Chapter 201 Ferryman's Dungeon (End)
"clatter."
The administrator's steps, which were almost dancing on the spot, suddenly stopped. It was obvious that he, as one of the administrators, had also received the notice.
He originally thought he had achieved great success, but his mood plummeted.
He was covered in a thick cloth, completely covering his entire body, so we couldn't see the expression on his face, but we imagined it must have been very exciting.
He turned slightly, and the two red lights hidden under the thick cloth looked at the new words that appeared on the light screen. Those small white characters were all introducing the new administrator.
However, Xia Yingnuan did not expect to really meet the other person in the dungeon. After all, there are thousands of dungeons, and the probability of meeting the same person twice is very small. Who would have thought that the bad fate would be unstoppable, and she would meet Zhuang Meng in just the fewest dungeons.
However, when she really met this person, Xia Yingnuan wanted to pretend not to know her. If nothing else, if Ning Hanqi knew that Zhuang Meng was [Zhuang Zhou Mengdie], hiss...
Unfortunately, Ning Hanqi still guessed it.
"What's going on?!" There were several hurried footsteps coming from not far away.
Seeing the broken tentacles all over the floor, the staff's faces instantly turned ugly. Their poisonous gazes fell on Ning Hanqi and Zhuang Meng. At this time, the sea slug was in the room, and they had not discovered her yet.
Ning Hanqi was standing a little further away, with his empty hands, so he didn't look like the murderer. Instead, Zhuang Meng, who was holding a weapon, looked more like the person who killed the tentacle monster.
Immediately afterwards, Zhuang Meng, who had nothing to do with the death of the tentacle monster, received "caring" looks from all the staff. She had no doubt that she might be thrown into the sea by this group of staff!
"Did you kill this poor little guy?" One of the staff members choked up, and it seemed so sad that it was about to cry.
Zhuang Meng's heart was filled with alarm. Although the staff member who was about to cry covered his face, Zhuang Meng could feel an extremely cold and resentful gaze through his fingers.
"It's me." The petite figure of the sea slug walked out of the tool room.
There are still traces of fish scales on her hands that have not faded. This is a blessing from the sea god, which has a damage bonus buff for all ghosts in this copy. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether there is a buff or not. What is important is that it represents the love of the real owner of this copy for this little human girl. Before this little princess breaks the rules of the game, no one can do anything to her.
The staff's eyes instantly cleared up. There were many small pets on this ship, and there was no need to conflict with humans who were favored by the sea god over it.
"This thing is very naughty. I hope it didn't hurt you?" The staff's attitude changed so quickly that Zhuang Meng almost laughed out of anger.
Even the players are different. Look at how he almost got eaten alive just now, but the same situation happened to the sea slug, but the NPC was concerned about his well-being and worried about whether his hand hurt. It was really enviable. Zhuang Meng sighed inwardly.
It is hard enough for ordinary players like them to survive in the dungeon, but if they want to leave the dungeon, they have to please the eyes above while surviving, otherwise sooner or later they will be dragged to death here.
But her attention quickly shifted elsewhere. The invisible figure beside Miss Ning almost made her speechless for a moment. "But forget it today. We don't have a car, and even if we did, no one would be able to drive." Xia Yingnuan was not in a hurry. Ning Hanqi definitely didn't have a license, but she probably did. She just didn't want to scare the traffic police.
The address given by Ms. Lu is not in their city, nor is it even in the same province. If they want to go there, they have to book a ticket in advance. It would be too rushed to leave today, and Ning Hanqi had just left the copy and still needed to rest.
So they booked a ticket for tomorrow morning. Xia Yingnuan saw that there were many tourist attractions in that city, so she asked Ning Hanqi if they wanted to book a hotel to stay for two more days and go shopping there.
Ning Hanqi naturally would not refuse the opportunity to travel with Xia Yingnuan, and she finally contacted the Sea God and reached a cooperation. The big stone in her heart was half put down, and she could finally relax a little and ease her tense nerves.
Speaking of the past, Xia Yingnuan also remembered that she said in the copy that she wanted to ask Ning Hanqi about what happened in the past. She hesitantly reminded Ning Hanqi, "Is there something you forgot to tell me?"
