Chapter 70: Hopeless Sea - Ambition |
The sharp, briny scent of sea-soaked, sun-dried wood rushed to meet him. When the wind billowed through his shirt, it felt as though it were dusted with salt, raising a phantom itch across his skin.
As the darkness slowly receded and his vision cleared, Qi Si found himself at the bow of a ship, his feet planted on splintered, decaying planks, his arms resting on the wooden gunwale.
Before him stretched a boundless sea, where murky, ochre waves rolled on endlessly. The surface of the water was unnervingly clean, as if scoured by a recent storm, with not a single reef or another vessel in sight.
The sky met the sea at the horizon. Above, the amber light of dusk mottled the heavens like fish scales. Yellow clouds clustered in silent, motionless banks, both near and far.
The Humanoid Evil identity card hovered in the upper right corner of his vision, as always. A crimson eyeball seeped from between writhing black tentacles, its colors more vivid and intricate than they had been during his novice days.
Billowing mists erupted from it, their edges traced with gilded patterns. A touch of the sacred mingled with its sinister aura.
The item bar at the bottom of his vision flashed with a new notification, informing Qi Si that he could now store any item larger than one cubic decimeter, freeing him from having to carry or wear them.
Unfortunately, the only item he currently possessed that met the size requirement for storage was the tape recorder he had swiped from the bus in the *Flesh Eating* instance.
[Instance Name: Hopeless Sea]
[Hint: What you see may not be true.]
Only these few lines appeared on the system interface. There was no main quest, and the hint was frustratingly vague.
The "Multiplayer Survival" tag was ambiguous. It didn't mention teams, the total number of players, or whether it was a competitive instance.
"So this is what a formal instance is like," Qi Si mused. "They really don't give you much to go on..."
Qi Si's face was pale from a touch of seasickness. He turned, leaning his back against the gunwale to take in the full view of the vessel.
It was a massive sailing ship. Towering masts held up immense, sun-blocking sails. Layers of yellowed canvas overlapped, creating a hollow, pavilion-like structure above the hull.
The ship was constructed entirely of wood, in the style of the sixteenth or seventeenth century. The deck was empty; for the moment, he couldn't see any other players.
"With the number of players unknown, finding a corner to hide in until most of them are dead seems like a solid strategy. Then I can just loot the corpses." As Qi Si considered this, his gaze settled on a discolored square patch of wood on the deck.
It looked like a trapdoor, though there was no telling where it led.
Intrigued, he walked over. Just as he was a step away, a soft *click* sounded, and the trapdoor was pushed open from below.
A figure climbed a ladder from the opening, emerging from below deck.
The newcomer was tall and lean, dressed in black from head to toe. The brim of his hat shadowed a pale face, giving him the gloomy, aloof air of a fern in a damp marsh.
Upon seeing Qi Si, the man's eyes narrowed. Suspicion, shock, and a flicker of concealed hostility brewed in their dark depths before coalescing into a single, scrutinizing stare.
For a moment, Qi Si's expression soured as if he had just swallowed a fly.
Of all the people he didn't want to encounter in an instance, Chang Xu was right at the top of the list.
Setting him up in *Rose Manor*, impersonating him to shift blame in the *Flesh Eating* instance—either one was enough to create a serious grudge. Compared to those, the issue with the Fate Pocket Watch was practically insignificant.
If any of this came to light, given Chang Xu's combat prowess, Qi Si knew he would die a very painful death...
Qi Si once again felt the profound malice of the Weird Game.
They hadn't arranged a time or used a teaming item, yet they'd still been matched into the same instance... You'd have to be a ghost to believe there wasn't some foul play involved.
Chang Xu was studying Qi Si's face, about to speak, when the younger man greeted him with disarming openness. "Chang Xu, fancy seeing you here. I never thought we'd meet again."
Qi Si's expression was perfectly natural and calm, his eyes shining with the pleasant surprise of a reunion. He looked innocent, composed, and cheerful—not at all like someone with a guilty conscience.
Chang Xu grunted in acknowledgment and averted his gaze. "Quite a coincidence, indeed."
Qi Si studied Chang Xu's expression. Seeing no concrete evidence in his demeanor, his smile turned genuine. "Let me introduce myself again. I'm Si Qi, a taxidermist. Thanks for looking out for me last time."
Chang Xu went along with it, nodding. "Si Qi. It's been a while."
"Hey, you two know each other?" A middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair poked his head out of the trapdoor, catching the tail end of their reunion, a little drama fraught with unspoken thoughts.
The man had a thoroughly average face, the kind that would be lost in any crowd. His deeply lined skin, however, spoke of a long life of hardship and struggle.
