Chapter 24 (Starting with a reverse V) Let's set sail, ███! [Your...]
The thin-faced man's eyes widened, as if he had been frozen in place. His body and mind had never been so clear before. He seemed to be able to feel their shapes, but he couldn't control them. He could only watch "himself" continue to expand, like a balloon being stretched open, then framed by the blood-red light, all squeezed to the edge.
The inside is hollow, waiting for someone to arrive.
The tattooed man rolled his eyes back and laughed loudly—he had no intention of using himself to summon the gods; instead, he had turned the thin-faced man into a shrine for divine intervention.
He couldn't find his master, probably because that master had no support in this instance world and needed an anchor.
The crimson light continued to rise, forming a blood-red vortex that sucked in all the surrounding rainwater, sprinkling up a blood mist. It slowly rose, stopping when it approached two meters.
The tattooed man's face was flushed, whether from the red incantation or from fanatical devotion, he prostrated himself in the wind and rain as if he had seen a true god, his head banging against the deck, producing a metallic sound like gongs clashing: "Blood will not be offered to heaven, life will not fall to earth... I offer my body as a shrine to welcome your esteemed presence... Please, gods—!"
The strange cry, neither futuristic nor classical, rose up, and the thin-faced man instantly sensed a vast and indescribable presence glancing over from a distant time and space.
He was like a hollowed-out, withered tree that had run headlong into the cold mountains. Fear overwhelmed him; his broken "shrine" couldn't hold it all. A single handful of soil flowing by could shatter his limbs and bones.
He was filled with resentment. As he was swallowed by the bloody light, before his consciousness faded into darkness, all he could think of was "I don't want to die," a feeling bordering on hatred.
The tattooed man exclaimed excitedly, "...The believer kneels in welcome, finally seeing you again, my Lord..."
Before the name of "My Lord" could be uttered, the blood mist suddenly dissipated, revealing the "god" within—a half-human, half-serpent monster unfolding its body, its four legs forming claws in the front and hooves in the back. Its dark green scales, like melted moonlight, gleamed with a metallic sheen, reflecting a chaotic kaleidoscope of colors, no longer simply green.
The thin-faced man's corpse lay frozen in the monster's claws. The moment the monster moved, he rolled lifelessly under the rags in the corner, like a puppet with its strings cut.
The tattooed man's ecstatic smile froze as he met the monster's deep red striped eyes in disbelief: "How could this be! What went wrong... What are you! My Lord—ah!"
The monster's long tail pierced through his body like lightning, and the tip of the tail easily snapped off his head. Blood gushed out, and the monster bent down and bit his neck, sucking the blood dry as if drinking a beverage. The tattooed man collapsed to the ground like a deflated milk carton.
It then looked at the bulge under the clutter, twitched its nose, and its inhuman face suddenly showed disgust and fear. It crawled away like a snake, quickly disappearing.
[Player: 4/8]
The monster had sucked most of the blood from the floor, but nothing seemed to have happened on the main deck. Rainwater washed over the deck, carrying the last trace of blood silently down to the thin-faced man's corpse...
Suddenly, someone exclaimed in surprise and dismay, "...Eh? Not again?"
The thin-faced man suddenly opened his eyes; his pupils were inhuman, crimson, like those of a ghost or a god.
[…sizzle…sizzle…]
[Error Found]
[Error has been corrected]
[Player: 5/8]
Viewers who were pushed to other camera positions due to the black screen:
"【Zhu Wen】Isn't he supposed to be a disciple of the Red and White Sect? Why is someone with a bright green shirt showing up? Did that person get plastic surgery?"
"[Zhu Wen]... You know what, you really don't know, that person isn't incapable of doing it."
"【Pu Fengchun】The attempt to summon the god failed, didn't it? The one didn't come, and the monster just happened to climb onto the deck... the one who killed Wang Song?"
