Chapter 167

Tang Yu'an looked at the door that led to nowhere, then turned back to look at Zhou Qi.

"Brother Xiaoqi, do you want to go in and take a look?"

Anyway, the daily tasks have been completed, and now it’s free time.

Zhou Qi stared at the secret door, feeling the desire rising in his heart. He walked over involuntarily and put his hand on the secret door.

He pushed hard, and the stone door slowly turned, revealing a dark passage behind it that led to an unknown destination.

Seeing him walk in directly, Tang Yu'an quickly reached out to hold him, took out an umbrella and a small flashlight, and smeared the mucus of mutant mushrooms under the noses of both of them. Then he and Zhou Qi walked into the passage.

Because they had never set foot here, the map was shrouded in fog and could not guide them.

The road under my feet is relatively flat, and I can kick up one or two stones from time to time.

Tang Yu'an walked cautiously, but Zhou Qi, who was always cautious, kept walking forward, giving a feeling of boldness.

"Brother Xiaoqi, wait a minute!"

Because the sound was blocked by the umbrella, Tang Yu'an did not control the volume. He pulled Zhou Qi and finally realized that something seemed to be wrong with him.

"What's wrong with you? Why haven't you spoken?"

Tang Yu'an grabbed Zhou Qi's shoulders, shook him hard, and shone a small flashlight on him, and saw the red light appear in his eyes.

It's that parasite again!

Because it hadn't happened for a long time, he almost forgot about it. Maybe that was why Xiaoqi accidentally lost his vigilance and was controlled.

"Brother Xiaoqi, wake up!"

At Tang Yu'an's call, Zhou Qi frowned, and he seemed to be trying his best to resist.

Then he squatted down with his head in his hands, his facial features wrinkled, and sweat quickly seeped out and slid down his forehead.

Seeing his painful appearance, Tang Yu'an was extremely anxious, but he didn't know how to help him. He could only reach out and hug Zhou Qi, holding his arms tightly.

The boy's arms, which were not very strong, gave the helpless Zhou Qi the most powerful support.

Zhou Qi's trembling body slowly calmed down.

The consciousness that tried to control his body was suppressed again.

He slowly raised his head, and the faint light from the small flashlight allowed him to see Tang Yu'an's eyes staring at him nervously.

"Brother Xiaoqi, what's wrong with you?" Tang Yu'an asked him cautiously, "Does your head still hurt? Is that parasite causing trouble again?"

"Yeah, it's okay."

Zhou Qi responded, wiped the sweat from his forehead, stood up as if nothing had happened, and said, "Let's go back."

Although we don’t know why the parasite is eager to enter here, and what is attracting it here, the more it wants it, the more we cannot let it succeed.

Zhou Qi suppressed the desire in his heart and just wanted to leave here quickly.

He hates the feeling of being manipulated!

"Oh, okay."

Although he was still worried about his condition, the passage was pitch black, and Tang Yu'an felt that he should leave here first.

He took the initiative to hold Zhou Qi's hand, and felt his palms were sweaty, which made him feel more distressed and guilty.

If he hadn't caught a cold and fallen ill, and Xiaoqi had gone out alone to change his medicine, he might not have been injured, let alone infected...

In the darkness, Zhou Qi picked up the small flashlight and pulled Tang Yu'an back, but just as he took a step -

“Crash!”

Tang Yu'an felt his body being pulled suddenly, and he and Zhou Qi rolled down a landslide.

I didn’t notice such a landslide when I came here just now!

After sliding down for a while, Tang Yu'an cried out and finally fell on Zhou Qi, and the two of them piled up on top of each other like a pile of monks.

And the darkness around them receded.

Tang Yu'an endured the pain and opened his eyes, only to find that they had fallen into a cave surrounded by many glowing stones.

Although the light was dim, there were enough of them that I could still see the surrounding scenery clearly.

Shortly after they fell, the shadow umbrella also hurriedly flew down from the gentle slope. After discovering Tang Yu'an, it calmly floated above his head and continued to cover him and Zhou Qi's figures.

"Are you hurt?"

When Zhou Qi's voice sounded, Tang Yu'an remembered that he was still on top of him and quickly got up.

He checked his body and shook his head, "I'm fine."

Apart from some scrapes and bruises, he didn't break any bones. He looked at Zhou Qi and asked, "How about you?"

Zhou Qi also shook his head, pulled Tang Yu'an to stand up, and then looked at the landslide.

"Using the Light Body Technique should..."

Before he finished speaking, his face suddenly changed. He quickly jumped back while holding Tang Yu'an, and then the two machetes flew out under his control.

