Chapter 146 Mermaid Cruise
The crystal chandelier swayed slightly as the ship moved.
The elegantly decorated side hall was in a mess, as if robbers had been there. The exquisite glass fish tank was smashed to pieces, and water stains mixed with the fragments were all over the floor.
Since they couldn’t harm the guests, some wealthier players set up sound barriers around the side halls.
I don’t know if it was because Wei Le had made arrangements in advance, but all the NPCs around the side hall were dismissed and no one came here.
When Enli and Shen Zhen broke through the outer prop barrier and rushed to the side hall, they saw that several unfamiliar players had already arrived here and were exploring the side hall, looking for something.
The two looked at each other, slowed down their pace and walked in.
The mermaid portrait behind the cupboard was thrown on the floor. The frame and the glass outside had been removed, leaving only a lonely painting.
When several players saw Enli, they all put down what they were doing.
When choosing a dungeon, players can choose to increase or decrease the difficulty by one star. That is, if the player entered a three-star dungeon last time, they can choose a two-star to four-star range the next time they enter the dungeon.
The Mermaid Cruise is a four-star copy, and there are many people who have reached the requirements to enter the five-star copy.
Enli is one of them.
Unlike the players who were just qualified to enter the four-star dungeon, he would most likely not choose the four-star dungeon if it wasn’t for accompanying his partner Shen Zhen.
Although other players did not act too rashly when facing Xu Zhiyan, they would not back down if a conflict arose, because no matter how powerful the other party's background was, he was still a newcomer who had not entered the game too many times.
But Enli is different. In the current four-star copy, he can indeed be regarded as the one with the highest combat power.
After a quick glance, he found that they were all weak players. Enli pushed up his black-framed glasses and asked, "The new mission rewards have not been issued. The mermaid is not dead, but she is not at the coordinates. Does anyone have any information to share?"
He didn't waste any words and intended to get some information directly from other players, but the mutated teeth he showed when he spoke made him look a little scary.
Jin Sheng stood in the crowd holding the dog, without saying a word.
After the battle in the corridor, he and Jiang Huaique separated midway. According to his calculations, his teammates should have arrived here before him.
But when Jin Sheng arrived, his teammates were nowhere to be found, only a few players he had seen in the Sea Snake Casino.
After a brief silence.
A flat-faced player stepped forward and shook his head, saying, "I was the first to arrive. When I got here, there were only wreckage all over the ground. The mermaids were not there at all."
His head was like a flounder, with his facial features displaced, making the whole head look extremely weird, but compared to some players who lost part of their combat capabilities after the mutation, he was lucky.
"But we later found this painting. I wonder if the mermaid in it is the one we are looking for."
After saying that, the flounder player took a few steps back.
Two groups of players came in front, and he had to explain everything to each group.
After all, he was the first one to arrive, but there was no mermaid here, only a mess on the ground that he couldn't explain at all. What if someone suspected that he had kept the props for himself?
After hearing this, Enli just stared at the flounder player for a while, without saying whether he believed it or not.
Chen Zhen believed the other party more, patted his thick tentacles and sighed: "I said, how could the system be so kind and directly give us the coordinates of the mermaid, it seems that we can find it this time."
Just like Enli said at the beginning, if the mermaid had really been killed, then everyone should have received a reward of 50,000 points.
After saying that, she wanted to leave and hurry up to look for it.
But the teammate did not leave. Instead, he squatted on the ground and checked the fish tank fragments and the mermaid portrait on the ground.
"The system won't give coordinates for no reason. The mermaid must have been here."
Enli squatted on the ground and took out a disc-like prop from his arms.
Chen Zhen immediately understood what his teammates meant, and couldn't help but come forward: "But the fish tank fragments should not be considered as mermaid's things. Can we track their location?"
It turns out that the item Enli took out was a tracking item that could find the location of the owner of an item.
The system changed the task unexpectedly, but as long as there are clues about the mermaids here, there must be a way to find them.
"Let's give it a try. But the fish tank is broken and it won't work. I don't know if the water can determine the mermaid's position." Enli said expressionlessly as he pressed the disc prop into the water.
Everyone held their breath, unable to resist wanting to know the result.
