change his impression of him and lower his guard a bit.
Anyway, it wasn't difficult for him, so he just considered it playing.
I have to say, sometimes readers are quite good at giving nicknames. They called Ling Feng "Maomao," saying he was like a cat.
Hmm... indeed a little, aloof and cautious.
Bai Xuechao stood in the infrared area, closed the fence door as prompted. When one tourist was detected in the area, the screen in front lit up.
"You're going to play?" Zhou Chenhao saw Bai Xuechao enter and immediately ran over to ask.
Xia Xiaoxi also quickly ran over, seriously saying: "I confirmed with the Hot-pot, this hammer weighs at least 10 jin (approx. 5 kg), and it can crack your head open."
"It's fine," Bai Xuechao smiled.
He usually played harmless little jokes with people. Recently, he had teased Xiao 6 and joked with Duan Xingzhi, but since joining the protagonist group, he hadn't done anything yet, even though they hadn't spent much time together.
Now his teasing urges were stirring, especially since Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi seemed easy to tease.
So the smile on his face became even more amiable; in a manga, the background could be filled with large black lilies as he spouted nonsense: "At most, my head will be cracked open."
Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi were both dumbfounded.
This... using his face to scout the way?! At least show some confidence!
"Ah, this," Zhou Chenhao couldn't help but say with a worried look, "How about we switch to Ling Feng, he's got a hard head."
Ling Feng: "?"
Are you being polite?
"I'm just kidding with you guys; I should be quite good at this," Bai Xuechao couldn't help but laugh, pressing the start button on the touchscreen. "I'm starting."
"Oh-oh—" Zhou Chenhao made a fist-pumping gesture for him, "Go for it!"
Xia Xiaoxi also waved her clenched fist: "Go, go!"
Seeing them all like this, Ling Feng also quietly said: "Go for it."
The game rules appeared on the screen, and Bai Xuechao tapped to skip.
Taking advantage of the game's countdown, Xiao 6 raised two small red flags and waved them on either side of Bai Xuechao's vision: "Host, go for it! These things are child's play for you!"
Bai Xuechao: "..."
So many people supported him playing a mini-game, making it seem as if it were very difficult.
Rock appeared on the screen, with a 3-second countdown next to it.
Bai Xuechao almost subconsciously played paper, but he reacted in time and played scissors.
The infrared recognized the correct gesture, and a math problem appeared.
Zhou Chenhao watched from the side, not daring to speak out loud for fear of disturbing Bai Xuechao. He mouthed to Xia Xiaoxi: I played paper.
Xia Xiaoxi mouthed back to him: Me too, actually.
The two smiled, showing their teeth at each other, as if saying: Neither of us is any good!
Ling Feng saw them smiling, showing their teeth at each other: "..."
My teammates are like two idiots.
Simple addition and subtraction math problems within ten were displayed on the screen. The first five questions didn't require tourists to input answers; they just needed to remember them.
Question 1: 5+2=?
After the 3-second countdown, paper appeared on the screen.
Bai Xuechao immediately made a rock gesture.
Question 2: 9-4=?
After 3 seconds, the screen displayed scissors.
Bai Xuechao played paper.
Question 3: 8-7=?
The screen displayed paper.
Bai Xuechao played rock.
Question 4: 6+0=?
The screen displayed scissors.
Bai Xuechao played paper.
Question 5: 2-2=?
After 3 seconds, a dialog box appeared on the screen saying "Difficulty increased!" followed by rock.
Bai Xuechao played scissors.
Question 6: 6+3=?
Question 1: ???=?
A 9-grid numeric keypad appeared below, with a 3-second countdown, prompting tourists to remember the answer to Question 6 while inputting the answer to Question 1.
Zhou Chenhao almost blurted out "Holy crap."
He had already forgotten the answer to Question 1.
Bai Xuechao, looking quite calm, entered 7.
The answer was correct, and the screen displayed paper.
Bai Xuechao played rock.
Question 7: 3+4=?
Question 2: ???=?
Bai Xuechao entered 5.
Screen: Rock.
Bai Xuechao: Scissors.
Question 8: 4-1=?
Question 3: ???=?
Bai Xuechao entered 1.
Screen: Paper.
