Thank you @Elenea for the Kofi. (1/4)
Lucky Cruise Ship
Chapter 555: Flower of Evil Desire
Lucky Cruise Ship, Negative First Floor.
This place was almost a replica of the above-ground casino.
Dark green gambling tables stretched inward one after another, surrounded by dense crowds, with clamorous noise hovering overhead.
Although the instance had progressed to the second day, the number of people here had not decreased but increased.
Compared to the total number, the number of anchors who truly obtained the pass to enter the Negative Third Floor was not large. The danger of turning into a human die on the Negative Second Floor, as well as the five-fold leverage there, was enough to hollow out the vast majority of people. Thus, by the second day, a large portion of anchors had changed their perception.
Compared to going deeper, staying on the Negative First Floor was wiser.
Even the most primitive casino was enough to make one lose their fortune, a thought away from heaven, a thought away from hell.
Chen Cheng leaned lazily against the bar counter, holding a glass in his hand. Several metal rings on his fingers sparkled under the light.
Five meters away from him, Qi Qian stood with arms crossed, expressionless. His already sinister face looked even gloomier.
As time passed, the expression on Chen Cheng’s face became increasingly impatient. He drank the liquid in the glass in one gulp, placed the glass on the bar with a “clang,” and jumped off the chair. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Qi Qian’s emotionless voice from behind:
“Where are you going?”
Chen Cheng: “None of your business.”
“Indeed, none of my business,” Qi Qian crossed his arms, lifted his eyelids, and looked at him coldly. “But didn’t you hear what that guy said?”
Chen Cheng turned to look at Qi Qian, raising an eyebrow mockingly:
“What, you like being a good boy so much?”
“I suggest you learn how to cooperate,” Qi Qian’s eyebrow twitched, slowly revealing a smile without warmth: “Or is this the style of Eternal Day? ADHD?”
They stared sharply at each other, the atmosphere dropping to freezing point again.
Beep beep. Suddenly, Qi Qian’s watch rang.
“Time’s up, person hasn’t returned.” Chen Cheng smiled sarcastically. “So, can we go now?”
“…”
Qi Qian expressionlessly turned off the still-beeping watch and stood up.
“Shut up, find him.”
Qi Qian & Chen Cheng’s Livestream:
[…]
[Help, I’ve been watching livestreams for so long, I’ve really never seen teammates with such poor chemistry and such a bad relationship.]
[Ahhh, so suffocating!]
[Wait, am I the only one watching this cross-talk with relish?]
Although Qi Qian and Chen Cheng disliked each other, their strength and mobility were undeniable. After searching for a short while, they saw that familiar figure in front of the most crowded gambling table around.
Crowds surged, surrounding the gambling table tightly, so dense one could hardly squeeze in.
Wen Jianyan sat in the center of the gambling table, his presence prominent and distinct.
The young man laughed amidst the crowd, eyelids slightly raised. His already light-colored eyes appeared a thick champagne color under the light, like some demonic vortex, tightly grasping the hearts of everyone around.
He released his charm unreservedly. Every time he dropped a chip, it would trigger a wave of fanatical cheers.
Like some kind of…
Terrifying Flower of Evil.
Chen Cheng frowned, forcing himself to withdraw his gaze: “Something’s not right.”
“…” Qi Qian nodded with a gloomy face.
Even though he disliked Chen Cheng in every way, Qi Qian still agreed with this conclusion.
The atmosphere here was too bizarre. The air seemed to float with some maddening substance. People were surrounded by it, inhaled it, fermented it in their bodies, then evaporated it out, finally infecting everyone completely, forming a kind of collective madness.
It was like this when they were above ground before, but since entering the underground, this state seemed to have been magnified more than a hundred times. Even with the willpower of the two of them, when they walked into the crowd, they couldn’t help but have the thought of joining in. Even after forcing themselves to wake up, recalling it made them feel scared.
In that instant, they really wanted to “play a hand to try.”
And Wen Jianyan’s existence made this situation even worse.
There was a reason why this gambling table became the one with the most participants and the most onlookers on the entire Negative First Floor.
Regardless of whether others’ evaluation of Wen Jianyan was good or bad, one point was undeniable—he was a master of inciting emotions and manipulating human hearts.
He was good at becoming the focus of everyone’s attention, and also good at inducing others to become his tools.
When he was sober, he was a strong pillar; but when he was chaotic, he was the most dangerous accomplice of evil.
When Wen Jianyan fully devoted himself, the driving effect he produced was terrifying, like some catalyst for depravity, enough to drag all onlookers into this terrible game.
Qi Qian and Chen Cheng exchanged glances and moved forward together.
