117

The seaside town is located in a hot spot on the mission heat map. New missions are refreshed every minute in the mission hall. There don't seem to be many players in this area, so there are relatively few competitors for missions. Simple and easy-to-complete missions can also be left for a longer time.

Tao Sai rushed to complete missions like crazy, and once again experienced the joy of being a hard-working person.

As for physical tasks such as long-distance running, short-distance running, high jump, long jump, and weightlifting, she grabbed them and completed them in seconds; as for tasks such as increasing a certain attribute point to a certain point, because she had added enough points before, she didn't even have to do it and completed them in seconds.

With the magical skill of [deep sleep], she only needs to sleep 4 hours every night. 4 hours of deep sleep is enough for the body.

She set the alarm and made her daily routine regular.

4:00-4:15 Get up, wash up, and drink nutrient solution

4:15-6:15 Beach Run

6:15-8:15 Open the illusion and beat up He Zhaonian and four others

8:15-18:00: Crazy about completing tasks during the day, taking time to drink nutrient solution

18:00-20:00 Beach Running

20:00-22:00 Open the illusion and beat up He Zhaonian and four others

22:00-24:00 Open the illusion, no consumption and zero cooldown to practice combination skills

24:00-4:00 Deep sleep

Because the intensity of each day was very high, He Zhaonian and the others did not have any [deep sleep] and had to ensure 8 hours of sleep. Therefore, they had to go to bed at 10 o'clock every night and get up at 6 o'clock the next morning, just in time for Tao Sai to come back from his morning run and take them into the illusion to get beaten.

Tao Sai truly experienced the happiness of being in good health. She could use her legs freely and move freely. There was nothing more comfortable than working up a sweat and then taking a shower.

At the end of each day, I am so tired that my legs are trembling and my lungs are aching, but I feel extremely fulfilled. Then I take a deep sleep and wake up the next day to find that all the fatigue is gone. I feel so refreshed.

She is making progress every day, and every day is better than the day before. Tao Sai's most intuitive feeling is that her "drinking capacity" has decreased again.

She was adapting better and better to her attribute points. She could walk, run, and even use the "gravity slingshot" to leap forward, and she could maintain her center of gravity and not fall. And even if she fell, it didn't matter. Her reflexes allowed her to reach out and support herself before she fell.

Now it's probably just like drinking a pound of wine, beer at that. Not intoxicating, just slightly tipsy.

Another direct manifestation of her progress was her skills. Since there were no cooldowns in the illusion, and using skills didn't consume energy, she practiced relentlessly, unleashing her skills relentlessly. In just a few days, she mastered all of her combat skills, becoming an integral part of her being. Even when combining skills, there was no delay between them, flowing seamlessly, like a mammal breathing.

After practicing in the illusion, it is the same to use it in reality. The only difference is that using skills in reality will consume energy, and you will have to stop and take a breath after using several combo skills. However, this can be compensated by increasing your physical strength.

Under such intense and devilish training, Xiao He and the others' combat abilities had also improved significantly. After being strengthened by the illusion, Tao Sai's various attributes within the illusion had been greatly enhanced. However, without Tao Sai using any skills, the four of them could still hold their own together.

You have to know that in the illusion, Tao Sai's strength is so terrifying that a single punch can bring down a wall. During sparring in the illusion, Tao Sai will not give up in the slightest. Only the most realistic and brutal fighting can truly improve their combat effectiveness. Giving up is irresponsible to them.

Before we knew it, [Season 1] has reached the 20th day, and two-thirds of the season has passed.

Over the past few days, they've been working tirelessly on quests, collaborating with each other, and have been able to complete around 80 quest points daily. Their rankings have risen quite rapidly. By Day 20, Hailou's overall ranking has reached around 600. Guo Pei has lagged slightly behind, reaching 889th place, which is still a significant improvement.

At this point in the season, four-star missions have been unlocked, but at the same time, players found that the one-star missions, which were originally the most numerous and easiest, suddenly stopped refreshing, and the number of two-star missions also began to gradually decrease.

From this, we can infer that the two-star tasks will soon be completed, and the three-star tasks will slowly come. In the end, the only tasks left hanging in the task hall may be those extremely difficult four-star and five-star tasks.

This was good news for Tao Sai because she had discovered a problem: difficult and unpopular tasks were often related to bugs.