"【██】It might not be the same one; the entire dungeon is full of these now :)"
On cruise ship No. 3, Pu Fengchun stared out the window in shock. Cruise ship No. 1 and No. 3 were almost identical. At this moment, one after another, half-human, half-snake monsters leaped out of the water with tremendous strength. Their four legs slammed against the white hull and climbed upwards. Their long tails meandered and intertwined like wildly growing, eerie seaweed, causing the cruise ship to shake incessantly.
“Could it be that cruise ship number 3 also…” She had barely finished speaking when she swayed uncontrollably, immediately grabbing the wall for support, muttering to herself, “They climbed onto the main deck and then crawled into the interior of the ship? Should I run down?”
Suddenly everything went dark. The window was blocked by a thick tail with dense, dark green scales that flipped up like a lid, revealing countless pairs of deep red striped eyes that looked at her curiously.
Pu Fengchun felt numb from the top of his head to the soles of his feet in an instant, frozen in place by those eyes.
Pu Fengchun snapped back to reality when his watch vibrated, and turned to run away.
On the other side of Terminal 2, Xue Chao was also dodging and weaving among the masked people adorned with gold and silver, when a ding-dong sound came from his ear:
Your room has unlocked the "All-Out Chase" achievement.
[You have been added to the tag]
A new icon appears at the bottom of the room's basic information section: three little people running, followed by the words "All-out Chase".
Once the tag was unlocked, a large number of viewers immediately flooded into the room.
On the homepage, the "Real-time Recommended Overall Ranking" occupies the largest recommendation position, followed by the "Real-time Recommended Category Ranking," which is divided by the type of dungeon, such as "Rule-based Ghost Stories," "Role-playing," and "Investigation Team."
Viewers can choose their favorite "story" type based on this, or they can choose their favorite "celebrity" based on the real-time individual rankings.
However, for some viewers, such categorization is too broad. Just like TV dramas are divided into fantasy, urban, and science fiction, some viewers want to see specific plots, such as "melodramatic romance," "revenge," or "campus youth," so they need labels.
Tags are used to categorize programs based on their effect, pinpointing specific "plot points" or "elements" for greater detail, making it easier for viewers to spot hidden gems and surprise hits.
For example, Wang Song's "torture" is a commonly used tag, but Wang Song's performance in this instance is mediocre, so the game system dislikes him and he cannot be unlocked.
"A chase battle, huh? A 100-player raid?"
"There are indeed a hundred, but none of them are human :)"
"I laughed so hard. Hundreds of monster NPCs are chasing all the players. If you take one step, monsters will block your way from eight directions. What kind of game is this? Battle royale?"
"It might be an investigation team, but there are no dice... Well, we've been looking for a long time and we still don't know, the dungeon description doesn't mention it, aba aba."
"The instance is called 'Sailing xxx,' and from the beginning until now, the mission has always been to find the ship that is actually 'setting sail.' The objective is clear, and the type is 'Golden Fleece,' right? Treasure hunting."
"But this place is too big. I watched those few running around in Giant Harbor, it was like watching a marathon (dumb). I can't even imagine it without the prop bamboo raft."
"Is the clue really in the ship? All the ships are empty, there isn't a single NPC."
Popularity: 45
Your room has now reached the highest popularity record for this instance!
Cruise ship number 4.
The thin-faced man had just dodged the green-scaled monsters and used the gold chain prop he bought from the store to lock them inside the door before escaping to the main deck.
He leaned against the railing, feeling his whole body swell and stiffen, stretched into a thin sheet of skin, while something else was placed inside his body!
He became an empty shell, a container, a… He suddenly remembered the tattooed man’s frantic words—a shrine.
The thing inside his body glanced at him lightly, as if examining the decorations of a shrine, and understood him at a glance. He suddenly felt a fear of being seen through, as if he had been thoroughly searched inside and out.
He pounded the ground in terror, yelling, "Who...who! Get out!"
"Didn't you say 'I don't want to die'?" A soft, feminine voice echoed in his mind, though it was his own voice, but the tone was too cold and strange, indistinguishable from male or female, like the wind in the harbor soaked by rain, seeping into his brain.