I saw a mutant spider rushing down the landslide quickly. As soon as it spit out spider silk, it was hit by Zhou Qi's machete and nailed to the rock.

The sticky liquid burst out, emitting a foul smell.

This is a dark green spider. It seems that it escaped from the deserted city and hid in the Giant Peak Mountain.

Seeing the dark green spider waving its long legs, although it was nailed but not completely dead, Tang Yu'an released a wind blade at it.

Three wind blades flew out, one hit the dark green spider's wound, forcing more mucus to flow out, one hit the spider's leg, and one hit the rock.

The spider's legs were unharmed, but a few pieces of rock did break off.

It seems that the power of the wind blade is still a little weak when dealing with mutant creatures. I wonder if it will be more powerful after future upgrades.

Tang Yu'an curled his lips and watched the dark green spider's breath gradually weaken and finally become motionless.

Zhou Qi took back the two machetes and put them into his personal warehouse, while Tang Yu'an used his telekinesis skill to transfer the dark green spider's body back to the main store warehouse.

The main store warehouse now has variable temperature air conditioning, which can prevent the spider corpses from rotting so quickly.

Tang Yu'an looked at the landslide, then looked at Zhou Qi, "Should we still climb up? It seems a bit dangerous."

There are probably other entrances along the landslide, and I don't know if one or two mutant creatures will suddenly appear.

Zhou Qi looked towards the cave and said helplessly, "Let's see if there is another exit."

"good!"

Tang Yu'an opened the map. Hongli had entered the cave before and cleared away some of the fog. Perhaps they could go in the direction she had explored.

But soon, he let out a light "eh".

"What's wrong?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Sister Hongli has also entered the cave." Tang Yu'an scratched his head and said, "Should we avoid her? Or go find her?"

Actually, even if they ran into her, it wouldn't matter, right? They could have stumbled into the cave while hunting in the mountains. Judging from her condition, she was probably clearing out the mutant creatures in the mountain's belly.

Zhou Qi frowned, thought for a moment and said, "Let's see."

Unfortunately, after searching the cave, they only found one exit, which obviously led to the red carp side.

Zhou Qi sighed, "Let's go and meet her."

Tang Yu'an followed him closely, holding the umbrella and whispering, "Brother Xiaoqi, if you're worried about any problems, we can just stay hidden under the umbrella."

As long as you can find an exit to leave here, you don't necessarily have to meet the red carp.

Zhou Qi hummed and nodded.

The inexplicable desire in his body also disappeared. There shouldn't be any problem...

The passage was filled with glowing stones, and there was a map indicating the presence of dangerous creatures, so they were not so tense.

Because he was a little bored, Tang Yu'an casually said, "Brother Xiaoqi, is our birthday coming soon?"

Their birthdays are both December 26th, the difference is that one follows the lunar calendar and the other follows the national calendar.

But because Zhou Qi's parents originally registered his birthday according to the lunar calendar, the birthdays on their ID cards are both December 26th.

When he was little, Tang Yu'an was very naughty. Even though his birthday had already passed, he would still use Zhou Qi's excuse to ask his parents to celebrate his birthday again.

No matter how you calculate, his lunar birthday couldn't be the same day as Zhou Qi's, but he took advantage of his young age and said he didn't understand, and then many times he cheated and got the second cake and gift.

Thinking back to the past, Zhou Qi couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

When he was a child, his family was poor, and his grandmother would only make him a birthday bun on his birthday. It was only after An An knew this that he insisted on celebrating his birthday with him.

Uncle Tang and the others couldn't do anything with An An, so they would end up buying another cake and letting An An share it with him.

Although it is not ruled out that the little greedy cat just wanted to eat it and used him as an excuse to cheat, Zhou Qi will always remember the warmth he felt at that time.

"Yeah, my birthday is coming up."

Although the time and seasons in this world are quite chaotic, Zhou Qi has an electronic watch that displays the date.

An An's birthday is just over ten days away.

"I'm going to be 13 soon!" Tang Yu'an chuckled. According to the lunar age, he will be 15 after the New Year.

He suddenly paused, glanced at Zhou Qi next to him, and couldn't help but curl his lips.

In less than two months, Xiaoqi Ge will also have his birthday, and he will be 16 years old then. He will never be able to catch up with him in terms of age.

Tang Yu'an looked at the heights of the two again. Fortunately, he had grown fast recently and was not left behind by Xiao Qi.

Zhou Qi didn't know that he was secretly competing with him. He was thinking about whether it was possible to make a cake for An An on his birthday this year.

Although I don’t have an oven, I can make it in a rice cooker. But without butter, it still feels a little off…

At this moment, the two of them stopped together.

