Chapter 30: Let's Set Sail, ███! Players can unlock [Special Abilities...]
Even though he was mentally prepared, Xue Chao still paused for a moment. On the host panel, all the cameras went black one after another. Zhu Wen, Yan Bocheng, and even Pu Fengchun turned them off. The only difference was that the "Predicted Camera Positions" had an extra eye icon for "Force Sharing," but it could only be used once.
Furthermore, a new icon appeared at the 60-point mark on the popularity progress bar: a box with a lock shaped like the All-Seeing Eye, labeled "[Superpower]".
Once a player's popularity score reaches 60 points, they can unlock their special ability.
Whether it was his contribution as a player metric or his popularity as a host metric, Xue Chao felt he was doing well. If there was a second metric for unlocking his superpower, he should be fine. So he waited anxiously and expectantly for a while, but nothing came of it... Tsk, it seems the host won't get a share of the "superpower" pie.
Although the host had a significant advantage in the early stages, it was reasonable for players to switch sides and for fortunes to change later on. However, Xue Chao thought with a clear conscience that the host was a legitimate company employee, deeply tied to the game's official team, and deserved more benefits and treatment.
An employee born out of wedlock, perhaps?
"Why not saw through the wall? Doors, windows, and pipes are 'passages,' they'll all lead to the meeting place eventually, but walls can be broken, right? That's how you escaped the cycle of the upper three levels and entered the dungeon, wasn't it?"
Lin Feng had already been won over by Xue Chao. Although he was still wary, they were now in the same group, and his master didn't object. He couldn't do anything about it; Xue Chao was resourceful and capable, so he simply followed his orders.
He was relying on his status as a teammate, hoping to get some answers from him and learn some techniques.
Xue Chao was too lazy to answer, preferring to give a perfunctory answer. When faced with questions that were difficult to answer perfunctorily, he simply did not answer at all.
He was about to wave his hand to tell this guy to save his breath when he saw the last camera that had been turned off since the tattooed man died suddenly turn back on, standing out conspicuously among a group of black screens. It was Lin Feng's camera.
He waited a moment, but the thing didn't seem to shut down on its own... Why didn't it shut down?
Xue Chao looked at Lin Feng, and also looked at Lin Feng through the panel into the camera. Lin Feng had a forced smile on his face, as if he was afraid of him: "W-what's wrong?"
Embarrassingly, Lin Feng stammered half of what he said during their short meeting. But Lin Feng didn't mean to; it was just that his host's sudden statement was too outrageous—what did he mean by "don't turn off camera sharing"?
He was screaming internally.
Not every dungeon can reach 60 popularity points; many can't even get past 40, and they just die during the host's settlement. But those dungeons also have their advantages: the host is useless and is mostly too busy to do anything else. Players only need to be wary of being ambushed by the host and endure the disgust of being spied on, and complete the main quest. In the end, players still complete the main quest.
But whether they can get past 60 points is uncertain. Who knows if it's a pro player carrying them, or if the host is a pro?
You finally found a laptop that can disable shared computer space, and you still won't? It's like having three million dollars right in front of you and still being arrogant and avoiding it. You're a complete idiot!
He doesn't have an exhibitionist streak!
Xue Chao watched, and Lin Feng didn't dare to retort. Even if Xue Chao wasn't there, he wouldn't dare to defy the evil god. He could only force a smile, and then Xue Chao gave him an approving look: "Isn't that pretty clever?"
Lin Feng: "Huh?"
"It is possible to break through, but I am not prepared to do it myself."
So that refers to the question from earlier. "...Shall I try?"
Xue Chao laughed and said, "You're my teammate, how could I let you get tired?"
Being good-looking can indeed lead to wrongdoing. Lin Feng was almost seduced by this man, but luckily he was lesbian and had a deadly god watching him, so he kept his nerves on edge and didn't fall for the man's cunning tactics.
He took a closer look at Xue Chao. He was audacious enough, but he was also intelligent. Even the most foolish actions had a real purpose behind them.
Anyway, he's under God's protection... Lin Feng asked directly, "What are your concerns?"
