Villain Rescue System (Part 9)

Shang Li stopped talking and soon fell asleep.

The room suddenly became quiet, with only his light and steady breathing as the sound.

Cui Lan stood up from the chair silently, walked slowly to the bed, and then leaned down.

The long, black and smooth hair suddenly fell from her shoulders and coiled on the pure white pillow.

He placed his hands on both sides of Shang Li's head, lowered his eyelids, and silently stared at the man sleeping on the bed with half of his face buried in the quilt from a distance of less than half a foot.

He had seen Shang Li like this many times in the past ten years, but by then the other party had basically been turned into a corpse under the knife.

...Then not long after, the lifeless corpse will be resurrected by the next time traveler.

This was the first time in all these years that Cui Lan witnessed Shang Li closing his eyes for a long time in a peaceful state.

He knelt on the bed on one leg, reached down and gently pulled aside a section of the quilt, then pulled open the collar of Shang Li's red shirt, revealing his pale neck and the red thread wrapped around it.

Shang Li was still sleeping soundly, not awakened at all by his actions.

Cui Lan slowly stroked the red line from an imperceptible distance, recalling the time more than 20 years ago when Shang Li picked her up from the snow in the wild and brought her home.

At that time, he was buried in the snow and was dying. Shang Li, who happened to pass by, dug him out and carried him back to their hometown, which carried years of memories for both of them.

There were only two rooms in his hometown that could accommodate people, one belonged to Grandma Shang who was over 80 years old, and the other belonged to the two of them.

The bed from more than 20 years ago was much smaller than the current one, and two children who were less than 1.5 meters tall could only sleep together with their skins pressed against each other.

Later, when they went to school and had dormitories, they were separated for a few years.

After the accident when he was ten years old, Cui Lan would be awakened by the bright red in his nightmares almost every night, and Shang Li would always secretly hold the quilt and roll onto his bed at this time, lying intimately together.

"Xiao Cui, I'm so scared."

Shang Li's pair of beautiful red eyes glowed faintly in the darkness.

He reached out and hugged Cui Lan, then pressed his body closely against hers, and then pulled the quilt over their heads.

The boy whispered in his childish voice, "I can't sleep without you by my side. Let's sleep together."

“…”

In the decades since then, the two have almost never been apart at night.

For a long time, Cui Lan had symptoms of separation anxiety. As long as Shang Li disappeared from her sight, she would involuntarily feel panic in her heart.

Fortunately, Shang Li himself is clingy enough.

This allowed him to continue to maintain his calm and composed appearance.

The situation continued to improve after Shang Li picked up Jiang Mingyu, who was abandoned by her family, from the wild at the age of fifteen.

Taking care of a clumsy child is a real distraction.

The days that followed were extremely normal, and Cui Lan always thought that she had recovered.

Until I was twenty-two.

The third day of the wedding.

Shang Li left him again.

He fell into that long period of insomnia and panic again.

"Shang Li."

Cui Lan called softly.

What a bad name, he thought.

"Lili."

He shouted again in a low voice.

The person sleeping beneath me did not respond, just as he had done for the past ten years.

“…”

"Tsk, you said you couldn't sleep without me, but you were lying."

Cui Lan pulled back the quilt.

He was just about to retreat to the chair next to him for a nap, but he noticed that the person under the quilt suddenly frowned deeply in his sleep.

Shang Li did not fall into complete sleep.

After he closed his eyelids for an unknown amount of time, he slowly opened his red eyes again.

What appeared in the field of vision was not the bright hotel room before going to bed, but the overflowing deep blue.

What covered him was not a pure white quilt, but a piece of heavy and wide seaweed.

Shang Li lifted the seaweed and sat up, and saw that he was lying on a wide-open clam shell, similar to the bed that the little mermaid slept on in the fairy tale.

The originally snow-white and smooth lime wall was transformed into an uneven patchwork of stones, with the gaps filled with dark green seaweed.

Pearls, corals and other materials decorate the corners of the walls, leaving only hazy outlines in the dim light.

His wife, who was supposed to be by his side, had gone somewhere and he was the only one in the room.

Have I slept for another ten years?

This was Shang Li’s first reaction.

Then he thought:

No, if that were the case, Xiao Cui would definitely take me away from here no matter what.

"568? 031?"

Shang Li called out "system" several times in his heart.

No response.

It's strange, it's impossible for those two noisy little guys not to say something after hearing it.

Where can I shield the system hidden inside my body?

Could it be a dream?

He couldn't be sure.

Since that day when he was ten years old, Shang Li has never had a dream.

Suddenly, an indescribable fishy smell pierced his nose and caught his attention.

Shang Li turned his head and the crystal bowl on the bedside table, which was full of fruits, disappeared and was replaced by various chopped sea fish.

Scarlet liquid oozed out from the pink-white fish flesh, mixing with a white pulp of something unknown.

The nauseating smell emanates from here.

