Infinitely Criticizing the Villain for Being Like My Ex-Boyfriend

What's happening here?

Looking at the system prompts, countless thoughts flashed through Zhang Chunliang's mind.

Could it be that this second treasure is related to the corpse of the merman king he saw today?

So, the treasure of the Mermaid King does not refer to one of the Mermaid Kings... Then how long will he stay in this world?! Does he have to use all his energy to find all the Mermaid Kings in this world? The ocean is so vast, and the mermaids are so mysterious. If he can't find all five Mermaid Kings in this lifetime, won't he be trapped and die in this copy?

This is a dead end.

"What's wrong with you?" The fox frowned slightly as he looked at Zhang Chunliang's dazed look.

Zhang Chunliang raised his eyes to look at him, and his thoughts, which had been in a state of panic due to shock, calmed down a little. He overturned his previous guess - treasure, as the name suggests, must be something that he would get.

But he had not received anything from the corpse of the mermaid king just now, so the second treasure he obtained was most likely not related to it.

So what has he gotten recently?

Zhang Chunliang subconsciously touched his pocket, where a chocolate bar had been placed.

"Zhang Chunliang, if you don't answer my questions, I will conclude that you have been corrupted." Fox's voice was a little cold, and he seemed a little angry because he was repeatedly ignored.

——Perhaps even he himself did not feel this. It was more like some kind of...sense of majesty that the superior was not aware of.

"I'm fine." Zhang Chunliang came back to his senses and wanted to tell him about the progress of the task.

However, when he looked at the fox's deep and scrutinizing eyes, he suddenly had an idea and swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

"I'm just... just scared by what 023 said." He pushed the blame onto 023 without changing his expression.

023, who was rolling awkwardly on the ground and trying to get up, looked at him blankly: "Did I say something wrong? I'm really sorry... Can you give me a hand? I can't seem to stand up, and I always feel like something is pulling me..."

The few inconspicuous branches beneath it quietly shrank back.

"Ah..." The fox raised an eyebrow and asked patiently, "Are you scared because of the misunderstanding of our relationship?"

This was obviously a lame excuse, and there was a slight mockery in the fox's eyes.

Zhang Chunliang nodded shamelessly, his eyes frank and sincere.

At this moment, he seemed to have some understanding of what the treasure was - but this idea was a bit outrageous, and he needed to confirm it again.

"Are we really going to linger here?" Zhang Chunliang changed the subject. "Your father is still tied up in the observation room and is about to be drowned by stomach acid..."

The fox stared at him without blinking, its eyes as dark as a deep pool, making people feel oppressed for no reason.

He seemed to want to find some clues from Zhang Chunliang's expression - he was a very suspicious person, but he usually concealed it well. At this moment, Zhang Chunliang's strange behavior made him seem a little concerned.

Zhang Chunliang looked at him sincerely. In the narrow corridor, the two of them were engaging in an invisible confrontation.

"Okay." The fox nodded nonchalantly and compromised first. "Smart kid, you should know what you are doing."

Zhang Chunliang pulled up a smile and didn't continue talking.

For some reason, he felt that he could not reveal his suspicions to the fox - it was a strange premonition.

"Excuse me...I still can't get up." 023 interrupted their tense atmosphere embarrassedly.

In the end, Zhang Chunliang took great pains to lift up the stone sculpture weighing more than ten tons.

It was naturally difficult for him to do this with his own strength, so some bad guy with a strong sense of thieving secretly helped him pull up 023 with a tree root from behind.

"I'm much better." 023 felt refreshed and hugged Zhang Chunliang, who was flushed and panting, into his arms.

The fox has returned to the observation room where the body of the mermaid king is.

023 followed closely behind and walked in with Zhang Chunliang.

"God," it sighed, "it really needs to lose weight."

023 is nearly four meters tall and has a well-proportioned body. It is a very standard and beautiful mermaid statue.

The corpse of the mermaid king in front of it was three or four times taller than it. Because it was fed too many monsters, the energy accumulated in its body could not be metabolized. It had turned into a bloated spherical fish, filling almost a quarter of the space.

023 is like a malnourished little salted fish in front of it.

"Why didn't it attack me just now?" Zhang Chunliang asked the fox with a smile to ease the atmosphere.

"It likes humans." The fox replied, staring indifferently at the headless fish corpse he had just called "father".

And those humans who have been polluted into monsters are just some bugs carrying inferior genes in its perception, so it will attack them without hesitation.

"It prefers human food to these unpalatable monster meats." The fox paused and added, "The reason why the supplies on the ship are so scarce is actually because it ate some of them."

The corpse of the mermaid king finished eating all the chocolates and became quiet, looking a little bit disappointed.

