Shafley went to the door and was about to knock when he suddenly remembered that Chen Nian should have been asleep.

Although entering Chen Nian's room after he fell asleep might trigger some possibility of close contact, Shafley still didn't want to disturb his sleep. Perhaps after hearing the strange news he brought, Chen Nian would not be able to rest well all night.

He thought for two seconds, but still held himself back. It was just a game, not something particularly urgent or important. He could still tell Chen Nian tomorrow.

The next day, Chen Nian only had to attend cultural classes in the morning. After his lunch break in the afternoon, he planned to take the neural adapter and play games for a while.

At this time, he saw the message from Shafley.

Caigeou wasn’t online at all yesterday?

But Aurora was indeed brought to him by him personally. He had a few words with Laigoo, and Laigoo even said that he had given her to him because he was busy working overtime and couldn't take care of her.

Chen Nian was confused for a moment. He began to wonder if he had had too much fun yesterday and his memory was messed up.

That's not right. Later, when I was doing a mission with Aurora, I asked her how she knew Cai Geou. Aurora said it was in the game, which proves that it was not an illusion.

So strange.

Chen Nian thought for a few minutes but couldn't come up with any idea. He put his doubts aside for the time being and put on the neural adapter again.

After going online, Chen Nian took a look at his friend list out of habit. There weren't many people who were free to play the game at this point, but in the gray list, Aurora's name was lit.

Chen Nian did not contact her out of caution. Anyway, he had already completed the task of training the newcomer yesterday, and there should be nothing for him to do after that.

He was about to continue collecting keepsakes when he suddenly received a private message.

[Aurora]: Brother Mono is online. Do we still need to complete the task of collecting keepsakes today?

Seeing her message, Chen Nian felt uneasy. He frowned and thought for two seconds before deciding to reply.

There is no way that there are ghosts in the game. Even if there are ghosts, they will only be confined to this cyberspace and will not affect his real life.

There might have been a signal error or something like that yesterday. Isn't it normal for such a large-scale game to have a bug?

It just so happened that he also wanted to test Aurora.

【Mono】：Yes, I was going to do a mission, and I didn't expect you to be online too.

[Aurora]: I happened to have a day off today, so I came online early to watch it. Can I continue to join you?

[Mono]: Okay.

As soon as the message came, Aurora appeared beside Chen Nian.

She has a healthy complexion and exudes an incomparable wildness from head to toe. Her long silver curly hair adds a touch of dreamy beauty.

Aurora: "Is the vice president coming later?"

Chen Nian: "He is busy and has no time."

Aurora said "oh" with a natural look, and it was unclear whether she was deliberately hiding the disappointment in her heart.

"I just worked hard on some other tasks and raised my level. If I want to visit the guild building, what is the level limit? I will try my best to work towards that goal."

Why did Aurora insist on going into their guild to see?

Yesterday, Chen Nian might not have cared much, thinking that she was just curious about the current top-ranked guild, but now he was on high alert, and he felt that Aurora's repeated inquiries and requests were a bit weird.

Could it be someone from another guild who was here to investigate? Could it be the Abandoned God? Their guild had always been competing with Athanasius for the top spot.

No matter what, Chen Nian had made up his mind that he would never take Aurora to the guild base. As for just doing the mission, it was not particularly important anyway, so it would be fine to have fun.

Aurora had no idea that Chen Nian had become wary, and everything seemed to be the same as yesterday.

The two continued to travel through Murmansk and collected the remaining four tokens.

Finally, they followed the instructions and came to the statue of Alyosha.

A small area in front of the statue's base collapsed, revealing a secret compartment in the center.

In the secret chamber is a small golden bottle.

Chen Nian stretched out his hand, and the moment his fingertips touched the golden bottle, light came out, and then the bottle disappeared without a trace.

The system prompt sounded and was heard by all online players.

[Player Mono triggers condition α, a mechanism somewhere is opened]

With a dull rumbling sound, the whole earth shook, and countless dust flew into the air, even blocking the sky for a moment.

As stable and heavy as Chen Nian was, he could only hold on to a sculpture beside him to steady himself amid the violent shaking.

The shaking lasted for more than ten minutes before it finally stopped, and the dust was flying, glowing in the Tyndall effect.

This is...

Chen Nian was surprised to find that the water level indicated in the upper left corner of the UI interface had dropped by 25 meters.