For example, a two-star quest, to destroy a level-two Zerg Mound in Jianshe Town, had been sitting in the quest hall for nearly five hours with no one accepting it. A Zerg swarm had already attacked Jianshe Town, making the area where the Zerg Mound was located relatively safe, but even so, no one dared to accept it. Perhaps due to their own lack of skill, most players were reluctant to venture into the Zerg Mound.

But Tao Sai is different. It's just a two-star insect acupoint. She has blown up three-star insect acupoints before. If a four-star insect acupoint is refreshed in the future, she also wants to jump in and blow it to pieces.

It was just right that no one took on this type of task, so she completed them all. Doing one high-star task replaced several low-star tasks, which was great!

In the early morning of Day 21, the mission hall suddenly refreshed the first four-star mission of the season.

[Task Description: Destroy any level 4 insect acupoint in Lotus Bay

Mission time: 2 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 57 seconds remaining

Mission Difficulty: ★★★★

Mission Reward: [Blind Box x256]

When Tao Sai clicked on the mission details, she stared at the text for two seconds. A one-star mission only offered one [Blind Box], a two-star one offered four, and even a three-star one offered only sixteen. She wasn't impressed; after all, the contents of each [Blind Box] seemed pretty average.

The number of blind boxes for the four-star mission suddenly reached 256! You know, she worked hard for seven or eight days and only got 1,000 blind boxes.

Exaggeration! Too much exaggeration!

The map showed that Lotus Bay was only 20 kilometers away. Tao Sai hesitated for only half a second and grabbed the first four-star mission.

The world channel suddenly became lively, and the players in the nearby areas were the first to start shouting.

[Sulfur Crisp (Lv3)]: Damn, someone has accepted the four-star quest we were supposed to be doing!

[Small House Where You Can’t Afford to Buy a House (Lv3)]:?

[Warriors guard Chris Cannon (Lv4)]: Are you starting to brush up on four stars now?

[Flame Demon (Lv4)]: What quest is this?

[Sulfur Crisp (Lv3)]: Destroys level 4 insect acupoints...

[Sulfur Crisp (Lv3)]: This is not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing is that there was an earthquake near Lotus Bay and a swarm of insects has already formed.

[Sulfur Crisp (Lv3)]: I happened to be nearby, and when I looked through the telescope, I saw an overwhelming number of mature insects and mutated flying insects scurrying around.

[Warriors guard Chris Cannon (Lv3)]: ...He's looking for death.

[GT (Lv4)]: I suspect he has no idea about the situation in Lotus Bay and is just picking it up blindly.

[Three Feet of Life (Lv4)]: It's inflated.

[Pride of Winning Without Anything (Lv3)]: If you fail to complete the task, you will be compensated with the corresponding [Blind Box]. If you want to save your life, you can compensate with 256 blind boxes. It's hilarious.

…

He Zhaonian quickly ran over to Tao Sai, who was sitting on the sofa drinking nutrient solution, and said excitedly, "Sister Sai, we just finished a four-star quest here. It's a very difficult one. It's for the spawning insect blood in the center of the insect tide, and someone has accepted it."

Tao Sai calmly drank the entire bottle of nutrient solution, burped, and said calmly, "I took it."

He Zhaonian: “…”

"Xiao He, please help me for a while, let's finish this quickly." Tao Sai said.

He Zhaonian: “…”

Not only He Zhaonian, but all the other members of Hailou followed along, partly because they were worried about Sister Sai, and partly because they wanted to witness the miracle with their own eyes.

Guo Pei, who had never seen the world, opened his eyes wide, but still couldn't believe what he heard, "No, it's a level 4 insect blood!"

In the game "Insect Tide", the fourth-level insect abyss is equivalent to the ultimate boss. The queen insects are densely distributed in the fourth-level insect abyss, and the speed of spawning insects is terrifying. What is most despairing is that most of the insects spawned have directly evolved to the mature stage. The number of insects is large and the combat effectiveness is fierce. Players can never compete with them at any time. If the system prompts that a fourth-level insect abyss has been refreshed nearby, the best choice is to abandon all the supplies that can be discarded and escape at all costs. There is only hope for the best. Once you run slowly or hesitate, the only ending that awaits you is game over.

Under the telescope, Tao Sai soared through the air, using [Gravity Adaptation] to allow her body to float lightly above the insect swarm. As for the power to move forward, it was provided by He Zhaonian.

He Zhaonian used [Diffusion] to disperse his body's elementary particles into the air, propelling Tao Sai's flight. His body's elementary particles also formed a barrier with the air, helping Tao Sai resist attacks from mature insects and flying insects.

