Chapter 25 Let's Set Sail, ███! "Your grandpa wants to get off..."
With a popularity score of 45, the room has entered the real-time recommendation list again. Even if Pu Fengchun is in last place and loses 10 points, he is only 5 points away from passing. At the current rate of popularity growth, it's only a matter of time before he passes.
Xue Chao should just stay put and not get involved in the players' stupid quests; clearing the game is their job anyway.
But until he had completely crossed that "line between life and death," he always felt uneasy.
There are also the number of players misjudged, and that thug who runs around everywhere... Could it be a cause-and-effect relationship?
Pu Fengchun ran from the port side to the starboard side, from the superstructure to the main hull, trying to escape while searching for the actual ship, wishing he could split off another head on the spot: "Could the clues be in the building?"
Suddenly, a tail lashed out from around the corner, and Pu Songying dodged it in a fluster. Her watch vibrated twice, indicating "right side," so she skillfully followed the instructions, shook off the monster, and ran all the way to the computer room prepared for tourists, which was like a small internet cafe at sea.
To enhance the deception, the interior layout of cruise ship No. 3 was indeed the same as that of No. 1, and Xue Chao deliberately led her here.
Pu Fengchun immediately understood the meaning of artificial intelligence. Through the earpiece connected to the computer, Xue Chao's lazy yet calm electronic voice came through: "I understand your concerns, but the terminal deliberately expelled you and did not intend for you to stay. There may be clues outside the terminal. If the ship you are trying to board is indeed among them, there is a good chance that they are inside the ship."
He paused for a moment: "Madam, do you remember our deal?"
Pu Fengchun keenly sensed the difference. The transaction remained the same, but their interests would be more intertwined, and they would face greater danger.
She paused only briefly before nodding decisively.
"I'll help you get on the right ship," Xue Chao repeated. "You help me find that person."
"good."
"【Pu Fengchun】Who is she talking to? Could she also have a hacker working with her?"
"【Pu Fengchun】It can't possibly be the host coming back to life, hahaha."
Xue Chao: "Find clues related to mythology."
Mythology… Pu Fengchun’s first thought was “World Tree”.
This dungeon has many mythological elements: the Norn Three Goddesses logo on the Destiny, the "World Tree" and "Uld Spring" in the advertisements, the "King Odin" mentioned by the guards, the classical oil paintings that can be seen everywhere in the right port, the shop names, and the engravings on the lighters.
Xue Chao initially didn't take it seriously. Myths, imbued with various symbols, have always been a treasure trove of material, so it was normal for them to be used in international ports and cruise companies.
But in the dungeon, the guard blurted out not "God," "the Holy Mother," or "the God of the gods," but rather "Odin," the king of the gods in Norse mythology... How is this any different from Zhu Wen's mentally challenged child chanting "Pinocchio above"?
As a god who can represent the heavens, Odin is too obscure, isn't he?
It wasn't until Xue Chao saw the half-human, half-snake monster that everything made sense, since mythology wasn't just a fiction or a story for the people here.
Voyagers don't believe there's a new world beyond the fog without reason, unless they've witnessed incredible power, and there's likely other metaphors on the ship.
Pu Fengchun acted immediately. At this time, the air tunnels in Terminal 2 were closed, and all other doors and windows led to the venue. A huge crowd followed Xue Chao, like a group of well-dressed zombies, relentlessly pursuing him.
He ducked to avoid another group of people who suddenly appeared around the corner, turned around and crashed into the door on the right, pulled the dart from the target and threw it behind him, then jumped out of the window and landed in another empty meeting room.
A bartender who had strayed from the group spotted him and tried to climb in through the window. Xue Chao swung his golf club with an elegant spin, hitting the bartender squarely on the forehead. The bartender fell back, sprawled on the ground, unconscious.
Footsteps sounded again in the distance, and Xue Chao turned and hid in the magician's performance booth.
The crowd rushed in a step later, looked at each other in the empty hall, and left disappointed when they couldn't find anyone. Xue Chao waited until there was no sound, and then tentatively pushed open the door.
The venue was quiet, with no one or any monsters in sight. As soon as Xue Chao took a step, firecrackers suddenly went off from the four corners of the performance booth, burying him in a sea of colors.
He keenly heard the hum of an engine being pulled overhead, rolled nimbly, and the roaring chainsaw grazed his face, splitting his butterfly half-mask in two.
The magician hung upside down from the top of the cabinet, and the chainsaw swept across. Xue Chao did not dodge back. Instead, he rushed forward a few steps, leaned back and bent low, and passed the chainsaw face to face again. He quickly got close and kicked the magician into the cabinet, caught the falling chainsaw, and locked it.
Without even glancing at the cut seam at the waist of the cabinet, he turned on the chainsaw and shoved it directly into the cabinet. The magician also experienced the thrill of being face-to-face, his howl echoing through the three layers, successfully attracting the disoriented masked people.
Xue Chao raised his foot to brace against the cabinet door, kicked hard, and at the same time pulled out the chainsaw. The cabinet, carrying the howling magician, slammed into the masked man climbing the window. He swung the chainsaw to clear away those blocking his way and used the illusion of being trapped in a maze to move back and forth.
But the masked men were like perpetual motion machines; they never got tired. Xue Chao was almost out of his mind. He turned to the stairwell, but before he could avoid the crowd that appeared around the left corner, he heard footsteps on the right stairwell. Another group of people squeezed in behind him.
He was suddenly attacked from three sides, so he simply jumped from the second floor to the first floor. When he hit the ground, he triggered the leakage debuff. He shrank back, and the chainsaw was stuck diagonally in the ground, buzzing continuously.
