Chapter 83: Neglect |
"...I told Yuna that if she didn't let Uncle Zhang and me go, I would smash that painting."
Liu Yuhan sat on a low stool, tucked away in the shadows of a corner, her gaze vacant as she stared at the ceiling through her glasses.
"She seemed to care a great deal about that painting. I told Uncle Zhang to go first, and I used the canvas as a shield to cover our retreat. She kept her distance, never getting closer than a few feet, until I had backed all the way out of the kitchen. That's when she finally snapped and lunged for it... I had no choice but to hand it over."
Liu Yuhan briefly recounted the day's events, from the coconuts that became human heads to the near-fatal encounter she'd triggered in the kitchen.
Zhang Hongfeng, standing nearby, nodded to confirm her story.
"The paintings in the inn rooms are probably all 'The Exodus of Moses.' Considering the hallucination Chang Xu and I saw at the top of the clock tower, the instance's backstory likely has strong religious undertones."
Qi Si mused, then suddenly lowered his voice. "What do you think a god is really like?"
Liu Yuhan looked up sharply.
Qi Si smiled and posed another question. "Between Yuna and the Sea God, who seems more like the god of this place? Or... is it possible neither of them is?"
"Shh." Qi Si placed a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.
While the two teams were comparing notes, the remaining players began to trickle back into the inn.
Seeing the four of them huddled in a corner, deep in conversation, the newcomers were naturally drawn over, joining the discussion.
After hearing about Liu Yuhan's horrifying ordeal, the players who had explored the coconut grove hastily declared they wouldn't be going anywhere near the island's produce.
The bloodstains on Zhang Hongfeng hadn't washed out completely and had now dried into dark, muddy patches.
He remarked with a shudder, "I'll have that boat fixed by this time tomorrow, at the latest. We can leave soon, so there's no sense in risking our necks for a bite to eat..."
Liu Yuhan shot him a sidelong glance. Her lips parted as if to speak, but she said nothing.
The players who had gone to the clock tower had, for the most part, a quiet trip.
All four of them, who had split into two groups, returned safe and sound. Aside from a long-haired girl who was silently reapplying her makeup, the other three were quite talkative. They chattered over one another, recounting their experiences, though all of them conveniently omitted what had happened at the very top of the tower.
What was strange was that all three groups—the four of them and Qi Si's pair—had gone to the clock tower around the same time, yet somehow, none had crossed paths.
The long-haired young man, Ye Linsheng, joked, "With so many of us there, you'd think we'd bump into each other. Don't tell me we're dealing with parallel dimensions or something?"
Since everyone was just throwing out ideas, a scruffy-looking middle-aged man beside him chimed in. "Could be we were just walking in circles, caught in some kind of illusion. The feng shui of this island is all wrong—it's nothing but twists and turns. Who's ever heard of an island shaped like this in the real world?"
Talking about feng shui in the Weird Game was like pointing to a storm and declaring the ground would get wet—it was stating the obvious. Every last horror instance had terrible feng shui.
Qi Si thought for a moment, then asked, "Has anyone been to the altar in the center of the island?"
As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward Angela in the crowd.
The girl had her head lowered, clearly trying to make herself inconspicuous.
As all eyes turned to her, she had no choice but to speak up. "The altar is a long way off. It's not a quick trip. I was originally going with Lu Li, but halfway there... for some reason, he insisted that I turn back."
She pouted, her expression full of hurt, as if she were genuinely upset about being sent away by Lu Li.
Liu Yuhan's eyes shifted to her, her gaze unsettling. "There are only ten of us here," she said quietly. "Three people haven't returned yet."
Actually, only two were missing. The third guy's skull was already smashed to pulp.
Qi Si was telling himself grim jokes, but his expression remained impassive.
Chang Xu cast a subtle glance at his teammate. Seeing the man's perfectly innocent expression, he wisely kept his mouth shut, his own face a perfect, unreadable mask.
He had no idea what scheme Qi Si was cooking up, but since they were in the same boat, it was best not to undermine him.
