There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

The energy within her body seemed to be stirring and becoming somewhat active, but as long as Lu Qing didn't control it, it wouldn't rush out of her body and devour the black miasma.

"A rejection reaction..."

Touching her chin, Lu Qing decided it was better not to absorb this material.

In this dream instance, blue materials are everywhere, and it feels a bit of a waste to consume them as extra sequence materials.

I don't need it to be of very high quality, but at the very least, it should have purple.

However, this thing shouldn't be wasted; throwing it into the hut will probably earn some experience points.

"How am I supposed to collect this stuff?" Lu Qing looked at the black mist, pondering with some distress.

The scientist standing nearby seemed to have noticed Lu Qing's thoughts. He took an empty glass bottle from his waist and handed it to her.

When he handed the glass bottle to Lu Qing, he also glanced curiously at the wolf spirit floating in the water.

Because they were underwater, the group couldn't speak, so even if he was curious, he had to keep it to himself.

"This must be the effect of the flesh and blood potion," the scientist guessed to himself.

P.S.: Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Chapter Two is no longer available...

While typing this, I always felt a little unsure of my own confidence...

This unexpected incident was really frustrating. I don't know if it's because I replaced the power supply, but after restarting my computer today, some software wouldn't open. (My browser was working fine during the day, so I didn't notice it lol)

The system message tells me that a file named XXXX.dll is missing.

I've encountered this situation before, and it's usually easy to solve. Just download it from the internet and copy it to the corresponding file.

But for some reason, it still didn't work after I did it this time!

This time it wasn't a file loss message, but something about something being unreadable, I forget which.

In short, I spent the whole day fiddling with it, working on it until 2 a.m., researching a lot of information, and finally fixed it using a tool called "DirectX Repair Tool".

This is so frustrating... They clearly said we shouldn't stay up late...

------------

Chapter 380: The Man Who Became a Snail

"Can this thing really hold black miasma?"

Looking at the glass bottle the scientist handed her, Lu Qing thought that if she were an anime character, her head would probably be full of question marks by now.

What's the point of taking a glass bottle underwater? Once the cap is opened, water will just get inside.

"........"

The scientist seemed to notice this as well, and scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. He had subconsciously thought of using a glass bottle to put the thing in front of him, but forgot that they were still underwater.

"No matter what, let's give it a try." Looking at the glass bottle in her hand, Lu Qing thought to herself.

As expected, when the stopper was removed from the glass bottle, a large amount of groundwater rushed into the bottle, filling it completely.

Lu Qing brought the glass bottle close to the black miasma, but there was no reaction.

"........"

Frowning, Lu Qing took the glass bottle back, looking at the black miasma in front of her with some resentment.

Although she didn't intend to absorb this thing, she didn't want to leave it here either. After all, it was a spoil of war that she had worked so hard to obtain, and it would feel a bit of a waste to just leave it here.

"Oh, right, how about we try this..."

Suddenly, Lu Qing had an idea. She separated a portion of her energy and poured it into a glass bottle, then placed it next to the black miasma.

As if sensing something, the black miasma that had been gathered on the corpse of the Headbreaker suddenly began to wriggle, as if attracted by a magnet, and actively crawled into the glass bottle.

"It really works!"

Lu Qing's face lit up with joy. After all the black miasma had flowed into the glass bottle, she plugged the bottle's opening.

"All right!"

Holding the glass bottle up to your eyes, what's revealed beneath the transparent glass is a deep darkness, like a fog concealing all sorts of secrets, drawing you deeper and deeper into it.

Lu Qing hung the glass bottle on her waist. Although she had a backpack, it was completely sealed. If she opened it now, the inside would be flooded. So she had no choice but to hang the glass bottle on her body.

After dealing with the Black Mist Split-Headed One, the three continued forward. Although many obstacles appeared along the way, it did not take long to clear them, and they soon entered the interior of the tunnel.

As they continued forward, an unexpected creature appeared in front of them.

It was a creature that could barely be identified as human, buried in a collapsed pile of rubble, its entire body covered in a viscous white liquid.

The wall looked like it had only recently collapsed; the fallen steel bars hadn't yet developed any rust.

Seemingly sensing someone approaching, he slowly raised his head, revealing a face that was unrecognizable as human.

Who are you!?

As if waking from a nightmare, a strange male voice came from the other person's throat. Lu Qing saw that there seemed to be some gill-like structures growing on his body, which seemed to be the reason why he was able to survive underwater.

This person must have been transformed by the Blackwater. In a sense, he was lucky because he wasn't killed by the Blackwater, but he was also unlucky because he turned into the monster he is today.