The Lotus Bay area had just experienced a severe earthquake. Insect blood vessels suddenly appeared in the earthquake cracks. There were countless insect blood vessels of all sizes, and the most terrifying ones were naturally the level 4 insect blood vessels located in the central area.

There, there was no trace of cracks. The densely packed insects formed a volcano, and new insects poured out from it like a volcanic eruption.

The best way to destroy a wormhole was to penetrate deep inside and insert explosive mines into the worm queen's body. But right now, the worms piled high above the wormhole, leaving no entrance. Tao Sai tried throwing a few explosive mines, but they exploded, sending dozens of worms flying. They only managed to create a small breach, which was then immediately filled by hundreds more, making the wormhole even thicker.

The fourth-level insect acupoint is indeed not a joke. The density of insects is probably greater than that of ten third-level insect acupoints. Even under the cracks are densely packed with insects, and the internal space of the insect acupoint may be full.

Tao Sai estimated that if he wanted to use explosive mines to blast a gap and a passage leading to the depths of the insect acupoints, he could do it, but it would require about 1,000 explosive mines arranged at different locations in the crack and detonated simultaneously.

This was unrealistic, of course. She couldn't pull 1,000 rings simultaneously, much less deploy them in under four seconds. Throwing a grenade also required timing. The detonation time for a blast grenade was four seconds. If she didn't time it for at least three seconds, it would be swallowed by the bugs as soon as it landed.

"Sister Sai, my scalp is tingling. The fourth-level insect blood is too exaggerated. Should we retreat?" He Zhaonian was frightened when he saw the speed and density of the insect swarm below.

"Wait a minute, let me think of a solution first," said Tao Sai.

Now that we are here, if we withdraw now, we will fail to complete the mission and lose 256 [reward blind boxes], which is a big loss.

And since it is a task assigned by the system, there must be a solution. This is only a four-star task. If it reaches five stars, it will be even worse.

The wormhole is located above the ground, ranging from 20 to 50 meters. It is not necessarily directly below the crack mouth, but may also bend and turn to other points.

The road from the cave entrance directly into the wormhole has been completely blocked by worms. It is not clear what the scene inside the wormhole is like. If it is relatively empty, she seems to be able to use the [Space Fold] skill to directly open a wormhole and teleport to the inside of the wormhole. Then it will be her time to destroy the world.

The key to the problem is that we don't know the location of the wormholes below the ground, let alone the actual situation. If we rashly open a wormhole, it may end up in the soil, which is still a better situation. If we open it in the middle of the worm tide, it will be swallowed directly.

We have to find a way to investigate the specific location and situation of the insect xue first.

Tao Sai had an idea and thought of He Zhaonian.

"Xiao He, you can spread yourself into the soil and go below the ground to help me detect the location of the insects, and then send me the coordinates. That should be okay, right?" Tao Sai asked.

"No...no problem." He Zhaonian answered with a slight stutter.

It sounds like there aren't many steps and it's feasible to do. The only problem is that there are so many bugs that they look like they can scare people to death.

He Zhaonian prepared himself mentally for two seconds before making up his mind. He had been tempered in the illusion for so many days, experiencing countless life-and-death struggles and life-or-death battles. His mentality was no longer comparable to the past.

Isn't it just a bug? No big deal.

Driving the basic particles of his body, he passed through the air and through the thick layer of insect swarms on the ground. The thickness of the insect swarms accumulated at the exit of the insect acupoint was more than five meters.

Being inside the insect swarm, he could sense countless insects crawling around him. He could feel the twitching of the insects' mouthparts, the friction of their antennae, and the shrill chirping sounds, all of which made him put on a mask of pain.

He persevered, choosing to avoid the insect tide and merging the basic particles of his body with the soil. He then went down along the crack as if he were in an empty place, groping and searching. His senses extended and magnified, and he finally found the relatively empty interior of the insect bloodline at the bottom.

After sending out the coordinates, He Zhaonian breathed a sigh of relief and instantly jumped out from the depths of the bottom floor.

This was excruciating! He felt as if he had been thrown into a deep pit filled with a hundred million ants, and he was still naked.

"Thank you for your hard work, Xiao He." Tao Sai said, and she jumped into the space wormhole. Of course, she left a clone outside in advance.

At the other end of the wormhole was the interior of a level four wormhole. Queen worms were arranged densely like a honeycomb, and small queen worms that had generated mutated flying insects were embedded in the gaps. The queen worm's body was beating vigorously, and in the dark illusion, the sense of oppression was extremely strong.

