Chapter 47
All the tables in the restaurant were pushed together, and the pirates brought a huge fiery red tablecloth that was big enough to cover all the gaps.
In the middle of this oversized dining table were several lobsters, each half a meter long, with crystal-clear and tender meat. Next to them were several plates of garlic sauce and butter shaped like bones.
Along the edge of the table was a circle of sliced conch meat, and between every two plates were large clams and oysters; the lemons were preserved in some way, the slices were still fresh, and the refreshing sour taste made people salivate.
Each person's plate contained a piece of salmon, half fried and half sashimi, sprinkled with chopped herbs soaked in olive oil.
On the left, a small plate held delicious seaweed, fried squid rings, and shrimp balls;
The bowl on the right side contains cooked seafood chowder soup, which is very fragrant.
On an empty chair was an iron bucket with several bottles of red and white wine on ice.
The pirates shared their food and laughed, and seemed quite content as the distant sound of the waves played on them.
——If they were not on someone else's boat at this moment, using someone else's tableware, eating someone else's caught fish, and tasting someone else's treasured wine.
As for the real owners of the boat, they were all still tied up in the corner, with disheveled hair and pale faces. They could only see this delicious meal but couldn't eat it, and their mouths were watering.
"I told you long ago, there's definitely something wrong with this kid!"
Under the surveillance of a group of pirates, he naturally didn't dare to shout loudly.
But Li Ren dared to whisper.
There's something so wrong with that boy named Xiaoxi. He's not like a normal kid at all!
Otherwise, how could he still sit at the table and eat when all the players and crew members were taken hostage and tied up in a corner with their hands and feet not being hands and feet?
Or sitting next to the pirate leader!
God.
This is an evil alliance.
While the other pirates were busy drinking, playing drinking games, and teasing each other, Ling Xi, who was beside Wannian, was quietly cutting the fish in front of her with a knife and fork, eating it in small bites, and occasionally looking down at the small jellyfish on her legs.
The smaller one seemed very interested in the dishes on the table. He quietly stretched out his tentacles several times, trying to roll one down to taste.
Unfortunately, small jellyfish cannot be eaten after being cooked by humans, and the behavior of "stealing food" is always caught on the spot by Ling Xi and intercepted in time.
Xiao Lijue's parachute was inflated, and he looked more like a pufferfish than a jellyfish.
At this time, Ling Xi would put down the food, rub the little guy, and let out the anger in his heart, as well as the anger in the umbrella.
The little pufferfish turned back into a little jellyfish. Ling Xi touched the cub with satisfaction and continued eating.
There is no way, because babies are the easiest children to please in the world.
The interaction between the two little ones is so innocent and cute, and you can't tell at all that they are planning to join forces with the pirates to murder everyone on the ship.
But if we say that Li Ren was hallucinating, Xiaoxi was really just an ordinary child, and Xiaozai was really just an ordinary jellyfish, there is no way to explain why Mr. Wan invited them to sit next to him.
Everyone understands that sitting next to the leader represents recognition and a unique and soaring status.
contradiction.
There are contradictions everywhere.
Yuan Yingying was equally bewildered by this development, but there was some good news: "At least he didn't bring the jellyfish to chop us up right away."
Li Ren snorted, "Maybe it will come soon. You young people tend to be careless when encountering something, which will lead to big mistakes in the future..."
Yuan Yingying: "..."
How can a newcomer who enters a dungeon for the first time get the courage to teach these battle-hardened veteran players?
I've seen thousands of idiots, but I've never seen anyone as stupid as this!
"Okay, don't argue with a fool. It will only bring your thinking to the same level as his."
Lu Ying comforted absentmindedly.
All he could see was the table full of seafood, and his stomach growled.
The pirate chef does have some skills as he can make so many different dishes with limited ingredients, and each one looks and tastes good.
Only those who are ambitious and know how to enjoy life can be villains.
Those who work diligently and wholeheartedly can only be classified as screws and consumables.
