Dark red eyes?

Lu Cai suddenly woke up, and then a large amount of cold water flowed into her mouth, and the cold and stinging feeling wrapped her tightly.

She flapped her wings twice and saw two figures appearing in the water. Without time to distinguish them, she quickly kicked her legs and floated to the surface.

Her head emerged from the water, and she returned to the noisy world from the silence. She looked up and saw the flickering firelight, and saw Qin Yu and Zhao Manman looking out from the shore.

"Lu Cai!" two people shouted on the shore.

She swam towards the shore and finally climbed up the pile of rocks by the lake.

Fortunately, it was summer, so we didn't freeze to death.

"Chef Lu!" Zhao Manman ran over quickly, stepping on the uneven stones, and Qin Yu behind her occasionally lent her a hand to support her.

Lu Cai was climbing along the rocks towards the road. Once he was away from the water, he turned around to look.

Xiao Yue and Zheng Miao emerged from the water, and the red firelight reflected on everyone's face.

"Lu Cai - are you okay?" Zhao Manman grabbed his arm with one hand. Lu Cai came back to his senses. He turned his head and saw Zhao Manman's red eyes.

Lu Cai was startled: "Is the wind so strong?"

Zhao Manman covered her eyes and shook her head.

Qin Yu smiled and said, "Let's go quickly--" She watched Xiao Yue and Zheng Miao climb out of the water.

Lu Cai glanced at the car with the flickering flames and said, "We need to get another one in town."

"What happened to that monster just now?" Xiao Yue put on his coat and quickly put on his equipment.

"Maybe I hit its weak spot..." Lu Cai followed them to the road. It was hard to explain the matter of "copying" the superpower, so he would wait until he had time to have a good talk with Qin Yu.

She couldn't help but look back, the man with dark red eyes flashed in her mind, and she felt uneasy.

Qin Yu noticed Lu Cai's abnormality and followed her gaze towards the dark water.

Lu Cai turned around and noticed Qin Yu's actions, then he quickened his pace and moved closer to Qin Yu.

"I just saw a young man with red eyes and black clothes in the water..." She faced the night wind. It was midsummer, but she felt very cold.

"Are you sure it's not an illusion?" Qin Yu looked at her.

Lu Cai shook his head: "If it is an illusion, this illusion is too real." She recalled the scene, the water flow, the light, and even the appearance of the person. Except for the black clothes that blended into the background and could not be seen clearly, everything else was very clear.

"Have you ever thought that it's unreal that you can clearly see the other person's clothes and eye color in the water--" Qin Yu hit her.

Lu Cai was stunned for a moment, a little hesitant: "So...I really am hallucinating?"

Qin Yu looked at the fickle girl in front of him and said earnestly, "Maybe it's because your sensory ability is stronger than others?"

"Ah?" Lu Cai didn't expect that this was what she was referring to. Thinking about it, he felt that he was indeed quite weird.

But since she can copy the Boss, it wouldn't be strange if she encounters other weird things, right?

"Let's find a place to rest first." Zheng Miao looked at Lu Cai's wet back from behind.

Xiao Yue had no objection. Although he was used to high-intensity mission environments, he would not give up the opportunity to rest. Aside from Zhao Manman, who was a delicate little girl, the others present were probably not normal humans.

As an ordinary soldier, he really didn't want to compete with them in endurance.

The fire shadow gradually faded away, and they kept moving forward. It would be best if they could come across a house or a usable car, but they hoped not to encounter zombies again.

After they walked away, a tall and thin figure slowly walked out from the dark lake.

The man slowly came ashore, wearing a black windbreaker and long leather boots. His wet black hair stuck to his fair neck. A few strands of long hair hung down from his smooth forehead, clinging to his high nose bridge. Drops of water slowly dripped down his nose and chin.

The pair of dark red eyes stared at the direction where the group was leaving with a cold look.

"Activate the 'Erasure' mechanism—"

The girl's willful and excited voice came into my mind.

"The BUG program has entered the player relationship network. Do you want to continue to eliminate it?" The man in black spoke slowly, his voice low and without any sadness or joy.

The girl was silent. Even though they were far apart, he could feel that she was angry.