They struggled through the reveling crowd, pressing down on Wen Jianyan’s shoulders from left and right.
Wen Jianyan: “?”
He blinked, seemingly a bit confused.
But before he could do anything, he felt a huge force dragging him backward violently.
“Wuah—”
Wen Jianyan let out a miserable scream and was mercilessly yanked off the chair.
Regardless of how he struggled, he was ruthlessly dragged away from the crowd and then thrown onto the ground. He looked blank, panting rapidly, looking pitiful.
“Sober yet?” Chen Cheng’s voice came from behind.
He was panting a bit, seemingly having consumed a lot of physical strength in that struggle just now.
That vortex-like expression gradually faded from Wen Jianyan’s eyes, disappearing bit by bit.
He shook his head, seemingly still not quite lucid, his collar messy, his expression listless:
“Ugh…”
The Flower of Evil disappeared, leaving only a dispirited Wen Jianyan.
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Ahhh, what a pity! The anchor was surprisingly good-looking just now!!]
[Really really, even I was captivated.]
[Sigh, somewhat of a pity. If the anchor were an NPC, or some BOSS in the instance, that would be great. I really want to see if anyone could escape from his hands.]
[If it were me, I wouldn’t even run, okay? Damn, dying under a peony flower, being a ghost is also romantic.]
Qi Qian cast a glance at the distant gambling table, revealing a thoughtful expression:
“So, you didn’t let us participate just now because of this?”
“Pretty much…” Wen Jianyan’s voice was still somewhat weak.
When everyone was still on the positive floors of the Lucky Cruise Ship, Wen Jianyan had already noticed the strange atmosphere in the casino.
At that time, the instance hadn’t even started yet.
So, upon realizing that the Negative First Floor was actually a replica of the above-ground casino, and the number of people was even greater than yesterday, Wen Jianyan realized—this fanaticism likely originated not only from the casino itself but also from the malicious enhancement of the instance.
The moment players sat at the gambling table, they would become pawns of desire, puppets of gambling.
In this sense…
This floor might even be more terrifying than the other floors.
This was an irresistible suppression from an SS-rank instance. Unless you had items of the same level, you couldn’t maintain sobriety with your own willpower.
So, Wen Jianyan needed to leave Qi Qian and Chen Cheng outside. Their combat values were both higher than his. Even if he was bewitched and lost his reason, the two of them would have the ability to drag him out—just like now.
“Too risky.”
Qi Qian shook his head disapprovingly.
Although Chen Cheng didn’t speak, judging from his expression, he obviously didn’t fully support Wen Jianyan’s behavior either.
“…It’s not like there aren’t other reasons.”
Wen Jianyan lay on the ground, glancing lazily at the two of them, and reached out to open his pocket.
Clatter.
Chips of various colors poured down, accumulating into a pile on the ground.
Looking at that huge quantity of chips, both were startled.
“Took me an hour.” Wen Jianyan maintained his lying posture, raising an eyebrow at the two, smiling like a child whose prank succeeded. “Could you win this much?”
“…”
Chen Cheng and Qi Qian were both speechless.
Winning such a terrifying amount of chips while being controlled… they indeed couldn’t do it.
Now they really had nothing to say.
“Of course, if either of you were controlled, I couldn’t guarantee being able to pull him off the gambling table with the other person…” Wen Jianyan said.
“How could that be?” Chen Cheng glanced at Qi Qian, curling his lips. “Simple enough.”
Qi Qian’s eyes said: “Indeed.”
He sneered: “But whether a few ribs would be broken is hard to say.”
Seeing the two about to quarrel again, Wen Jianyan hurriedly interrupted: “Alright, there will be plenty of time for you to show your skills later, now—”
Before he could finish his sentence, suddenly, a mutation occurred.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Very heavy, very rhythmic sounds.
As if some terrifying existence was approaching step by step.
Wen Jianyan was stunned.
This sound…
Feeling something, he turned to look behind him.
A huge person, two meters tall, slowly stepped out of the elevator.
Or rather… humanoid?
He wore a rough burlap mask on his head. Two holes were cut out at the front for eyes, while the rest was covered tightly.
Wen Jianyan’s pupils constricted.
He suddenly remembered where he had heard similar footsteps—it was before the instance formed, when he was searching for clues in the chart room. It was also there that he discovered the secret of the Lucky Cruise Ship’s route and the possibility of it mutating into a instance.
However, when he prepared to investigate further, such footsteps came from outside the door.
If Wu Zhu hadn’t appeared, he might have been discovered then.
“What is that?”
Wen Jianyan remembered asking Wu Zhu the same question at the time, and Wu Zhu’s answer was… he didn’t know either.
“Debt Collector,” aside, Qi Qian said slowly.