“Ahhhh—”

They vaguely heard a woman's screams, the voice was very familiar, it seemed to be Hongli's.

The two looked at each other, quickly collected their thoughts, and then ran quickly forward.

The passage twisted and turned, and soon it reached the end, and their view in front of them became wide again.

In the light emitted by the fluorescent rock, they saw the figure of the red carp.

The corpses of several mutant creatures were lying around her. It was obvious that she had just experienced a fierce battle and the scene was in a mess. These mutant creatures did not gain any benefit from her.

However, the situation of red carp does not seem to be much better.

She was constantly throwing flames around, lighting up the cave in a fiery red.

Her attacks were completely disorganized. Even though there were no living mutants around her, she continued to throw flames and howl in pain.

Just as Tang Yu'an was thinking about how to help her, his eyes suddenly widened as he looked at Hongli.

The firelight cast Hongli's figure on the rock wall. Her thin figure gradually grew taller and bigger, and finally her clothes were torn apart, turning into the shadow of a giant snake.

It's a fire snake!

Tang Yu'an covered his mouth in surprise. Even with the umbrella, he was afraid that he would accidentally make a sound and be heard. However...

"Brother Xiaoqi, what are you doing!"

Zhou Qi, who was standing beside him, suddenly moved forward, leaving the range of the shadow umbrella and walked directly towards the fire snake.

The fire snake soon discovered him, and its pair of blood-red snake eyes looked at him coldly, while flames spewed out of its mouth.

Zhou Qi walked straight towards it as if he couldn't feel the flames.

"Brother Xiaoqi!"

Tang Yu'an wanted to stop him, but when the flames came, he had to jump back.

The shadow umbrella can only cover his tracks, but cannot resist the attack, not to mention that the fire snake's flames are poisonous!

Tang Yu'an still clearly remembered the miserable appearance of A-Lian and the husband of the proprietress of Meiyu Pavilion after they were corroded by the fire poison.

He looked at the flames separating him and Zhou Qi, and couldn't help feeling anxious.

Although I don’t know why Hongli turned into a snake, I absolutely cannot let her hurt Brother Xiaoqi!

Tang Yu'an hesitated for a moment, then took out a slingshot from his personal storage.

He was now too far away from the fire snake, beyond the range of the remote placement skill, so he could only rely on the slingshot to shoot the marbles over!

Of course, even hitting a giant snake with this range is probably difficult, so...

He cast the lightness technique on the unlucky marble!

"call out!"

The marble flew out like this, but Tang Yu'an did not relax. He actually controlled the wind force on the marble, allowing it to fly faster and farther.

Finally, the unlucky marble hit the fire snake's head.

The fire snake's body paused, and it looked in the direction of Tang Yu'an, then spewed out flames again.

Zhou Qi walked in the flames.

His flesh and blood were burned beyond recognition by the flames, but healed and regenerated at an astonishing speed.

He seemed to feel no pain, and his eyes flashed with bloodthirsty greed as he stared at the fire snake.

The fire snake was furious at his approach. Seeing that its flames couldn't hurt Zhou Qi, it swung its tail towards him, but...

The snake's tail suddenly got tied in a knot in mid-air.

Before it could hit Zhou Qi, the young man hugged it and then opened his mouth and bit the snake.

The fire snake suddenly began to struggle in panic. Although Zhou Qi was so weak compared to it, its eyes were full of fear.

No matter how it struggled, it could not break free from Zhou Qi's hands, which were extremely small compared to it.

Soon, a dazzling light appeared at the location of the snake's head, and it looked like a wriggling worm, its entire body was fiery red.

It kept twisting and struggling, but seemed to be pulled by some special force, moving from the snake's head downwards.

When it was about to reach the tail of the fire snake, it suddenly jumped out of its body.

Zhou Qi also let go of the fire snake, reached out and grabbed the fiery red insect body, stuffed it directly into his mouth, and swallowed it into his stomach.

At the moment the red worm left the body, the huge body of the fire snake had quickly shrunk and turned back into a red carp. She fainted on the ground, unconscious.

Tang Yu'an saw everything that was happening in front of him clearly.

What's going on?

When did Brother Xiaoqi become so strong? And... he ate the red carp's parasite?

Seeing that the flames in the sky were weakening as the red carp recovered, Tang Yu'an quickly cast the flying spell on himself and flew towards Zhou.

After eating the bloodworms, Zhou Qi also fainted on the ground.

The burns on his body had quickly scabbed over and healed, and apart from his clothes being burned, he looked fine.

Tang Yu'an quickly took out clothes and wrapped him up. He wanted to cry, but tried hard to hold it back.