He began to understand why some players who originally wanted to complete the game and return to the real world would rather stay and become a low-level NPC like an empty shell.
Who wants to live on their knees when you can die lying down?
Li Ren was nagging, Yuan Yingying was complaining in her heart, and Lu Ying was thinking about life.
Not only did these three people have their own thoughts, but the other players and crew members also smelled the aroma of dish after dish, and their stomachs rumbled one after another.
There are some dungeons where players can maintain normal functioning without eating, and Ocean World is one of them.
But if there is food to eat, it’s not a problem.
These seemingly luxurious dishes are just daily life for Li Ren, who lives in the wealthy Shen family. If it were in the past, he probably wouldn't even give them a second glance, and would even complain that the lobster meat is too old, the salmon is not fried enough, and the wine is not flavorful enough.
Unfortunately, things are different now. Even a little bit of butter and garlic soup makes him crave it.
When can I return to the real world?
Li Ren closed his eyes, imagining what kind of dishes would be served at the banquet his wife would host for him, and what vintage and wine from which mountain villa his concerned friends would bring.
The world suddenly fell silent.
The pirates' laughter disappeared, the players' whispered discussions disappeared, and the crew members' cursing disappeared.
Even the conversation between Yuan Yingying and Lu Ying, who were sitting right next to each other, was paused.
An unfamiliar melody slowly drifted into his ears.
Someone... is singing.
Not the vulgar howling of pirates at the top of their lungs.
Instead, she sang softly and beautifully, like the principal singer invited by the opera house, standing behind velvet curtains and spotlights.
The Shen family is upper class, and Li Ren and his wife have listened to many high-end operas and singing.
Despite my limited artistic literacy, I can still tell the good from the bad.
But in all his years, he had never heard such charming singing.
Like pearls and jade, like tears and complaints.
As cool as a string, as leisurely as the moon.
It makes people feel as if they are on the top of the ocean, with the winding and distant waves under their feet, and they can catch the bright stars in the sky with their arms outstretched.
Li Ren's eyes widened when he heard this.
How much he longed for that song. Just by listening to it, all the depression and fear in his heart would be soothed.
The direction pointed by the song is the paradise that human beings want to find throughout their lives.
If he stood up now and sought its source, he would obtain eternal bliss...
The singing stopped abruptly.
The consequence of forcibly interrupting spiritual healing is the opposite of happiness. Li Ren had no time to distinguish the transition between reality and illusion. A severe headache suddenly hit him and knocked him unconscious.
The heavy object fell to the ground with a bang, scaring the hostages nearby and waking up the pirates who were having fun.
Yuan Yingying and Lu Ying looked at each other. Although they didn't know what was going on with Li Ren, this was an opportunity.
The girl immediately pretended to be about to cry: "Someone, save him, save my companion!"
Only at this time can we call them companions.
The happy banquet was interrupted, and the smile on Wannian's face dimmed a little.
He patted Ling Xi's shoulder and told the child to stay where he was with the jellyfish and not to move, and signaled his men to go over and take a look.
He was a rather large pirate, at least two meters tall, and when he approached, his shadow was large enough to cover two or three hostages.
His eyes and eyebrows were particularly fierce, and he had a strong, nauseating fishy smell on his body.
Maybe it's fish, maybe it's blood.
As Mr. Wan requested, he took off his Baroque fur coat that was originally decorated with skeleton ornaments—it is not convenient to explain what bones and skins were used here—and put on a respectable suit, but he still had an indelible bandit air.
This person is Lu Ge, the original leader of the pirate ship before Mr. Wan appeared.
Compared to Mr. Wan, who is clear about rewards and punishments and combines both firmness and flexibility, he is the real devil who kills without blinking an eye.
He walked up to Li Ren and squatted down with a gloomy expression.
Seeing how the delicate and tender Mr. Wan managed to surpass Brother Lu was a memory that the latter didn't want to mention at all.
Not only was his throne usurped, but he also had to be ordered around by Mr. Wan in front of all his former subordinates, which made him extremely unhappy.
