The man was bitten on the neck by a dark shadow in the artificial river, and bright red blood spread down his neck onto the turbulent surface of the water.
He struggled desperately with both hands and feet, and the blood he stirred up quickly spread in the river.
Glug glug.
The crimson color seemed to draw the attention of more of the shadowy figures.
Strings of bubbles rose from underwater to the surface of the river, turning the once calm artificial river into a boiling mess with its surface churning endlessly.
"Sister Fen! Help me!"
As soon as the man finished speaking, two dark figures suddenly leaped out of the water and grabbed his arms from both sides.
Huff!
In the darkness, the sound of bones being crushed could be clearly heard.
More blood churned with the surging waves, filling the air with a sweet, metallic scent of blood.
Like a crumb of bread falling into a fishpond that hadn't eaten for three days, the man didn't even have time to make a sound before he was quickly devoured by the restless shadows underwater.
The shadowy figures, still eager for more, quickly gathered together and surged towards Zhao Tuo's team members who had been forced to the shore.
The water was shallower near the shore, and the swarming shadows gradually revealed their full upper bodies.
Under the bright moonlight, Lu Sheng and the others finally saw the true faces of these sea monsters.
The so-called sea monster has a human-like upper body and dark green skin covered with thick scales of various shapes and withered wrinkles.
There was a sparse tuft of hair on the top of his head, and all that could be seen on his face were a pair of gray-white eyeshadows and two small nostrils.
It has two forelimbs similar to a frog's webbed feet, and a fish tail as sharp as a knife. It moves as fast as a submarine in the water.
"These sea monsters are amazing! Their strength and speed are almost equivalent to a fourth-level superhuman..." Zhang Xiaojuan took out her phone and frantically snapped photos of the sea monsters.
"You just said there were no sea monsters in the artificial river!" Han Rui pouted, unconvinced.
"Nature is developing, and times are progressing. We have to try to accept new things, understand?"
"ah!"
A heart-wrenching scream from not far away interrupted their bickering.
The remaining members of Zhao Tuo's team were unable to dodge in time and were bitten by the sea monsters and dragged to the bottom of the water.
The once clear and transparent artificial river was instantly dyed red, and the river was churning and splashing like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
Zhao Tuo's wife only briefly peeked out from the water before being quickly pulled to the bottom of the river.
Do you know what this tells me?
Lu Sheng glanced indifferently at the severed limbs floating on the water, then suddenly turned to look at Han Rui and Sun Tiantian.
"If you walk by the river often enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet." Han Rui was completely bewildered.
"Wrong. This tells us that when things get serious, love makes you the first thing to die."
Han Rui's empty head pondered for a moment, then she nodded earnestly: "Sister Lu, I understand!"
"Let's slip away and go back to sleep." Sun Tiantian was so sleepy that her eyelids were drooping, and she called to the few people who had come to watch the commotion to head back.
Just as the group turned to leave, a sharp buzzing sound suddenly came from behind them.
A sea monster leaped out of the river and lunged at Zhang Xiaojuan with its forelimbs outstretched.
"Holy crap! What are you doing?! Can't we go home this late at night?!"
Zhang Xiaojuan waved instinctively.
Sharp earth spikes rose from the ground and struck the sea monster in the belly, pinning it to the spot like a string of candied hawthorns.
"Ugh ugh ugh!"
The sea monster let out a piercing cry, struggled for a couple of moments, and then fell silent.
Zhang Xiaojuan forced Han Rui to use the seeds to summon two bean sprouts as long as her arms, and then tentatively poked at the bean sprouts a couple of times.
"He should be dead."
After poking at it for a while without any response, Zhang Xiaojuan turned around and called to Lu Sheng and the others.
"Is this... a mermaid?" Han Rui shrank behind Lu Sheng, only peeking out with her big eyes.
"The water pollution has been quite severe these past two years. Even the mermaids have been ruined by chemical pollution." Zhang Xiaojuan glanced at the wrinkled face on the soil spikes and couldn't help but purse her lips.
Lu Sheng carefully examined the sea monster's dark green skin, his gaze finally settling on the area below its right forelimb.
The sea monster's entire body is covered with thick scales, except for a slightly smooth patch of skin near its waist on its upper limbs.
Below the right forelimb of this sea monster, a faint blue hue, reminiscent of fountain pen ink, was visible.
“Look here, doesn’t it look like a tattoo?” Lu Sheng told Zhang Xiaojuan to put away the soil spikes and lifted up the sea monster’s arm.
"Isn't this a QR code?"
Xiao Yu leaned closer for a look and exclaimed in surprise.
A year or two ago, QR code tattoos were all the rage online. Couples would often get a QR code tattooed on their bodies that could be scanned to link to an image, as a way to show their loyalty and affection.
Sun Tiantian almost forced Xiao Yu to get a tattoo, but he eventually gave up the idea after searching online for many pictures of failed tattoos.
The blurry ink on the sea monster's body was exactly the same color as a failed example he had searched for before.
"Where did this pervert come from underwater to give such an ugly mermaid tattoo?" Han Rui boldly emerged from behind Lu Sheng.
"I understand!" Zhang Xiaojuan rested her chin on her hand and pondered for a while, then suddenly slammed her fist down.
The remaining people all looked up at the same time, quietly waiting for his profound remarks.
"Underwater, is it possible that SpongeBob tattooed it on her, and that the QR code is actually the Krabby Patty's payment code?"
Zhang Xiaojuan looked very serious.
Lu Sheng and the others: "..."
"Sister Lu, we still have 8 days. Let's find another teammate." Han Rui said with a look of disgust.
"Hey! Don't you guys have any imagination?!"
Zhang Xiaojuan's protest was met with dissatisfaction.
"Give me the photos you just took."
The remaining sea monsters on the riverbank had long since disappeared into the water. To confirm his suspicions, Lu Sheng could only look for clues on Zhang Xiaojuan's phone.
Fortunately, Zhang Xiaojuan's phone has a night shooting function, which can capture even the scales on the sea monster's body clearly.
Lu Sheng carefully examined each photo and finally enlarged one of them.
"Do you remember the girl we rescued on our first day in Qinhuai City?"
Lu Sheng, with a complicated expression, enlarged the photo and handed it to the remaining people.
Within the magnified area, it is clearly visible that the nearest sea monster has a uniquely shaped small bell hanging around its neck.
"These are the bells that girl wore around her neck!"
Because the shape of that bell was very unusual, Sun Tiantian paid special attention to it at the time.
Yesterday, when they were shopping at the jewelry store, she specifically wanted to find the same style but couldn't.
"How did she turn into a sea monster? Was she parasitized by a fish?"
Lu Sheng frowned slightly. "There were at least dozens of them in the river just now, right under Chen Dongsheng's nose. There's no way he wouldn't know."
"unless……"
“These sea monsters were created by him…” Sun Tiantian and the others suddenly realized.
He already possessed the immensely wealthy city of Qinhuai, so why did he still create so many inhuman and ghostly things?
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