He was terrified by what had just happened. The sight of Zhou Qi walking in flames with his whole body on fire would definitely become his nightmare.

At this time, there was movement from the red carp again.

Tang Yu'an was startled and quickly carried Zhou Qi on his back, then grabbed the umbrella and flew back the way he came.

He didn't care about anything else at all. He just wanted to take Zhou Qi away from here as soon as possible and take him back to a safe place.

Because he was flying too fast, the shadow umbrella became a burden, so he put it into his personal storage.

He carried Zhou Qi on his back and climbed up the slope where he had fallen before.

There were indeed several passages in the middle of the landslide, but the mutant creatures in those passages all ran away when Tang Yu'an approached.

Tang Yu'an did not encounter any danger again, and with the help of the map he finally found the entrance to the passage where they fell.

After entering the secret door, he didn't bother to close it - the store was closed anyway, and there was a protective barrier, so even if someone discovered this passage, they couldn't get in.

With a flash of light, Tang Yu'an brought Zhou Qi to the transmission room of Store No. 1.

He put Zhou Qi in the living room, and just as he let go, Zhou Qi opened his eyes.

"Brother Xiaoqi, how do you feel? Are you okay?" Looking at his dark eyes, knowing that he had recovered, Tang Yu'an asked quickly.

Zhou Qi didn't answer. He took out some low-temperature cloth and wrapped himself up.

However, this seemed of little use to him.

Tang Yu'an saw that his face was getting redder and redder, and sweat was constantly coming out of his forehead.

He was sweating profusely, his hair was wet, but the sweat quickly evaporated.

Tang Yu'an was extremely anxious. He remembered something and quickly glanced at Zhou Qi's panel, only to see that his status bar had changed.

Status: Early stage of parasitism (spiritual insect engulfment)

A spirit insect devouring a body? Could this spirit insect be a parasite? Did Brother Xiaoqi suffer a backlash?

"ah!"

Zhou Qi suddenly howled in pain, and the cryogenic cloth on his body began to burn with flames and soon turned into ashes!

His skin was also burned by the flames, but it healed and regenerated quickly, and he was no longer afraid of flames.

He no longer seemed to feel no pain like before. He lay on the ground wailing and rolling, constantly calling for grandma. Seeing this, Tang Yu'an also started crying.

Amidst the scorching flames, Zhou Qi reached out and grabbed a refrigerator directly from the 10th floor. When his hands touched the refrigerator, the special effect of "the hotter the colder" was immediately triggered.

The gray-blue freezer was running frantically, constantly absorbing heat and releasing cold air.

Tang Yu'an had to put on his hat. Despite this, the cold air continued to penetrate his body through the gaps in his clothes, making him shiver all over.

Zhou Qi's eyes were red, and his dark pupils had turned blood red, as if he had once again lost his mind.

“Uhhhhh—”

He howled in pain, his face filled with the heat of the burning sensation in his body not subsiding despite the increasing cold.

The gray-blue freezer was running at its maximum capacity, and with a bang, a few wisps of green smoke came out, and it was actually scrapped!

Zhou Qi did not get a new freezer.

He turned around and rushed out of the window like a madman!

This is the ninth floor!

Tang Yu'an was so frightened that he quickly chased after him and jumped off the building.

"thump--"

Zhou Qi did not fall into the yard, but jumped into the flood. The water surface suddenly began to bubble and even boil.

Soon, the scalded creature floated to the surface with its belly turned upside down.

"Brother Xiaoqi!"

Tang Yu'an was flying in the sky, and in the steaming hot air, he couldn't see Zhou Qi's figure at all.

However, the bubbles extending all the way on the water surface still gave him guidance, and the light spots on the map also gave him instructions.

Tang Yu'an quickly chased after him.

They were rapidly approaching the center of the deserted city.

Finally, Tang Yu'an saw the bubbles gurgling on the water surface disappear, but the light spot belonging to Zhou Qi was still moving quickly and did not stop.

Tang Yu'an's face turned pale. He called out to Zhou Qi, but received no response.

Could it be that Brother Xiaoqi has lost consciousness?

If you don't save him, he'll drown!

Tang Yu'an remembered something and quickly opened the plane store and spent 10,000 points to buy a bottle of underwater breathing potion he had seen before.

The medicine was contained in a soft bottle that would break with a slight bite.

Tang Yu'an quickly sucked out the medicine and swallowed it, then rushed directly into the water.

The cold water rushed towards him, and Tang Yu'an closed his mouth tightly and did not dare to breathe through his nose, but he did not feel any suffocation.

On both sides of his neck, openings like gills seemed to have grown, allowing him to breathe oxygen even in water.

