Join the management group, I've stockpiled millions of supplies for survival at sea.

Yin Leyao was being dragged along by the black shark in the sea. Having a tail was great; it felt like walking on flat ground. She wished she had a tail too.

As soon as she thought that, she actually grew a tail, a pearly white tail. Dreams can make your wishes come true, after all.

She was somewhat excited, imagining herself with powerful weapons, such as firearms, but it was useless. She also imagined herself defeating the dream-eating fish behind her, but that was also useless.

Black Shark: "What you can imagine in your dreams are just ordinary things."

More and more ribbons appeared, pouring in from all directions.

The number of dream-eating fish increased from a few to dozens. Their bodies emitted a faint glow in the dark seawater, and each fish was covered with countless dreams.

"Left!" Yin Leyao shouted.

Black Shark flicked its tail, making a sharp turn with her, a ribbon grazing her hair as it passed by.

She glanced back and saw the ribbons tangled together, forming a large net.

"They're going to seal off this area of ​​the sea," Black Shark said.

Yin Leyao saw that there was indeed a wall woven with colorful ribbons in front of her, flashing with an eerie light.

"Can it be broken?"

Black Shark didn't answer, and just accelerated and rushed over.

He reached out and tore open the wall of ribbons, which wrapped around his arm as if they were alive. With a forceful tug, the entire wall shattered into points of light.

The two rushed out.

But even more dream-eating fish await ahead.

Yin Leyao saw a person sitting on the back of one of the particularly large dream-eating fish.

The man was waving his hand frantically.

Yin Leyao vaguely remembered seeing it; she seemed to have seen it when she was cleaning up the data mass today.

"Help me!" the woman screamed, "This thing has me trapped!"

"Please help me! Please help me!"

The dream-eating fish she was sitting on turned its head and faced Yin Leyao with its eyeless face.

The fish's mouth was open, and inside were colorful ribbons.

Black Shark pulled Yin Leyao upstream.

"Not save her?" Yin Leyao asked.

"There's no saving her. She's trapped in her own dreams," Black Shark said. "Look at what's beneath her."

Upon closer inspection, Yin Leyao realized that the woman wasn't sitting on the fish's back at all; her lower body had become one with the ribbons. The ribbons were slowly pulling her into the fish's belly.

"She was infected while cleaning up the virus." Yin Leyao recalled the data sea, "Those viruses can enter dreams?"

"The virus has mutated," Black Shark said. "They are now parasitic on players' consciousness through transactions."

The woman's screams faded into the distance.

The surrounding seawater began to turn red.

It's not the red of blood, it's the red of data errors.

Yin Leyao saw rows of garbled characters appearing in the seawater, twisting and moving.

"What is it now?"

"The virus itself." Black Shark stopped. "They infected the Dream Eater fish as well."

The garbled text coalesced into a gigantic shape, without a fixed form, and constantly changing.

It extends countless tentacles, each with a mouth of a dream-eating fish.

Yin Leyao felt her head start to hurt.

Those gibberish characters were drilling into her brain.

Black Shark raised his hand and pressed it on her forehead, and the pain disappeared.

"Don't stare."

"Where exactly is this place?" Yin Leyao asked. "Is this my dream or someone else's dream?"

"Everyone's dream," Black Shark said. "The sea of ​​data has connected players' consciousness. The virus has turned dreams into a hunting ground."

The giant viral monster moved toward them.

It wasn't moving fast, but with each movement, the surrounding space would distort.

Yin Leyao saw that there were other players in the sea.

Some people are fleeing for their lives, some are already entangled in ribbons, and some are fighting with dream-eating fish.

Qin Ran was also there.

He wielded a glowing knife to slash at the Dream Eater, surrounded by a dozen protective shields.

"Sister Yao!" He swam over as soon as he saw Yin Leyao. "What kind of place is this?"

Three dream-eating fish followed behind him.

Black Shark glanced at him, twitched its tail, and the three Dream Eater Fish exploded into pieces.

"Holy crap." Qin Ran stared at Black Shark. "You've even started keeping mermaids as pets?"

Yin Leyao didn't have time to explain: "How did you get in?"

"I don't know, I just fell asleep and came in," Qin Ran said. "I thought my cheat ability had triggered a hidden instance."

The virus monster made a sound. Not a cry, but the beeping sound of a code error.

The sound was so loud that the seawater trembled.

More gibberish detached from the monsters, transforming into smaller monsters that surged towards them.

"Eat," Black Shark said.

"What?" Yin Leyao didn't react.

"Eat them," Black Shark said. "Reverse devouring. The rule in dreams is devouring. You can gain the power of monsters by eating them, and you can also open the exit."

Qin Ran has already made his move.

He grabbed a small, garbled monster and stuffed it into his mouth.

The monster transformed into a stream of data and was swallowed by him.

"They really can eat a lot." Qin Ran smacked his lips. "It doesn't have much flavor."

Yin Leyao stared at the disgusting, garbled monsters and gritted her teeth.

She grabbed the nearest one, closed her eyes, and swallowed it.

A stream of information rushed into my consciousness.

She saw the code, the rules governing the dream, and the location of the exit.

"Down below." Yin Leyao opened her eyes. "The exit is directly below the virus monster."

Black Shark nodded and released his grip on her hand.

His body began to change. His fish tail lengthened, scales spread to his upper body, and his hands turned into sharp claws. His eyes turned pure black.

He rushed toward the virus monster.

The seawater created a vacuum behind him.

The virus monster's tentacles all lunged at him. Black Shark tore apart more than a dozen tentacles with a single claw. The fragments turned into data and dissipated.

More tentacles grew out of the monster's body.

Yin Leyao and Qin Ran dealt with the small monsters around them. Each time she swallowed a monster, she saw more information.

These viruses parasitize players in reality and devour their consciousness in dreams. Players who are consumed will become vegetative.

"The exit is open!" Qin Ran shouted.

A vortex appeared beneath the virus monster, emitting a white light.

"Let's go!" Yin Leyao shouted.

Black Shark tore through the monster's body, passing right through it. Scrambled text exploded on him, but he didn't even flinch.

Yin Leyao and Qin Ran rushed into the vortex.

The ribbons came chasing from behind.

Black Shark cut down the remaining ribbons and shredded them all.

Yin Leyao turned around and glanced at him.

Black Shark reverted to its original form and gave her a push.

She fell into the whirlpool.

His body was enveloped in white light.

Consciousness began to fade.

The final scene shows Black Shark standing outside the vortex, while the virus monsters are regrouping and surrounding him.

Yin Leyao suddenly opened her eyes.

Sunlight streamed in through the ship's windows.

She sat up, panting heavily.

He was still clutching the Black Shark plush toy tightly in his hand.

There were water stains on the doll's tail.

She was stunned.

A system notification sound came from outside the hatch.

[Unknown virus intrusion detected]

[Initiate emergency repair procedures]

[Repair Complete]

Yin Leyao got out of bed and walked onto the deck.

The sea was calm.

Last night's dream was terrifyingly real.

She looked down at her hands, her palms still feeling the cold touch of the monster she had swallowed.

The tail of the Black Shark plush toy flashed briefly in the sunlight before dimming again.