Arc 2: Luxury Cruise
Chapter 24
Xu Ziyue raised his hand and scratched his cheek with his finger in embarra.s.sment. He smiled nervously, "Did I disturb you?"
Austin shook his head and pushed his wheelchair back into the room, "No, I just happen to be bored."
Xu Ziyue breathed a sigh of relief. If he was hated by someone so good-looking, he would really want to cry.
Austin indicated for Xu Ziyue to sit on the small sofa before pouring him some tea. He pushed some snacks on the table over to Xu Ziyue.
Xu Ziyue acted somewhat restrained towards Austin and only drank a small sip of the tea. Although Sun Mo looked rather gloomy, his ident.i.ty and actions didn"t make others feel distant. On the other hand, Austin"s demeanour and actions completely expressed the fact that he was a superior.
It gave off the feeling that he could only be looked at from a distance, but not to be played with.
"Austin, do you know much about this cruise ship?" Xu Ziyue guessed that Austin was probably someone well off who was out on a holiday. People like this would definitely know more than the clueless players who had just entered this world.
Of course, he was only casually asking and didn"t expect much. Afterall, not everyone would research about their trip before they leave.
Austin"s hand holding the teacup paused. He smiled, "I guess I know some things." He took a sip, "Why? Did something happen?"
Xu Ziyue looked at Austin in amazement, "How did you know something happened?"
Austin lifted his chin and looked at Xu Ziyue: "It"s written on your face."
Xu Ziyue didn"t hide anything and instantly told Austin about everything that happened at the water slide and swimming pool.
"Has something like this happened before? Because I feel like the N…….the staff here are quite used to it." That wasn"t a simple matter of being used to something. It was calmness and indifference. There wasn"t a single change in their eyes when it happened.
Unless they were emotionless, it was probably something they saw often; so often, it no longer seemed strange. Like cats catching mice and humans stepping on an ant, it wasn"t anything unusual.
"And when we first got onto the ship, the tour guide said that we should be friendly with the foreign tourists. Was it because he dirtied the pool water and disturbed the others that this happened?" Xu Ziyue licked his lips. It had become a little dry from all the talking.
"Your tour guide said something like that……….." Austin appeared to be in thought. His finger gently rubbed against the rim of his teacup……..
Please read this from kk translates
Xu Ziyue watched Austin"s hand and felt that even his hand was very attractive. Although he didn"t have a hand-fetish, attractive hands can give an originally attractive person bonus points.
The more Xu Ziyue thought about this, the more embarra.s.sed he became. He lowered his head and finished off the rest of the tea in his cup.
Austin said: "What he said wasn"t quite accurate."
Xu Ziyue looked up. He looked at Austin in confusion.
Austin revealed a meaningful smile and said: "This part of the sea has a legend."
Xu Ziyue was stunned, "Le-legend?"
"Mhn. To put it simply, it speaks of a special monster in the sea they call sea monster. The sea monster has the ability to enter a human"s body. While the human goes about with normal activities, they would eat the human from the inside until all the internal organs are gone and only the outer skin is left. Even like this, the human would still be able to move around and think for themselves."
Xu Ziyue held his breath, "And then?"
"And then the sea monster will replace that human and move to live on land."
Xu Ziyue"s mouth moved. He was only able to find his voice again after a while, "Then is there a way to distinguish people who were replaced by the sea monsters?"
"If you really want to know, there are only two ways. The first is that sea monsters will need to return to the sea after a certain period of time. If you see them take off their human skin or put it on, then you will know."
Xu Ziyue felt that the thing he saw last night was probably this, but the deck was extremely dark, and he could only tell that it was a man.
Xu Ziyue could only hope that the remaining method would be useful, "Then what about the second one?"
"That leaves only dissection. Once you dissect the body of someone who is parasitised, you will see that the upper half of the body would be hollow and there would be the sea monster in there. Occasionally, they may be female sea monsters and you can even see their eggs."
Xu Ziyue"s expression gradually became ugly, "The-then does that mean that I wouldn"t know if I was being parasitised?"
Austin shook his head, "You"re not."
Xu Ziyue nodded weakly, "If Austin says I"m not, then I"m sure I"m not." But he still felt a little apprehensive inside.
"With something like this happening on this cruise ship, won"t the ship return?" Xu Ziyue couldn"t help but think about the black hair, bones and lumps of flesh blocking the drainage pipes in the pool and felt a little sick.
Austin smiled and shook his head.