“As I said before, the Voyagers and the opposition are united on that investigator issue because only if the eye remains undiscovered in Giant Port will those monsters cooperate with humans.” Xue Chao glanced at him. “If you and I break through the wall now and stand on the beach calling for Lamia, do you think the monsters will come and let us do whatever we want with them, or will they devour us alive, take back the eye, abandon this mess, and go straight back to the underwater temple? Both scenarios are good. The Voyagers will definitely promise to help them find the eye. If they can’t find it, do you think those snakes don’t have brains? Once they get their leverage back, it’ll be time to settle accounts. The Voyagers and the opposition combined won’t be enough for them to chew up.”
"Then, what should we do?"
Xue Chao: "Of course we should let them come and rob us. Right now, I'm attacking while they're defending, I'm in the open while they're in the dark, which is a huge disadvantage. Why don't we switch roles? I'll go upstairs and use my eyes to lure those monsters over. It's a free 'wall-breaking machine,' why not use it?"
Lin Feng nodded repeatedly and was about to follow when Xue Chao pressed his shoulder down, saying, "You stay here."
"ah?"
“This is the safest place in the entire terminal. There are no ghost walls, and these prisoners won’t chase you down like the masked men upstairs. On the contrary, they’re more likely to be afraid of you. But this place is where smuggled goods are being held, so it’s also the most crucial place. There can’t be any mistakes, lest we be ambushed. You stay here and guard it.”
Xue Chao became serious, leaned closer, and whispered, his tone sincere but his words icy: "If I could be in two places at once, I would definitely do both myself, since they are both crucial. Your situation might even be more important. Unfortunately, I'm more worried about letting you go upstairs as bait to lure the snake out—you heard it on the live stream. It concerns my life, and I can't afford to lose... You don't want to die with me, do you?"
Lin Feng felt a tingling sensation spread from his ears to his entire body, his heart rate soared to 800. He immediately distanced himself, as wary as if he had encountered a living ghost seeking his life—this guy made no attempt to hide his threat that if he were to die, he would definitely drag him down to hell with him!
What was originally just a matter of halving the points will turn into a financial disaster for someone who didn't even place a bet!
He said there wasn't a single good person in the game!
His guard was at its peak, but he also finally began to trust Xue Chao as his "teammate"—everyone in this game has their own agenda, and everyone gambles for their own benefit; this is the true face of game players.
How do you plan to attract them?
Xue Chao raised his fist, put something in his mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp. Lin Feng saw a clearly spherical object struggling to slide down the other's throat and be swallowed into his stomach—it was Lamia's eyeball.
He proved with his actions that "I am the bait," leaving Lin Feng stunned.
That wasn't all. He then saw a faint electric light flash across Xue Chao's skin. Xue Chao trembled, gagging as he cautiously moved away from him, his disheveled state accompanied by a sinister glint in his eyes, clearly conveying the message, "If you dare come any closer, I'll kill you."
It didn't seem like a trick; it must have had a negative effect. Lin Feng still had the sense to maintain a proper distance with his "plastic ally." He stood still and waited for Xue Chao to calm down before saying, "Are you alright?"
He could smell the burning... but he recovered in a few seconds. He's a tough guy.
"Ah." Xue Chao was in a terrible mood and didn't bother with any pretense. He waved his hand and quickly climbed upstairs. He had discovered that this random debuff liked to "double the happiness." It was usually silent, but whenever he felt unwell in other places or had other misfortunes, it would all come at once.
The terminal was still in the same state, except that the masked man remembered how he had stabbed the leader and dared not make any rash moves. So they all gathered around the doors and windows, watching him like a caged bird, whispering among themselves, which annoyed him even more and made him more gloomy.
Don't you guys have any manners?
The leader was carried away; it was hard to say whether he was dead or alive. But his cane was still lying next to the pit. Xue Chao picked it up and banged it on the floor twice, successfully silencing the entire area.
He leaned on his cane, coughed twice in a pretentious manner, and struck a pose like a leader announcing the voyagers' final celebration, but when he spoke, it was with a half-dead casualness: "Gentlemen, as you can see, I am from the opposition."
