Although deep beneath the water's surface, rare monsters were surely hidden, possibly in significant numbers, the water was their home turf, allowing them to unleash their full power, while humans were inherently at a disadvantage, unable to fully exert their strength. Unless forced by necessity, no one dared to disturb them lightly, just like the Lion-Scorpion Ember Beast and the Purple-Striped Mutant Beast that had been roused today. Fortunately, they appeared one after the other; if they had attacked simultaneously, Su Li and the others likely wouldn't have escaped today. But no one could guarantee their luck would hold every time.
"It's so frustrating. I'm just ten spirit sources short of leveling up to 8, and then I can unlock the Mysterious Blood Crystal. I wonder what's inside it. I really want to dive to the bottom and hunt some level 7 monsters..." Su Li muttered as he watched Jiang Shuijue and the others paddle the raft slowly toward the building, then jumped off first.
"Why are you all here? What about Wu Feng and the others?" Su Li asked, and his guess was confirmed. They had been heading toward the Golden Eagle Alliance, but Xu Xuehui, with her exceptional eyesight, had been observing Su Li, Gong Xiao, and the battle with the Lion-Scorpion Ember Beast from a distance, including the appearance of the Purple-Striped Mutant Beast and Su Li carrying Gong Xiao as he fled toward this building.
Jiang Shuijue had ultimately decided to free up a raft and rush to the building to rendezvous with Su Li, leaving Wu Feng and the others to escort the Sea Ox Beast's corpse back to the Golden Eagle Alliance. It was vital food that couldn't be lost. Since Jiang Shuijue was coming to pick up Su Li, Ling Yi, Xu Xuehui, and Ding Longyun naturally followed. Gu Mingfeng was too injured to move, or he would have come too.
Gong Xiao, wearing Su Li's jacket, also jumped down. She had put away the Emberless Spear and was pulling Su Li's jacket tightly around her upper body with both hands. Ling Yi looked at her, a hint of worry and concern in his eyes, his lips moving slightly as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't muster the courage.
"Let's go, back to the Golden Eagle Alliance." Su Li put away his twin swords, the Seven-Star Wristguard, and the Purple-Striped Belt. He was just ten spirit sources short of leveling up and decided to find a way to hunt level 7 monsters later, but for now, he planned to return to the Golden Eagle Alliance first, not wanting to drag everyone into taking risks with him here.
Today's hunt had come at a heavy cost, with eleven people dead. Among the fallen, one was level 7 and ten were level 6, including three from Golden Eagle Building 1A, four from Building B, and four from Shimao Center. The Golden Eagle Alliance, originally 146 strong, had suddenly dwindled to 135. Despite the steep price, the haul was enormous: eleven Sea Ox Beasts and one White-Limbed Sea Ox corpse. This meant the Golden Eagle Alliance wouldn't lack food for a long time to come.
When Su Li and the others returned to the Golden Eagle Alliance, Wu Feng was already directing people to haul the eleven Sea Ox Beasts and the White-Limbed Sea Ox corpse onto the floating island. Afterward, everyone went back to their quarters, changed into clean clothes and shoes, and then gathered on the floating island, waiting for Su Li to return and distribute the spoils. After Su Li got back, they all went to change into dry clothes, boarded the floating island, and began the distribution.
The eleven Sea Ox Beast corpses were divided: Golden Eagle Building 1A and Shimao Center each got three, while Su Li's Building B, with the most people, took five. The White-Limbed Sea Ox corpse was split into three portions, one for each building. After the distribution, the people from the three buildings hauled away their shares, leaving the rest to the logistics team for processing.
Eleven people had died in this hunt. Those who returned alive felt both relieved and oppressed, their spirits low. This experience made everyone realize the harshness of this world even more. Eleven had died this time; next time, who could guarantee it wouldn't be them?
Su Li kept thinking about leveling up to 8. He was only ten effective spirit sources short; if he could find ten level 7 monsters, he could break through. After distributing the Sea Ox Beasts, seeing that it was still early and the night hunt was hours away, he handed the remaining tasks to Xu Haishui and the others to handle. He picked a raft with four lifebuoys tied underneath, grabbed a paddle, and prepared to leave alone. But Gong Xiao spotted him and silently jumped onto the raft.
"What are you doing up here?" Su Li asked, holding the wooden paddle, looking at Gong Xiao in her fresh set of clothes. His mind involuntarily recalled her earlier state, with her torn top revealing glimpses of her tempting figure—the fair, smooth skin, the full, prominent curves—and his gaze turned a bit odd.
"What are you planning to do alone?" Gong Xiao stared at Su Li, not backing down from his slightly invasive look.
