A huge thanks to Green KiTea for the Kofis. Enjoy the bonus chapters!

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Shanhai glanced at the blue color beginning to spread around Jian Xingyi’s wound and explained patiently, “Once infected, the toxin will continue to spread from the wound. In your case, the first symptom you’ll likely experience is leg pain, making it impossible to walk. This will be followed by fever, nausea, and extreme fatigue, and finally, confusion. I have no right to use your Wish Bottle. What if you lose your mind before we find the Red Spider Lily?” 

Jian Xingyi remained firm in his decision. “Well, once things start getting serious, I won’t insist on finding the flower. As for the other symptoms you mentioned—it’s just like getting sick, right? I can manage with ginseng and other medicines.” 

Shanhai：“……”

Shanhai sneered, “Otherwise, just let a zombie bite me—it’ll have the same effect.” 

Jian Xingyi was horrified. “That’s out of the question! If we really can’t find it, we’ll have to use four Wish Bottles!” 

Shanhai: “……” 

“You and your wish bottle can go ahead.” 

Jian Xingyi leaned against Shanhai and said softly, “Besides, I can’t let you get hurt.” 

Shanhai coaxed him gently, “Why?” 

Jian Xingyi replied casually, “Because I don’t want to see you get hurt.” If anything happened to Shanhai, it would break his heart. 

Shanhai raised an eyebrow. “So does that mean I want to see you get hurt?” 

“……” 

Oh. 

Jian Xingyi froze. 

He’d completely forgotten that he wasn’t a loner anymore. 

After a moment’s pause, Jian Xingyi decided to pull out his trump card. He wrapped his arms around Shanhai’s and said in a soft voice, “Oh, but you’re right here, aren’t you? What’s there to be afraid of… At worst, I’ll just have you carry me.” 

Then Jian Xingyi swayed a bit. “If we miss this chance, there won’t be another… The success of my medicine chest collection depends on this!! Please, please!” 

“……” 

The two of them wrestled for a while, and in the end, Jian Xingyi emerged victorious by a hair’s breadth. A narrow victory meant the other party wasn’t convinced and didn’t agree, but he didn’t care. 

Shanhai sighed in resignation and said, “Then let’s hurry up and follow the compass.” 

He laid down three ground rules: “We have no idea how far the compass will lead us, or how difficult the search will be. Let’s agree on this now: if your condition worsens, we have to stop the search immediately.” 

“Got it!” Jian Xingyi nodded vigorously.

After packing up, the two set off immediately. 

Before setting off, Shanhai handed something to Jian Xingyi. It was a snake scale. 

Jian Xingyi blinked. Hmm…? 

Shanhai: “The reward for defeating the Golden Python.” 

“Oh…!” 

It seemed this Golden Python was similar in status to the Tomb-Guarding Wolf and the tiger they’d faced earlier—all regional bosses and “Kings.” That’s why defeating it dropped a reward. 

The wolf fangs had been crafted into a transdimensional container, and now there was only one transdimensional eye left, while his bag still contained a tiger claw and a snake scale. 

Jian Xingyi felt somewhat comforted. At least he hadn’t been bitten for nothing; he’d gained a rare haul, since these animal parts weren’t easy to collect. 

Following the direction indicated by the compass… it led to Sea Wave Mountain. Jian Xingyi and Shanhai exchanged glances; what a coincidence. The two boarded the boat and set off for Sea Wave Mountain. 

A day later, they were out at sea. The waters had been calm when they set sail, but now that they were in the middle of the ocean, a sudden storm had erupted. 

Wind and rain lashed all around them, and waves kept crashing into the boat. 

Since there were only two of them, they had used a smaller boat, which allowed for better maneuverability in the several-foot-high waves, but the rocking was also much more severe. 

Jian Xingyi felt dizzy and was about to pass out when Shanhai grabbed him and held him close. 

Amid the violent rocking, drenched in seawater, Jian Xingyi felt a wave of nausea wash over him, and the next moment, he passed out. 

Shanhai froze, feeling that Jian Xingyi’s body was unusually hot in his arms—almost scalding in the midst of the storm. Looking down, he saw that Jian Xingyi’s entire foot had turned blue, with terrifying red rashes appearing on his skin. 

In just a single day, his infection had worsened!

The storm had come as suddenly as it had gone. Once calm returned, Jian Xingyi woke up hazily in Shanhai’s arms, feeling a bit chilly. 

He tried to stand up, but he lacked the strength; his legs felt numb and unresponsive. 

Jian Xingyi paused, then reached out to hold onto Shanhai. 

He didn’t dare show how miserable he felt, afraid Shanhai would blame him. 

Shanhai let out a heavy sigh, picked him up, and set him on a nearby chair. He gently stroked the back of Jian Xingyi’s head. “I’ll carry you once we get ashore. Let me know if anything hurts.” 

“Oh…” Jian Xingyi leaned against Shanhai for warmth. It’s so cold…! 

Arriving at the largest island at the very center of the Sea of Waves, which also served as the base for guilds like 【Across The Sea】Shanhai set up a signal tower while carrying Jian Xingyi on his back. 

A signal tower on Snow Mountain cost 200 million, while the price of one on Rainforest Mountain had skyrocketed to 400 million, completely depleting Jian Xingyi’s personal savings. 

Upon arriving at Wave Mountain, the price of signal towers had skyrocketed again to 600 million, but fortunately, Jian Xingyi had access to guild funds. Over the past few days, Jian Xingyi had listed quite a few food items and potions in the guild store. 

Now his food selection was more diverse, and since not every player could accumulate that much rice—and there were limits on how much could be claimed—sales of the other foods were equally strong, netting him 80 million in a single transaction. 

Meanwhile, the 10,000 dawn coin injury remedies and the 100,000 dawn coin infection-delaying remedies were practically sold out as soon as they were restocked. 