A large number of new areas have emerged and are seeing the light of day again.

No wonder so many players searched day and night for several days but failed to trigger the main quest. The secret may lie in this newly exposed land.

Chen Nian couldn't help but sigh, if such a hidden key clue was not discovered, wouldn't it become part of the "Deep Sea" version of the story?

It was also thanks to Aulola's casual picking at that time.

"Should we explore new areas?" Aurora asked eagerly.

"Do you want to go?" Chen Nian asked, "The front line will be more dangerous. Your level may be a bit low in the past."

Aurora: "It doesn't matter. It's just a matter of dying a few more times. I don't have much money on me, so I won't feel bad if I lose it."

Seeing this, Chen Nian said no more. He also wanted to take a look at the new area.

Chen Nian and Aurora rode their motorcycles to the new area. As expected, there were already many players who had heard the news and rushed there.

The water level receded unexpectedly, and a large number of primitive creatures had no time to evacuate and were stranded on the beach. From a distance, it looked like they had accidentally entered a seafood market, and the stench was overwhelming.

The mechanical parts on these primitive creatures support them, allowing them to move briefly after leaving the water. Some of them jump desperately, trying to catch up with the receding sea water and survive, while others seem to have already understood their fate and frantically attack humans as their final revenge.

The battle has begun.

Without saying a word, Chen Nian called out the arsenal and carried the large-caliber rocket launcher on his shoulder. Compared to its huge iron tower-like size, it looked like a small toy. Chen Nian whistled and excitedly stepped onto the new battlefield.

Orlola followed closely behind.

The dying primitive creatures put up an extremely fierce resistance. Even with heavy firepower suppression, players continued to be accidentally hit. The ground was as muddy as a swamp, and sometimes they couldn't pull their legs out after stepping on it, and could only stand there and act as living targets.

There were also countless poisonous creatures disguised as rocks or lying in the sand. In just a few minutes, Chen Nian saw more than a dozen players suddenly poisoned.

The various well-equipped characters staggered a few steps and fell heavily to the ground uncontrollably. Before they were completely dead, they were pounced upon and eaten up by the primitive creatures.

Chen Nian suddenly felt an indescribable fear.

If one day...if one day the sea water really recedes, will humans encounter a similar situation when they return to land?

People in real life are not like what is happening now. They can't be poisoned or bitten to death and then resurrected at the birth point. Once dead, they are dead.

Forget it, why think so much? We don’t know when the sea level will recede.

Moreover, at an altitude of 2,700 meters, it would take hundreds or thousands of years for it to retreat to the level where it can appear on the surface. By then, it would have nothing to do with him anyway.

Chen Nian watched his feet carefully. More than half a month had passed, and he was no longer the newbie who knew nothing. He could even pick up the rocket launcher and use it as a melee weapon.

The original creature's mechanical shell was smashed directly, and blood, internal organs and broken parts splattered all over.

Aurora held two guns and killed a large number of primitive creatures. Although her level was not high, she was very fierce in fighting. Surrounded by countless primitive creatures, she was like a sturdy black panther, exuding deadly beauty.

Chen Nian, who was originally worried that she would be a drag, saw this and simply stopped paying attention to her.

The sounds of gunfire and artillery fire filled your ears. Every time you destroyed a primitive creature, you would get corresponding points. Among their remains, there were parts that could be recycled as props. More and more players came here, and everyone wanted to be the first to open the next stage of the main storyline.

The battle continued endlessly, and Chen Nian and the majority of the troops pushed the front line forward four kilometers.

Everywhere they passed was a mess, and teams from various guilds would come over to conduct a collective search.

It was not until the reminder bell rang that Chen Nian came back to his senses from the fierce battle.

Almost three hours had passed and he couldn't play any more, otherwise he would not be able to have dinner on time.

He retreated to a safe area and put away his weapon: "I have to get off."

Aurora retreated with him. After nearly three hours of intense concentration, she was still energetic and even had a feeling of wanting more.

Aurora looked at the mess on the ground, including the remains of the original creatures and the corpses of the players that had not yet disappeared after their death. An imperceptible obsession emerged in her eyes, and she licked the bloodstains on the corners of her lips with the tip of her tongue.

But in just a moment, she returned to her normal self, looked up and asked Chen Nian beside her: "How is it? I didn't hold you back, did I?"

Chen Nian admitted: "It's amazing."