Bai Xuechao: Rock.
Question 9: 5-0=?
Question 4: ???=?
Bai Xuechao entered 6.
Screen: Scissors.
Bai Xuechao: Paper.
Question 10: 5+4=?
Question 5: ???=?
Bai Xuechao entered 0.
The answer was verified correct, and the five questions were finally answered. The screen still displayed rock-paper-scissors.
Screen: Paper.
After Bai Xuechao played rock, the game was not over yet.
Question 6: ???=?
Bai Xuechao entered 9.
Next was a cycle of rock-paper-scissors and answering questions, until the answer to Question 10 was input.
The answer was correct, and the game ended. The word "Congratulations" appeared on the screen, with a Q-version seal balancing a ball in the bottom right corner.
A plastic pearl engraved with a logo was ejected from a pipe below the screen.
The entire game process felt like a long time, but each round was actually only 3 seconds.
From the moment Bai Xuechao stepped up and pressed the start button until he finished playing, picked up the pearl, and exited the fence door, it only took about 2 minutes.
During these two minutes, Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi watched from the side, mentally practicing many times.
All I can say is, it was a big failure.
Zhou Chenhao clasped his hands, covering the lower half of his face, his eyes serious: "I suddenly feel that playing 'Wisdom Puzzle' might not be a bad idea either."
Xia Xiaoxi nodded in agreement, even more serious than him: "I think so too."
Bai Xuechao said: "I found out this game can be cheated."
Hearing this, Zhou Chenhao immediately lowered his hands, revealing a sunny smile: "I think this one can still be attempted."
"Yes, yes," Xia Xiaoxi gave a thumbs-up and a wink, "Life, you know, is about daring to challenge!"
"..." Ling Feng's silence was deafening.
Xiao 6 laughed so hard in Bai Xuechao's head that he almost crashed.
Zhou Chenhao leaned close to Bai Xuechao and whispered: "So, how do we cheat?" He was so sneaky, as if an invigilator might come out to catch him.
Bai Xuechao: Well, there's no need to be as guilty as cheating in school.
"You've been watching for a long time, didn't you notice anything wrong?" Bai Xuechao found it a little funny when Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi shook their heads in unison. "Since others can watch, one person can perfectly help memorize the answers, and the other can focus on playing rock-paper-scissors."
Ultimately, this was just a mini-game at an amusement park. The goal was to entertain tourists, not to make them crash from playing.
Just like the previous game, as long as one round was a prime number out of three, they could pass the game. The threshold for passing was very low, aiming to let tourists pass in one go for a comfortable game experience. While playing the game just now, he had also consciously thought about this question. If it was this difficult, could tourists really pass in one go? If it required many challenges, wouldn't there be complaints? Since it still existed, it meant most tourists could pass, so there must be a method.
The result was this simple and straightforward: since people next to them could see, why not just have someone help?
Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi, these two "crouching dragon, phoenix fledgling" (used ironically), went off to help each other.
Ling Feng walked into the infrared area alone.
Bai Xuechao asked with a smile: "Do you need help?"
Ling Feng turned his head, his gaze falling on the black-haired boy in the red round-collar robe. The boy's blood-red eyes curved slightly into a pleasing arc, his eyelashes long and white.
Seeing Ling Feng quietly looking at him without speaking, Bai Xuechao knew Ling Feng probably had confidence. With a slight intention to playfully scare the other, he continued to smile: "Don't worry, I won't deliberately give you wrong answers. Unless, of course, I make a mistake."
"No need, thank you," Ling Feng politely refused, pursed his lips, and softly asked, "Can you tell me how many years it's been since you awakened your special ability?"
Bai Xuechao tilted his head, looking at Ling Feng: "You're so curious about me?"
What was he suspecting? His special ability level?
He had only used his special ability once in front of the protagonist group, and he had deliberately disguised its effect to be around Level 4, so there shouldn't be any flaws.
Ling Feng subconsciously said: "No..."
"Next time then," Bai Xuechao helped him close the fence door, a faint, somewhat mysterious smile playing on his lips, "If we are destined to meet again after leaving the Marine amusement park, I will tell you."
Xiao 6: Sticking to the "fallacy of fate" to the end!
