Chapter 12 Let's set sail, ███! Run!
"【Pu Fengchun】Wait, Pu, the screen isn't black?"
"【Pu Fengchun】Chao, a life jacket! The one AI made me wear?"
"【Pu Fengchun】AI tricked the little jellyfish, holy crap!"
"【Pu Fengchun】I was laughing so hard at the halftime champagne popping, but it was clearly Lao Qi who messed up, wasn't it?"
A few unusual comments were mixed in with the confetti, and more people realized that Pu Fengchun was not actually dead. There were also quite a few viewers who wanted to see the pro player make a mistake. They immediately started dancing around as if they had found a handle to use against him. The two groups, praising the seventh player and mocking the seventh player's failure, argued as one, and the debate built up another wave of popularity.
Just as Zhu Wen's assistant broke through the iron gate and entered the metal pipes of the right harbor, the life jacket of the woman who had fallen into the sea suddenly popped out, turning into a small parachute. With the help of the wind, it swayed and carried her to the edge of the water platform in the right harbor.
At the same time, a robot fell from a broken second-floor window and plunged into the sea with a dull thud, becoming her scapegoat.
Pu Fengchun knelt on the harbor, panting. Just as the terrifying feeling of weightlessness was about to drag her into the abyss, a series of loud tremors overwhelmed everything, like a rope thrown from the abyss—the watch. She suddenly returned to the human world and grabbed the rope.
Even if she knew that the person holding this rope might not have good intentions, she would only find out by living.
Popularity: 15
Hmm, it gained 8 points of popularity in one go. No wonder it's in the top ten. If it does this again, it should be able to open a shop soon.
Xue Chao, like a capitalist seeing cattle and horses, sincerely exclaimed, "Seventh place is really useful!"
Water dripped from his hair, but it wasn't seawater; it was rainwater. Pu Fengchun looked at the red welts on his palm and slowly exhaled, "He didn't notice?"
“He might have already found out.” Xue Chao glanced at the newly unlocked camera position, where Zhu Wen was secretly observing the situation in Right Harbor. He asked, “But does it matter?”
“You’re right, he went straight for the restricted area; I was just incidentally going along.” Following the new instructions on his watch, Pu Fengchun approved the “full access request” for the tattooed man’s watch and put it on, hiding the watch that had just saved his life in the concealed bushes outside the Right Port terminal. “But why did he do that? The Destiny isn’t about to…”
She suddenly remembered what Zhu Wen had said about "the real door"—at that time, there was only one door in front of her, a rather heavy metal door, with nailed frames surrounding a giant relief in the center, displaying strong arms supporting a ship, which was the forbidden door.
Zhu Wen doesn't plan to board the ship... But what kind of talk is that? The first step of the main quest is to find a ship ticket, and the boarding process has been correct all along. The Destiny is the last cruise ship, and the dungeon name is "Setting Sail". Does he not want to live if he doesn't board the ship?
That's Zhu Wen, the notorious troublemaker whose reputation is known far and wide. He's good enough that he makes others' lives impossible, but how could he possibly have the awareness to "just give up on life" himself?
According to the map on the third floor and the watch, the forbidden gate leads to the abandoned right harbor.
Even if he couldn't figure out the reason, as long as he took Zhu Wen's choice as absolutely correct and continued thinking along this path, Pu Fengchun suddenly had a somewhat chilling thought—what if the so-called "boarding" wasn't the "Destiny"?
She... and most players subconsciously thought it was the Destiny, firstly because the Destiny was the last ship of the day, and Giant Port would close after it left, leaving no other choice, and secondly because their personal tickets, which they had earned with their blood, were printed with the Destiny's flight, so they regarded it as the "character background" arranged by the game.
Thirdly, from ticket collection and customs to the imminent boarding, the Destiny was fraught with strange events and dangers, perfectly mirroring the nature of the game and no different from their usual dungeons. It was a "normal progression." When the ghost ship looked down upon them from above, their last doubts vanished, and they accepted that this was their playground. Then, naturally, they risked their lives to squeeze onto the cruise ship, pondering how to survive in the moving blood tanks while waiting for the next update of the main quest.
She almost boarded the ship and sailed into the boundless fog and sea.
But what if it's not the Destiny?
There has never been any game hint or clue that explicitly states that the ship that set sail was the Destiny.
Once you start thinking in this direction, you'll discover overlooked questions. For example, is such a large right port just for show? Why were the customs and border checks not included in the next mission even though the tickets were obtained long ago? And if it is indeed the Destiny, and players have already boarded, why haven't the censored words for the main mission been updated yet?
...The grand spectacle of the Destiny was merely a distraction.
"You knew all along?" Pu Fengchun didn't miss the implication that Zhu Wen meant "discovered the door wasn't yours," and a thought flashed through his mind. "...In the customs district, you had me cut his wires, also in order to lure him here and break down the door? The person you're looking for is in Yougang?"
Xue Chao put it quite artfully, but it still sounded a bit shameless: "I'm willing but unable, so I can only ask that young gentleman for some trivial help. Judging from his temper, he's obviously a professional when it comes to causing trouble."
"【Pu Fengchun】Damn, Little Jellyfish was just used as a tool for violently breaking down doors!!"
