Lucky Cruise Ship
Chapter 551: How dare he?!
Staring at the rose in the dinner plate, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but be stunned.
…What?
The audience in the [Integrity First] livestream was also confused.
[Ah?]
[Why though?]
[Did the anchor trigger some hidden plot? Or is there some mechanism…?]
Wen Jianyan looked up and scanned his surroundings.
Indeed, only his plate was empty.
Others also noticed the abnormality in Wen Jianyan’s plate and cast questioning glances: What’s going on?
Wen Jianyan shrugged: I don’t know either.
Although the food in front of everyone was exquisitely prepared and incredibly fragrant, not many people actually moved their knives and forks.
After witnessing the sudden deaths of several people just now, everyone knew clearly that this place was likely full of traps.
They eyed each other warily, either using items or Talents to investigate, or waiting for others to eat first.
On Wen Jianyan’s side, the task of detecting danger fell on the two mediums, Maggie and Tong Yao. The two observed the food in the plates very cautiously. After a long while, they finally nodded, indicating no danger.
After receiving affirmation, the others began to move their knives and forks.
Finally, after a batch of people tentatively tasted the food and showed no signs of discomfort, the vast majority of anchors finally followed suit and began to eat. However, a few anchors remained wary of the food in front of them and resolutely refused to touch it.
Wen Jianyan, holding a rose but with an empty plate: “…”
What, targeting me, are we?
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[What does this prove? This proves that love cannot be eaten as food.]
[…Damn.]
[Hahahahahaha might as well die from my mockery.]
“Captain, do you want me to share some with you?” Maggie, sitting next to Wen Jianyan, leaned over and asked in a low voice.
Wen Jianyan: “…That won’t be necessary.”
Maggie glanced imperceptibly at the corpses not far away, revealing a worried expression: “But…”
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, his fingertips toying with the rose:
“Don’t forget, according to etiquette, food at this type of banquet cannot be shared.”
Those few anchors just now died miserably simply because they weren’t wearing formal attire… Obviously, following etiquette norms was very important in this place.
And that was exactly what they had to do now.
Since Wen Jianyan’s plate had no food to begin with, it didn’t matter if he didn’t eat this course. But sharing food was hard to say.
Maggie: “Oh, oh.”
She stopped worrying about Wen Jianyan and lowered her head, carefully cutting the food in her plate with a knife and fork—after changing clothes, Wen Jianyan had given everyone a crash course on table manners in the shortest possible time to prevent them from making mistakes at the table—after putting the first bite of juicy cod into her mouth, Maggie’s eyes widened slightly, and she whispered an exclamation:
“Wow.”
Wen Jianyan: “…”
No need to act like it’s so delicious!!!
In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the others ate the food on their plates clean. The waiters stepped forward and took away the plates in front of everyone.
Wen Jianyan raised his eyes, his gaze searching among these uniformed waiters, trying to find the figure who might have tampered with his food.
But unfortunately, he found nothing.
Soon, the second silver plate was placed on the table.
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes as the plate in front of him was uncovered—the rose folded from a napkin didn’t appear again. Replacing it was a serving of soup.
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Finally!!]
[Meal time!!!]
Wen Jianyan could finally eat something this time.
The waiter stepped forward again, bent down, and took away the second course.
Suddenly, the heavy sound of something hitting the floor and the shattering of glass came from not far away. Wen Jianyan jerked his eyes up and looked in the direction of the commotion—several figures were slumped on the table, motionless. The faces of the people around him were pale, seemingly suppressing the urge to get up and leave immediately.
Pitch-black water dripped down the edge of the table, gathering into a small puddle on the ground.
…More people died.
Wen Jianyan’s heart sank.
He looked at Blond: “See if you can find anything.”
Blond looked into the distance, withdrew his gaze a few seconds later, and replied hesitantly: “I saw that in the plates taken away by the waiters, the dishes in front of those people hadn’t been touched, but… I’m not sure if that’s the reason?”
After all, some people didn’t touch the first course either, but the waiters just took the plates away normally. Yet accidents happened with the second course, the soup.
“Could it be that you can’t skip eating for two consecutive courses?”
Ji Guan frowned, revealing a puzzled expression.
Just that simple?
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes and didn’t answer.
The third course was served.
It was a perfectly pan-seared foie gras.
The foie gras was fragrant, tender, and oily. Paired with a slightly acidic sauce, it perfectly neutralized the grease. It had to be said, worthy of the extravagant dishes provided by the Lucky Cruise Ship, both the cooking temperature and seasoning were flawless.
This time, with the example of several deaths earlier, no one dared not to eat anymore. The crisp sound of knives and forks clinking echoed in the quiet hall.
Brilliant lights, a luxurious hall, perfect food.
Clearly, it should have been a very enjoyable scene, but at this moment, due to the several corpses on the ground and tables, it appeared exceptionally bizarre, so oppressive it was breathless.
Immediately following was the fourth course.
The main course.
The silver lid was lifted, but what appeared in front of Wen Jianyan was that familiar scene again.
A folded rose lay in the center of the empty plate, and nothing else.
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[…Basically, just won’t let people get full, right?!]
