Chapter 27

With the fight over, Su Han headed out of the infirmary at once. But just as she rounded a corner, a sudden gust tore through the air at her.
Su Han’s nerves screamed. She swept her knife up on reflex.
Which led to this: her knife at Zhong Rui’s throat, his pistol aimed at her temple. That’s how these old friends said hello.
"Zhong Rui?" Su Han blinked, dumbstruck.
"You?" Zhong Rui’s rigid expression softened a notch as he lowered his weapon, confusion all over his face. "Why are you coming out of the infirmary?"
He’d heard rumors about someone laying traps in the infirmary and targeting players, so he’d rushed over, and ran into Su Han instead.
"Don’t get me started." Su Han gave him her best ‘you wouldn’t believe it’ look. "Some maniacs spiked the drinking water, they’re attacking passengers at random. I happened by the infirmary, saw someone making a move, questioned him, and then knocked him out of the game."
"Poisoned water…?" Zhong Rui was speechless. Apparently, nutcases were everywhere now.
"They must have partners, but I couldn’t get a number or names out of that guy." Su Han’s voice grew heavy. "It’s bad. Supposedly they’ve already cleared out two or three hundred people."
"More than that," Zhong Rui replied, deadpan.
"He lied to me?" Su Han thought. No way, she didn’t pick up on any lies, did she?
Zhong Rui’s words were slow and steady. "Maybe they personally finished off a few hundred, but all the collateral damage? Way more than that."
"What do you mean?" A sinking feeling began to form in Su Han’s chest.
Zhong Rui jerked his thumb behind him, face grim. "It’s total chaos back there. All-out brawls."
Su Han’s eyelid twitched.
Zhong Rui kept going, "Tons of people drank from those barrels. At least five hundred, probably more."
"Some died on the spot, but most ended up poisoned, with limited mobility. Their minds are still clear, though."
"Some folks barely have any supplies left. Others are eating high on the hog. Some are sick, some are fine, what do you think happens next?"
Su Han’s face turned frosty. "Smash-and-grab riots?" So that’s why she hadn’t had time to grab dinner at the buffet.
"Pretty much." Zhong Rui’s expression was complicated, his voice edged with weariness. "Even I got mugged five times, and I’m still in perfect condition. Those people have lost it, totally beiond reasoning."
Su Han felt a heavy weight press down on her. "Let’s find somewhere safe to rest. We’ll figure things out tomorrow morning."
"That’s the best we can do," Zhong Rui agreed.
Then the two of them headed to room 201 to get some rest.
All night long, chaos raged outside, the constant din of shouting cut by the occasional shriek of terror.
Zhong Rui sat with his eyes closed, squeezing in whatever rest he could grab.
Su Han, meanwhile, was wide awake, staring at the ceiling till dawn.
At one point, someone even started kicking furiously at the door to room 201. Su Han immediately geared up for a fight, but for some unknown reason, whoever it was bolted away, the sounds of their frantic steps fading, and then, absolute silence.
No sleep to be had that night.
Come morning, Su Han checked her stats and immediately felt something was off. “Satiety: 84%, Cleanliness: 85%, Stamina: 92%. Status: Good. Poisoned.”
“You’ve inhaled a certain amount of toxic gas. Every hour: Stamina -1.”
Su Han was about ready to tear her hair out. What the hell?! Poison gas again, how did she miss this?
She wasted no time shoving Zhong Rui awake.
“Poison gas?” Zhong Rui casually took out a pill. “Here. Antidote.”
Su Han took it, inspecting the little pill for a while before looking up. “Your class, are you a doctor?”
“You got it.” Zhong Rui was upfront. “What about you?”
Su Han answered without hesitation, “Nutritionist.”
“What’s your talent skill?” Zhong Rui pressed.
Su Han pulled up her class window. “Nutritionist, Talent Skill (Intermediate): Each day in an instance, there’s a 45% chance to receive a ‘bottle of milk + slice of brown bread’ meal set. 10% chance for a ‘three bottles of milk, meat floss cream bun, and chocolate cake’ deluxe meal set. 1% chance of rare food.”
Then it was Zhong Rui’s turn. “Doctor, Talent Skill (Intermediate): Each day in an instance, 45% chance of common medicine, 10% chance of rare medicine, 1% chance of precious meds.”
Super useful, both of them.
Antidote: Restores 20 stamina. Cures “Poisoned” status.
Su Han swallowed the antidote and finally felt herself relax.
“Let’s go take a look around,” Zhong Rui said, striding out of the room first.
On the deck, someone was sprawled in the corner like a beached fish. Su Han glanced over and blinked, it was a familiar face. The name tumbled out of her mouth, “Cai Sheng?”
“Everyone’s lost it, completely off the rails.” Cai Sheng muttered over and over, shaking his head, face so pale he looked on the verge of keeling over.
“What happened exactly?” Zhong Rui asked.
Cai Sheng’s face had a greenish tint. “Aside from myself, everyone else sees each other as the enemy, backstabbing left and right. I said I was just passing through, no one believed me. They dragged me into their war anyway.”
“Why not just hide somewhere?” Zhong Rui looked genuinely puzzled.
Cai Sheng let out a bitter, self-mocking laugh. “No food, no essentials, no medicine, no personal inventory. Hiding’s useless. Since I’m doomed to be eliminated anyway, whether it happens sooner or later doesn’t matter. Might as well go out with a bang.”
Su Han was curious. “What’s your talent?”
Cai Sheng couldn’t be bothered to hide anything; he just pulled up his stat panel.
