[ Gong Yao and the others started too late. Everyone else is already gone.]
[Should be fine, right? They're both men, so they ought to be stronger than the others, at least. They won't fall behind.]
[They haven't communicated, but they're rowing at exactly the same pace. Looks like they'll reach the finish in no time!]
[It's just a shame about that girl who got left alone...]
[What's there to pity? That woman is weird. She might not even be human!]
[Don't worry. Gong Yao won't give up on any player easily. He'll definitely find a way to keep her safe.]
[Tsk, this is the most boring thing about Gong Yao's runs. He has to protect every useless loser...]
The comments in Gong Yao's livestream scrolled thick and fast, the discussion in full swing.
Then one comment abruptly popped up:
[Stop chatting. Has anyone noticed that the boat seems to have stopped moving?]
On the boat.
Li Qing and Gong Yao sat blindfolded, one on each side.
Gong Yao made occasional small talk, his voice so relaxed that there was no sign he was exerting himself rowing.
Li Qing listened distractedly, making other calculations in his mind:
The team that came last in the rowing race would be locked inside the Fortune Lady Temple. To everyone else, this was practically a guaranteed death sentence.
But this round had an additional rule: if something boarded the boat, they were not to speak or move.
In terms of priority, if a player triggered a guaranteed-death condition, the instance certainly wouldn't give them much time to struggle.
That "guaranteed-death condition" was violating the rule against moving and being killed on the spot by that thing-which the system had helpfully identified for Li Qing as a "Water Monkey."
So being locked inside the Fortune Lady Temple for coming last most likely meant facing one more deadly trial.
The chance of dying increased, but it wasn't 100 percent.
And for Administrator Li Qing, who had access to the instance's backend-the permission-recognition bug version-that probability could approach zero indefinitely.
Yes, Li Qing had decided to enter the Fortune Lady Temple within the rules, investigate this instance's biggest boss directly, and find out exactly where things had gone wrong to cause its abnormal death rate.
With his plan settled, Li Qing immediately opened the backend interface that only he could see.
Against a black background, simple white lines outlined the lake and boats, with parameters such as three-dimensional coordinates, direction, and water velocity displayed above them.
Li Qing silently entered several lines of numbers with his left hand. Three currents converged around their boat, carrying it into a slow turn.
To the people rowing, however, their strokes remained parallel to the current. Nothing felt different.
And so, without anyone noticing, their little boat turned around on the spot and began moving toward the finish.
Satisfied, Li Qing closed the backend, wasting no more energy.
Gong Yao's voice suddenly rang out. "Qing, why do you think they made us wear blindfolds for this part?"
"Hmm?" Li Qing made a soft questioning sound.
Gong Yao lowered his voice slightly, a trace of amusement in it. "Because blindfolds make it easier for someone to tamper with things."
Li Qing's rowing faltered slightly, but he didn't respond.
He rarely spoke much, and Gong Yao was used to it, so he continued on his own. "This instance might look like a competition between teams right now, but did you notice the clearance rule?"
Li Qing murmured an acknowledgment, understanding what Gong Yao meant. "Make sure your partner isn't a 'local' when you clear the instance."
"Exactly." Gong Yao snapped his fingers. "So this instance is really a confrontation between two camps: players and instance NPCs. A newlywed couple might seem bound together, but who would suspect that the person sabotaging them was right beside them?"
Li Qing turned toward Gong Yao, as though trying to determine whether he was hinting at something.
As soon as he moved, Gong Yao turned his head too, waiting for Li Qing to speak.
For a moment, only their steady breathing remained on the boat, very close together.
After a long while, Li Qing softly spoke-
"-Shh."
The next instant, a sudden weight pressed down on the stern of their steadily moving boat.
The boat tilted backward for a moment, then its bow was pressed down as well.
Rustling sounds crept along the planks, like something rotten leaving wet trails, growing clearer as they converged toward the middle.
Li Qing and Gong Yao held their breath at the same time, motionless as statues.
Li Qing could sense Gong Yao's presence from the air near his cheek, slightly warmer than elsewhere, but that still presence was nothing compared to what seemed to be coming from every direction...
"!!"
Something cold and wet, snake-like to the touch, climbed onto Li Qing's back. His entire body instantly went rigid.
That thing... resembled a person, with overly thin limbs and a torso, all slick and sticky. It sprawled across his back, then sniffed the side of his neck.
