Looking at the pile of treasures in front of him, Qi Xu felt as if he could pick up money without even bending over...
However, the Ability Awakening Stone was simply too heavy. Even though Wolf 004 was a massive, powerful octopus, he could only barely drag it along.
Qi Xu's head was buzzing. He couldn't shake the feeling that this third stage was highly unusual. There was no way it was as simple as just letting everyone hunt for treasure.
But it had been at least an hour or two since they entered, and there hadn't been a single requirement or objective. Instead, they had just found a lot of loot.
Could he be overthinking it? Was this really just a bonus stage meant for them to find treasures?
The moment the two-hour time limit was reached, a bizarre, paralyzing sensation shot up his spine straight to the top of his head. Before he could muster even a fraction of strength to struggle, his vision was swallowed by surging darkness, and all that remained in his ears was the piercing shriek of tearing air.
When everyone was finally able to open their eyes again, beneath their feet was cold, slippery deep-sea mud, and all around them were pitch-black, inky blue waters that saw no daylight.
Only the faint fluorescence emitted by some unknown, eerie green creatures in the distance barely outlined a chillingly empty clearing on the seabed. Their range of vision had been reduced once again; they basically couldn't see anything clearly beyond three meters.
They could only vaguely make out the silhouettes of twelve sea monsters. It seemed all the players had been gathered here.
Qi Xu, Dongfang Yuan, and Wolf 004 immediately grouped up. Back to back, they stayed on high alert, observing their surroundings to guard against any approaching danger.
Several other types of sea monsters gradually made their way over. From their clumsy movements and obvious discomfort with their bodies, it was clear they were members of other teams. They were even carrying things on their backs.
That red long-tailed fish and the big clumsy turtle were there too.
Qi Xu looked around and noticed four rust-mottled iron cages standing at the four corners of the clearing. The cages were covered in dark brown scratch marks, as if some living creature had once frantically slammed against them from the inside.
At the top of each iron cage hung a thick rope, as thick as a bowl. The knots were stained with dark red patches, and one end disappeared into the bottomless darkness above, held firmly by something unknown.
Since there were exactly four iron cages, Qi Xu naturally associated them with the four current teams. This was probably the true content of the third stage.
Soon, the voice from the light screen broadcast rang out.
Congratulations everyone, on reaching the third stage of the Sea God's Treasure Map Realm! We specially reserved two hours of free exploration time for you. How was it? Did you have fun picking up treasures?
None of the twelve monsters present responded, but they all gripped their harvested treasures a little tighter.
Qi Xu had already somewhat anticipated that bringing these items back completely intact would be nearly impossible. Survival games loved to make you excited first, only to hit you with a crushing blow later.
He was far too familiar with the twisted nature of survival games. Otherwise, the screen broadcast would never have phrased it like that. Still, he had to give it his best effort.
Next, we will enter the third stage: Escape.
There are no complex rules to introduce for this stage. It remains a three-person group format. Once you have finalized your group, all of you just need to enter a single cage together. Once all four groups have entered, the stage will officially begin!
Qi Xu wanted to inspect the inside of the cages first, but the distance was a bit too far to see clearly. So, right after the broadcast ended, he, Dongfang Yuan, and Wolf 004 took the initiative to choose the nearest iron cage.
The cage was massive. Let alone three monsters, it had more than enough space to fit ten.
The bottom of the iron cage was a solid, airtight iron plate, but the iron bars on the sides were spaced quite far apart, leaving large gaps. Because of this, he specifically told his two companions to stand a bit closer to the center.
If there was a battle later, or some special event, they had to be careful not to fall out.
Although the other sea monsters couldn't recognize who was who, seeing those three moving in a tacitly coordinated triangular formation toward the iron cage made it clear to everyone.
That was definitely the three members of the Invincible Black Whirlwind team... which meant the Invincible Black Whirlwind... was... was that super ugly and disgusting giant fat bug! Hiss, why couldn't they take a picture right now?
Xie Shaoning and Jinwen Xingmangyue were so full of regret they wanted to slap their thighs. I was clearly the one who ran into that fat, ugly, stinky maggot first, and it didn't even have any other monsters around it at the time!
They clearly had the chance to cling to a powerhouse, but they had completely wasted it!
But there was no use crying over spilled milk now. Just as Xie Shaoning was feeling lost, a lobster monster swam over and slapped his turtle shell hard...
Xie Shaoning understood instantly. This absolutely had to be Cheese Milk Cap 80 Percent Sugar. He hurriedly followed closely behind her. He was part of an organization now! If he couldn't follow the smartest person, following the second smartest would do just fine.
Cheese Milk Cap 80 Percent Sugar had also noticed the obviously spacious iron cages and similarly guessed that a battle might be required soon. Therefore, her target for teaming up wasn't the muscular guys she came with at all.
Instead, she was looking for an entity with strong combat power, regardless of who it was. Right now, that red long-tailed fish looked like a pretty good option.
It faintly exuded an aura of energy, meaning it most likely had some special skills. So, she directly led the silly turtle behind her and approached it.
However, the red long-tailed fish was clearly unwilling to cooperate with them. It actively swam away and chose the teammate it wanted.
Cheese Milk Cap immediately understood. With such heavy defensiveness and someone it already trusted, it had to be Jinwen Xingmangyue.
The remaining sea monsters looked rather average in terms of strength. A fat-headed fish kept following them relentlessly, and Xie Shaoning was clearly getting soft-hearted, constantly using his turtle head to block the front. Cheese Milk Cap sighed. Fine, whatever. So she just went with the flow and formed a team with it.
The remaining three sea monsters had no choice but to automatically form the final group.
Once all four groups were fully assembled and everyone had entered the iron cages...
The iron chains above instantly pulled taut. First came a muffled bang, followed immediately by the screeching grind of rusted metal that tore through the dead silence of the seabed.
The bowl-thick iron chains bit together link by link as they were hoisted. With every inch they ascended, a harsh scraping sound erupted from the links, like countless blunt knives sawing back and forth against iron bones...
Everyone couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts. It was a good thing they were currently monsters, otherwise, they would be covered in goosebumps.
Qi Xu moved close to the edge of the iron cage to observe. A minute had passed, and had they even ascended a single meter? At this slow pace, when would they ever reach the top? Was there some special mechanic at play?
Just then, there was another loud crash. Three sea monsters suddenly appeared right in the center of the iron cage. As a result, not only did the iron cage stop ascending, but it also plummeted downwards by about half a meter...
Wow, right back to square one.
..........
