I set you up on a blind date, and you've managed to overcome all the weirdness?

We've arrived at the wave pool.

The pool was ridiculously large; Lin Yan estimated it was at least the size of two basketball courts.

It's called a wave pool, but it's been empty for a long time. It's like a belly that's been drained of its internal organs, all hollow and empty.

From a distance, it appeared that there was something on the bottom of the pool.

Let's get closer and see clearly.

They were all wearing those green onesie suits like the ones worn by frog babies.

Some of them were still bulging, as if there were people inside.

Some were already deflated, lying on the ground like peeled skin.

Densely packed, spread from one end to the other.

Lin Yan stood outside the pool, unable to find a single clean tile to step on.

The mascot costumes were interspersed with various baby frog balloons, in green, red, and yellow.

The strings holding the balloons were tangled up in knots, looking a bit like a bunch of knotted intestines.

The smell in the air was indescribable.

It certainly smelled putrid, but it was more than just putrid.

There was also a sour smell, like rubber melting in the sun.

"vomit!"

The girl in the couple covered her mouth and gagged.

The boy wasn't in much better shape; the green hair on his arms had spread from his elbows to his shoulders, the hair roots burrowing into his skin, causing a throbbing pain.

He gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Lin Yan stood by the pool.

He looked warily towards the center of the pool.

There's something sitting there.

A giant frog selling its babies.

It's not the human-sized kind from before.

It is three meters tall just sitting down.

But it doesn't seem to be moving?

This group was anything but quiet; the sound of them kicking the door was loud enough.

However, it just sat there, head down, frog headgear hanging down to its chest, its webbed hands resting on its knees, motionless.

Black water was flowing down his body.

It was black and thick, dripping down the folds of the mascot costume and seeping into the cracks in the tiles at the bottom of the pool.

Tick, tick, tick.

Each strike echoed.

Lin Yan tried to take a step forward, and his shoe landed on a mascot costume with a soft "plop".

After a while, it seemed like there were no problems.

Lin Yan continued walking.

The young couple looked at each other and followed.

We can't not follow; there's no way out.

The three of them moved step by step toward the center of the pool.

The closer you get, the stronger the stench becomes.

When Lin Yan was about ten meters away, he stopped.

He could see clearly that the black liquid on the thing was seeping out from the fabric of the mascot costume, as if the entire costume was sweating.

The girl behind him took out her phone.

Lin Yan caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye, but was too lazy to remind her that there was no signal here.

But Lin Yan regretted it the next second.

She turned on her flashlight, wanting to see what was under the frog headgear.

A beam of white light slammed directly into the giant frog's face.

Lin Yan stared at the scene before him in disbelief.

He wanted to swear.

But there was no time for him to vent his anger.

"Coo coo...coo coo..."

The wave pool has come back to life.

The entire pool, with most of the mascot costumes puffing up at the same time, all turned their heads to look at them.

Suddenly the voice changed.

It sounded like a child crying.

At this moment, the giant frog moved.

The frog headgear was lifted up.

Its eye sockets had no eyeballs, only two swirling swirls of black liquid.

Suddenly, the hood ripped open with a tearing sound.

Black water gushed out from the crack, from the mouth, and from the eye sockets.

The entire wave pool began to shake violently, and black water sprayed out of the drains on the pool walls in unison.

The water level rose rapidly, and Lin Yan looked down to find his ankles already submerged.

The couple tried to run away.

But there's no escaping it.

The black liquid was very sticky, like stepping on asphalt at 40 degrees Celsius outdoors; you had to pull upwards with force every time you took a step.

Before I could run three steps, the water level was already up to my knees.

"I can't run anymore!" the boy shouted at Lin Yan.

He paddled with one hand and supported the girl's waist with the other.

The girl clung to his shoulder, her face buried in his neck, too afraid to look at him.

I dare not look at the giant frog, I dare not look at the black water.

She closed her eyes, her lips trembling, and repeated over and over:

"I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to."

Lin Yan was too lazy to pay attention.

The giant frog stood up, its three-meter-tall body trembling.

It spread its two arms, and the baby frogs at the bottom of the pond stood up one by one.

Lin Yan stood in the black water, which reached up to his ribs.

He was thinking about what to do.

Should we fire?

The Exorcist Revolver is ineffective against Ghost-level enemies, so it's even less effective against this one.

Damn it, this gun was never used from start to finish.

Where is Saya?

Saya is still out there fighting a war of attrition with hundreds of frogs. By the time she gets there, it will be too late.

Never mind, let's try anything, even if it's a hopeless case.

Just as Lin Yan was about to shout Chen Shu's name.

His pocket suddenly jolted.

It's a cell phone; a cell phone that's been submerged in black water and still isn't broken.

Lin Yan struggled to pull out his phone and saw that it was still the same smiley face.

However, at this moment, the corners of the smiling face were drooping, making it look aggrieved.

"Brother, there's something on it... Don't touch it."

"What is it?" Lin Yan asked in a low voice, his eyes fixed on the distance.

On the phone, Chu Chu seemed to be thinking about how to describe this thing to Lin Yan.

"It's lingering thoughts...so dense, so heavy."

"These costumes are filled with its obsession, so much so that it can't contain it all, and it leaks out everywhere."

"Chuchu accidentally scanned some data just now, and she feels really upset."

Lin Yan looked up and glanced at the giant frog that was running rampant.

The black water had risen to the giant frog's waist, but the frog's movements had slowed down.

It looked around, as if searching for something.

Two webbed hands flailing about in the black water.

If you find a discarded frog costume, you'll hold it up to look at it, then if you realize it's not what you're looking for, you'll throw it away and then try again.

"Brother," Chu Chu called softly from the phone.

"Would you like to see what it went through while it was alive...?"

"What do you think?"

"Just a hug is fine, any mascot costume will do."

Lin Yan looked down; some of the mascot costumes were still deflated.

There were several tattered items next to him, some half-submerged at the bottom of the water, and some floating on the surface of the black water.

He casually picked up the item closest to him.

The mascot costume felt damp, cold, and sticky when I first got it.

"I touched it," Lin Yan said, suppressing his nausea.

The emoji on the phone has changed back to a serious expression, and the eyes have turned into two scanner icons.

"Brother, hold it tight, don't let go."

"The rest is up to Chuchu. Chuchu has to translate this resentment data into images that her brother can understand. It will take a lot of effort."

The static from the speaker gradually increased, and the back of the phone began to get faintly hot.

"Bear with it, okay, brother?" Chu Chu said softly, "It might hurt a little... just a little bit."

A progress bar appeared on the phone.

3%, 7%, 15%.

Lin Yan himself didn't feel anything.

But the mascot costume in her arms was getting hotter and hotter.

Then suddenly his head buzzed, as if someone had flicked his brain with a flick on the forehead.

The wave pool in front of me began to blur.

The black water was still rising, but he could no longer hear anything.

The couple was still calling him, but their lip movements were no longer in sync, as if the audio and video were out of sync.

Chu Chu's voice came from the phone.

Intermittent, interspersed with hissing noises.

"Brother, this is the last part of Chu Chu's reading."

"Chuchu can't hold on for long on her own."

"Go for it, brother..."

The progress bar has finally reached 100%.

Lin Yan's vision went black.