Aurora smiled and said, "If I continue to work hard to improve my rank, I might even be recognized by the vice president."

Why do you keep thinking about Shafulai? Chen Nian complained in his heart, but still had an encouraging smile on his face: "Okay, but you also need to pay attention to rest and don't spend all day playing games."

"Okay, I know."

Chen Nian chatted with her for a few more words and then went offline.

Even though Aurora's level is so low, she can still hold her own in the battle at the forefront of the new version.

Chen Nian said that he was no longer distracted, but in fact he had been secretly observing Aurora, but he could not see anything unusual so far. In the game of Electric Fantasy Kingdom, the restrictions on level generation were not particularly large. After all, the character's ability was directly linked to the consciousness level of the operator, and the level and money could only provide some additional services.

Maybe he needs to observe for a while longer.

Chen Nian rubbed his temples, then stood up and went to the restaurant to eat.

Shafley stepped off the aircraft.

Today he hurried but still failed to come back in time for dinner, so Chen Nian should no longer be in the restaurant by now.

It's a pity to miss the opportunity to have dinner together.

Shafley took ten minutes to finish his dinner and returned to his bedroom. He still had the last part of the code to finish, so he wanted to finish it today and tomorrow.

He had just sat down and was casually looking out the window, wanting to take in the view of the courtyard and relax, when he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure.

Shaflay stood up immediately.

He walked to the window and saw Chen Nian squatting under a tree, observing something with a magnifying glass in his hand.

The palace has now become another home for Chen Nian on the top floor of Cinnabar. The boy simply put on a red coat over his pajamas and ran out. He was carrying a brown crossbody bag with many large and small pockets on it, and his hair was messy, which reminded Shaflai of Little Red Riding Hood picking mushrooms with a basket.

Shafla admired it for half a minute before he raised his hand and knocked on the window.

The knocking sound attracted the boy's attention, and Chen Nian turned around to look.

Seeing Shafley in the room on the other side of the window, he blinked, then pretended nothing had happened and continued to study the image in the magnifying glass.

Shaffley pushed open the window, and he used one hand to support himself, then he climbed out gracefully and landed lightly on the ground.

"What are you doing?" He came under the tree and squatted beside Chen Nian. He found that what the boy was carefully observing was an ordinary light yellow mushroom.

This yellow-white mushroom that often grows in corners is called the Crystalline Imp Umbrella. It is a close relative of the Coprinus comatus. It is non-toxic and edible, but no one would be so idle as to pick mushrooms from the mud to eat.

Chen Nian replied: "Collecting fungi. My natural history homework is due next week."

Shafley: "Aren't you going to collect Alpha's pheromones?"

"I changed it. I know too few Alphas, so the number of samples is not enough." Chen Nian straightened up and sighed pretentiously, "What a pity."

Shafley's brain automatically ignored the second half of Chen Nian's words. Strictly speaking, he only heard the word "changed".

To say I'm not happy would be a lie.

Shaffley was hiding his true feelings. He discovered that the bottles and jars had disappeared from the shelf the night before. Did it mean that the boy changed his mind after he revealed his feelings?

Chen Nian had already collected so many samples, there was no reason to give up halfway.

——Is it because you care about him?

Shafley was secretly delighted. He pretended to stare at the mushrooms growing from the bottom of the tree trunk and said, "I haven't seen many fungi in the garden. The final number of species may not be as many as the plants."

Chen Nian didn't take it seriously: "It's okay, it's just a small temporary task, as long as you have the intention."

Since we don't need to collect too many samples of fungi, why did we stop the previous project on the grounds that the number of Alphas we know is limited?

Chen Nian said it casually, but he didn't want to fall into Shafulai's trap.

Omega himself didn't realize it yet, and was just busy using a small shovel to dig out the whole mushroom and put it into a temporary plastic bag.

Seeing Shafley squatting beside him and watching him dig mushrooms, he asked, "Do you have nothing to do tonight?"

"have."

"Why don't you get down to business?"

Shafley smiled and said, "I am doing that now, am I not?"

It took Chen Nian half a second to react.

My goodness, in just two days, Shafulai's skills have greatly improved. Could it be that he suddenly received some inspiration and opened up his Ren and Du meridians?

In this case, Chen Nian stopped chasing him. After all, it was much more fun to have someone accompany him.