There were at least a hundred Queen Insects, so it was impossible to destroy them all at once. But that was okay. She could destroy them in batches, leaving her clones outside so she could switch her consciousness out at any time. When the clone time was up, she could create another one.

Tao Sai looked around at the densely packed cluster of Queens, feeling a wave of nausea and excitement at the same time. It had been ages since she'd had a good time hunting Queens, and she had been hunting Queens.

Without hesitation, she grasped the dagger tightly in her hand and jumped onto a queen insect. She stabbed the dagger into the queen insect's tumor and made a big cut with all her strength. Then, regardless of the mucus attached to the tumor, she tore the hole open and stuffed five explosive bombs into it. Then she closed the hole and jumped onto the next queen insect without waiting for the explosion to sound.

One explosion can affect two or three insect queens nearby. At this rate, it only takes thirty or forty operations to kill a hundred insect queens.

Every time the Queen exploded before, Tao Sai would avoid the shockwave. Now, she simply ignored that step. The blaster exploded inside the Queen's tumor. Her resistance could withstand a shockwave of this magnitude. As long as she didn't die, she could switch to another clone and return. Her body was new, so it didn't matter.

The only thing she needs to pay attention to is the attack of the mutant flying insects, but her agility value has now been directly raised to 30 points. The speed of the mutant flying insects no longer has any advantage, and she can deal with it easily.

Practice makes perfect with repetitive work, and you will get faster and faster.

Ten minutes later, the wounded Tao Sai stuffed the last five explosive bombs into the Queen Insect's body, then calmly switched his clones and returned to the ground safely.

With a low muffled sound, the system subtitles popped up in front of Tao Sai.

You completed the mission.

【You received [Bonus Blind Box x256]. 】

Adding the [reward blind boxes] she had saved up before, the total number came to 1301. She opened them all at once and had a great time.

"The fourth-level insect acupoint is gone just like that?" Guo Pei widened his eyes, still unable to believe it.

But he could clearly see through the telescope that the height of the openings of the fourth-level wormholes, which were piled up like a volcano, was visibly decreasing, and the growth rate of the worms had stopped.

After landing, Tao Sai said to He Zhaonian, "Xiao He, your skills should also be able to clear the fourth-level insect blood."

"Uh..." He Zhaonian scratched his itch on his head and went inside the insect acupoint. His scalp is still numb and itchy.

"You all should go and do the mission. Don't go too far. If you have anything, please contact me in the alliance channel. I have something to do." Tao Sai said, and opened space wormholes one after another to send them to their respective mission destinations.

She herself stayed where she was, because the crying sound in her head had not stopped since five minutes ago, and it was coming from [Collapse].

Tao Sai coaxed it to calm down for a while, but now it has started again.

As usual, he was going to feed them stones, but looking around, there seemed to be no suitable stones around. Tao Sai stared at the overwhelming swarm of insects under his feet and came up with an idea.

How about feeding [collapse] bugs?

Anyway, insects reproduce indefinitely, and the insect swarms are so dense that they are measured in billions. If it can eat insects, it would be great.

If one day, [Collapse] grows to a considerable size and countless insects are continuously absorbed by it, the speed of monster spawning will be terrifying.

Thinking of this, Tao Sai immediately put it into practice. She used the "gravity slingshot" to launch herself out, then floated above the insect swarm, freezing the blue light spot in the middle of the insect swarm.

Near the singularity, the collapse of matter begins.

I saw dense swarms of insects flying past the singularity. Although the insects' crawling speed was not slow, the singularity could always pull something off from the insects: tentacles, legs, body, and mouthparts.

Any insect passing by the singularity will have its body intact due to the suction force.

But that's all. Since the bugs are constantly moving and [collapse] is still developing, it can't cause too much damage. Bugs are very tenacious, and missing limbs does not affect their normal movement at all. Not a single bug can be killed.

It would be great if these bugs could be pinned down, or even controlled, Tao Sai thought.

An idea suddenly struck her.

Bugs have weaknesses and can be controlled. Besides repelling water, they are also affected by their hatred value. Wouldn't it be better to pull the bugs' hatred value closer to the singularity?

Tao Sai immediately took out two explosive bombs, pulled the ring, held it in his hand for three seconds, and threw it into the swarm of insects under his feet. With a bang, dozens of insect limbs were blown away in an instant.

