First Blood

Amidst the flashing red light, Yu Zou suddenly stood up, his heart pounding in his throat, a thin layer of sweat breaking out on his heaving chest.

From the loudspeaker in the corner of the ceiling, the captain's gruff and urgent voice blared: "Dear passengers, unfortunately, a group of zombie fish has jumped onto our cruise ship and infected some of our guests. Don't worry! The cruise ship will activate emergency escape mode; we will not abandon the lives of any of our esteemed guests! The forced low-temperature fogging environment in the rooftop swimming pool will slow down the zombies' movements, but it will also endanger the safety of our guests. The casino, game room, and other entertainment rooms are equipped with infrared alarms that will slice all the zombies to pieces. Oh my god! Who bit through my engine! First mate, repair it! Repair it immediately! Well, unfortunately, the circuits will randomly short-circuit in the future, at which point all security will fail, and even the lights will not work. Please be careful! The ocean always brings endless surprises to brave sailors! If nautical nonsense be something you wish..."

The captain sang a line, followed by a gruff laugh that rang out over the loudspeaker: "Hahahaha, then leap around on the deck like a fish!"

The broadcast cut off, and the jarring noise lasted for half a minute before Zhao Junjie's ever-present flippant, cynical voice came through: "Oh my god, this has happened at my birthday party! I'm so sorry everyone. If I survive, I'm willing to share my wealth with you all. The last person standing will receive a gift from me, and the MVP of their faction can take anything on this cruise ship, including the ship itself. All my gifts will be displayed on television. The cruise ship will dock in 8 hours, so please, everyone, make sure you survive."

The broadcast was completely turned off, and the room returned to silence. In the midst of the chaos, Yu Zou swallowed his heart. It wasn't a yacht accident at all; it was just Zhao Junjie's prank.

After all that commotion, Yu Zou was completely wide awake. He took off his pajamas and headed to the bathroom to shower. He seemed to hear the TV turn on by itself amidst the sound of running water. He was too tired to be interested, but not playing would be disrespectful to Zhao Junjie. So he decided to play a little, then pretend to be accidentally killed.

Yu Zou walked out wearing a bath towel, her half-dry hair still dripping water droplets, leaving a glistening water trail down her neck before finally tucking the towel around her waist along her V-line.

On the bedside table sat a white toolbox containing a UV light gun, night vision goggles, and a quiver. The quiver held three ordinary white-feathered arrows and two special red-feathered arrows, with a helpful card explaining: the ordinary arrows could only restrain a zombie for ten minutes, while the red-feathered arrows could completely eliminate it.

At the bottom of the toolbox is a letter that reads: You are a lucky hunter who won an invitation to a luxury yacht in a single gamble; you are an unlucky hunter who boarded the yacht with a sense of enjoyment but encountered a shipwreck crisis. Please take your gun and survive. A virus has suddenly broken out on the yacht, and some people have turned into zombies. The goal is to eliminate all the zombies. Hunters must not run away when there are ordinary people present, or they will commit suicide out of guilt. If an ordinary person is accidentally killed, the hunter will also commit suicide out of guilt.

"You're too kind-hearted," Yu Zou thought to himself, then lay back on the bed, staring blankly for five minutes before finally getting up to change his clothes.

The corridor was quiet, each step echoing. Yu Zou reached the captain's cabin at the end. Three different locks hung on the door. The spot next to the door where the ocean painting had hung yesterday was now occupied by a self-portrait of the captain making an OK sign. Lifting the painting, there was indeed a brass key behind it, with a label on it. The writing was faded: "My lovely wife, always searching for four-leaf clovers for me before I go to sea."

"..."

It seems we still need a hidden key with a four-leaf clover design.

Unable to enter the captain's cabin, Yu Zou turned and headed towards the stairs, intending to go to the next entertainment floor. Just then, the loudspeaker announced: "First Blood! V6 has achieved the first kill on S11, eliminating a zombie. Humanity has taken its first step towards victory! Keep it up!"