Worst case, if Qi Si actually tried to harm someone, he would step in then. With his own skills, he was confident he could handle whatever happened.
The short man laughed. "Hey, it's still early, what's the rush? Let's keep going over the clues." Since there was still some time before dinner, Chang Xu took the lead, recounting the hallucination he'd seen at the top of the clock tower.
His delivery was dry and unembellished, but he managed to lay out the sequence of events clearly enough.
If building the boat only satisfied the main objective of escaping the island, then exploring the clock tower was crucial for understanding the lore.
The main objective was just the baseline. Having given up on the side quest of killing each other, they'd have to focus on uncovering the lore and maximizing their exploration rating to earn a high score.
"The instance's backstory can be divided into two periods. First, Yuna, through some unknown means, made contact with the Sea God and sent an entire ship's crew to their graves at sea. The reason for this is unknown."
Qi Si analyzed calmly, leaning against a nearby table.
"It's highly likely Yuna also struck some kind of bargain with the Sea God. To achieve her own wish, she remains on the Hopeless Sea, welcoming one group of travelers after another, only to have them die in sin as offerings."
The word "sin" might have sounded overly dramatic out of context, but at the mention of it, the eyes of two players flickered.
While certain information might have been censored on the forums, it was clearly an open secret among the veterans.
Qi Si continued his explanation in a calm, almost detached voice. "The second period involves the crew that was accidentally caught in the Hopeless Sea, as well as players like us."
"The isolated Hopeless Sea, where day and night have no meaning, has taken its final form. The island has become Yuna's domain, governed by its own set of strange rules. The coconuts that turn into heads, the fish Yuna served us... I suspect they were all crew members who died here before we arrived."
"Our next step should be to find out what happened to that crew, and if they left behind any clues about how to get out of this. It could be the key to our survival."
He tactfully omitted any mention of the diary he and Chang Xu had found, instead attributing his knowledge of the previous crew to Liu Yuhan's report.
The players followed Qi Si's line of reasoning, and a new round of discussion began.
"The main NPC is hostile. This is going to be tough..."
"So, any hope for getting that Sleep Aid Soup tonight?"
"Everyone on this island is dead except for us. Who can we possibly trust?"
A quiet anxiety began to spread through the group, and varying degrees of worry clouded each person's face.
For some reason, it occurred to Qi Si that Yuna was acting like a cat toying with a mouse—unleashing her malice without restraint, forcing the players to wait for their end in a state of constant fear and suspense...
In a way, it was a timelessly effective method of torture.
"What's taking those three so long?" Angela shrugged. "It's almost time for dinner. It's just an altar. What could possibly be taking them this long?"
The Caucasian man, who had been on the fringes of the conversation, mumbled, "Maybe they ran into trouble. Maybe they're dead."
The long-haired young man shot him a glare. "Watch your mouth! If a veteran of Professor Lu's caliber is in trouble, then none of us are making it out of here alive!"
It was a grim sentiment, but not far from the truth.
A veteran who had cleared eighteen official instances possessed more than just a sizable collection of life-saving items; they had intuition and experience, honed over countless life-or-death situations.
Unlike the novice pool, the official instances didn't have built-in filters designed to weed out players. Among the veterans, it was simple: the more instances you cleared, the higher your chances of survival.
"He's just a pretty boy, and you all fall for his act!" the Caucasian man sneered, drawing himself up to his full height. He towered a head over the long-haired youth. "You think I'm afraid to get my hands dirty, kid?"
He was tall and powerfully built, standing out from the rest of the players. If a fight broke out, no one would risk stepping in for the youth and making an enemy of the big man.
"There's no point in all this speculation," the short man interjected, trying to mediate with a nervous chuckle. "If they come back, great. If they don't... well, then we'll know to stay away from the altar. It's still early, dinner isn't even ready..."
A heavy *thud* cut him off, followed by the sound of ragged gasps and pained groans.
Everyone turned in unison toward the entrance of the inn, where the sounds had come from.
A figure in a long brown trench coat stumbled into the lobby and collapsed, the heavy scent of blood washing over them.
It was Lu Li!