Chapter 242: Prequel to Infinite Highway
To Li Yuan's surprise, after they chose a new camp, Qi Fan and his companions became quiet.
The members of the Eye of Wisdom speculated that perhaps it was because the pressure of shipbuilding work was too great. Ever since the card was discovered, the 24-hour shipbuilding countdown on the broadcast was directly transformed into jumping numbers on the LED screen hanging in the square where they had driven in before.
Qi Fan occasionally came over to greet them, but he would just put down or take away the materials from a distance, raise his hands high to indicate that he would not do anything, and smile harmlessly.
But ever since Teacher Du's body appeared, the atmosphere on the first floor changed, and Li Yuan finally understood what that discomfort he had felt before was.
Except for Qi Fan and a few members who had a good relationship with him, the other players in Qi Fan's team all looked very tired, and now they even looked a little panicked and afraid.
It was as if their own members were also afraid of ending up like Teacher Du.
Teacher Du's body disappeared on its own after the countdown for shipbuilding began.
Li Yuan actually had some understanding of why Qi Fan and the others were afraid that others would find the information card. Besides the faction issue, the time for building the ship was also too tight.
It took more than half a month of work to barely complete three-fifths of the ship. This time, the remaining two-fifths must be completed within 24 hours, otherwise the entire ship will be torn apart.
Li Yuan didn't know whether they would be sent back to the upper floors after the boat was broken up, but seeing how nervous Qi Fan and the others were, the cost of starting over would probably be very high.
This bought Li Yuan and his team some time to safety.
[Notes on the first-level game card: Before this card appears, this level is a safe zone. It is forbidden to use professional skills against players from any other camp. Everything is aimed at shipbuilding. ]
Li Yuan's team has only seven people, and Qi Fan's team has twenty-three.
After the card appears, choose the camp, which means the skills are unlocked and there is no restriction on killing each other. Before boarding the ship, the professional skills of both parties will no longer be restricted.
But now everyone is stuck in this countdown.
As the person who was responsible for transporting materials to the ship, A Guang was always nervous when he went there and looked scared when he came back.
"Fortunately, the construction period is tight. I saw the way those guys looked at me, as if they wanted to eat me."
Mo Wen, who was bigger than A Guang, patted him on the shoulder.
"I don't know if the one who ate Teacher Du was a human or a beast summoned by a skill. Now everyone is busy gathering materials, so you'd better be more careful. The timid ones will starve to death, while the bold ones will die of gluttony."
Mo Wen used to be a driver, and now he also had to practice driving a boat, but he came back obviously more often and was more willing to stay with his teammates.
Ah Guang immediately took out a camera in his other hand: "I have unlocked all my skills, why should I be afraid of him?"
[Millionaire Photographer’s Camera is More Valuable Than My Life]
[In addition to the basic camera function, you can also choose this camera to save your life in times of crisis. Once there is a huge loss, as the saying goes, when encountering a major danger, it is better to use a machine to stop it than to use your hands. If a person is broken, you can treat it, but whether the machine is half broken or completely scrapped, rest assured that the insurance company and the director will rush out and fight the guy who broke the machine! ]
A Guang has never used this skill. After all, his camera was scrapped after it was damaged, but the second half of the introduction really made him itchy.
I don’t know how these professional skills are generated, and I don’t dare to use them all at once, but Li Yuan said that the more restrictive the skills are, the more amazing the effects are.
A Guang himself was curious as well.
"I hope the insurance companies and directors that come out are tough enough to deal with, and as tough as the real world."
If even the camera broke, it meant he had run out of tricks.
With this mentality, A Guang rubbed his dark circles, finished complaining, and quickly picked up the materials and continued walking towards the direction of the ship.
After the death countdown reminder, only ten hours have passed, but the efficiency is equivalent to the work progress of the previous three days. The ship has been gradually improved at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The price paid was that the players on Qi Fan's side looked so exhausted that they looked like they were about to die suddenly at any time.
Before, when only eight hours of work per day were required, there were often players working overtime on Qi Fan's side. Li Yuan thought at the time that some people just wanted to go home too much, but now he can see some clues.
