Heart of the Ocean (18): Switch map

The voices of the water monkeys were actually very faint. Though they were beasts—not as intelligent as humans—they too feared pain and injury.  

Among these creatures, the water monkeys bore some resemblance to humans and were the most intelligent of the bunch. They were also quite cunning, specializing in stealthy infiltration, avoiding any noisy confrontations.  

But before they could successfully climb up to the higher floors, the translucent “vines” lazily draped over the windows suddenly stood upright, coiling around the water monkeys.  

Those were no vines—they were clearly the tentacles of a certain jellyfish. They wrapped around the water monkeys and then flung them outward with brutal force, sending the creatures crashing down.  

Oh, fortunately, the hard ground below had long been submerged by seawater. The water monkeys merely plunged into the water and weren’t killed by the fall.  

But some were less lucky. Though the seawater had flooded the island, it hadn’t collapsed the buildings. A few water monkeys were hurled against the underwater walls, turning into clouds of blood in the murky water.  

The scent of blood attracted the hunters of the sea, but upon catching the lingering traces of that presence, they quickly backed away: “It’s him—that guy! This is his territory!”  

“Squeak squeak! It’s 1036!”  

For the water monkeys, unlike humans, they couldn’t read many words or follow the news, but they could remember numerical codes made of Arabic digits.  

The experimental subjects had limited brain capacity, so the number codes they could recall were few. But there were two they would never forget: one was their own, and the other was 1036!  

If not for “1036,” these test subjects would never have escaped the white-coated demon researchers so easily.  

But that didn’t mean 1036 was some kind, benevolent jellyfish. This jellyfish wouldn’t hesitate to attack researchers—and it wasn’t much gentler with them, either.  

The researchers were humans, and the jellyfish preferred deep-sea creatures over smelly humans. But many of these test subjects were deep-sea creatures—meaning they were all potential entries on 1036’s menu.  

While the jellyfish would ruthlessly slaughter humans, they could be devoured outright, becoming nutrients for that monstrous jellyfish.  

The most terrifying thing about that jellyfish wasn’t its tentacles—it was the toxin they carried. The venom could paralyze any living thing, but this paralysis wasn’t like surgical anesthesia, which numbed all sensation.  

No, this toxin immobilized the limbs, trapping victims in a vegetative state—like sleep paralysis, where not even a finger could twitch. Yet, far from dulling pain, it amplified it.  

The water monkeys frantically signaled to their kin: “Danger! Danger!”

The deep-sea creatures quickly fled the area, but if they encountered other test subjects from the lab, they wouldn’t kindly pass along any warnings.  

These monsters trapped in the lab might seem united, but in reality, they weren’t that close. After enduring long-term experimentation and torment, their hearts had long been consumed by darkness—their minds twisted and sinister.  

If it were their own kind, they might care a little more, but different species always had some degree of competition. Besides, 1036 wasn’t human, so if those non-kin creatures got eaten by a fellow deep-sea dweller like 1036… well, that wasn’t their problem.  

The water monkeys scurried away. Tan Xiao, hearing the commotion, glanced out the window from the living room—but before he could even react to the “enemy,” there was only a series of splashes as they all plunged into the sea.  

Water monkeys weren’t human, so their dives left no splashes. By the time Tan Xiao leaned out to look, there was nothing to see—only scratch marks on the walls as proof that something had been there. The faint, eerie noises he’d heard earlier weren’t just his imagination.  

He rubbed his eyes. “Xiao Bai, did you see what that was just now?”  

Xiao Bai lifted his face from his dog bowl and shook his head. “Nope.”  

It was noon—meal time. Even Xiao Bai couldn’t stand guard 24/7.  

At least there were still surveillance cameras. Though they had no real-time internet connection, and many appliances had shorted out due to flooding (since the wiring for all three floors was interconnected), the generator kept a few things running.  

After the house was flooded, only the third floor’s electronics were still working. The offline cameras had limited coverage, but Tan Xiao quickly pulled up the footage and managed to catch glimpses of the water monkeys.  

He frowned at the screen. “These things don’t look like the ones from the previous recordings. What are they?”  

A certain shapeshifting jellyfish rested his chin on Tan Xiao’s shoulder, his boneless body pressing close in an intimate, clingy manner. His voice was syrupy sweet, sticky like honey: “They’re Test Subject No. 123. Humans call them water monkeys.”  

