Chapter 34

Su Han couldn’t help but speculate further. “Are any of the survivors the same ones who poisoned everyone?”
Wei Zhong and Ding Yikai had already been blown sky-high. The medicine had been eliminated from the game, though players were still clueless about what had gone down, Su Han included.
Zhong Rui said quietly, “What we can say for sure… is that Moonfall Guild has nothing to do with the poisoners.”
“Obviously.” Su Han nodded in agreement. “The poisoners are straight-up hostile maniacs; Moonfall keeps it low-key and peaceful. Totally different crowds.”
She paused, then added, “You know what? No use overthinking. Let’s just watch how things play out. Neither Moonfall nor the poisoners are going to like what happens if they mess with us.”
Her words sent a chill into the room, Su Han’s eyes had gone icy, and there was real menace in the air.
Zhong Rui gave a soft laugh. “Agreed.”
Inside, he thought his teammate was truly one of a kind. Completely upright, but never a stick-in-the-mud. Kind, but she drew a hard line: she never attacked first, but the second she sensed a threat, out came the claws, razor-sharp and inescapable, as ruthless as any predator.
But… Zhong Rui’s gaze softened, lips curving with an unreadable smile, if he’d never planned to hurt her, then he had nothing to worry about. He was just fine with that.
Even with only seven people left aboard, Su Han stubbornly played the single-player game, refusing to go outside or mingle with the other survivors.
For some reason, Zhong Rui did the same. He stayed quietly in his own room, snacking when hungry, sipping water when thirsty.
At times, Su Han felt as if she’d slipped into a disaster-survival instance, drifting along with Zhong Rui on some makeshift survival raft. But she quickly snapped out of it, this was only day 10. The toughest stretch of round three hadn’t even started yet.
The poisoning had been a player’s doing, the explosion too. Meaning, so far, the system’s only “challenge” was trapping them on this ship, no clean water, no supplies, nothing more dramatic had happened yet.
But deep down, Su Han knew this third instance had a lot worse in store than what they’d seen so far.
Out the window, the sea stretched calm and endless, the sky flawlessly blue, birds occasionally slicing through the stillness. The whole world felt… like that uneasy calm before a storm.
As much as Su Han hoped the next five days would pass in peace, fate was never so easily swayed.
The next morning at 9 a.m., the system’s voice called out: “Day 11 of the game.”
Right on cue, Su Han received 4 bottles of milk, 1 piece of black bread, 1 meat floss cream bun, and 1 chocolate cake. With her innate skill leveled up, the food drops were noticeably more frequent now.
While she was sorting through this haul, the system continued, “A storm is incoming. Players, brace yourselves.”
Storm! Wild, raging storm!
Su Han and Zhong Rui exchanged a loaded glance. As if on cue, both jumped to their feet and sprinted for the deck.
Just moments ago, it had been all blue skies and sunshine. Now, barely had the system finished its announcement when a vicious wind came howling over the waves. Under its force, the sea transformed from calm mirror to a churning mess, whitecaps rolling, surf boiling.
“Splash!” A series of waves crashed hard against the side of the cruise ship.
Maybe she was imagining things, but Su Han couldn't shake the feeling, the ship was starting to tip.
“When a storm hits, do we need to unfurl the canvas?” Zhong Rui turned, looking to his teammate for backup.
Su Han blinked, baffled. “Beats me... Haven’t got a clue.”
Zhong Rui’s face was grim, eyes darting as his mind raced for solutions.
Su Han added, “Even if we wanted to, who knows how to manage the ship’s canvas? It’s only us players here, not an NPC in sight.”
In other words: no veteran seaman to give orders. The survivors were feeling around in the dark, left fighting for their lives with nothing but whatever shipwreck survival hacks they half-remembered from forums and fiction.
They'd barely exchanged a few words when more footsteps pounded up the stairs to the deck.
Su Han squinted into the wind: exactly five of them, no more, no less. Three came as a group, the other two wandered alone.
She felt her nerves settle, at least it wasn't going to be a 2v5 showdown. But then came the reminder of what was bearing down on them, and a chill crept into her gut.
“I mean, ” The well-dressed man who’d swapped gear with them started to speak, but was drowned out as a monstrous wave smashed into the hull.
The cruise ship shuddered violently, listing at an even more alarming angle.
Su Han’s reflexes saved her. She snatched at the railing and managed, just, to hold on as the world tilted.
Everyone else fared no better. Several collapsed to the deck, clutching desperately to anything fixed, fighting for stability.
Zhong Rui dug through his portable storage and pulled out a coil of rope. He fastened one end to the railing, the other around his waist, tying several knots so tight even he’d have trouble undoing them. Only then did he dare move again.
“Toss me the rest of the rope!” a man in his thirties bellowed, striding over with the bespectacled man and their round-faced friend, clearly a team.
No time for pleasantries, Zhong Rui hurled the line their way. In this mess, petty squabbles could wait; survival came first.
The wind shrieked, nearly wrenching the ship from side to side.
“Ahhh!!” The ship pitched so violently that An Rongyue lost her grip on the railing. She slipped, momentum carrying her perilously close to being flung to the far side.
