Lantern Sister is still very capable.

Chapter 9 The Beach

Fortunately, Sang Siqing lowered her voice when she spoke, so the two players didn't hear anything of value. Sang Siqing gave an awkward smile and quickly brushed it off.

Yang Guizhou simply closed his eyes to rest.

Tang Mingyun opened the player friend system in the auxiliary bar, silently clicked "add nearby friends," and successfully obtained the holographic accounts of the two. The boy wearing headphones was named "Little Cat Laughing~," and the girl with pigtails was named "The Most Handsome Person on the Entire Internet." Tang Mingyun was stunned.

"Are all the people on this flight on S-level reconnaissance missions? Since we're destined to meet, why don't we do a mission together?" Wang Shuhai said cheerfully.

"Okay, okay." The number one handsome guy on the entire internet, whose real name is Bai Hongxue, nodded in agreement. "Let's add each other as friends and form a temporary team. We can share any inside information in the future."

"Definitely, definitely!" Sang Siqing said with a stiff face, but still managed to put on her signature smile.

“Okay.” The kitten smiled and the boy, whose real name was Liu Hua, replied. He also added the holographic accounts of the others and joined the team.

After the system automatically groups them up, the group can chat privately without being overheard by others.

After getting off the plane, the group followed Tang Mingyun to complete the beach exploration mission. They captured a few mutated creatures on the beach, and the mission progress showed 100%. The group agreed on a time to log back into the game and then logged off.

On the other side, Chu Deng stepped on the metal surfboard beneath her feet, looked at the long-haired, swimsuit-clad beauty in front of her, and asked doubtfully, "Are you sure you won't sink right away?"

"Impossible, I specially made it hollow, with air in the middle, only two layers of thin steel, very light." Yan Mengqi, who unconsciously spoke in her hometown dialect, showed a "don't worry" expression, and then took the lead on the waves and went out, leaving Chu Deng and Xingchen alone on the rowboat staring blankly.

After being engrossed for two minutes, Xingchen pursed her lips, opened her search panel, and silently stared into the void.

Chu Deng sat at the stern of the kayak, splashing in the water with her feet, but asked somewhat awkwardly, "What are you looking at?" As a fire-type ability user, she felt somewhat oppressed in places with abundant water elements, as if she were carrying a mountain on her back and had difficulty breathing.

“Surfing instruction,” Xingchen replied succinctly.

"Learning it on the spot?" Chu Deng's eyes were dizzy, but he still wanted to play, so he said, "Add a holographic number and share it with me."

After getting off the plane, she successfully struck up a conversation with Yan Mengqi. The two then ran into Xingchen at the hotel entrance and decided to do the mission together.

But the exploration mission certainly wasn't going to be accomplished by just wandering around the neon coastline; the three of them decided to take their marine gear and head straight for clues.

Xingchen didn't say anything, but after accepting the friend request, she gave Chudeng a 5-minute instructional video.

After watching, Chu Deng was eager to try it out. She changed into a black swimsuit, threw the steel plate into the water next to the kayak, and turned to Xingchen, "I'm going to find Yan Mengqi first. Are you coming?"

Xingchen, with her back to her, said in a muffled voice, "Wait a minute, you go first."

"Okay." Chu Deng lay on the steel plate and followed the instructions step by step from the video. A wave came and she successfully slid out.

"Yo-ho!" The girl, riding the waves, stretched out her whole body and laughed loudly towards the sky, like a free bird, soaring freely without fear of the depth and danger of the sea.

Xingchen's ears turned red, but she couldn't help looking at the goddess-like person on the sea, feeling longing in her heart.

“Chu Deng…” he murmured, as if swallowing his overflowing emotions, not wanting them to startle others.

Chu Deng drifted aimlessly with the waves and soon spotted Yan Mengqi, who had just left. She was lying on a steel plate with her arms outstretched into the sea, staring intently at the deep water, like a farmer waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump.