Yes, it seems he was already dead... He was about to die, but at the moment his consciousness went dark, it was as if someone gently lifted him with their fingertips, keeping him from sinking.
The thin-faced man realized what was happening: "You...you saved me?"
“Don’t open your mouth, answer with your brain, I can hear you.” His savior commented on his food like he was evaluating ingredients, “Your hatred is quite strong.”
The thin-faced man's mind raced. He had been tricked by the tattooed man and used as a vessel to invite the gods. He had no chance of survival... Otherwise, why didn't that loyal lackey invite the gods into his own body? It would be an honor to have the gods personally visit him!
But he survived, while the tattooed man died—the summoning of the god was successful, and the evil god manifested!
He immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "So it is the deity worshipped by the Red and White Sect... No, my lord, whether you serve me like a cow or a horse or face mountains of knives and seas of fire, please speak."
"Good boy." The evil god chuckled approvingly, but before the thin-faced man could rejoice, he changed the subject, his tone chilling, "When your senior joined the sect, he was just as 'sensible' as you, Lin Feng."
Lin Feng, whose real name had been directly revealed, froze. So the tattooed man was already... He didn't know what taboo the "senior" had broken, and was afraid that if he said it directly, the evil god would think he was too stupid, so he could only flatter him: "If you tell me to go east, I will never go west. My life is yours!"
"Hmm, so how about I let you die now?" the evil god who had just saved him asked curiously.
"That is, of course..."
Before he could come up with a coherent answer, the evil god laughed loudly, "Can't do it, huh? Don't say things you can't do in the future, it's stupid."
Lin Feng was both shocked and bewildered, unsure whether this was a final, comforting meal to "be a good person in your next life" or a gentle reassurance. He felt that the laughter was enough to terrify anyone.
Of course he had heard of the Red and White Disciples. Anyone who could survive three or four dungeons knew the name "Red and White Disciples." They were a group of fanatical believers who cared nothing for life or death and only cared about their own joys and sorrows. Legend has it that they were just as capricious as the "most evil god" they worshipped.
When you encounter other players, you need to weigh the pros and cons, and decide whether to approach or avoid them, cooperate or fight each other. But if you encounter the red and white lackeys, you should avoid them if you can, and ignore them if you can. You should never get involved with them, as they are notoriously disliked by everyone.
He didn't believe it, thinking that the "number one on the list" was just an exaggerated rumor, like the claim that "the one on the list is a fierce and ruthless female demon with three heads and six arms who kills without blinking an eye."
In an attempt to get screen time, he teamed up with the tattooed man. He even thought they were working well together and started thinking about befriending each other and forming a regular team. But in the blink of an eye, he was skewered and sacrificed by the tattooed man.
...It seems there's some truth to it. Lin Feng nodded frantically: "You're absolutely right."
Suddenly, the evil god said, "Throw away the watch."
Lin Feng didn't understand, but he obediently did as he was told, throwing the watch into the sea: "Is there something wrong with the watch?"
"Just in case, how can you steal chickens and dogs if you don't gouge out the rat's eyes?" The evil god thought about the stupid cultist's memories, and instead of speaking in classical Chinese, he analyzed in a "people-friendly" way, "But don't worry too much. The popularity value has already reached the target. Isn't there still a player in the top ten? Even if there is a problem with the treasure tablet at the end, whether you find the real ship or you all die, it's enough for the host to boost the final popularity. The little rat just needs to make sure he survives to the end. He can hide in the sewers and not come out at the beginning, and he will be waiting to win silently at the end. You don't have a camera, right? Perfect, it won't bother you. Just hide from other players. Your mission is to find a ship?"
"Yes, but the cruise ships are too big, and there are five of them in total. I have absolutely no idea which one it is... Please give me some pointers." As soon as he finished speaking, the ship rocked slightly. Looking down, he made eye contact with a monster climbing upwards in the sea and couldn't help but take a step back.
"We can't get into the building, and we can't find all the boats, so why don't you go explore the sea?" But the evil god said with a smile, "Now, jump into the sea."
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