ctnovel Chapter 84 Skeleton-Eating Flower
Chapter 84 Skeleton-Eating Flower
Chapter 84 Skeleton-Eating Flower
At six o'clock the next day, the first rays of dawn tinged the deep blue sea with a faint golden edge, the lingering glow of the night not yet completely fading.
Yu Wang stretched his stiff body a bit. He had been playing a lawnmower game until the early hours of the morning, and his ears were ringing from all the bombardment he had heard.
Later, perhaps because the commotion was too great, it attracted a truly ruthless character.
An unknown monster, the size of a small submarine, with its skin covered by thick bone plates and its ferocious ramming horns.
Yu Wang tried to bombard the enemy with the newly upgraded level 3 water cannon, but the cannonballs hit the enemy's bone plate and only splashed some water. It was like tickling them, and it was difficult to even break through their defenses.
Even if it was hit by artillery, it would only leave a small dent.
The other side was also wary of Iristi's aura. After several attempts to probe, both sides realized that neither could do anything to the other, and in the end, they could only tacitly choose to coexist peacefully and retreat.
Before going to bed, Yu Wang made some plans for his next actions.
"With the strength of the Class 3 Little Yellow Duck's hull, the razor mackerel migration in 15 days should be manageable, as long as the crew doesn't foolishly rush into the densest part of the fish school and endure continuous impacts and scrapes."
"But the predators attracted by the razor mackerel are a big problem."
Yu Wang closed his eyes, and fragmented memories of the "razor mackerel migration season" from his previous life slowly surfaced in the depths of his consciousness.
At that time, countless enormous, purplish-red flowers with black skull-shaped patterns will bloom underwater in the primordial sea.
The flowers are generally over five meters in diameter, some even over twenty meters, with layers upon layers of petals spreading out as far as they can to occupy the growing space.
Each petal has zipper-like serrations along its edge, ensuring that once closed, adjacent petals lock tightly together, preventing the prey inside from escaping.
The roots below, their exact length unknown, bloom quietly in the water layer where light can reach, like suspended ghosts.
From the sky, it looks like a strange sea of flowers spread out beneath the azure sea.
Beautiful, and deadly.
They are a type of deep-sea predatory plant called "Hymenoplastis," which is usually in a semi-dormant state, hiding in the deep sea and consuming very little energy.
The once-a-decade razor mackerel migration season is also their flowering and breeding season.
Once a sufficient number of fish gather in the water above, these flowers will be awakened instantly!
They suddenly shot upwards! The originally open purplish-red petals abruptly closed inwards like a trap! Trapping any fish that had strayed into them, or any unfortunate passing ships, they were dragged into the deep sea for digestion and absorption.
The bad news is that the skeletal flowers don't seem to be very intelligent. Their hunting logic is very simple: anything large enough to cast a shadow in the water above is likely to be considered a worthwhile prey.
Large human ships, along with the waves and currents generated during their voyage, are easily mistaken by these "brainless" carnivorous plants for passing fat fish.
Then, based on the principle that taking a bite wouldn't be a loss, they launched a probing attack.
The unlucky ones were swallowed whole and dragged into the deep water to drown.
Even those ships that are lucky enough to escape damage will suffer damage to their hulls.
The best solution is to install underwater radar before the migration season arrives, so that you can move along waters where flowers are sparse.
However, the key material, the head of the "soundprinted wind bird," has never been found.
If it's not even available in the regional offices, we might have to resort to the "world's loudspeaker" and issue a bounty.
But it would be too extravagant to waste an opportunity to speak to the whole world just for something like collecting materials.
Never mind, let's prepare to conquer the "Sea Bug Nest" dungeon and get the dungeon rewards first.
Advancing from level 3 to level 4 is a significant hurdle.
Along with the empty core fragments and other materials, the number increased several times, reaching 200.
"The task is arduous and the road ahead is long."
Lost in thought, Yu Wang got up and went outside the cabin to see if any supply ships were nearby.
The supply ships summoned using "Summoning Cards" do not conflict with the system's daily regular refresh. Indeed, some lucky players have encountered a surprise randomly refreshed supply ship in addition to the summoned ones, making it a "double blessing"!
People need to have hope.
"The hot pot restaurant won't be open for another 24 hours, it's going to be tough."
Just as he stepped toward the hatch, he suddenly felt a slight tugging sensation in his ankle!
It wasn't very powerful, but it was sudden enough.
"Huh?" Yu Wang reacted quickly, instantly regaining his balance and looking down to find nothing at his feet.
But then he suddenly remembered something and turned to look at the shrine in the corner of the cabin.
The clean little figurine stood there, its front empty.
Without delay, he immediately took out the Want Want Gift Pack he had received yesterday from the storage compartment, unpacked it, and neatly piled the dazzling array of snacks inside—Want Want Milk, Want Want Rice Crackers, Little Crisps, QQ Candy, and so on—onto the offering table, quickly forming a colorful little heap.
"This should be enough to eat for a while, right?" Yu Wang said to the stone statue.
Seemingly pleased with the abundant new offerings, the hazy halo around the stone statue seemed to brighten slightly, and a smile appeared on its now clearer face.
Yu Wang watched this scene with even greater curiosity.
This "Iristier" never asked to sign any contract, nor did she make any specific demands; she simply stayed quietly on the ship.
