Chapter 74: Hopeless Sea |
Yuna emerged from behind the counter, pushing a food trolley. A sharp, fishy odor preceded her—a smell that wasn't nauseating but was certainly far from pleasant. It threw Qi Si back years to a salted fish factory he'd once visited.
He remembered a cavernous, dark room, crammed wall to wall with the carcasses of fish. He’d always felt as if he were one of those decaying bodies himself—not a pleasant memory by any stretch.
The scent was arresting enough to make the players fall silent, holding their breath in unison as they turned to watch Yuna. Yet she seemed oblivious, smiling as she wheeled the trolley to the large table in the center of the hall. With pale hands, she began setting down plates of dark, unappetizing dishes.
Qi Si walked over for a closer look. The ten dishes were almost entirely fish: dried salted fish, steamed fish, fried fish, fish soup... A single dish of seaweed was the only vegetarian option, but even that was sprinkled with flecks of a waxy, yellow substance that killed any appetite.
For a fleeting moment, Qi Si found himself missing Anna. How could two NPCs have such a wildly different sense of cuisine?
Ignoring the players' stares, Yuna methodically placed fifteen sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table before swaying back behind the counter.
The players vaguely recalled that just before they had appeared on the island, they had seen a crowd of ghostly figures leaping into the sea, some even sprouting fish tails. Now, confronted with a banquet composed entirely of fish, they couldn't help but make the connection.
A few of the more cautious players even took several steps back, trying to escape the encroaching fishy stench.
Lu Li stared at the dishes on the table in silence.
The long-haired young man nearest to him gasped, his face lighting up with the excitement of a fan meeting their idol. "Professor Lu, I can't believe it's really you! I knew you looked familiar! You're the youngest professor at Yan University, aren't you? I just read an article about you online last week!"
He introduced himself as Ye Linsheng, a university student in Beidu, which made his recognition of Lu Li perfectly plausible.
Several other players also seemed to recall the article he mentioned, exchanging glances of astonishment.
After becoming official players, it was common practice to conceal one's real-world identity. Anyone with a recognizable face was wise to spend a few points on altering their appearance.
They never expected someone to not only forgo any disguise but to actively reveal their true identity.
"That's me. I didn't realize I was so famous I'd be recognized everywhere," Lu Li said with a touch of humor.
He raised his right hand and pressed it down gently, motioning for quiet with the practiced air of a teacher addressing his students. "The vessel we were on at the start of the instance was a carrack, a type of sailing ship popular in the 15th century. Combined with the narration, we can basically determine that the instance is set during the Age of Discovery, from the 15th to the 17th century..."
Qi Si stood at the edge of the crowd and listened for a moment before deciding not to pollute his mind with any more knowledge.
He turned, walked over to the table laden with food, and picked up a bowl and chopsticks. Carefully avoiding the bits of meat floating on the surface, he scooped a mouthful of seaweed and put it in his mouth.
He had to admit, the stuff looked disgusting, and it tasted... well, it tasted just as disgusting. The experience instantly extinguished any hope Qi Si had of eating well in this instance.
He glanced back at the others, still engrossed in their history lesson. A realization dawned, and he quickly shoveled half the seaweed into his bowl, meticulously picking out the specks of meat with his chopsticks.
Then, he carried his bowl to a corner, squatted down, and began forcing the seaweed down his throat, one mouthful at a time, his expression unchanging.
Chang Xu watched Qi Si take a tentative bite, then wolf down half the seaweed as if worried someone would steal it, and finally wipe his mouth with a look of lingering satisfaction. A seed of doubt was planted in his mind.
Although he wasn't a picky eater, he, like any other normal person, had zero interest in the pungent fish dishes on the table.
But from Qi Si's reaction, could that seaweed actually be delicious?
He hesitated for a moment before picking up a bowl and chopsticks himself. He put a bit of seaweed into his mouth. The salty, fishy taste shot straight to his brain. It wasn't bad enough to make him spit it out, but it certainly couldn't be described as "edible."
For a moment, he stared at Qi Si with a peculiar expression, as if looking at some incomprehensible, alien creature.
Qi Si looked up and met Chang Xu’s resentful gaze. Noticing the bowl and chopsticks in the other man’s hands, he offered a brilliant smile. "Brother Chang, I saved you half."
Their eyes met, and in that instant, understanding dawned on Chang Xu as well. He immediately followed Qi Si's lead, scraping the remaining seaweed into his own bowl.
By the time the two of them had quietly taken care of dinner and slipped upstairs, the rest of the players had finally concluded their discussion.
Lu Li rose and walked to the dining table, sighing softly. "Everyone, let's eat. We don't know how many days we'll be in this instance, and we can't go on an empty stomach."
The third rule was perfectly clear: [The food on the island is edible. Please eat at the designated times. Only by eating the food on the island can you become a follower of the Sea God].