Hearing this, Ling Feng's expression was slightly stunned. He hadn't previously considered the possibility of not meeting again.
He looked at Bai Xuechao's faintly smiling face, feeling a bit of belated realization that he seemed to have been overly wary of Bai Xuechao earlier.
Bai Xuechao probably wasn't deliberately approaching them; at least, he hadn't sensed any malice from the other party yet.
He had been assassinated many times since childhood, so he maintained a certain degree of vigilance towards strangers who approached him. Furthermore, Bai Xuechao was an unregistered underground special ability user, while they were official SAIDB members and couldn't disclose SAIDB and mission-related information to outsiders, which was why he had always kept his distance from Bai Xuechao.
Although Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi were more intimate and friendly towards Bai Xuechao, they would also remain silent if it involved the SAIDB and their mission.
Actually, there was another point: Bai Xuechao's older sister and Xia Xiaoxi's older brother went missing together. Now, it was such a coincidence that they met, which made him wonder, "Could things really be this coincidental?" After Bai Xuechao left the Underwater Park, he had also confirmed with Xia Xiaoxi, and when Xia Xiaoxi said her brother had mentioned a friend, he dismissed his suspicions.
Just now, from Bai Xuechao's words, there was a faint implication that they probably wouldn't meet again after leaving the Marine amusement park unless it was truly by fate.
Even Bai Xuechao didn't think they would meet again, yet he felt the other party was deliberately approaching, which was a bit overly sentimental of him. If they wouldn't meet again in the future, he didn't need to be so wary of the other person; that would make people uncomfortable, as no one liked being guarded against like a thief.
If they were to meet again...
Ling Feng asked: "Then where is your home?"
"What for?" Bai Xuechao gave him a wary look. "You want to find my home?"
Ling Feng suddenly felt that his and Bai Xuechao's attitudes had reversed; now Bai Xuechao was wary of him. Although his sudden question was quite startling, being asked where he lived by a relatively unfamiliar stranger – if it were him, he probably would have given a death glare.
He quickly said: "No, I just wanted to ask about the city."
He then added: "We'll still meet again in the future, right? After all, you and Xia Xiaoxi will still be in contact..."
Wait, why did it sound like he really wanted to meet Bai Xuechao?
Ling Feng instantly fell silent, becoming more and more conflicted the more he thought about it. What exactly was he doing? Being wary yet observing Bai Xuechao? The more he recalled his actions today, how many times he had secretly observed Bai Xuechao, the more he felt like he had experienced a social death, completely shutting down.
A little bit of self-conflict from an i-person.
"My home is in Y City; I'm here in D City for tourism," Bai Xuechao was unaware of Ling Feng's internal monologue. Seeing that he had suddenly deflated, he reminded him, "If there are no more questions, let's play the game. Those two over there have already finished one."
"Mm," Ling Feng straightened his back, recovering his composure, and pressed the start button.
Xiao 6 made a "ying" sound in Bai Xuechao's head: "I suddenly thought Ling Feng was so cute just now!"
"...Don't you like Duan Xingzhi anymore?" Bai Xuechao asked.
Xiao 6 held up two red hearts: "I'm universally loving! Eating everything just keeps me nutritionally balanced!"
Bai Xuechao: 6, you're still the one.
By the time Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi came over after helping each other finish the game, Ling Feng was almost done too, and didn't wait long before getting his Sea Kingdom Pearl.
Now everyone had two, so they continued to play 'Memory Matching Cards'.
The game device for 'Memory Matching Cards' was a table with a screen displaying 20 playing cards, half of which were duplicates. Tourists had 30 seconds to memorize. After 30 seconds, the cards would flip over, and tourists had to rely on memory to flip over two identical cards within 30 seconds, eliminating all to pass.
One table could accommodate 1-4 tourists. Bai Xuechao didn't even look at what the punishment would be for failure.
Under Zhou Chenhao's bewildered expression, he directly pressed start, then pulled out his phone and took a photo of the displayed playing cards.
Zhou Chenhao: A method I never thought of!
The few of them flipped over all ten pairs of playing cards using the photo, and four Sea Kingdom Pearls were ejected from under the table.
