The torrential rain lasted for a day and a night, and it still hadn't stopped by noon on the tenth day.

The internet connection was intermittent, so Sher kept watching the TV to listen to the sound.

"The heavy rain has caused flooding in the eastern region. Relevant departments are actively dealing with the situation. Before the water level recedes, please try not to go out to avoid injury and infection."

She changed the channel and found that, apart from Azure Island TV, all the others were just static.

The reason I didn't change the channel before the news broke was because I could only watch the news.

Schech pressed the remote control and changed the channel back. The TV now featured a different on-location presenter, wearing a raincoat and with her hair flying wildly in the wind.

The background is yellowish-gray dirty water with lots of garbage floating on it. Rescue teams are delivering biscuits and water to residents in the buildings on both sides in inflatable boats.

The photographer gave a close-up shot of the female host in the lower left corner of the image.

It was a golden water hound tied to a tree. The waterline was high, and it kept swimming in circles around the tree, its head occasionally sinking into the water, clearly exhausted.

A team member wearing a life jacket jumped into the water, swam over, untied the dog's rope, and lifted it onto the speedboat.

"The deepest water level in the eastern region has exceeded 1.8 meters. Those trapped should not go out. We will deliver food and drinking water."

The female host, holding the hood of her raincoat, said, "In addition, starting at 2 p.m., disaster relief supplies will be distributed in the following areas in the western region. Please take precautions and collect them in an orderly manner."

Sher turned to Shi Jinzhe, who was preparing self-heating rice, and asked, "Would you like one? I just saw the Blue Ocean Company logo on the water bottles being distributed."

"Leader," Shi Jin turned his back to the TV, occasionally glancing back at it.

He mentally located the nearest place to the apartment and said, "I'll go pick it up this afternoon."

After lunch, Shi Jinzhe took the props and went to room 504 to put on a disposable protective suit, goggles, and two masks.

He instructed Shekh, "My outfit is very conspicuous; players will definitely notice me. You need to guard this place well."

Danger has officially emerged, and players and native inhabitants of the instance world will soon be distinguished; exposure is only a matter of time.

He would have been more cautious in the past, but with Sheikh here, he felt he could be bolder.

"Here, take this." The small venomous snake emerged from Shekh's sleeve.

The snake twisted its body as it climbed up, slipped into the tightly bound sleeve of his protective suit, and landed in the right pocket of the garment.

Shi Jin, his body stiff, said thank you.

"You're welcome. Protect its safety, and don't come back if it gets hurt."

As time drew to a close, he thought to himself that the probability of him getting hurt was much higher than that of the snake.

.

The western highlands have not yet been flooded, but some low-lying areas have accumulated water, making the roads difficult to travel.

When Shi Jinzhe arrived at the collection point, a large crowd had already gathered there, some dressed even more extravagantly than him.

I don't know if this is a resident with a high sense of crisis or a player who is rather "high-profile and flamboyant".

When it was his turn, the team members in the car glanced at Shi Jinzhe's stiff, supportive right arm and asked, "Do you have no one else at home? You just had your splint removed, how can you carry all this?"

"Can... I have it?"

Amidst the skeptical looks of his teammates, he took a case of water and four packs of instant noodles with one hand.

Nothing seemed amiss on the way back, and Shi Jinzhe returned safely to his apartment.

The security door to 504 was opened from the inside. After going in, he took a lighter and burned the protective suit, then disinfected the entire suit before closing the door and returning to 505.

The little snake crawled out of his pocket, found a place to curl up and sleep.

Shi Jinzhe asked Shehe, "You just opened the door with your snake tail, do you need to disinfect it?"

“It wasn’t me,” Shekh said, lying on the bed and pointing to the ceiling. “Little Black was up there, it turned it on.”

"Little Black...?"

"It's the little black snake from that day."

For a moment, Shi Jinzhe doubted the meaning of life. Could she be talking about the giant black python that fell from the ceiling and knocked someone down that day?