His murderous aura was so strong that Yuan Yingying and Lu Ying couldn't help but hide away from him.
In survival dungeons, you'll often encounter bosses that are a hundred times more dangerous than Lugo, but they rarely have any chance to escape or fight back like they do now, and are completely at the mercy of others.
It’s better not to get into trouble.
Brother Lu reached out and felt Li Ren's breath, and found that he was still alive.
He turned around and asked Yuan Yingying, who was closest to Li Ren, in a gruff voice, "What happened to him?"
The girl's face turned pale and she trembled: "I, I don't know, he just collapsed suddenly. He was still talking to us just now..."
Another pirate poked his head out. "Is he pretending to be dead? I remember encountering this situation before."
Lu Ge narrowed his eyes, and the hand that was originally used to sniff the man's breath moved slightly downwards and directly grabbed the man's neck.
Then, like holding a doll, he used the neck as the force point to pull Li Ren up and shook him.
His palm was about the same size as Li Ren's head, which made the latter's neck look abnormally thin and seemed like it would break at any time under the strong shaking.
Lu Ying recalled some bad memories of bosses tearing players apart (literally), and the nausea he was already feeling from Lu Ge's smell became even worse.
Yuan Yingying was also worried that Lu Ge would shake Li Ren's head off; this was impossible in reality, but infinite space could make everything happen.
Although Li Ren is a bad teammate, he is also one of the few truly real humans, which is rare in a sub-world made up of false data; every one of his kind is precious.
She estimated the comparison between her own strength points and health points and Lu Ge's, and thought she should be able to withstand a few more blows, and maybe even tear the hemp ropes that bound her apart. Then she mustered up the courage to interrupt the other party's movements: "Um, is he, is he poisoned?"
Brother Lu threw Li Ren back to the ground like a chicken and said in a hoarse voice, "What poisoning?"
Yuan Yingying shook her head: "I'm not sure either, I just saw that he had eaten something before..."
"Where did you eat?"
This is not Lu Ge's voice.
Yuan Yingying saw a pair of shiny leather shoes, and when she raised her head, Mr. Wan had already walked up to her.
The light from above cast a small shadow on his eyelids. The man who always wore a gentle smile suddenly became serious and looked even more terrifying.
"If I remember correctly, your hands were tied the whole time." Wannian's voice was calm. "How did you manage to get food?"
Yuan Yingying didn't expect that her casual words would be picked apart and taken seriously. She opened her mouth and said, "I..."
"For some reason, I always feel that you two are working together to divert attention." Wannian squatted in front of her, lifted her chin and looked around, "You don't look very old. A student? It's not good to lie to people."
His tone was not heavy, it was even brisk, but it made one's heart sink.
Yuan Yingying began to regret why she spoke so much.
She and Li Ren were not familiar with each other, and he had had some frivolous thoughts about her at the beginning, so it was normal for her to die here; Lu Ying had warned her a long time ago not to think about it, as it was impossible to save everyone.
But compared to her rationality, her compassion for her fellow human beings still prevailed.
Her lips trembled slightly, her eyes closed, and her hands clenched into fists behind her back.
With her fighting power, it is not impossible for her to break free from the restraints, but she will inevitably be surrounded by other pirates. Not only will she be punished, but she will also be feared, and it will be difficult for her to escape later. Therefore, she has been keeping a low profile.
Is this the moment of last resort?
"——Sir, I fed this uncle."
The sudden sound of the child's voice sounded like nature to Yuan Yingying at this moment.
She opened her eyes in surprise and saw the boy jumping off the chair and walking towards her holding the little jellyfish.
Mr. Wan frowned: "Why?"
Ling Xi first handed Li Jue to Wan Nian's arms; just as he expected, as soon as the adult took the cub, the wrinkles between his brows immediately relaxed a lot.
"This uncle used to live next door to me, and he even came over at night to... well, visit me and my son."
