Villain Rescue System (XII)

The environment suddenly changed from bright to dark, causing Shang Li to squint his eyes uncomfortably.

He knew that the dark and uneasy gap was right in front of him again, and the monsters behind him were staring at him, urging him silently.

Just like when you leave.

"Hold."

The biting cold finally made Shang Li swear for the first time since he traveled through time.

How did I suddenly come here? Did I fall asleep again because of weakness?

Where is your wife?

Didn't he touch the sun? Could he have come to this place as well?

"despair."

Shang Li accidentally kicked a small stone in the complete darkness, his center of gravity shifted, and his foot instantly slid to the edge of the gap, half of it missing.

“…”

Tsk.

Now that it has come to this, just jump.

Shang Li bit his lip and jumped into the abyss.

A strong feeling of falling instantly enveloped my body, and the buoyancy of the water disappeared instantly.

The crack is like an inverted straw, sucking everything on top downwards.

After an unknown amount of time, Shang Li saw small yellowish dots of light floating around him.

These small spots of light were similar to the energy particles emitted by the sun in the sea, but they did not attack him. Instead, they surrounded him lively.

Then, the floating energy particles combine and connect to form a barrier.

Shang Li felt as if a hand gently lifted him up and then gently placed him on the ground.

Then, the energy particles with a faint glow condensed into a fist-sized ball of light, illuminating the area around him.

Shang Li looked around and found that there was another cave here.

Strangely, this cave hidden under the sea is not filled with sea water.

The water drops flowed down the protruding stone pillars overhead into the pits on the ground, making a regular "ticking" sound.

Apart from this, there was no other sound.

Didn't I end up in the same place as those monsters?

Shang Li thought.

The energy ball doesn't look like it was formed naturally. It seems like someone is manipulating it behind the scenes.

He looked at the rugged corridor ahead again.

This time, no one was with him.

After a while, Shang Li let out a long breath, calculated the time in his mind, and began to walk forward alone.

Nearly two hours later, he reached the end of the corridor without any obstruction.

A thin ray of light, accompanied by the inflow of sea water, penetrated through the cracks in the stone wall and poured into the cave.

Shang Li found familiar gaps on both sides of the stone wall near the end.

There is a small slope deep in the larger gap, which is just enough for two people to stand on.

“…”

Not surprising, he thought.

Is this the cave we came from?

But if that were the case, the stone wall would have been broken long ago, and the sea water would have...

He glanced at the sea water that was about to overflow to his waist, then poked his fingers at the cracks in the stone wall from which water was bubbling, to confirm that he had no way to break it open with his bare hands.

Shang Li whispered to himself, "Isn't the snake here now?"

As if hearing his call, the sound of scales rubbing against the stone wall suddenly echoed behind him.

The huge triangular head turned the corner and slowly emerged from the darkness.

But this time, it didn't treat humans as prey as before.

The golden snake eyes that were originally full of primitive bestiality now possessed a bit of agility.

No, it should be said that it is "wisdom".

"Are you a new resident?"

The giant snake extended its forked tongue, but the sound it made was full of childishness.

"Well... I'm a 'tourist' here."

Shang Li hesitated for a moment, then smiled out of habit.

"But I'm in some trouble now. Can you help me break through this stone wall?"

"Oh, that's not a good place up front."

The giant snake shook its head, and the entire cave seemed to tremble in fear. "There is He who enslaves all the residents."

Shang Li raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

He subconsciously glanced at the small ball of light floating next to him, "Slavery?"

"He gave us life, He gave us wisdom, but He also imprisoned us here for eternity."

The giant snake slowly retreated, seemingly not intending to help with this little favor.

"His first slave has become the warden and is qualified to act on his behalf, but I am the tenth slave at the bottom of the list and can only do his bidding miserably."

"I don't want to. I finally managed to escape from their control and hide in this cave. Don't even think about letting me out."

Shang Li: “…”

The giant snake returned to the darkness, with only its tongue still sticking out within sight, as if observing what the human would do next.

Humanity has other ideas.

Seeing that his argument failed, Shang Li's gaze immediately fell on a protruding stone pillar as thick as a wrist leaning against the stone wall.

He noticed that the rocks in the cave were mostly made of soft stalactites, which were not difficult to break.

As a tool for digging rock walls, it can be used to some extent.

"If you were outside, you would surely become one of us."

Seeing that Shang Li seemed determined to leave, the deep red snake tongue couldn't help but tremble again.

"But if you become a resident and want to escape, I'd be willing to let you hide here."

Having said this, its tone became somewhat happy again.

"Why?"

Shang Li's attention was immediately focused on the previous sentence, "All outsiders who come here will eventually become 'residents'?"