Yu Wang was happy to treat him as a rather special passenger, providing him with good food and drink every day, and even wishing that he could stay on the ship for a longer period of time.
Today's breakfast consists of pan-fried anchovies with lemon duck eggs and a can of vegetables.
The little silver fish was traded by Zhang Xinlan with beans last night; it's a food that can increase speed.
The improvement was minimal, still only 0.1 points. Yu Wang picked up a small, golden-brown, crispy fried silver fish, put it in his mouth, and found the flesh tender and the bones crispy. Almost as soon as he swallowed, he felt his body become slightly lighter. Checking his stats, he saw that his base speed attribute had increased from 5.8 to 5.9.
Zhang Xinlan also received a share, but she felt that she could achieve that level of fitness by working out for two days, so it would be a waste to eat it. Therefore, she temporarily stored her share, ate and drank her fill, and adjusted her physical condition to its best.
Yu Wang and Zhang Xinlan began preparing for their next move.
They wore soft fish-skin armor underneath and blood coral suits on top, each carrying their own preferred weapon.
Without further delay, the two donned fish-skin soft armor underneath and blood coral suits on top, weapons in hand, and entered the Sea Bug Nest instance.
【Sea stink bug nest】
[Type: 1-5 player dungeon]
[Level: 1]
[Description: The nest of a sea stink bug father, seven sea stink bug mothers, and their 1337 adorable babies. It is recommended to be well-prepared before visiting, especially mentally. May the ocean purify all cuckoos.]
[Effect: After use, you will gain access to the "Sea Bug Nest" dungeon for 48 hours. The dungeon may contain risks; please proceed with caution.]
[Expiration time: 47 days and 23 hours]
A system notification appears in the corner of the field of view.
The sense of teleportation vanished, replaced by a damp, fishy, and pungent smell, reminiscent of a large infestation of insects.
The two people and the duck appeared in an unfamiliar environment and immediately looked around warily.
The terrifying scene I had imagined—being surrounded by an endless, scalp-chilling sea of insects upon landing—did not occur, which was a pretty good start.
"Luckily, I didn't fall straight into the insect nest," Zhang Xinlan said in a low voice, her tense nerves relaxing slightly.
"Don't relax yet, remember your escape route."
Yu Wang quickly memorized the environmental features around the teleportation point so that he wouldn't be unable to find it when he wanted to leave the instance:
This is a huge, egg-shaped cavity with a square stone platform underfoot and several strangely shaped stalactite columns nearby.
"Sea stink bug nests" are different from "seaweed farms".
The latter has NPCs and clear quests; it's a quest instance where completing the quest allows for a perfect playthrough.
"Sea Bug Nest" has no guide NPCs or quests. You can complete the dungeon perfectly by finding all the treasure chests in the dungeon. It is an exploration dungeon.
If you can't find all the treasure chests, wait for the dungeon ticket to expire, and the reward will be calculated based on the number of treasure chests found.
Therefore, killing monsters is not necessary; finding chests is the key. Of course, if insects block the way, that's another matter. The interior space of the cavity is exceptionally spacious, with the ceiling more than 20 meters above the ground. Several pillars, which are like natural walls and are made of huge rock crystals, roughly divide the cavity into several different "rooms," making the structure complex.
The only source of light here is the deep-sea moss that emits a pale, eerie green phosphorescence on the rock walls.
This light was enough for Zhang Xinlan to see, but Yu Wang still needed to use a flashlight for auxiliary lighting.
The bright beam of the flashlight streaked across the empty ceiling —
"Wait." Yu Wang's movements suddenly stopped, and the beam of light froze at a certain point above his head.
Zhang Xinlan looked up following the light, and her scalp tingled instantly.
Above the hollow dome, there were countless translucent insect eggs, tightly packed together, like a sheet of bubble wrap.
The eggs seemed to be about to hatch. The eggshells became transparent, and the dark, curled-up bodies of the larvae inside were clearly visible. You could even see their tiny wriggling movements!
"So many?!" Zhang Xinlan gasped. "What if they all hatch—"
"So don't let them hatch." Yu Wang's tone was icy.
Zhang Xinlan immediately understood. With a slight thought, she released more than twenty rhinoceros beetles, letting them fly into the sky with their poisonous thorns.
puff!puff!puff!
The larvae that have not yet hatched have soft carapaces that cannot defend against the thorns, and the piercing sound, like popping bubbles, rings out one after another.
The dark shadow inside the pierced insect egg twitched violently a few times before quickly stiffening and losing all signs of life.
This is hard work that cannot be completed in a short time, and Zhang Xinlan also needs to be distracted during this period.
However, judging from her expression, she seemed to be quite relieved of stress.
Taking advantage of this time, Yu Wang and Ya B walked towards the rock wall to carefully observe the glowing moss.
After reading the game's pop-up panel description, he explained to Zhang Xinlan, "It's 'Glowing Phosphorous Moss,' which only grows on the rock walls in deep water. It seems that these mosses are constantly producing oxygen, which is why the air in this enclosed space is barely breathable, and we don't feel suffocated."
In other words, they are underground on the seabed, with an unknown depth of seawater above them.
"Gah?" Duck B, who was following behind, also observed the moss. After enjoying it, it quickly returned to its own position.
Just then, a series of rapid rustling sounds—and crackling sounds—were heard.
The sound came from deep within the cave in one direction, like countless tiny, hard objects chewing something.