That dead player had done several things which consequently resulted in this. First, he lost the card, then he got involved in a fight and finally he went and tried to wash off the blood in the pool. However, the one who lost the card wasn"t just him. He did however look a little strange during the fight.
At the very least, his expression resembling those of a rampant beast made others retreat three feet away.
Xu Ziyue sighed, "This cruise is really strange…….." Strange staff, strange tourists……and also strange players.
Normally if there was a death on board, the cruise would have already turned back.
Xu Ziyue fell into thought. He then realised something, "Then does the tour guide know of the sea monster"s existence? Was that why he requested that we got along with the foreign tourists? It was so that we don"t draw the wrath of the sea monsters?"
Austin didn"t expect Xu Ziyue to accept it so quickly, "You already believe it?"
Xu Ziyue nodded, "Yeah." On one hand, it was because it was something Austin said. On the other hand…..
Xu Ziyue leaned forward and acted very secretive.
Please read this from kk translates
"In fact, I saw it last night." Xu Ziyue told Austin about the what he saw last night from his room.
Austin nodded. He now understood why Xu Ziyue accepted it so quickly.
"It"s not that if you don"t provoke sea monsters, it won"t come and find you. For sea monsters, it takes about half a day to two days to completely consume a humans" internal organs and they can only use the bodies freely for no more than five days. Of course, if you incurred its wrath, it most certainly will not let it go." Austin hooked up his lips, "They are very vengeful creatures."
Xu Ziyue calculated it. That would mean that four would die over the span of a month? But there can"t possibly only be one sea monster.
Xu Ziyue scratched his head in distress.
"Thank you, Austin. If not for you, I wouldn"t have known." Xu Ziyue only took this as himself triggering an NPC"s reminder. He felt that his luck wasn"t bad for him to meet Austin who was capable of clarifying his confusions.
Austin said: "I also only knew about it through the legend and books."
"I must tell the others about this, but I also don"t know if anyone amongst them are already under control." What should he do if the sea monster found out about him exposing their existence and wanted revenge?
Austin also mentioned that they are vengeful creatures.
Austin said thoughtfully: "I have an idea."
Xu Ziyue stared at him intently.
Xu Ziyue handed over the list of tasks to Austin and then went to look for the other players to tell them that they were required to gather in the activity room on the fourth floor.
One told ten, ten told a hundred; it was a lot more convenient than Xu Ziyue pa.s.sing on the message alone.
This way, even if there are sea monsters the source of the message is not known.
Although it was not known whether everyone had been notified, the agreed time was soon approaching so Xu Ziyue could only hurry over to the activity room.
As soon as he entered the activity room, he saw that there was an NPC handing out pamphlets to various players.
Xu Ziyue recognised that NPC as Austin"s subordinate.
He also read through the pamphlet. Matters involving the sea monsters were detailed inside. The expressions of the players soon began to change, and they grew wary of the people next to them.
Xu Ziyue had also considered this consequence, but he still decided to tell them. Knowing was better than not knowing. If something happened, you could at least be prepared.
But for the time being, he still didn"t know what measures he could take against the sea monsters.
After the NPC left, the players didn"t discuss anything. Afterall, no one knew whether the person next to them had been parasitised.
They only counted the people present and realised that three were missing.
Only a day had pa.s.sed and three were missing. If things continued at this rate, there wouldn"t be many players left by the end of the month. However, no one could guarantee that only three would go missing each day.
When he left the activity room, it was already dark. Xu Ziyue slowly walked up the stairs in thought.
There was not only the issue of the sea monster on this cruise ship. Xu Ziyue had personally witnessed someone drying himself with a towel until large chunks of flesh was torn off. What kind of force could get someone to rub off their own skin? That was a towel, not a kitchen knife.
However, it would be much more easily explained if you took into consideration supernatural forces. Do supernatural things happen logically? No!
That was something no one could interfere with. No matter how you try to investigate the cause, nothing would be found.
You were just unlucky and got selected. It didn"t matter if you didn"t do anything.
If that was the case, Xu Ziyue wouldn"t reach a conclusion no matter how hard he thought about it.
And so, he decided to stop thinking.
On the third day, Xu Ziyue again brought over breakfast for Austin.
Xu Ziyue watched Austin eat in daze.
"I heard you say yesterday that you were going to try the activities on this ship?" After breakfast, Austin sipped his coffee.
Xu Ziyue smiled. "But with something like that happening……..I can"t do it alone."
"Then I"ll go with you." Austin placed down his coffee cup.
Xu Ziyue"s eyes brightened. "Really?"
Austin nodded with certainty.
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KK has something to say:
Ewww they eat you up from the inside ??