The next second, just as she predicted, the insects ahead began to change direction, turning around and converging towards where Tao Sai was hovering, gradually piling up into a small hill. Her goal of attracting hatred had been achieved; killing dozens of insects would generate enough hatred for a considerable period of time. She immediately fixed the new singularity inside the hill of insects.

The worm is desperately trying to arch its way upwards, getting higher and higher, but the worm inside that acts as a ladder remains basically motionless. [Collapse] begins to take effect, and the matter near the singularity collapses indiscriminately toward the center. Even the matter as solid as the worm's mouthparts is sucked in and instantly becomes disillusioned and false.

At the center of the singularity, nothing exists.

One bug was completely devoured by the singularity, and the second was simultaneously devoured by half, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth...

An hour later, the hatred value attracted by the two explosive bombs was washed away by time, but the bugs had a new target of hatred.

[collapse].

The insects no longer desperately moved toward Tosai, but instead swarmed from all directions toward the singularity of nothingness. All of them were single-minded, attacking only what harmed them, no matter what it was, intent on destroying and tearing it apart.

But this is a singularity, with no mass, infinite density, and infinitely small volume. The devastating insect swarm naturally cannot have any impact on the singularity, but instead becomes a delicious meal for [collapse].

Tao Sai looked at the scene below with great interest. It seemed as if she had accidentally made a perpetual motion machine, a perpetual motion machine that could spawn monsters endlessly.

First of all, the activation of the S-level magical skill [Collapse] consumes almost no energy. In any case, she does not feel the loss of energy in her body every time she uses it. She even suspects that [Collapse] does not consume the player's energy, but has its own set of energy slots, and it eats to replenish energy.

Secondly, the bugs are stupid enough. As long as the singularity keeps causing damage to the bugs, the hatred value will not decrease, and there will always be bugs rushing towards the center of the singularity to die.

Most importantly, she could freeze the singularity there and allow people to leave. She had experimented many times and found that [collapse] had no spatial limitations. No matter how far away, the singularity would not disappear or lose its effect.

Tao Sai stared at the "perpetual motion machine" for a while. The worms piled up into a ball, getting higher and higher, but she couldn't see the scene inside. It was really boring, so she simply accepted a new task in the task hall, then activated the [Space Jump] and jumped into the space wormhole.

I completed tasks and trained as usual throughout the day.

With Tao Sai's [Space Warp] skill, they could reach their mission locations much faster, naturally completing them much more efficiently than ordinary players. With their abilities improved, two-star missions became easy, and He Zhaonian and his companions also began attempting three-star missions. Alliance members used their skills to help each other, and if all else failed, there was Tao Sai—the ruthless individual who had completed a four-star mission in just ten minutes.

His daily routine was very regular, his days were tight and fulfilling, the exercise he received was visible to the naked eye, he sweated profusely from exercising every day, jogging in the morning and at night, and all the fat was burned out. Tao Sai was almost getting rid of the debuff of being drunk.

On the third day, while getting up early for a morning run, Tao Sai was running barefoot on the beach when she suddenly remembered something. She seemed to have left something behind somewhere.

[Collapse]!

A space wormhole opened above Lotus Bay. Tao Sai crawled out of the wormhole and looked down. The worm swarm had piled up into a huge hill, at least ten meters high.

Tao Sai was dumbfounded for a moment.

If I remember correctly, this is the location of the perpetual motion machine she left three days ago. The center of the hill is exactly the singularity of [collapse].

The large number of insect swarms born from the insect blood in this area changed their direction of movement, with the ultimate goal of tearing up the singularity that hurt their companions. They kept piling up and piling up until it became the current situation.

It feels like someone forgot to turn off the water in the kitchen, and the overflowing water flooded the entire house.

[Collapse] This is how many bugs have been swallowed. There is a question. After killing bugs, players will feel tired. This is the game mechanism. This is unavoidable fatigue. The more you kill, the more tired you will feel.

But why, in the past three days, apart from the energy loss caused by her own exercise and the use of skills, she did not feel any fatigue, which also caused her to forget about this matter.

Tao Sai thought of a possibility. Just like [Collapse] could independently attract the hatred of insects, it was a skill, but it was more than a skill, it was already equivalent to an independent unit. And because the insects were swallowed by [Collapse], she didn't feel tired.

[Collapse] If it has formed an independent unit, then the bugs it kills are still considered killed by itself?

Thinking of this, Tao Sai temporarily closed the singularity. The bugs suddenly lost their hatred points, and the piled hills collapsed.

