Gu Rong force-fed Mu Xingye the sleeping pill. One second Mu Xingye’s eyes were wide open; the next, his head tilted, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Since the sleeping pill is system-produced, the effect was undeniable; sleep came instantly upon consumption.

Gu Rong even patted Mu Xingye with his small hands, the gesture like coaxing a child to sleep, letting out a couple of hums, looking utterly comical.

Seeing Mu Xingye asleep, Gu Rong flapped his little arms and flew from mid-air down to the ground. However, before his little feet touched the ground, another large hand scooped him up from behind. Gu Rong, like a little dumpling, was easily lifted up.

Xie Lingjiu’s voice sounded from behind his head: “What did you feed him?”

Gu Rong, held suspended in mid-air, looked back, saw it was Braids Big Brother, and obediently stopped struggling. Crossing his little arms, his milky voice was crisp and tender: “Gave bad guy uncle sleeping pill.”

Xie Lingjiu: “…”

Bad guy uncle? What strange combination was that?

The sleeping pills Major Mu gave the players – besides the cannon fodder group of four who were truly knocked out, the other players had been pretending to sleep and weren’t actually affected.

Zhuang Yu opened his eyes. Seeing Xie Lingjiu holding Gu Rong’s small body up in mid-air, with Gu Rong looking stubborn, arms still crossed, Zhuang Yu stood up, reaching out to take Gu Rong back.

Xie Lingjiu glanced at Zhuang Yu, said nothing, and released his grip.

Zhuang Yu held Gu Rong and sat back down in his seat. Shen Hanxiao, sitting beside him, had also woken up by now.

“You little ghost, what trouble are you stirring up instead of sleeping?” Shen Hanxiao asked.

Gu Rong shook his little head: “Zaizai not sleepy.”

Just then, Major Mu and Elder Hopu came out from the cockpit, followed by Lin-dalao and Dr. Bai. Lin-dalao had successfully infiltrated the NPC leadership ranks.

Hearing the movement, Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao immediately closed their eyes, pretending to sleep again. Seeing this, Gu Rong also tilted his little head into Zhuang Yu’s embrace, closed his eyes, and faked sleep with huhu sounds, looking quite convincing.

The livestream aunties were about to faint from Zaizai’s cuteness.

Major Mu looked at the group and spoke: “Alright, stop pretending. The plane has mistakenly entered the Living Sea Dead Realm.”

Living Sea Dead Realm? The name alone sounded extraordinary.

Everyone except the cannon fodder group of four and Mu Xingye opened their eyes.

Wu Yao asked: “What is the Living Sea Dead Realm?”

This time, Dr. Bai explained: “As the name suggests, this sea area is a living entity, a Mutant. Any living creature that enters by mistake will undoubtedly die.”

Everyone: “…”

Dr. Bai was an expert researcher on Mutants; Oasis Laboratory specialized in studying Mutants and zombies. According to Dr. Bai, this sea area was a moving Mutant. Initially, it was a very small area of sea, but it devoured other sea areas, its size constantly expanding. If it continued expanding like this, it would swallow the entire vast ocean in only a matter of time.

Shen Hanxiao asked: “But isn’t this plane also a Mutant? How could it accidentally enter the Living Sea Dead Realm?”

Hearing him dare to question their helicopter, Major Mu’s face hardened: “Because the Living Sea Dead Realm has its own consciousness and can disguise itself as a normal sea area. If this plane weren’t a Mutant, it would have been torn to pieces long ago…”

As he spoke, his gaze shifted towards Shen Hanxiao’s group. Seeing Gu Rong still leaning against Zhuang Yu’s embrace with eyes closed, pretending to sleep, his eyelid twitched.

Zhuang Yu lowered his head, gently shaking Gu Rong’s small body: “Rongrong, wake up.”

Gu Rong didn’t wake up but started snoring softly.

Zhuang Yu: “…”

Others: “…”

Okay, as expected of you!

–

The helicopter was still flying over the sea surface, but the terrifying aspect of the Living Sea Dead Realm was that the airspace above and the deep sea below were both within its control. Even a fly entering couldn’t escape. The final result was being integrated into the sea, absorbed by it, becoming a part of it.