I was forced to do that.
Qi Fan probably knew some other information about shipbuilding. He was so anxious because he must have understood the price to be paid for shipbuilding overtime.
Li Yuan and the others certainly had no intention of slacking off. Not to mention the need to be on guard against the possibility of man-eating players or similar animals appearing over there, the 24-hour time limit alone was enough for everyone to work around the clock and finish building the boat in one go.
Even though Li Yuan was so busy that he didn't even have time to sleep, the big stone around his waist never left his body.
He kept walking around with his backpack, putting together all the wall panels and daily necessities on the ship like a large puzzle. It felt like he was playing a large Lego puzzle while protecting his stomach.
Qi Fan also tacitly kept his distance from the others until the last 20 minutes before the countdown ended. After delivering the last batch of materials, A Guang did not return to the camp in time.
Mo Wen was still holding a completed steering wheel in his hand, his expression gradually becoming serious: "I'll go over and see what's going on. As long as the steering wheel is still in my hand, this ship is not completely assembled."
Before he could make a move, Li Yuan stopped them: "It's okay, don't worry, they will come by themselves."
Several players led by Qi Fan were holding A Guang at this time. A Guang, whose movements were restricted, looked a little confused and even yawned.
"Thank you all for your help. Your member looks a little sleepy, so I'll take him back myself. We'll have to board the ship in about ten minutes. How about you pick up your own members and I'll let this boat driver come up with me? After all, we only need this one piece of equipment."
Qi Fan pointed at Mo Wen who was holding a round steering wheel in his hand, obviously coming to exchange hostages.
Li Yuan glanced at A Guang who was completely out of state, and noticed that there was a girl in Qi Fan's team who had been holding A Guang's wrist without letting go.
Is this a special skill being used?
Although Mo Wen was big, he was not stupid. He was cautious and did not move. He glanced at Li Yuan first, and when he saw the other party nod, he approached with the steering wheel.
Qi Fan smiled and just as he took a step forward he was stopped by someone who looked like an auntie.
Huo Siran smiled and said, "Just send them here. We have some girls in our team, and we need to rest later. Don't scare them with so many guys coming all at once."
Aunt Huo held a stack of blue and white business cards with the housekeeping company's contact number written on them, which made Qi Fan narrow his eyes slightly.
The players they had previously chosen from the animal realm had a hidden characteristic, which was the instincts of wild beasts.
In this crappy team, even an auntie is so difficult to deal with?
Qi Fan still maintained that cheerful smile and clapped his hands:
"I believe that some of the things that happened before were all misunderstandings. We did not hide some information, but this was also to prevent the card from being misjudged. If knowing its existence meant that we had to actively choose a camp, then the gain would be more trouble than the loss. You see, the sooner we discover it, the sooner this countdown shipbuilding game will appear. Fortunately, this time everyone worked together and finally caught up."
Qi Fan waved his hand, and the younger brothers behind him immediately pushed A Guang out, staring at Mo Wen vigilantly.
Compared to A Guang, the latter looks much more carefree.
"My skill is driving a big truck. Don't try to do anything weird on my head. I'll just let a truck come out and crush you to death."
Someone was instantly furious after being attacked by Mo Wen, and was about to attack him, but Qi Fan gave him a sidelong glance and quickly asked the people next to him to hold him back.
"There are only 10 minutes left. Let's be friendly and assemble the boat completely. You guys should also pack up and get ready to board the boat. We will be returning to the real world soon, so there's no need to be so tense."
The two sides had previously maintained a delicate peaceful relationship thanks to the pressure of the 24-hour countdown. Now that the countdown is over, if they want to take action again after getting on board, they will probably have to wait for a special time limit.
Li Yuan and another person in the team helped A Guang down. They watched as this guy took several sucks from the small bottle that the doctor brought out before he slowly woke up.
When A Guang woke up from his dream, he found himself on the way to the ship.
He struggled for a while and found that the person who helped him was Aunt Huo. Then he realized: "Oh my God, when did I come back? How come I have no memory of it at all?"
A little girl looked back at him and muttered, "Don't you know how you got caught?"