When he came into the water, he discovered the turbulent undercurrent that was carrying him forward.

Tang Yu'an couldn't see clearly what was in the water, but fortunately he had a map, which allowed him to see that the distance between him and Zhou Qi was getting closer and closer.

Many red dots appeared around, but Tang Yu'an didn't care about them at all.

His only thought now was to get to Zhou Qi.

Catch him! Save him!

Tang Yu'an didn't know that there were two figures chasing him from behind.

When he rushed out of Store No. 1, Yuanbao and Black Pearl were the first to notice the situation, and then they both chased him out at the same time.

Those red dots that tried to approach Tang Yu'an were blocked by them.

Tang Yu'an swam non-stop, trying to avoid obstacles. The light underwater was very dim, and he could only rely on the light spots on the map to determine the direction, so that he could get closer and closer to Zhou Qi...

You must hold on!

The only thing that comforted him now was that the light spot representing Zhou Qi on the map had not disappeared, and he was still alive.

Faster...faster...

As time passed, tears appeared in Tang Yu'an's eyes, and then disappeared into the water.

When he felt desperate, he saw a hazy figure.

It's Zhou Qi! It's him!

Tang Yu'an swam vigorously, but he found that his swimming speed was getting slower and slower. He was so tired... His limbs were almost powerless...

Who can help him...

Who can save Xiaoqi brother...

At this moment, the green vine that had been wrapped around Tang Yu'an's hair emitted a faint fluorescence and then began to grow rapidly!

-

Zhou Qi felt groggy and his body felt like it was in a furnace, then in boiling water.

He was drifting up and down, completely out of control.

The pain of suffocation slowly came over him, and he felt like he had fallen into a dark abyss, with everything in the past flashing before his eyes.

A dozen years of life is neither long nor short.

Those who appeared in his life appeared one by one, and then shattered and disappeared one by one.

His parents were gone, forever frozen in the family photo, and his grandmother, who had been holding his hand as they crossed the alley, also stopped at the intersection...

He was alone and could only walk forward, heading straight into the darkness...

Zhou Qi’s consciousness was getting weaker and weaker.

He seemed to be dying.

How could it be so sudden? He was obviously still thinking about his birthday coming up... An An likes to eat cake, but there is no cream at home...

Yeah, where is An An?

As his consciousness was about to fade away, Zhou Qi seemed to hear someone calling him, who is it... who is it...

He struggled to open his eyes and saw the young man swimming towards him in the murky water.

It’s An An.

All the scenery has become blurred, only the figure of the young man swimming towards him desperately is clear, and the light is concentrated on him, as if to tear the darkness apart.

He saw a green vine growing rapidly, first wrapping around the boy's waist, and then the other end pierced through the heavy water curtain and rushed towards him.

Zhou Qi felt his body tighten.

The vines connected the two teenagers and wrapped around them, quickly closing the distance between them.

The boy stretched out his hand toward him, his beautiful eyes filled with eagerness and pleading.

Zhou Qi also tried hard to stretch out his hand.

Finally, their fingertips touched, and then they held each other's fingers.

Tang Yu'an hugged Zhou Qi.

Seeing that Zhou Qi had closed his eyes again, Tang Yu'an didn't care about anything else. He quickly opened the plane mall and spent another 10,000 points to buy underwater breathing potion.

Then squeeze the medicine bottle into your mouth, bite the sealed bottle mouth, and suck all the medicine into your mouth.

Then he held Zhou Qi's head and fed him the underwater breathing potion.

His lips were frozen cold by the water, but Zhou Qi's lips were burning hot. It seemed that the spiritual insect had not stopped eroding him.

Open your mouth quickly...

Take the medicine quickly...

Don't die, don't die...

Tang Yu'an kept squeezing Zhou Qi's lips, trying to pry his mouth open, and tears kept coming out of her eyes in anxiety.

Finally, he felt the two lips that he had pressed tightly against each other move, and his clenched teeth opened.

He couldn't help but feel happy and quickly opened his mouth to pass the potion to Zhou Qi.

Perhaps driven by the instinct of survival, Zhou Qi began to swallow unconsciously, slowly and hard.

Great... I finally drank the medicine!

When the two separated, Tang Yu'an saw Zhou Qi opened his eyes again. Although his pupils were still red, his mind had returned to clarity.

He just stared at him blankly, his expression a little dull.

Tang Yu'an couldn't help but worry again. Brother Xiaoqi wouldn't be deprived of oxygen for too long, and his brain would become stupid, right?

The author has something to say:

Xiaoqi: I, An An and I... kissed?

Anzai: [question mark] Is Brother Xiaoqi stupid?