Chapter 223: Blue-haired monster, no, blue-haired person?

Heitao A: 【Who are you talking about?】

Liu Mu's constant attempts, seen from a third-person perspective, made it look as if her body was flickering between movements, and then, she stopped.

"I said," she brandished her knife, and without warning, stabbed it fiercely into a spot on the rock wall beside her, "are you bastards playing hide-and-seek with me?"

Metal struck stone, emitting a harsh, grating sound as sparks flew everywhere.

Liu Mu did not hold back with this strike; as the blade chipped, spiderweb-like cracks also appeared on the blue Crystal under the tip of the knife.

The purpose of her repeated probing became clear; she had tested every direction around her, and only this area was a genuine Crystal rock wall.

And this "entity" was not just a solid object; Liu Mu stared with some hostility at the cracked Crystal, where, inside, a face with seventy percent similarity to a human's slowly emerged.

"Heitao A!"

As soon as Liu Mu spoke, Heitao A immediately gave an answer, 【It is indeed the life form detected earlier. It can actually still move? No, it is actually inside the Crystal!】

Even the system was shocked; it had to be said that Heitao A could almost perfectly imitate human emotions in its speech.

But Liu Mu had no mind to pay attention to that now; she just asked, "It's not a carbon-based life form, is it?"

【Direct sample analysis is required,】 Heitao A naturally did not equivocate and immediately provided the most effective method.

"That's easy," the Dog-leg Knife in Liu Mu's hand had already chipped in several places, but as if she hadn't noticed, she switched to holding the knife with both hands this time and stabbed it fiercely again.

Heitao A was right; the opponent was indeed capable of movement, but unlike humans, it moved within these blue Crystals.

At first, Liu Mu hadn't discovered the opponent either, but the suspicious point was that Heitao A had indeed detected life signs in this area, yet she could see nothing.

The purpose of the Space Jump was also to lure it out; there would always be a gap between jumps that would allow it to show its true colors.

During this process, Liu Mu had, of course, considered that the opponent might be a creature from a different dimension than her, as well as the potential danger.

But as long as one thing was certain, she dared to root it out: these creatures were dying.

The reason might be the iceberg collision or temperature changes, but that didn't matter; what mattered was what they were and what use they had.

The pale blue Crystal gradually crumbled away, and that face became clearer and clearer.

It was truly very similar to a human, from the shape to the distribution of the facial features, but one could tell at a glance that they were not human.

The skin was bluer than the Crystal, and the head that had already emerged, upon closer inspection, was bald, without a single hair.

The head shape was round overall, almost like a standard ball, with only the chin protruding slightly outward.

Inside the open eyes seemed to be blue liquid; there were no pupils, only fine, fragmented shapes like cut facets of a Crystal floating in the blue liquid, gathering and then dispersing.

The skin was transparent; she could tell this because Liu Mu saw a transparent membrane closing and opening repeatedly.

Come to think of it, the mouth was the part most similar to a human's, with a very distinct lip line, sharp as if cut.

Faced with Liu Mu's violent behavior, the thing inside neither moved nor showed any obvious emotion, blinking its eyes as if trying to understand everything.

Soon, the Dog-leg Knife was completely ruined in Liu Mu's hands.

Stowing the remaining hilt back into space, she directly pressed her four fingers together and stabbed them fiercely toward the creature in the Crystal.

The Crystal, which had sparked against the Dog-leg Knife just seconds ago, now felt like fragile sugar glass under Liu Mu's fingers, shattering into pieces until that face—no, now it should be that head—was completely exposed to the air.

But it was also at this moment that the creature's expression finally changed; Liu Mu could see panic in those eyes that looked like gathered crushed diamonds, but her fingers had already touched that face.

Heitao A began its analysis almost instantly. The texture was strange, like cold, smooth, yet soft stone; Liu Mu couldn't help but apply a bit of force, and she actually managed to press the opponent's skin in by a few fractions.

Under such contact, the creature's face—no, the part below the neck—also emerged like ink rising to the surface of water. While Heitao A had yet to provide results, Liu Mu examined it even more carefully, discovering that the opponent's height was actually at least double her own; it was just that, perhaps because the skeleton was too sparse, from the neck down, the branching limbs looked more like tree branches—slender, covered in the same blue skin, yet there wasn't the slightest trace of muscle beneath the skin.

The further down, the smaller they became, though fortunately, the quantity did not increase.

Such a body clearly had nothing in common with a human's, yet it inexplicably reminded Liu Mu of Lv Ping, who had undergone Mutation in the sea. His tentacles were also thick at the base and thin at the tips, with the surface covered in tiny patterns...

The creature before her also had patterns, blue to the point of being almost black, distributed on the skin everywhere except the face, flowing faintly. Beyond the patterns, there was fine, dense fuzz, covering almost the entire body surface except for the head.