Annie clicked her tongue and said, "You were so timid before, I thought you would pay more attention, but Dr. Wu almost pinched your hand until it was swollen, and you were still talking about going to Qingdao for beer."
A Guang was silent for a while and then he remembered.
"I seemed to have a dream. I dreamed that I had boarded a ship and returned to the real world. Then I made an appointment with my childhood friends to go out for a barbecue and drink beer. I was having a great time when I received your call. The leader asked us to work overtime on the project..."
The sweet dream suddenly turned into a nightmare.
It was not until he started staying up late to make the PPT that he suddenly woke up and found that he had not even boarded the ship.
"Maybe you're hypnotized. I saw a female player grabbing your wrist the whole time. She was wearing a hat, but you could clearly see something on her head that was pushing the hat up. Maybe it had the characteristics of some animal."
While Li Yuan was speaking, they had already arrived at the boat.
A few guys with several ropes hanging on their hands glanced at them with ill intent, but in the end did nothing. After all, Qi Fan had told them that it was not the right time yet.
New LED screens have appeared on ships.
【Noah's Ark in the End Times, 26/30】
After Li Yuan and his group stepped onto the deck, the number finally jumped to 30/30.
The same broadcast as in the mall immediately sounded on the ship.
[It has been detected that all the currently qualified passengers have boarded the ship, and this round of shipbuilding has been successfully completed. 】
[Please enter your room immediately and close the windows. In 30 minutes, the ship will leave the mall and prepare to set sail.]
Ready to set sail?
Qi Fan stood at the bow with his eyes narrowed. He and a few of his younger brothers had surrounded Mo Wen who was preparing to set sail. After the players got on board, they were still assigned the same jobs as before, including maintenance workers, sailors responsible for deck cleaning, and cooks.
Mo Wen still wanted to sail the boat. He was the only one allowed to stay in the captain's room. Even though he was surrounded by several people with bad intentions, he still had an expression that said, "Come at me if you have the guts. At worst, we'll die together."
The stupid ones are afraid of the arrogant ones, and the arrogant ones are afraid of the desperate ones.
The broadcast was repeated three times: [Except for the captain, all personnel please find a room to hide in time until the ship leaves the mall]
Qi Fan thought for a moment before leaving with his younger brother. However, not long after leaving the captain's room, he turned his head and asked the little girl who had been wearing a hat.
"How is it, have you planted any psychological hints?"
The girl shook her head and took off her hood: "I can't use my skills after coming up here."
Qi Fan looked at the top of her head. A pair of spiral horns had grown there before, but now they had disappeared.
Tsk.
"Then be quiet and wait until night."
He has frequently heard the sound of people in the team swallowing their saliva in the past two days. If it weren't for the heavy workload of shipbuilding and the pressure he put on them, it is estimated that several people in the team would have been killed by their own family members.
These guys only care about eating and not thinking.
Qi Fan gritted his teeth and felt his desire to eat increasing.
It was dark, and they needed to wait until dark.
Similar to the title of "Daytime Awakes" that Li Yuan and his friends got after choosing the human camp, the title that Qi Fan and his friends got after choosing the animal camp was called "Night Foragers".
[“Night Forager”: When the boat enters the river, every time it enters the night, you will be crazier and hungrier than other passengers. This is the price you pay for gaining power, but at the same time, your appetite will bring you greater evolution, provided that you can eat and you can eat enough.]
There is another sentence in this passage.
[…Please don’t get lost in your appetite, always remember the purpose of your trip, until the dawn, everything will eventually reach the other side]
Qi Fan is not a fool. He certainly knows how big the flaws of the animal camp are. But on a ship with obvious and distinct animal and human camps, he is unwilling to be a passive defender. He wants to take the power of attack into his own hands and turn other lunatics into blades in his hands.
Not long after Qi Fan and others entered the room they had found in advance, all the lights on the ship went out.
This ship was built by the players themselves. There weren't actually many rooms inside. It was basically divided into two activity areas at the bow and stern. Naturally, the one with the largest space had already been occupied by them, leaving only a small room like a storage room for the members of the Eye of Wisdom who were used as food reserves by them.
