Wilderness Age

"Ozawa, are you a little absent-minded?"

Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou walked side by side.

They came out of the boulder forest and circled the lake to familiarize themselves with the terrain and collect supplies.

It's daytime, the weather is fine, and it's a rare time to wander around and collect resources.

Ding Sheng was not far away from them, at a distance where they could see each other, but if they didn't shout loudly, they couldn't hear the normal conversation voice.

"Ah...it's nothing, it's just..." Yu Ze pondered for a moment, and told Chu Xingzhou that the mermaid stone was similar in height to his rebirth props.

"Is it the mermaid's stone that helped you rebirth?"

"The appearance and feel are almost exactly the same."

"What does this mean?"

"uncertain."

Chu Xingzhou thought for a while, and said, "Let's go explore the shark's territory."

Although Ding Sheng provided them with a lot of information about the mermaids, nothing could compare to what he saw with his own eyes.

"I'll meet you outside." Ding Sheng didn't object to their plan, but he didn't forget to remind them, "Remember to come back before dusk."

The shark's lake is very beautiful, the blue lake water is crystal clear, and when the water waves push to the shore of the lake, there are circles of small waves like white bubbles, which is very dreamy.

It is a bit difficult to enter the depths of the shark's territory, because the shark lives underwater, and occasionally surfaces to play or hunt.

However, the combat power of human beings under the water is restrained in all directions.

So Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou did not act rashly.

Ding Sheng told the two about the ecological distribution of the lake. There are many small islands in the center of the lake. Some are close to the shore and some are far from the shore. The mermaids do not live on the islands, but sit on the rocks of the islands to inhabit when they float up. moment.

A few mermaids have the ability to split their legs and come ashore to land, but they rarely do so.

When they broke into the mermen's territory, they used the uninhabited island on the lake as a middle point, where they could observe the movement of the bottom of the water, and also rest and recover their strength.

Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou quietly entered the water at the position guided by Ding Sheng. From here, one can vaguely see the outline of Tingzhou in the water closest to the shore.

The two swam forward as fast as they could, occasionally coming out of the water to take a breath.

As the distance from the shore gets farther and farther away, the lake water changes from shallow to deep, and the water surface turns into a jewel-like azure blue. There are many harmless shells and small fish at the bottom of the lake, some of which are brightly colored and small in size. , Swimmed to them without fear of people.

Before entering the water, Yu Ze sprayed a special medicine on the two of them, which can eliminate the smell on the two of them so as not to attract underwater creatures with a keen sense of smell, but the water flow caused by the two people swimming underwater will inevitably alarm nearby Little fish and shrimps.

After a period of time, the lake water became shallow again, and Yu Ze emerged from the water, continuing to move forward in the half-human-high water.

Chu Xingzhou followed closely behind.

Soon they set foot on the first underwater island and reef.

This is a small island that can be seen at a glance, but the part that floats above the water is only the tip of the iceberg of the island in the water. If you look down from above, you can see a larger shadow under the water. .

There are aquatic plants, corals and other vegetation growing in the shallow water. Fish, shrimp and crabs shuttle among them, and when they hear the movement, they panic and hide in their nests.

The merman is not sensitive to the change of day and night. They may come out to activities during the day and night or go back to the underwater lair to sleep, but the patrol is 24 hours a day.

One of Ding Sheng's lost comrades had a water ability. They used to break into the mermen's territory mainly relying on the water ability to open the way, hide and breathe underwater for a certain period of time. After Ding Sheng acted alone, he rarely penetrated into the mermen's territory In the middle of the lake, most of the time he circles around the periphery and the small islands on the lake. It is difficult for him to guarantee that he will not be discovered by the sharks, but the special speed ability ensures that he can run and win after being discovered.

For Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou, their supernatural powers have no special advantages in the water, and they need some means to personally explore the danger.

When he saw the transparent streamer clamshell in Ding Sheng's hand, Yu Ze felt that it would be very useful if he could collect such clamshells. The good news is that these clamshells are not unique, and they grow in shallow water near islands and reefs. .

