Lucky Cruise Ship
Chapter 614: Dan Zhu
“Ahhhhhhhhhh——”
Mesvis let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Compared to his monstrous shell, that heart appeared so fragile. Under everyone’s gaze, that last remaining human characteristic was ruthlessly and rapidly devoured.
“Ahhhh… No, no! Impossible! I won’t just end like this——”
The massive, sludge-like body struggled violently, seemingly trying to escape its destined death.
Unfortunately, it was in vain.
The voice grew smaller and weaker, until finally——
It completely disappeared.
——Mesvis was dead.
Compared to when he was alive, his death seemed so insignificant.
The moment the heart disappeared, the massive body collapsed. Within seconds, it turned to ash and vanished without a trace.
In the end, only a deathly silence remained in the unrecognizable second floor of the casino.
The whole world seemed to have fallen into a brief stagnation.
“…”
Blond’s hand slowly dropped. The gun slipped from his exhausted, trembling fingers and hit the ground heavily with a loud clatter.
The sudden sound jolted everyone back from their daze.
They woke as if from a dream.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the scattered team members immediately gathered back. Ignoring their own wounds, some went to support Wen Jianyan, while others surrounded Blond.
“How do you feel?”
Chen Mo quickly looked Blond up and down, not missing any change in him, pressing urgently, “Any discomfort anywhere?”
Blond seemed to haven’t recovered from the huge shock of killing Mesvis. He just opened his bloodshot eyes and looked over somewhat blankly.
“Hey?” Chen Mo approached, anxiety coloring his tone. “Can you hear me?”
A non-challenger killing a cruise manager had to pay a price.
And this price was difficult even for an anchor of Dan Zhu’s level to handle.
This was a conclusion they had all agreed upon.
According to their original plan, the one to kill Mesvis would likely be an attack-type like Chen Cheng or An Xin. No one expected that the one to deliver the final blow would be Blond, who should have been protected in the safe zone.
Because of this, they felt even more nervous.
After all, in terms of immediate life-saving ability and depth of item inventory, Blond was far inferior to the others. If the side effect of killing a manager kicked in immediately, it would be difficult for them to react instantly.
“…” Blond opened his mouth, seemingly still in the daze from just now, unable to make a sound for a moment.
Amidst the chaos, a slightly weak voice cut in.
“Hey.”
It was Wen Jianyan.
Supported by Wen Ya, he walked over unsteadily.
Compared to just now, his complexion wasn’t much better. Although having an extra chip prevented him from dying on the spot after three chips were exhausted, it couldn’t reverse the life force consumed when the first two chips were taken.
But as soon as he spoke, the others naturally quieted down.
“Putting everything else aside,” Wen Jianyan raised his hand, gently pressing on Blond’s shoulder, his tone gentle, “Well done.”
Blond suddenly snapped back to reality. He blinked blankly, his nose souring sharply, and tears of blood fell again.
The calmness from just now seemed to collapse instantly.
He sobbed, leaning his head on Wen Jianyan’s hand.
Wen Jianyan stroked his face with the back of his hand, letting him cry to his heart’s content.
Everyone watched him silently.
Since entering this instance, Blond’s desperate effort and strength had been visible to the naked eye.
He deserved this “well done.”
Finally, Blond recovered from the brief breakdown under pressure. He wiped his tears, left Wen Jianyan’s shoulder, seemingly embarrassed by his loss of composure just now.
He murmured: “Sorry…”
“It’s okay.” Wen Jianyan shifted the topic at the right time. “Alright, down to business. Do you feel anything wrong right now?”
“Physically, not yet.”
Blond said.
Wen Jianyan was thoughtful—Dan Zhu didn’t seem abnormal after killing Eaton Ethan back then. Although it wasn’t ruled out that her disguise ability was too strong, considering Blond’s current condition, it could basically be concluded that the side effect of killing a manager was probably not immediate, but subtle and gradual.
“Okay. Tell me immediately if you notice anything strange.”
“Okay.” Blond nodded obediently.
“One more thing,” Wen Jianyan looked at him very seriously, meaning every word, “If I guessed correctly, your talent is overdrawn. If you continue to use it, immeasurable consequences might occur—so, no matter what happens next, don’t use your talent anymore, understand?”
“Understood.” Blond nodded again.
He lowered his eyelashes, which were stuck together by blood, covering the eyeballs that had mutated into blood-red underneath, and the pupils that had gradually clouded over with white cataracts.
Just then, Chen Cheng walked over from a distance and raised his hand:
“Here.”
A heavy, pitch-black coin was thrown over, spinning in the air with a ding, and finally landed straight in Wen Jianyan’s palm.
“Found it in Mesvis’s remains,” Chen Cheng said.
Wen Jianyan looked down, examining the ancient coin.
This was the management token.
——Thus, none of the three managers of the Lucky Cruise survived; all were dead.
Without warning, vibration suddenly came from the floor beneath their feet. The hull seemed to start tilting to one side. Accompanied by a piercing creak, various debris smashed in the chaotic battle began to slide slowly in one direction.
Everyone stumbled a few steps before barely maintaining their footing.
They looked up, expressions horrified.
“What’s happening?”
“If I’m not wrong, the ship is sinking faster,” Wen Jianyan said, pocketing the coin.
“You knew?” Everyone looked at him in astonishment.
“Not completely,” Wen Jianyan shook his head, “but I guessed a bit.”
When it came to wrecking an instance, no one was more experienced than Wen Jianyan.
The Lucky Cruise Ship had only three managers.
These three managers controlled different areas within the instance, maintaining its stable operation.
When only Eaton Ethan died, the situation wasn’t too serious. But once Carl Bell died too, problems began to emerge.