Yuan Yingying and Lu Ying showed an expression of disbelief when they heard this.
Could that be a visit by Li Ren?
Most likely he wanted to steal the little jellyfish.
At the same time, they both thought of Li Ren's rumors about "Xiao Xi being the mastermind behind the jellyfish crime", and then looked at the boy who came to smooth things over for them, and their mood became complicated.
It's to save her.
Or save him.
Or... do you want to eat alone?
Wannian was not satisfied with Ling Xi's words, but Ling Xi's status as a "system" was there, and with a baby in her arms, he couldn't get angry.
Forget it, he's just a player who is destined to never pass the level. There's no need to affect the atmosphere of the party.
He waved his hand, letting Lu Ge retreat and continue eating.
Lu Ge glared at his back fiercely, but still stood up.
——He was halfway up when he was grabbed.
He turned around and saw the man who had been pinched and didn't react just now opened his eyes, dragged his arm with both hands, and asked, "Did you hear that?"
Li Ren's eyes were extremely wild, completely unlike someone who had just woken up from a coma.
As if he didn't feel the murderous aura of the person in front of him at all, he pulled Lu Ge and asked again: "Did you hear that singing?"
singing?
What singing?
The hostages looked at each other.
A pirate who had just been singing loudly pointed at himself and said, "Are you talking about the song we sang? Are you interested? It's called—"
"No!" Li Ren, who had been timid before, actually had the courage to interrupt him without any hesitation, "It's not that bad!"
pirate:"……"
Li Ren was completely unaware of his murderous gaze and turned his head to ask everyone he could see:
"Did you hear that?"
"Did you hear that?"
"I heard it. I really did."
"Did anyone hear that?"
"It's true! It's absolutely true!"
The pirates didn't even have time to punish him for his disrespectful words, and gave way to this guy who was asking questions everywhere, for fear of being tainted by bad luck.
The look Yuan Yingying and Lu Ying gave him had turned into pity.
The poisoning story was originally made up.
Now it doesn't look like an act.
Why did you suddenly go crazy?
They had been awake the entire time, and apart from the pirates' howling, they had never heard anyone singing, let alone the heavenly music that Li Ren mentioned.
Li Ren was very upset when he saw that no one agreed with him and looked at him as if he was a fool.
What broke him was not the suspicion.
It turned out that the singing was just something I imagined.
This means that he cannot hear it a second time, cannot find eternal bliss, and cannot reach that paradise.
In a corner where he couldn't see, the boy took the little jellyfish back from Wannian. With his back to everyone, he narrowed his eyes at the little creature, his voice filled with joy and anticipation: "Juejue, His Majesty is coming to pick you up."
*
The ocean world ruled by the Sea King is, as the name suggests, a sub-world surrounded by sea water.
Apart from some isolated islands, there are rarely any continental landmasses.
Once those fishing boats that came from nowhere approached the center of the deep sea where the Siren King was, they would never be able to return.
The moon tonight is an elongated, clear yellow, like a flattened piece of jelly corn.
Li Jue looked up at the candy corn moon, feeling a little greedy, and rubbed his tentacles at what might be his belly.
Although jellyfish can swim and fly, they cannot eat as they please, which is really annoying.
It’s still happier to eat delicious food.
The deck was empty except for two small cubs that were not human.
Originally, Ling Xi was holding Li Jue and was about to reach the railing. The little cub couldn't help but want to fly over himself.
The railings were slippery from the waves, and the little jellyfish's bubbles could not hold steady, so they had to float in the swaying evening breeze.
Li Jue looked here and there.
The sea under the yellow moon is a deep, all-encompassing blue.
The sea surface was rippling but still calm.
There are no leaping dolphins, no chirping seagulls.
There was nothing but the crash of waves and the wail of the ship's whistle.
The little jellyfish was a little anxious: "Bobo?"
Where is brother Yaoyao?
Why haven’t you come to see Zaizai yet?
Ling Xi clung to the railing, which was better than hers, and looked around, but also found nothing.
