Chapter 125 Mermaid Cruise
"I dare you."
"Do you dare to ask for it?"
Xu Zhiyan's smiling words were like the devil's whisper, exploding in Gabby's ears.
The short and sturdy coal-burning leader was like a live fish thrown into boiling water. He jumped to the side quickly, stretched out his fingers tremblingly, and took a long time to utter a complete sentence.
“…This…this is, this is the guest’s, the guest’s stuff!”
When Xu Zhiyan heard Gabby's answer, he looked into the other's horrified eyes and shrugged.
"How could it be, Mr. Gaby? Of course it's your gold pocket watch!"
At one end of the finely crafted gold chain was a metal ring, and the finger with the black ring was inserted into the metal ring to prevent the pocket watch from falling into the coal pile.
As the chain swung, the opened watch cover shook gently, and the black and white photo inside was faintly visible.
“No! This is not mine!” Gabby screamed, with hatred in his eyes, as if the young man in front of him gave him the pocket watch to harm him.
Seeing the other party's reaction was so big, Xu Zhiyan was a little surprised. He was stunned at first, but then he figured out the problem.
There are rules everywhere on this ship, which not only restrict players, but also restrict NPCs accordingly.
Seeing Gabby moving his lips as if he was about to start putting on his hat, Xu Zhiyan pulled the pocket watch into his hand and suddenly spoke loudly to the others around him.
"Everyone knows that Mr. Gaby has lost his gold."
"Now we have found Mr. Gaby's gold from the coal pile, but it seems to me that this gold is not simple gold."
The gold pocket watch is covered in dust, but it still does not affect its value.
Xu Zhiyan pretended to be confused and continued, "Stealing is a serious crime. How come this gold looks like it belongs to the guests? Look, there are even photos!"
Since stealing and killing people in violation of regulations are felonies at the dock, it should be similar on a ship, right?
Before the others could react, Gabby screamed again and denied it frantically: "Impossible! I would never steal!"
From his reaction, it can be seen that stealing is indeed a serious crime.
Xu Zhiyan put away his pocket watch, stroked his chin without saying a word, and quietly called up the game panel.
[Main Mission [Part 1]: Participate in the Cruise Party]
[Task 3: Gold in the Coal Pile [Shared by Coal Burners]]
[Progress: 100%]
[Reward: Buffet breakfast at the fourth restaurant (1 person)]
[Tip: The fourth restaurant is on the lower deck of the cruise ship and is a place frequented by boatmen. ]
Well, Gabby's refusal has completed the mission Gold in the Coals.
The next step is to think carefully about how to gain more benefits from this role.
The other three players had apparently also discovered what had happened.
Chu Qing, in particular, was very grateful when she was helped to win a game after being isolated and helpless in the previous copy.
The new missions haven’t arrived yet, so players can breathe a sigh of relief for now.
Just when Jiang Huaique and Jin Sheng thought that the matter had come to an end and they had to find a way to reconcile with Gabby to ensure the normal operation of the steam turbine, they heard their teammate say something shocking again and did not want to let the other party go.
"It turns out Mr. Gaby is a thief!"
Xu Zhiyan suddenly pointed at Gabby with a look of amazement, and took a few steps back as if he was about to run.
"No! I'm not a thief! You! You are the thief!"
Gaby was furious. He didn't have a very smart brain, so he just realized that it was the coal burner who stole the customer's things and wanted to put the blame on him.
Xu Zhiyan didn't care what Gabi thought. With a few words, he decided on a new course of events.
"But everyone knows that Mr. Gaby's gold was in the coal pile, and I happened to find the gold pocket watch in it. Everyone can testify to this."
This time, in addition to the three players standing aside, he also asked two other NPCs who were burning coal and listening to gossip.
"Uncle Pi, you heard it too, right? I'm right!"
The coal burner who was called paused with his shovel in his hand, turned around to look at Xiao Xu who seemed a little unfamiliar, then looked at Gabby who had bruises on his face, and nodded vigorously.
They were all present when Gaby talked about the gold. Although the other party did not ask him and Baldy to shovel coal, blackmail was inevitable.
At this point, Gaby finally realized the seriousness of the problem.
If six of the seven people present identify him, then no matter who stole the pocket watch, the crime of thief will fall on him.