A foul, rotten stench.
For the first time in his life, Li Qing felt regret. If I'd known this thing would climb onto me, I should have written a script to avoid the Water Monkey.
Instead of ending up like this, unable to move a single finger.
Five minutes and thirty seconds later, the unnatural weight on the boat finally vanished completely. To both of them, it felt as though a century had passed.
Li Qing let out a long breath and pressed his pale lips together, distinctly unhappy.
Beside him came Gong Yao's miserable voice. "I think it was licking me with its tongue. Ugh... I feel filthy..."
"..." Who doesn't?
After a long silence, Li Qing suddenly said, "The blindfolds weren't entirely pointless, actually."
Gong Yao said, "Hmm?"
Administrator Li Qing, who had seen the Water Monkey's true appearance through his full-area scan, said, "...At least you definitely wouldn't want to see what the thing licking you looked like."
Gong Yao said, "...Fair point."
After that "baptism," neither had much desire to joke around.
Li Qing calculated the time and was about to reopen the backend to turn the boat around again when the bow suddenly bumped lightly against something solid.
There was a jolt, and Aunt Liu's voice sounded overhead. "Congratulations. You're the first newlywed couple to arrive."
Li Qing: "???"
He pulled off his black blindfold and exchanged a look with Gong Yao, who had done the same at that exact moment. Both saw disbelief on the other's face.
...Wait, what did he have to be so surprised about?
Li Qing immediately retrieved the boat's recent data logs.
It turned out that after he had changed the boat's direction, Gong Yao had gradually increased the range of his rowing strokes.
As a result, the boat had turned back around without either of them noticing.
At the same time, Gong Yao seemed to have realized that Li Qing had done something as well. His gaze grew somewhat complicated as he looked at him.
Li Qing: "..."
He had thought Gong Yao's speech on the boat was a warning, given because he suspected Li Qing might interfere. He hadn't expected Gong Yao himself to be deliberately tampering with things.
Just then, the second team reached shore: Wan Yingjun and Xu Yuan.
At the sight of Gong Yao and Li Qing, Wan Yingjun's expression twisted for an instant before immediately returning to normal.
He stepped ashore and deliberately stood beside Li Qing, bestowing a smile on him. "You two were pretty fast."
Li Qing gave a quiet "Mm," showing no particular excitement.
Gong Yao, meanwhile, had regained his usual expression. His lips curved upward. "We work well together."
Li Qing looked up at him. After a moment of silence, he couldn't help saying, "Or rather, we don't work together at all."
That was something of a slap in the face, and it eased a little of Wan Yingjun's irritation at Li Qing's cold attitude.
But Gong Yao burst out laughing, apparently in an excellent mood.
The four stood around awkwardly for a while before Yuan Sisi and her partner, Zhao Yu, returned to shore.
Those two immediately separated upon landing. Clearly, they hadn't enjoyed each other's company.
Three teams remained.
Yuan Sisi was a little anxious. "Why isn't Miaomiao here yet... And Wu Nianfang, I wonder how she's doing..."
As she spoke, another little boat approached the shore.
To everyone's astonishment, only one figure in a red bridal gown sat aboard it.
Wu Nianfang had actually arrived on her own before the other two teams?
Looking at that red bridal gown, the others suddenly felt a chill creep over them.
Wu Nianfang came ashore without a word. She first expressed her gratitude to Gong Yao, then stood behind Wan Yingjun, looking at him sorrowfully.
Normally, Wan Yingjun rather enjoyed having women compete over him.
But this Wu Nianfang... was simply too eerie. If possible, he sincerely wished he weren't quite so charming.
They waited another ten minutes or so before hearing an argument in the distance.
"This is all your fault! You rowed so slowly that we got here this late!"
"Oh, and you rowed fast? You-" The shrill female voice paused. "You're not even as good as Wu Nianfang. At least she managed to get here ahead of us all by herself!"
It was Zhou Qing and her partner, Ding Yi.
Both were a little wet and came ashore looking bedraggled. After counting everyone and discovering that one team was missing, they relaxed.
But Aunt Liu said with a broad smile, "All right, everyone is here."
Zhou Qing's face instantly went deathly pale.
Yuan Sisi gasped. "But Miaomiao... Fang Miao and her partner haven't-"
"What's so surprising?" Zhao Yu said coolly from beside her. "Fang Miao and that man must've died in the lake."
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