Anchor Hall
Chapter 535: The wind is picking up
“Alright,” Chen Cheng yawned again, standing up from his seat. “I’m going to sleep…”
While walking out, he waved his hand without looking back:
“See you tomorrow night.”
The cabin door closed again, leaving only silence in the room.
“…”
Wen Jianyan took out his phone from his pocket, and the Nightmare notification finally arrived late.
“To celebrate the end of the Top Ten Challenge and the birth of the new Top Ten, a banquet will be held on the Lucky Cruise Ship, and all survivors of the Top Ten Challenge will be issued seven-day luxury VIP boat tickets and…”
Wen Jianyan quickly scanned the content behind, not reading carefully.
But no matter what, the content wasn’t much different from what Chen Cheng just recounted.
“Did he just say all survivors will board the ship?” Blond looked at Wen Jianyan’s face and spoke carefully to break the silence. “Then…”
His voice became lower and lower until the remaining content was swallowed into the gradually stagnating air.
Ji Guan sat on the chair boldly, expression gloomy, eyes revealing hostility.
Except for him, the faces of the others didn’t look good either.
Although Maggie and other newcomers didn’t understand why, they still quieted down sensibly.
Su Cheng’s withdrawal from the guild.
This topic was simply like the elephant in the room.
Since this incident happened, everyone tacitly kept silent about it, as if they had completely forgotten it.
However, it gathered heavily like dark clouds in the hearts of all guild members… Although avoided in conversation, it always existed.
“Mm.” Wen Jianyan nodded, attitude still calm and at ease. “Should be coming.”
“…” Everyone’s heart sank.
—Until now, finally unavoidable.
“Since we don’t plan to disembark, meeting Su Cheng should happen sooner or later, so I suggest you all prepare mentally in advance.”
Wen Jianyan put his phone back in his pocket, raised his eyes to look at everyone in the room, and continued:
“Although the guilds we belong to are different, this doesn’t mean we have to distance ourselves when we meet—just like Qi Qian. Although he is the vice president of Dark Fire Guild, he is still my very good friend… right?”
Chen Mo and Wen Ya looked at each other, hesitant to speak.
Qi Qian?
As far as they knew, after Wen Jianyan decided to take a vacation, Qi Qian sent several messages hoping they would take their president back—and the wording was very tough—seemingly because Wen Jianyan was really too annoying in the office, affecting their normal work operations.
…Don’t tell me it’s your unilateral “good friend”?
“However, there is a major premise,”
Wen Jianyan suddenly changed the topic. He looked around, voice slightly lowered, “Never forget who he is now.”
“He is the vice president of Oracle.”
Even though they had long been prepared, at the moment this matter was pointed out undisguisedly, everyone’s heart still couldn’t help sinking downwards.
Wen Jianyan’s meaning just now was very clear.
He wouldn’t restrict normal interactions between the club and club members… but all this was based on knowing each other’s positions clearly.
Remember.
They had parted ways.
Remember.
Hearing this, the entire cabin fell into dead silence again.
“Alright, it’s getting late now. Everyone go rest too,” unlike the heavy atmosphere indoors, Wen Jianyan’s demeanor was quite relaxed. He waved his hand, saying, “See you tomorrow.”
He turned and left.
Long after Wen Jianyan left, someone finally spoke.
Maggie hesitated, looking at the faces of the others around, and asked: “Um… who was the person you just mentioned…?”
“Should be the former guild vice president,” Chang Feiyu took over the conversation naturally. “As far as I know, it was because of his withdrawal that a seat opened up in the guild for us to compete for, right?”
“Mm.” Wen Ya nodded.
Kong Wei: “He is now the vice president of Oracle?”
Wen Ya: “Mm.”
Maggie widened her eyes, letting out a “wow”.
As the guild that occupied the top spot for a long time, Oracle’s name was known to everyone. Being able to sit on the throne of Oracle’s vice president in one fell swoop was comparable to reaching the sky in a single step.
“…I think it’s not very good.”
Kong Wei frowned.
“What’s not good?” Chang Feiyu wore a cheerful smile on his face, saying, “Good birds choose trees to nest in. Choosing a guild more beneficial to personal development isn’t necessarily wrong.”
Kong Wei sat silently for a long time before saying: “Just not very good.”
