Villain Rescue System (VIII)

The three of them looked at each other.

Cui Lan released his hand that was holding Shang Li's sleeve, put it behind him and quietly poked his back.

“…”

Shang Li received the hint and had no choice but to take a step forward and squat down, so that he was almost at eye level with the giant pink octopus.

He put on his usual gentle smile and said, "This..."

"I am the village priest Gululu."

The old octopus passed through the sea water and his voice was clearly heard by the three people. "Don't be fooled by my young appearance. In fact, I am already several hundred years old."

How many hundred years old?

Shang Li felt a little surprised.

The Superpower Bureau regards the time when the first superpower discovered in human history awakens as the starting point for the planet's spiritual revival.

And from that day until now, it has only been nearly fifty years.

And this rift was actually created on the seabed hundreds of years ago?

There are even intelligent creatures that can communicate freely with humans.

Shang Li relies on supernatural powers to maintain his consciousness and life. He is particularly sensitive to supernatural power fluctuations, so he can naturally tell that the old octopus in front of him is not lying.

There was an ancient supernatural power wave in it, which was far beyond the ability of a few thirty-year-old young men to resist easily.

"Gululu, it's nice to meet you."

As he spoke, Shang Li lowered his head and saluted the octopus, while his hands behind his back secretly made secret signals to Cui Lan and Luo Qinglian.

"You must have been waiting for a long time."

He raised his head, lowered his eyes, and said to Gulu in a calm tone: "But how did you know we were coming?"

"Oh, your small heads really don't have as good a memory as ours. It must be that your useless hair has taken away the nutrients your big brain needs."

The pink giant octopus raised its two tentacles and shook them. "There is really no other way. Let me awaken your memories."

"One day ago, you donated forty-eight lives as tickets outside the world, asking the Central Government to open the gates of your homeland for you to visit."

"So I received the order from the Central Command and crawled out of my comfortable pot bed at night and waited here."

At this point, Guru's skin gradually darkened, from its original light pink color to the same color as a steamed crab.

"Who knew you would make me wait here for a whole day!"

"Uh...thank you for your hard work." Shang Li smiled awkwardly.

“It’s not hard.”

The red-hot giant octopus quickly calmed down after hearing this.

Gulu tilted his head to the left and said, "As a being full of wisdom, I naturally have to sympathize with the stupid humans from outside this world."

Shang Li: “Haha…”

[This is really too much, host! 】

031 said angrily: [You start by calling me an idiot! ]

"He said yes, yes?"

Shang Li lazily responded in his mind, "Don't be so easily swayed by what others say."

「Hmm——」

"So, this is the 'place where life is born'?"

Turning his attention back to the outside world, Shang Libai continued to ask the giant octopus with a smile.

"Oh, of course not."

Gulu waved his fingertips and said, "This place is just a blessing from God."

"Then you..."

"Oh, I was so busy chatting that I forgot about the important matter."

The octopus suddenly interrupted Shang Li, slapped his head with his tentacles, and said, "Look at my brain. I have a bad memory because I am old."

"It's getting late, please follow me to the settlement."

After all, it straightened up as if proudly, "By the way, our settlement is the real birthplace of life."

“…”

Gululu didn't care what the guests were thinking. He turned around and waved his eight tentacles to crawl away. "Be sure to follow me closely."

Shang Li suddenly turned his head and looked at Cui Lan eagerly.

“…”

Cui Lan sighed, and as if accepting his fate, he grabbed the red sleeve again and swam forward with him.

Luo Qinglian, who was following closely behind, subtly glanced between the two people who were tugging at each other, but finally chose to keep silent.

The three set out again.

Shang Li discovered that the golden sand on the seabed was extremely fine, and stepping on it felt like stepping on a soft, thick mat.

Sometimes when the legs move, they accidentally touch the anemones and seaweed, which will scare out many small fish hiding inside.

"They are all inferior creatures that have not yet acquired 'intelligence'."

Gurulu said without turning back, "You are not qualified to be one of us."

"Yeah...of course."

Shang Li showed his support appropriately.

After an unknown amount of time, when Cui Lan, who had the most energy, began to feel tired, the giant pink octopus stopped stirring the sea water with its tentacles.

Shang Li raised his head. The sea above him did not move with the passage of time. The sun seemed to be fixed there forever.

Now that the surprise of emerging from the dark cave and seeing the light again has faded, the rippling sea surface seems like a huge screen projecting a picture pressing down on my head.

"This is the main gate of our settlement."

Gulu extended his tentacle and pointed to the gap in the manhole cover under the seaweed that was as tall as a person. "Go in from here and you will reach the settlement where we have lived for generations!"

"You guys go in first. I'll be the last one to close the door."

The three of them looked at each other.

After hesitating for a while, until he saw the giant pink octopus impatiently slapping the stones with its tentacles, he crawled in one by one.

Fortunately, there was no danger during the crawling.

Shang Li was the last one to crawl into the cave besides Gululu.

With the help of Cui Lan, who climbed out from the front and reached in to pull him up, he pulled himself out of the seaweed cave with great difficulty and sat paralyzed on the gray-blue stone steps to relax for a while.