Having all survived the novice pool, they knew that hunger was extremely dangerous in an instance. They had eaten worse things before; they could just pinch their noses and swallow it like medicine.
The players settled around the table. As they picked up their bowls and chopsticks, their faces twitched in annoyance. The only vegetable dish on the table had been picked clean, with only the bits of meat carefully returned to the platter.
All that remained were fish dishes of unknown origin, relentlessly emitting their foul, fishy odor...
...
The second-floor hallway of the inn was long and narrow. The room doors were set into the wooden walls, almost blending in completely. There were no lights in the corridor; they could only rely on a faint, sourceless glow to make out the crooked room numbers on the doors.
Qi Si followed behind Chang Xu, hearing the man in front ask in a conversational tone, "Si Qi, what do you think of the Kyushu Guild?"
His voice was cool, making the question sound more like an interrogation.
Qi Si answered with a smile, "Their spirit is commendable, but their methods are utterly foolish."
Chang Xu paused. "Why do you say that?"
"Bad money drives out good. Those with higher moral standards are the first to be eliminated. Besides, most of the time, this so-called adherence to a baseline is just self-righteous delusion." Qi Si stopped in front of a door on the right side of the hallway, took out a thin piece of wire, and began picking the lock. He was pleased to find that the locks in this inn were just as susceptible.
He put the wire away, reset the door, and quickened his pace to catch up with Chang Xu. "In your view, how are morality and justice defined? Ghosts eat humans, and humans kill ghosts; both are just following the survival instincts of their respective species."
"In the real world, we follow a human-centric ideology and establish a set of moral codes to restrain our own kind. But in this weird game, who gets to make the rules? After all, if we're going by first come, first served, the ghosts are the hosts, and we're the guests."
Chang Xu stopped and turned his head to look Qi Si in the eye. "But we are all human, not ghosts. Someone once told me: ‘Man was not born to be a beast.’"
Qi Si shook his head with a smile. "You see? That's the self-serving nature of human-centric thinking. It’s useless against outsiders but perfect for holding your own kind hostage. All anyone wants is to survive. We all use our own skills to do it, so what’s there to be ashamed of? Humans are animals, after all. Why insist on elevating ourselves above the beasts?"
Chang Xu sensed that the argument was a logical fallacy, riddled with holes, but he had never been obsessed with changing other people's views.
A life for a life, punishment for harm—the Federation relied on its instruments of force to maintain this system, without ever caring whether a criminal was repentant or had a self-consistent logic.
Still, there was something about Qi Si he couldn't quite grasp. The man could become a huge problem down the line...
Chang Xu rubbed the back of his neck. "Si Qi, do you have any plans to join a guild?"
Qi Si pondered for a moment before answering honestly, "No, I don't see the need for it right now. Without teaming items, guilds are more or less useless. I have no intention of trading most of my points and items for their so-called thirty-six years of accumulated experience."
"And I have no interest in that guild called 'Sila.' A bunch of self-proclaimed social Darwinists choosing to band together—it's both foolish and laughable."
Chang Xu nodded in understanding, then pulled a white ring from his pocket. "This is a teaming item modeled after the Sila Guild's ring. It activates when you put it on."
"...Huh?"
Chang Xu averted his gaze and recited his prepared lines in a monotone. "The instances in the official player pool are quite difficult. Teaming up can effectively increase our chances of survival. You are the strongest player I've met since entering the game, and I look forward to continuing to cooperate with you."
Qi Si was silent for two seconds, a faint, knowing smile playing on his lips. "You even have the teaming item ready. You're not going to try to trick me into joining some guild next, are you?"
"I won't," Chang Xu said, then added, "I haven't joined a guild myself yet."
"Is that so..." Qi Si’s smile widened, and he reached out to take the ring.
He casually stuffed it into his pants pocket and said in a joking tone, "Since you're the one asking for cooperation, how about you follow my arrangements for all our actions from now on?"
Chang Xu didn't understand the implication and shook his head in refusal. "Including this instance, we've only worked together twice. We don't know each other very well. I think it would be more reasonable to analyze each situation as it comes."
"Really?" Qi Si's eyes narrowed as he stared at the line of text appearing in the air before him: [Soul Contract skill activation failed. You may not attempt to establish a contract with this entity regarding this clause again within this instance].
There was no dice roll; it was an immediate failure. Was it because Chang Xu had verbally refused?
Combined with his two experiments in the real world, Qi Si was beginning to grasp the activation conditions for the "Soul Contract."
If the other party agreed, the contract was an instant success. Correspondingly, if they refused, it was an instant failure.
Only when the other party's intention was ambiguous would a dice roll be used to determine the outcome. A successful roll would then enforce the contract through the rules...
Of course, the precise definition of "ambiguous intention" would require more experimentation.
Qi Si stared at the back of Chang Xu's head, unconcealed malice in his eyes.
The man was clearly still suspicious of him, and quite wary. Keeping him around would be a major liability...