No matter where she was in the house, that clammy stickiness trailed after her, as inescapable as a shadow.
Ye Shu bundled herself up tightly and fetched a small ladle of rainwater from outside.
“Xiao Bai, can you figure out what exactly is in this rainwater?”
Ye Shu carried the rainwater toward the direction of the merman, pausing to sniff the air.
Yes, this was the smell! Until now, when the white mist hung thick and heavy, there was no scent—she hadn’t noticed it these last few days, but this morning it was as if all her senses had been awakened, her nose assailed by that salty, briny stench.
It truly was just as the merman had described—absolutely atrocious.
“Ah, ah, ah… Master, this is revolting! Please, take it farther away!”
“I’m just a merman—I can tell you what it smells like, but nothing more! Take it away from me, I can’t stand it, it’s so damn foul!”
The merman, usually so refined, was now pinching his nose in terror, his fish tail thrashing anxiously in the air.
A self-proclaimed elegant merman, reduced at last to cursing out loud.
“You can't identify it?”
“So I’m supposed to throw it out? Or… throw it out?”
Cradling what felt like a ticking time bomb, Ye Shu hesitated for a few seconds.
Standing there, disposable bowl in hand, she finally decided to keep it for now.
The water in the bowl looked just like ordinary water—pure, even—but suddenly she spotted something alive within.
It was nearly invisible…
If she hadn’t looked closely, she could have missed it.
The thing was entirely transparent, only noticeable as it squirmed unexpectedly.
“Xiao Bai, come over here—I think I found what’s in the rainwater!”
Su Bai and the merman hurried over at the sound of her call.
The two of them blocked the doorway, neither willing to yield.
“Move aside! Shu Shu called me. You get out of the way.”
“Nonsense! Xiao Bai is the name that Master gave me. Clearly, she’s calling for me!”
Boom—
The door frame splintered into dust.
Ye Shu let out a long breath. “...Both of you, settle down.”
“Xiao Bai, use your fire ability.”
Ye Shu wanted to test for herself if fire would work against the translucent creature.
“On it.”
Pushing aside the merman’s restraining hand, Su Bai strode in triumphantly.
The merman glared silently—what was there to be proud of? At times like this, they had to rely on him; ordinary people couldn’t even perceive the scent.
“Master… The rainwater still stinks.”
No sooner had the merman spoken than Su Bai withdrew his fire ability.
“Shu Shu, it's no good!”
Su Bai peered into the transparent bowl of rainwater; the faint, ribbon-like entity inside, even after half an hour under scorching heat, continued to glide freely through the water.
“Ye-jie, maybe try something else—like poison?”
Fu Shiyi, for once, offered a suggestion.
Ye Shu agreed.
Lin Qing stood arms crossed, dark eyes flashing with contempt.
As if a little poison could kill that thing—what a hopeless delusion.
Every Fu family member seemed to have their sights set on Ye Xiao Shu. And yet she herself was utterly oblivious.
She wanted—so badly—to kill them all.
Fu Shiyi’s confidence in his poison was unwavering.
Having awakened a poison-related ability, and with it at level two, he could fell an elephant in seconds.
Dealing with such a minuscule organism? A trivial matter.
A single drop of black liquid fell into the water. The previously languid organism immediately became frantic, writhing and darting in agitation.
“It’s working!” Fu Shiyi exclaimed, delighted.
Yet something about this felt wrong.
Using poison against poison—an ordinary person couldn’t endure such toxins. A single sip would be fatal.
“It’s not working.”
“Who says so?”
Fu Shiyi protested stubbornly.
“It’s not working… That thing is growing!”
Lin Qing was the one who spoke. The others followed his gaze, shocked to see the transparent organism still alive in the rainwater, appearing quite a bit larger than before.
Fu Shiyi stared in disbelief, eyes wide, powerless to refute, “How… how is this possible?”
His prideful poison had not only failed.
It had actually become nourishment for the monster.
…
They burned it, poisoned it, hacked it to pieces—Ye Shu and the others tried everything and still couldn’t kill the thing.
In the end, they could only give up.
The rainwater, bowl and all, was tossed outside; every window was sealed tight.
…
Once again, the hospitals in Jing City were stretched beyond capacity.
Flu cases soared.
Not just in Jing City—hospitals everywhere were overrun. Yet because it was labeled a common flu, few paid any attention.
On the public chat screen, more and more players joked:
[SurvivalInstinctMaxed]: What’s the deal?! Step outside and everyone’s down with the flu—I feel a scratch in my own throat, guess I’ll just wash some fruit as a precaution."
[BayanQinVoice]: Is the game’s theme bio-warfare or something? I should buy more meds, maybe stock up on hazmat suits too."
[EvilRepeller]: Nine out of ten people are sick—my bet is this round is some infectious disease, and a highly contagious one at that! I’ve never seen such a wave of flu before. I touched a shopkeeper yesterday—have I caught it too? Will it kill me? Am I going to turn into a zombie? Or something worse?"
[Don’tMockMiddleAgedPoverty]: Why all the fuss over a minor cold? I’ve done nothing extra and I’m still fine. Some big idiot yesterday said not to drink unboiled water. I did, and turns out I’m fine!"
Ye Shu glanced at the world chat and pressed her lips together.
She was almost certain who the so-called big idiot was.
Fang Feixue had been trying to warn everyone in the world channel, even starting threads to raise awareness, but no one would believe her.
Ye Shu respected her—she was the real deal.
Inside all water were those little, undying things.
Just a brief contact required full-body protection—for someone to ingest them directly… that must result in infection.
The rain had now fallen for three days straight.
Zhao Yao lay weakly on her bed, no longer having the strength even to turn on the screen.
She couldn’t understand it—she had survived the perilous depths of the caverns, only to be undone by a mere cold.
Just a little flu—how could it come to this?
Wait… what had she meant to do just now… Oh, right, she needed to trade supplies with her teammates—still missing a swim ring in case of flood. Lately, she’d been a bit forgetful.
Something felt off. Had her fever fried her brain?
Suddenly a flash of inspiration—she remembered: the news had reported memory loss in people who’d inhaled the white mist.
But she had never stepped outside!
She had stayed in her room the entire time—hadn’t been exposed to the strange fog. There was no reason she should be infected.
“Ah… ahhhh…”
“Why… does it hurt so much?”
“They checked at the hospital—it’s just the common cold.”
But the pain in her chest only grew more and more intense. Zhao Yao bit down on her lip, tears blurring her vision. She tasted blood, which dripped onto her pillow.
Her eyes dulled to gray as she collapsed to the floor, head banging against the cold tiles. She curled into herself like a wounded beast, trying to ease the agony.
“First time playing the survival game, and I’m going to die already?”
“Ah Yao… useless to the end—I won't get to see my sister now.”
A mass of thick, black filth spilled from her mouth, her mind slipping away.
“Hhh---hhh…”
Her eyes lost their whites, her once-lovely face cracking with countless black fissures. Her features split into four ghastly segments as a writhing horde of eggs spilled from her mouth.
After a moment, she staggered upright and snapped her face back together, head lolling to one side as she surveyed the room.
Who was she?
Where was this?
It felt like… she’d forgotten something terribly important.
And she was so, so hungry.
Relying on some dim memory, Zhao Yao stumbled to the fridge, ripped out a chunk of raw meat, and tore into it ravenously.