Tao Sai waited for a minute, left the combat state, and subtitles popped up in front of him.

[Characters [Taosai] & [Zhou Ning] eliminated [Protozoa·Juvenile Stage x987], gaining 987 gold coins and 987 experience points;

Eliminated [Protozoa·Growth Period x6,611], gained 13,222 gold coins, and gained 13,222 experience points;

Eliminated [Protozoa·Mature Stage x1,543], gained 6,172 gold coins, and gained 6,172 experience points.

Tao Sai stared at the numbers on the screen in silence for a moment, her heart pounding. In other words… in other words, after she finished the "perpetual motion machine," she hadn't done anything else, had even forgotten about it. For the past three days, [Collapse] had been consuming, consuming, consuming, helping her slurp up twenty thousand gold coins and twenty thousand experience points.

She didn't know what to say for a moment, and after a long time, she finally uttered a word.

"[collapse], you are really a good son to your mother!"

Where can I find a perpetual motion machine that doesn't consume any energy and can spawn monsters infinitely?

Gold coins and experience points flowed into the old mother's pocket continuously, and she herself was neither humble nor arrogant, neither proud nor impatient, and she did not cry or make a fuss. She worked silently and made selfless contributions.

With tears in his eyes, Tao Sai solemnly announced: [collapse] You are the one with the most powerful S-level skills among the ten!

I regret it now. I used to think that human [collapse] was useless and could only handle chicken manure and corpses. Now it’s useful, isn’t it?

If [collapse] had a shape, as an old mother, Tao Sai would even want to kowtow to it.

Tao Sai took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and reopened a new singularity close to the insect swarm, trying to continue building the "perpetual motion machine for monster spawning."

The blue light spot froze, and the matter collapse movement occurred near the singularity.

Tao Sai widened her eyes again. She hadn't noticed the dense swarm of insects surrounding the singularity before, but now the attraction of the newly summoned singularity had increased visibly.

[Collapse] no longer passively attracted passing insects. The suction of the singularity increased sharply, and insects one or two meters away began to be drawn into it. She was about five meters away from the singularity and even felt a hint of suction, while insects closer to the singularity were directly drawn into the center of the singularity.

She counted the time, three seconds. In just three seconds, a growing black worm about fifteen centimeters long was completely annihilated in the collapse of matter.

[Collapse] is still eating and growing, and the swallowing speed will become faster and faster.

Tao Sai was delighted, for it also meant that Collapse would consume her experience points and gold at an ever-increasing rate. In future battles against the Zerg swarm, Collapse would be a formidable force in the defensive line. Furthermore, as it continued to evolve, its rate of devouring insects would far outstrip their production, making it easy to reverse the tide's trajectory.

The most invincible and amazing thing is that the bugs swallowed by [Collapse] will not cause fatigue to the player, so Tao Sai can devote more energy to doing other things.

In her early twenties, she truly experienced the joy of being a mother. For example, she was lying on the sofa watching a TV show, her legs raised high, in any comfortable position. When she was thirsty, she used her big mouth to pour water, and when she was hungry, she used her mouth to get snacks. If the temperature of the air conditioner was too cold, she would chew on potato chips and order: "[Collapse], bring your mother a bed and air-conditioning blanket. It's on the countertop in my room. If you can't reach it, use a small stool."

The most important thing is that [Collapse] will resolutely execute orders without making mistakes and will work hard without complaint.

It is obedient enough and does not cause people any worries. It gets first place in all its subjects, does not fight, does not fall in love prematurely, is well-rounded in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor aspects, and is so filial that it makes people feel distressed. It is destined to grow into a towering tree one day, and protect its kind old mother from wind and rain without any regrets.

"[Collapse], take your time eating, I'll come pick you up later." Tao Sai couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth as he spoke.

After resetting the "monster-killing perpetual motion machine", she calmly returned to the beach and continued running. It was only five o'clock in the morning and it was not yet dawn.

The schedule remained unchanged, two hours of running, then he opened the illusion and brought He Zhaonian and the others in to beat them up.

Tao Sai was sweating all over, so he quickly took a shower and changed his clothes. Then they washed up and drank nutrient solution. Guo Pei even pulled Tang Yingxue to start studying tactics.

Tao Sai didn't care about their tactics. At their current level, no matter how clever their tactics were, they would be crushed by absolute strength. The only difference was how long they could hold out. But they valued this very much. The longer they held out, the fewer deaths they would suffer, and the fewer beatings they would take.