There is only sea in the sea.
There are no reefs under the moonlight, no beautiful mermaid silhouette.
He was also a little confused.
The basic plot line of the ocean world is divided into three parts: fishing boat - pirates - sirens. The song of the siren is the prelude to the final challenge of the copy.
Starting from the first person who starts to hallucinate, all players, including NPCs, will gradually hear the enchanting melody, gradually losing the ability to distinguish between reality and hallucinations, until they are completely immersed in the confusion.
If the puzzle cannot be solved in time, the raw materials cannot be collected, and the antidote to the hallucination cannot be made, then everyone will perish in the sirens' song and become nutrients for the sea, or this sub-world.
Compared with most escape-type copies that require you to constantly endure a series of life and death disasters without a moment's respite, this decryption-type copy that actually requires you to drift on the sea is actually calm.
The reason is simple, it's just that the Siren King doesn't like to dirty his hands and let his sea water be filled with the unpleasant smell of blood.
He doesn't like killing people.
If we must test them, we should just let the foolish humans go to their own destruction.
Of course, none of this has anything to do with the little system and his little knight.
What Ling Xi found strange at the moment was that, generally speaking, when a player heard the singing for the first time, the Siren King should have already been in the nearby waters.
But Ling Xi released her spiritual sense and carefully investigated, and there was no trace of Qian Xing around.
The Siren King did not arrive.
So, whose singing was that that Li Ren heard?
When the illusion is released for the first time, only the person who is hit can hear it. No one else, including Li Jue who has high-level permissions, can hear it.
The enthusiasm displayed by Li Ren did not seem fake. Ling Xi looked through the surveillance of players in the past ocean world, and everyone who was seduced by the Siren showed the same intoxication; no matter how good the acting skills were, they could not act out the feeling of being bewitched wholeheartedly.
If it’s not Qian Xing… then who is singing?
The Lord God is a very ambitious god. He strives for perfection in every sub-world and all scenes must be absolutely realistic.
Primary NPCs do not think of themselves as a set of working data. In the current dungeon, they will be captured by the siren's song just like the players.
The first person to hear it was Li Ren.
The next one could be Yuan Yingying, Lu Ying, other players, or the captain and his wife who "adopted" Ling Xi.
Ling Xi had a selfish thought. If she could see the Sea Monster King before other people were affected, could she ask His Majesty to make rules to bypass his adoptive parents?
Don't give too much consideration to others, the baby also likes the captain and his wife; Your Majesty will definitely not be able to refuse the baby's request.
After waiting for a long time without any results, the pear blossom floated down and landed on Ling Xi's feet.
The little jellyfish bent its tentacles, held its face in its hands like a human, and blew out a bubble listlessly.
"I really want to see you, brother."
He muttered.
Ling Xi squatted down and touched the water ball: "Wait a little longer, it will be here soon."
"Right away, when is that?"
"Maybe one more song."
Li Jue thought about it and said with regret: "I haven't heard Brother Yaoyao sing yet."
Ling Xi smiled and popped his bubble.
The sirens' song is the most mind-blowingly beautiful, yet also the most poisonous with no antidote.
It’s a pity if you haven’t heard of it, but it’s also difficult for those who have heard of it to come back alive.
Of course, it would be wonderful if the Siren herself decided to put away the intense illusions and aggression that come with it and just sing gently and sincerely.
I'm afraid Bao Baozai is the only one in the world who can enjoy such treatment.
The kids were daydreaming aimlessly when the boat suddenly shook violently.
Ling Xi instinctively hugged Li Jue tightly in her arms and turned her back to the front.
Fortunately, the expected possible danger did not occur and the ship soon calmed down again.
They looked up and saw that the halo of the corn candy moon had been retracted, and the golden light trickled down along the sky and finally focused in one place.
The two little ones stared at the seemingly frozen sea not far away without blinking.
Under the huge, hazy crescent moon, a reef slowly rises.
There is someone sitting on it.
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