Chapter 119: Guide Xu is Not Ordinary
The three of them really drank their fill that night. Chen Chang’an and his son, Chen Yunfei, were more or less fine, but Lu Jingyu was so drunk that Xu Qingsui had to call Meng Donghua over to help carry him back to his quarters at the base.
After sobering up the next day, Lu Jingyu began to familiarize Chen Yunfei with the Alliance’s affairs.
Although only three years had passed, the Alliance had changed a great deal.
Fortunately, Chen Yunfei lived up to expectations and got the hang of things very quickly.
One day, just as the two of them had finished inspecting a chemical plant, the Alliance alarm sounded.
The two of them hurried to the scene of the incident. On the way, they ran into Xu Qingsui, who was holding Apocalypse.
The Central Chemical Plant!
A green mist was now spreading outward from the plant.
Any living thing the mist touched instantly withered, losing all signs of life.
But within a breath, they began to grow rapidly, transforming into Mutants.
Gloomy black clouds pressed down from the horizon, seeming to hide an endless danger.
As everyone stared at the sky, a cold voice rang out.
[The dungeon "Deep Sea Whisper" has now opened. Human participants, please enter the dungeon in an orderly fashion.]
[Clear Time: 12 hours. If the dungeon is not cleared within the specified time, this area will be permanently contaminated.]
As the voice spoke, a beam of black light shot out from the center of the dark clouds, landing on the ground and forming a black vortex.
The pitch-black vortex was like a black hole, silently waiting to devour anything that drew near.
Before long, a rectangular black shadow appeared next to the vortex. Atop the shadow, what looked like a swarm of white insects crawled, their bodies forming words.
[To the brave and fearless who follow:
1. Do not touch the things floating on the sea. They too are alive, and your intrusion will provoke their retaliation.
2. Do not remain in the deep sea for more than one hour, or you will be trapped there forever, becoming a plaything for the Merfolk.
3. Do not make loud noises in the deep sea. If you awaken its overlord, you will pay a terrible price.
4. The key to everything lies in the Deep Sea Abyss. Find it, and all will return to normal.]
Xu Qingsui slowly read the dungeon’s rules aloud. Lu Jingyu and Chen Yunfei exchanged a look, then immediately began to assemble a team.
"Guide Xu, leave things here to us! You should go back and rest. If we need you, the members on standby will come get you right away."
After assembling the team, Chen Yunfei spoke up when he saw that Xu Qingsui hadn’t left.
When he finished speaking, Xu Qingsui didn’t answer, merely glancing at Lu Jingyu.
"Yun Fei, Guide Xu is coming into the dungeon with us."
Chen Yunfei’s eyes widened. ’I’ve only been asleep for three years. Since when do guides go into dungeons?’
Lu Jingyu could tell what he was thinking just by looking at his expression.
Lu Jingyu smiled slightly. "Normally, guides don’t join us on adventures, but then, our Guide Xu is anything but normal!"
"Don’t worry, Guide Xu has already joined us for two dungeons. Both times, we only managed to clear them because she gave us a heads-up at a critical moment. So we’ll probably have to rely on her this time, too!"
After hearing Lu Jingyu’s explanation, Chen Yunfei gave Xu Qingsui a thumbs-up. Xu Qingsui made a face at him and said no more.
Lu Jingyu studied the rules for another moment, then suddenly raised his hand and addressed the group. "Everyone, let’s sync our watches. This dungeon has a time limit, so we need to make sure our timekeeping is accurate."
Everyone raised their wrists to sync their watches with Lu Jingyu’s. Then, the group slowly walked toward the black vortex.
Passing through the vortex caused no discomfort.
They only experienced a blur of vision before a deep blue sea appeared before them.
Lu Jingyu checked his watch again and breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed it hadn’t stopped working, unlike in the last dungeon.
The group stood on a sandy beach, and the calm surface of the sea showed no hint of danger.
If they hadn’t known it was a dungeon, many would have mistaken it for a holiday resort.
"The key to clearing this dungeon must be in the deep sea, but there’s a time limit, so we can’t act recklessly."
"First, we’ll send a few people down to scout the situation. If anything happens, no one is to act rashly. You must come up and report back first."
Lu Jingyu and Chen Yunfei exchanged a glance, and Lu Jingyu gave the order.
After the elimination of Qiu Fang, no one dared to question his decisions anymore. At Lu Jingyu’s command, three people immediately jumped into the sea.
The moment the three of them jumped into the sea, Lu Jingyu started his watch, timing them.
Not knowing what was happening below, everyone waited anxiously, feeling like every minute was an hour.
Half an hour later, the surface of the sea finally rippled, and three heads broke through the water.
Though no one knew what information they’d brought back, a collective sigh of relief went through the group just at the sight of them.
After gasping for a few breaths, the three began to swim toward the shore.
"Wait! Don’t move!" Xu Qingsui suddenly shouted, halting the trio in their tracks.
Everyone on shore looked at her, confused about what was happening.
"Look closely at the surface of the water. Do you see it?" Xu Qingsui said, pointing.
Everyone stared at the sea in unison but saw nothing. They could only keep straining their eyes.
Finally, Lu Jingyu was the first to frown.
"There’s plankton on the surface!"
Chen Yunfei’s brow furrowed. "Plankton? Where? I don’t see anything."
"It’s right on the surface," Lu Jingyu explained. "The color is almost identical to the water, so it’s hard to see. Watch the currents carefully, and you’ll notice it."
Following Lu Jingyu’s instructions, everyone looked closer and, sure enough, they noticed something on the surface of the water near the shore.
Remembering the first rule, which mentioned the floating organisms, a chill went down everyone’s spine. It was a good thing Xu Qingsui had spotted them first.
But while they had spotted the plankton, it covered the surface of the water, cutting the three team members in the sea off from the beach.
If they couldn’t touch the plankton, they couldn’t get back to shore.
"Are we supposed to just let the three of them float out there forever?" someone muttered.
"But this means we can’t get in the water, either!"
While everyone was trying to figure out what to do, Xu Qingsui found a plastic water bottle and tossed it into the layer of plankton.
The instant the bottle touched the plankton, they swarmed over it. Within a single breath, the bottle was gone without a trace.
Seeing this, everyone broke out in a cold sweat.
They didn’t dare to imagine what would have happened if someone had touched the plankton without realizing the danger.
The three in the water had naturally seen this as well, and they immediately swam further out, putting more distance between themselves and the deadly plankton.
"What do we do now?" someone asked. "This stuff is impossible to get past. Don’t tell me we’re this unlucky... hitting a dead end the moment we enter the dungeon?"