Chapter 137 Swamp Forest

"I'll do it."

The young man who spoke was wearing an eye-catching pink shirt and black pants, and his messy blond hair was tied into a small braid at the end today.

He looks sunny and youthful; it's Zuo Chenxing.

Qiao Mei asked in surprise, "Senior Zuo, what brings you here?"

Zuo Chenxing took the box containing the white-faced insect from Shu Qingqing's hand, and without any fear, he held the plump insect in his hand, forcing it to emit a fragrance that only birds could smell.

He then touched his nose with his free left hand and explained, "Because of my health and work, I didn't get to attend many classes at the college before. So this year, after I got better, I planned to come and audit classes when I didn't have any to make up for the credits. It just so happens that this class is only for you freshmen today, so I came."

Shu Qingqing suppressed her reddened ears, recalling the burning sensation of Zuo Chenxing's fingers touching hers when he took the box from her earlier, and her face flushed even more.

There was an empty seat next to Shang Duojin, so Qiao Mei wisely stood up and let Zuo Chenxing sit in her seat, while she sat next to Shang Duojin.

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate? Weren't you guys having a great time?"

Zuo Chenxing didn't sit down immediately. After asking this question, Shu Qingqing's familiar beast Huo Huo was finally summoned by the fragrance of the white-faced insect.

"You're having a great time, but in this situation, it's obviously better for you to sit next to Qingqing, since the white worm still needs your help to put it in."

Qiao Mei's reason was honestly a bit clumsy, but Zuo Chenxing was a carefree person, so he didn't think much of it, nodded, and then plopped down to Shu Qingqing's left.

Then the white-faced worms were put back into the box.

All of this was taken in by Si Ming, who was still sitting behind Shu Qingqing, and her face could no longer be described as dark and gloomy.

Qiao Mei glanced at it, muttered "serves him right" in her mind, and then activated the connection device she and Ao Cang were wearing, and started reading the instruction manual.

The instruction manual lists in detail some of the scenarios where Awakened Ones and their Familiars might be deployed.

Due to technical limitations, the virtual environment you enter is not in online mode, meaning multiple people cannot interact simultaneously; it is in single-player mode.

After the class bell rang, the teacher gave a brief explanation of some difficulties that might be encountered in the virtual scene, as well as how to exit the virtual scene in an emergency.

That wasn't all. They just said that since it was the first lesson, they should choose the beginner level for the virtual scenarios they entered.

As for students like Zuo Chenxing, who are in their third year of university, they chose the intermediate mode.

When Qiao Mei opened the beginner mode and blindly selected a scene, her entire consciousness was thrown into a jungle along with Ao Cang.

Immediately afterwards, a beginner's guide appeared, which also introduced the details of the scene.

According to the system description, this is a swamp forest scene with a beginner level difficulty.

The swamp forest is full of invisible swamps, and you never know when you might step into one.

There are two requirements for exiting the scene. One is that the awakened one and their familiar must reach the other end of the swamp forest within half an hour to complete the level.

Another rule is that when completing the game, both players' health bars cannot be lower than 20%.

When Qiao Mei looked up, she realized that there was a green health bar above her head with a status of 100%.

Looking down again, she saw that the little black dragon wrapped around her neck was the same as her, but its health bar was blue.

[Friendly reminder: The main purpose of this scenario is to help Awakened Ones and their Familiars train their teamwork. Therefore, to successfully complete the scenario, teamwork and division of labor will increase your success rate and speed.]

Qiao Mei looked at the prompt box and then glanced at the dense jungle ahead. She still didn't quite understand what kind of division of labor and cooperation she and Ao Cang needed to do in this situation.

Why doesn't she just wrap his dragon body around her neck and take him out?

In swampy areas, water can be evaporated by electrifying it.

So Qiao Mei decided to use her lightning retinue to clear out the water inside.

As she was thinking this, she felt as if the trees around her had begun to move slowly.

After looking around, I realized that the ground, the forests, and the swamps were constantly changing.

For example, she had just evaporated the water in the left half of the swamp with her lightning companions when she saw several new swamps rapidly approaching her to the right and behind her.

She was already quite skilled at using her familiar's superpowers, but even with that skill, she couldn't drain the water from two swamps at the same time.

It was only then that she understood the purpose of having her familiars come along.

She looked down at the little black dragon, whose expression had become serious, and instructed him, "Cangcang, the swamp behind us is yours now!"

This was the first time in all the time Ao Cang had followed Qiao Mei that Qiao Mei had asked him to do something for her.

The dragon became energetic and full of fighting spirit.

As they continued deeper into the swamp forest, Qiao Mei didn't even need to say anything; she would proactively share the burden with her.

And each time, the man and the dragon would instinctively choose different swamps.

This resulted in them getting an S rating and leaving the swamp forest in less than 20 minutes, instead of the usual 30 minutes.

Entering the simulation scene requires a lot of mental energy, and both Qiao Mei and Ao Cang felt slightly dizzy after they came out.

The teacher, who was sitting on the podium and monitoring all the students' situations in real time, had been paying attention to Qiao Mei and Ao Cang's situation since early morning.

They discovered that both the human and the beast were very intelligent, knowing to start from the root and drain the swamp, and they could cooperate with each other with an unexpectedly high level of tacit understanding, with a satisfied smile always on their lips.

After seeing the man and the dragon remove the connector, he patted Qiao Mei on the shoulder and told her to take Ao Cang outside to get some fresh air and drink some recovery fluid.

In order to prevent the machines in the simulated scene from being exposed to natural light and to avoid interference with a type of starstone element that makes up the machines, the entire classroom is windowless.

It can get a bit stuffy staying inside for a long time.

Qiao Mei was feeling a bit dizzy, but she didn't refuse. She used her personal terminal to send a message in the Three Sworn Brothers group, explaining the situation, and then took Ao Cang out.

There are public benches for resting on the outdoor balcony.

Qiao Mei sat down but didn't rush to drink the recovery fluid herself. Instead, she helped Ao Cang open his portion and carefully fed him.

She had just finished feeding him his portion and hadn't even had time to drink her own when her smart bracelet vibrated.

When I opened it, it was a message from Gan Gan.

GanGan: [Do you know the game "Star Monster"?]

“Star Monster…” Qiao Mei unscrewed the bottle of recovery fluid, blew into it, and drank it before replying to him.

[I know, what's wrong?]

GanGan: [So, do you have any ideas on how to earn some extra money? Star Monster is about to hold a nationwide professional league.]

GanGan: The money-giving expert is back in action!