At this moment, the helicopter was slowly but uncontrollably descending, and getting closer and closer to the sea surface. In less than an hour, it would completely fall into the sea.

Everyone present had seen such major scenes. Even at this moment, they all maintained a calm demeanor – an abnormal calmness.

Gu Rong, however, was completely oblivious, sleeping soundly and deeply. Zhuang Yu even bought a small blanket from the system store and covered his body.

Wu Yao had come over at some point, leaning on the back of Zhuang Yu’s seat, smiling fondly at Gu Rong’s rosy sleeping face. Having had no chance to interact with this little cub, Wu Yao smiled and reached out: “Zaizai’s Big Brother, can you let me play with Little Rong Zaizai for a while? I’ll return him soon.”

Zhuang Yu: “…”

Play? This isn’t a doll.

Shen Hanxiao, beside him, said: “Sister, this plane is about to sink into the sea! Everyone’s about to kick the bucket! You’re still in the mood to tease a kid?”

Wu Yao glanced at him coolly, smiling: “Adults talking. Minors shouldn’t interrupt, okay?”

Shen Hanxiao: “…”

Wo cao! Discriminated against because of age!

Zhuang Yu suppressed a laugh and handed Gu Rong over: “Of course you can, take him.”

Wu Yao’s eyes lit up. Without ceremony, she took the little dumpling away. Gu Rong was tiny, chubby, soft, and cuddly, just a little meat dumpling. He had some weight, but altogether only about twenty jin (approx. 10kg / 22lbs), not strenuous to hold.

Wu Yao carried Gu Rong back to her seat. Xia Wan sat beside her, arms crossed. Compared to Wu Yao’s mischievousness, her temperament was colder. Seeing Wu Yao bringing the cub back, Xia Wan rolled her eyes but couldn’t resist glancing at the soundly sleeping little dumpling.

Wu Yao gently poked Gu Rong’s little cheek, like tender tofu: “Wow, if my skin were this good, I’d wake up laughing from my dreams.”

Xia Wan said, “He’s two, are you two?”

Wu Yao clicked her tongue in admiration: “New skin is just better! So fair and tender, pinkish-white, not even a single pore.”

Xia Wan saw Wu Yao poking Gu Rong’s little face for a while, then pinching his little ear, tugging his baby hair, then kneading his little meaty hand like a stress toy. She couldn’t help saying: “Be careful not to wake him up.”

Wu Yao: “Relax, I’m using light force.”

The livestream aunties collectively howled with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

[Wuwuwu I also want to hold Zaizai and play for a while! Totally envious!]

[Who’s crying from envy, I won’t say! Ordering a Zaizai lookalike cotton doll ASAP!]

[How can Xia Wan resist pinching Zaizai’s chubby little face? Such self-control, must have quit drugs in her past life!]

[Wo cao, really want to soul transmigrate into Xia Wan, hold Zaizai and kiss him madly!!! [Gift Points]]

–

While they were playing with the cub, Lin-dalao and the others were thinking of a way to escape the Living Sea Dead Realm.

Lin-dalao said, “Just like a drop of ink spreading in water. One drop might stain a cup black, but when dropped into a river or a lake, the ink dilutes until transparent, disappears, absorbed by the water.”

As Lin-dalao spoke, instantly, everyone who was awake turned their attention to him.

Lin-dalao paused, then continued slowly: “Similarly, the ocean is vast and boundless. This sea area hasn’t swallowed the entire ocean at once, likely not because it doesn’t want to, but because it can’t. It must grow itself bit by bit; otherwise, it will burst from overeating.”

Shen Hanxiao reacted: “Dalao means, if there’s a way to feed other sea areas to this sea area simultaneously, we can make it burst directly?”

Lin-dalao nodded: “Correct.”

The analysis was logical and reasonable. Everyone agreed it was absolutely feasible in theory. But the difficulty lay in implementation. How to achieve it?

Forget the players being clueless; Major Mu, Elder Hopu, and Dr. Bai were also silent in thought.

Lin-dalao said, “I just need to confirm how much pressure this helicopter can withstand.”