It’s not that no one has thought about using props to find mermaids before, but finding human props requires a medium, and specific objects must be obtained.
The more important the media item is to the owner, the more accurate the determined location will be.
However, the mission of The Mermaid's Death only informed everyone that there were mermaids here, but no one knew what the mermaids looked like or whether they could communicate.
A few minutes later, Enli picked up the disc pressed in the water stain.
"how so……"
He frowned and looked at the madly spinning hands.
The silver pointer turned red after being soaked in water, which meant that the mermaid had indeed been in the water.
"Huh? The pointer turned red, but it keeps turning... Is it because the medium is not enough, or is the mermaid near us?" Chen Zhen was a little confused. It was the first time she encountered such a situation. Just now, after Enli used the props, she looked around. The entire side hall was turned upside down, and there were indeed no other clues.
Just when the search was at a stalemate, the door was pushed open.
“Buzz——”
A faint sound of electricity was accompanied by the appearance of a low shadow.
The black-haired young man was sitting in a wheelchair, his legs covered with a thick blanket that almost dragged to the ground, and two large arched shells on both sides of his head, covering his ears.
It’s Xu Zhiyan.
He was sitting in an electric wheelchair, moving in as slowly as a snail. When he saw the mess in the room, his expression was a little dazed.
"Am I late?"
However, he quickly adjusted his expression, accurately located his teammates in the crowd, and quickly called them over: "Come, help me push the wheelchair."
Jin Sheng didn't expect his teammate to appear in this way. He walked over quickly and put his hand on the wheelchair.
"What is your mutation?"
Hearing his teammate's subconscious question, Xu Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly pointed to the shells on his ears and his legs.
"It should be a mutation of shellfish. I'm unlucky. In addition to my ears, my legs are also covered with barnacles." He sighed, his eyes wandering, pointing at another player whose lower body was soft and could only be carried by his teammates, with a sense of gloating.
"But I'm better off than him. At least I still have a wheelchair. Although before I got this prop, I never thought about using it in non-hospital scenes."
【Name: Electric wheelchair】
[Level: D]
【Type: Mobile】
[Introduction: This item is dropped in hospital/sanatorium related scenes. It is only used by players whose legs cannot walk normally. It is solar-powered and has a maximum speed of 160 miles per hour.]
[Notes: Players with normal bodies cannot use this. If necessary, please cut off your legs. ]
The safe house’s inventory contains many strange and useless props, which refresh your knowledge every day.
Once when seeing the usage notes, Xu Zhiyan almost melted the item on the spot and used it as energy for the safe house system to absorb. What kind of crazy game would design a moving item that requires players to cut off their own legs to use it?
But at this moment, seeing the speed of 160 miles per hour, Xu Zhiyan swore that he would never complain about this electric wheelchair again!
Listening to the conversation between the two, the players in the side hall shifted their gaze and continued to look for clues about the mermaid.
Jin Sheng briefly recounted what had just happened: "We arrived earlier than you. The first player to arrive said that the fish tank had been smashed when they arrived, leaving only a mess... The mathematician's props seemed to malfunction. It showed that the target was found, but the pointer kept moving."
After listening to this, Xu Zhiyan nodded and ignored Enli who had been staring at him since he entered the door.
"So, the mermaid shouldn't be here, but if the props are not malfunctioning... I figured it out!" He frowned and thought for a while, and suddenly clapped his hands.
The crisp sound of high-fives attracted the players' attention, and everyone's eyes fell on Xu Zhiyan again.
"The Leviathan is very large and has multiple floors. We are currently on the upper deck, but there are many floors below. Could the coordinates and room numbers in the mission prompt be untrue... cough?"
He was talking to Jin Sheng when he suddenly shut up with a light cough as if he had thought of something.
Jin Sheng also realized the problem and looked at the people around him cautiously.
Although they lowered their voices, the players were all paying attention and heard the conversation between the two clearly.
In the live broadcast room, the audience was watching with fear and terror.
[Fuck, Xiao Baiwan is back! ! ]
[This is incredible... He is really not afraid of death. How dare he come back? ]
[Hahahaha, although the shell camouflage was done well this time, it's still too scary to let a sheep fall into a tiger's mouth.]