"Where is Xiao He?" Tao Sai asked.

She hadn't seen him since she came back from running. He wasn't sleeping in, nor was he in the toilet.

"When I got up, I rushed to the upstairs bathroom first. He must have gone downstairs to use it," Guo Pei said. "But he should be back by now."

"Go call him," said Towsey.

"Okay." Guo Pei stood up and walked down the stairs quickly. He called out from the yard downstairs, but there was no response.

Tao Sai had a bad feeling. She quickly tagged people in the alliance channel, but still received no response. She immediately called Tang Yingxue and Shi Jiahui, "Xiao He must have been in trouble. Everyone, go out and look for him. Report any new information in the alliance channel. Stay alert and don't get ambushed."

The last time on Tai'an Island, He Zhaonian was ambushed by that foreigner and hadn't been able to report it on the Alliance channel. He figured it was mainly because it was too dark, and he was so focused on finding Shi Jiahui that his vigilance had dropped. Now that it was daylight, in broad daylight, it was unlikely he wouldn't be able to report the ambush.

Tao Sai rushed out of the balcony and floated into the air with the help of the "gravity slingshot". She activated the skill [Energy Perception]. If there were any players using skills nearby, she would be able to lock onto their location immediately.

Suspended 100 meters in the air, the entire seaside town was in full view, but [Energy Perception] could not detect any signs of skill usage.

Tang Yingxue, Shi Jiahui, and Guo Pei ran and shouted in the town, extending from the two-story building where they were temporarily staying to the surrounding area for several kilometers, but found nothing.

He Zhaonian disappeared without a trace, as if he had evaporated from the face of the earth.

He Zhaonian possessed the skill [Dispersion], which allowed him to dissipate his body into elementary particles. Any object the particles were fused into would be rendered invisible. But he had no reason to do so, and now was not the time for playful hide-and-seek.

Moreover, if he used the skill [Diffusion], Tao Sai's [Energy Perception] would be able to detect it. The detection radar in her mind showed that there was no fluctuation or hot spot in the nearby area.

There would be no result if they continued searching like this, so Tao Sai temporarily called the others back to the second floor to look for clues in the room.

There were three rooms on the second floor: Guo Pei and He Zhaonian lived in one, Tang Yingxue and Shi Jiahui lived in one, and Tao Sai lived in one. At night, the five of them would take turns keeping watch, all of them maintaining a high level of concentration.

Tao Sai guarded the period from 10 PM to 11 AM, which was also when she would practice her combination skills in the illusion. She was the master of the illusion, and her hearing and perception were unaffected. She could react instantly to any disturbance within the illusion and escape immediately. The remaining six hours were shared equally among the four of them. So, someone was on guard all night.

They had secretly agreed to keep watch, and they did so with the lights off, focusing only on listening to the noises outside. If someone attacked by surprise, it would be impossible not to leave any trace. Besides, wouldn't it be better to choose a quiet time at night when the lights were out?

However, the fact is that he waited until dawn, and when everyone was present, the attacker launched a sneak attack while He Zhaonian went downstairs to the bathroom, and then took him away in a mysterious way.

This is so unreasonable, it can even be said that this situation is impossible.

If the attacker was afraid of Tao Sai, he could choose to attack when Tao Sai opened the wormhole to Lotus Bay, but he had to wait until she came back after running on the beach outside the small building before attacking.

The toilet downstairs is an enclosed space. Guo Pei said that when he went downstairs to look for someone, the toilet door was closed, but when he opened the door, there was no bad smell inside, which means that He Zhaonian had never gone in.

Both of these seem to point to one situation, that is, He Zhaonian was not abducted by someone, but left on his own initiative.

Of course, this wasn't his own wish. Xiao He had never expressed any reluctance to stay in Hailou. On the contrary, he was very motivated and trained diligently. No matter how badly he was beaten in the illusion, he was always the first to recover and stand up. He was definitely not the type to leave without saying goodbye.

There were no signs of a struggle downstairs, but he did something against his will. The reason was self-evident: he was controlled.

Tao Sai was more inclined to believe that he was mentally controlled.

During their stay in the small town, they'd mostly stayed together, rarely taking on quests alone. They'd never encountered a strong enemy, or even other players. Even if He Zhaonian had encountered one, he had the skill [Dispersion]. While it wasn't very powerful in combat, it was a first-rate means of escape. And he hadn't mentioned it.

If we move the time further back, we will reach the Tai'an Island attack.