"Are they on the soles of your feet too? Forget it, you don't have feet." Liu Mu asked Heitao A in her mind if she could pull her hand back; the sensation really gave her goosebumps, and naturally, she was refused, so she began to talk to herself, hoping to distract herself, "But don't feel inferior, because you look like an oversized blue-haired monster. It's just that your head is a bit too small compared to your body... it's still a bit cartoonish."

"Little Blue," in less than a minute, she had unilaterally become close with it, "Can't you move inside the rocks? Just like you saw me jump earlier, why aren't you moving now?"

【It is suffocating!】 Heitao A didn't give the results, but suddenly issued an alarm, 【The opponent is in the air and seems to be in a state similar to human suffocation.】

"Ah, what do I do then? Can't let it suffocate to death, right? Are you done yet!"

Liu Mu was getting a bit anxious; although humans like to capture rare things when they see them, there was no need to take the other party's life.

Heitao A said the sampling was complete; Liu Mu immediately let go, bent down to scoop up the Crystal Fragments at her feet, and pressed them against that face.

"Hello," the creature's mouth with the distinct lip line actually spoke before her devilish hands touched it again, "Human. You, survived, that is good."

If one day, the God of Wealth you had been worshiping on a shrine spoke to you, how would you feel?

If you can't understand that, what if the God of Wealth were replaced by your great-grandmother's funeral portrait?

Liu Mu originally couldn't understand such things; after all, as an orphan, she had no ancestors to worship, but now, at this very moment, she actually felt a strong sense of being moved, like someone who had been away from home for too long and suddenly saw an elder, and then, she discovered she was crying.

"W-what's going on?" Liu Mu looked at the teardrops on her palm in confusion, then looked up at the 'Blue-haired person' through teary eyes, "Little Blue, you aren't poisonous, are you?"

Otherwise, how could she explain her current behavior!!!

"I need you to help me save them, human, our descendants, we need help."

The Blue-haired person gave no explanation; after speaking, it began to move, right inside the Crystal, at an extremely fast speed, yet it didn't go too far, as if waiting for Liu Mu to follow.

Liu Mu had ten thousand questions in her heart: who needed help? What descendants?

Why was its voice exactly the same as her own?

And, what exactly was this thing?

Heitao A, 【Based on current analysis, its genes have approximately 73.37% similarity to humans; you even have the same genetic factors. Host, it seems to be seeking your help; what do you intend to do?】

What else could she do? She had already followed it; if she didn't see this through to the end, Liu Mu was certain she would start suffering from insomnia from today on, to the point where she would lie awake in the middle of the night asking, "What on earth is this thing?"

Before confirming the danger, she hadn't called out to Zheng Tian, but after a few Space Jumps, deep inside the cave, this kid Zheng Tian had actually already entered.

"What's going on?"

The two hadn't seen each other for more than half an hour; had he also encountered a blue-haired monster?

"Boss, you fell down too?" Zheng Tian looked bewildered, but the moment he saw Liu Mu, he stopped panicking, "I just felt the ground give way under my feet and fell in."

"You really are... blessed by the heavens," Liu Mu didn't know how to evaluate Zheng Tian's luck; twice now, he had stumbled into things by accident, "We'll talk later."

The blue-haired person stopped within a wall of Crystal, and Liu Mu hurried to follow, looking up at its massive figure, "Are we here? Where are your companions?"

Behind her, Zheng Tian's gaze darted back and forth between her and the stone wall, his body shrinking in terror. He only saw Liu Mu talking to the stone, "Bo-Boss, are, are you alright? Why are you asking questions to a stone?"

Please don't scare me, you haven't been possessed by something evil, have you?

Amidst Zheng Tian's shock and suspicion, Liu Mu turned her head, "You can't see the th... the blue-haired mon... person inside the stone wall? They are right here, what do you see?"

"I see it, a stone?" The cave refracted the daylight from outside; it was not dim at all, and beautiful rays of light streaked across it from time to time. Yet, Zheng Tian widened his eyes until they were a circle larger, but still shook his head, "There is only light blue Crystal, no person... right?"

"Oh, I forgot, you haven't opened your Heavenly Eye, never mind then," Liu Mu didn't want to scare the kid, so she said with feigned ease, then turned back to continue communicating with the blue-haired monster—er, let's call it a blue-haired person.

"Here, right here," whether the blue-haired person understood Liu Mu's words or discovered something else, the tone of its voice changed this time, becoming much deeper than Liu Mu's original voice, making it very easy to distinguish.

This behavioral pattern made Liu Mu feel very familiar with it, but for a moment she couldn't think of the key point. Just as she was habitually about to ask Heitao A in her mind for an analysis report, a flash of inspiration struck her.

That's it!

At the very beginning, the blue-haired person couldn't make a sound while inside the Crystal, but after coming into contact with her, it suddenly learned to imitate her voice to speak human language. Later, after meeting Zheng Tian, it must have realized that voices differ between people, so it immediately changed its tone...

Isn't this just a living Heitao A!

【Xiao A, search the system for information on the blue-haired people, using the clues you analyzed as keywords. See if they are Earth creatures, or if there are any records of aliens.】

Liu Mu immediately realized something deeper, but she didn't say it out loud; perhaps the result didn't need to be spoken by her.