The sharp mouthparts on its mermaid tail have chewed holes in the tree roots that bound it, but no one knows what material these branches are made of, as they are still extremely strong today.

"How do we solve this problem?" Zhang Chunliang asked, "How do we get it out?"

"Why do you want to take it out?" The fox asked, "He died a long time ago. What's left is just an ugly and disgusting body. If he still has his own consciousness, he will definitely choose to end his life."

"At least we can give it a decent death," 023 suggested gently, "We humans believe in being buried in the ground, hoping for an eternal rest in the soil, or reincarnation or something like that..."

"Do you need my help to attain eternal sleep?" asked the fox.

"That's not necessary. I'm no longer human." 023 smiled and was not angered by the fox's offensive words.

"Don't do this." Zhang Chunliang was somewhat helpless. "At least, take it away and bury it with a group of people who desecrated its body. This is really too much."

The fox stopped talking. He stared at the unrecognizable mermaid's corpse in silence, wondering what he was thinking.

Just then, there was a sudden urgent shouting from outside the room.

The sound seemed to come from the roof of the hall.

Taking into account the bearing capacity of the whale's stomach, the laboratory hall was designed as a huge semicircle. All functional rooms were built around it on all four sides. The floor did not separate the top of the hall, forming a tall and open vertical space.

"Why is there a sound? Did a researcher escape?" 023 became alert and ran out of the room on tiptoe to check the situation.

Zhang Chunliang and the fox looked at each other and followed it out.

On the ceiling that was tens of meters high, there were several soaking wet figures hanging. They were grabbing the beams of the roof and talking anxiously.

"How do these guys work here? They even built themselves a gastric acid viewing pond - as expected, the NPCs in this dungeon are all perverts -!"

"Stop complaining, how are we supposed to get down here?! I can't hold on any longer!!"

"Hold on to the beam and move forward, and see if you can swing to the stairs over there!"

"Oh no, my skill timer is up and I have no strength left—Ah!"

With a scream, a small figure fell from the ceiling and was about to fall into the stomach acid.

At the critical moment, an elastic rope stopped the man's waist and dragged him up when he was about to come into contact with the stomach acid.

The frightened player was pulled up the stairs by Zhang Chunliang. He leaned limply against the railing, gasping uncontrollably.

"Thank you." The man took off the mask on his head, wiped the sweat from his cheeks, and looked at Zhang Chunliang gratefully.

This is a female player.

“Zhang Chunliang——” The people on the ceiling finally noticed Zhang Chunliang on the stairs. One of them held the pole with one hand and shouted at him, “You are not dead yet——!”

Zhang Chunliang: “…”

"We are coming over here, catch it!" As soon as the man finished speaking, he let go without hesitation and swung towards him.

Zhang Chunliang was startled and quickly caught him with a rope. The heavy impact caused him to hit the railing hard.

"Let me do it? I'm very strong." 023 suggested.

So, it took the elastic rope prop with curiosity and fished up the people jumping down from the ceiling one by one, just like fishing.

"Thank God." The man who yelled at Zhang Chunliang nimbly climbed up the stairs, took off his mask, and grinned at him, "You saved my life again."

"Wang Shaofan?" Zhang Chunliang recognized the man and clapped his hands with him in surprise. "How did you find this place?"

"It's a long story. What on earth did you do that you lost contact for such a long time?" Wang Shaofan looked at him in disbelief, and laughed after a while, "You stink..."

Zhang Chunliang: “…”

He had just come out of the pipe full of rotten smell, and his body was covered with stench, but the fox did not show any abnormality. 023 was because Stone could not smell, and for a moment he actually ignored this point.

"Thank you, you smell pretty good too," he shot back politely.

"That's because we came in from...the whale's mouth..."

A player next to the two said with his last breath: "It's just a nightmare, it's like dying over and over again..."

"These NPCs are so awesome. How did they come up with the idea of ​​building such a huge research institute in the mouth of a whale..." The group of people exclaimed in amazement as they looked at the spacious and magnificent hall.

"By the way, where are those guys? Why haven't any NPCs come to cause trouble for us after we invaded here for so long?"

Zhang Chunliang was so confused by this group of players who survived the disaster that their heads almost exploded.

Wang Shaofan sensed his collapse, smiled and waved his hand, and then more than a dozen players shut up.

"I have a lot to say to you. I'm glad to see that you're okay." He winked at Zhang Chunliang.

Zhang Chunliang understood what he meant and led everyone to climb towards the higher floors.

"Let's talk alone, 023, do you know where there is a place to rest?" Zhang Chunliang asked.

"The last room on the right on each floor is the lounge. I suggest you go to the one on the sixth floor. Hans likes to hide snacks in there. I've caught him several times."

"Ah..." Some players exclaimed. They thought 023 was Zhang Chunliang's prop, but they didn't expect that it had self-awareness.