"Don't let it interfere with the player's mission," the girl said reluctantly. "Get the bug program off the player's path."

"Yes." The man in black responded woodenly, then walked forward along the road in front of him, and soon disappeared into the infinite darkness.

——

After walking for a long time, they saw a dilapidated old factory building on the side of the road.

The old two-story building had a mossy exterior and several crooked old trees leaning against it. Inside, the floor was filled with dust and dirt, as well as numerous plastic bottles and packaging bags.

The old building was bare, with only one staircase leading up and down, and the handrail was already crumbling. Hanging on the wall was a pedestal-style oscillating electric fan, its iron frame covered in rust.

A few of them went up and took a look around. From this high point, the surrounding scenery was clearly visible. With the wall as cover, as long as they held the stairs, they could hold out for the night without a problem.

Zheng Miao and Xiao Yue took turns guarding the windowsill. Qin Yu, not needing to rest, volunteered to sit at the stairwell. To prevent the zombies from attracting them, no fires were lit in the building for heating.

Qin Yu took out two packs of compressed biscuits from his system backpack. No one else thought it was strange, and Xiao Yue even helped distribute them. After he had distributed the biscuits, he was about to go back and chat with Qin Yu when he saw Lu Cai rush over and sit next to Qin Yu.

He sighed in disappointment and sat back in the corner. Looking at Qin Yu's focused expression while chatting, Xiao Yue felt a little annoyed.

Why does this Lu Cai always like to pester Qin Yu with questions?

Xiao Yue glanced at Zheng Miao who was carefully checking the situation outside the window, and couldn't help muttering in his heart.

Sanshui brother is the same, if you like someone, you should take advantage of the situation and pursue them, right? She is good-looking and capable, and she dares to strike up a conversation with you in the dead of night. Now that there is such a good opportunity, why don’t you care about her?

"When I was dealing with the tentacle monster just now, I copied the tumor on its back—" As soon as Lu Cai sat down, he began to review the previous battle.

Qin Yu listened, thought for a moment, and asked her: "Can you see the code?"

Cai Lu thought, are those data arrangements the game codes?

"As of now, you can not only copy the code, but also devour and infect the original game code..." Qin Yu raised his head, "So, from the perspective of the computer program, you are a virus."

Lu Cai's mind went blank for a moment. Virus? How could she, a healthy person, become a virus? Before, it was just a bug—

"Then will your main system administrator come to scan for viruses?" Lu Cai decided to give in. Fighting monsters on his own was one thing, but if he brought in the people from the KB gaming field...

Qin Yu also frowned. "I've never met a KB game administrator before. I just remember a player causing trouble in the community area before, and two 'scavengers' came out and dealt with the troublemaker on the spot..."

"Your territory doesn't even let the players go—" Lu Cai was dumbfounded. She had thought that as a player, she would always be stronger than NPCs, but she didn't expect that they would be cleared out at will.

Qin Yu sneered: "It can even drag a living person into this kind of hellish place. Does it care whether you are a player or an NPC?"

Sensing that Qin Yu was not in a good mood, Lu Cai changed the subject: "What is a scavenger?"

Qin Yu's face darkened again: "A bunch of killing tools."

Lu Cai felt a cool breeze brushing against his back.

"They roam the community, their appearance and style all unique, making them impossible to distinguish from other players," Qin Yu explained slowly. "They often appear suddenly to deal with players who want to rebel against the game's rules."

Is it true that an NPC like her who fights monsters everywhere is rebelling against the game's consciousness? Lu Cai couldn't help swallowing.

"Tell me, what I saw in the water, was it a 'scavenger'?" Lu Cai looked at Qin Yu.

Qin Yu was also stunned: "I have never heard of the 'Scavenger' entering the copy world——"

Therefore, many players believe that the dungeon world is much safer than the community area.

Lu Cai shook his head: "Just because I haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist..."

But she still hoped that the person was not sent by the game management, otherwise it would mean that she had been completely exposed to the management.

Killing one or two monsters in the game copy world and facing the entire game world is like the difference between playing with fireworks and playing with bombs.

There was a moment of silence between the two.