Ning Hanqi looked bewildered, and it wasn't until Xia Yingnuan was so anxious that she almost said it out loud that she couldn't help laughing and said, "Which story do you want to hear?"
"Let's start from the beginning." Xia Yingnuan naturally wanted to know their entire past. "What was it like when we first met?"
“…”
This topic should not be difficult to discuss, but Ning Hanqi remained silent for a moment. Little did he know that because of this brief hesitation, he would miss his last chance.
"Go, come this way." Zhang Xu only had one leg that could move freely, and Shan Yun could not give him the wheelchair, but she could tie him to the back of the electric wheelchair and drag him along.
Following the direction Zhang Xu indicated, they found a fish tank in the corner of an office on the first floor. There was a dead rat in the tank, and the corpse emitted a foul odor.
"Burning the body of this rat will break the illusion here." Zhang Xu said flatteringly.
"Is this it?" Shan Jun did not believe Zhang Xu's one-sided statement. She turned to Ning Hanqi and asked.
Ning Hanqi stood beside the fish tank and observed for a while. There was no obvious strange smell on the foul-smelling rat corpse, but it was indeed not an ordinary corpse. Such a thing was just right to be used as the center of the formation. Even if outsiders came to check it intentionally, they would probably ignore it.
"It's here." Ning Hanqi took out a box of matches from Zhang Xu's pocket without waiting for him to speak.
The match head scratched the edge of the box, and a tiny flame lit up, also illuminating the light in Zhang Xu's eyes.
"He's right, this is indeed the center of the formation, but..." Ning Hanqi didn't rush to throw the match in his hand into the fish tank, but placed it in front of Zhang Xu.
"How about you light the fire?" Ning Hanqi looked at her with a smile. The more harmless her tone was, the more panicked Zhang Xu felt in her heart.
"My hand is broken and it's inconvenient. You should do it." Zhang Xu smiled reluctantly.
"Even if your hand is broken, you still have your mouth. Just hold it and throw it in." Ning Hanqi put the burning match to his mouth. Cold sweat kept dripping down Zhang Xu's forehead. He didn't know whether the other party was being cautious or really noticed his backup plan.
The match burned very quickly, and soon the fire was about to burn Ning Hanqi's fingers. At this time, a gust of cold wind blew and blew out the fire directly.
"Hiss..." Shan Yun took a breath of cold air, "It's so cold."
The wind was like a biting cold wind in winter, making her shiver uncontrollably.
Shan Yun took off her coat and put it on her sister. From the very beginning, she had a feeling that there was another person present besides the four of them.
The invisible existence has been guarding the girl named Ning Hanqi. Although Ning Hanqi did not say anything along the way, she would occasionally look to her left, as if communicating with that person.
Shan Yun didn't think much about it. After all, it was normal for such a talented person to raise some unspeakable things. She was more concerned about the possibility of recruiting Ning Hanqi.
Ning Hanqi lit a match again and the flame came on again. This time she could clearly see Zhang Xu's face covered in cold sweat. She didn't know how much of it was due to pain and how much was due to fear.
Zhang Xu looked up at Ning Hanqi tremblingly. The firelight illuminated her beautiful face. At this time, her eyes were still smiling, and she was as beautiful as a celestial being who was not affected by the mundane world. However, every word she uttered was like a knife, and every word was cutting her life. She was a real devil!
"!!!" Zhang Xu suddenly noticed that Ning Hanqi's hand moved slightly. Before he could react, the root of the match was stuffed into his mouth. The scorching temperature almost burned his mouth and nose.
Then his head was pressed against the fish tank containing the dead rat, "Hurry up."
Ning Hanqi was very "considerate" and sent the disabled Zhang Xu to the designated location. As long as he let go, the match would fall in. But even though the flame was about to burn him, Zhang Xu still did not let go. At the last moment, he shook his head hard and threw the match out.
At this point, anyone with eyes could tell that Zhang Xu was lying, but he couldn't admit it, so he made a lame excuse, saying the fire was too hot...
"Did the fire burn you? Then why don't you throw the matches into this fish tank? Do you think we are all fools?!" Shan Yun tried to kick Zhang Xu's butt again with her leg that could still move. Unfortunately, because Shan Yun was more cautious, she kept holding her sister at a distance to prevent Zhang Xu from taking the two ordinary people as hostages.