The two lingered on the island for a while, and Yu Ze collected almost all the things that grew here, including many shells like Ding Sheng.

The two each picked out two that looked the largest and most aura, and threw the rest into Yu Ze's space for the space system to determine the grade of the material.

Every local environment has its particularity, and the products made of materials obtained locally will often have stronger applicability. Of course, occasionally there will be unexpected effects, and you will get the feeling of guessing like opening a blind box.

After handing it over to the system, the two continued to travel lightly, swimming deeper into the center of the lake.

As they watched the sun gradually rise to the sky, the two of them had already searched for five small islands in the lake. These five small islands were of different sizes. Except for the four rocky reefs, there was also a flat island made of white sand. Sandbars, sandbars contain special minerals, and the surrounding lake water presents a different blue-green color, which is beautiful and special.

At this time, Yu Ze's space also got a surprising result. After extracting the essence of clam shells, aquatic plants, water corals, etc., the first batch of products synthesized by the space production line are called "bubble beads", which are one by one. The water polo, which is the size of a ping-pong ball, will form a layer of film water coat on the surface of the body after pinching and bursting. The effect of using it is to make people invisible underwater.

With this thing, they will be more confident in sneaking into the depths of the shark's territory.

But time seems to have not allowed.

The vastness of the Sharkman Lake far exceeded their expectations. It was already past noon. If they followed the original route and returned without any danger, they would not be able to return until evening, and they had to ensure that they had a round with Ding Sheng before then.

Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou discussed it, and decided to take the time to swim directly to the center of the lake, and take a look at the periphery of the mermaid colony.

Once you've said that, act with all your might.

The sharks live in the deepest part of the lake, and their living space is vertical. When hunting and resting, they will come to the middle or shallow surface of the lake.

The two of them have tried before, Chu Xingzhou's ability can hold his breath underwater for about an hour to the limit, Yu Ze is about the same, but Yu Ze has space, he can enter the space to take a breath at any time, so only need to consider Chu Xingzhou's limit.

The bird's-eye view of the lake has been passed to Yu Ze, and after comparing the location, the two began to dive.

At a depth of more than 100 meters at the bottom of the lake, the lake is deep and quiet, and a special kind of aquatic coral forms a huge underwater forest, which is the living area of ​​sharks.

Looking from a distance, the coral forest is tens of meters high, and there are bubble nests hanging on the coral branches, which is so beautiful.

The mermaids swim among them, and the closer to the center, the denser the bubble nests and the mermaids come and go, which shows the social gregariousness of the mermaids.

The two did not venture any further.

Yu Ze patted Chu Xingzhou on the shoulder, and asked his opinion with his eyes, Chu Xingzhou nodded, and they exited the coral forest as quietly as when they came.

I don't know whether to say good or bad about the luck for most of the day. Although there is no danger in the territory of the mermaids, there are no substantial gains or breakthroughs.

Yu Ze felt regretful, but both of them felt that information could be collected slowly in the future. At present, the priority should be to ensure that Ding Sheng is not separated from him, not to mention his understanding of the cracked world. He is still Chu Xingzhou's elder brother Chu Xinghe's subordinate. In any case, Chu Xingzhou hoped that the three of them would be together when they left the Rift World.

On the way back they encountered two more patrolling mermen, this time much closer than they had been sneaking through the coral.

When he noticed a large creature approaching quickly, Yu Ze stopped in the water, turned around and put it on Chu Xingzhou's shoulder, the two exchanged glances, and at the same time decisively squeezed the bubble bead to enter the invisible state.

A moment later, two mermen appeared within their field of vision, and stopped less than ten meters away from them, showing puzzled and inquiring expressions.

There is no doubt that they also noticed the presence of unusually large creatures here.

In this lake, except for the sharks and Yu Zechu Xingzhou, the other creatures they have seen are small fish and shrimps, and their movements in the water are completely different.

The two sharks were swimming slowly in the water, gradually getting closer and closer to them, five meters, four meters, three meters...

Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou counted silently.

If the sharks don't leave, as humans, they can't hold their breath for a long time in the water, and they can't keep still. They will be discovered sooner or later. The mermen launched a sneaky surprise attack, pre-emptively.

Just when the mermen were about to enter their attack range, one of the mermen suddenly opened his mouth.

"—"

Silent sound waves pierced through the brain, causing a tingling pain.

The fishbone war halberd in the hand of another merman slammed towards him.

Be positioned!

The two of them instantly realized that the merman's shout had dual functions, it was not only an attack but also the echo to determine the enemy's position.

At this moment, the two shot at the same time and pushed each other away from the original place.

After discovering the enemy, the merman quickly entered the fighting state, the fins behind the ears stretched out, glaring, and the fangs belonging to the top predators were exposed in the mouth.

However, the membrane water jackets on Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou's bodies were still there, and the mermaids could only sense through the water flow that the prey dodged the attack separately but couldn't see the person, so they became even more angry.

At this time, there is no need to hide, and because of the quick decision to subdue the Merman, lest they have a special way to notify the tribe, that would be a big trouble.

The two tacitly attacked a merman each.

Yu Ze attacked the merman who launched the sonic attack, and Chu Xingzhou rushed towards the merman who was holding a fishbone halberd.

Mermaids are powerful, more flexible than humans underwater, good at sound attacks, and a few mermans can use spells.

They discussed and understood these characteristics with Ding Sheng before entering the water.

Fortunately, these two mermaids are just young men with relatively ordinary combat abilities, and they were both knocked out very quickly.

The invisibility status has not been broken yet, Yu Ze can't see where Chu Xingzhou is, and he can't ask in the water. At this time, he only sees a green aquatic plant floating up leisurely, tentatively stretching towards the direction where Yu Ze is.

This familiar style...

Yu Ze smiled knowingly, swam over and grabbed one end of the aquatic plant, instantly feeling relieved.

Chu Xingzhou was not idle when Yu Ze was busy collecting materials on the island reef ahead. His wood-type ability can absorb the ability to assimilate plants for his own use, and he can also simply and rudely spawn them as weapons after obtaining them. There wasn't much room for him to do anything in the lake, but there happened to be a kind of aquatic plant that was very slender and flexible, seemingly harmless, but it could drag people to death if it was accidentally entangled, so it was quite difficult to deal with. It took a lot of effort. Chu Xingzhou tried to absorb this aquatic plant when he was on the reef, and later found that this aquatic plant can release a small amount of toxin, which is not enough to affect people, but it can stun those who accidentally stray into the aquatic plants. Small fish, let them turn into corpses unconsciously, and decompose them into the most primitive nutrients to support the growth of aquatic plants.

The aquatic plants produced by Chu Xingzhou can not only control the growth rate, can be long or short, but can also increase the content of toxins, greatly improving the practicality of aquatic plants, but now they are used as the red line between Yu Ze and him, so naturally No need to be poisoned!

After a while, Yu Ze felt someone coming along the water plants, and one hand fumbled around his waist.

After looting all the belongings of the two sharks, they swam away with the aquatic plants.

They didn't go back exactly the way they came, but were going to swim to another landing point, which would expand the scope of their search this time.

When passing by an island reef, they saw another merman, a merman who seemed to be enjoying the afternoon sun alone.

He sits on a raised reef in the lake, his tail hangs down naturally, his scales glisten in the sun, and his long, seaweed-like dark blue hair hangs over his body, moist and soft, like an oil painting.

His slender arms flicked casually in the water, picked up a shell, and the action could not be described as gentle to open the tightly closed shell. With a light stroke of his sharp fingertips like a knife, he pinched and tore off a piece of soft meat, and put it Putting it into his mouth, he raised his head and squinted slightly, enjoying his snack gracefully.

After eating, they dug out the pearls, threw the shells back into the water, and lay lazily on the reef.

Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou cautiously hid behind another rock. Fortunately, the merman was very relaxed and not alert, so he didn't notice their approach.After observing quietly for more than half an hour, the shark finally left, and the two came out from behind the reef and walked ashore.