Standing by the window, Zheng Miao turned his gaze away, slightly turning his head to look at the short-haired girl in a black short-sleeved shirt. Noticing a probing gaze from the side, he turned his head and met Zhao Manman's eyes.

Zheng Miao didn't react and just looked out the window again, as if nothing had happened.

Zhao Manman leaned against the wall, looking at Zheng Miao's back, and then looked at Lu Cai, who was standing at the stairs with his eyes lowered and looking vaguely uneasy.

They were all stronger than me, and I was the only one who was a burden. Zhao Manman's eyes darkened. In this situation, even the treatment she once enjoyed as the center of attention was no longer there.

Ever since she met Zheng Miao, she felt that he was different from others. He wasn't gentle, but he could take care of her under Cheng Mushen's eyes. He wasn't attentive either, and never realized her feelings for him.

Maybe he didn't think to notice... Zhao Manman lowered her eyes.

But he treated Lu Cai completely differently.

Zhao Manman curled her lips into a wry smile. It was truly strange that she wasn't jealous of Lu Cai at all. Jealousy was human nature, and Zhao Manman had seen many examples of human evil since she was very young, so she wasn't ashamed of it.

From childhood to adulthood, she has always been the prettiest and smartest student in the class, loved by teachers and liked by classmates. She doesn't take the occasional sour grapes seriously.

She should have been angry. Lu Cai, a sickly girl, had taken away the attention she wanted. Lu Cai was someone who could arouse her despicable thoughts.

Zhao Manman lowered her head, she had never looked so embarrassed as today.

She inexplicably thought of many things, from her childhood to college. She thought of her parents, who never loved them, of her father, who would beat people every time he came home drunk, of her mother, who would just stand aside and watch coldly when her father beat her, of her remarried mother, who would repeatedly say, "Uncle Li doesn't like you. Don't come home unless necessary."

It turns out that there really are parents who don’t love their children.

Zhao Manman closed her eyes. She was a child who had been despised since she was born.

"Zhao Manman!" Lu Cai's voice suddenly rang out, awakening her from her painful memories.

Zhao Manman opened her eyes and looked at everyone looking at her, her head covered in cold sweat.

Lu Cai breathed a sigh of relief: "You were crying just now...Are you okay?"

Cry? Zhao Manman raised her hands to cover her eyes, and hot tears really overflowed from her eyes.

"Maybe... maybe I'm too nervous..." Zhao Manman became more and more embarrassed.

Someone patted her shoulders twice, which was not a gentle comfort, but it calmed her wandering heart.

Zhao Manman turned and looked at Lu Cai.

However, Lu Cai had already withdrawn his hand, curled up against the wall, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

After eating and drinking enough, it’s time to sleep and recuperate.

The surroundings fell into silence again.

Zhao Manman breathed a sigh of relief and curled up. What happened?

She looked up and saw Xiao Yue, who was sitting opposite her, looking at her with his eyes open. Their eyes met, and he nodded and closed his eyes as well.

Just then, a breeze blew in from the window, brushing against her forehead, bringing a bit of coolness.

After a while, another gust of wind blew the hair on her forehead. Zhao Manman couldn't help but frown. She raised her hand to wipe her forehead, but before the back of her hand touched her forehead, it touched a cold, sticky and soft piece of flesh.

She was startled, but before she could scream, a thin, sticky hand covered her mouth, and another hand grabbed her neck and dragged her upwards. In an instant, her neck felt like it was being torn in half, her brain was dizzy, and a feeling of suffocation came over her.

Puff——

The cold liquid splashed on her forehead, and then the hand holding her neck loosened. She fell to the ground and coughed, and large amounts of blood dripped on her body.

Lu Cai stabbed the skinned zombie with a knife, and the blade went straight into its brain. It let go and grabbed Lu Cai.

Lu Cai was trying to use the force of the wall to hook the base of the electric fan, but the monster pulled him and he almost pulled the fan off.

"Are you guys really sleeping or pretending to sleep?" Cai Lu couldn't hold it in any longer. The three below didn't move at all. He howled in anger, but the three still didn't move.

"Ah——" Zhao Manman screamed again.

Cai Lu looked down in the direction of the scream and saw another skinned zombie dragging Zhao Manman by the ankle and rushing towards the stairs.