"..."
The scene became quieter. Had they really provoked them on their own turf?
"Then, Lamia's eyes are in my hands, and I want lots and lots of boxes of smuggled goods, is that okay?" He went straight into the steps of taking a "hostage" and demanding "ransom" without any preamble.
The Voyagers finally moved. They removed the butterfly half-masks, but then tore off a layer of sticky skin, revealing the muscles and bones around the eyes, still dripping with blood, still connected to the back of the mask. Greedy eyes hung in their sockets, as if they might fall off at any moment, their gazes fixed on Xue Chao, scrutinizing him inch by inch, searching for "the eyes of God".
They surrounded Xue Chao and approached him again, twice as fast as before. Their bodies couldn't keep up with his twisting and thrashing limbs, making them look like a group of zombies on steroids.
Xue Chao said expressionlessly, "If we don't come in soon, these people will steal our attention again."
Splash—
Splash—
All the doors and windows of Terminal 2 were shattered. Half-human, half-snake monsters, with coffins wrapped around their tails and their four legs clinging to the walls, crawled into the right harbor and surrounded Qihangjia and Xue Chao.
[Seized smuggled goods: ...2...9...13...16...24...]
"【██】is here!! It's making my blood boil!"
"【██】Newbie Bro is awesome, he used himself as bait, damn it."
"【██】It was finished in the blink of an eye!"
"【██】I've done all the work on slimming the face, and now I can carry my teammates to victory."
"【██】Family members, I have this inexplicable feeling that monsters have come to propose marriage. Does anyone understand?"
"【██】I get it! Ahhhhh, so handsome! Please deliver it to our wedding room, thank you!"
[Seizure of smuggled goods (82/25)]
[The betting task is complete...]
[…sizzle…sizzle…]
[...]
[The betting task is not yet complete. Please try again.]
"【██】???"
"【██】???"
"【██】What's going on?? This is several times the normal amount."
"【██】My dear family members, the numbers are dropping!!"
Xue Chao also saw the game system's notification and frowned.
[Seized smuggled goods: ...75...66...43...27...14...]
"What the hell is going on??"
"【██】went to see ██! ████!"
Xue Chao's attention then turned to the comments section, which was filled with censored symbols, something he had never seen before.
All content related to other players is no longer visible, including nicknames given to them by viewers, but content related to "Lin Feng" is the only one that is not blocked.
In other words, once the camera is turned off, the comment section also prevents the host from "spying" on other players.
Xue Chao looked at Lin Feng's camera again.
*
Previously, in the dungeon.
After Xue Chao left, Lin Feng, holding the knife he had taken from the guard post, guarded the dungeon with a self-imposed fear. At the slightest disturbance, he would crane his neck and grip his Taser for a long time, creating a situation of "being besieged on all sides" for himself, even though there was no danger at all.
The evil god remained silent, and Lin Feng guessed that it disliked him. But he couldn't blame him. This place was large and quiet, and he felt a chilling sense of loneliness being alone among this group of fools.
But he soon exhausted himself and rested by the door of the cell at the far end.
Knock knock.
Suddenly, a knocking sound came from somewhere.
Lin Feng was briefly jolted, then remembered the clattering sound of the jewels spilling from the prisoner's stomach, and his heroic act of slamming his head against the wall in shock. He sat down again, feeling dejected.
The moment his bottom hit the ground, a series of loud thuds echoed behind him. Startled, he scrambled to his feet, staring intently at the wall at the far end, which resembled a gate: "What's that? The wolf is coming?"
The evil god finally spoke: "Aren't you going to open the door?"
"Open which door?"
"Your teammates are in the sea, lend a hand and let them in."
"Huh? So fast." Lin Feng thought Xue Chao had returned with 25 boxes of life-saving charms and immediately went to greet him. Just as he touched the gate, he suddenly realized, "...Them? Isn't there just one?"
“Oh,” the evil god said calmly, “you’ve betrayed us now.”
Lin Feng: "..."
Lin Feng: "???"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com