"No, it's a guest from outside the world."

The giant snake emphasized the four words, "My subconscious mind tells me this, even though I have lived in the sea since I became conscious."

"But I know I was definitely not a snake before."

This was the second time Shang Li heard the word "outside the world".

"Why do you think I'm from outside this world?" he asked.

"Because you can hear me."

The giant snake blinked its golden eyes. "Only guests who have possessed 'wisdom' can hear us. And only guests from outside this world can possess 'wisdom'."

Shang Li's heart sank.

I first heard this word from Octopus Bone Lulu, and at that time I simply thought it referred to the land in the real world, but now it seems...

Shang Li almost instantly threw away the unacceptable thought that had arisen in his mind.

...No, we can't jump to conclusions until the truth is fully understood.

"Please, please."

He clasped his hands together, put them in front of his face and said to the snake, "I have to get out now."

"A mouth this big will do."

Shang Li gestured to a circle the size of the manhole cover and said sincerely, "Maybe I can rescue you by then."

"And you said it yourself just now. Even if I fail, I can still keep you company in the future."

“Is this true or false?”

Hearing the word "companion", the giant snake tilted its head slightly.

"Of course." Shang Li promised.

The giant snake's tongue trembled, as if it was considering whether this person's words were credible.

Shang Li put on a sincere expression and said, "I have two companions outside. They are much more powerful than me."

"Don't you want to get out of here and be free?"

"All right."

The giant snake was finally persuaded.

It retracted its tongue and poked its head out of the darkness again. "I'll let you go for a little while."

It signaled the humans to hide in the gap beside it, and then the snake head moved forward and used the pointed triangle on its forehead to push against the broken stone wall.

Because the water level in the cave had already reached a high point, the impact of the sea water this time was much lighter than last time.

But the back of Shang Li's exposed hand still had two red marks left by the small stones in the water.

The long-lost pain made him unable to help but let out a soft hiss.

Having been a ghost for so long, he almost forgot how fragile the human body is.

After bidding farewell to the giant snake with childish voice, Shang Li moved his legs unskillfully and left the cave again.

Outside the cave is still the clear and transparent seabed.

He stepped onto the golden sand and headed toward the town, following his memory.

The ball of energy particles kept floating around him. Shang Li couldn't figure out the purpose of the person behind it, so he just pretended not to see it.

When he emerged from the seaweed cave, what came into view was neither the exquisite fairy-tale town at the beginning nor the primitive settlement he saw later.

On the plain seabed, a huge crack opened up, shaped like an eye staring at the sea surface.

Countless energy particles condensed into golden liquid, like tears slowly overflowing from the eye sockets.

Shang Li saw the energy ball floating beside him rising up past him, passing through the clear blue sea, merging with the upward-flowing golden river water, and entering the mechanical device suspended in the air.

On the outside of the machine are two cross-shaped, constantly rotating rings, and in the center of the rings is a floating white crystal.

In the process of continuously absorbing the golden energy flow, the white crystal was dyed light gold, and the dazzling light became brighter and brighter.

Not surprisingly, this should be the predecessor of the sun in the sea.

Shang Li lowered his head and found that many hideous-looking sea monsters were slowly appearing at the end of his sight.

Some of them were residents he knew.

The crab used its two huge claws to hold the remains that were twice its size and crawled to the crevice. The giant pink octopus directed it to put it aside.

The other monsters used their own skills to fill the cracks with the debris.

It looks like he wants to plug the crack.

"You're too slow!"

The voice of the giant pink octopus reached Shang Li's ears.

Then, a middle-aged woman's voice came out again, "Gululu, you are just standing there doing nothing, and you still have the nerve to talk nonsense?!"

"I am... the appointed administrator!"

The distance was too far and Shang Li couldn't hear the entire content of their conversation.

He was about to take a few steps closer when a male voice not far away suddenly drew his attention back.

"Wow, the guests are finally here."

Is there something weird here too?

Shang Li turned his head cautiously, but the cute or terrifying ocean inhabitants he had imagined did not appear.

A man in a T-shirt, shorts and slippers was standing about three meters away with his hands behind his back, looking leisurely.

Um?

Shang Li rubbed his eyes and confirmed that there was indeed a human being with extremely strange clothing.

The man had ordinary facial features, but he exuded an extraordinary temperament that was otherworldly.

Even though he was dressed like a Nanguan landlord, he still couldn't stop the powerful force that seemed like a god descending from heaven.

"It's our first time meeting. Please introduce yourself."

The man turned sideways and waved towards Shang Li, "I am the first protagonist of this world."

"But there is another name that I think you should be more familiar with."

He rubbed his chin between his thumb and index finger.

"Long Aotian - this is what your system told you."