He politely inquired, "How long has it been here?"

"It's always been here, but it doesn't like people, so it just wants to stay in the ceiling."

Shi Jinzhe breathed a sigh of relief, feeling extremely grateful. Fortunately, this snake didn't like people, otherwise he would have been at the very bottom of the food chain in the entire room.

He held up the instant noodles and water he had brought back, saying, "Smell it and see if there's anything special about it."

Shekh opened a packet of instant noodles, sniffed the opening, and said, "This is normal, no problem."

After inspecting the instant noodles, she unscrewed a bottle of water, smelled it for a few seconds, then brought the bottle opening closer to herself, constantly flicking her tongue.

Shekh tilted his head slightly, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "Didn't you say seawater is undrinkable? It tastes like seawater here, and there's also a very faint fishy smell."

"With seawater desalination technology, the water can be separated into pure water that is safe to drink."

"So Azure used seawater desalination, and that water is no different from diluted poison."

“It should be.” Shi Jinzhe took the water away. “And given the level of security at Azure, I’m inclined to believe they knew about this on purpose.”

He walked to the window, took out his binoculars, and said, "Let's wait a few more days. There are quite a few inexperienced players in this game, and they will be impatient and go out to explore on their own."

Shekh nodded in agreement.

at night.

The heavy rain stopped, and footsteps echoed in the silent stairwell.

Shekh opened her eyes and listened for a while. The footsteps were very light, and she had some difficulty hearing them.

After trying to make out the situation for a few minutes, Sheh discovered that the person had gone up to the sixth floor. She instructed Xiao Hei to check the situation, and then fell asleep again.

The next morning, she told Shi Jinzhe about it.

"They probably used props. They were two very strong men with a dog. Only props could do that so silently."

Upon hearing this, Shi Jinzhe said, "It seems that you are a player who, like us, chose to observe the Azure Sky from here."

These veteran players are not easily fooled. Everyone can smell the fishy stench now. With the rain and the spread of mosquitoes, the possibility of a snake infestation is eliminated.

"Let's eat first. If they haven't done anything, let's be on guard."

"good."

While eating breakfast, Shekh was still sitting by the window counting people. "A few fewer people didn't go out today."

"Even in this situation, they still have to go to work. These people have it tough too."

"Working people at the bottom of society".

Shi Jinzhe laughed: "Where did you learn this word? I didn't teach you it."

“He said it himself.” Shekh gestured with his chin towards the outside. “Look at that guy downstairs with the rash, that’s the one he mentioned.”

Looking down, the man was carrying a bottle of water that Azure had given him yesterday, and he was scratching his body as he walked.

He wanted to take a closer look, but a rope appeared in the corner of his eye.

A cage with a small dog inside was hanging from a rope dangling from the sixth floor.

As the rope descended, the two realized that the water bottle on the dog cage's water dispenser was the desalinated drinking water from the blue-haired dog.

The dog cage was placed downstairs without any protection, completely exposed to the air.

The little dog inside was trembling, licking the water bottle, and after it finished drinking, it went to lick the rainwater in the puddle.

"It's the puppy that those two men brought." Shekh thought of the golden retriever that had been rescued yesterday. Compared to the puppy that the players used for experiments, the golden retriever was much luckier.

Downstairs, a young man walking out of the apartment building passed by the dog cage, intending to tease the puppy. Unexpectedly, the dog in the cage let out a low growl and pounced on the dog, knocking over the cage.

Shekh regretfully withdrew his hand. The dog wasn't very big, and it had drunk so much water. The attack happened too quickly; there was no hope.

Shi Jinzhe sat opposite her, quietly watching her: "Compared to the natives, we players might really not be any good."

"As long as you're willing to bear the consequences of selfishness and self-interest."

Shekh turned his head and looked at him: "Actually, the fact that you can think like this is already better than many humans."