“Cheat… or blow it up?” Lin Shuangshi asked in a daze. He still wasn’t used to working with these two abnormal individuals.
—Previously at the Poison Museum, he had briefly collaborated with them while leading the Team Five, but back then the Team Five was mostly just along for the ride, experiencing the milk tea car’s space-crossing ability. They hadn’t directly faced these two people’s unusually sharp, unpredictable minds.
Lin Shuangshi glanced at Yi Luo discreetly. Compared to He Wuning, he knew Yi Luo better.
On the surface, Yi Luo seemed easier to deal with than He Wuning—at least he wore a smile—but in Lin Shuangshi’s eyes, He Wuning was still just a kid. Despite being close in age, he was basically a college student in his twenties.
Yi Luo, however, was a real troublemaker: a stubborn, incorrigible thorn, shaped by a lifetime of hard knocks.
His departure from the Operations Department wasn’t a surprise to Lin Shuangshi, but he couldn’t understand how Command Center would just let him team up with He Wuning, a key player with crucial abilities! Didn’t they fear Yi Luo would lead him astray?
Lin Shuangshi gave a weary glance at the rebellious faces of the two, despairingly thinking that maybe it had already happened.
While Lin Shuangshi was lost in thought, the two had already discussed turning the ship’s bow. —The electromagnetic cannon mounted atop the milk tea boat couldn’t rotate on its own; it had to turn with the boat.
The two didn’t even bother to ask Lin Shuangshi; they prepared on their own.
Lin Shuangshi had assumed they were just adjusting direction and that firing would require climbing onto the top of the ship—a moment to mentally prepare—
But the next second, he saw Yi Luo open the window. That round, clunky system somehow produced a pink safety helmet, plopped it on Yi Luo’s head, and with short little arms, gave a salute: “I’m going up!”
He Wuning nodded.
Lin Shuangshi’s mouth slowly opened in shock as he watched Q-chan disappear from the window. Moments later, the whole ship shuddered slightly. A bright electromagnetic blast streaked past the window, nearly blinding him, before exploding on the once-calm sea like a firework.
In the ocean region, the electromagnetic cannon was considered a large-area weapon. It didn’t require precise aim; a wide stretch of sea would be affected. The previously calm water now roiled as if ravaged by a storm, arcs of electricity visibly flickering.
Lin Shuangshi was dumbfounded: “You just let the system do that! Wait, the system can do that?!”
Yi Luo raised an eyebrow: “Special circumstances, not enough manpower, gotta help out, right?”
He looked self-righteous, and the system-bearing combatants instinctively glanced at their devices.
System: “Don’t overthink it. This isn’t in the system manual!”
The combatants disappointedly looked away.
“Hey, did the water just turn black?” Yi Luo peered down from the window. The sea suddenly seemed deeper—not just darker, but massive shadows rising from below!
The seaweed hidden in the ocean floor seemed to awaken from slumber, surging upward along the milk tea boat, trying to drag it into the depths.
The small lights on the airbags discharged electricity. Together with the electromagnetic cannon released by Q-chan on the ship’s deck, flashes of silver electricity streaked across the Seaweed King. Below, the water surged violently as it struggled in pain.
The repeated attacks seemed to trigger a chain reaction. Half the sea churned as if boiling. The milk tea ship rocked with the waves; seated people were fine, but standing combatants in the rear cabin staggered, nearly getting seasick.
“Grab something nearby! Hold on!” Lin Shuangshi tried to stay calm.
A panicked scream rang out. Lin Shuangshi froze—this definitely wasn’t from the two calm experts shouting something like “full speed ahead.” He didn’t even have people this clumsy under him. So who…
“Captain! There are people on the stone bridge!”
Someone shouted a warning.
“What!” Lin Shuangshi immediately looked. His eyes widened in disbelief, momentarily regaining balance despite the shock, and he leaned toward the window.
After the Seaweed King appeared, all the Poison-Sting Seaweed in the ocean region went completely berserk, frantically spreading across the stone bridge. Some sections that had already been damaged by previous monster attacks were unable to bear the weight and crumbled, sending stones tumbling into the water.
A few players appeared on the stone bridge, clinging to the only remaining parts of it, screaming in panic—they had previously sneaked onto the bridge to avoid being seen by the Operations Department!
Yi Luo sighed: “See? I told you earlier to have someone block the entrance.”
“Help! Help!”
As the Poison-Sting Seaweed advanced, the players shouted in fear, disregarding whether they might be spotted, pleading toward the pink milk tea boat: “Save us! Ah!”
He Wuning frowned in confusion. “Weren’t they told the bridge would be dangerous? Why did they come up here?”
Yi Luo shrugged with a half-smile: “Probably thinking—‘Who knows if they’re not letting us leave, maybe they’re planning to trap us on the island,’ those clever little conspiracy theorists.”
Lin Shuangshi took a deep gulp of honey lemon tea. This Team Five captain followed a simple, no-waste principle—he downed the whole cup in one go, his face contorting from the sourness.
Wiping his mouth, he said, “Five of you, come with me to the bridge! The rest, cover us!”
Without waiting for them to choose, he turned and leaped into the sea. He clearly had some swimming experience; his breaststroke wasn’t particularly elegant, but he moved quickly, cutting straight through the water toward the stone bridge.