“Is this a pollutant…?” someone whispered in a tense tone.

During this period, they were exhausted both physically and mentally by the endless pollution monsters on the ship.

"Be quiet now. You must be exhausted from the journey. You need to have a good rest." Wang Shaofan smiled and made a pressing gesture.

The group of players seemed a little scared of him. They shut their mouths and hid in a lounge.

"Thank you for your hard work." Zhang Chunliang nodded at him.

Before he said goodbye to Wang Shaofan, Wang Shaofan promised to help him attract a group of players. During the few days when he was out of contact, Wang Shaofan fulfilled his promise.

You know, in such a high-level copy, every player is not easy to get along with. It must have taken Wang Shaofan a lot of effort to tame them so obediently.

The two sat down in the lounge on the sixth floor. The fox didn't seem interested in their conversation and returned to the room where the mermaid king's corpse lay.

023 is a sensible stone. It stands guard at the door, staring at the flooded floor in a daze.

"Where should I start?" Wang Shaofan pondered for a moment and said, "In fact, our main mission has not made much progress in recent times."

After Wang Shaofan and Zhang Chunliang parted ways, Wang Shaofan, as he said, gathered the players to destroy all the copper hearts on the ship. As expected, the morale of the mermaids increased greatly. They not only successfully defended against the waves of monster invasions, but also saved a group of players.

"Thanks to the cigarettes you gave me, otherwise I really don't know how many people would have survived in the end. It is also because I saved their lives that they listened to me." Wang Shaofan calmly attributed the credit to Zhang Chunliang.

Zhang Chunliang shook his head and was unwilling to take credit.

"I asked the players and mermaids to search for you on the ship, but they couldn't find you. The mermaid leader, Kister, said that you might have been captured by Will for experiments," Wang Shaofan recalled.

Because the situation at that time was still unstable, it was already very difficult for everyone to defend against the monsters. Although Wang Shaofan was anxious, he also knew that he could not force everyone to take the risk and go with him to find Zhang Chunliang.

What's more, there is the super mysterious mermaid bone next to Zhang Chunliang. If it can't protect Zhang Chunliang, then Wang Shaofan and others can only deliver food.

"In the past few days, the monsters' attacks have obviously weakened a lot and basically pose no threat to us. Therefore, I suggest that everyone come to you." Wang Shaofan said with a smile.

"Thank you." Zhang Chunliang's gratitude was sincere. Regardless of whether Wang Shaofan's heart was as sincere as he said, he had never broken his promise to Zhang Chunliang. From this aspect, he was indeed a gentleman worthy of close friendship.

However, after listening to Wang Shaofan's explanation, he had even more doubts.

"Then how did you determine that I was in the whale's belly? And why did you bring so many people to find me?"

Wang Shaofan and others could not stay in the sea for a long time, and they did not obtain as much information as he did. How did he know that Zhang Chunliang was in the body of a whale, and how did he convince so many players to take the adventure with him?

"Have you forgotten that I am a relative..." Wang Shaofan showed a mysterious smile, "I used the second opportunity to communicate with the Goddess's consciousness and asked her a question."

What Wang Shaofan asked was "Where are Zhang Chunliang and the Mermaid King?"

The players' tasks had not made any progress, and most of the people had died. So Wang Shaofan took advantage of the situation and asked the goddess about this question.

If they are not in the same place, the goddess will at least answer one of them, and Wang Shaofan will have a direction to solve the problem.

"As a result, the instructions given to me by the goddess are that they are under the boat, in the stomach of the whale."

Wang Shaofan sighed, "Your whale is too scary. The barnacles on its back kept attacking us, making it impossible for us to get close, so we could only try to get in through its mouth..."

Being eaten by a whale is a terrifying experience, comparable to going to the eighteen levels of hell. Wang Shaofan and his companions finally got into its fourth stomach, but they almost fell into the stomach acid as soon as they entered.

"Wait." Zhang Chunliang interrupted him and confirmed, "You said that the goddess told you that the Mermaid King and I were in the same place, right?"

Wang Shaofan nodded affirmatively: "The goddess did not answer separately, which means that your positions must overlap."

Zhang Chunliang touched his heart and felt that he was about to find the answer: "Did the goddess tell me the exact location of the mermaid king?"

Wang Shaofan shook his head regretfully, and then suddenly as if he had thought of something, he added: "However, the goddess gave me an additional order. She said that if I couldn't complete this task, she would not give me the third answer."

"What order?" Zhang Chunliang asked.

"It's a very strange request..." Wang Shaofan was a little confused. "She said that she wanted me to rescue her husband... from here."

"She said that her husband had a peculiarity: he had no head."

Zhang Chunliang suddenly opened his eyes wide.