Shan Yun failed to kick the other party, so she could only rely on words. However, even though she cursed until her mouth was dry, the other party was shameless and did not react at all. In the end, Shan Yun was the one who got angry.
"You don't dare to light a fire." Ning Hanqi waited until Shan Yun finished scolding before speaking slowly.
"No, I just..."
"Because you know there's more than one array core. If you want to break the illusion here, you must place all the array cores together and destroy them simultaneously, otherwise the caster will suffer backlash."
Zhang Xu, who hadn't responded to Shan Yun's scolding for a long time, suddenly changed his expression, and his already pale face became even paler.
"You also know that only the caster himself can break the formation with this method. If others use this method, they will be backfired." Ning Hanqi supported his chin and looked at Zhang Xu. His soft lips opened slightly, and the words he said were extremely cold.
"There should be six points in the formation here. I can chop off your limbs and head and place them in the six fish tanks. Using your flesh and blood will be the most convenient way to break the formation."
As she spoke, a dagger appeared in her hand. A little light came in through the office window, shining on the dagger and reflecting a cold light.
"Murder is against the law!" Zhang Xu felt the cold dagger touching his neck and screamed in fright.
Shan Yun couldn't help but hold her breath. Was Hanqi really going to do this? Split this person into six?
Xia Yingnuan felt a little uneasy for some reason. "Our first meeting... wasn't pleasant? Was it tense?"
That's normal. After all, it's the first time humans and the dungeon boss meet, so it's normal that they're not very happy.
"No." Ning Hanqi shook his head. "When we first met, it wasn't that tense, but... it was a little strange, wasn't it?"
What's so strange about that? Xia Yingnuan's curiosity was piqued.
"When you first entered the dungeon, you got the identity of the son-in-law. When other players came into my room, they all huddled in the corner and dared not make a sound. Only you were different. You came in and lifted my red cover." Ning Hanqi thought about what happened at that time and couldn't help laughing again. Even he didn't react at that time. It can only be said that Nuannuan is very brave.
Or is there an alternative way to pass the level?
Xia Yingnuan's face lost expression when she heard this. She imagined the scene and felt like she could dig her toes into the floor, but she didn't expect that something even more exciting was yet to come.
"Then you saw my face and said with great surprise..."
"My bride is so beautiful."
Xia Yingnuan admitted that Ning Hanqi was beautiful and the perfect match for her. If they were both human, she would definitely be able to do such a thing. But if she were a player at the time and she was the dungeon boss she had just met for the first time, wouldn't she be stupid to do such a thing?!
No matter which world the dungeon boss is from, you have to be careful when talking to them. No one knows whether a casual word you say will touch the other party's minefield. After all, ghosts are unreasonable.
"Is that my first copy?" Xia Yingnuan could only think of this possibility.
"No, you were already a veteran player with considerable experience at that time." Ning Hanqi shook his head.
Xia Yingnuan couldn't understand it, and then when she heard Ning Hanqi say that he took the initiative to get close to her in the copy, she felt even more weird. This didn't seem like something she would do. Wasn't she afraid that someone would slap her to death?
No wonder Ning Hanqi felt that her past self was hiding something from her. After hearing the other party's detailed description, Xia Yingnuan also felt it was strange. The strangest thing was that Ning Hanqi said that every word she said at that time was true, even the final implicit confession was sincere.
Xia Yingnuan had a vague feeling of unease, always feeling that she had buried a huge bomb in the past.
A senior veteran player, telling the truth in every word to perfectly avoid the death node, inexplicable closeness... all these things added together, Xia Yingnuan had a vague guess.
She unconsciously pinched the sheets tightly, and she almost dug a few holes in the poor sheets.
Could it be that everything that happened during their first meeting was a setup? To clear a difficult dungeon, veteran players would resort to any means necessary.
...She inexplicably had a faint thought in her mind that it would be better not to restore her memory. As long as she couldn't remember it for one day, she could pretend that this thing had never happened.
Xia Yingnuan was a little afraid to look at Ning Hanqi. She even developed an ostrich mentality until Ning Hanqi hugged her.
"Don't think too much. I promised you that I wouldn't be angry no matter what you hid at that time." Ning Hanqi patted her back gently to comfort her.