Wen Jianyan: “…What?”
Qi Qian: “True, you went to the Negative Third Floor not long after entering the Negative Second Floor, no wonder you didn’t see it.”
They saw the Debt Collector wearing a burlap sack on his head slowly walk toward one of the gambling tables. He raised his hand, and a heavy iron chain appeared in it at some point.
He swung the chain. The chain whistled in the air, and after spinning a few times, it landed accurately on an anchor with a pale face and dispirited expression by the gambling table.
“Ahhhh!” A miserable scream rang out.
Wen Jianyan had no doubt that he just heard the ear-piercing “crack” of scapula and collarbone being broken.
Aside, Qi Qian continued: “When your debt accumulates to a certain value and cannot be repaid, the Debt Collector will appear.”
In the distance, that terrifying torture continued.
“No, don’t!!” The person caught by the chain was still screaming miserably. He struggled to wave his hands, trying to grab the carpet beneath him. “I will definitely pay back the money, definitely! Please, don’t, don’t ahhh!”
But the Debt Collector seemed not to hear. He turned around, taking heavy and rhythmic steps, walking forward step by step. The chain behind him clanked. No matter how the bound person struggled, they couldn’t escape the fate of being dragged away.
However, the others around turned a blind eye to this. Their gazes were still glued to the gambling table, their expressions extremely fanatical.
Ding. The elevator stopped.
The Debt Collector dragged the debt he collected and slowly walked into it. Wen Jianyan could even hear the creaking sound of the elevator being overwhelmed when he stepped in.
“No, no, no no no—”
The debtor’s miserable and desperate screams were cut off by the elevator door, becoming faint, and finally disappearing.
After a full half-minute, Wen Jianyan finally found his breath.
Although he had long known that the price of debt in the instance was terrifying, witnessing the debt collection scene with his own eyes still shocked him.
“He… where will he be dragged to?”
Wen Jianyan asked.
“Not sure.” Qi Qian shrugged.
He squatted down and pulled Wen Jianyan up from the ground. “Anyway, this isn’t the question we should be thinking about now.”
Exchanging for passes to the Negative Third Floor and spending the gachapon coins in their hands was the urgent matter.
“The change in that coin is already obvious enough that even I can perceive it.”
Qi Qian took out a coin and showed it to Wen Jianyan.
The already blood-red color appeared even more glaring under the light, as if thick blood would flow out the next second.
With the slight rotation of Qi Qian’s fingers, looming shadows seemed visible inside.
“I think our time is running out.”
“You’re right.” Wen Jianyan composed himself and nodded.
After gathering the chips on the ground, the group went straight to the counter.
“Chip exchange.”
Wen Jianyan said.
“Do you wish to exchange chips for points, or other items?” the waiter asked with a smile.
Wen Jianyan: “Other items.”
Soon, three single-person passes to the Negative Third Floor were exchanged.
Wen Jianyan even had a slight surplus.
After leaving the counter, the three didn’t waste time and went directly into the elevator.
Accompanied by the sound of hinges, the elevator sank slowly.
With a “ding,” the elevator reached the Negative Third Floor. The three passes burned to ashes at their fingertips.
The elevator doors opened, and the familiar scene appeared outside.
They came to the Negative Third Floor once again.
Waiter: “Negative Third Floor arrived, please watch your step.”
Chen Cheng and Qi Qian were just about to walk out when Wen Jianyan suddenly extended his hands without warning, grabbing them tightly.
“? What’s wrong?”
Qi Qian turned his head in confusion.
Wen Jianyan: “Wait a minute… there’s something you guys might not know.”
Chen Cheng frowned: “What?”
“My way of successfully leaving the Negative Third Floor before might be slightly different from yours…” Wen Jianyan maintained his head-down posture, one hand dragging one person’s arm. “I didn’t deal with any of the ghosts twisted out from those capsules. Instead, I continued gachapon until I drew the pass to the next floor, then left this floor immediately to shake them off.”
Chen Cheng hadn’t experienced it, revealing a somewhat baffled expression.
But Qi Qian was different. He stared at Wen Jianyan, alarm bells suddenly ringing in his heart: “Wait, what do you mean?”
“I mean…” Wen Jianyan slowly raised his head at this moment. His gaze passed through the open elevator doors, landing on a corner of the hall not far away, then jerked back as if burned.
He looked at the two people in front of him, revealing a pitiful smile:
“Those two seem to still be there.”
Chen Cheng: “…”
Qi Qian: “………………”
Wen Jianyan carefully let go: “Cough, it’s time for you to show your skills.”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[……………………]
[Ahhhh, no wonder you kid needs bodyguards, you are truly shameless!!!!]