Qin Yu leaned against the wall and did not respond.

Pulling out the dagger, the skinned zombies on the wall fell to the ground with a loud thud. Lu Cai jumped off the ground and chased after Zhao Manman.

As she rushed forward, she saw the skinned zombie knock off the wooden handrail and fall down the stairs. Zhao Manman screamed and fell from the edge.

Lu Cai rushed over and grabbed Zhao Manman's flailing hands, barely stabilizing them. Unexpectedly, the floor beneath her feet gave way and shattered into several pieces. She dragged Zhao Manman down with her, rapidly falling.

"Lu Cai——" Qin Yu's voice sounded far away.

A weak telekinesis enveloped Lu Cai, but another force beneath her body pulled her down.

Her telekinesis was broken, and she continued to fall, darkness covering the surrounding scene. At the last moment, she grabbed the telekinesis...

Bang! Crash—

Lu Cai bumped into a glass door, which shattered. She suddenly fell from the darkness into a brightly lit room. The hand that was tightly holding Zhao Manman fell free, and the mental power in the other hand also dissipated.

Then a chaotic noise penetrated her ears and she felt a splitting headache.

She steadied herself and raised her hand to block the light, but before she could adjust, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side.

In such a strange situation, how could Lu Cai just follow others?

She stopped and pulled her arm back, only then could she see the situation clearly.

This is an enclosed storage compartment, very narrow, with things crammed everywhere.

She looked up at the person who was pulling her. He was tall and strong, wearing a special forces uniform, and was frowning at her.

His facial features are quite delicate, but his face is covered with stubble and his hair is messy. He is obviously twenty-five or twenty-six years old, but he looks like an old uncle with vicissitudes of life.

Someone was calling him. He turned around and answered, letting go of Lu Cai's hand: "I'm number 0589——"

The violent banging sound outside the door startled Lu Cai, and he did not hear his words clearly.

"It's an emergency now. We are carrying out an evacuation mission. Please cooperate—" No. 0589 explained to her patiently.

0589? Why does it feel familiar?

Lu Cai still couldn't figure out the situation: "Excuse me, what happened?"

There was a chaotic sound of falling and screaming outside. Number 0589 looked back and said, "It's too late to explain—"

The roar came crashing through the shattered glass door frame. It was a middle-aged man in protective clothing. He roared with his mouth wide open, the corners of his mouth cracked to his ears.

No. 0589 raised his gun to shoot, but the space was too small and the distance was too close. The zombie stumbled and dodged the bullet and grabbed his pistol.

Lu Cai took out a dagger, grabbed the zombie by the scruff of the neck, and chopped off its head with one hand.

Number 0589's face twisted for a moment, and for a moment he didn't know whether to praise her behavior or be shocked.

"It seems you can defend yourself—" No. 0589 turned and walked towards the aisle.

Lu Cai hesitated for a moment and tried to look for game data nearby, but found nothing. Finally, he decided to follow this key figure.

"What is this place?" Lu Cai pushed away a nearby zombie with bared fangs and claws, and then asked 0589.

0589 dealt with the zombies coming from the opposite side: "We are in the submarine! We are currently carrying out 'Project X'——" He turned his head and stared at Lu Cai, "Were you tricked into coming here?"

Lu Cai's eyes were filled with fear. "Deep-sea Submarine Project X?" Seeing that the other party did not deny it, she felt dizzy. "We are in the deep sea?"

She already felt like vomiting.

Isn't this another side storyline?

Where's Zhao Manman? Where's the player? She can't be the only one here, right?

Looking up, I saw 0589 still firing, and I couldn't help but worry: "Is it really okay for you to shoot in a submarine?"

0589 smiled back: "The worst that can happen is that we both perish. The things on this submarine must not leave the deep sea—"

Who wants to die with you?! Lu Cai was a little furious, but the illusion here was different from the previous one. This enclosed and inescapable place made her feel suffocated.

At this time, I heard 0589 in front communicating with someone. He frowned and said "yes" for the last time.

After saying that, he turned around and said, "I'm sorry to bother you. Go to the 'Emergency Brake Room'. There's an emergency switch inside. Go and pull it down—"

"Ah?" Lu Cai was confused. Was this a forced assignment?