Name: Cai Sheng (Real Name Verified)
Level: 2 (Exp: 4/30)
Class: Jeweler (Intermediate Talent, Exp: 4/30)
Satiety: 152/200
Cleanliness: 143/200
Stamina: 32/200
Class: Jeweler. Talent Skill (Intermediate): Each day in an instance, 45% chance for a common gemstone, 10% chance for a rare gemstone, and 1% chance for a precious gemstone.
“A regular gemstone goes for 80 to 120k. I’m not hurting for money. Too bad the system doesn’t give me a chance to buy anything!” Cai Sheng groaned, eyes squeezed shut in misery.
“That five-gram gold bar you used earlier, where’d you get it?” Zhong Rui asked.
“Exchanged it for points in the game store,” Cai Sheng replied.
Su Han shot another question, “In the second round, the bamboo cabin, inn, and villa, are they really yours?”
“Yeah, they’re mine.” Cai Sheng’s face was blank. “With enough cash, you could do it too.”
“But when we first met, we hadn’t been in the game long. You’d already sorted out all the paperwork?” Su Han was skeptical.
Cai Sheng answered calmly, “At first I really was the agent. I bought the property afterward. To get the job and pretend to be an NPC, I even agreed to pay the employer rather than take a salary. Why would he refuse?”
So basically, he bought himself a job…
Su Han couldn’t help but sigh, “So broke the only thing you have is cash, now that’s a whole new level.”
Cai Sheng’s eyelid twitched. He genuinely wanted to smack someone. Sure, he knew his stats were miles below the others, but since elimination was all but certain, what was left to be afraid of? Might as well take risks.
Just then, Zhong Rui suddenly asked, “How many gems do you still have on you?”
Cai Sheng was startled, looking up in surprise. “Why? What’s with that question?”
Zhong Rui sounded nonchalant, “It wouldn’t be impossible to keep you alive till day ten. Question is, can you afford it?”
“Keep me alive? How?” Cai Sheng’s expression was blank.
“I’ll feed and water you, make sure you don’t drop dead,” Zhong Rui said, as cool as ever. “On day ten, you can teleport out of the instance and all three attributes will be restored to full.”
Cai Sheng was wary. “And why should I trust you to keep your word?”
Zhong Rui shot him a sidelong glance. “If I don't get something worthwhile out of it, why would I even bother?”
Cai Sheng, “……”
It honestly sounded like he was way more desperate to make this deal than they were.
Zhong Rui thought for a moment, then offered a new plan. “Here’s how we’ll do it: The payment comes in two parts. One up front, paid in full, the rest afterward.”
“The longer you survive in this instance, the more gems your skill will net you. As long as you agree to hand over every gem you get from this run, I’ll do my best to keep you safe.”
“But since there’s always a chance you’ll try to squirrel some away, the upfront payment has to be good enough to motivate me to help you.”
Cai Sheng instantly began calculating. Trading gemstones, which were useless in this instance, for a shot at survival wasn’t too steep a price. If the next run was a normal mode instance, he could get rich fast with his class talent. And if he made it past the third stage, he’d be able to resupply at the game store too.
After a moment's thought, Cai Sheng turned his head and asked Su Han, “What about you? What’s your price?”
If they both wanted to team up with him, then he’d have the upper hand, and everything could be negotiated.
But Su Han just looked at him coolly. “There’s no amount of money that would make it worth dragging you along. Too much hassle.”
She played solo on principle, zero interest in shepherding other people. Besides, her inventory was packed with gold jewelry and gems, selling them would more than cover all her supplies, so not the slightest temptation there.
Cai Sheng could only sigh in resignation and turned back to Zhong Rui. “Alright. Name your price.”
Zhong Rui looked absolutely indifferent. “What do you have on you? Show me. If you can’t pay, let’s not waste each other’s time.”
Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride when the roof’s caving in. Realizing he was the one doing the begging, Cai Sheng could only unhappily strip off all his cufflinks and shirt buttons. “Ten in total. All rare gemstones. Each one sells for anywhere from two hundred to five hundred grand apiece.”
Blue, black, red, the gem-set cufflinks all gleamed with a gaudy brilliance.
Su Han looked mildly surprised. “You had actual jewels ground down and turned into buttons for your shirts? That’s a new low in showing off.”
Cai Sheng grimaced. “Wasn’t my choice! I was late logging in, missed out on the portable inventory. Now I’m stuck being rich and constantly terrified someone’s going to mug me.”
Zhong Rui picked up a black gemstone button, rolling it between his fingers for a while before finally nodding. “Ten rare stones. Deal. But what about the follow-up conditions? Will you agree to them?”
“No problem.” Cai Sheng thought, Well, if I die now it’s all moot anyway. One more day alive is a win.
Zhong Rui handed over some antidote pills, bandages, body wash, and cookies, instantly boosting Cai Sheng’s three main stats above 180.
For the first time, Cai Sheng felt like he’d properly latched himself onto a powerhouse.
“Any idea how things are going with the others on board?” Su Han inquired.
“I’d guess at least seventy percent are dead by now,” Cai Sheng estimated. “With all the clean water on the ship, how many people actually stuck to their own stash? Lots of them drank tainted stuff and got poisoned. And then, well, lots more started fighting and dragging each other down.”
At that moment, the system’s mechanical voice abruptly chimed in, “Large-scale melee has occurred on Cruise C23. Current survivors: 117. Among them, 108 players, 9 NPCs.”
Su Han: “…”
Zhong Rui: “…”
It’s only been a day and there’s barely a hundred people left?