Before Chu Deng could speak, Yan Mengqi felt the waves of the sea. She lowered her voice and spoke in a whisper. Fortunately, Chu Deng was on her team, so she could hear her no matter how soft the whisper was. If they were in the real ocean, the sound of the waves would be completely inaudible.

"Don't move, there's a sea monster down there." After saying that, Yan Mengqi reached her hand in again with a serious expression. Only then did Chu Deng notice that her arms were covered with a layer of metal. The steel surfboard was obviously narrower, but Yan Mengqi's whole body was pressed against it, and she was steady as the sea swayed.

Chu Deng didn't say anything, but just squatted on the surfboard, staring intently at where Yan Mengqi's hand was going, but could only see a bottomless blackness.

Just then, the sea suddenly surged, and Chu Deng felt the waves beneath her. She saw Yan Mengqi's eyes light up, and then the muscles in her legs tensed up instantly. Yan Mengqi grabbed a deep red tentacle with suction cups, and before Chu Deng could react, a deafening shriek came.

"Damn it!" Yan Mengqi was also shocked. She didn't expect it to be such a monster. She spat, released the tentacles in her hands, turned her palms towards Chu Deng, and quickly moved the surfboard under her towards Chu Deng.

But she couldn't shake off the tentacles; instead, they wrapped around her arm like a rope, binding her tightly.

Chu Deng quickly set off a line of fire, and the sea monster roared again. The tentacles and suckers that had been heated by the fire retracted. Yan Mengqi ran away, her surfboard colliding with Chu Deng's. Yan Mengqi took two steps forward, "Stand behind me and hold it down, I'll control the direction and run!"

Chu Deng remained expressionless. "I'm afraid it's too late."

Beneath the metal plate, a dark shadow, its width seemingly endless, slowly rose.

A colossal wave surged, and the two were swallowed by darkness before they could even utter a cry for help.

After reviewing the tutorial several times and feeling confident that she could control the surfboard with ease, Xingchen saw the two again. She saw Yan Mengqi and Chu Deng sitting on a steel plate, completely soaked. Yan Mengqi's long curly hair was tangled with a few strands of seaweed, and Chu Deng was holding a seashell. The two stared at the calm sea with gloomy eyes.

"Damn it, can a level one ability user really take down this giant sea monster? It cost me several crystals!" Yan Mengqi spat out the sand in her mouth, turned to look at Xingchen, and said to Chu Deng, "He's here too, Deng, do you think the three of us can win?"

Chu Deng glanced at Xing Chen. "He's level two, you're level three, and I was about to level two, but now I've dropped to level one. What do you think?"

"I think it should have at least three level four, preferably fire and water types," Yan Mengqi guessed.

"Let a water-based creature fight a sea monster of the same level in the ocean? You're really thinking." Both of their game characters had died, losing levels and equipment, and they were both holding their breath in anger. Chu Deng didn't say he was leaving because he wanted to fight.

"Did they encounter a high-level sea beast?" After listening for a while, Xingchen deduced from the conversation between the two. She took a moment to check their levels. Sure enough, the little flame next to Chu Deng's game name had dimmed considerably, because she was new to the game and didn't have much equipment or any crystals. Looking at Yan Mengqi's pained expression, she must have had a lot of equipment in her level 3 gold-type backpack, and probably lost a lot of it. The sea area is so big, it's impossible to retrieve it.

“Yeah, we can’t beat them. Let’s go back for dinner.” Chu Deng stood up and replied to Xingchen. She was about to pat Yan Mengqi on the shoulder and have someone drive the surfboard back to the shore to cheer herself up with some food when she suddenly saw a golden crystal floating on the sea. It seemed to be being carried by a stream of black liquid and flowing southeast of where they were.

"Wait!" Yan Mengqi's foot, which was about to stomp down, stopped in mid-air. She turned to look at Chu Deng with a questioning expression, "?"

“There’s something there.” Xingchen saw it too, and he said softly, “Let’s follow it and see.”

Although Yan Mengqi had just died once, she wasn't a coward. It was just a game, after all; what was there to be afraid of? She connected the star-shaped boards, pointed southeast, and laughed into the wind, "Ironclad, let's go!"