Villain Rescue System (VII)
"What's wrong?"
Cui Lan turned around.
Shang Li whispered 031's words into his ear.
[In the original work, Long Aotian was framed by the villain... the host, and fell into the sea, where he encountered an unknown adventure at the bottom of the sea.]
031 had already acknowledged Shang Li's identity under the pressure of the small dark room. He said in his mind: [After coming out of the seabed, Long Aotian's ability directly changed from the mediocre D-level to the highest S-level ability.]
【What did the protagonist experience under the sea? 】
Before Shang Li could even open his mouth to ask, 568 spoke for him.
[This...is not very clear.]
031 responded quietly, "Most of the original story was left blank, and it didn't describe in detail what the protagonist did."
【Waste.】
568 Cold rebuke.
【……】
031 said angrily: [At least I know where this place is. ]
568: [Yeah?]
[The host is currently at a rift in the world.] 031 said.
Shang Li's eyelids jumped when he heard this, "Does it have anything to do with the rift?"
[Of course.]
031 Hum, [The original work says that this rift covers the rift in the world. It is the most mysterious, highest-level, and most powerful rift that has ever appeared in the plot! ]
“…”
Shang Li simultaneously interpreted this sentence to the remaining two people.
Cui Lan and Luo Qinglian couldn't help but look nervous when they heard the bad news.
[But the host does not need to worry about encountering any danger~]
031 said with a smile: [Host, you have the system to protect you! ]
[Since Long Aotian was able to get out of the seabed safely, then the host must also be able to...]
“Bang!!”
The system machine was still talking halfway when the stone wall of the cave behind it was suddenly broken by something from the outside.
The entire cave shook twice with a sound that almost punctured the eardrums.
Gravel rolled and scales rubbed against each other, and the monster hidden in the darkness slowly slid into the flickering firelight, gradually revealing its terrifying figure.
The giant snake, with a cross-section as tall as a person, had two yellow eyeballs like light bulbs on its top. It tilted its triangular head towards the three people.
The forked snake tongue spit out and trembled at a speed almost invisible, immediately locking onto two living preys.
"run."
Cui Lan gave an order in a low voice.
The moment the words came out of his mouth, he spread his long legs and ran towards the depths of the cave with Luo Qinglian.
"Damn it, I have to encounter something weird in this place."
Luo Qinglian ran and cursed, "Can you just solve it?!"
"It will consume a lot of supernatural energy."
Cui Lan said.
Even though he was carrying a person with long arms and legs, his breathing was still calm and steady. "I don't know what I will encounter next."
"In the absence of replenishment, it is recommended to conserve strength."
What he meant was "If you can run away, don't fight."
For the first time, Luo Qinglian discovered that Cui Lan, the outlaw who was rumored to like to confront the Superpower Bureau head-on, would so decisively choose to run away.
No, it could also be because...
She shifted her gaze to Shang Li who was lying on Cui Lan's back.
The man's hair was disheveled, his eyes were half-closed weakly, his chin resting on the neck of the person beneath him, and his whole body revealed a deep sense of dependence.
At this moment, Shang Li realized that he could not play any role in the escape, so he simply continued chatting with the systems in his mind.
"031, didn't you say that nothing would happen with your protection?" he asked coldly.
【Yeah yeah.】
568 helped out from the side.
[I, I, I didn’t expect it to be so fast! ]
031 I feel wronged. [Generally speaking, the more redemption points the host accumulates by saving villains, the more I can play a role.]
[But now the host is the villain that I want to save, and I can’t even open the panel...]
【etc!】
031 I tried it without any hope, but the progress bar popped up smoothly.
At the same time, a red rectangle appeared in front of Shang Li.
He raised his eyelids and looked at the line of small red words on the rectangle.
[Villain rescue progress: 100%]
Shang Li: “…”
031 was so excited that she almost fainted from the shock of this sudden information. [Ahhhhhhh——]
[The mission has already been completed?! ]
031 came back to his senses from the excitement, and immediately fell into a state of wanting to cry but not being able to, [Then why didn't it automatically leave the world and return to the system space? ! ]
【Because fate requires you to protect the host. 】
568 said.
If it had legs, percentage would kick 031.
[Hurry up and fulfill your promise, and be a source of energy for the host. ]
【whispering sound.】
The mission was accomplished, and 031 was now completely confident. He didn't even take 568, whose mission progress was less than half, seriously.
[Host, let me, who is useful to you, lend you a helping hand! ]
"Need not."
Shang Li flatly refused.
568 began to laugh mercilessly.
Noticing 031's obvious disappointment, he paused and said, "Not for now. It's not time for you to be effective yet."
The deeper the three went into the cave, the more bumpy and rugged the rocks under their feet became, and they would easily sprain their ankles and fall if they were not careful.
Due to numerous restrictions, Cui Lan and Luo Qinglian were unable to increase their running speed to the maximum.
The giant snake stayed behind the two people, neither too close nor too far, and was not in a hurry to swallow its prey, as if it had already determined that they could not escape from the cave.
About half a minute later, after turning around the bends, the sea water at the bottom had gradually submerged my calves.
Luo Qinglian put away the flame in his hand.