They finally collected three, so they could pass through the aquarium tunnel to watch the Mermaid Princess's performance, and then they could leave.
Zhou Chenhao glanced at his phone while walking.
He had kept the SAIDB's location software on. Kunpeng Marine Floating Island Park was located on the city's outskirts, and the special ability users dispatched to support them were on their way, driving. Don't be fooled by them playing three mini-games; it actually only took about ten minutes in total. The special ability user still had another ten-plus minutes of driving before arriving.
On the other side, the third-floor office of the land park's palace.
Ever since Qiao Jing absorbed the Special ability energy crystal, his special ability value had surged, but his mental state visibly deteriorated.
He felt his head spinning a bit, in a strange state that was somewhat painful yet also somewhat comfortable. His rationality seemed to be gradually fading, making it difficult to think. He felt his soul was not in his body, but swaying, shaking. A beast was awakening in his heart. He was like a hyena that hadn't eaten for three days, saliva secreted in his mouth, he mumbled: "Want to eat..."
Qiao Zhanpeng was tidying up office documents and valuable jewelry. His eyelids twitched violently; he had a premonition of ill omen, feeling that something might happen tonight.
He heard Qiao Jing's mumbling, turned back to see Qiao Jing constantly swallowing saliva, his eyes glazed over, and asked worriedly: "Xiaojing, what's wrong? Are you uncomfortable? Are you unable to adapt to the Special ability energy crystal? Quickly take it out, just holding it is enough."
"No, this is double the power! So exhilarating!" Qiao Jing clutched his abdomen where the Special ability energy crystal was, his body trembling uncontrollably.
Qiao Zhanpeng quickly stepped forward and held his shoulders: "Xiaojing? Are you in a lot of pain?"
"Dad, I'm in so much pain, I really want to eat..." Qiao Jing's body trembled even more violently, terrifyingly like an addict having a fit, "The people... in the Marine amusement park..."
He revealed a somewhat stiff, terrifyingly morbid smile, and lunged at Qiao Zhanpeng, who was holding him!
"Ah ah ah—!"
Qiao Zhanpeng's screams went unheard, drowned out by the cheerful, noisy crowds of the Marine amusement park, dissipating with the wind.
On the street outside, a man wearing a wristband was recording his wife. At this moment, his wristband's Lights-out time expired, and it glowed with a conspicuous yellow light.
A ghostly NPC pounced from beside him, pressed on his shoulder, grabbed him, and dragged him towards the nearest "Ghost Cage."
"Big brother, let me record my wife first, okay? Just a moment." The man, somewhat amused and bewildered, patted the ghost's arm that was holding him, trying to move, wanting to return to his previous spot, "You're too dedicated, let me record first—Ehh ah ah ah ah!"
He let out a painful howl.
His shoulder folded back at an unnatural angle; the ghost holding him was strong enough to break his shoulder!
In an instant, all the surrounding tourists froze, their eyes wide with shock.
They hadn't heard wrong, had they? Was this real or fake?
"Hey! What's wrong with you?!" The man's wife, furious, wanted to step forward and argue, pulling out her phone as she spoke. "I'm calling the police!"
She didn't have a wristband on her hand, so the ghost completely ignored her.
After letting out several painful screams just now, the man was almost instantly drenched in cold sweat. He was in too much pain to speak, couldn't even struggle, and was dragged away by the ghostly NPC.
"This is part of the Halloween event's storyline, right? Right?"
"Haha, you scared me, I thought they really broke someone's bone. This fake bone prop is really well done. How did they do it? The broken shoulder is too realistic."
"I thought last year's tumorous eyeballs were awesome enough, but I didn't expect this year's to be even more awesome, adding NPCs to perform storylines among the tourists..."
At this moment, another ghost ran over from the side, pounced at the yellow light in the crowd, and its sharp claws actually plunged directly into a tourist's throat!
That tourist's blood spurted out like an opened bottle of shaken cola. The person next to them screamed and fainted on the spot.
This time, everyone was speechless.
They had just watched with their own eyes as the claws really pierced in!!
