The damp, icy seawater instantly engulfed him, soaking him completely in a flash.
With a struggle, he grabbed the knife at his waist, ready to cut off the things covering his body, but the thing covering his eyes suddenly came off.
Once Yin Xiu had a field of vision, he immediately squinted and looked around, trying to see what kind of monster had dragged him into the sea.
But the moment he opened his eyes, he saw a vast expanse of fluorescent flowers floating before him. These flowers were blooming in the water at the edge of the shore, their petals crystal clear and radiating a dreamlike glow.
Gentle and beautiful, the petals fragilely peeled off with the waves of the sea, drifting everywhere with the seawater, as if Yin Xiu was surrounded by his favorite flower.
This left Yin Xiu stunned for a moment.
This thing swept him into the sea just so he could see flowers?
No... this thing actually knew he liked flowers...
Yin Xiu looked down and saw a small section of tentacles wriggling around his ankle. He lowered his eyes and met the gaze of the tentacles above.
The mouths on the tentacles seemed to be babbling something, but as soon as they opened their mouths, bubbles would float up, making a gurgling sound that Yin Xiu couldn't understand at all.
...It really was you.
As expected, Yin Xiu ignored the tentacles' chattering and held his breath, then swam upwards with all his might, surfacing at the surface of the sea.
"Boyfriend! Flower~!" As soon as it emerged from the sea, the tentacles began to rustle. It was still wriggling in Yin Xiu's hand, curling up a small blue flower, and calling out.
Yin Xiu struggled to climb onto the reef, soaked to the bone, and nearly unable to breathe while underwater. He glanced at the flower wrapped in the tentacles on his hand, reached out and took it. "You haven't come to see me for so long, just to find something like this?"
"Flower!" The tentacles wrapped around his fingers and together they grasped the small, fragile flower.
Looking at the crystal-clear little flowers swaying in the sea breeze, rolling with water droplets, Yin Xiu felt a mix of emotions.
Few people would prepare a gift for him, and the first person to meticulously prepare a gift for him in every instance was actually a small monster.
Complex, yet indescribably warm.
He lowered his head and kissed the petal under the gaze of the tiny tentacles, then kissed one of the tentacles as well. "Thank you for the gift."
The little antenna trembled and suddenly cried out excitedly, its voice sharp and loud, making no attempt to hide its excitement.
Before Yin Xiu could shut it up, a weight suddenly pressed down on him from behind. Someone silently wrapped their arms around Yin Xiu from behind, reached out and pinched the screaming tentacle, and whispered in his ear, "Boyfriend, kiss me too."
The sudden, icy touch from behind made Yin Xiu shudder. He almost drew his sword and turned around to slash at it. This sudden, unexpected contact left Yin Xiu speechless. "Are you two, one big and one small, attacking me from both sides?"
Li Mo rubbed her wet hair against his, her eyelashes glistening with water droplets, "I wanted to surprise my boyfriend."
"In human behavior, this is called being startled." Yin Xiu turned his head slightly, trying to avoid the breath that was falling on his neck. It tickled him, making him subconsciously hunch his shoulders.
"I don't understand… but if my boyfriend kisses it, he has to kiss me too." Li Mo hugged his wet body tightly without saying a word, refusing to let it go, "Boyfriend, you still owe me a kiss as a reward."
Yin Xiu tilted his head.
Who gets jealous of a part of themselves?
He reasonably suspected that Li Mo was doing it on purpose, wanting two kisses—the monster's little scheme.
"We'll talk about it later." Yin Xiu reached out and pushed his face away, standing up from the reef.
As soon as Li Mo released the tentacle's mouth, the tentacle's scream burst out again, long and distant, as if revealing the turbulent heart beneath the smiling person's skin.
"Could you please stop it from making noise?" Yin Xiu shoved the tentacles back into his hand and took the flower away.
"Okay." Li Mo responded, merging that small portion back into her body, and followed Yin Xiu with a smile. "When will I finally get a kiss as a reward?"
"We'll see...the situation..." Yin Xiu rubbed his wet hair as he walked back. He wasn't ready to kiss Li Mo in human form yet. It seemed that if he kissed her, something would happen to him. Wait, wait a little longer. He needed...a special opportunity.
As if remembering something, Yin Xiu suddenly turned around and pointed to the stone tablet submerged in the seawater. "By the way, besides bringing me to see the flowers, you also brought that?"
"Hmm." Li Mo smiled and nodded. "I found something useful that might be able to help you."
Yin Xiu looked at the stone tablet, "But I can't understand it."
"I can understand it!"
Without saying a word, Li Mo grabbed Yin Xiu's hand, turned around and went back to the stone tablet that was submerged in water, pointing at it.
"When the number of deaths on the island reaches one hundred, God will give the highest reward to the one with the highest record."
"That's what it says on the stone tablet."
Yin Xiu pondered the sentence thoughtfully.
The island has seen a hundred deaths, and the writing is only understandable to the supernatural; these are clearly conditions imposed by the hunters.
On the surface, players can complete the game by surviving on the island, but there is actually a hidden plot for the monsters. Their goal is to kill 100 people on the island, and the player who kills the most will receive a reward, which may be a monster item.
Yin Xiu pondered, as if he had thought of something, and asked Li Mo for confirmation.
"The inscription on the stone tablet says that there have been one hundred deaths on the island, but it doesn't say that there have been one hundred human deaths?"
Li Mo looked down to confirm again, "Yes, there have been a hundred deaths on the island."
This reward item will be triggered once 100 lives are lost on the island. It doesn't have to be the human side that dies; the hunter's life will also be eligible.
Yin Xiu was unsure, and the stone tablet did not show how many there were at present, so he did not know how to know when the island would be able to gather a hundred.
"Never mind, I'll come back after dark." Yin Xiu already had a general idea of what to do. At least after looking at the stone tablet, he would know how to obtain the item, so it wouldn't be a wasted trip.
"Did I help my boyfriend?" Li Mo asked with a smile as she followed Yin Xiu back.
"Hmm." Yin Xiu responded. Although he could find the stone tablet during subsequent patrols and capture a monster to interrogate it, having Li Mo around made things much easier.
"Should my boyfriend compliment me?"
"Hmm, very good, not bad." Yin Xiu responded perfunctorily and led Li Mo to the island.
Zhong Mu waited alone for Yin Xiu to return, remaining at the original spot, treating even the slightest disturbance around him as if facing a formidable enemy.
After waiting for half an hour, he finally saw Yin Xiu return. However, not only was he soaking wet, but there was also another person with him.
"Brother Xiu, you're finally back! Ah…you are…" Zhong Mu wasn't surprised by Li Mo's appearance, but he didn't expect Yin Xiu to bring him back after going out for a while.
Li Mo and Zhong Mu had been in the same instance before, and although they didn't talk much at the end of the last instance, they were still acquaintances.
The three of them stood there again, as if they had come full circle back to the time when they first met in the first instance.
However, the two people in front of him were not as unfamiliar as they were in the first instance.