Chen Nian was looking for fungi in the courtyard. His naked eyes could only see the surface, but he still had mental strength. The invisible energy expanded in all directions, not leaving out every inch of the corner.

Chen Nian was searching carefully when he suddenly smelled a faint floral scent that drifted with the night breeze and hit his nose.

The taste was somewhat familiar.

The boy raised his head and looked around, and finally found a Albizia albizzia tree not far to the side. The fluffy pink Albizia albizzia flowers were placed among the branches, exuding a light plant fragrance.

Sure enough, you will only remember the name of a smell if you smell it yourself.

"Ji Yifeng's pheromones smell like the albizzia tree." Chen Nian mentioned it casually. As to whether he really said it casually, only Chen Nian himself knew.

"……oh."

Shafulai pursed his lips silently. Ji Yifeng asked Chen Nian to guess the smell of his pheromones, and now that Chen Nian said this, did it mean that he had already guessed it?

At this moment, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was extremely aware of the pressure of competition.

Maybe he will have to resort to more tactics to win this victory.

Most fungi grow in a damp and dark environment, so Chen Nian went to the lake, hoping to harvest more.

He walked around the lakeshore. The royal gardens were usually taken care of by gardeners, so there was no suitable environment for fungi to grow. After searching around, Chen Nian only found two clusters of mushrooms.

It seems that I will have to go to the ecological tank to collect them some time.

Chen Nian didn't rush to get up. He squatted on the shore of the lake, fiddling with the small stones in the shallow water.

He stirred his fingers in the cool lake water, and after several selections, he finally picked out a pebble of the right size. It was extremely smooth after being washed by the water, and had an oval shape that was very close to a sphere, and its texture was cool.

Chen Nian held it up to the light and seemed to be able to see faint glowing patterns.

Chen Nian handed the pebble to Shaflay and said, "This is for you."

Shaflay was flattered and accepted the "gift". As the eldest prince, he enjoyed the best resources in the world, saw many strange and exotic things, and had everything he needed. Yet, he was delighted by a pebble he picked up at random.

This is a gift from Chen Nian to him.

The two of them searched for samples for Chen Nian's natural history homework together, and chatted casually with each other aimlessly. Everything seemed to have returned to the way it was before, and they got along with each other in the most comfortable way.

Some things have changed, but some things haven't changed.

"You probably won't find anything, let's go back."

Chen Nian looked at the lake sparkling under the moonlight and said, "I want to go to the Huanhai Platform someday to test the effect of using mental power to shield. Chen Ci has done experiments before, so it shouldn't be too dangerous."

"Okay." Shafley agreed.

"Should I learn how to swim first, just in case?"

Chen Nian had been living in the underground city before and had no chance to learn to swim. He had never even seen a decent swimming pool.

Shafley: "I'll teach you tomorrow. Chen Ci can swim. If someone else teaches you, it will be easy to be exposed."

"Okay, but I have to go to the hospital to accompany Uncle Jiang tomorrow. He had surgery this morning."

"It depends on your time."

The two discussed it and returned to the bedroom window.

Chen Nian's bedroom window was locked from the inside, and he didn't want to go around in circles again, so he and Shafulai simply climbed through the window into Alpha's room and then went back to their own room.

When Chen Nian jumped down from the window, he saw Shafley's computer turned on and placed on the table.

“Is this programming?”

"Well, do some of the documents needed for Cinnabar's daily maintenance."

Chen Nian had no idea about computers, so he just said "oh" and didn't ask any more questions. Shafulai observed his reaction and secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the boy divert his attention.

Chen Nian went back to his room next door, and Shafulai was the only one left in the room.

Alpha stood by the window, looking into the distance at the courtyard in the night. Even though the lights were bright, they still couldn't illuminate every corner.

But Shafley knew that there was a tree 500 meters away to the southeast.

He called out the intelligent housekeeper and said coldly, "Inform the gardener to remove the albizzia tree tomorrow and never allow this plant to appear in the garden again."

The next day, Chen Nian went to the hospital where Jiang Dai was. He got up early, and when he arrived at the ward, Jiang Dai had not yet been pushed into the operating room.

Jiang Dai was used to many ups and downs, so an operation was nothing to him. He was in a very stable mood, but when he saw Chen Nian coming over, his mood turned into visibly happy.

"Don't you have class today?"

"I've taken some time off. On such an important day, of course I have to come and accompany you."

