Lucky Cruise Ship
Chapter 588: You are the most badass anchor I’ve ever followed!
A corner of the small town.
In front of a dilapidated factory building, a puppet—standing well over a man’s height—lifted its head, revealing a bone-chilling smile to the challengers before it.
“Heh heh… this is the Butcher’s toy factory… heh heh… please leave.”
Although the overhead lights remained unchanged, the illumination they provided seemed inexplicably compressed. Invisible darkness and shadows descended like a hood, bringing with them an endless sense of oppression.
Not far away, a squad stood in a standoff against it.
“—Attack.”
With Chen Mo’s command, the string of tension in the air that was stretched to its limit finally snapped. The battle began.
The chill in the air grew intense, piercing so deeply it felt as if cold air were seeping out from the cracks in one’s bones.
As a non-combatant, Ma Qi stood at a distance. While she kept her eyes glued to the battle, she anxiously twisted her fingers, sweat beading on her forehead from nerves.
“Don’t worry.” A hand reached out from the side and patted her shoulder. “No problem.”
Wen Jianyan stepped forward, his gaze fixed on the scene not far away. He spoke:
“Chen Mo and the others have top-tier combat experience, even among anchors. Furthermore, with the addition of a Toy Merchant who is more familiar with the rules of this floor, we have an overwhelming advantage. Even if some unexpected situation arises, I can provide timely support.”
Wen Jianyan’s tone was light and breezy, carrying an air of confident authority.
—That is, if you ignored the fact that he was currently being protected in the rear alongside the medium.
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[You talk a big game, but… Big Brother, do you have no clue as to why you aren’t fighting?]
[Do you understand what a commander is?! A commander needs to stay in a safe place… Okay, I can’t pretend anymore. Anchor, can you please reflect on your own combat power?! It’s fine if you can’t compare to combatants like Hugo, Chen Cheng, or Orange Candy, but why are you weaker than even the members of your own squad?!]
[You are the weakest fighter among all the anchors I stan.jpg]
[You are the weakest fighter among all the anchors I stan.jpg]
Just then, buzz buzz, Wen Jianyan’s phone rang.
He pulled it out for a look, and his expression instantly turned serious.
The message was from Blond. The content was brief, just three words:
[Right here]
“What’s wrong?” Ma Qi noticed the change in Wen Jianyan’s expression and asked.
Wen Jianyan put the phone back in his pocket and spoke slowly, “…Just as I thought. The Croupier for this floor is indeed inside the prison.”
Ma Qi was startled, but her brain worked quickly: “But isn’t the prison only accessible to the Toy Merchant himself?”
“Yeah.” Wen Jianyan nodded.
“And…” Ma Qi hesitated for a moment, whispering, “There should be a lot of Tin Soldiers inside the prison, right?”
The oppression brought by the arrival of the Tin Soldiers earlier wasn’t fake. The terror level of those things was extremely high; if they had to face them head-on, winning would likely be very difficult.
“Yeah.” Wen Jianyan nodded again.
“Then what do we do?” Ma Qi made a crying face.
This time, Wen Jianyan didn’t answer. He simply lowered his eyes, falling into deep thought.
Not far away, the battle was drawing to a close.
Wen Jianyan’s prediction was correct; they did hold an overwhelming advantage. No matter how strong the owner of the puppet factory was, it seemed unable to cope with the combined power of three squads.
In just a few minutes, the terrifying puppet had lost its mobility. It was missing an arm and a leg, its only remaining arm was hoisted high by cold chains, and its body was covered in dents of various sizes. Its head was askew, yet it continued to repeat that same sentence over and over:
“This… heh heh heh heh… is the Butcher’s toy factory… heh… please… leave…”
Lion Heart King was covered in sweat. He wiped his face with a blood-stained hand and said, panting, “Quick, while we have the chance, open its chest cavity. There’s a key inside. Take it out, and ownership of this factory can change hands.”
“I’ll do it,” Kong Wei said in a muffled voice.
He stepped forward, and the color of one of his palms deepened, turning into a texture resembling rock—his talent was nullifying supernatural phenomena upon contact, making him perfectly suited for this task.
However, just as Kong Wei was about to place his hand on the puppet’s chest, a voice came from behind:
“Wait a second!”
Kong Wei paused and looked back.
—It was Wen Jianyan.
“Wait?” Corpse Rose was stunned, her expression turning anxious. “We can’t control this thing forever. Give it some time and it will recover, and then all our efforts will be wasted!”
Wen Jianyan: “Just give me one minute.”
After speaking, he didn’t explain. He simply scanned the area, his gaze landing on Lion Heart King, and waved at him. “You’re up.”
Lion Heart King: “…”
He had a sudden, very bad premonition.
As if to confirm his suspicion, Wen Jianyan pointed to the factory not far away and gave a concise instruction.
“Go, enter inside for a moment.”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[LMAO. Wen Jianyan’s First Law: The victim will always be repeatedly victimized.]
Lion Heart King: “…”
He looked at Wen Jianyan in disbelief. “You’re joking, right?”
