Chapter 178: Little Love

"So dark." Li Cheng's voice echoed in the darkness. "It feels like when your girlfriend's parents are away on a business trip, and she invites you over to snuggle under the covers and watch glow-in-the-dark toys."

"Not the time for jokes!" The crimson racer's forehead glistened with cold sweat; the firerock mouse beside him let out frightened squeaks.

At this very moment, the flames burning on the firerock mouse's head and tail had not extinguished—they still radiated warmth—yet the racer could see not a single glimmer of light.

Boom!

The exploration vessel, drifting aimlessly on the current, scraped against the pipe wall; its right bow smashed through a large hole, and tons of seawater gushed in with a gurgle-gurgle sound.

Zhao Zijing swiftly released her psychokinesis, enveloping the ship's bow and forcibly pushing it away from the pipe wall.

In this total darkness, psychokinesis was like a bat's echolocation—roughly mapping the surroundings into a mental model.

She could feel the tunnel ahead growing increasingly winding, narrow, and constricting.

"Am I blind?"

"Why can't I see anything?!"

In the cabin, the Filipino youth Mendoza and the Black youth Myers screamed in terror; unable to see the path and with the ship lurching violently, they slipped and fell, crying out in pain.

Only the bandaged man remained calm—he pressed himself against the wall, held onto London girl Catherine with one hand, and gripped the handrail tightly with both, lowering his center of gravity to avoid falling.

"Quiet."

Zhao Zijing multitasked: using psychokinesis to scoop out the incoming water, welding the hull breach with a steel plate welder, and shouting loudly, "Xin Siji, report the cause of the autonomous navigation system failure."

"I'm here."

The ship's AI assistant, via public broadcast, said: "This vessel uses the Prometheus Corporation TZ300 autonomous navigation system. Currently, the ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) remain operational."

"Radar, depth sounder, and cameras have failed for unknown reasons, rendering dynamic path planning and obstacle detection/avoidance inoperative."

AI assistant

As the AI assistant reported, the drone swarm, which had relied on various sensors to maintain flight posture, began crashing down or making emergency landings on the ship's deck.

Due to the narrow pipe and accelerating current, the exploration vessel nearly slammed headfirst into the pipe wall again.

Zhao Zijing promptly unleashed psychokinesis like an airbag, cushioning the impact and forcibly steering the ship away.

This maneuver consumed another 30 Spirit Points; if this continued, they'd die not from drowning but from sheer exhaustion.

Zhao Zijing asked grimly, "Do any of you have a way to stop the ship? For example, breaking the pipe wall or anchoring into it."

"I'll try. Blaziken, release Cross Chop to the right."

The crimson racer threw a Poké Ball—the firemouse he'd used in the last scenario had evolved into firerock mouse; the original Fighting-type Pokémon, Monkey, had also evolved into Blaziken.

The tunnel had narrowed considerably; no aiming was needed. Blaziken swung both fists and unleashed a Cross Chop at the pipe wall.

Boom!

The force of the strike rivaled demolition explosives, yet in Zhao Zijing's blurred perception, the pipe wall showed not a single scratch.

The crimson racer exclaimed in shock, "What the hell is this wall made of? Some light-absorbing, hardening material?!"

"Not light-absorbing."

Li Cheng said calmly, "The spotlights are still warm. They're still emitting light. It's just that the path of light transmission has been erased."

From his 3D storage, he retrieved several different models of night-vision goggles and, using his 【Assemble Puppet】 ability, mounted them onto his eye sockets.

Image-intensifying night vision, infrared night vision, and thermal imaging night vision—all operated on fundamentally different principles.

Image-intensifying amplifies existing ambient light. Infrared actively illuminates targets with infrared spotlights and captures reflected infrared radiation to form an image. Thermal imaging passively detects infrared radiation.

No matter which night-vision goggles Li Cheng wore, he saw nothing—still no light at all.

In other words, the very concept of "light" had been stripped away.

"Light stolen."

Zhao Zijing's mind raced. She clasped her palms together and activated her skill.

【Skill Name: Point Array Detection】

【Type: Spirit Energy】

【Effect: Marked a point. Scans surroundings, marking all entities fitting the concept of life as a point array. The stronger the life energy, the denser the point array.】

【Cost: At least 100 Spirit Points. Exact cost depends on detection range.】

【Cooldown: 10 minutes】

【Note: Old Wang, don't get cocky—transparent cabinets, solid beds—I'll see where you hide.】

Zhao Zijing publicly served as a certified agent of the Global Occult Consortium (GOC), but she had originally been selected internally by the Special Affairs Bureau and assigned to infiltrate GOC. Her hometown was in Sichuan Province.

Thus, she received not only GOC's stipend but also additional benefits from the Special Affairs Bureau—her equipment and skills were far superior to those of players at her level.

This 【Point Array Detection】 skill was a legendary reconnaissance ability—it could detect entities fitting the concept of life, effectively revealing enemy positions, numbers, and even countering invisibility.

After activating the skill, Zhao Zijing's vision instantly filled with dense clusters of white light points.

The light points of the bandaged man and the other three ordinary humans were weakest—about the brightness of a candle.

The several Pokémon beside the crimson racer glowed like lightbulbs; he himself was slightly dimmer—he likely couldn't beat his own Pokémon.

Zhao Zijing herself and Midnight Howl were on the same level—equivalent to a flashlight.

But this Master Pi Fu's brightness rivaled a streetlamp?

Zhao Zijing had assumed he was a spellcaster type after seeing him release poison smoke, but he never expected his physical stats to be this high.

Light point brightness only reflected life energy levels—not player strength (skills and items weren't counted yet).

Aside from humans, countless microscopic bacteria on the ship's surface appeared as extremely faint light points, precisely outlining the vessel's silhouette.

No hostile targets found? Wait—

Zhao Zijing's hands trembled. She hadn't found any hostile entities on the ship—because the entire vessel was enveloped by a massive, chaotic mass.

This chaotic mass resembled a cloud—without a defined shape—firmly surrounding the entire exploration vessel as it rode the waves.

As time passed, the chaotic mass shown by the 【Point Array Detection】 skill grew visibly brighter.

It was growing stronger.

Zhao Zijing pressed her palms together like a blade, and with a single thought the blade of intent hacked upward at the space above her head; she herself felt no texture of touching a solid body, and the chaotic matter was not harmed in the slightest.

Without time to think further, she called out to her tablet: "Xiao Ai, open the GOC database and search the keywords 'light,' 'concept stripping,' 'cloud-shaped creature.'"

The tablet issued by GOC, like the exploration vessel, used the same voice assistant.

As for why it was Xiao Ai—

Maybe it's because Xiao Ai belongs to the Xiaomi company, and GOC's executive—the Seraph Michael—also has the character "mi" in his name. Probably.