There are many rooms for them, and different people have to stay in different places.
The most shabby and damp corner was used to dump garbage, and there was a group of players huddled there with wooden expressions like puppets.
Those were the lambs that Qi Fan's team had selected themselves.
The girl that Qi Fan brought with him to hypnotize Mo Wen also walked to the team and sat at the outermost position.
Qi Fan reminded her meaningfully: "Those guys who are not so clear-headed, if they don't eat enough outside, they can only go home to eat. I hope you can play a good role after dark, otherwise, you know the consequences."
The girl flinched and nodded slightly.
Outside of this group of old, weak and young are the team's most elite players. Their muscles have bulged, and although their beastly forms have not yet appeared, one can already see the anxiety and desire for food in their eyes.
This room was a place where carnivorous beasts and edible, weaker animals were locked together. Qi Fan was now just waiting for dark so that they could go out and cause trouble for the other group of players at the stern of the ship.
Eat outside first, there’s no rush at home.
As for returning to the real world, I've already boarded the boat and will eventually return.
Unlike Qi Fan's crowded and bustling place where teams were divided into classes like animals, the atmosphere on Li Yuan's side seemed much more relaxed, but not completely relaxed because Mo Wen was still driving the boat outside.
The room was small and everyone was crowded together. They actually had lighting props in their hands, but they did not use them. Instead, they carefully installed all the coverings on the windows and waited for the ship to leave the mall as instructed in the previous broadcast.
There was a light in the room, but it was very dim, and the light from the lamp was like the afterglow of the setting sun, gradually fading away.
Li Yuan and his friends came up quite late, and their things were not packed yet. Now everyone put their luggage at their feet and sorted it out under the dim light.
Everyone was traveling light, except Li Yuan who was still carrying the big backpack. A Guang had recovered from his previous trance, and now he had to do something humiliating every two or three seconds to relieve his anxiety.
"Brother Li, you've been taking care of this statue like a child. Has it kicked you in the past two days?"
Li Yuan glanced at him expressionlessly. A Guang was smiling, but before he could say anything, he suddenly felt a pain in his stomach, and the backpack in front of Li Yuan hit him.
Ah Guang was almost vomiting bile by this: "Damn, cough cough, don't be so cruel, cough cough."
In fact, he was not the most despicable person in the team, but even if Bobcat was not there, the spirit he left behind would have corrupted A Guang. Doctor Wu next to him was kind-hearted and was about to come over to check the situation, but was stopped by Li Yuan.
"Let him vomit out everything in his stomach. Little Stone did it on purpose."
Doctor Wu glanced at his own think tank strategist inexplicably, and his eyes unconsciously fell on the backpack that could be seen in the shape of a stone: "You even gave it a name?"
Li Yuan also had a subtle expression for a moment.
"Recently, I seem to be able to understand what it is saying. This stone may be related to the nature of this mall."
Ah Guang, who had almost vomited, wiped his mouth and asked Annie for a bottle of water with a shameless face: "Huh, Captain, you are really too much. In the past, Shan Mao was more shameless than me. Why didn't you treat him like this..."
Annie, however, tutted her tongue: "You deserve it, okay... huh? Wait."
Annie is petite, but has good eyesight. Although she is a little disgusted by Guang's vomiting, she somehow feels that something is wrong with that pile of stuff.
"Guang, what did you eat during the day? Why does your stomach seem to have so much hair?"
The photographer, who had drunk half a bottle of water, turned his head, and before the light in the room completely dimmed, his heart skipped a beat.
Yes, he was so busy feeling uncomfortable that he didn’t pay attention to what he vomited. Why were there so many big clumps of hair in it? He is not a cat, so he won’t vomit hair balls.
"Wait, why does it feel like wool?"
As Guang's face turned greener and greener, the light in the room disappeared completely.
The light source in the room has no switch and is entirely controlled by the ship itself. Once the light dims completely, everyone knows that the ship has finally started moving.
For a moment, the only sound in the room was A Guang's crying voice.
"When I was hypnotized before, I dreamed of eating a lot of seafood and beer. After that, I wanted to vomit again after imagining it."