"It's just an operation. There's no need to delay your class." Jiang Dai said this with a smile on his face.

Chen Nian: "That won't do. I want my voice to be the first thing you hear when you wake up."

In fact, under Shafley's arrangement, Jiang Dai has been enjoying the highest level of full-service, with someone taking care of her at all times, so there is no need for Chen Nian to spend a whole day accompanying her.

But Chen Nian just hopes that she can be by Jiang Dai's side the moment he wakes up from anesthesia.

At least in the complete darkness, Uncle Jiang would feel much more at ease knowing that he could hear his voice.

The nurse came over and gave Jiang Dai an IV, made sure all the indicators were correct, and pushed him to the operating room.

Chen Nian followed to the door of the operating room and saw the ceiling light turn on red. He sat on a bench in the corridor, in a daze.

He soon realized that this would easily attract more attention, so he returned to the ward and sat in the accompanying chair.

While waiting, Chen Nian was not idle. He took out his cultural homework and worked on the questions assigned to him by Chu Xun one by one.

Jiang Dai's operation went very smoothly.

He was wheeled out of the operating room and back to the ward with a thick gauze wrapped around his eyes.

"Is he awake?" Chen Nian asked the nurse softly.

"It will take about another hour."

Chen Nian nodded, and he sat back in the accompanying chair, staring quietly at the middle-aged man on the hospital bed. After this period of recuperation, Jiang Dai's complexion was much better than before, and he looked more rounded.

Chen Nian had her own things to do and couldn't stay with him for a long time, but every time he came over, she only saw a happy smile on Jiang Dai's face.

Jiang Dai woke up half an hour after the operation. He moved his fingers slightly and was immediately noticed by Chen Nian.

"Uncle Jiang." Chen Nian called in a low voice.

Jiang Dai's lips trembled slightly. He was still in the confusion of general anesthesia and could hardly make any sound, but the shape of his mouth was responding to Chen Nian.

It will take a week to remove the gauze on his eyes. During this week, Jiang Dai is completely blind and needs utmost care.

After Jiang Dai regained consciousness, Chen Nian fed him something to eat and then helped Jiang Dai to the bathroom.

Chen Nian stayed in the hospital until eight o'clock in the evening. He was still using the identity of Prince Chen Ci's consort. If he did not return home all night, he would be noticed and he could not keep watch over Jiang Dai all the time.

Jiang Dai urged him: "Go back, I have someone to take care of me."

Chen Nian saw that it was indeed getting late, so he could only nod and say, "Okay, I'll come see you tomorrow."

When Chen Nian returned to the palace, it was already half past eight.

Just as he was about to go back to his room, he saw a message from Shafley: "Are you back? Do you still want to learn swimming today? I'm here in the pool."

Is Shafley swimming?

Chen Nian paused, turned around and walked towards the swimming pool. He stayed in the hospital for a day, but actually did not do much, so he was not tired.

Chen Nian pushed open the door of the indoor swimming pool. He quickly looked around but saw no one. He looked carefully and found that Shafla was underwater.

Shafley started from the other end of the swimming pool and swam straight for more than 20 meters before floating to the surface, taking his first breath, and then diving again. Only the sound of water echoed in the empty room.

Chen Nian walked to the edge of the pool, and just as the figure in the water had swum to the end, Shafulai appeared at his feet. Alpha casually pushed his hair back, stretched out his arms, and walked ashore.

"Want to give it a try?"

"That's fine." Chen Nian's eyes swept from top to bottom. Shafuleihun was wearing only a pair of black swimming trunks, and his muscular figure was clearly visible. The water flowed along his skin, shining with bright light, outlining explosive lines.

Chen Nian had never seen a gladiator in the Middle Ages, but this word suddenly occurred to him.

Shafley's physique was not acquired through training in the gym. His strength was mainly for fighting. His abdomen had to store some fat to protect the most important internal organs. Therefore, his waist is not particularly thin. However, Chen Nian thinks this is more beautiful than the so-called "dog waist".

And those two long legs, which were usually wrapped in suit pants, were now seen clearly by Chen Nian. His focus was that Shafulai's leg hair was also platinum gold.

Then the hair on other parts of the body should also be golden?

Chen Nian glanced at it calmly. Hmm, it seemed that there was a bigger challenge ahead of him than learning to swim.

——Don’t look at the challenge there, start now.