The two walked around the island first to make sure they were safe, and casually collected supplies on the island. Chu Xingzhou walked to the reef where the shark had just been, dipped his hands into the water to fish, and threw the shark back into the water. The shells in it came up again.

Afterwards, the two sat down to rest for a while to recover their strength, and by the way, took stock of the supplies they had just collected and the things they had snatched from the shark.

Chu Xingzhou stuck out a piece of aquatic plant to catch the shells. Sure enough, although the shell meat was cut off, it was still alive. It had been eaten just now, but it still didn’t have a long memory at the moment, and it was exposed after a while. .

The items snatched from the patrolling merman did not provide any particularly useful information. There was an empty conch worn on the merman's waist, which was engraved with some kind of runes with special rules. It might be the merman's writing, but They can't read it.

The two of them didn't stay for long before they got their bearings and re-entered the water.

The merman has a strong physique, and can wake up quickly even if he is unconscious. Afterwards, he may notify his clansmen to search for Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou's whereabouts. But the actual fighting experience shows that the mermaid can be located by sound, so the effect of invisibility is weakened in front of the mermaid.

They landed on another lakeshore, and it was much easier and quicker to move after landing. After that, they had to go back to the giant stone forest in the northwest to find Ding Sheng and meet him. Before the sun was about to set, they had less than an hour's time.

The two of them didn't delay any longer, and rushed back quickly wholeheartedly.

"Wait." Chu Xingzhou suddenly stopped Yu Ze, and took his finger forward, "What do you think is that?"

At first glance, everything is normal ahead, but with Chu Xingzhou's reminder, Yu Ze quickly discovered something was wrong.

The two waited with bated breath.

"It's moving."

Gradually they saw the indescribable object, or parts of it.

It was a mimetic octopus like a super monster. Its huge arms and legs were like the pillars of a large building, supporting the octopus to walk slowly on the shore.

Yes, this is a super octopus that can "walk".

Its body color changes with the environment. It is transparent in the water, and changes with the land landscape after landing. It is better at changing colors than chameleons.

The lakeside wetland is lined with flowers and trees, and the lake’s water network is densely covered. At this time, when the flowers are in full bloom, the octopus imitates the appearance of white, pink and apricot, and the ends of its arms and legs are brown. When moving, the color also changed into a gesture of wind blowing, which is almost unreal.

If it hadn't been too huge, even if it deliberately lowered its body, it would be taller than a tree of more than ten meters, otherwise it would be really difficult to identify.

The octopus seems to have no purpose, just roaming among the flowers, as leisurely as walking in your own back garden.

It took a little more time to avoid the octopus, and the two had to try their best to rush back to the meeting point, but the more anxious they were, the more likely accidents would happen.

They met a group of mermen, all of them were strong and strong, they used water spells, and they could still move freely on land. They were obviously the elite of mermen.

More importantly, Yu Ze recognized that the merman standing in the center was the one who attacked him in Lianhuazhou.

Shining silver-blue long hair, fishtails turned into legs stepping on the water waves, the waves carried him and ten other mermaids, some holding fishbone battle halberds, some empty-handed, some Holding conch shells and shells, they have vertical pupils of different shades but the same coldness, flamboyant ear fins, and peculiar facial lines.

Not knowing what these sharks were doing, they searched back and forth among the sea of ​​flowers under the shade of the forest and in the waterways of the lake.

Concerned about the ability of the merman, Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou stayed far away, but the area where the merman shuttled back and forth was the only way they had to go back to the giant stone forest.

When they were in trouble, the wood spirit jumped out: "Oh, they seem to be looking for your new companion."

The cyan ball of light floated up and down in front of the two of them. In the past half a month in the crack world, this ball has gained weight. Although it was born on the earth, it is well adapted to the water and soil of the other world. Where to absorb enough energy.

Chu Xingzhou looked over: "How do you know, you can understand their communication?"