“I…I…”
He wanted to retort angrily, but found that unless he killed these people immediately, he would be doomed if more than two people went out and shouted "There is a thief here"!
Thinking about what the offenders who were caught in the past had suffered, Gaby's knees weakened and he fell to the ground with a thud.
Even though the temperature here was so high, his face was pale and cold sweat kept dripping down his forehead.
Just when Gabby was about to faint, Xu Zhiyan spoke again.
"Mr. Gaby, I know you are a thief and I am worried that your theft will be exposed, but it doesn't matter, your luck is really amazing!"
He smiled and squatted in front of Gabby, pulling the chain and shaking the pocket watch.
"Your greatest luck is meeting me."
"Well, I can help you get rid of the stolen goods, but you know it's very troublesome to deal with it. I hope you can provide me with some other rewards."
Afraid that Gabi might not understand the hint, Xu Zhiyan emphasized in detail what he wanted.
"Wine, money, cigarettes... I believe that as the head of this steam turbine, you must have saved up a lot of good things. Of course, you don't have to be afraid. If you really don't have enough supplies, then I will ask you something later, and you just need to answer honestly."
We must maximize the value of this NPC.
Gabby was dumbfounded.
He had never seen anyone so shameless.
How could there be someone in this world who, after passing the buck to someone else, could still calmly and calmly propose such an unacceptable plan?
The familiar excessive demands, the familiar Xu's exposing routine, in the live broadcast room, everyone laughed and expressed their half-hearted sympathy for the miserable NPC Gabby.
[Hahahahahahahaha I would like to call Gabby the worst NPC of the year! ]
【Xiao Baiwan: Meeting me is your blessing.jpg】
【Hahahaha, the upstairs guy is grabbing bamboo shoots! 】
[This blessing is given to you, do you want it? ]
[It's so funny. I thought this kind of main quest would be over once it was completed, but I didn't expect that I could also exploit the NPC in the opposite way.]
【Hahahaha because it’s a small millionaire.】
However, in addition to those who happily watch the live broadcast, there are also players who don’t understand and raise questions.
[I don't understand. The player is so strong and the NPC is so weak. Why don't you just kill the NPC and take the items? Why do you have to keep complaining?]
[Indeed! This NPC is much weaker than I thought. I can kill him directly.]
[Hey, hey, hey, do you think the player doesn't want to? Are you lying? Robbery and theft are both serious crimes on the ship. Xiao Baiwan doesn't say that and asks Gaby to "voluntarily" give the benefits. Otherwise, what if Gaby sues him and succeeds? ]
[Killing them directly is even more unreliable. Gabby is the leader of this place. If he is killed, none of these six will be able to escape. ]
On the ground covered with coal ash, Gabby faced six pairs of eyes and could only grit his teeth and agree to Xu Zhiyan's proposal.
"Okay...you guys follow me."
Xu Zhiyan winked at the others, and Jiang Huaique and Jin Sheng followed immediately.
In addition to the coal-burning area and the mountains of coal, the steam turbine also has a small room for the workers to rest.
As the person in charge here, Gaby divided the originally small room into two halves, piled up boards in the middle, and occupied half of the space by himself.
The room originally accommodated seven people, but now the other six coal burners can only sleep on a large bunk bed.
Xu Zhiyan stood by the door and saw that only Jin Sheng and Jiang Huaique followed him. He turned to look at Chu Qing who was standing there holding a shovel and shouted, "Come here."
Knowing that if he asked 'whether he wanted to come over' he would definitely be rejected, he simply gave the order directly.
Although he had not interacted much with this player, Xu Zhiyan still had a good impression of the player who had just immediately executed his words.
Therefore, under the current difficult conditions, he is not stingy in sharing something with the other party.
By the time Chu Qing came over reluctantly, Xu Zhiyan and others had already started looking through Gaby's inventory, making the short and strong man cry out in distress.
"No! You can't take my cigarettes! You can take something else. I have some bread here..."
Gaby picked up a basket from the table, which contained some dark, hard loaves of bread.
Xu Zhiyan took a look, picked up a piece of black bread, squeezed it, and put it back. He patted Gaby's shoulder with a friendly expression and said, "We can't take everything. We will definitely leave some for you. Don't worry."
What is this devil bread?
Harder than fucking rock!