“Are they scared of people? Really timid?”  

If they weren’t afraid of humans, it’d be hard to explain why they’d all jumped into the sea before even getting inside.  

The cameras hadn’t caught the jellyfish’s intervention, and Wen Yi certainly wasn’t going to volunteer that information. He was just a fragile, pitiable little jellyfish—delicate and harmless, easily shattered at the slightest touch. There was no way the water monkeys had fled out of fear of him, right?  

Wen Yi spared no effort in slandering the water monkeys: “Mmm… they’re very timid. And not very smart. If one jumps, the rest just follow.”  

Tan Xiao nodded. “Let’s block off all the windows except two entry points. That should be enough for now.”  

With limited manpower, they couldn’t defend every possible entrance—it’d make protecting their resources too difficult.  

As for leaving two exits? That was in case of an attack, so they’d have an alternate escape route.  

“Mm-hmm.” Wen Yi obediently agreed. After all, as a not-too-bright jellyfish, he’d just follow Tan Xiao’s lead. Whatever his husband decided, he’d do—no need to think too hard. Just listen to dear hubby and everything would be fine.

Driven by the malice of the water monkeys, other creatures began approaching the building where Tan Xiao was staying—only to be violently hurled back down by the jellyfish, again and again…  

By now, any deep-sea creature with eyes had already steered clear of this isolated little house. But the screams from outside still reached Tan Xiao.  

Through his binoculars, he caught glimpses of the brutal battles, but he was no savior. In these circumstances, even self-preservation was a struggle—let alone saving others.  

More importantly, many of those fighting the monsters were bloodstained thugs themselves. Who knew whether the ones he saved now would turn out to be human or devil?  

When monsters attacked, some people didn’t lift a finger to help their companions. Instead, they eagerly shoved their own kind toward the creatures as sacrificial offerings.  

The number of people killed by monsters and those murdered by their fellow humans was roughly the same.  

Still, when faced with the clearly vulnerable—pregnant women or children—Tan Xiao did his best to use his long-range weapons. Regardless of the conflict between the island’s monsters and its residents, those children were innocent. He couldn’t just let the monsters devour them.  

All in all, the situation was grim. Tan Xiao took a deep breath and braced for a fierce battle. He suited up in a diving outfit and even strapped a store-bought duck-shaped floatie around Xiao Bai.  

Sure, dogs could swim naturally, but exhaustion could still drag them under. Better safe than sorry.  

Wen Yi, on the other hand, was the least of his worries. As a deep-sea creature, the jellyfish would thrive in the water.  

“I’ll protect you.”  

The jellyfish tugged off the slightly ridiculous floatie around the man and coiled his tentacles securely around Tan Xiao instead, declaring with absolute certainty: “With me here, you won’t drown!”  

Those words turned out to be a jinx. The moment Wen Yi finished speaking, the entire building began to tremble violently.  

“An earthquake?”  

Coastal areas were prone to multiple natural disasters—typhoons, undersea volcanic eruptions triggering quakes, and tsunamis often following in their wake.  

But the calamities in this game instance didn’t play by logic. If the scenario demanded relentless catastrophe, then relentless catastrophe it would be.  

The shaking grew more intense—not just their building, but the entire island was convulsing.  

Even a giant octopus couldn’t rock an entire island. But as blood—from sea creatures, mutated beasts, and humans alike—seeped into the ground with the rising seawater, something awakened.  

This “island” was no island at all. It was the back of a colossal creature. And now, that creature was stirring.  

It was about to submerge.  

The instance’s difficulty spiked abruptly, forcing all players on the island into an emergency map transition.  

Even the invading monsters abandoned their prey, leaping into the sea in a frenzy.  

The water level surged at an unnatural speed. Despite the bright sunlight, the seawater that had only just reached the first floor now flooded the second and rushed toward the third.  

No one knew what was happening.  

But survival instinct kicked in—for both humans and monsters. A thought flashed through Tan Xiao’s mind: Perhaps the sea was their only escape.  

He swiftly stuffed essential items into his system inventory, then grabbed Xiao Bai and Wen Yi.  

“Jump!” he shouted. “Out the window—now!”