Entering a factory that was currently in operation would get you sent to prison!
“I’m not.” Wen Jianyan’s expression was unexpectedly calm. “The goal is exactly to get you sent to prison once. Don’t worry, the Tarot Master has no intention of targeting you. You’ll be able to come out once the time is up.”
Lion Heart King looked as if he were facing a formidable enemy.
“Are you planning to send me in to help the All-Seeing-Eye break out?”
He wanted to say that such a thing was impossible—after all, this wasn’t his first time in prison, and he had already tried every possible method more than once—but before Lion Heart King could speak, he heard the other party say lightly:
“No need.”
Lion Heart King was stunned. “Then… what do you need me to go in there for?”
Wen Jianyan: “You don’t need to do anything.”
Lion Heart King: “…”
Great. So you just purely want to send me in, is that it?
Even though his heart was full of questions regarding Wen Jianyan’s decision, there was no time to delve deeper. Having already signed a contract of unconditional obedience, Lion Heart King had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow the order.
The moment Lion Heart King walked into the factory, the uniform sound of marching steps came from not far away again. The Tin Soldiers appeared before everyone in no time.
“You have violated the rules by entering an operating factory. As a guard, I am arresting you and taking you to prison.”
The Tin Soldier announced in a flat, monotone voice.
The entire process was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, a dejected Lion Heart King was taken away.
Wen Jianyan looked down at the phone in his hand.
Buzz buzz.
It was a message from Blond.
[A Tin Soldier left!]
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes.
About a minute later, another message from Blond arrived on his phone.
[Came back with a person (crying)]
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Oh!! I realized what’s happening! The anchor is using this method to figure out the troop numbers and deployment times of the prison!]
[So that’s it…]
[Blond is inside the prison right now. Since he can observe a Tin Soldier leaving, it implies the number of Tin Soldiers is limited. If the numbers were infinite, he probably wouldn’t be able to observe any change from a single solitary confinement cell. It’s just a pity that the time it took to transport Lion Heart King to prison was too short; he can’t really exploit a time difference…]
Not far away, the chains behind the puppet clanked loudly. The puppet, which had been tortured out of shape, had recovered most of its form unbeknownst to them and began to struggle.
“I can’t hold it anymore—” Chen Mo’s suppressed voice came from behind.
“Okay.” Wen Jianyan snapped back to reality. “Do it.”
Kong Wei lunged forward. Before the puppet could break free, he pressed his hand against its chest. The next second, with a crack, the puppet’s originally hard chest was punctured like paper. Its movements, which had been increasing in intensity, suddenly went slack, and it slumped to the ground as if lifeless.
Kong Wei withdrew his hand. Lying in his palm, which was gradually returning to its normal color, was a small toy key.
“Strange…” Corpse Rose frowned, looking at the key in Kong Wei’s hand with suspicion.
“What’s wrong?” Kong Wei thought he had done something wrong and quickly turned to ask.
“In the past, when I seized other people’s factories, these keys would disappear the moment I got them. The puppet would come back to life, and the ownership of the factory would change hands,” Corpse Rose said. In fact, among all the Toy Merchants present, she was the only one with experience in this regard, and most of the intelligence for this operation had been divulged by her.
She looked up at the leaderboard above, which hadn’t changed numbers, and then at the motionless puppet on the ground, revealing a confused expression.
“This situation has never happened before…”
Just then, Wen Jianyan’s voice came from behind:
“Because only the Toy Merchant himself can complete the factory handover.”
“Wait,” Corpse Rose paused, turning to look at him. “Is that why you didn’t let us kill the puppet immediately just now?”
“Yeah.”
Wen Jianyan nodded, then suddenly changed the subject. “Speaking of which, aren’t you guys curious? Why is the condition for imprisonment on this floor ‘entering a factory in operation’? That doesn’t sound like a very serious violation, does it?”
Indeed, normal Monopoly games also had a jail mechanic. But the issue was that those mechanics were built for actual violations, not something like “entering a factory in operation.”
Not far away stood the factory with its doors wide open, while the factory’s controller, the puppet, lay dismantled at their feet.
Everyone followed his gaze, and they seemed to suddenly realize Wen Jianyan’s intention.
The young man revealed a smile and winked at them slyly:
“Since the factory is neither in an ‘ownerless state’ nor in a ‘working state’ right now… that means we can just go directly in, right? Isn’t that great?”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Holy sh*t? Was this also part of your calculation?!]
[Wait, let me get this straight… So Wen Jianyan calculated from the start that the Oracle would throw Blond into prison, letting Blond scout the internal environment and the Croupier’s location. Since the ‘Toy Merchant’ of their squad doesn’t hold command over the team, he used the opportunity of the ‘Toy Merchant’ going to jail to seize a factory—not only solving the urgent problem of the puppet reviving but also glitching the game so the factory became ownerless and non-operational. This way, they can enter the factory without any cost.]
[Damn, I thought you were at the ceiling, but you’re in the atmosphere!]
[ …Okay, I forgive him for being bad at fighting now.]
[You are the most badass anchor I’ve ever followed!]