In the ten days since Jian Xingyi set out to install the trade post, these revenues have reached 600 million. The total value of assets pledged by players currently stands at a full 800 million and continues to rise steadily. 

With the Chamber of Commerce’s assets now reaching 1.5 billion, Jian Xingyi issued an announcement seeking approval to increase the interest rate for this draw and allocated 600 million to build his penultimate trading post. 

Most of those remaining are players whose strength doesn’t match that of 【Across the Sea】, and who, due to their sheer numbers, couldn’t board the 【Across the Sea】 migration ships. With the weather currently too harsh, they dare not set sail in large numbers, and neither the guild nor their personal resources are sufficient to support their migration. 

Now that Jian Xingyi had established the trade post, most of the players rushed over. 

Shanhai glanced at Jian Xingyi, who was fast asleep, and carried him to rest at the 【Across the Sea】 base. Although the base was in ruins, the remaining rubble provided ample shelter from the wind.

Their location was extremely secluded, but with players arriving from all directions, some still noticed them. One player, upon seeing Jian Xingyi’s condition, let out a gasp. 

“Big Shot Xinghe, is he… infected?” 

Shanhai paused, realizing that since they’d run into people on their way to find the flower, there was no way to hide it. He nodded and said, “Yes, but don’t worry. We have our own way of handling this.” 

But in this game, infection meant certain death unless one had the Red Spider Lily—and clearly, neither Shanhai nor Jian Xingyi had any, or they would have used it long ago. That player’s voice drew others closer, and the rest of the players panicked upon seeing the scene; some even had tears welling up in their eyes. 

“Could it be that Big Shot Xinghe…” 

“It doesn’t look good…” 

Shanhai shook his head. “It’s fine. We’re using the compass to find the Red Spider Lily. Don’t worry.” After Shanhai sent the other players away, he didn’t expect the general chat to suddenly explode. 

【What?! Big Shot Xinghe got infected?】 

【Oh my god…! I’m so panicked—what about the guild, the trade hub, and our food supplies?】 

【Theoretically, these systems should still function even if the owner is gone, but this is just too sad and hard to accept. Xinghe did so much for us, and in the end…?】 

【I thought we were finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel… This is so hopeless.】 

【If even Big Shot Shanhai and Big Shot Xinghe can’t handle this, what hope do we have left…?】 

Bai Jie and the others were also bombarding Shanhai and Jian Xingyi with messages. 

【What’s going on here?!】 

Shanhai explained the situation to everyone in the guild chat. 

Heiye: 【What?! They’re deliberately not using the antidote just to find the Red Spider Lily? What kind of crazy idea is that!】 

Lone Wolf: 【What the hell is Xinghe thinking?! Can you even play around with something like this?!】 

Bai Jie: 【Objectively speaking, I should support this approach, but a more objective and cold-hearted view is that Xinghe’s existence is more important than the Red Spider Lily; nothing is more important than Xinghe’s safety.】

Shanhai: 【I understand. Give us one more day. If we still come up empty-handed, I’ll force him to take the antidote.】 The notification sound woke Jian Xingyi. he opened his eyes groggily and looked at Shanhai. Shanhai gently patted his back and said, “Everyone’s been worried about you.” 

“Hmm… I’m fine. I’m just a little tired.” Jian Xingyi nuzzled against Shanhai. “I’m also a bit cold, and my lower back feels numb and a little sore.” Shanhai gently lifted the hem of Jian Xingyi’s shirt and saw that the infection had already spread to his lower back. Shanhai said earnestly, “If we still haven’t found anything by the end of the day, we’ll just have to use the Wishing Bottle, okay?” If the poison spread to his brain, there would truly be no hope of saving him. 

“Okay,” Jian Xingyi nodded obediently. 

Everyone in the general chat and guild chat was still discussing this topic. 

Bai Jie: 【We plan to help you find the Red Spider Lily, too. We’ve done some research before—let’s check out all the spots where there’s a chance of it appearing.】 

Heiye: 【Exactly!】 

The guild members set out together. 

Meanwhile, a plan to search for the Red Spider Lily had somehow been organized on the general chat as well. 

The Flower of the Afterlife has a chance of appearing in certain corners of every map. Now, players scattered across the map felt they should band together to try their luck—just in case. 

This was extremely rare. Back when everyone had just entered the game and still harbored significant reservations and distrust toward one another, no one would have believed that a player would go out of their way to search for the Red Spider Lily for another person, and that after finding this precious flower, they wouldn’t keep it for themselves as a lifeline, but instead give it to someone else. 

At this moment, Jian Xingyi was still unaware of everyone’s “plan.” He mustered his strength and attached himself to Shanhai. “Let’s get on the boat. I’ll keep sleeping on board.” 

“Activate Little Horse!” 

Since time was short, he couldn’t sleep any longer! Shanhai was at a loss for words.

Earlier, Jian Xingyi had been somewhat concerned about saving face, but now that he’d been infected, he was letting his guard down completely—doing whatever felt comfortable—just to act cute and keep Shan Hai from getting angry so he’d accompany him on the flower hunt. 

“Alright.” 

The two boarded the boat and sailed for a while longer, but then Shanhai noticed… why was the compass leading them closer and closer to the air wall? This was very close to the place where they had previously gone to collect the Sea God Flower and pay their respects to the Colonel. 

Sure enough, half a day later, the boat arrived near the air wall. 

From the black hole not far away, numerous mermaid zombies leaped out, creating a series of splashing sounds. That’s right—most of the “zombies” in Wave Mountain were mermaid zombies in the water, likely coming from the contaminated seawater on the other side of the Air Wall. Shanhai furrowed his brow slightly. 

This compass… is it telling them to cross the air wall?