The sudden collapse and flooding of Floor B7 probably wasn’t because their battle was so intense or Carl Bell’s form was so grotesque… but because after the second manager died, no challenger took his place. The instance began to lose balance, and the hull started to tilt.
Now, the last manager, Mesvis, was also dead.
With none of the three managers remaining, the instance was bound to spiral out of control.
“The good news is, the ship is still moving forward, and faster than before?” Chang Feiyu, standing by the window, withdrew his gaze and said, “At this speed, our survival probability might be higher than imagined.”
…Wait.
Wen Jianyan froze.
Seeming to think of something, he looked down and quickly opened his account.
Balance: 0
“…”
Looking at the zero balance, Wen Jianyan was expressionless.
…What to do, suddenly feel a little like not living anymore.
In the “Integrity First” livestream room chat:
[…Oh right, I remembered. The gamble was settled in real-time. When Mesvis took Wen Jianyan’s last chip, all his assets were lost. The chip Dan Zhu left him could at most save his life, but couldn’t save the points he bet on the game.]
[…Damn, so since entering the Lucky Cruise instance… no, since entering the Nightmare, all the anchor’s savings are gone, right?]
[Put myself in his shoes, really pity him.]
[F*ck, although the person lived, not a cent remains. I’m convinced. Although the anchor was a bit lucky just now, it wasn’t much, right?]
[Hmm… how should I put it? Look on the bright side. At least the ship is moving now, and quite fast. At this rate, there’s hope to reach the destination and end the instance before the ship sinks… Better than sinking into the deep sea with the cruise ship!!]
Regarding this, Wen Jianyan himself was also very desperate.
Why do these things always happen to him!
Born unable to keep wealth, huh?
Really can’t keep a single cent!!
He closed the livestream backend and forced a smile: “Forget it, served as fuel anyway, not a loss…”
Seeing Wen Jianyan consoling himself, everyone couldn’t help but show expressions of pity.
Looking so pitiful.
Just then, a strange “cluck” sound came from below, pulling Wen Jianyan back from his painful emotions. He froze slightly, looked up, and looked down through the floor-to-ceiling window.
Below was the first floor of the casino. Since this was an above-ground floor, the deck outside could be seen directly.
Unnoticed since when, looking out, the deck was full of corpses that had climbed up from the sea. They were packed shoulder to shoulder, dense and numerous. The front row was already pressed against the glass door of the first floor of the casino. Through the blurred, damp glass, their flat, blurry faces, pale and swollen from soaking in seawater, could be seen. Dead eyes looked in from the outside, making one’s scalp numb and spine chill.
“Cluck.”
This time, Wen Jianyan finally identified where the sound came from.
Fine spiderweb cracks appeared on the closed glass door and were expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye——
“Bad news,” Chen Mo’s expression darkened. “It seems that with the death of the managers, the cruise ship’s ability to resist invasion has also begun to collapse.”
“Let’s go, we have to leave this floor quickly.”
Wen Jianyan seemed to suddenly think of something: “Wait… the croupier!”
After Mesvis died, the remaining croupiers had no reason to continue fighting. Although they wouldn’t die with their master, they also lost their meaning of existence. So, just as they guessed before the battle started, the croupiers were no longer a threat. They scattered and fled into the darkness like stray dogs.
However, among them, there was a croupier who had reached a cooperation agreement with them before everything started.
No. 8.
And he had the answers Wen Jianyan needed.
“We have to go back to the private room we were in,” Wen Jianyan spoke slightly faster. “No. 8——”
Before he could finish, footsteps came from the stairwell not far away.
Clack, clack, clack.
The footsteps were unhurried. Thin heels struck the ground, making an even, elegant sound. Just listening to it seemed to outline the comer’s figure and temperament.
“?!”
Everyone was startled and instinctively turned their heads to look in the direction of the sound.
At the pitch-black stairwell, a touch of bright red gradually emerged.
“Oh my, long time no see.”
Accompanied by a smiling female voice, a figure walked slowly out of the darkness. Glamorous black curly hair framed her pure white face. Her eyes were like smoke and mist, full red lips holding a smile, carrying a soul-capturing charm.
It was Dan Zhu.
Everyone’s heart tightened.
Among them, Chen Cheng’s reaction was the most intense. In his lowered palm, the phantom of a Tang sword appeared almost immediately.
She still looked as beautiful as in memory.
However, as veteran anchors who had been immersed in instances and dangers for too long, all of them could feel… something about Dan Zhu was different from before.
Standing before them was not so much a beautiful woman as a terrifying vengeful ghost.
“What, so reluctant to see me?”
Downstairs, the clucking sound of shattering glass became increasingly crisp. Under the cold, greedy gaze of countless corpses, Dan Zhu still appeared so elegant and composed.
“I have to say, you guys did really well,” she turned her head, her gaze slowly sweeping over the messy second floor of the casino. “You know, Mesvis… he was the one giving me the biggest headache among the three.”
“Unlike guys like Eaton Ethan who can be killed directly,”
Dan Zhu twirled her hair with her fingers and complained:
“He was very troublesome. Without gambling with him, there was absolutely no chance to make a move. And his gamble… you should know already.”
Dead silence all around.
Dan Zhu giggled and turned to look at Wen Jianyan:
“It seems you indeed used the item I gave you to the extreme.”
She took a slow step forward.
This time, everyone finally smelled a strong scent like rotting flowers, just like Chen Cheng.
Cold, terrifying, full of oppression.
“Alright, enough nonsense.”
Dan Zhu looked smilingly at the group in front of her and extended her hand, “I think you have what I want on you.”
“Give it to me…”
The beauty’s eyes were alluring, the scent of decay in the air cold and intense.
“Or die.”