The railings on the second and third floors were crowded with people pointing and looking down. The masked people in all the doors and windows on the first floor gathered around Xue Chao. Seeing that he had no way to escape this time, the bald leader walked out of the crowd. He stopped in front of Xue Chao, leaning on a gentleman's cane, and smiled hypocritically when he met Xue Chao's fierce blue eyes through his messy hair.
"Has anyone ever said your smile is disgusting?" Xue Chao's voice trembled, and his skin faintly smelled of burning.
The leader shook his head arrogantly: "Not everyone is as disheveled as you, sir."
"Oh, how pitiful, you have no one to tell you the truth." The voice trembled until it stopped, like a bluff.
"Doesn't this just prove my status?" The leader remained expressionless, probably feeling there was no need to get angry with a dead man. He elegantly pulled out his chainsaw, pretended to admire it for a moment, and then decisively chopped it down.
“…Indeed, after all, there’s only one ‘you’ from beginning to end.” Xue Chao rolled over, looked up, and coldly watched as the chainsaw fell straight at his left shoulder. The moment it hit the black trench coat, the leader’s left shoulder was pierced out of thin air, and blood splattered out in slow motion, a few drops landing on Xue Chao’s cheek.
Xue Chao exerted his strength instantly, flipping the chainsaw upside down and piercing through the leader's shoulder again, continuing downwards to close the half-groove he had carved with the chainsaw when he fell. He grinned and said, "With your status, if I restrain you, they won't dare to come any closer, right?"
The leader finally realized that Xue Chao had been chased countless times, scurried around countless venues like a rat, been ambushed and surrounded, and constantly dodged in a "disheveled" manner, but he had never let a single blow land on him, and had never used the power of his trench coat, all to lower their guard, all for this moment.
He couldn't maintain his composure anymore. When he widened his eyes, they involuntarily slanted to the sides, like repelling magnetic poles: "So what? Ha, ha, you can't get out..."
"Who said I wanted to go out?" Xue Chao's eyes didn't waver. He bent over, stepped on the chainsaw handle, pressed down with his full weight, and stomped hard. Electricity flowed from his skin into the rolling saw blade, exploding with astonishing flashes and sparks. The loud noise of the floor cracking mingled with screams and buzzing. Xue Chao rudely kicked the leader aside, pressed his advantage, and smashed the crack in the floor until it was wide enough for one person to pass through. He then decisively jumped down, saying, "Your grandpa wants to go down."
He crashed straight to the top of the cage, then rolled down it, grabbing the iron bars to cushion his fall. The surrounding prisoners watched in horror as he plummeted from the sky, letting out a deathbed scream as if he wanted to shatter the ceiling.
It was a dungeon. Xue Chao skillfully covered his ears, exhaled, and finally escaped the haunted venue.
He looked up and saw that the opening in the ceiling was surrounded by masked people. Even with masks on, their distorted faces were hard to hide, but he was too afraid to come down.
As expected, they were also afraid of that bastard. Xue Chao gave the people upstairs an elegant middle finger.
Seeing that they couldn't catch Xue Chao, the masked people had no choice but to retreat to their respective venues and continue their nightly revelry. Identical cheers drifted from all directions, like a multi-part harmony, but they had no effect on the dungeon. Apart from that one distressed cry, the prisoners returned to being lambs, their faces numb.
After recovering from the negative effects of the electric shock, Xue Chao stood up warily.
Something's not right. Even in such a dangerous world, these monsters didn't seem threatening to him before they prepared food, because they were "low" enough. Even if they were ghosts, if they could be easily scared out of their wits and turn around and cry and wail to people as if they could be crushed with a pinch, people wouldn't be afraid.
But now that feeling is gone. He fell, and they just screamed in their final moments, without ever glancing at him once.
They became even "quieter".
The previous silence, even if it resembled the dead, was the despair of "humans." Now, they sat there motionless, without even the faintest breath, more like some kind of "non-human" thing, their demeanor subtly changed.
Pushing open the door, the corridor was deserted, and at the end of the cell, Wang Song's blood was still splattered, now dried.
Xue Chao inspected several cells, and the situation was pretty much the same, except that the people did look different, so it could be considered another kind of "copy and paste".
The dungeon should be the opposition's stronghold, but now that stronghold has been lost, did they guess that the monsters would attack in hordes?
In the security office, the team leader he had tied up was gone; the rope had fallen into the executive chair. The layout was unchanged, and nothing was missing, but the safe was open, and all the gold bars had been taken.
The cabinet was tilted to one side, with signs of being kicked. It was probably because Xue Chao had taken the other stolen money beforehand, and the team leader vented his anger while running away with the money.
Xue Chao got up halfway, then noticed the scratches on the ground and squatted back down. Why were the scratches longer than the distance the cabinet had moved?
He forcefully moved the safe aside and, sure enough, discovered a hidden door that resembled the entrance to a cellar.
He didn't open it rashly. He pressed his ear to the floor and listened carefully, but there was no sound. So he knocked on the floor, and it was very clear. The floor was indeed hollow. Just as he was about to open the hidden door, two knocking sounds suddenly came from the floor, like echoes.
The sound was very close. Xue Chao knocked twice more, but didn't remove his hand. Sure enough, from the same spot inside the hidden door, a knocking sound rang out, the vibrations close to his knuckles.
Xue Chao remained motionless, and there was no sound from under the hidden door. So Xue Chao asked rudely, "Who is it?"
"Who?" The thing was deliberately imitating him, but it lacked a certain imposing presence and looked somewhat distorted.
"Your father."
"Your dad." This time it was exactly the same, like two versions of him arguing through a door.
Xue Chao stood up, pulled the chainsaw, and swiftly cleaved it open. The hidden door shattered, revealing a dark basement. He couldn't see anyone, but the stench of blood kept filling his mouth and nose, making him wince.
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