While Tao Sai was taking care of Guo Pei, He Zhaonian went alone to look for Shi Jiahui and the others, and was attacked during the trip. It is possible that the foreigner and Gao Shanfeng had tampered with the unconscious He Zhaonian.

If it is a skill like mind control, then this skill is too useless. It took so many years for it to work, and it did not expose their whereabouts through He Zhaonian. It just controlled him to leave the team alone?

Tao Sai was becoming more and more confused, but she didn't have time to study it carefully now. Xiao He had disappeared and something could happen to him at any time. The most urgent thing was to find him first.

There was no time to waste. The longer the delay, the more dangerous it would be. Tao Sai directly opened the space wormhole and jumped into the wormhole with Guo Pei and the other two.

At the other end of the wormhole is Taian Island near Komatsu Island.

Standing on the shore of Tai'an Island, looking through a telescope at Xiaosong Island ten kilometers away, there was not a single refugee ship moored on the shore, and the former camps in Jiange had all been cleared.

After the big fuss caused by Hailou that day, of course he would choose to move, otherwise it would be a waste.

They searched Tai'an Island and Xiaosong Island inside and out several times, but still found no clues. Three hours had passed since He Zhaonian disappeared.

Even if it was a kidnapping, the kidnappers would contact the family to negotiate terms, but Jiange remained silent.

Tao Sai was so worried that he even considered tagging Gao Shanfeng directly on the world channel, or tagged the other members of Jiange to confront them. If he tagged Gao Shanfeng, she might be a potential traitor, which would expose her. After careful consideration, Tao Sai decided to tag the rest of the Jiange.

Just when she finished editing the text and was about to send it out, Hailou's alliance channel flashed. When she opened it, she saw that He Zhaonian had replied.

[Three Feet of Life (Lv4)]: @(Cx330), Sister Sai, I have a problem.

[Cx330 (Lv4)]: Where are you now?

[Three Feet of Life (Lv4)]: I can’t say

[Cx330 (Lv4)]: What happened?

[Three Feet of Life (Lv4)]: Sister Sai, you guys can continue with your mission. Don't worry, don't worry about me. Just know that I wasn't kidnapped. I'm safe. Really.

[Three Feet of Life (Lv4)]: I'll come find you after I've dealt with things here.

[Mr. Bucai Youshan (Lv4)]: We are not brothers, you don't even trust us? What's the matter? Tell us, we won't ignore you.

[Three Feet of Life (Lv4)]: It's really okay

[Three Feet of Life (Lv4)]: I'm busy now, so leave me alone. I'll be back to join you.

After finishing his speech, He Zhaonian breathed a sigh of relief, turned off the light screen on his retina, and lay down. He lay on the beach. In fact, he didn't run very far. He used the skill [Dispersion] to disperse his body particles into the air. They floated a distance on the sea breeze before landing.

He discovered a few days ago that white spots had gradually grown on the palms of his hands, the soles of his feet, the insides of his arms, and the insides of his thighs. He initially thought it was eczema, but then the spots gradually connected into patches. When he woke up early this morning, he raised his hand and found that the white spots on the palms of his hands had seeped into the backs of his hands. He rushed into the bathroom, took off his clothes, and checked, and found that most areas of his skin were white.

He panicked instantly, and suddenly remembered a skill he had used when playing "Insect Tide" called [Albino].

After using this skill, a virus is implanted in the target unit. After a period of differentiation, the virus enslaves the host, turning it completely white. In the game "Insect Tide", the target unit of [Albino] is naturally the insect. The insect will be infected with the virus, and then it will transform from black to white, becoming a tool for the player.

When white worms bite black worms, the virus will spread. Players can use the skill [Albino] to build their own army of white worms to compete with the black worms.

If "Insect Tide Online" is an advanced version of "Insect Tide", the skill [Albino] will naturally evolve synchronously and can be used on targets other than insects, such as players.

His current symptoms closely resembled those of someone infected with the albinism virus. Overnight, over 60% of his body had become albinized. It was foreseeable that once the albinism reached 100%, the virus would take over his brain, and he would be completely reduced to a controlled living dead.

They only see killing, attack and bite their companions, and spread the virus.

He must leave no matter what!

He couldn't bring trouble to Sister Sai and the others; he had to run farther. He Zhaonian stood up from the beach and activated [Dispersion]. He once again dispersed his body's elementary particles into the air, carrying them further away on the strong wind. He had already reached this stage of albinism, and recovery was impossible. He would just drift away, find a random place, and wait for his death.