Yu Zou recalled the letter in the toolbox; there seemed to be a number on the envelope, but he hadn't noticed it. The three-story casino was now, just as the captain had said, completely covered in infrared light, leaving no gaps to enter.

Yu Zou had no choice but to go to the restaurant next door, where a zombie was smearing cream with its sluggish fingers and putting it in its mouth. The blue and white sailor uniform was stained with some unknown liquid and blood, and the blue brim of the hat was embroidered with "C8 Toms" in gold thread. The moment it saw Yu Zou, its killing instinct was activated, and it stood up with a frozen, frame-like movement. The cake fell to the ground and was crushed by its foot.

Yu Zou fled quickly, and the bracelet immediately emitted a red alarm. A tingling, stinging pain in his wrist made his legs weak, a warning that he was running too fast.

There's even a speed limit.

But if you stop walking, you'll be caught by zombies.

Yu Zou raised his gun, and the zombie's expression changed. It turned around hesitantly and shrank behind a pillar.

It even tries to dodge to the side, how adorable!

Yu Zou suddenly realized the fun of the game.

Seeing Yu Zou lower his gun, C8 cautiously tried to peek out. Yu Zou hid where C8 couldn't see him first, and fired a shot as C8 emerged. The ordinary bullet exploded on C8, creating a blob of blue paint. The zombie immediately collapsed to the ground, leaning against the wall like a powerless doll.

Yu Zou walked over, squatted down in front of him, and looked at him. His cute and innocent appearance was not intimidating even with blood on it. His left breast pocket was bulging. Yu Zou pointed and asked softly, "This is the key item, isn't it?"

C8 was not allowed to move according to the rules, but still winked at him and murmured, "Cake..."

Yu Zou pinched a corner of the piping bag and pulled it from his breast pocket. The bag contained a mixture of yellow and white cream, with a waterproof map sewn to the bottom. The map unfolded to reveal a simple line drawing pointing to the storage room on the basement level.

C8 leaned against the wall, his face turned to the side and head bowed. The sea breeze ruffled the ribbon on his hat. Yu Zou stared at him, then realized after three seconds that C8 was avoiding his gaze. He checked the name on C8's hat again, took a business card from his pocket, put it in C8's pocket, and then left to return to the restaurant. He pushed the dessert cart next to C8 and stood where C8 couldn't see him, waiting. About ten minutes later, C8 stood up and sat next to the dessert cart, blankly repeating the same actions he had taken in the restaurant.

It seems the zombies have no memory; they only chase after you when they see you. And in that brief ten-minute gap, the broadcast announced that V6 players had achieved a triple kill.

Yu Zou returned to the restaurant, where the inner side of the central bar was covered with sticky notes, serving as the crew's communal chat room.

"It is said that cow's blood, red wine and lemon taste like human blood."

"Why not just drink your own blood? Cow blood and lobster juice poured into a red bottle smell like that."

"That hurts a lot."

"He's insane! He'd risk his life for a drink?"

"Wine! Wine! Give me wine!!!"

"No! No! No! No!"

The legible writing ended there; what remained was just frantic scribbling. Yu Zou tilted his head, looking at the twisted lines, and followed the thickest one until he reached the refrigerator.

The refrigerated display case was filled with compartments, each labeled with an order number and details. Opening each compartment, Yu Zou found the items mentioned on the sticky notes. However, in the last compartment, he found a notebook—a crew member's diary. The crew member was clearly incoherent, speaking incoherently, nine out of ten sentences pleading for a rain of wine. Only the last page contained a red-feathered arrow with relatively intact handwriting: "Better to be the hunter than the hunted. The first shot, kill the hunted self."

Suddenly, a series of sharp "whoosh" sounds swept past, startling Yu Zou so much that his mind went blank. He jumped up and looked back, only to see the dessert cart rushing past the door.

Du Pianjian led the zombie out with his arm around its neck, the silver knife remaining firmly embedded in the struggling zombie's chest.