Team Five apparently had their own grouping rules. When Lin Shuangshi said five people, five others immediately followed suit—drinking their honey lemon tea, their spirits lifted by the sourness, and without hesitation, jumped into the water.
He Wuning blinked in surprise and frowned: “Hey! This isn’t a dungeon. There’s no immunity from harm—they’ll get shocked!”
The combatants ignored him, following their captain quickly toward the stone bridge.
Poison-Sting Seaweed fears all sharp weapons; even a dagger can cut it down. But the players on the bridge were over-cautious, worried about getting poisoned, and had cornered themselves into a desperate situation.
He Wuning rubbed his temples in annoyance and tapped on the window: “Q.”
Q-chan immediately flew to the window. “What’s up, Sweetie?”
“No more electricity,” He Wuning said, glancing at the bridge. He took several cups of taro milk tea from the stock, which provided immunity to poison, and handed them to Q-chan. “Deliver these to them. We can collect the money later.”
“Got it!” Q-chan grabbed the milk tea and deftly avoided the seaweed, floating toward the bridge. “Sweeties, here’s some resupply! Poison-immune!”
The players on the bridge immediately showed expressions of relief, grateful for being saved.
The combatants with systems looked at their own devices again.
System: “…This seems doable too.”
But this wasn’t the system’s job! Why was it so happy about doing it?
Lin Shuangshi had already activated his buffs. While cutting the seaweed on the bridge, he shouted at the players: “Go back! Head toward Ghost Island! Don’t approach the sea for now!”
“But… but there’s seaweed all along the way back!”
Gritting his teeth, Lin Shuangshi used the gaps before the seaweed fully covered the bridge, climbed the railing, and went up: “Follow me! I’ll clear the way. First, back to Ghost Island!”
The five combatants behind him quickly formed a protective circle around the players, deftly clearing the surrounding seaweed.
Someone trembled as they shouted: “Can’t… can’t we go back to the rainforest side?!”
“Yeah, let us go back! We’ve made it this far!”
Lin Shuangshi, not being good at dealing with others, awkwardly explained: “No, the seaweed ahead is denser. We can’t get through… If there’s a fight there and it spreads to the bridge…”
Someone yelled: “If it spreads to the bridge, we won’t be able to return!”
Lin Shuangshi clumsily tried to explain: “The stone bridge refreshes every day…”
Yi Luo, with an expression as if he had already predicted this, sighed: “Those sneaky people who secretly ran onto the bridge—there’s no counting on them to follow instructions.”
He smiled faintly at He Wuning: “I remember you said before that when you find humans cute, there’s a bit of heroism in you. How about now?”
He Wuning: “……”
Yi Luo shrugged helplessly. “Whether humans are cute or not, we have to save them. That’s the duty of the Operations Department.”
He Wuning raised an eyebrow. “Their Operations Department?”
Yi Luo smiled and pointed at himself. “I’m no longer part of it.”
The Operations Department operatives behind him stayed silent. Yi Luo suddenly grabbed the megaphone, still looping the message “Do not approach the stone bridge” at the window, and shouted out to the people at sea: “Everyone on the bridge, listen up!”
“If you don’t want to die, hurry back to Ghost Island! We’re going to fire! Don’t worry if you fall into the water—we’ll give you a proper mourning afterward!”
He Wuning stared silently at him, watching him smile as he delivered this utterly outrageous line. He said with certainty: “You’re definitely going to have to write a self-criticism again.”
Yi Luo acted completely unfazed. “It’s fine, I’m used to it.”
The people on the bridge were still hesitating. Yi Luo looked at He Wuning, smiling as he handed over a handheld cannon specially made by the Tech Department. “Want to be accomplices?”
He Wuning snorted. “I can see it now—you’re running a pirate ship.”
Though he said that, he took the weapon without hesitation. The cannon was already aimed at the stone bridge—of course, he had some conscience left and didn’t aim at the crowd, instead firing at the denser areas of poison-sting seaweed.
With a loud boom, a section of the stone bridge collapsed, cutting off the path to the rainforest area. The players on the bridge screamed in terror, clutching their heads. Lin Shuangshi didn’t expect them to fire immediately and turned pale with anger, shouting at the milk tea boat: “Yi Luo! He Wuning! Are you two insane?!”
“What you’re doing, this is…”
He gaped and panted, unable to find a fitting insult.
Yi Luo lifted the megaphone. “What? I can’t hear you—”
Lin Shuangshi yelled back: “You’re insane!”
Yi Luo put a hand to his ear, smugly using the megaphone to make the other side shout helplessly. “Huh? What did you say? Louder, didn’t you eat today?”
He Wuning looked at his beaming smile and raised an eyebrow. “That’s enough. Be careful, the Team Five’s combatants behind might come up to seek justice for their captain.”
“Hm?” Yi Luo glanced back with a smile.
Team Five combatants, eyes on their noses, noses on their minds, pretended not to hear anything.
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The author has something to say:
Mini bonus skit (not canon):
Lin Shuangshi: He Wuning was led astray by Yi Luo!
He Wuning: No, I’ve always been like this.
Lin Shuangshi: And you’re covering for him!
Q-chan: Are you a shipper? You really ship them well…
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