Matryoshka Off-Limits Chapter 126 Part 2

Chapter 126.2 Merfolk Shore

She suddenly looked at Wen Shi, her eyes filled with disbelief. Such a trivial question almost led her to a terrible outcome?

Calmly, Wen Shi handed over a pack of tissues that he had prepared in advance.

The extent of this backlash was enough to indicate that the Exhibition Hall was a crucial location.

Players with the【Divination】skill usually stock up on items to mitigate side effects. The girl, no longer overconfident, took out a crystal bracelet and put it on before continuing her divination.

The eight crystals shattered one by one. When she reached the fourth, the girl shook her head weakly and said, “Nothing.”

Surprisingly, Wen Shi was very satisfied with this answer. The area encompassing the lower three floors, including the underground, meant no need to dig.

“Thanks.” He left with the information.

Her teammates looked at the girl who was continuously coughing up blood, “Are you alright?”

Shaking her head, the girl replied, “Fortunately, he showed restraint.”

If he expanded the range slightly to include the fourth floor, she could still divine, but the cost would exceed limits. In that case, she would choose to sell this piece of information again to make up for the expenses.

People from the【Wangcai Bank】would definitely offer a good price.

The other party didn’t specifically mention this in the contract, but they didn’t exploit her limitlessly. Naturally, she wouldn’t do something so underhanded.

Outside the academic building, security guards watched in puzzlement as a student left the building just before class was about to start.

Wen Shi smiled. “Forgot to bring my book, going back to get it.”

As he walked along the road, he had already begun planning his next moves, or more accurately, what others would do next.

“Leave finding out about the map of the Exhibition Hall and any strange occurrences to Luis.”

Luis’ skills were enough to make the senior students let go of their biases.

“As for the other places…”

Wen Shi took a light breath, thinking of another person.

The names of several individuals appeared on the dormitory building’s small blackboard, and it seemed that the dormitory administration’s roster could automatically skip over players who had already died. Those not found during the attendance check were currently surviving players.

Before returning to his dormitory, Wen Shi messaged Arlon to meet him at the water room. There seemed to have been something unusual that happened here last night, as there were traces of sticky meat in the water basin. Wen Shi even saw a few teeth.

Coincidentally, a player came over to get hot water. Seeing Wen Shi staring at the teeth, the player said when the thermos flask was filled, “The dormitory supervisor found someone missing during the attendance check, and later, that player was brought to the water room and had their teeth broken.”

As he exited the water room, he nearly bumped into someone. The mature-looking broad shoulders caused the player to glance at the person for a moment. Upon meeting the gaze behind the black-framed glasses, they felt it was nothing special and continued on, carrying the thermos flask.

Making sure the corridor was empty, Wen Shi leaned in and got straight to the point, “Big Brother, what has Jian Qingrong been up to lately?”

“I’m not sure.” Arlon was only responsible for preventing any biohazard incidents. “In any case, there’s been no poisoning of food or water sources.”

He added as a side note, “But your friend experiences periods of weakness every day. There are signs of blood being drawn from his arm.”

Arlon’s smile held a hint of meaning, “Drawing blood without poisoning, care to guess what he’s up to?”

Wen Shi thought he had the answer, only to have Arlon shake his head and say, “Whenever I use my psychic power to check the dormitory, he’s always there.”

No one could watch continuously for twenty-four hours. Arlon had established an irregular daily inspection system.

Wen Shi’s expression turned quite subtle after hearing this, “He’s been in the dormitory all along…”

He seemed to realize something and left the water room.

In the dormitory, Jian Qingrong’s routine was cleaning and sitting on the balcony in the breeze. These days, he didn’t even attend classes.

As Wen Shi entered the room, Jian Qingrong instinctively stood up from his chair. However, Wen Shi simply took a seat where he had been sitting and glanced up. “I did mention not to go overboard.”

When the location of the Merfolk King’s remains was mentioned, Jian Qingrong didn’t join the discussion. Wen Shi had a hunch that he wasn’t plotting something anymore but had fully committed to his plan.

“Four locations, I don’t believe you can’t sense any of them,” Wen Shi’s tone was mild, “You have a natural sensitivity to sources of contamination.”