[The bold one is talking about the small million. 】
【But why did he come back? 】
[…I don’t know either. He could have left.]
[I think he wants to clear himself of suspicion. What if he runs into him later? 】
[I see a few people want to run away.]
[But this method may be enough to fool those stupid players. Mathematicians are quite smart and will definitely not be fooled so easily...]
Just when several players' eyes lit up and they felt that what Xu Zhiyan said made sense, Enli was not intimidated by these words. He pushed his glasses and spoke in a cold voice.
"Xu Zhiyan, what's wrong with your leg?"
Xu Zhiyan, who was discussing quietly with Jin Sheng, heard the voice and paused. He turned around and smiled at Enli, saying, "Why do you care about me so much?"
Enli nodded without avoiding the question: "Gan Mi said that if we meet in the dungeon, I will take care of you."
He spoke with confidence, as if he was not the same person who had told Shen Zhen before that he would not harm Xu Zhiyan because he could not beat Gan Mi.
"...Gan Mi?"
Xu Zhiyan raised his eyebrows. He didn’t expect to hear this name here.
"Yeah." Enli didn't seem to want to say more about Gan Mi. He pointed at the wheelchair man's legs and repeated his question: "What's wrong with your legs?"
This time, Xu Zhiyan no longer spoke in a friendly manner, but explained with a stern face: "Some barnacles restricted movement. I didn't want to see these things, so I covered them up."
This explanation, which was reasonable yet a little weird, made Enli smile.
"Based on the currently known conditions, we cannot determine that the mermaid in the mission is an NPC. Everyone will mutate. So is there a possibility that the mermaid is a mutated player?"
He obviously didn't believe what Xu Zhiyan and Jin Sheng had just said.
"That's too deliberate, Xu Baiwan."
"Your performance in the dungeon has always been mainly to avoid conflicts, and your main method is to take advantage of information asymmetry. Since you entered the game, there have been many examples of you using this method to deceive others. I don't need to elaborate on it, right?"
Enli pinched his chin and walked a few steps. Seeing that his teammate Shen Zhen still seemed confused, he sighed.
"All the actions just now were to get us out of here."
"We know this is the side hall for the party. The mermaids will most likely stay here until the party starts. Our mission is to stop the mermaids from sacrificing themselves. Now there are two possibilities."
After hearing this, the other players were silent for a moment and realized that something seemed to be wrong.
Seeing Xu Zhiyan's expression getting darker and darker, Enli pushed his glasses, revealing a mouthful of shark-like teeth and said, "The first possibility is that the quest you got is different from ours. Although players are more likely to be divided into camps in five-star dungeons, it has also appeared in dungeons of other levels."
He suspected that Xu Zhiyan had received a different task.
"For example, your mission is to ensure the smooth running of the party? The mermaids will be here soon, so that makes sense, why would you send us away so quickly?"
After saying that, Enli stretched out a hand and made the number two.
"The second possibility is what I just said, the mermaid was transformed by the player..."
In the side hall, even the air froze.
If the mermaid was transformed by a player, then Xu Zhiyan's actions are worth thinking about.
Jin Sheng's eyes widened and his gaze fell on his teammate's legs wrapped in a thick blanket.
Xu Zhiyan's face turned pale, his fingertips gripping the edge of the blanket. Even though everyone was looking at him, he just pursed his lips and said nothing.
The originally solidified air was almost freezing.
Several players who were about to leave also took a step forward and started discussing in a low voice.
"If, if he is really a mermaid, can we get the reward by killing him?"
"That's right, if we kill him..."
"Oh my god, an S-level item, if it's that easy."
"But, Enli..."
Listening to the conversations around him, Jin Sheng took out a dagger and stepped forward to block his teammate in the wheelchair.
Xiaoyi also flew out of his arms, circled in the air, and landed on his owner's shoulder, staring with wide eyes and a serious look on his face.
Seeing the atmosphere so tense, Enli chuckled.
"Are you still pretending now, Xu Zhiyan?"
The sound of an electric wheelchair was heard, and the young man who had just been hidden behind his teammates took the initiative to maneuver the electric wheelchair to move out, with a cold expression: "I'm not pretending, in fact, the mermaid is me, do you want to kill me now?"
Without waiting for other players to rush over, Enli snorted coldly.
