Chapter 26

If the last two rounds had taught Su Han anything, it was that the system always gave you a little shopping time at the start. But now, just as she entered the third round, she was flush with gold and nowhere to spend it, no essential supplies to buy.
Luckily, she still had plenty of stock left in her personal inventory, so she remained cool and collected. For players without portable storage, or not much on-hand, anxiety was probably eating them alive right now.
So, if someone looked openly stressed at the moment, you could bet good money they were a player.
At 9:00 AM sharp, the system blared a notice: “Magnetic field disturbance detected. Compass disabled. Cruise ship has lost its bearings.”
Su Han connected the dots instantly. Large cruise liners docked regularly for rest and resupply, but if the ship was lost at sea, it meant it would never reach the shore, never get fresh supplies.
The food on the cruise ship was running out, and the fresh water was nearly gone. That creeping, inescapable sense of death was enough to push anyone toward the brink of collapse.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, there were 800 players and 200 NPCs on board. Every player knew this was a game, nobody would sit back and wait to die. The minute there was a shortage of food or water, they’d “figure something out.” It wouldn’t take long before chaos erupted.
Su Han sighed, feeling thoroughly exasperated. She’d wanted a nice, chill single-player run, but for some reason there was always someone determined to drag her into the multiplayer mess.
Just then, an announcement echoed throughout the ship: “Attention, everyone, this is an urgent notification. Magnetic field anomalies are interfering with the ship’s navigation. We are contacting the command center, please remain calm. Also, buffet hours have been changed to 10:30–12:30 and 17:30–19:30. Please spread the word.”
“Repeating: This is an urgent notification…”
“It takes a ton of supplies to feed a thousand people. How long can the reserves last?” Su Han shook her head with a sigh, realizing the difficulty curve on this instance had just spiked again. This third round was practically doomed to fall into chaos right from the start.
There was a water dispenser in the buffet restaurant, and quite a few people were already lined up, waiting for their share.
Su Han's inventory was well-stocked, so she had no interest in fighting over drinking water. She finished her barbecue and went back to her room to rest.
Cabin 106’s door and windows were tightly shut. Three grown men huddled together, conspiring over something big.
One of them started, “Wei Zhong, how’s our plan coming along?”
“I’ve already laced every barrel of drinking water on board with poison. Fastest, people start collapsing in three hours; the longest it’ll take is ten. Anyone who’s had a drop of bottled water will be poisoned,” Wei Zhong replied, his tone flat and emotionless.
“The poison’s effective even after it’s diluted?” The question came with a note of skepticism.
Wei Zhong just turned away, refusing to answer such a dumb question.
The third man, Gu Siyuan, gave a soft, amused laugh. “Relax, Ding Yikai. I already double-checked with him.”
“Lovesickness (diluted): Deadly. If you drink 50ml, your mouth burns, it’s hard to swallow, you feel nauseous and start vomiting. Drink a hundred and you’ll cramp up, fall into a coma, go into circulatory collapse, get retinal bleeding. Anything 200ml or above, instant coma, and death in three hours.”
“The best part? Only the one who poisoned the barrels can see these alerts. If anyone else, like me, checks a barrel, all it says is ‘Bottled Mineral Water: 20L.’”
Ding Yikai let out a deep, awed breath. “Man, rare-grade poison is insane! Just one vial and it’s enough to take out the whole ship!”
“Not quite that easy.” Wei Zhong ruthlessly poured cold water on him. “There are a thousand people on this ship. Not everyone will drink the bottled water.”
Ding Yikai just grinned. “But most will.”
Gu Siyuan added with a mischievous smile, “Which means we’ll just have to…tie up the loose ends.”
Wei Zhong’s expression was ice cold. His voice barely a whisper: “NPCs are so laughably naïve. They really think, suffer through two more days and rescue will come. Pathetic. Rescue is never coming.”
“There aren’t enough supplies for everyone onboard. But if only a handful survive, things get much simpler.”
“Even if we can’t wipe out all 997 opponents, the fewer challengers, the easier our run. Work a little harder the first few days, and the rest of this run’s basically a vacation.”
Gu Siyuan grinned. “Once this works, clearing this instance will be a walk in the park.”
At 5:30 PM sharp, Su Han stepped into the buffet, then froze. Only twenty or thirty people were eating dinner?
“What’s going on?” A prickle of unease ran down Su Han’s spine. With free food on offer, even hoarders should have come rushing over. No reason for the dining hall to be this empty.
She’d expected a crowd, maybe even a queue forming before the doors opened.
“This is way too weird,” Su Han muttered to herself. She grabbed a few fries, picked a quiet corner, and dug in, though she spent more time watching the room than actually eating.
Crash, a glass shattered on the ground, a sharp sparkling ring. The next moment, a woman collapsed, unconscious.
A waiter scurried over, helping her away to the infirmary and calling back to the room with a forced smile, “Probably just heatstroke. Nothing serious, just a little rest and she’ll be fine.”