Yu Zou thought to himself: Could Du Pianjian be V6?

One second after the knife strike, a cheerful female voice came over the loudspeaker: "V6 kills C19."

Du Pianjian casually tossed aside the silver knife and looked towards the restaurant before spotting Yu Zou. Her cold expression cracked for a moment as she stared at Yu Zou, who was standing behind the bar holding a lobster and looking on in disbelief.

The scene was extremely awkward. Yu Zou couldn't stand silence and had to find a topic to talk to the other person. No matter how strange he felt, he stammered, "Why did you throw the knife away?"

Du Pianjian's gaze moved downwards, then back again, and he pulled his hand holding the knife out slightly.

Yu Zou quickly added, "Uh, I'm a hunter, I can show you my identity card."

Seeing Du Pianjian extend his right hand towards him, Yu Zou immediately put down the lobster, took out a letter from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to him. Du Pianjian put the knife back down, stood outside the bar, lowered his eyes, and read the letter, saying, "Ordinary people will use all weapons except guns. Silver knives are disposable items and lose their function after killing zombies."

Yu Zou asked, "Should we form an alliance?"

It's clear that Du Pianjian is very competitive and really wants to win this game. He might as well do someone a favor; it might come in handy later.

“Okay, I need the left lens of your night vision goggles.” Du Pianjian folded the letter neatly along the creases and handed it to him. He tapped Yu Zou’s waist with his chin, and Yu Zou immediately took it off and handed him the lens at the same time.

Du Pianjian sat on a high stool, holding up his glasses to look at the contents, and asked, "Are there any clues in the restaurant? I went to the second underwater level, and the crew's log mentioned that reagents could be made there."

In such a short time, he had already searched both underwater levels. Yu Zou admired his efficiency, handed over the crew log he had found, and recounted everything he knew.

Du Pianjian took out a few folded pages from his pocket, unfolded the diary, and compared them with the torn pages. Unfortunately, the diary was intact and had no pages torn.

Yu Zou found a set of bartending tools under the bar and began to prepare the drinks according to the instructions on the sticky note, pouring cow's blood, red wine, and lemon into a shaker and gently shaking it. Meanwhile, Du Pianjian had already walked behind the bar, wearing black rubber gloves and holding them out as if he were about to perform surgery, staring at the blue lobster in the tank, and ordered: "Alcohol and ozone water."

Once Yu Zou handed it to him, Du Pianjian began to process it. He pressed the blue lobster, which had its claws raised high, onto the cutting board, and quickly pierced the lobster's head along the midline with a sharp knife that had been heated with alcohol. He then quickly flipped it over and inserted it into the first segment of the tail to sever the central nervous system, causing the lobster to bleed.

Drop by drop, until it all flowed away, Yu Zou watched as the movements of his hands slowed down.

The whole tail meat was split open along the fascia, the claws were crushed and removed, and the shrimp brain was extracted intact. All of it was placed on crushed ice, drizzled with lemon juice, and pushed towards the bar. Du Pianjian, carrying her homemade sauce, sat back down on her high stool and began to savor it.

The raw food made a crunching sound, but Du Pianjian showed no sign of liking it; it was more like she was starving and would eat anything she could find.

The slight trembling of the cut lobster meat was magnified infinitely in Yu Zou's eyes. The stench of blood seeped into Yu Zou's body, turning into extremely fine needles that pierced his skin from the inside out, raising goosebumps. Yu Zou forced himself not to look, holding the lobster juice, closing his eyes to prepare it, shaking the shaker in his hand violently, trying to drown out the sounds coming from Du Pianjian's side.

Suddenly, the alarm blared and red light filled the air. Yu Zou opened his eyes abruptly and saw the dark red sky pressing down on the doorway. Du Pianjian remained unmoved, took another bite, and said, "An hour has passed. It's Red Moon time. Hurry up and finish. Then we'll go to the casino."