“…The situation here is very complicated.” Chen Mo raised his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose, saying, “I suggest you’d better not express too many opinions.”
Su Cheng was the person who had known Wen Jianyan the longest in the entire guild. They experienced the most instances together, and naturally, their friendship was the deepest. Their break was even related to another elder in the guild.
A bloody, heavy human life placed on the scale cruelly cut a distinct rift.
Contradictions intertwined within, hard to reconcile. Even they, the elders, had no qualification to interject on this.
Chen Mo couldn’t help looking at the closed cabin door, a trace of deep worry flashing in his eyes.
Whether it was this live reality show or the sailing Lucky Cruise Ship, under the seemingly calm surface, waves were surging. The arrival of the new Top Ten and other challenge survivors made the situation appear increasingly confusing… How would it end in the last?
No one knew the answer.
A night passed.
A new day of live reality show, a new day of public missions.
The content of public missions wasn’t much different from the previous day.
Although quite a few conflicts erupted in the lower-level cabins, the overall order of the Lucky Cruise Ship was maintained quite well. Everything was controlled within an acceptable range.
Like the previous day, Wen Jianyan’s schedule today followed the prescribed order.
By the end of the morning, he had almost completed the public and private missions. Although others weren’t as efficient as him, they had gradually mastered the knacks and become handy with it.
Outside the casino.
Wen Jianyan leaned against the bar counter. Behind him, the sea and sky were the same color; only a few snow-white seagulls glided low. The Lucky Cruise Ship sailed smoothly, everything appearing quiet and peaceful.
He looked at Wen Ya: “Where’s Chen Cheng? Still resting?”
“Mm.” Wen Ya held down the white sun hat on her head. The wide brim cast a shadow, covering her elegant face. “The instance difficulty wasn’t small; he estimates he’ll sleep a bit longer.”
She looked at Wen Jianyan: “What time does the celebration banquet start?”
Wen Jianyan recalled the content of the notification last night, saying: “Six in the evening.”
“Are you participating?” Wen Ya asked.
This celebration banquet had attendance conditions.
Anchors who survived the Top Ten Challenge (each had two invitation quotas) and Nightmare Top Ten (they also had two invitation quotas) could participate.
However, this celebration banquet didn’t force streamers to attend—especially Nightmare Top Ten.
“Probably not.” Wen Jianyan shrugged, saying.
Judging from the structure of the participating crowd, this celebration banquet was just a celebration banquet; the probability of tricks was very low.
Moreover, in the end, it had no direct interest relationship with him. Attending wouldn’t bring any benefits; instead, it required a lot of useless socializing, wasting much mental energy that didn’t need to be wasted.
Wen Ya paused: “Because of Su Cheng?”
“You think I want to avoid him?” Wen Jianyan glanced at her, that glance seeming to see through all the other party’s unspoken words.
He shook his head and smiled: “No… exactly the opposite.”
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze, drank a mouthful of the colorful tropical juice in the cup, saying unhurriedly:
“If he wanted to meet, then you would have seen him by now.”
Wen Ya was stunned.
She understood Wen Jianyan’s implication almost immediately.
—Unless Su Cheng didn’t want to.
Wen Ya sighed lightly in her heart and stopped speaking.
Near six in the evening, Chen Cheng walked out of the cabin.
His expression was gloomy, appearing very irritable due to lack of sleep:
“…What crappy banquet still forces participation? After finishing the instance, don’t I need to rest? Fucking stupid Nightmare, only knows how to do flashy formalism—”
Wen Ya pointed at Chen Cheng’s collar, “Your tie is crooked.”
Chen Cheng with a gloomy face, adjusted his collar roughly, “Constricting.”
The banquet had a dress code, so Chen Cheng could only wear this.
And he obviously wasn’t used to wearing formal attire—even though the cut fit his body shape perfectly, it still seemed restrictive to young people like Chen Cheng.
He looked at Wen Jianyan, raising an eyebrow asking:
“You really not going?”
Although the banquet was open to all Top Ten Challenge survivors, Nightmare Top Ten could also participate.
“Not going,” Wen Jianyan paralyzed on the chair shapelessly, waving at him: “Have fun.”
Wen Ya sighed—she sighed more tonight than ever before.
“Alright.”
After speaking, the two turned and left.
Wen Jianyan lay on the deck chair, continuing to enjoy the sea breeze.