"Do you want to negotiate with us next? Let us give you some points? Whoever offers the highest price will be killed? This is ridiculous, Xu Zhiyan, you don't think I believe you, do you?"
He pointed at the barnacles sticking out from under the thick blanket and couldn't help but sneer.
"Who has barnacles growing on the tail of a fish? I admit that you are really good at lying with your eyes open."
Feeling that he had seen through the other party's trick, Enli was in a good mood.
"It's clearly just a common shellfish mutation, but they didn't say so. They deliberately used loopholes full of flaws to lure everyone in, and then used confusing methods to cheat points. In the end, when they lifted the blanket, they were sure to find that it was full of barnacles."
Even if someone is dissatisfied at that time, Xu Zhiyan can say that he has already explained that it is a barnacle, but no one believed it.
The young man who had a serious expression just now changed his expression instantly. Xu Zhiyan raised his eyebrows and shook his head: "Tsk, I hate dealing with smart people like you. You are not as simple as me."
He changed his nervousness and put his hands on the wheelchair armrests, saying in a lazy tone: "A true gentleman watches chess without saying a word. If you don't want to pay, you can just leave. Why are you stopping me from earning points from others? Is this how Gan Mi asked you to take care of me?"
Enli folded his arms and did not answer.
Shen Zhen has fainted.
Only now did she understand that Xu Zhiyan had deliberately revealed his weakness in order to send everyone away, pretending to be a mutated mermaid in order to defraud money, but was discovered by Enli.
Just when she thought she had finally figured out the conversation, her teammate spoke again.
"Based on what I know about you, your plan shouldn't be that simple. After all, I'm here, and I'm a variable for you." Enli simply took off his glasses and pinched his nose.
"So, the mermaid is actually a Jiang Huai partridge."
"You have always been protective of your own shortcomings. If your teammate turned into a mermaid, and you have no shortage of S-level items, you would definitely choose to stop the mermaid from sacrificing herself instead of killing her."
"If everyone believes what you said just now that you are a mermaid, regardless of whether you can defraud money or not, when everyone disperses, if you say Jiang Huaique is a mermaid in the same tone, no one will believe you anymore. Instead, they will think you are lying, and you will achieve the purpose of protecting your teammates."
A rather dramatic hypothesis.
Chen Zhen and the other players who were watching were stunned. Even Jin Sheng was a little dumbfounded. He looked up at Enli and then looked down at his teammates.
Well, there are indeed a lot of barnacles under the blanket.
This inference is well-founded, and even Xu Zhiyan himself could not find any reason to refute it.
Just as he forced a smile and was about to say something else, hurried footsteps were heard at the door, interrupting everyone's thoughts.
"Bang--"
"I lost you. Are you done here?"
Jiang Huai Que, who had just been questioned whether she was a mermaid, kicked the door open with a colorful coral on her head, holding a few bleeding blue fish scales in her hands.
Jiang Huaique was bewildered by the chaotic scene before him, and the rest of the words got stuck in his throat.
Chen Zhen didn't have time to laugh at her teammates for guessing wrong. She pointed at the scales in Jiang Huai's hand, and felt that she understood all the ins and outs. She shouted, "We all guessed wrong! Xu Zhiyan is trying to delay time! He and his teammates have already found the mermaid! He wants to keep the props for himself!"
Enli also realized this, staring at the palm-sized fish scales for a few seconds, muttering to himself.
"...Is this greed? Are you willing to take such a risk just for an S-rank item?"
In Enli's eyes, Xu Zhiyan's behavior was very dangerous.
After all, if the other party had really cheated points from him when he was disguised as a mermaid, it would definitely cause trouble, so he judged that Xu Zhiyan must have a reason to do it, which put him on the opposite side of everyone.
Xu Zhiyan changed his calmness and glared at Jiang Huaique: "Can't you stop being so anxious? Now everyone knows that we have clues about the mermaids!"
“…”
Jiang Huaique stuffed the fish scales into his teammate's hands, lowered his head and turned his back, as if ashamed.
Taking the scales and ignoring his teammates, Xu Zhiyan sighed, feeling a little depressed, and looked at Enli with admiration: "You are very smart, and I don't like smart people, but if you want, we can make a deal."
