Chapter 8 – Deception

The massive disparity in size and strength made escape and resistance seem like a joke.

However, Su Lifeng quickly regained his composure. 

Events were proving his judgment correct: hiding here was safer than being among those swimming toward the Island.

Now, it all depended on whether his plan would work…

By hugging the side of the Cruise Ship and using Cheng Peng’s corpse to confuse both sight and scent, the Xenospecies Octopus might not attack them.

After all, compared to the Xenospecies Octopus, they were tiny. If they remained completely still, they would have almost no presence at all.

As soon as an opportunity arose, they could sneak past the gaze of all the Xenospecies and reach the shore!

The shortest distance from here to the Island was only about twenty meters…

“We can do this!”

But Su Lifeng hadn’t accounted for everything… He had overestimated the psychological endurance of the others when faced with such an overwhelming threat.

As a tentacle suddenly swept past not far in front of them, the Iron Piece Boy caught sight of the terrifying Suckers inches away. His body gave a sudden, violent shudder. He let out a sharp roar and hurled the piece of iron.

The moment the iron struck the tentacle, everyone’s heart skipped a beat.

The boy thrashed the water with all his might, swimming desperately toward the side.

“What are you doing!” another male student roared, his eyes wide with sheer terror as water splashed around them.

As he swam, the Iron Piece Boy looked back and screamed shrilly, “I didn’t want to do it! I didn’t want to! But look at Su Lifeng-he didn’t even blink when he killed that guy! We don’t even know him. Why would he save us? And how does he know so much! Maybe we’re just his bait, and he’ll abandon us one by one! I’m sorry, I can’t die yet… I’m a coward, I really don’t want to die!”

“You bastard… ah!”

The male student wanted to keep cursing, but the tentacle suddenly smashed down. He let out a panicked cry and instinctively tried to dodge, only to be grabbed firmly by Su Lifeng.

“I told you not to move, no matter what happens!” Su Lifeng growled.

“Ah…” The student’s nerves were at their breaking point. He watched helplessly as the tentacle, thick as a human torso and covered in Suckers, rapidly enlarged in his field of vision.

Su Lifeng’s expression was no better, but he knew in his heart that if this method failed, running would only lead to a faster death!

How could a human compete with such a gargantuan creature’s agility in the water?

“Whoosh!”

The tentacle stopped right above Cheng Peng’s corpse.

A look of clear confusion flickered in the Xenospecies Octopus’s giant eyes. It stared at the corpse and the several blurry figures behind it, seemingly unable to distinguish between them.

“It worked!” Su Lifeng breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

He had bet on the fact that these Xenospecies possessed the capacity for thought!

However, based on what he had observed earlier, their current cognitive abilities were very limited.

Their behavioral patterns seemed somewhat rigid…

That was why he had thought of ‘deception,’ a tactic with many successful examples in biology.

Camouflage, mimicry, misleading signals…

The male student’s eyes were glazed. In that moment just now, he felt as if he had already died.

The Xenospecies Octopus couldn’t make a judgment immediately, but it wasn’t willing to give up easily either. On the other hand, the Iron Piece Boy was too small a target and was ignored for the time being.

Su Lifeng glanced in the direction the Iron Piece Boy had fled. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and slowly raised his steel pipe.

Jiang Yushi noticed his movement and immediately guessed his intent. Her expression instantly became tense.

“Phew…” Su Lifeng let out a soft breath, his body leaning forward slowly.

He felt Jiang Yushi reach out to grab him, her delicate face tear-streaked as she looked at him with sheer terror.

However, Jiang Yushi soon slowly released his arm, though she continued to weep silently.

“I won’t die,” Su Lifeng thought to himself, tightening his grip on the steel pipe.

The next second, he lunged forward, wrapping his arms around a tentacle and plunging the steel pipe deep into it.

Su Lifeng heard a wet thud, followed by the sound of gurgling water and the terrified screams of Cheng Xiaomei and the others.

The strength of the Xenospecies Octopus’s tentacles was truly horrifying, and the suckers possessed an incredibly powerful suction. However, none of that mattered to Su Lifeng now…

“It’s not over yet. There’s one more step.” He had never been this calm. Even though he had been suppressing his emotions all day just to survive, his mind had never been as clear as it was at this moment.

As the tentacle thrashed violently, Su Lifeng wrenched the steel pipe out. Accompanied by a large amount of Gelatinous Substance flowing out, he was suddenly yanked toward the surface of the sea.

“Now!”

He whipped his arm back and hurled the steel pipe with all his might toward the Iron Piece Boy. “Tit for tat. No need to thank me!”

The Iron Piece Boy, who was swimming frantically to get away, turned his head. A look of utter despair instantly washed over his face, his features twisting in agony. “No… please, no!”

The Xenospecies Octopus had limited judgment. The previous iron piece had alerted it to the fact that these silhouettes might be living creatures, and now its gaze followed the steel pipe.

This object was covered in its blood-if that Gelatinous Substance could even be called blood.

Compared to the iron piece, this thing was even more peculiar to it.

This was likely the first time it had ever been wounded by such an object.

The Xenospecies Octopus’s massive body surged into motion. It pursued the steel pipe, heading straight for the Iron Piece Boy.

Su Lifeng crashed heavily into the seawater and immediately began swimming toward the Cruise Ship with everything he had.

Jiang Yushi felt as if her heart had completely stopped during those brief one or two seconds.

Only when she saw Su Lifeng’s figure emerge from the water did she raise her hand to cover her mouth.

“Go, let’s go!” Su Lifeng shouted.

At this moment, another Xenospecies Octopus was busy hunting down tourists, while the Iron Piece Boy and the steel pipe were enough to keep this particular Xenospecies Octopus occupied for a while.

“No, no, it shouldn’t be like this!” The Iron Piece Boy watched the Xenospecies Octopus closing in. Survival instinct drove him to keep swimming forward, but with a sudden whistle of wind from behind, a flash of red crossed his vision… it was his own blood.

To the Xenospecies Octopus, this human still lacked any real presence. After crushing him with a single tentacle, it dived down to pursue the steel pipe…

“Quite a few… humans have made it onto the Island,” the Xenospecies Middle-aged Woman said, reporting her observations.

The Girl beside her nodded. “Mm… combined with the ones from before… it should be enough for the Wisdom Species…”

As several minutes passed, their speech had clearly become much more fluid.

“However, that… special human Biological Species was not converted, nor did he die. We also haven’t… found him…” the Xenospecies Middle-aged Woman noted.

“Perhaps… he went onto the Island as well,” the Girl said, staring toward the Island. She then revealed a smile that looked much more natural than before. “That would be for the best.”