Xu Huo had been transported through the hatch into the aquarium, just like the man in the raincoat before him; he was thrown into the ocean without any protection.
Being submerged in the dark waters was almost like being in the dead of night, but the projection outside was less limited by light and clearly showed Xu Huo soaked in the water.
He seemed to have better luck than the raincoat man, as he didn’t encounter any Piranha Swarm upon entry, but as the host rotated the projection angle, a gigantic semi-transparent shark appeared not far from him.
From its appearance, it indeed bore some resemblance to pre-evolution sharks.
"As everyone knows," the host commented, "animals living in the deep sea often exhibit obvious signs of degeneration, such as colorless bodies. Usually, these characteristics are related to the animals’ living environments, and evolution occurs out of necessity. However, after global evolution began, marine fish also underwent some mutations."
"For example, this semi-transparent man-eating shark. Although they don’t live in deep waters, their bodies manifest this characteristic after mutation, making them the only fish in deep sea fauna to exhibit such changes. But after mutation, the skeletal hardness of the man-eating sharks has multiplied, and they have become more ferocious and aggressive. Sea World has compiled data on marine animal attacks, with man-eating sharks accounting for over fifty-three percent of all incidents."
"These mutated man-eating sharks not only have tough bodies and astonishing speed, but they also tend to appear in groups, making them difficult to capture and hunt... What we see now is a lead shark responsible for patrolling the environment. Judging from the width of the signal it emits, there are at least more than ten man-eating sharks following it!"
"The only flaw of this man-eating shark is the degeneration of their sensory system, so they need to be very close to detect their prey. Ah, it has already spotted Guest 313!"
Sharks primarily rely on the nerves and olfaction on the sides of their bodies rather than vision to remotely locate prey. The degeneration of their sensory system means that their range for searching prey has significantly reduced, hence vision has become more useful.
Submerged in the sea, Xu Huo was aware of this. He could see the bulb-like eyes of the man-eating shark. The creature hesitated at a certain distance before swimming toward him.
Underwater visibility was limited, but Xu Huo could feel twelve sharks swiftly closing the distance from the front and back. Besides, there was a large fish behind him, roughly the size of a beluga whale, though not as fast.
Xu Huo wore an "Oxygen Supply" and a protective suit capable of resisting underwater pressure, but this did not mean he could combat twelve mutated sharks underwater. However, solving the problem didn’t necessarily require direct action.
He floated in place, estimating the distance between him and the man-eating shark.
Aside from the one in the front being closer, the others were still at a distance. Of course, this distance might not seem long to humans, but for the sea water saturated with toxic fungal potion, it was a significantly lengthy distance.
Yuguo’s Severed Hand’s virulence was so potent because it could rapidly reproduce under harsh conditions. The last time Xu Huo opened the "The Seventeenth Hospital" instance, he collected several samples and prepared some ready-made potions, some diluted, and others were mixed with other pathogens for experimental purposes.
It was an enhanced version, yet his tests showed that the toxicity level hadn’t increased; the King Fungus could still detoxify it, although he wasn’t sure how effective it would be.
The first man-eating shark heading towards him visibly slowed down. It only took five seconds for Xu Huo to count, just as the shark approached him and opened its mouth, then he saw the large creature slowly turn over, a faint black liquid leaking from its teeth, and its head began turning black.
Subsequently, the rest of the shark group followed, the eleven man-eating sharks forming a hunting formation approached from different directions, but they all turned belly-up when they got close to Xu Huo, drifting peacefully in the water.
Xu Huo looked behind him.
The black giant fish that was slightly further away flicked its tail and swiftly swam away.
Xu Huo returned to Friendship Garden Plaza. When he stepped out from the cabin, he had put away his protective suit and prop, nonchalantly dusting off his sleeves, he nodded in acknowledgment to Player 64 from a distance.
However, seeing that his hair wasn’t even wet after his trip to the aquarium, not only Player 64 but also the other players on the scene were somewhat wary.
The host, as calm as ever, said with a smile, "Painting it black still counts as adding color. Player 313 is very powerful indeed. The strong don’t lack friends, but the other guests still need to keep pushing themselves on the path of friendship. Next up is Guest 124 versus Guest 75!"
The tri-color competition resumed, and Zhuang Mengtian, who had no interactions with them since entering Friendship Park, took the initiative to approach. Her watch was softly playing music, a sharp contrast to her previous arrogance, her smile sending a clear signal, "Are you going to pick against Player 64 in the next round?"
Xu Huo glanced at her, "What about it?"
"If you choose the white ball again, doesn’t that mean he’ll win lying down?" Zhuang Mengtian flicked her hair, "Although I don’t understand why you’re doing this, letting the villain benefit without effort... it kind of makes me jealous."
Ignoring the gazes around him, Xu Huo said indifferently, "Unless I’ve discussed it with my teammates, I’ll only choose the white ball."
Zhuang Mengtian looked at him intently, "Can this really get you through?"
Actually, none of the players currently present had a clear direction for clearing the game, whether equating clearing the game with the final scoring of the show, or via rescuing or being rescued. Both could be methods of clearing, or they might be incomplete methods, which meant Xu Huo’s speculation he told Xiao Xianglin the day before might not be entirely wrong even without successfully clearing the game.
Because everyone was aware that pure friendship couldn’t be gained here; all related methods had to be tried.
"I don’t know either," Xu Huo replied. "If I did, I might have already cleared and left."
Regardless of whether they could gain friendship, one had to at least show the attitude needed to make friends.
Zhuang Mengtian lowered her head and fiddled with her watch, seemingly pondering something.
At that moment, Xu Huo reminded her, "I believe it would be best if you minimized messing with your watch."
Zhuang Mengtian looked up.
"If you’re strong enough, why would you need to attack someone while they’re asleep?"
Zhuang Mengtian’s expression shifted slightly, but she lifted her hand the next second, "I don’t understand what you’re saying."
"Don’t play dumb," You Si chimed in, "we came in the same car, do you think everyone else is a fool?"
Xu Huo hadn’t been sure if Zhuang Mengtian had tampered with anything on the train previously—after all, the whole train had been affected, and she wasn’t capable of that.
However, it was certain that she might have some kind of hypnotic prop or characteristic; its effects were quite strong, having worked on him at least.