He climbed nimbly out of the opening, revealing a dust-covered orange jacket and gray trousers. He grinned, a hearty, open smile. "Name's Zhang Hongfeng. Ain't got much book learnin', but I'm handy with a few trades. I'll leave the thinkin' to you folks and take care of any heavy liftin'!"
Once he was steady on his feet, he turned and crouched, reaching a hand back down into the opening.
A few seconds later, a young woman emerged, using his offered hand to pull herself up.
She wore thick, round-framed glasses and had short hair with bangs that obscured her eyes, making it hard to guess her age. Clutching a worn notebook to her chest, she spoke as if every word was precious: "Liu Yuhan. I'm good at puzzles, but my stamina is low. It's a pleasure to meet you."
By now, another dozen or so people had emerged from various parts of the ship, gathering on the main deck.
Even though they had all cleared their third instance to become official players, their skill levels were clearly mixed.
A few were pale, obviously terrified but forcing a calm facade. Others, however, were more talkative, shouting to get everyone's attention and trying to take charge:
"Is this everyone? Let's all introduce ourselves and get acquainted."
"Let's hold off on the introductions. We don't even know what kind of instance this is. We should split up and investigate first."
As they spoke, several people kept glancing over at Qi Si's direction with probing looks. While everyone else was still a disorganized crowd, the first group of four to form was naturally conspicuous.
One of them, a short man, narrowed his eyes for a moment before approaching with a face full of smiles. He walked straight up to Liu Yuhan. "You must be Yuhan, right? I've read your guides! They've saved my life in more than one instance!"
He spoke loudly enough that, in no time at all, two more players had drifted over.
The two newcomers glanced at the notebook in Liu Yuhan's arms, and a look of dawning recognition crossed their faces.
"It really is the legendary Yuhan! I've read more of your guides on the forums than anyone else's!"
"Please, carry us, master! With you here, the puzzle-solving part of this instance will be a breeze, hahaha."
Liu Yuhan managed a stiff smile and lowered her head, clearly wanting nothing to do with any of them.
The three players, however, formed a semi-circle around her, effectively trapping her. They looked determined to cling to their new protector and not let go.
Qi Si got the picture. This unassuming young woman was famous, likely one of the "theorycrafter" players who wrote guides for the game forums. Her reputation seemed quite good, which probably meant her guides were free.
Qi Si hadn't read many guides himself, and he'd never understood this kind of volunteer work—putting in effort for free just to increase a stranger's odds of survival.
Listening to the players shower Liu Yuhan with compliments, he took a few discreet steps back, signaling that he was not, in fact, associated with this fawning crowd.
Chang Xu quietly followed him. "Si Qi," he began, "I wanted to ask you something about the *Rose Manor* instance."
Qi Si stopped and turned, his expression a perfect picture of confusion. "Go on. What is it?"
"Back then, Lin Chen attacked me for no apparent reason. When I killed him, it triggered a time reversal. From that, I can deduce the trigger condition is 'a human killing another human.' I know you also triggered it once. So, who did you kill?"
Chang Xu paused, his voice turning cold. "When Lin Chen attacked me, the mechanical clock struck two. Before that, you had borrowed my Fate Pocket Watch, without a doubt to confirm the exact time outside the old castle. What exactly were you planning to do?"
It was a common interrogation tactic: present the obvious facts but deliberately leave a gap, baiting the suspect into telling a flimsy lie that could then be publicly dismantled for maximum psychological impact.
Qi Si was well-practiced in dealing with such tactics and refused to take the bait. "Don't you already know the answer? It's exactly what you're thinking..."
"I manipulated Lin Chen into trying to kill you. It didn't matter which of you died; the result would have been the same—a time reversal would be triggered. Then, I could use that opportunity to turn myself into a ghost, overpower Anna, and solve the instance's core mystery."
"As for the time reversal I triggered, it was nothing more than a gamble. I had a partial theory about the mechanics and was trapped in a dead end, so I decided to see if I could force an escape route."
He leaned closer to Chang Xu, his eyes narrowing into a smile. "Zou Yan was blocking us at the stairwell back then. She was already half-ghost and the most powerful being in the castle aside from Anna herself. I calculated that the two of us together couldn't beat her, so my only choice was to attack you from behind, trigger the time reversal, and send us back an hour."
He just admitted it? Chang Xu's brow furrowed. His intuition told him something was off.
As if reading his mind, Qi Si tutted softly. "What is there to hide? In that situation, triggering the time reversal was the only way for either of us to survive. If it had failed and you had died, Zou Yan would have silenced me next, no question."
"In a way, we were in the same boat, weren't we?"
When events become a tangled mess, the first step is to unravel each thread, then carefully analyze the stakes.
Chang Xu was no fool, not one to be deceived by a few clever words. And Qi Si wasn't some novel's protagonist who could magically secure every advantage for himself.