Mu Ling said proudly: "I was born able to read the thoughts of all races."

This statement reminded Chu Xingzhou of the innate skills of the wood spirits. Although the wood spirits behaved like a rambunctious child all day long after being entangled with them, it did have a very powerful ability.

Chu Xingzhou cheered up all of a sudden, and asked Yu Ze: "Let's get closer and listen to what they are talking about?"

Just as Yu Ze was about to nod his head, the wood spirit protested loudly: "You want to order me again?"

The light ball bounced twice, and hummed unhappily: "You will coax me if you have something to do, and tell me to shut up and be quiet if you have nothing to do, I will not do it!"

The wood spirit has always been stubborn, and Chu Xingzhou is very familiar with this stinking virtue, and he is not used to it at all, so he just grabbed it and fucked it.

Sure enough, the sharks dispatched the elite of the clan to chase Ding Sheng ashore. This happened suddenly. After all, Ding Sheng said that the sharks ignored him when he came back several times before, and the two worried whether their movements in the lake caused this change.

After a while, the merman in the middle opened his mouth slightly, and issued a special sound wave to summon the super octopus. It turned out that this fragrant octopus was the mount of the merman tribe.

The merman in the middle is called the young master, and he is the son of the leader of the merman tribe. Judging from their attitudes when communicating, this young master is very powerful and loved.

He sat on top of the octopus's head, and the other ten mermen sat on the five arms of the octopus in groups of two.

After listening to Mu Ling's report, Chu Xingzhou temporarily understood the changes in the situation.

"So Ding Sheng is nearby."

I don't know whether this is good news or bad news, but the most urgent task is to find Ding Sheng.

Ding Sheng was supposed to be waiting for them to gather in the boulder forest. Thinking that the sharks came from that direction just now, it is very likely that Ding Sheng was chased so hard that he had to escape into the wetland by the lake and hide in the sea of ​​flowers and trees.

Yu Ze asked: "What should I do?"

Perhaps Ding Sheng was also anxious at this time, thinking of a way to avoid the merman and return to the Giant Stone Forest.

If they went straight back to the Giant Stone Forest and Ding Sheng didn't make it back, they might miss it.

If they stayed nearby, but Ding Sheng got rid of the shark and managed to sneak back to the giant stone forest, they would still miss each other.

Chu Xingzhou looked at the position of the sun and suggested, "Let's take the risk."

Yu Ze agreed with Chu Xingzhou's opinion without much hesitation.

Making a noise and letting Ding Sheng know that they are here is the most direct way to avoid their two phases being staggered.

With the merman team and the octopus as a big target, it is impossible not to attract attention if they mess up. If Ding Sheng is nearby, he will definitely be aware of it.

And sooner or later they will have to fight against the merman, this time there is a big fish in the middle, it is worthwhile to fight against each other to test the opponent's background.

However, before they could take any action, the shark moved first.

The two watched nervously.

"They got Ding Sheng!"

Seeing Ding Sheng being dragged out of the sea of ​​trees by the octopus and thrown to the ground, Chu Xingzhou couldn't help clenching his fists.

A merman holding a fish bone battle halberd jumped off the waves supporting him. When he landed, his big fish tail turned into a pair of bare feet. A fish scale waist chain inlaid with pearls and conch shells was attached to his waist, covering his body. Live in key parts.

The merman held Ding Sheng's throat with a fishbone war halberd, and searched him from head to toe, especially when his backpack was taken away and turned inside out several times.

The merman didn't get what they wanted, so the merman warrior delivered the marching bag to the young merman master. This young but already very prestigious merman's face sank, and he gave a new order .

The octopus slowly moved over, moved above Ding Sheng, its arms and legs supported its body and opened like a net, and after Ding Sheng was completely covered under it, its body and arms and legs were suddenly closed together.

Chu Xingzhou stood up abruptly.

Yu Ze quickly grabbed him and motioned him to keep calm.

The octopus has created a prison with its body, and Ding Sheng's life and death are unknown in it.

The sharks stood guard in front, their expressions grim.