It wasn’t early anymore.
The sun’s position had shifted. The sea surface was shrouded in the dim twilight unique to evening. The deep blue sea surface rippled with light; layers of waves pushed the cruise ship, the scene peaceful.
Today’s reality show duration had met the standard. Thus, Wen Jianyan turned off the live stream and began to enjoy the long-lost leisure.
Pity, such leisure didn’t last long.
Soon, Chen Mo and the others walked out from inside the casino.
However… not sure if it was an illusion, their faces seemed a bit wrong.
Wen Jianyan frowned, gaze sweeping over everyone’s faces, asking, “Did something happen?”
“No, nothing happened.”
Chen Mo frowned tightly. After hesitating for a few seconds, he spoke: “Just… the atmosphere in the casino seems a bit wrong.”
Atmosphere a bit wrong?
Wen Jianyan was stunned, expression becoming serious.
He knew Nightmare prepared to tamper with this ship. Although temporarily not knowing the method, the casino on the cruise ship would obviously become the core of the conflict. Precisely because of this, he paid extra attention to this place.
“Go, take me to see.”
Chen Mo nodded, and the group re-entered the casino.
As soon as he stepped inside, Wen Jianyan immediately felt the anomaly within.
Although still overcrowded gambling tables, jingling chips, and slot machines making cheerful sounds, everything indistinguishable from yesterday, the day before yesterday, or even the day before that, the atmosphere mixed within had undergone subtle changes.
Just as Chen Mo said…
Something was wrong.
The previously fake high celebratory atmosphere contracted, replaced by a kind of near-demonic mania and tension. Everyone’s face was written with the same obsession and madness, staring at the gambling tables and games in front of them as if possessed, like they were about to throw their whole body and mind onto it.
Wen Jianyan frowned, looking around slowly in the casino.
“You guys wait for me outside.”
He turned his head to say to the crowd behind him.
The others looked at each other. Although not understanding why, they nodded one after another and left the casino.
Wen Jianyan raised his hand to loosen his collar, walking towards one of the gambling tables.
To figure out what exactly Nightmare was doing now, the most direct and fastest method was naturally to find a certain non-human to analyze the numbers on the big screen. But Wu Zhu was missing now, so he could only use his own method to verify—although time-consuming and the results required more analysis and consideration, it was the only way.
He pulled out a chair, sat down at the Blackjack table, tossed out chips familiarly, smiled at the dealer, and began to bet.
First hand, lost.
Second hand, won.
Third hand, lost.
Fourth hand…
Before the fourth hand could determine the winner, the dealer opposite the table suddenly covered the cards backhand.
“?” Wen Jianyan raised his eyes, raising an eyebrow, “What?”
“Sorry,” the dealer wore a perfect smile on his face, palm wearing a white glove covering the cards, saying, “Please try other types of games.”
Wen Jianyan’s eyes sank.
“Oh? Why?”
He leaned back slightly, resting on the chair back, eyebrows slightly raised, carrying a somewhat ambiguous expression, “Do you think I’m cheating?”
“Not like that,” the dealer shook his head, saying with consistent politeness, “Please try other types of games.”
Seeming to sense the unusual atmosphere here, nearby streamers cast inquiring glances this way one after another.
The smile on Wen Jianyan’s face gradually converged.
By the gambling table, the young man looked expressionlessly at the dealer opposite. The surrounding air seemed to stagnate, oppressive enough to make one breathless.
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan moved.
He leaned forward, one hand resting on the table, body leaning out far, as if preparing to retrieve chips. But as the distance closed, he suddenly chuckled without warning.
“…Ha.”
Light-colored eyes turned; highly oppressive gaze focused on the dealer’s face.
A trace of a faint smile appeared on the young man’s lips, voice controlled very low, as if a gust of wind could blow it away:
“It’s instruction from the second floor, right?”
“…”
Muscles at the edge of the dealer’s eyes suddenly spasmed briefly.
Wen Jianyan wore a leisurely smile on his face, withdrawing his body unhurriedly. He put the retrieved chips back into his pocket, saying: “Since that’s the case, then I’ll just change to another project.”
He waved his hand: “Goodbye.”
Dropping these few words, Wen Jianyan turned and left gracefully.
However, as soon as he turned around, the smile on his face was withdrawn.