"We've reached the end of the road. This is a dead end."
The cave did not fall into pure darkness as the flames disappeared.
A thin ray of light penetrated through the crack in the stone wall and spilled into the cave.
Unfortunately, in addition to light, what came in through the gap was the constantly surging sea water.
The sound of scales rubbing against rough stones behind him was approaching rapidly and would soon catch up.
Luo Qinglian looked at Cui Lan, "Are you still not going to take action?"
"No need."
Shang Li was the first to answer for Cui Lan: "Hide in the cracks in the stone wall."
“…”
Luo Qinglian's throat moved, and before the giant snake caught up, he listened to Shang Li's words and hid in the nearest gap.
Cui Lan found a relatively large gap, pushed Shang Li in first, and then pressed his body on top.
The two of them instantly pressed together in a more intimate posture than before.
There was a low slope at the innermost part of the crevice. Shang Li stepped on the slope and Cui Lan's head immediately rested on his chest.
Shang Li reached out and pressed the back of the person in his arms' head, pushing his wife tightly towards him.
The moment Cui Lan's body was completely hidden in the crevice, the giant snake turned the last bend.
A red light flashed in Shang Li's peach blossom pupils, and he looked over Cui Lan's head and used the energy he got from 568 to activate his supernatural powers.
“Bang!!”
The giant snake rushed forward and crashed into the stone wall at the end of the cave.
The head covered with tough scales easily opened up a new path for them.
Bright light and surging sea water instantly poured into the cave.
Fortunately, because they were hiding deep in the cracks of the rocks, the three of them avoided a lot of the force of the water rushing. But when the water level rose above their heads and the cave was completely overflowing, they were still left with scratches of varying sizes.
Among them, Cui Lan was the most seriously injured. He was at the outer edge of the crevice and was hit the hardest. The only reason he was not washed away by the current was because Shang Li held him with all his strength.
"Xiao Cui, are you okay?"
Shang Li blew a bubble at Cui Lan worriedly.
Cui Lan shook her head, and the floating black hair swam in the sea water with her movement.
After roughly comforting Shang Li, he turned around and saw that the giant snake had already left the cave, wagging its tail as it went away. He then pulled the person who was squeezed deep inside out of the gap.
As a ghost who spends most of his time hiding in a chip, Shang Li rarely goes into the water, so naturally his swimming skills are not very good.
Cui Lan had no choice but to hold on to his sleeve and lead him to swim out of the cave with a big hole in it.
The clear and bright blue world slowly unfolds in sight, and outside the dark cave is an ocean soaked in sunlight.
The three of them were floating in the middle, with the sparkling sea surface above them and the seabed covered with corals, anemones, and golden sand below them.
"Is this what the Rift actually looks like?"
Shang Li couldn't help but blink in surprise.
Yu Guang noticed that the two people beside him were holding their breath. He asked in his heart: "031, is there any way for us to breathe underwater?"
【some!】
031 Quick answer, [You can redeem the underwater breathing card in the system mall, which requires 900 points. ]
[However, since the host's mission had already been completed, I took three directly from the mall! ]
A pale golden ball of light slowly appeared in front of Shang Li.
He stretched out his hand and grasped it, and the small ball of light instantly changed its shape, becoming three laser tickets with a dark blue background.
【With this ticket, you can breathe freely under the sea! 】
“Good job.”
Shang Li praised it sincerely.
031 With a “hehe” laugh, his momentum grew even more powerful.
568 snorted indignantly.
It can already foresee how this later system will ride on its head and bully others in the future.
Shang Li ignored the struggle between the two systems. He moved his arm and handed the laser ticket to Cui Lan, "Xiao Cui, you can breathe now."
Cui Lan took the laser ticket and blew bubbles at Shang Li.
"The system gave it to you?" he asked.
Shang Li nodded.
He then waved his free left hand, attracting the attention of Luo Qinglian who was trying to swim to the surface but then turned back.
"Thank you, Mr. Shang."
After Luo Qinglian took the last laser ticket and expressed his gratitude, he said seriously, "We can't just go upstream and break through the sea surface to leave this place."
really.
Shang Li and Cui Lan had the same thought.
"The real exit must be hidden under the sea," she said.
Even so, it would not be easy to find it in such a vast ocean without any clues.
The three of them were silent.
"Hello, guests from the distant outside world."
Just then, an old voice interrupted their thoughts.
Shang Li lowered his head and saw a giant pink octopus that had appeared out of nowhere on the seabed beneath his feet.
The giant octopus has a round head and eight plump and round tentacles covered with suction cups. You can tell at a glance that it eats well every day.
Shang Li and Cui Lan looked at each other.
Cui Lan nodded, moved his long legs and took Shang Li to dive in front of the octopus.
Luo Qinglian followed closely behind.
"It looks like I have one more guest than expected."
The giant octopus rubbed its smooth head with its tentacles. "But it's not a big problem."
The tentacles moved from the top of the head to the front of the body, while the remaining tentacles bent backwards, and the head slightly lowered towards the three people who still didn't fully understand the situation, like a gentleman bowing elegantly.
“Welcome to the place where life is born.”
Octopus Road.