The pale pink little spider slowly emerged from his embrace and, looking not far away, saw the blue little mermaid wagging her tail at her. Transforming into a blue glow, she flew toward her, resembling a warm and soft cloud that gently wrapped around her.

The little creature blinked, feeling a vague sense of warmth from the large hand that lingered on her head for a moment, before retreating into the body of the golden Maine Coon.

The little spider looked up in astonishment at the golden Maine Coon.

Noticing her unusual behavior, the Maine Coon lowered its head, a bit embarrassed: "What’s wrong?"

The little spider shook her head, her eyes shining brightly as she suddenly lunged into his embrace, merging instantly with the other spiritual body.

Josh and Yuze both shuddered simultaneously.

The little spider grasped the cat tightly with her eight small claws, burying her little face deeply into his embrace, unconsciously revealing a look of attachment.

The golden Maine Coon instantly froze up.

His Little An, actually taking the initiative to hug him forcefully and deeply!

Even burying her face into his chest!

This is his Little An!

How come he deserves this?

Why is he worthy?

His Master An is so kind to him, graciously taking the initiative to hug him!

The little kitten was so moved, it almost wanted to cry, tenderly, seriously, carefully extending a cat’s paw to gently reciprocate the embrace with the soft pink little spider in its arms.

Yuze’s ears burned hot, his neck following suit, his chest heaving violently. Just as he was about to speak, he felt the person in his arms suddenly go limp, fainting into his embrace.

He hurriedly gathered her up.

It seemed he had accidentally overexcited himself, releasing too much spiritual power, which overwhelmed the frail little spider.

His spiritual power was above SSR-level, while Josh’s was still A-level, unable to withstand the impact of his spiritual energy.

His spiritual body was too excited, completely uncontrollable, like a runaway horse, almost suffocating the person.

Rob and others rushed over: "Is the Little Tactician okay?"

Jiang Can looked at her strangely: "How did she pass out? Didn’t the captain release spiritual power to soothe her?"

Yuze cleared his throat: "Uh... she probably just exhausted herself, it’s fine, she just needs a little rest."

Yushi blinked blankly: "How could spiritual power soothing consume physical strength?"

Rob covered his mouth: "Little friend, don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask!"

Yushi still wanted to ask something, but Rob dragged him aside.

Yuze backed off with the person in his arms while the other teammates handled the aftermath.

Luckily, the sharp explosive sounds didn’t last too long.

After the sounds stopped, the strange creatures in the sea slowly calmed down.

But the beach was already a mess, a few players with weaker abilities got scratched by the strange creatures and were dragged back to their rooms by their teammates.

*

Josh, in a daze while sleeping, vaguely heard someone calling her.

"Josh..."

"Josh..."

This feeling was all too familiar; it must be the Mermaid King!

She struggled to open her eyes and approach the direction of the light source, but no matter how much she tried, her eyelids felt like they were glued shut, impossible to open.

Feeling anxious, she wanted to open her mouth to call out, but her mouth wouldn’t open, as if it was sealed.

Frustrated beyond belief, an unexplainable fury rose within her.

"Fool, why are you getting angry?" The voice slowly approached: "Don’t rush, you will find me, I believe in you."

Josh wanted to say something else, but her body floated up uncontrollably.

Feeling a bit anxious, she kept calling the Mermaid King’s name in her mind.

A faint sigh echoed in the darkness.

Before Josh could react, a warm sensation enveloped her, like being embraced by a warm and gentle water.

Feeling a strange sense of security and not struggling, she let her body keep sinking.

The voice beside her spoke again: "Don’t perceive my existence, my little queen, I am always by your side, don’t be afraid..."

Josh was puzzled.

Why did he tell her not to perceive his existence, yet earlier he said he believed she would find him?

Her mind was clouded, white light flickered before her eyes.

Josh slowly opened her eyes and saw Yuze beside her.

Seeing his face at a glance, she almost mistook him for the Mermaid King.

Apart from the different eye color, their faces were nearly identical.

Yuze waved his hand in front of her: "Turned into an idiot? That shouldn’t be... Logically, her brain isn’t so easily damaged."

Josh: "..." She might really be an idiot for confusing the Mermaid King with him.

Besides their matching faces, what else was similar?

Josh suddenly got up, crashing her head into Yuze’s with a dull "thud."

"Ugh..." Yuze clutched his forehead, gasping in pain, but still looked at her: "Did you hurt yourself? Let me see."

He leaned in, parting her bangs to check her forehead, his eyes full of concern: "Just woke up, why are you in such a rush? Even if you weren’t idiotic, you’ll end up that way from the hit."

Looking at the close person, Josh inexplicably started to laugh.

She couldn’t quite say why, just the sight of Yuze’s anxious inspection of her forehead made her want to laugh, a weird joy welling up from her heart.

Yuze squinted: "Really turned into a fool?"

Josh rubbed her forehead, "It doesn’t hurt."

Yuze’s lips twitched: "A big red patch on your forehead, and you say it doesn’t hurt. So grown up, yet still as reckless as a child, being in such a hurry... it killed me."

As he spoke, he turned to look for a mirror, carefully checking if his face was damaged.

Josh stood up, looking outside: "Is it almost daylight?"

Yuze nodded: "Yes, it’s almost dawn, and it’s time for that thing to hunt again."

Josh: "Where’s Rob and the others?"

Yuze’s lips twitched: "Out looking for food, said they wanted grilled fish."

Josh nodded.

Soon, the sound of the mermaid urged everyone back to their rooms, as the sun was about to rise and everyone had to return before sunrise.

Josh looked at him: "What if we don’t return to the room?"

Yuze: "We haven’t figured out if this is a hard rule. If it is, breaking the rule would get us eliminated, or we’d have to use a Pass Card to exit the instance."

Indeed, this was just one of the preliminary rounds, and such an instance wasn’t worth wasting a Pass Card on for them.

Josh nodded, deciding not to take the risk.

Yuze reminded her of a few more things before returning to his room.

Before heading back, Rob brought her a grilled fish, and in return, Josh got him two mousse cakes from Pinduoduo.

The room door was sealed shut.

Josh tried extending her Spider Silk outside the door.

But as soon as the Spider Silk reached out, a sudden intense burning pain made her instinctively grunt, quickly retracting the Spider Silk.

It was indeed a hard rule.