The ghost was seen holding the tourist's throat, walking towards a nearby "Ghost Cage," the body dragging a trail of blood on the ground. Another ghost ran over from a nearby path, roared and rushed towards the yellow light of the wristband, extending its long, sharp claws and baring shark-like jagged teeth. It was only then that the tourists realized with alarm that the incredibly realistic special effects makeup they had repeatedly praised seemed to be real.
The tourists' screams rose and fell.
"The Marine amusement park's NPCs are actually killing people!"
"Ah ah ah help! Don't grab me don't grab me—"
"You must be kidding, right?!"
Someone tried to take off their wristband, but strangely, the originally somewhat loose wristband seemed to have subtly shrunk, and they couldn't take it off no matter what.
Chaos, despair, panic, terror... spread rapidly like a virus, filling the once joyful Marine amusement park.
The situation outside was unknown inside the aquarium at this moment.
The few of them were walking through the deep aquarium tunnel. Light, passing through the seawater and marine scenery outside the tunnel, cast shimmering water reflections on them.
Compared to the natural feel of the Underwater Park, this place had more elaborate designs, with colorful fish swimming in schools and diverse marine plants growing by the coral reefs.
They didn't go through each tunnel to admire it; they just randomly picked one and walked to the end.
All tunnels led to a spacious exhibition hall, where the nationally renowned mermaid performance was watched.
Upon entering the exhibition hall, they were met with a giant aquarium opposite. Inside the seawater were stone steps and a small palace, which was precisely the Mermaid Princess's residence. At this moment, the "Mermaid Princess" in the water was clinging to the glass, gazing at them, her hair floating like abundant seaweed in the seawater.
The four walked to the glass, making eye contact with the Mermaid Princess.
After seeing the Mermaid Princess clearly, Bai Xuechao was silent for a moment, then asked: "The Marine amusement park calls this a Mermaid Princess?"
They were bullying him, an out-of-towner who hadn't seen a mermaid performance before, right??
This so-called "Mermaid Princess" had scales growing on her forehead, around her eyes, and on her cheeks. Fish-like gill slits were on both sides of her jaw, and when she "breathed," one could vaguely see the blood-red, neatly connected gill filaments beneath the gill slits. Her ears were two large ear fins, her arms had fins, her fingernails were long and black, and her brown fish tail grew ventral and anal fins.
Honestly, she looked like a grass carp.
"This isn't the usual Mermaid Princess!" Xia Xiaoxi clarified, referring to the beautiful mermaid actress in her memory. "This is a special launch for the Halloween event. Uh, I remember the promotion said it was... a 'Jiaoren' (Merfolk/Mermaid)."
Bai Xuechao: "..."
This thing, a Jiaoren? It was an insult to Jiaoren.
Zhou Chenhao didn't care what this non-human Mermaid Princess, formed by special ability, looked like. He tapped the glass: "Why hasn't the performance started yet?"
"It says here that the Mermaid Princess performs once every hour, and it's still one minute until seven o'clock," Ling Feng said, holding the Sea Kingdom Ticket he had exchanged with three Sea Kingdom Pearls, reading the small print on the back of the ticket, "After the performance, remember to feed the ticket to the princess?"
"Feed?" Zhou Chenhao's expression was confused. He looked up at the height of the aquarium: "Do we have to go inside to feed her?"
As he spoke, the Mermaid Princess in the aquarium began her performance.
Xia Xiaoxi shrugged, smiling teasingly: "Be bolder. The Mermaid Princess comes out to eat."
They watched the mermaid performance together for five minutes.
Five minutes later, Bai Xuechao only wished he could pay a hefty sum for a pair of eyes that had never seen this mermaid performance. What did this Mermaid Princess even perform?
She displayed terrifying teeth, showed off various fins on her body, and demonstrated freshly killing a fish with her sharp claws, then tearing at it with her teeth and eating it raw...
"Bang! Bang!"
The Mermaid Princess began to ram the glass in front of her.
Zhou Chenhao asked: "What is it doing?"
The Mermaid Princess continued to ram the glass, and the glass was already making cracking sounds and developing fissures.
Bai Xuechao raised an eyebrow, asked with a forced smile: "Who just said the Mermaid Princess comes out to eat? Your wish has come true."
As his words fell, the glass exploded with a loud bang, the cracks shattered completely, and seawater rushed into the exhibition hall in a torrent!