Wen Jianyan walked quickly towards the outside of the casino expressionlessly, motionless from brow to corner of mouth as if poured with cement.
…Judging from the dealer’s reaction just now, he estimated he guessed right.
Wen Jianyan walked fast, eyes heavy.
If the casino really caught someone cheating, the handling method would absolutely not be as gentle as now—moreover, from any dimension, Wen Jianyan didn’t cheat.
Even knowing he didn’t cheat, they still stopped Wen Jianyan from continuing to play… This showed the order-giver knew very well what he was doing now.
Blackjack was the mathematical model with the most average winning rate in the casino, and also the game easiest to calculate the casino’s current winning probability.
This meant two points.
First, the opponent was also an experienced gambler.
Second, the opponent didn’t want him to delve deeper into this point.
Wen Jianyan stopped at the casino exit, turning to look back.
On the huge screen, countless rows of numbers flashed quickly. Behind was the silent second floor; specially treated glass was enough to block all prying eyes.
“…”
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes.
He withdrew his gaze, turned, and left the casino.
Outside the casino, the sky had completely darkened. Pitch-black seawater was endless like ink. Only lights on the Lucky Cruise Ship were brilliant. Besides that, everywhere was strangely black; the whole ship seemed to float in endless darkness.
As soon as he left the casino, the few people waiting outside immediately gathered around.
Chen Mo: “How was it, did you find anything?”
“No.” Wen Jianyan shook his head expressionlessly. “Before having time to find anything, I was kicked off the gambling table.”
“What?!” Several people were stunned. “How could this be?”
“However, this at least shows we found the right opponent,” Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes. “Although the reason is temporarily unknown, Nightmare seems to be preparing to tamper with the winning rate. Just don’t know what exactly it is—”
His words were not finished when suddenly interrupted by a somewhat nervous voice from afar:
“Hey!”
“?”
Wen Jianyan turned to look.
Saw Blond leaning against the edge of the ship’s railing. Not sure if the sea breeze was too strong, his face looked somewhat pale.
“I, I seemed to see in the sea there was…”
Halfway through his words, he subconsciously turned to look outside the ship.
Blond was stunned: “Ah, …gone.”
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes. He stepped forward, pressing: “What did you see?”
Blond hesitated for a few seconds, still spoke:
“I’m not sure if it was my illusion, but I feel I just seemed to see…”
His expression was nervous, expression hesitant, voice involuntarily lowered:
“…Human face?”
—Human face?!
This answer was really too unexpected; everyone present couldn’t help being startled.
Chen Mo also frowned, asking:
“What kind of human face?”
Although the sea the Lucky Cruise Ship sailed in was almost no different from the real world’s sea, no matter what, this wasn’t the real sea, but another virtual space simulated by Nightmare.
Since so, how could there be human faces in the sea?
“…Mm.” Blond looked uneasy. “I’m not sure either.”
Seeming to notice the suspicious gazes of people around, he hurriedly explained: “But, but I’m not sure if I saw wrong. Maybe just light reflection on the sea or something. And looking over just now, it was gone…”
Indeed.
Explaining with light seemed more reasonable.
After all, this was part of the Anchor Hall extension. All streamers’ talents were suppressed, even for Blond with visual enhancement.
When nerves were tense, the possibility of hallucinations due to light changes wasn’t low—moreover, Blond’s nerves were already quite fragile.
Everyone turned to look in Wen Jianyan’s direction.
Their guild president was leaning against the ship’s railing at this moment, most of his body relying on the railing. Sea breeze blew open the black hair on his forehead; unbuttoned shirt bulged in the wind like a bird flapping wings. He looked thoughtfully into the distance, raised his hand, letting the sea breeze pass through his fingers, suddenly said:
“…Wind is picking up.”
Yes, wind picked up.
Sea breeze was far colder than the previous two days, wrapping salty fishy water vapor blowing in the face, blowing people’s skin painful.
Wen Jianyan put down his hand, leaving the ship’s railing: “Let’s go.”
Everyone was stunned.
“Uh, go where?” Ji Guan scratched his head, somewhat not reacting for a moment.
“Go attend today’s banquet.”
Wen Jianyan put both hands in pockets, turned his head on the deck shrouded in twilight. Light-colored eyes slightly narrowed by sea breeze, voice light like a sigh.
“Looks like, I have to show my face today no matter what.”