After the boat started, Annie was a little nervous and couldn't help kicking him: "Be quiet, don't force me to beat you!"
Now the hold finally became completely quiet.
Everyone in the room sat on the floor and quietly counted down for 30 minutes.
Li Yuan counted the numbers bit by bit according to his heartbeat. Gradually, he had a very strange feeling that his heartbeat seemed to have become plural.
The little stone in his arms was just like a child on his first outing. It twisted restlessly, changed its position left and right in his arms, and finally settled in the most comfortable position through the backpack.
It's like a kitten that thinks it's a cat climbing frame.
Li Yuan inexplicably had this feeling in his heart.
Soon, the cabin began to shake more frequently, and everyone unconsciously huddled together, supporting each other to avoid rolling around in the cabin.
Fortunately, A Guang's vomit had been cleaned up in advance under Annie's threat, otherwise, even if everyone was close together, they would still be rolling around. When everything returned to calm, A Guang would probably be hung up and beaten by all the other members.
Li Yuan was the one sitting most steadily among these people. In fact, he was sitting in the middle of the room against the wall, not against the corners. However, the stone in his arms was like a magic needle that firmly nailed Li Yuan, the human-shaped sofa, to the wall.
Li Yuan was now even more certain. The stone had hit A Guang before, and it was obviously intentional.
The ship continued to shake, swaying from side to side from time to time, shaking people's brains and stomachs. Even Li Yuan felt a little uncomfortable. He finally counted down in his mind for 30 minutes, 1,800 seconds.
Thump, thump. At some point, Li Yuan even felt that the stone in his arms seemed to have the same heartbeat as his.
Before he could listen carefully again, suddenly, through the not-so-thick cabin, there came a very loud and obvious sound of water splashing outside.
Then there was a sound like a horn or the cry of a whale, and the whole ship shook up and down, and then slowly stabilized, as if it had finally landed in the water.
Guang, who had covered his mouth the entire time for fear of vomiting even a little bit of what Annie had beaten him with, finally relaxed.
But before he could say a few dirty words and calm down, the broadcast sounded in the cabin.
【Welcome to the River of Life and Death, this is the land of the living and the dead. Next, please find your own way back to your hometown.】
Li Yuan frowned and before he could think carefully about the issue of the kingdom of the living and the dead, he heard the second broadcast.
[Friendly reminder, the last second before the deadline is the night state, which lasts 12 hours]
[Animal hunting is about to begin. Please stay awake and don't get lost in nightmares. You can only defend yourself before the animals take the initiative to attack.]
Less than three seconds after the broadcast began, Li Yuan and others heard heavy footsteps coming from the corridor outside the room.
It didn't sound like an ordinary person stepping on the floor at all, it was more like some kind of animal dragging its feet.
At this moment, everyone in the room held their breath, adjusted their posture immediately, and entered a state of alert.
When Li Yuan was about to take out his backpack to deal with it, he heard a very obvious heavy heartbeat coming from inside the bag.
【#%*】
For a moment he couldn't tell whether it was the thing in the bag talking or the beast-like players outside who were discussing something.
There was a sudden loud noise and people outside started banging on the door. This time, Li Yuan finally heard the guy in the bag curse.
[It’s so annoying. I haven’t grown up yet! ]
Li Yuan's expression froze. There was a child in the stone? Ah Guang had complained before that Li Yuan was holding the stone like he was holding Nezha.
Before Li Yuan could listen to what the childish voice was complaining about, the guy outside had already attacked. A huge fist like a tiger's claw punched through the thin wooden door.
"Hungry, so hungry——"
“I want to eat meat!!! Soft, fresh meat!!!”
In Qi Fan's team, those players who looked nothing like humans and were more like wild beasts, were like nocturnal cats. They tore open the door and tried to rush in.
However, Li Yuan only noticed that the stone in his arms had entered vibration mode, like a growing child who was very angry because of lack of sleep.
[It’s so noisy, can’t I sleep? ! ! ! ]
Under the incredulous gazes of his teammates, Li Yuan, dragged by the stones in his bag, rushed directly towards the first tiger-type player who rushed in.
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