"We're just ordinary people passing through here." After thinking for a moment, Lu Qing's lips, hidden under the respirator, moved as she spoke.

The man actually heard Lu Qing's voice. He suddenly chuckled strangely and said, "Did you come out from inside there?"

"I guess you want to leave through this tunnel..."

"Hehehe... Give up. Do you know why this tunnel hasn't been completely sealed off by the tree roots yet?"

"Because this forest doesn't care, and the tunnel is already surrounded by trees, you have nowhere to escape, cough cough cough..."

The man coughed violently, flailing his sticky limbs and trying desperately to get up from the ground, but he found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get up.

It was as if something was stuck to the ground on his chest, making it impossible for him to straighten up.

A viscous white liquid flowed down his body. If Lu Qing were to describe it, the man in front of her seemed to have turned into a snail, with all the flesh and blood in his body constantly transforming into the snail's form.

It softened, became viscous, and secreted a white liquid resembling the roots of trees in a dark forest...

"Ouch, my head hurts so much..."

The man clutched his head in pain, and upon closer inspection, one could see a small, dark hole on his forehead.

"My little ball..."

The man stretched out his left hand and suddenly plunged his fingers into the small hole in his forehead, fiddling with it as if searching for something inside. A colorless, viscous liquid flowed down his fingers, looking utterly disgusting.

"Hahaha, my little ball, where are you?"

The man chuckled twice, then suddenly convulsed, digging out a bright yellow bullet. He then stopped moving, seemingly dead.

"......"

"It's truly incomprehensible," Lu Qing could only exclaim before leading the scientists and the elderly man onward.

"........"

The atmosphere in the team became somewhat oppressive, although there had been some tension before, but it was nowhere near as intense as it was now.

This is related to seeing that snail-man from earlier. Seeing one's own kind turn into that state, even the most carefree person couldn't pretend nothing was wrong.

Another reason is probably related to the information the other party revealed before their death.

"Is the outside of the tunnel also blocked off by trees...?"

Muttering the snail man's dying words, Lu Qing wasn't actually that surprised.

After all, she still had to complete one of her secondary goals: participating in the Underworld Marriage. Besides that, she hadn't even seen or heard of the King of the Head-Splitters, the target of the Thousand Jewels. It was really unreasonable for her to just leave like that.

But just because she knew doesn't mean the scientists and the elderly knew. After learning that the tunnel was also surrounded by a wall of trees, they inevitably felt down.

Thinking of this, Lu Qing raised her voice slightly so that it could reach their ears, saying, "At least we're getting closer to the outer perimeter, aren't we?"

"........"

Silence fell, for they were underwater, and neither the old man nor the scientist could say anything.

That's all Lu Qing can do. She hopes they can both recover quickly.

Continuing forward, the obstacles ahead seemed to have been cleared away. If Lu Qing wasn't mistaken, the person who cleared them was the snail-man from before, and they were simply following the path he had taken.

As for why the other party came into the tunnel, that was unclear. She guessed that perhaps there was something terrifying on the other side of the tunnel.

If that's the case, what kind of thing would make someone prefer to enter the interior of the forest rather than stay on its periphery?

------------

Chapter 381: The Abandoned Base

After about ten minutes, the three of them finally found the entrance to the deepest part of the tunnel before their oxygen ran out completely.

The gate here has already been opened, so the key that the scientists prepared in advance was useless.

The group passed through the gate, where there was a vertical black iron staircase. Just in case, Lu Qing walked at the top of the staircase, followed by the old man, and then the scientist.

As they climbed upwards, the group gradually emerged from the flooded area. Lu Qing pushed open the tunnel entrance door and climbed out down the stairs.

"call........"

This place looks like a warehouse, but it must have been abandoned for a long time. Lu Qing removed the respirator and oxygen tank from her body and immediately felt much easier to breathe.

Breathing underwater with a respirator is not a pleasant experience, especially after a long time, when it can feel very stuffy. When she took off the respirator, she felt as if she had been reborn.

Needless to say, the elderly and scientists felt much lighter after taking off their heavy and stuffy protective suits.

"Have we arrived at the outer area?" the scientist asked, taking off his protective suit.

"I'm not quite sure," Lu Qing shook her head and replied.

She really wasn't sure, since the room had no windows and she couldn't see what was happening outside.

However, you can actually sense it without even looking. It's probably an intuition developed from being in a dark forest for a long time. As long as you haven't left, you can always feel the presence of the forest.

"Anyway, let's search this area first," Lu Qing suggested, holding up one finger.

"That's all we can do," the old man said, shaking his head helplessly.

"Let's prioritize finding a gas furnace. If we can't find one, we need to build one as soon as possible before nightfall," the scientist said after a moment of calm thought.