He knew he couldn't just sweep everything under the rug, so he weighed the importance of each secret against the difficulty of concealing it and made a strategic choice:
Chang Xu already knew the gist of what had happened in *Rose Manor*, so it was better to be forthcoming about that and leave a good impression. Then... he would deny everything about the *Flesh Eating* instance and the Fate Pocket Watch to his dying breath.
Chang Xu rubbed the back of his neck. "Aren't you afraid I'll get my revenge, now that you've told me all this?"
"Not at all. After our time in *Rose Manor*, I got the impression you're a decent guy. Not the petty, vengeful type." Qi Si played the 'good person' card, along with a healthy dose of moral blackmail. "The situation was urgent, so I didn't have time to consult you. But I'm confident that, given your character, you wouldn't have objected even if you had known my plan in advance."
Chang Xu felt that something about those words didn't sit right, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
He hadn't forgotten the most important matter, however. He stared into Qi Si's eyes and pressed on, "I have one more question. The *Flesh Eating* instance..."
"Ladies and gentlemen!" A booming voice cut him off.
A man dressed in old-fashioned European attire had appeared on deck at some unknown point. He strode into the middle of the players and announced in a loud, clear voice, "We are approaching the Devil's Triangle. Please return to your cabins and go to sleep immediately. Legend says that anyone who wakes while we cross these waters will vanish into thin air, and no one will be able to save them."
The man's tone was confident but respectful, suggesting a position of authority. He was likely the captain of the ship.
The players' modern clothing clearly clashed with the captain's period attire. It was impossible to know what this NPC saw when he looked at them—what identities or appearances they held in his eyes.
"Gentlemen, I swear on my name—Crouch—that I am not merely trying to frighten you." The captain's voice grew urgent, as if he were genuinely concerned for their safety. "Surely, you have all heard the tales..."
"And what about you?" a young man in gold-rimmed glasses interrupted with a smile. "Will you be staying awake while we cross?"
It was a paradox. If being awake was truly dangerous, then the captain himself would have to sleep, leaving the ship unpiloted and adrift—a far greater danger.
The captain gave a wry smile. "I am different. I am a follower of the Sea God, and I have His protection. Now, all of you, get to your cabins. The Sea God's wrath is stirring..."
As if to confirm his words, a hazy mist had begun to rise from the sea's surface. The briny stench billowed as if it were a physical entity, sweeping across the deck in waves. Within the mist, faint, grayish-black phantoms flickered.
In the distance, faint yellow lights blinked in and out of existence. They began to sway, and in an instant, the few scattered halos of light multiplied into a vast constellation of dots, surrounding the ship from all sides and drawing ever closer.
"Into the cabins, now!" the captain yelled, waving frantically toward the hatch.
Not daring to hesitate, the players surged toward the open hatchway, just as he'd ordered.
The first few to rush inside saw something that made them freeze in their tracks, but they were quickly shoved forward by the press of people behind them and fell to the floor.
Amid the chaos, a woman's sobbing cry cut through the noise: "Don't come in! There are... there are ghosts inside!"
Her voice was shrill, cutting through the clamor. The moment she spoke, everyone froze as if they were insects trapped in amber. Even the noise vanished in an instant, swallowed up like a stone dropped into thick mud.
Stooped, decaying black shadows shot out from the hatchway, one after another. They had no physical substance, yet their human silhouettes were horrifyingly clear.
They formed a line and hopped bizarrely toward the ship's rail. One by one, they vaulted over the side and plunged into the sea below. For some reason, it reminded Qi Si of lemmings marching to their doom.
They were undeniably ghosts, yet they seemed completely oblivious to the players' presence, simply following a predetermined path off the side of the ship, as if they had repeated this same cycle countless times before.
In the dead silence, the captain's broken voice began to tremble. "It's over... The sirens... they're controlling the undead to claim our souls! We're doomed... Our ship is cursed! We're all going to die!"
The deck began to tremble violently. Darkness descended, blanketing the sky and sea, bringing with it the terror of sudden, absolute blindness.
The captain's voice faded into the distance as a biting, knife-like wind swept across the deck, carrying the roar of the waves. Then, a hoarse, male narrator's voice began to speak:
[The pursuit of wealth, the thirst for honor—these things drove you from your homes and onto the waves for a long voyage.]
[Merchant, scholar, noble... you left these titles behind on the shore. Now, you are but travelers far from home, ambitious souls adrift on the vast ocean.]
[Poverty, plague, suffering, and death... or civilization, technology, science, and progress... truth and lies no longer matter.]
[By a twist of fate, you have arrived in a land beyond any map, and here you are trapped.]
[Welcome, lost souls, to this Hopeless Sea. May the Sea God have mercy on you.]