Fortunately, the fish looks fresh.

He thought silently.

Otherwise, you have to dig out the food you have eaten no matter what.

Shang Li moved his legs and stood up from the clam shell, but found that his body, which was originally so weak that he could only barely maintain vital signs, was now full of strength.

“…”

Since you have enough strength now, why don't you leave your real body in the house and create a clone to go out and have a look?

He moved as soon as he was told. He closed his eyes and concentrated, preparing to leave his body.

And then it failed.

“…”

He raised his eyebrows slightly, raised his arm in surprise and looked at his hand.

It was not until this moment that Shang Li realized that his current state was completely that of an ordinary person without any special powers.

And this body...

Shang Li took a few steps to the mirror that had been transformed from a TV.

In the dim light, he suddenly pulled open his collar and confirmed that the red line running across the middle of his neck, representing his artificial body, had disappeared.

There is no doubt that he did gain flesh and blood in this place, which was either a dream or an illusion.

Shang Li saw this and started to get tangled up.

The giant octopus Gululu's warning rang in my ears.

It may not be safe in the house now, but it will definitely be unsafe if you go out.

“…”

After a while, he sighed, and finally chose to open the door and walk out.

The originally transparent seabed outside the house also darkened, and one could only see the outline of five fingers when stretching out one's hand.

The sea water, which was previously considered warm, is now freezing cold.

Shang Li had forgotten how long it had been since he had felt the change in body temperature so deeply. His senses were suddenly stimulated, and his feet shook three times on the spot before he even stepped into the street.

It took him a few minutes to recover from the coolness, and he stepped carefully on the soft sand with his leather shoes.

Well, at least I can still breathe underwater.

The town was much more lively in the dark than when there was light. Many marine creatures came out of their houses and walked slowly in long lines on the streets.

They don't look as round and cute as they did when they first arrived in the town. Instead, they look like the monsters that emerge from ordinary cracks.

Shang Li silently looked at the crab that just passed by him.

The entire body is covered with a dark blue shell like armor, and the crab claws, which are as tall as a person, are covered with fierce and hard spikes. The rest of the legs are all protruding with bone spurs like lances.

He had no doubt that if he accidentally rubbed against it, half of his skin would be scraped off.

The giant crab slowly walked past, and was replaced by a sea turtle that looked like the black tortoise in a special effects movie.

At this moment, the residents all moved their claws, tentacles, or tails in unison, and lined up and moved slowly in the same direction.

It's a bit like a marine version of Ghost in the Shell.

New residents continued to emerge from the stone huts and join the team.

Shang Li quietly inserted himself in, squeezed next to a hideous-looking lantern fish, and moved forward in rhythm with the residents' steps.

He walked lightly on the Jinsha Street that ran through the settlement, scanning the houses one by one.

The fairy-tale-like beautiful underwater town has now become dilapidated.

The rocks are piled up randomly, seaweed grows wildly, and the corals are shaped like the claws of monsters. Everything looks like the original appearance of nature, revealing a strong sense of primitiveness.

Just like what Guru said, "wisdom" has never come.

As we walked through the town, the surroundings became increasingly secluded.

Fortunately, the lantern fish was still providing the last bit of light, so that he was not completely blinded by the darkness.

About half a minute later, Shang Li saw the residents in front of him begin to disappear one by one.

Only when he walked in did he see through the gap between the two-story-high sea monsters and clearly see that what was lying in front of the team was a crack hidden in the seabed.

The crack was like a half-open dark mouth, but the townspeople jumped in without any hesitation.

“…”

Wanna jump?

Shang Li couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Only three more and it will be my turn, he thought.

If something happened downstairs and I couldn't get out, and my wife was somewhere else, she would be very sad to see that I was gone when she returned to the house.

Why not quietly leave the team and return to your room now?

He took a step to the side and just as he turned his head, the entire team suddenly stopped as if the pause button was pressed.

“…”

Shang Li returned to his original position silently.

The team immediately resumed its activities.

The lantern fish in front swam over the dark crevice, wagging its tail.

The buoyancy of the water seemed to disappear suddenly at some point, and the lantern fish was sucked into the abyss in the blink of an eye.

The lantern disappeared, and the surroundings were suddenly plunged into pure darkness.

So this is what it feels like to lose your vision.

Shang Li pursed his lips.

He had always been the one distorting other people's vision, but now he had experienced what it was like to be blind.

Even though he couldn't see anything, Shang Li could feel the eyes of the residents behind him focused on him, as if silently asking:

Why don't you leave yet?

“…”

He had no choice but to move forward slowly, rubbing his heels against his toes.

So scary... Can Xiao Cui come down from the sky now to save me from this dire straits?

Shang Li couldn't help but shout loudly in his heart.

I really, really need a wife now!

“Bang!”

The next second, he suddenly felt a hard hit on his forehead.

Then, bright light pierced my eyes.

"What about calling souls?"

Cui Lan looked down with a cold face.