"Damn it!"
The woman gnawed on her finger with a hint of hysteria.
She suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with suspicion as she stared at the man. Her tone was laced with doubt.
"Wait a minute... I just thought of something. Are you deliberately stalling? The control over the abominations in the basement is all in your hands. How could they all die in an instant?"
"You suspect me?"
The man reacted violently.
He nearly jolted to his feet, glaring at the woman with cold eyes, suppressing his anger.
"Tianmei, do you know what you're saying? I told you, the abominations in the basement didn't die instantaneously!"
"But you said it was close to instantaneous, didn't you? Tianrui, others might be fooled, but I'm not. I'm no useless trash like Tianqi."
A cold smile crept onto Tianmei's lips.
She slowly straightened her body and pulled open her clothes. The skin revealed was not smooth, but another face.
A woman's voice emanated from her chest.
"You should know, I'm carrying a human-faced sore."
"You're threatening me!"
Tianrui gritted his teeth.
He of course knew that Tianmei carried a human-faced sore. It was a bestowed ability from their superiors, the Apostles. The spread of plague was always Tianmei's specialty.
As long as the plague spread quickly, people would die quickly. As long as they could extract hearts fast enough, they could obtain more healthy ones.
The human-faced sore was considered one of the most terrifying plagues.
Most importantly, the human-faced sore could infect not only humans but also merfolk.
And now, the control over the human-faced sore was in the hands of Tianmei, a woman who held grudges.
Tianrui had no choice but to swallow his indignation.
He awkwardly changed the subject, though his mind was already filled with countless curses directed at Tianmei.
"Are we breaking out next?"
"If we don't break out soon, I can feel a very powerful psionicist rapidly approaching us."
"Break out?"
Tianmei suddenly revealed a strange smile.
"Look at how frightened you are. Don't forget, you're a merfolk, not a commoner."
"Why should we break out? There are so many fresh and delicious hearts here. If we can take everything here in one go, we won't have to deal with this mess anymore."
"Do you really want to stay in the human world forever?"
"The human world is prosperous, no doubt, but here, one day of failing to complete a mission means punishment more terrible than death for you and me."
Tianrui shivered involuntarily.
Indeed.
This was something he absolutely could not bear.
Missions were like a mountain pressing down on him, constantly forcing him to act and compete. He had to guard not only against human psionicists but also against his own kind.
All merfolk who came ashore had a daily quota.
If they failed to complete it even for a single day...
It might be different for other merfolk, but for those like them, who specialized in mental control, their sensitivity to mental manipulation meant their suffering during punishment was exceptionally painful.
"But there's a monster outside..."
Tianrui hesitated.
Tianmei sneered.
"A monster?"
"No matter how monstrous it is, can it compare to that man named Duan Chen?"
"Besides, if Tianqi could escape from the hands of that man named Duan Chen, do you think we are worse than Tianqi?"
This was indeed a valid point.
Tianrui was instantly convinced.
There were three other merfolk by their side, but according to hierarchy, these three had to obey them.
The Jia family didn't have many merfolk; the extras were those they had transformed into abominations.
"How about this... we first incite these people to go out, then use the chaos to seize their hearts and flee."
"What about the arrangements here?" One of the merfolk hesitated, only to receive a slap from Tianmei.
Fortunately, they were in a corner and no one paid them any attention.
Tianmei's expression turned icy.
She spoke coldly, "If you're still attached, then stay here alone and don't ruin our plan."
Although abandoning the arrangements here would be a pity for everyone, now that it had been discovered, there was no way to preserve it.
Most importantly, as merfolk, they could sense the life signs of their companions.
The corpses of Jia Rengui and Jia Mengmeng could deceive other humans, but not them.
When these two first appeared, they had merely sensed them slightly and were horrified to find that their colleagues had died unknowingly.
How could they not be shocked!
It was truly chilling.
However, at that very moment...
Just as they were about to act, Tianmei's ears twitched. She heard a rolling sound. She instinctively turned her head to look around, and then saw a glass bead rolling to her feet.
A premonition suddenly struck her. Recalling whose the glass bead belonged to, she covered her mouth in shock.
But Tianmei made no sound. Instead, she squatted down, picked up the glass bead, and even blocked Tianrui's line of sight.
This was because Tianmei realized Tianrui hadn't noticed the sound of the glass bead at all.
However, Tianrui noticed Tianmei's squatting motion.
Tianrui looked suspicious.
"What are you doing?"
Tianmei stood up with righteous indignation and sneered.
"My butt is itchy, is that not allowed?"
Even Tianrui, a merfolk, was taken aback by such a brazen, crude joke and didn't know how to respond.
"I'm going to the restroom."
Tianmei rolled her eyes and then naturally left.
She nervously clutched the glass bead in her hand, not daring to look back. Her footsteps were quick, and she immediately locked the door upon entering the restroom.
She tightly gripped the glass bead. The texture it conveyed made Tianmei know her intuition was correct.
Tianmei took a deep breath and gently crushed the glass bead.
In an instant, she entered a dreamlike, ethereal world.
Tianmei, slowly opening her eyes, looked at the magnificent world before her. She dared not look up, and cold sweat poured down her face. She quickly lowered her head.
"Apostle! What are your orders!"
"Oh? I didn't expect it would be you who found my appendage?"