Chapter 976: This Item is Too Useful

The Eastern European girl, who had been looking down at the water and wading through it, probably never expected to be the first one called out. She was momentarily stunned and suddenly looked up.

"What a boring statement," she snorted through her nose, turning to look at her companions challengingly. "I"ve been with all of you the whole time, never went anywhere. What could I possibly discover?"

"Don"t worry, we all know she"s trying to sow discord," the middle-aged gentleman comforted in a calm voice.

Lin Sanjiu bit her lip.

She actually had no idea what the Eastern European girl had discovered. She just had a faint suspicion in her mind, thinking that the girl saw something underwater that was more than just trash. She must have noticed some "fact" related to the pedal boat. Lin Sanjiu had to reveal this matter even though she wasn"t sure, and she did it in haste. But now, regardless of whether her guess was correct or not, she had to give it a try.

She half-swam, half-waded in the water towards one of the pedal boats and stretched her neck to look inside. Despite its old and worn appearance, the inside was relatively clean. She glanced at the foot pedals at the bottom of the boat and shouted into the distance, "What about the thing you found underwater? Why didn"t you mention anything?"

"What did I find underwater? I didn"t find anything!" the Eastern European girl exclaimed.

"What"s going on?" the girl named Zao Peng asked in a lowered voice, her tone unfriendly. The Eastern European girl glanced at her but didn"t answer.

"When you came over here for the first time, you were groping for something in the lake," Lin Sanjiu said, carefully squeezing between two other boats. Her gaze swept back and forth on the shabby boat. "You only said it was a big piece of trash. But that wasn"t the truth, was it?"

"It couldn"t be anything other than trash. A treasure, perhaps?" The Eastern European girl sneered, retorting, "You"ve been talking nonsense for so long, but you still can"t say what I actually found. With such limited abilities, you want to sow discord?"

Lin Sanjiu sighed.

The other party was right. She had to quickly figure out what the Eastern European girl had discovered underwater. If she couldn"t come up with an answer, she would have to fabricate a convincing explanation, even if it was a lie.

"Keep an eye on her," at that moment, the round-faced man whispered to the two people beside him, "Even if a single strand of her hair touches the pedal boat, we"ll take action immediately."

The green water continuously flowing into the lake was gradually rising, and the chill slowly climbed up her thighs, creeping towards her pelvis. Her pants clung heavily to her body, and her body temperature rapidly dissipated in the icy lake water. Lin Sanjiu was about to take a few more steps inside when she suddenly paused. Her eyes focused on a frog boat.

The frog boat was severely damaged, and only patches of green paint could be seen. The steering wheel inside was crooked, the seats were broken and shattered, exposing uneven plastic remnants. The boat was in such a dilapidated state that even without knowing how to differentiate between good and bad boats, it looked unreliable and likely to sink.

Lin Sanjiu stared at it for a few seconds and slapped her forehead suddenly. How could she be so stupid?

But before she could say anything, she heard the round-faced man shout, "Now!" She was startled, realizing that when she turned around just now, her bag accidentally touched the edge of the pedal boat.

Before she could react, it was already too late.

"Hey! Have you ever heard of Route 300?"

For a moment, Lin Sanjiu thought those words came from her own mouth. However, she hadn"t misheard—the voice did belong to a man. As she lifted her eyes in shock and disbelief, she saw the middle-aged gentleman utter the last word. His previously gentle expression had already transformed into a fierce one. He cut through the water and charged toward her.

This person also came from Hyperthermal h.e.l.l!

[Oh My G.o.d! Wallet Is Missing!] had always been her last resort, the only opportunity to be used at a critical moment, so she endured without deploying it. But how could Lin Sanjiu have expected that her opponent also had an identical special item in their hands?

"Dammit!"

She cursed inwardly and made a quick decision. She turned around and dove deep into the pedal boat. Now there was no need to worry about touching the boat. She had lost all her Special Items and had to find a hiding place immediately to prevent her opponent from using long-range attack items to take her down.

She absolutely couldn"t die at the hands of Route 300. It would be too d.a.m.n ironic!

"Quick!" the round-faced man shouted loudly, getting closer and closer. "Don"t let her hide among the boats!"

Fortunately, it seemed that their long-range attacks required them to see the target before launching. Lin Sanjiu clenched her lips, her heart pounding heavily. She bent one leg and submerged her body in the water, not daring to let the water completely cover her. She had to stay half-submerged, waist-deep in the lake, squinting her eyes and feeling her way through countless pedal boats, stumbling and cras.h.i.+ng along the gaps between them, heading towards the depths.

Through the water, she could hear the five-person group behind her getting closer to the pedal boats. The splas.h.i.+ng sounds they made created ripples that disturbed the chaotic water, almost drowning out the voice of the round-faced man. "Eighteen minutes! It"s been eighteen minutes now, it"s time to deal with her!"

In her hurried and fl.u.s.tered state, Lin Sanjiu b.u.mped into several pedal boats in succession, causing her forehead, shoulders, and back to ache from the friction and impact. The water stung her eyes, and it kept flooding into her nostrils and ears, turning her vision into an unsteady and unsettling shade of dark green. She crouched and lunged towards the back of a swan boat, stood up with a "splash" from the water, and hastily reached for the bag on her back.

All her weapons and Special Items were soaked in the bag of water, including the semi-automatic rifle. Lin Sanjiu didn"t have time to inspect them. With a "clang," she propped the rifle against the back of the swan boat, pointing it in the direction of the five-person group. Without hesitation, a heavy gunshot rang out in the air—immediately, a tall spray of white water rose from the lake"s surface in the distance.

It worked!

Her heart seemed to realize that it had started beating again, and even her body felt weak.

"Move aside!" the round-faced man exclaimed in surprise, quickly commanding the others.

Without his instructions, the other people had already stopped in their tracks.

"You made a big mistake," he said coldly, glancing at the lake"s surface where the gunshot had created splashes. "The trajectory of that bullet exposed your position... Even if it"s a gun from the Munitions Factory, it can"t compare to half a Special Item."

Lin Sanjiu gasped for breath rapidly, her chest rising and falling. She had fired that shot in haste, barely missing the enemies" positions. But even if she had aimed carefully, it probably wouldn"t have had much effect—she hadn"t forgotten that the members of the Route 300 group had an additional layer of protection.

The round-faced man also understood that a single gunshot couldn"t do much to him. Half of his body submerged in the green water, he pushed the pedal boat away and slowly walked towards the depths. His stiff and cold face grew larger in her field of vision. However, at that moment, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Lin Sanjiu had never seen someone"s complexion change so drastically in a single breath.

All the color drained from his round face, and his eyes seemed like they were about to bulge out and fall into the water. The round-faced man suddenly twisted his body and roared at the densely packed pedal boats beside him, "Philibert! You... you"ve actually sealed off all our Special Items!"