Jiang Huaiqiao and Jin Sheng had not been bandits many times, so this kind of looting work was not done quickly, but they were careful, especially since Jin Sheng had a dog, and Xiaoyi even temporarily played the role of a treasure-hunting dog.
All of Gaby's savings were turned out, totaling more than five hundred dollars in cash.
Xu Zhiyan first divided the cash, giving 100 yuan each to Jiang Huai, Jin Sheng and Chu Qing, and then took out two 50-yuan bills and asked Jin Sheng to deliver them to Uncle Pi and the bald man outside.
As long as these two people take the money, the six of them will be on the same line.
Gabby liked money, so apart from the money, there was not much left, only a dozen loose cigarettes and some tobacco leaves, and a palm-sized piece of white bread hidden under the pillow, which he probably intended to keep for himself.
Just when Xu Zhiyan was complaining about Gabi's poor family background, the sound of the black fur ball scratching the ground attracted everyone's attention.
"Woof woof! Woo!"
Xiaoyi tried hard to scratch the floor in the corner of the room, as if there was something underneath.
Xu Zhiyan and Jiang Huaique looked at each other, and the latter went to the corner and found a locked secret door.
Gabby rushed over to try to stop the other person from opening it.
Seeing this, Xu Zhiyan gestured to Chu Qing: "Tie him up."
Chu Qing, who possessed strange powers, immediately said, "Okay, boss!"
Xu Zhiyan had just given her money. In her eyes, this man was her boss for the time being, and it was only natural for her to listen to him and do her job well.
The short and stocky man was tied up again.
Jiang Huai Que also successfully broke the lock, found the handle of the secret door, and pulled open the floor, revealing a passage.
A strange smell of rotting corpse came out from inside. He covered his nose and took several steps back before he finally stopped.
I found the light switch, and with a click, everything in the dark room appeared before my eyes.
It's more like an underground warehouse than a dark room.
In a space only about one meter high, there was a pile of somewhat rotten bones. I don’t know if it was because the temperature here was too high, but the bones not only did not rot faster, but instead became a little shriveled.
There was an iron chain tied around the corpse's neck and it had no clothes on, indicating that it had been treated inhumanely when it was alive.
Xu Zhiyan frowned and looked at it for a few times, a little confused.
Could it be that he was wrong? Killing people on a ship was not illegal?
"Mr. Gaby, would you like to explain why there is a body here?" He turned his head and spoke in a cold tone.
Gabby lay on the ground, gasping for breath with his neck stretched out, and stammered, "I don't know! Don't ask me!"
"Beat him until he talks."
After Xu Zhiyan finished speaking to Chu Qing, he pinched his nose and went down to the warehouse, crouching down to search.
This isn't a punishment dungeon, where unexpected things might happen. Hidden items are most likely to appear, or even a powerful monster would appear. He hasn't found a monster he can control yet.
While Xu Zhiyan was searching, Gabby's crying was heard outside the warehouse.
It only took a few punches for him to explain the whole story... The situation was worse than the players thought.
Before Xu Zhiyan came up, Chu Qing almost couldn't help wanting to kill this man.
It turned out that, as the person in charge of this steam turbine, although Gaby was not doing well outside, he was extremely cruel to his subordinates. In addition, due to his quirks, almost every time a coal burner was assigned to him, no one could leave alive.
Killing someone on a cruise ship is a felony, but as long as you don't kill them yourself, it's easy to torture someone to death.
"If they...if they resist, I won't give them any water to drink and will force them to keep burning coal...keep burning coal. In the end, they will die of exhaustion. Some of them will even jump into the furnace..."
Gaby found a loophole in the cruise ship rules, used it to kill people, and then kept applying to his superiors to report that he was short of people.
When new people came, he used the excuse of losing gold to take all the money of these newcomers, and repeated the cycle over and over again. Many people died at his hands, but the higher-ups did not pursue the matter, but only asked Gaby to burn the bodies of the coal burners.
Jiang Huaique nodded after listening and pointed at the corpses in the warehouse with some confusion.
"All the bodies of the coal burners who died from overwork were burned, so why were the bodies left to rot in the warehouse?"
There was no need for Gabby to remain a corpse.
Just as Gabby was crying and trying to get away with it, Xu Zhiyan climbed out of the warehouse carrying a box.
"I roughly know why he didn't burn the body."