Su Han quickly masked her shock, lowering her gaze. If she’d read the status right, the woman’s stats had shown: “Satiety: 86%, Cleanliness: 81%, Stamina: 63%. Status: Normal, Food Poisoning.”
But… food poisoning??
Su Han glanced at her own empty dishes, suddenly queasy. For a moment, she couldn’t bring herself to eat another bite of buffet food.
But then, as she calmed down, doubts started swirling. Was food poisoning just a game mechanic, or had someone made it happen?
She stood, heading toward the infirmary for a closer look.
But just as she reached the door, she saw, through a sliver in the doorway, a shadow driving a knife straight into the patient’s heart. A heartbeat later, the patient’s form flickered, dissolved, and vanished in a flash of white light.
It was terrifying enough to almost make Su Han scream, but she forced herself calm, steadying her breath.
Inside the infirmary, Gu Siyuan let out a jaunty whistle, grinning like he owned the place. “That’s another one down.”
After double-checking, Su Han could see there was only one person left in the room. She pressed her lips together, pulled a wooden club from her inventory, and crept closer, then took a swing straight for the back of his head.
“Hiss, ” Gu Siyuan, relaxing after finishing off his target, was totally caught off guard. The blow sent his vision spinning, but he reacted instantly, rolling sideways to dodge the next attack.
The second swing whiffed, but Su Han didn’t get flustered. She calmly shut and locked the infirmary door behind her.
“A woman?” Gu Siyuan blinked, genuinely thrown by his would-be attacker.
Su Han said nothing, gripping the club tighter. She had a thousand questions for this guy, but she figured it’d be easier to get answers once he was knocked out.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?" Gu Siyuan tried to play the victim first. "Trying to rob me?"
Su Han didn’t even bother with a response. She hefted her wooden stick and charged.
Gu Siyuan kicked off with his right foot, launching himself like an arrow, aiming to drive his knife straight into her heart.
Su Han moved with unhurried precision, slamming her stick against his knife hand, then landing a ruthless kick into his gut without a moment’s hesitation.
The hit knocked Gu Siyuan off balance. He let out a muffled grunt and staggered, his mind blank with shock. Did I just get my ass kicked by a girl? Is this some kind of nightmare?
But Su Han didn’t spare her enemy a second.
Her blows came down like rain, pounding Gu Siyuan’s stamina bar to 12% in one brutal barrage. Only then did she give herself time to talk. "I ask, you answer. If I catch you lying, or if you stall for even a second, I’ll send you straight out of the game."
Gu Siyuan swore inwardly. Shit, this chick is hardcore! But he knew he was completely outmatched, so he resigned himself to fate. Raising his hands in surrender, he replied, "Fine. Ask."
"Name."
"Gu Siyuan."
"Since you entered this instance, what have you done?" There was a glint of menace in Su Han’s eyes. This guy reeked of boundary-free scumbag, so she couldn’t even be bothered to ask if he was a player or NPC.
Gu Siyuan put on his most innocent grin. "Me? I haven’t done a thing."
Su Han switched tactics without missing a beat. "What did your partners do?"
That got him. Gu Siyuan choked up immediately. Seeing her raise the stick again, he felt phantom pains already and burst out, "Wait! I’ll talk!"
"Make it fast," Su Han shot back, ice-cold.
Gu Siyuan caved. "My teammates poisoned the barrel water. Anyone who drank it will be poisoned."
Su Han realized she’d been duped. "What kind of poison could hit hundreds at once?"
"A rare toxin from a mid-tier talent skill," he admitted.
Su Han fell silent. If it was a one-percenter, ultra-rare kind of poison, it made sense. She considered for a moment, then pressed on. "How many people have you killed so far?"
Gu Siyuan’s lips curled in smug satisfaction, though his tone stayed casual. "Not that many. Some died instantly from the poison, others just blacked out and needed a…personal touch. All told, maybe two or three hundred."
A chill raced down Su Han’s spine. Not even a full day in, and a quarter of the players had already been wiped out? What kind of insane efficiency was this?
"How many teammates? Names?" she demanded.
Gu Siyuan gave a soft laugh and tried to recruit her instead. "You’ve got skills, and brains. Why not join us? Once we clear out the leftovers, there’ll only be a few of us left on this ship. That’s a guaranteed pass through round three."
"Kill one, you’re a criminal; kill ten thousand, you’re a hero; kill a million, and people call you king. It’s a game. Winning’s what matters, the ‘how’ doesn’t."
"So if you’re on board, I trust you’ll let me go?"
Su Han silently moved the stick away.
Gu Siyuan lit up. "That’s more like it!"
But the moment he started to get up, Su Han’s right hand conjured a knife seemingly out of thin air and thrust it straight into his heart.
"You…" Gu Siyuan didn’t see it coming.
Su Han’s voice was flat. "Even if it’s just a game, I’d rather play it straight. We’re not the same, you and I."
Gu Siyuan exploded, "Are you out of your mind?!"
Su Han fired back coolly, "This is how I play. Don’t like it? Tough luck."
A flash of white light, and Gu Siyuan vanished, still wearing a look of disbelief. He died thoroughly unrepentant.