Heitao A executed the command immediately, but Zheng Tian had already timidly moved behind Liu Mu, almost hiding himself behind her, "Boss, what exactly do you see? Don't scare me, I'm fine with anything, but I am a bit superstitious."

"Then that's a problem, your application to join the Sea Soul Team won't be approved!" Liu Mu teased him. The man, over one meter eighty, clearly possessed outstanding organizational skills; being a chatterbox was one thing, but he was actually afraid of ghosts.

This, Liu Mu had to scare him!

"It's fine, this secret is known to you and me," Zheng Tian very consciously categorized himself into the group Liu Mu would protect, "Is there really something unclean inside?"

"Yes, be careful, stop talking. If you get targeted by them, they'll drag you into the stone wall," Liu Mu didn't understand why Zheng Tian couldn't see them, but there were only three possible reasons.

One was that she had Heitao A and could see, two was that Zheng Tian had no Mutation or Evolution, and three, naturally, was that the blue-haired person didn't want to be seen by him.

"Don't disturb me for now," Liu Mu ignored him and asked the Crystal, "What is here? Your companions, or something else?"

After she asked, the blue-haired person didn't answer directly, but behind it, many humanoid shadows appeared one after another.

These shadows really did appear out of thin air, standing one by one in the light blue Crystal that refracted various lights, all looking at Liu Mu with those pupils condensed from crushed diamonds.

But they were not static. In this dense, hair-raising, silent gaze, Liu Mu noticed that their extraordinary limbs would touch and separate at short frequencies, as if they were transmitting signals.

Liu Mu wasn't in a hurry. She brushed away Zheng Tian's hand, which was tugging at her hem, with some disgust and glared at him, "Don't move!"

Soon, the blue-haired person No. 1 in the stone wall spoke again, "Hello, human. Our energy is about to be exhausted, and everyone will die in their slumber. Can you help us? We have discovered that your body possesses a massive Energy Field; it can save us."

Well! Liu Mu's expression dimmed slightly at once. It was another one wanting energy from her. Looking at their appearance, they were mostly likely trying to get a free ride.

"Hello, blue-haired person. In human etiquette, if you want something from someone else, you need to provide something of equal value in exchange. Trade, can you understand that?"

The other blue-haired people didn't seem to understand human language. After No. 1 heard Liu Mu's words, it used its slender limbs to touch several blue-haired people at the same time, then those who were touched went to touch others, and finally, all the blue-haired people stared at Liu Mu in unison.

Quiet, no response, very rude!

Liu Mu originally wanted to explain a few more sentences, but fortunately, at this moment, blue-haired No. 1 seemed to understand her expression and spoke, "We can answer your questions and provide some information, but we are not sure if it is useful to humans."

Shaking her head, Liu Mu shook her head decisively, "Answering my questions is the foundation for our mutual trust; I may not be interested in other information. Since you want energy, you need to exchange it with something of equal value. That is fair trade."

Confirming that Liu Mu was negotiating a trade with someone, Zheng Tian calmed down a lot. This showed that his Boss was neither possessed nor poisoned, and her reason was online. Since it was a party she could do business with, the other side must have something they wanted, and it wasn't enough to threaten Liu Mu... In short, he was safe too!

With this realization, Zheng Tian stood straight from behind Liu Mu and moved half a step silently, putting on the calm expression of a capable subordinate to indicate his position as Liu Mu's follower. As for the regret over his previous behavior, he would beg his Boss not to mention it later.

Liu Mu naturally noticed Zheng Tian's small movements, and the blue-haired person in the Crystal noticed it too, but neither cared.

"Fair trade, equal value," blue-haired person No. 1 seemed to be thinking about the meaning of these two words. After a long while, "You seem to have created a set of concepts belonging to your own society. But we are not sure what has equal value to you."

Using the word 'we' meant that this group of blue-haired people... could be fleeced!

Liu Mu said calmly, "Then do you want to show me what you have? Or should you talk about your origins first?"

Of course, she wouldn't take the initiative to expose her own intelligence. Opening her mouth to state her own needs and shortcomings was a major taboo in business negotiations. Clearly, these blue-haired people didn't know the key to it.

They 'discussed' again, and after a while, under the strong influence of blue-haired No. 1, a consensus was reached.

After the consensus was reached, the blue-haired people behind him disappeared into the Crystal one by one, just as they had appeared.

"Please come with me. If your friend is willing, they can come along too."

Them? Liu Mu only thought that blue-haired No. 1 had also discovered Jia Guan above. It looked like the other party was going somewhere, and she wouldn't be at ease leaving the two of them in this Crystal cave, so she agreed to the invitation.

As for whether there would be danger in going?

Liu Mu had certainly thought about it. She had confidence in leaving this cave herself, and since the blue-haired people needed her, the possibility of them actively harming her was not high.

Saying 'follow' to Zheng Tian, Liu Mu took the first step toward the Crystal wall where the blue-haired people were.