"Jiang Huai Que and I were the first to arrive."
He lowered his eyes, his expression full of regret.
"This task should be calculated based on the first person to arrive. When we arrived, someone just happened to roll up the mermaid with a curtain and carried her away."
Shen Zhen immediately understood why the situation had turned out like this.
"Your mutation did injure your leg, so you can't move. You were also worried that someone would come to snatch the mermaid, so you and your teammates acted separately. He went after the mermaid, and you stayed here to delay time?"
After saying that, she couldn't help but smile: "It's a pity that your teammates failed more than they helped, and failed to kill the mermaid."
Xu Zhiyan listened quietly, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he moved his thumb and index finger together, making a money gesture: "Yes, Miss, you are very smart, but I still like you very much. If I didn't have your teammates, I could at least get a little more points as compensation."
Seeing that the groundwork had been laid, he raised the scales.
"I'll give up the item reward, but if anyone is willing, I can sell the scales and clues. We don't have item tracking items, so it's a bit difficult to steal the kill in this situation."
This time, Xu Zhiyan didn't even look at the other players, his eyes fell on Enli's face.
"S-level props, you need 100,000 points to draw a blind box. I'm at a disadvantage. How about charging you 90,000?"
"Xu Zhiyan, don't be too greedy. If you give up the props, I will definitely be the player who kills the mermaid in the end." Enli was very dissatisfied with the price.
"Okay, okay, I surrender, and I'll take the fifty thousand. This way, we can get some points for killing the mermaid, and you can just think of the item as the mission reward."
Xu Zhiyan compromised instantly and waved his hands as if he didn't want to bargain anymore.
The other players watched the transaction between the two and dared not speak out.
The clue was obtained by someone, and with Enli's props, it was almost impossible for others to find the mermaid faster than him, and the hope of others to obtain S-level props was extinguished.
One minute later, 50,000 points were successfully credited to the account.
After driving away everyone, Jiang Huaique looked at Enli and his teammates who were the only ones left in the room and gave out extra clues.
"It was a guest named Wei Le who took the mermaid away. I almost caught up with him when I was in the kitchen, but the octopus chef was helping him, so I suspect that the mermaid is in the kitchen now."
Enli and Shen Zhen looked at each other, took out the props, looked for the owner of the scales, and found that the direction of the pointer was indeed pointing to the back kitchen.
The two left quickly without saying anything more.
“Bang—bang!”
The door of the side hall opened and closed, and soon, Xu Zhiyan and the other two were the only ones left there.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Huaique suddenly turned around and shook his teammate in the wheelchair, gritting his teeth and cursing in a low voice: "Xu Ba Pi! Is 50,000 points worth such an exciting game?!"
He's scared to death, okay?
About half an hour ago, Jiang Huaique found his teammates and planned to pack up and leave, but the other party actually led him and Wei Le to the kitchen in twists and turns.
The octopus chef had already prepared the tail of a giant sea fish and several palm-sized blue scales.
Wei Le wrapped half of the fish tail with a curtain, left obediently, and kept moving on the boat to create the illusion that the mermaid was someone else, and completely picked out Xu Zhiyan.
Jiang Huaique was holding the fish scales, anxiously waiting for Xu Zhiyan to pick up the ingredients and dress her up, while nervously reciting the lines.
Seeing his teammates leisurely picking and choosing shells to cover their ears, and even putting a bunch of barnacles on their legs, he was so anxious that blisters were about to appear on his mouth.
God knows how much willpower he mustered to say his lines when he kicked the door open just now.
Xu Zhiyan divided the points into three parts, gave 20,000 to Jiang Huaique, kept 20,000 for himself, and gave the remaining 10,000 to Jinsheng.
"Is this exciting? There may be something more exciting later."
Speaking of Enli, he shook his head with a hurt look on his face, as if he was the one who was deceived: "I cheated Enli because he is too smart."
"This guy knew he couldn't win, but he still waited in the casino and watched me win the last game before leaving. He's really mean and deliberately cheated an honest man like me. But I didn't expect him to guess that you were a mermaid in the end."
“…”
Jiang Huaique was speechless after hearing this.
The honest man Xu Zhiyan? What a devilish combination!
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