The two systems continuously charge him to prevent him from shutting down and going into hibernation due to exhaustion.

Only after the energy was charged to about 20% did Shang Li control his eyelids and lift them.

An exquisite town built at the foot of high stone steps suddenly came into view.

Cross-shaped bright yellow lines run through the town, dividing it into four equal parts.

Various marine inhabitants walked along the streets paved with golden sand.

The golden sand here is much more lustrous than the golden sand outside the seaweed cave just now, like real gold.

On both sides of the road are exquisite little houses built with colorful seaweed, corals and shells.

Just like what was written in the fairy tales I read when I was a child.

"See? It's quite different from the Bund, right?"

An old voice sounded, and Gululu had already closed the "door" and walked over to them.

Shang Li turned around and found that the seaweed behind him had disappeared, leaving only a stone wall that was reflected in a gray-blue color by the waves of the sea.

"Alas, fragile humans."

The pink giant octopus sighed, "You've only lived for such a short time, and you're already not as strong as an old man like me."

Shang Li smiled and said, "You are more powerful."

"Haha, that's true."

As Gurulu climbed down the stone steps to continue leading the way for them, he continued to chat with the only guest who responded to his call.

Half a moment later, the three of them successfully entered the beautiful, dreamlike underwater town and stopped in front of two exquisite little houses side by side.

What caught Shang Li's attention was that the marine residents here were clearly less than half their height, but the buildings were all built according to human size.

"I have informed them that the guest room is ready for you."

Gurulu turned around and said, "But we thought there were only two guests, so we only prepared two rooms."

"It's too late to prepare a new one now."

"So on this first night, I'll trouble you three to allocate these two rooms among yourselves."

"It's late, you should go to sleep first."

It opened its huge mouth that had been hidden between its tentacles and yawned loudly. "After a hard day, I am going to sleep now."

Is it late?

Shang Li rolled his eyes and looked around at the underwater town which was brightly illuminated by the light from above.

"The food for the reception has been placed in the room. Please feel free to eat it."

"Tomorrow, I will knock on your door with my tentacles and show you around the settlement."

Gululu waved his tentacles, "Don't run around outside during this period, otherwise it will be very troublesome if you can't find anyone."

After saying this, it left the guests standing there and walked away.

"...Then let's take a break now?" Shang Li looked at Cui Lan.

"That's all we can do for now."

There was no need to argue about the allocation of rooms. As a lady, Luo Qinglian naturally had a separate room, while Shang Li and Cui Lan shared the remaining room.

Cui Lan silently glanced at the guy beside him who looked vaguely happy and excited, reached out and pushed open the shell door and walked in first.

To his surprise, the room was warm and dry, and the sea water outside the house seemed to be blocked at the door by an invisible air wall.

The moment I stepped into the room, my clothes that were originally soaked by sea water immediately became dry.

"Is this a supernatural power?"

Shang Li also came into the room and discovered this wonder.

The furnishings in the room were somewhat beyond his expectations.

The style is not as underwater as imagined, but more like a standard hotel room next to a land station.

A single bed with white sheets was placed in the middle on the brown carpet, with dark wooden bedside tables on each side.

There was even a TV mounted on the wall opposite the bed.

Through the gaps in the undrawn curtains, what you can see outside the window is not the bright seabed, but a deep blue night sky filled with stars.

Shang Li took off his coat and shoes and fell on the single bed. "How come the octopus only looks like the one in the hotel outside?"

"It's normal for an old man who has lived for hundreds of years to know this."

Cui Lan said calmly.

He walked to the bed and looked at the food prepared on the bedside table.

Crystal bowls as big as watermelons were filled with fresh fruits, including many inland varieties.

Cui Lan tilted her head, "Shang Li, for safety's sake you should not..."

Before he finished speaking, a rosy strawberry was picked up by slender fingers and put into the dark mouth.

Shang Li raised his upper body, sat cross-legged on the bed, chewed a strawberry, and then swallowed it without any scruples.

Sensing Cui Lan's disapproving gaze, he seemed to have two invisible ears drooping down, "But I'm really hungry..."

"If I don't eat, I'll die. I can't always rely on the system to keep me alive."

“…”

Cui Lan paused when he heard this.

Indeed, Shang Li was already in a state of exhaustion when he entered the rift, and after swimming on the seabed for so long, he was probably already at the end of his strength.

He thought.

...Forget it. No matter what the future holds, let’s just replenish our energy first.

Shang Li felt that he was almost full after eating a few fruits.

After a brief meal, I quickly felt sleepy and my eyelids began to twitch involuntarily.

He shook his head and held on to his body with difficulty.

"Why are you insisting on doing this when you're so sleepy?"

Cui Lan stretched out a finger and pressed Shang Li's forehead, pushing him down easily, and said unhappily: "Isn't it time for you to rest now?"

"Um……"

Shang Li was not shy either, and immediately huddled half of his body into the quilt, then looked up at his wife who was sitting on the chair, "Xiao Cui, aren't you going to sleep?"

"You also expended a lot of energy before." He blinked his red eyes in ignorance.

“There’s only one bed in the whole room.”

Cui Lan snorted coldly, "Do you think I don't know what you are planning?"

“…”

Shang Li: “Tsk.”