"Because the owner of this body is not a coal burner, but a person who fled here after committing serious violations."
The box in his hand triggers a branch line.
[Congratulations to the player for triggering the branch quest - Violator]
[Note: In order to find his sister who had disappeared after boarding the Leviathan, the owner of the box took great pains to board the ship as a waiter. He seemed to have found some secret, but while finding the secret, he injured the distinguished guest. In order to avoid being hunted down, he hid behind the steam turbine. He thought he had found a coal burner who could help him, but he was imprisoned and tortured to death.]
[Task Tips: Find your sister, she knows how to open the box. ]
[Task Tip: He serves in the upper class cabin, and there may be a waiter there who knows his sister's name.]
[Progress: 0%]
[Mission Reward: Blade of Violation]
Xu Zhiyan's heartbeat accelerated to the extreme when he saw the reward.
Blade of violation!
This name sounds very impressive and it should be very useful once you get it.
After listening to what Xu Zhiyan said about the origin of the corpse, the other people couldn't help but remain silent for a moment.
Although we have witnessed the cruelty of the dungeon, no one expected that a weak NPC leader could have such great malice towards other NPCs.
If Xu Zhiyan had not been greedy enough to search Gabby's room, then this nameless offender would probably never see the light of day again and would never be able to find his sister.
Gabby wanted to say something in rebuttal, twisting his body and explaining his reasons for killing.
"He's a rule-breaker! I'm already in big trouble if I save him. If I really let him go, I'll die!"
He refused to admit that he was attracted to the violator's face and wanted to have some kind of relationship with him, but was rejected, so he locked the man in the warehouse in anger.
Unlike the other three people who were still immersed in the incident, Xu Zhiyan adjusted his mindset quickly.
He walked up to Gabby, kicked him in the face with the sole of his shoe, and asked.
"How long do you let those coal burners work without drinking water or taking a break?"
Gabe didn't want to answer, but he was too scared now.
When these workers unite, they are scarier than the devil!
"…The one who lasted the most lasted ten hours."
Xu Zhiyan nodded, asked Jiang Huaique to untie Gabby, then took off the black bracelet from his wrist and swapped it with the grey bracelet on Gabby's hand.
"From now on, you are the head of this steam turbine." He threw the bracelet into Jiang Huai'er's arms.
"Our kind former steam turbine supervisor Gaby has now decided to challenge his limits and see if he can work for ten hours in a high temperature environment."
He emphasized the word "before", which was clearly a warning.
Gabby shook her head frantically. "No, I can't. I'll die... I'll definitely die! And he won't be recognized! You can't do this."
However, no one paid any attention to what he said.
"If you can hold on, you will be alive. Actually, I have to thank you for finding a loophole in the cruise ship rules." Xu Zhiyan turned his head and spoke lightly.
Soon, even though Gabby was unwilling, he was taken to the stove.
At first, Uncle Pi and the bald man were very scared, but when they heard that the other party had killed dozens of coal burners in this way, they both agreed with horror to the new person in charge recommended by Xu Zhiyan.
Although it might seem a bit strange to unanimously vote to replace the person in charge on the first day on board, if he is not replaced, everyone will be in big trouble.
Especially when they received new tasks, all the players breathed a sigh of relief.
[Main Mission [Part 1]: Participate in the Cruise Party]
[Task 4: Burning Flame [Shared by Coal Burners]]
[Progress: Day 1]
[Note: As coal burners, it is your job to keep the fire burning. Please withstand the pressure from the managers and keep the fire burning in the next three days to provide power for the cruise ship.]
[Tip: Identity represents status, attacking the manager is not a good choice. ]
[Reward: New Identity Bracelet]
This reward is very useful, and it also means that players need to explore the lower area of the cruise ship within three days to unlock a new exploration map.
The prompt is still the same as before, which means that if you attack the manager later, the task progress will be reduced.
The four of them looked at each other and saw relief in each other's eyes.
They have already defeated Gabby, and he is about to pay the price for the lives he took. The next step is to get the new person in charge recognized.
Although all six people inside acknowledged Jiang Huaique's new identity, Xu Zhiyan was meticulous in his work.
He took out all of Gaby's stock that he had just looted, especially various cigarettes, and took out a bottle of unknown brand of wine from Yaya's backpack and looted it from Bai Jin's room. He asked Jiang Huaique to take these things and wear the bracelet to approach the other steam turbine managers.