"...Are you really not angry? Even though I lied to you?" Xia Yingnuan was a little scared, afraid that everything that happened when they first met was a lie, and Ning Hanqi would break up with her directly.
No, it’s not even a breakup because they haven’t established a formal relationship yet.
"Don't worry, I won't be angry."
Yes, Ning Hanqi is such a smart person, how could she be unaware of something that I have noticed?
If someone had told her before that the dungeon boss could leave the dungeon it was in, Zhuang Meng would have thought that the other person was joking with her, but when the facts were laid out before her, she had to believe everything that was happening before her eyes. Even after accepting this fact, she felt a secret excitement in her heart.
Did Miss Ning just call out "Nuannuan"? She remembered that Miss Xia's original name seemed to be Xia Yingnuan. It was a very intimate name. She was really lucky to have such a powerful dungeon boss to protect her closely.
There was a hint of envy and emotion in Zhuang Meng's eyes. She didn't notice that her gaze stayed on Xia Yingnuan for a little too long. The usually gentle Miss Ning looked at her with a hint of hostility.
When Zhuang Meng withdrew her gaze, she inadvertently caught a glimpse of Ning Hanqi staring at her. The inexplicably familiar look made her shiver.
"Let's go, just let them clean up here." The sea hare that had just killed monsters like cutting melons turned back to its previous shy appearance. She whispered, tugged at Zhuang Meng's sleeve, and dragged him away.
Zhuang Meng, who had just come back to his senses, remembered why he felt that Miss Ning's eyes were somewhat familiar, because her eyes were very similar to the eyes revealed through the fingers of the staff member who had just covered his face!
"Nuannuan." Ning Hanqi's voice sounded like a smile.
"...Hmm?" Xia Yingnuan suddenly felt a little guilty.
"She must be Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly." Ning Hanqi said in a firm tone.
Originally, she might have been a little unsure, but when Zhuang Meng stared at Xia Yingnuan in a daze for such a long time, Ning Hanqi completely confirmed her identity.
"Ahem, she, she... does seem to be, but to be honest I don't really remember what Zhuang Meng looks like. But in the last impression I had, her face didn't seem like this, so I'm not quite sure..." Xia Yingnuan tried hard to pretend that she was not familiar with that person.
"Is that so?" The smile on Ning Hanqi's lips was somewhat meaningful. Regardless of whether it was true or false, the way Xia Yingnuan tried hard to distance herself from Zhuang Meng made Ning Hanqi feel a lot better.
"Then let's just go and ask."
"Ah?" Xia Yingnuan thought Ning Hanqi was joking, but she didn't expect that she actually took a few quick steps to catch up with the two of them, and asked Zhuang Meng without hesitation whether her nickname on the forum was [Zhuang Zhou Mengdie].
Before Zhuang Meng could answer, Haisui nodded behind her, and she could no longer hide it.
"I am indeed [Zhuang Zhou Mengdie]. Oh, am I so famous now? Miss Ning has heard of me?" She looked a little embarrassed.
"Of course, Miss Zhuang Meng's essay on the dungeon boss she most wants to marry... is particularly impressive." Although Ning Hanqi's tone was light, it gave people a feeling of pressure.
"Uh...haha, it's that post." Zhuang Meng was still wearing the glasses. Even though the real scene in front of her eyes made her sick after putting on the glasses, she didn't take them off.
Through the perspective of glasses, Zhuang Meng could clearly see Xia Yingnuan following Miss Ning very carefully. The way she silently guarded her and was afraid that she would get angry was really enviable.
“Crash!”
Unable to escape, he and Ning Hanqi fell into the distorted space together, but after a moment he heard the sound of waves and the distant call of whales.
He remembered that there were indeed some particularly troublesome individuals among his victims, but he should not have torn his feelings with this whale yet. Wasn't that human still alive and well? Why did he suddenly turn against him?!
"When did you..." The administrator turned his head and found that Ning Hanqi's projection had turned into his real body at some point.
No, the other party has already ambushed here in advance!
"Don't worry, I won't kill you. After all, the rules don't allow it." Ning Hanqi's cold and indifferent voice echoed in his ears, "But I will ensure the fairness of this fight."
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