Hearing him say this, everyone’s eyes widened. Did this mean the dalao could control seawater from other regions?

Dr. Bai shook her head: “No. The plane would definitely be torn into pieces. Including us.”

Zhuang Yu lowered his voice, whispering to Shen Hanxiao: “Controlling object movement… isn’t this like Xiaoshan’s skill in the ‘Cave Monster’ instance?”

Shen Hanxiao said, “It does seem very similar! The cub doesn’t participate in player rankings. Lin-dalao was number one in the last instance. Placing number one definitely gets a reward. Could the reward for player number one be the instance BOSS’s skill?”

At this moment, both felt deep envy.

Their guess was correct. Lin-dalao had indeed obtained Xiaoshan’s skill – Object Manipulation – from the “Cave Monster” instance. Xiaoshan could mentally move rocks, while players could mentally move any object.

As soon as Lin-dalao spoke, Xie Lingjiu glanced at him, instantly understanding his meaning. Xie Lingjiu had also successfully cleared the “Cave Monster” instance, also ranked first, and had also obtained this skill.

The only flaw now was the aircraft. If they brought over seawater from other regions, they and the plane would be torn to pieces together.

Lin-dalao walked over to Wu Yao and Xia Wan, looked down at the cub sleeping soundly in their arms. Gu Rong slept deeply, completely unaffected. Others talking didn’t disturb him.

Lin-dalao said, “Need to borrow him for a moment.”

Wu Yao, being a dalao-group player, reacted instantly. She likely guessed he needed Little Rong Zaizai’s skull ghost ship. The plane couldn’t protect them, but the skull ghost ship could.

This little milk baby felt warm in her arms. Wu Yao was reluctant to let go, but still woke Gu Rong up. “Little Rong Zaizai, wake up! Eating time!”

Wu Yao had truly mastered the essence of waking the cub. Zhuang Yu couldn’t wake him earlier. Now, hearing “eating time,” Gu Rong immediately blinked his eyes and woke up groggily.

Everyone: …6

Gu Rong woke up, saw Wu Yao, his little face still a bit confused, momentarily disoriented. Looking up, Gu Rong saw Lin-dalao, yawned, and didn’t forget to greet people: “Uncle Doctor, Sister.”

Wu Yao pinched his little cheek: “Little baby.”

Gu Rong was fully awake now. Feeling his cheek being pinched, he looked at Wu Yao, blinking his big eyes. Huh? Wasn’t he being held by Big Brother? How did he end up in Sister’s arms?

Wu Yao said: “Little Rong Zaizai, need to borrow your skull ghost ship for a bit, okay? Everyone needs to transfer to your ship.”

Gu Rong wasn’t stingy at all, nodding: “Okay!” After saying that, he tilted his head: “Go ship eat food?”

Wu Yao: “…Also okay.”

–

Gu Rong summoned the skull ghost ship. Everyone boarded. The cannon fodder group of four and Mu Xingye, still knocked out by sleeping pills, were carried by skulls and thrown directly into the skull ship.

The helicopter shrank to model size and was placed on the ghost ship’s table as a decoration.

The skull ghost ship transformed into a ship hull, landed directly in the sea, floating on the Living Sea Dead Realm.

Simultaneously, Lin-dalao and Xie Lingjiu mentally controlled seawater from other regions to surge over. Instantly, the ghost ship was submerged, falling into the seabed, churned and rolled by the seawater.

The skulls held everyone firmly in place, acting as seatbelts, preventing bodies from being smashed or torn apart.

Everyone was tossed up, down, left, right, back and forth, like being tumbled in a washing machine, seeing stars before their eyes.

This was even more thrilling than a roller coaster. Gu Rong, a tiny little thing, was surrounded by the most skulls. The skulls scrambled over each other to get close to the Little Captain, terrified the Little Captain might suffer the slightest accident.

Gu Rong’s little head spun. All he could see were swirling lines.

After an unknown amount of time, a violent scream seemed to come from the depths of the sea. Accompanied by this scream, the constantly churning seawater slowly calmed down.

The skull ghost ship carried everyone, floating up from the seabed to the surface.