The other party obviously also knew the importance of this matter. He put on a gray bracelet, threw the black bracelet back to Xu Zhiyan, and started putting cigarettes into his pockets.
But when it came to the white bread, Jiang Huai Que skipped this thing that didn't look very appetizing.
Xu Zhiyan didn't get angry and stuffed the bread back into his backpack.
It doesn’t matter! Jiang Huaique disliked it, so he just took it back to coax Bai Jin. Otherwise, it would be a bit embarrassing to go back empty-handed after being stood up. He was very good at coaxing people.
"You guys wait for me here now, maybe you can find some other information."
After saying that, Jiang Huai Que left the current steam turbine.
Considering that he didn't know when his teammates would come back, Xu Zhiyan simply waited with the other two.
They waited until it was completely dark, but Jiang Huai Que still didn't come back.
It was not until after midnight that Jiang Huaique, whose face was flushed from drinking, came back with an empty bottle.
"My identity is settled, and they also took me to meet the general manager." Jiang Huaique's first words were to reassure his teammates.
Next is some information about the substructure of the cruise ship.
After all this information was said, Jiang Huaique winked at Xu Zhiyan, called him aside, and stuffed the bottle back into his arms, his tone a little nervous.
"Where did you get this wine?"
"Huh? I tricked a young master before and got this wine from him. Is this wine poisonous?" Xu Zhiyan was stunned and looked at his teammates.
After hearing this, Jiang Huai Que rolled his eyes and cursed, "Get lost, it's not poisonous! If it was poisonous, would I, your father, still be standing here?"
But even though he cursed, he still managed to organize what he needed to say.
"This wine is called Poseidon's Wine. According to legend, it is brewed by deep-sea mermaids. This ship goes out to sea once a year to catch mermaids to make wine... Well, I think the latter information is a bit fake."
But this wine is really good. Several responsible persons were initially lukewarm about it, but after seeing the wine, their eyes lit up.
"This wine is definitely a hard commodity in the lower part of the cruise ship. It is harder to get than money and very useful."
According to what those responsible persons said, let alone recognizing him as the new person in charge, even recognizing him as a brother would be fine.
Xu Zhiyan touched his chin with a look of "What the hell is this true?", and his eyes were malicious, and it seemed that he wanted to get some more back.
Jiang Huai Que frowned and warned.
"Xu Baopi, I suggest you not to be too arrogant. Although this young master sounds like he will do whatever you say, anyone who can easily get hard goods must have a high status in this dungeon. You should take it easy."
"It's okay. I've never seen a child who is easier to coax than him in my life."
Xu Zhiyan still looked indifferent.
Seeing that it was really late, and considering that he might not be able to return to the deck during the day because he was now covered in dirt, he simply said goodbye to a few people and planned to go to Bai Jin's room to take a shower and change clothes.
After borrowing Xiaoyi, Xu Zhiyan let the other party smell Bai Jin's pocket watch.
The black ball sneezed, wagged its tail happily, and brought Xu Zhiyan to the deck at the shortest distance...
The lights were on in the Leviathan's rarest upper-class cabin.
The young boy Bai Jin was wearing a bathrobe, with water dripping from his hair. He sat on the sofa and poured himself a glass of wine.
He was still waiting, but he was already very disappointed and thought Xu Zhiyan would never come back.
“Squeak—”
There was a harsh sound of a window being forced open.
"who?"
Bai Jin frowned and stood up.
The next second, he saw the inferior person he had been thinking about rushing back, covered in dust and dirt.
Xu Zhiyan knew that he didn’t look good like this, so he scratched his hair and smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry, I encountered something on the way and came back late... This is for you."
He took out the white bread that he had looted and rejected before. Although the bread was still covered in dust and looked unsuitable to be given away, Xu Zhiyan still handed it over without a care.
His actions were visibly perfunctory, but his words were extremely affectionate, as if he had brought back some rare treasure.
"A gift for you."
"A gift...for me?"
Bai Jin took the bread and his heart started beating wildly.
So, did the other party come back late because he was preparing a gift for himself? Although this gift seemed... a little problematic, it did not prevent the love in the young man Bai Jin's heart from rekindling.
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