The four standing in front of the glass bore the brunt, swept away by the water.
Xia Xiaoxi, wrapped around a pillar in the exhibition hall with vines, cried out in despair: "I was just saying it for fun, how did it actually come true?!"
The water was fierce. Even though they were special ability users—and only Level 3 special ability users at that—they found it difficult to move against such water, only able to prevent themselves from being slammed against the walls.
Bai Xuechao was somewhat glad that he had told the protagonist group he had water special ability. At this moment, he could openly control the water, forming a small water column to lift himself from the surging water, and letting all the water droplets on his body drip back into the water on the floor. He controlled the water current to retrieve the three scattered by the water. Xia Xiaoxi was closest to him and was brought over first by the water current, followed by Ling Feng.
Zhou Chenhao was furthest from him, still en route.
Moreover, Zhou Chenhao had invalidation special ability; special abilities would fail upon contact with his skin. Therefore, when Bai Xuechao controlled the water current to push Zhou Chenhao, he would pretend that after pushing for a certain distance, the water would dissipate due to seeping into his clothes and touching Zhou Chenhao's skin. Then, new water currents would emerge to continue pushing, intermittently, which made the speed relatively slow.
The exhibition hall's giant aquarium was connected to the aquarium tunnel. Countless tons of water were now continuously gushing out from the large, broken hole in the aquarium, like a rapid river. The water flowed out of the exhibition hall. The large doors of the exhibition hall were constantly being pushed by the water and actually closed little by little!
After the large doors closed, hardly any water seeped through the cracks. The entire exhibition hall began frantically accumulating water, becoming a leaky "swimming pool." The exhibition hall quickly accumulated dozens of centimeters of water as if being filled. The Mermaid Princess, carried by the current, rushed into the exhibition hall and swiftly and agilely swam towards the isolated Zhou Chenhao.
Ling Feng suddenly remembered the words he had read on the back of the ticket earlier and loudly warned: "Feed the ticket! Zhou Chenhao, feed the ticket!"
Bai Xuechao was still pondering. If the Mermaid Princess were to grab the water current he was using to transport Zhou Chenhao, given that she was at least a Level 6 special ability product, should he make the water current persistently push Zhou Chenhao back, or should he pretend to be no match for the Mermaid Princess and let the water current completely disperse without reforming?
Hearing Ling Feng's reminder, Zhou Chenhao started patting himself all over. His Qing dynasty official uniform had no pockets, so he naturally found nothing.
He gave a husky-like smile and shouted: "My ticket seems to have fallen into the water!"
Ling Feng and Xia Xiaoxi were both speechless: "..."
Why are you smiling so happily when your ticket fell into the water!!
Bai Xuechao had made up his mind: he would let the water current completely disperse and let Zhou Chenhao face the Mermaid Princess directly. For a male lead, a bit of crisis makes it exciting, and overcoming crises leads to growth. Anyway, he certainly wasn't persecuting the male lead.
Bai Xuechao: manual doge emoji
At the same time, the Mermaid Princess extended her sharp claws and grabbed at the constantly surging water current next to Zhou Chenhao, which was very annoying to her.
The water current splashed "whoosh" like a basin of water being dumped, falling into the already deep water below. Bai Xuechao made a token effort, reforming a water current to push Zhou Chenhao, but it was grabbed and dispersed by the Mermaid Princess as soon as it formed. Only then did he stop reforming it, putting on a show that he actually wanted to help but simply couldn't withstand the Mermaid Princess's attacks.
The Mermaid Princess opened her mouth, revealing two rows of triangular, jagged teeth on both her upper and lower jaws, and savagely bit towards Zhou Chenhao!
Xiao 6 watched this truly thrilling scene, unable to stop himself from shouting in Bai Xuechao's head: "Oh my god, this mermaid is so ugly! Her mouth is only slightly better looking than a lamprey's, right?!"
Zhou Chenhao's movement was obstructed in the still-rushing water.
Facing the Mermaid Princess's biting mouth, he, in a moment of desperation, quickly grabbed the half-wet, half-remaining yellow Talisman paper from his official's hat and stuffed it into the Mermaid Princess's mouth!
In that moment, it seemed as if the entire world fell silent.