Without missing a beat, Su Han grabbed her, anchoring them both to the railing in a desperate hug.
“Th-thank you.” An Rongyue’s lips were bloodless, her voice wobbly with regret. Why hadn’t she just left the second she’d cleared Day 10? Was grinding for experience really worth it?
Nothing had gone wrong until the last few days, she’d thought she could coast for a bit more EXP…
Now her face was gray, arms like iron clamps around the railing, refusing to let go.
Meanwhile, the man in his thirties, his round-faced buddy, and the well-dressed player finished lashing themselves together. They didn’t just knot the rope to the rail, they cinched everyone into one interconnected human chain, so if one of them slipped, the others could haul them back.
“Listen up, follow my lead, now.” The older man seized command, not waiting for debate. “Unfurl the canvas. All the guys, lend a hand!”
Except for one very pale young man who huddled in a corner, death-gripping the rail like it was a lifeline, everyone else joined in to help wrestle with the ship's gear.
“We’ll just get in the way here. Shouldn’t we hole up in our rooms instead?” An Rongyue was fishing for a companion to retreat below deck.
Su Han shot back, quick and urgent, “The cabins could flood. Besides, everyone else is up here, being alone isn’t safe. And who says we’re useless? Worst comes to worst, maybe we can grab someone before they go overboard!”
That shut An Rongyue right up. She knew too well, the difference a helping hand could make in a crisis, how lifesaving it can be just to have someone there. After all, she’d just been yanked back from the brink herself.
The wind howled on. Finally, after a frantic scramble, someone managed to lower the canvas, and the ship steadied, a little.
Su Han barely started to exhale when a monstrous wave came barreling down on them.
“Splash, !”
With the storm roaring and nowhere to hide, Su Han and An Rongyue got a full-on, ice-cold dousing from above.
Su Han was all right, she’d braced ahead of time, held her breath, squeezed her eyes shut. Just her clothes, drenched.
An Rongyue, on the other hand, got the worst of it. Caught completely off guard, she gawked open-mouthed at the oncoming wave, and saltwater sluiced straight into her mouth and nose.
“Pfft, pfft!” she spluttered, deeply annoyed. Was she seeing things, or was the water still black? Which meant it was poisoned, drinking even a gulp of this muck would be as good as downing spiked mineral water.
She sighed. If only she’d known to cash out early and check out of this cursed instance…
At the exact same time, Su Han was calculating the odds, this was just the wind, no rain yet, and already they were flirting with a team wipe.
She missed the other 993 people desperately. If they were still here, well, for one thing, the extra weight would keep the boat steadier. With just a handful of them, the ship pitched and reeled like some drunken idiot at a club.
An Rongyue kept a white-knuckle grip on the railing, popping an antidote pill from her portable inventory and swallowing it. No sooner had she choked it down than another storm-fueled wave crashed over them, right as the ship rode the crest of disaster.
The waves got worse, the tilt of the deck going past thirty degrees, enough to make anyone think the whole ship was about to go belly-up.
“Hold fast! We can do this!” the older man screamed, voice already hoarse.
No sooner had he yelled than a savage gust sent him sprawling. He tumbled across the deck, battered, then slammed into the railing. For a split second he teetered on the edge, about to go overboard, until Su Han lunged and caught him by the arm.
An Rongyue wasn’t about to be left out, she grabbed the man’s other wrist.
The man just stared, stunned and sheepish.
He was the only one who’d lost his footing. Kind of embarrassing. Getting blown around like a ragdoll hadn’t helped, and now, realizing he’d just been rescued by the ship’s only two girls? He just about wished the sea would swallow him whole.
“Hurry up and pull him back!” the bespectacled man bellowed. They were barely keeping it together as it was. With a teammate nearly blown over, the stress skyrocketed. They were holding on by their fingernails, the next surge and who knew what would happen!?
With the help of the two girls, the middle-aged man finally managed to steady himself.
But just as they got things under control, a loud “crack, crack, ” sounded from nearby.
Everyone froze, not quite processing what was happening. An instant later, disaster struck, the only guy who’d gotten separated was out of luck. The railing snapped without warning, sending him flying straight off the deck.
Zhong Rui caught his collar in a flash, the scholarly man clamped down on his left ankle, and together they managed to hold him back. Still, he slammed down onto the deck, face-first. The pain nearly brought tears to his eyes, but he couldn’t blame his rescuers, they were only trying to save him.
“Let’s go. Head for the fourth floor!” The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and made the call.
“Bro!” The scholarly man’s voice broke out, surprised and instinctive.
“These waves are getting out of hand, we can’t do anything staying out here,” the middle-aged man said seriously. “Rain’s coming soon, and then things will get even worse. The fourth floor is our best bet. As long as the ship doesn’t capsize, we’ll be fine. Even if the first and second floors flood, the fourth will hold out much longer.”
Su Han asked curiously, “What if the ship does capsize?”
He answered, “There are rubber dinghies on the fourth floor. If things go south, we can ditch the ship and escape on those.”
“Then let’s move.” Su Han didn’t hesitate an instant.
So, the seven of them leaned on each other, step by step making their way to the fourth floor.