"【Pu Fengchun】Not only that, but also naturally let Pu Fengchun open the permissions, seemingly politely putting the choice in your hands, but in fact it was all planned out in advance, leaving you with only one option, making you take the initiative to choose."
"【Pu Fengchun】So, when it first met Pu, it planned to use Pu to smuggle itself into Yougang, right..."
"【Pu Fengchun】So captivating, I'm mesmerized by this scheming AI qaq."
As for "dying" once, that was necessary. It wasn't that Zhu Wen hated Pu Fengchun so much that he would only be satisfied if he killed him, but rather that Zhu Wen had to make Pu Fengchun lose once, so that the host behind the scenes could truly feel how stupid his choice was.
Zhu Wen only needs to generate huge buzz while Pu Fengchun is overwhelmed with responsibility. The contrast between the two is more intuitive. Even if Pu Fengchun is not dead, the host will understand who the real "treasure" is, and will inevitably cool down the situation, or even abandon the prediction camera and rely on Zhu Wen instead.
Given Zhu Wen's personality, he might find other instances of the game annoying, even if the host tries to curry favor with him. Even without predicting the camera angles, his popularity would definitely be the highest. But if he's not given the camera angles, he'll become competitive, feeling that they are rightfully his and that he'll only do the "serious business" of a top player after he gets them back.
He's just a brat; a little coaxing will appease him, making it easier for him to continue taking advantage of others while secretly seeking physical intimacy.
The right port is mirror-symmetrical to the left port, with the terminal building having the same shape. However, compared to the left port's transparent and technologically advanced design, which makes it seem like it's not wearing clothes, the right port, with its classical Baroque style, is excessively solemn. It's more like a mysterious palace lost in the ancient wind and rain than a terminal building, heavy and magnificent.
Turning our attention away from the left port, we discovered that three cruise ships were already moored around the right port, like sleeping knights eternally guarding the queen, having fallen into the distant past with the king.
"Do you need me to take you back to the Destiny?" Xue Chao was just being polite; the ship was about to depart, and he couldn't possibly take her back. He mainly wanted to talk to her.
Pu Fengchun's anger at being manipulated was fleeting, quickly subsiding into a wave of rationality. The artificial intelligence used her as bait to lure Zhu Wen into breaking down the door, but it also led her away from the wrong options.
In the world of games, don't ask why; learn to take what you need.
"I don't think the ship I'm looking for is the Destiny. Do you think the answer lies among these three cruise ships?"
"In any case, as agreed, I will help you find your ship... We are already in the same boat."
At the same time, on the Destiny, as the wind and rain intensified, passengers took turns climbing the gangway and struggling against the wind to board the ship.
Wang Song had been keeping an eye on the other side of the pipe. The loud crash of the door breaking down seemed to wake him from his confusion. He clicked his tongue as if he had just realized what was going on, turned his trench coat collar up, and turned his foot, which was about to step onto the cruise ship, to slide down the handle and push through the crowd of zombies.
Bypassing the pipes, one soon sees a tattooed man covered in blood-red words. The man, head bowed, walks towards the broken forbidden door, his expression shifting between fanatical ferocity and devout serenity, muttering to himself, "Cat...my cat...is here..."
Red and white lackeys? It's bad enough to run into the top ten brats, but how come there's also that fanatical follower of that cult! Do annoying guys always seem to show up in groups?
Wang Song's expression suddenly turned one of disgust and deep aversion. Pulling his trench coat, he avoided the tattooed man as if he were avoiding a plague, and entered the right port first.
“The cat…it’s right ahead…” The tattooed man seemed not to see him at all, but rather sensed something, and walked straight into the right harbor. “…My cat…my master…”
On the other side of the gangway, a passenger tumbled and scrambled out, rushing towards the restricted area. The other two players, seeing this, frantically searched around, but found no one they recognized. Suddenly, unease arose. One of the veteran players said, "It's about to leave, why isn't anyone getting on the ship? What are they running for?"
The bespectacled man followed quietly to one side, like a frightened child clinging to his parents; he hadn't yet recovered from the horror of the customs area.
Beep beep beep—
The veteran player was irritated and looked down. Ever since he boarded the ship, his watch had been ringing non-stop with pop-up windows asking for permission, like he had been infected with a virus. Of course, he didn't dare to do anything rash about such a strange thing. Who knew if it was a trap?
After a while, it quieted down, so he stopped paying attention to it for the time being. But then it started ringing again, almost as if it were echoing the strange situation before him, like a final warning.
His mind hadn't quite caught up, but unable to resist the fear of being abandoned by the "mainstream," he ultimately decided to go with the flow. As he approved the permission request, he arrogantly ordered, "The new guy, you go lead the way..."
Thinking of the man with glasses, he suddenly realized why the man's watch hadn't rung since he boarded the ship.
The application was approved just in time, and the old message of "Do not board the ship" was quickly swept aside, with the focus now fixed on a striking word: Run!
The word was like a match striking a spark on his nerves. As soon as he lifted his leg, a pair of small hands wrapped around his neck from behind, and long hair swept across his neck. He turned around stiffly, and the bespectacled man who had been silent all along was looking at him with a grin—but it wasn't his face at all, but a child's face!
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