They just met! Oh, she is now in the submarine, and the entire submarine is full of researchers from "Project X", of course, they are all "insiders" who can be trusted——

But where is the "emergency brake room"? Just as she was about to ask, she saw 0589 rushing out.

Lu Cai gave up struggling. Finding the player was the important thing. He had to find out from the player what the mission was, otherwise how could he get out?

Emergency brake? Isn't that a brake? Is the submarine about to hit the rocks?

No, no! We better hurry up and find the "Emergency Brake Room"!

Since it was a long and narrow corridor, Lu Cai simply went in the opposite direction of 0589. If they were in the same direction, he could just pull the gate when passing by.

Lu Cai walked slowly forward. Fortunately, there weren't many people on the yacht, and the number of zombies was limited. It seemed that the biggest difficulty in this side storyline was the environment itself.

The power of the deep sea is so great that even supernatural powers cannot resist it.

She walked forward, and there were three or four zombies in work clothes on the way. When she passed a dormitory for people to rest, her heart skipped a beat.

I felt a sense of unease in my heart, but I didn't know where it came from.

Lu Cai turned around and saw only a long corridor with flashing lights.

Turning back, she still felt waves of fear in her heart, like an animal's instinctive fear of approaching danger.

The door at the other end of the dormitory was also open. Lu Cai looked out and saw a young man.

The hem of his black windbreaker fell to his knees, and his straight black trousers were tucked into his black boots. He looked at Lu Cai with a cold face, his dark red eyes filled with death. His right hand was hanging down, holding a cone-shaped object made of red copper.

Lu Cai had seen it in the temple. It was a demon-subduing pestle.

She couldn't help but take a step back, thinking of the red-eyed man she saw in the lake.

Who is this person?

The man in black also stared at Lu Cai blankly, and could see a deep sense of retreat in her eyes.

In a flash, Lu Cai turned and rushed out of the dormitory. At the same time, the man in black stepped forward quickly, like a bolt of lightning.

Lu Cai slammed the iron door shut, turned around and ran. Behind him was the loud sound of the iron door being drilled through. The sound of metal rubbing against each other was piercing and creaking.

She quickly dodged, and a red copper shadow brushed past her right arm.

Holding onto the side wall, he managed to keep his balance when a dark shadow rushed up from the direction of the dormitory and struck him in the face with a palm strike.

Lu Cai leaned against the sidewall to avoid the blow, but the palm wind suddenly changed direction and swept across. She raised her bandaged right arm to block it, but was knocked back a few steps by the palm wind.

The sound of metal hitting the wind rang out again, the air vibrated slightly, and every inch of it contained a strong murderous aura.

Behind him was the swirling demon-subduing pestle. If he dodged sideways, he would definitely be hit by the palm wind of the man in black.

She would be seriously injured eventually, but she could choose how to be seriously injured.

Of course she chose Palm Wind!

The pestle is so big that it can make a big hole in the body and kill the person instantly!

Lu Cai dodged to the side, avoiding the demon-subduing pestle, and rushed to the side near the dormitory.

The man in black anticipated her move and turned his palm into a claw, pinching and stabbing into the flesh of her shoulder.

The pain in his shoulder came, but Lu Cai just smiled, clenched his right fist, and filled every inch of his muscles and veins with strength, then punched the other person's chest hard!

The fist hit his chest, and the man in black looked at him with surprise and anger.

Lu Cai didn't have that much time to analyze his fragile psychology. While he was being punched and forced to retreat quickly, he turned around and rushed towards the dormitory without caring about the bleeding wound on his shoulder.

She ran wildly across the dormitory, not caring about the door because no one could stop her anyway.

The man in black, having regained his footing, retracted his demon-subduing pestle. He clutched his chest, his face contorted. As the fist struck his chest, a strange piece of data penetrated his flesh and blood, devouring it with a voracious force, consuming his existing data.

He quickly analyzed the bright red data, but was unable to extract the code from it.

Finally, the data is copied into a template and passed back to the main system.

At the same time, the prompt sounded——

"The target NPC has entered the player's activity range. It is not recommended to continue the pursuit."