Su Li shrugged and decided to be honest: "I'm ten spirit sources short. I'm going to see if I can find some level 7 monsters."
"Is it that urgent? It'll be dark in half a day. You can wait for tonight's hunt," Gong Xiao said.
Su Li shook his head. "Do you know about Ding Shijie, the former leader of the Golden Eagle Alliance?"
Gong Xiao said, "I've heard you mention him, but I've never met him. What about him?"
Su Li said, "I fought him the day before yesterday. He was already level 8 then. Do you know what that means? I don't know how many people like him are out there, but he's definitely not the only one. And from the day before yesterday to today, two more days have passed. It's hard to imagine what level Ding Shijie is now if he's still alive, and how many others like him there are."
Gong Xiao said, "So you're anxious and want to level up to 8 as soon as possible? But how did Ding Shijie level up so fast? We haven't slacked off a single day; we've been hunting monsters every day."
Su Li shook his head. "To level up as fast as him, passively waiting for monsters to come ashore and then hunting them won't work. There's only one way: actively dive underwater to find higher-level monsters to hunt."
Gong Xiao took a deep breath. "Like what we did today hunting the Sea Ox Beasts? Do you know how risky that is? We made it back alive today, but that was just luck. We can't count on being that lucky every time. One mistake, and we won't make it back."
The fear of the water's depths lingered even for them, now so powerful—a deep-seated dread of the unknown.
Su Li said, "I just thought about it. The reason we stirred up so many terrifying monsters today was because we made too much noise. So I'm planning to go down alone, try to keep it quiet, manage the time well, and not get into prolonged fights. Once I've hunted ten level 7 monsters, I'll leave immediately. I suspect Ding Shijie used the same method—diving deep, not staying too long, killing some monsters, and then leaving quickly. That way, the chances of disturbing the terrifying monsters in the deep water are much smaller."
Gong Xiao said, "That's just theory. The reality is unpredictable, with countless possibilities."
Su Li smiled bitterly. "In a world like this, there's no shortage of madmen. If there's one Ding Shijie, there'll be a second and a third. I don't want to be left far behind."
Hearing this, Gong Xiao knew Su Li had made up his mind to hunt underwater and couldn't be stopped. She thought for a moment and said, "It's too dangerous for you alone. I'll come with you. Two of us can look out for each other. Besides, someone needs to watch the raft, or you'll have to swim back if it's gone."
Su Li thought she had a point. Having two people to support each other was indeed safer, so he nodded in agreement.
The two boarded the raft and left Golden Eagle Building 1B, heading toward the direction of the former Zifeng Building. After traveling about two kilometers, they came across a thirty-story building protruding from the water. Su Li stopped the raft. "Let's try here. Gong Xiao, how many spirit sources are you short?"
"I'm 48 short. I'll wait for tonight's hunt. Based on last night's ratio, there should be more level 7 monsters appearing tonight." Compared to Su Li, she was only half a day behind in leveling up, and this time she decided not to compete with him.
Su Li grunted in acknowledgment. The Seven-Star Wristguard and Purple-Striped Belt appeared in succession. The hilt of the Dragon Rhinoceros Sword extended from his chest, and he grabbed it, drawing the blade. Gong Xiao tied the raft's rope to a balcony window frame. Fiery red energy burst from her chest, coalescing into a dark red spear—the Emberless Spear appeared. Holding the spear in her right hand, she watched Su Li slip into the water and followed him in.
This time, Gong Xiao didn't compete. She stayed behind Su Li. Her main goal wasn't to harvest spirit sources but to assist him. Venturing alone into unknown waters was fraught with danger; having her cover his back made things much safer, especially now that she had the Emberless Spear, which had greatly boosted her strength. Together, even if they encountered another level 9 rare beast, they wouldn't be as helpless as before.
Su Li sank first, noticing that the 29th floor of this building had only a few Arrow Snake Beasts resting—level 3 common monsters. He kept descending without stopping. The 28th floor had no monsters at all. Then the 27th floor revealed three level 5 Purple Rat Beasts, also sleeping, floating motionlessly, unaware of the observers outside. "It seems the powerful monsters that once occupied this place were killed, so the others scattered, leaving only a few stragglers," Su Li thought.
He decided to go deeper. Descending to the 26th floor, there were still a few Purple Rat Beasts. The 25th floor had none. Gong Xiao silently followed behind him, holding the Emberless Spear in her right hand, constantly scanning their surroundings, highly alert. Three water shields floated around her body, ready to block fatal attacks in an emergency.
Su Li reached the 24th floor, where he spotted about a dozen White Jade Centipedes—level 6 common monsters.