At the sanatorium, even the mini octopus could determine that the underground area of the cosmetic surgery clinic was the most heavily contaminated place.

“The letter found in the principal’s residence mentioned the word ‘seal’. It’s reasonable that you can’t sense the Merfolk King’s aura since it’s sealed. But to contaminate a part of the merfolk’s body again by extracting blood, that’s something you should definitely be able to sense.”

Wen Shi focused on him intently, “You intend to taint the remains once more, then consume the Merfolk King, right?”

Jian Qingrong’s body had long ceased to be defined within the human realm, yet at this moment, his heartbeat raced unusually fast. The sensation of being seen through, as if he could be easily manipulated like a puppet, stirred an inexplicable sense of mental pleasure in Jian Qingrong’s mind.

Every monster carried, at their core, a hidden desire to be conquered, dominated, and subjected to suffering.

“The homestead hasn’t been fully developed. There will definitely be an evolution path for the home guardian in the later stages,” Wen Shi sighed lightly, “but you don’t want to wait for that.”

More precisely, he had never really planned on waiting.

Wen Shi had saved Jian Qingrong from becoming a creature devoid of reason, a fate even the game sought to eliminate. However, tainted blood and a series of insane research made it inevitable that Jian Qingrong could never become the normal person Wen Shi hoped for.

“I’ve been in the dormitory the whole time. When I went out, it was always with you.” Jian Qingrong lowered his head and cast his eyes down, reverting to his appearance as an honest individual from Big Factory.

Just as his head slightly lowered, Wen Shi’s hand suddenly reached behind Jian Qingrong’s head.

A slight tremor coursed through Jian Qingrong’s body, his fingers involuntarily curling for a moment.

The eerie sensation struck once again.

Under the overcast sky, layer by layer, Wen Shi unwound the gauze wrapped around the back of Jian Qingrong’s head. When only a thin layer of gauze remained, his fingertips paused briefly before unveiling it completely.

Occasionally, there were traces of oozing blood around his left eye socket, but the eyeball itself was undeniably embedded inside.

There was no visible white of the eye. The other regions within the eye socket were as dark as the black tide of the Merfolk Shore, an endless abyss without any discernible end.

Wen Shi smiled. “You stayed in the dormitory because going out wouldn’t have accomplished much.”

Disregarding the blood component, Jian Qingrong’s physical explosiveness is still limited to a human body, making it difficult for him to explore any part of the academy.

“But you have an assistant,” Wen Shi fixed his gaze on Jian Qingrong’s left eyeball, “An octopus, which can change in size as needed, is truly nature’s best transporter. Using it to transport blood for the merfolk’s consumption, then controlling that portion of the body using the contaminants afterward.”

Drawing closer, Wen Shi vaguely saw the silhouettes of several tentacles amidst the boundless darkness.

When the mini octopus was in a mimetic state, it was no bigger than a coin, perfectly capable of entering and exiting Jian Qingrong’s eye socket freely. It could even use the eye socket as a vessel and reside within the contaminant for recuperation.

The two stood quite close. Wen Shi’s focus was entirely on Jian Qingrong’s left eye. If the latter lowered his head just a bit more, their lips would touch.

Jian Qingrong was usually quite self-controlled, but it seemed he had reached his limit today. He couldn’t help but lower his body slightly.

The last bit of distance remained—

Snap!

The eyeball, much less patient than Jian Qingrong, jumped out directly. The mini octopus spread its tentacles and considerately absorbed the contaminants that had been brought out, preventing it from splattering onto Wen Shi’s face.

It wasn’t easy to hold its face, so the mini octopus used its tentacles to embrace the young man’s alluring Adam’s apple.

“Cuddle~” In its mimetic form, the mini octopus jiggled up and down like jelly.

Wen Shi’s throat moved involuntarily, and the mimetic octopus followed suit, slipping down alongside his Adam’s apple. It playfully initiated an adorable attack, “Catch me~”

Wen Shi complied as it wished.

After a few seconds, the mini octopus accurately landed in the slightly cool palm, tumbling and rolling around on it.

“……” Jian Qingrong’s expression turned terribly gloomy.

If he were to squeeze this thing now, probably no one would object.

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