But Wen Jianyan didn’t seem very angry about this.
He lowered his eyes, slowly picked up the rose folded from a napkin, twirled it with his fingertips, revealing a thoughtful expression. Suddenly, he thought of something and looked up at the plates in front of everyone.
After the previous experiences, this time, everyone was accustomed to this process. They picked up their knives and forks, preparing to eat the meal in front of them. But at this moment, Wen Jianyan suddenly shouted in a low voice:
“Don’t eat.”
“?!” Everyone was startled and subconsciously stopped their movements.
Qi Qian’s movement paused in mid-air. He frowned: “What? Did you discover something?”
Wen Jianyan slowly shook his head:
“Maybe, but I’m not sure.”
Everyone else was stunned.
Wen Jianyan: “It’s possible I’m overthinking, but… I hope you won’t eat this course. If it’s really as Ji Guan said, that death only occurs if two consecutive courses aren’t touched, then you all still have one chance, don’t you?”
You all?
Noticing this keyword, Wen Ya frowned at him: “What about you?”
Wen Jianyan had already missed an appetizer and a soup. If he missed the main course again… no one knew what would happen.
Wen Jianyan shrugged and put the rose back into the plate:
“Who knows… there should be a result after this course ends.”
The fourth course ended. The plates in front of everyone present were taken away. At the table, everyone’s eyes were fixed tightly on Wen Jianyan, waiting nervously.
The waiter left with the plate, but Wen Jianyan didn’t die suddenly like the others.
Seeing this, everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Thank god, it seemed the death trap wasn’t triggered.
Next, only a dessert remained.
Wen Jianyan didn’t receive a rose again this time, so he didn’t stop others from eating the food in their plates like just now. After the last person put down their knife and fork, the empty plates were taken away once again.
Accompanying the clearing of the table, the waiters carrying silver trays left the hall.
The dinner was over.
However, everyone present didn’t relax their vigilance. They knew,
Without warning, light music drifted over, but the source couldn’t be found. That music flowed like silk threads deep in the hall. Suddenly, in the interval of the music, Wen Jianyan caught a subtle “click-click” sound—like the eerie sound of bones rubbing against each other, inexplicably making one’s spine chill—the next second, those corpses that had just died slowly crawled up from the ground in an extremely twisted posture. Their movements were stiff and bizarre, heads hanging low, moving bit by bit along with the music.
Watching this scene in front of them, the group instantly felt their hair stand on end.
Waiters appeared silently. In the blink of an eye, all the dining tables in the entire hall were removed, leaving only the shiny floor and bright lights.
“Welcome everyone to this Captain’s Gala Dinner. At the end of the dinner, there is a ball carefully prepared for you.”
Unknown when, Eaton Ethan slowly walked out of the shadows. That face, always expressionless and filled with death aura, appeared under the light, rarely revealing a smile.
“Please enjoy the wonderful time tonight to the fullest.”
Just as his voice fell, the music that was originally only faintly drifting suddenly strengthened, occupying the entire hall firmly like some kind of sound field, filling every corner.
However, everyone present didn’t move. They just stood in place, staring fixedly at the several corpses standing upright.
The corpses stood stiffly, heads hanging lifelessly low, like puppets hoisted high.
Under everyone’s nervous gaze, those corpses slowly raised their heads—after seeing their faces, everyone couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air in their hearts.
The faces of those corpses had been completely covered by black liquid flowing from their seven orifices at some point. The contours of their facial features could no longer be found. From a distance, it looked as if huge black holes had been opened on their heads.
Accompanied by the brisk music, the corpses began to move.
They dispersed and walked slowly toward the crowd. In the direction they were heading, everyone couldn’t avoid them fast enough, retreating hurriedly.
A young female anchor was sandwiched in the crowd, stumbling backward. But bizarrely, even though the corpse in front of her was slow, the distance between them was still shortening rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
What’s going on?!
The anchor revealed a horrified expression.
In just a blink of an eye, that corpse with only a black hole for a face was already standing in front of her, bowing elegantly, and slowly extending a hand to her.
Wait… could this mean…
As if verifying her guess, those corpses had found their “dance partners” one after another in the crowd. Their invitation movements perfectly conformed to etiquette, but their pitch-black hollow faces and cold, bizarre aura made people’s hearts tremble uncontrollably.
No one wanted to dance with a corpse.
But the problem was… they feared the price of refusal even more.
“Heheh.”
Dan Zhu’s eyes curved. She extended a snow-white, slender hand and placed it lightly on the corpse’s palm.
“…”
Wen Jianyan stared at the corpse standing in front of him, falling into silence.
Motherfucker, me again?
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Hahahaha!]
[Hahahahaha dying of laughter!]
[Why does the anchor always encounter this kind of strange unexpected situation!! This luck is truly unmatched.]
After the last person placed their hand into the corpse’s palm, the first dance began.
The corpses and their partners slowly walked onto the dance floor.
The scene that happened next was so unsettling—corpses with pitch-black hollow faces and normal humans dancing slowly on the dance floor.
Lifeless pale fingers, human faces full of fear. The corpses’ steps were elegant and flexible, but the humans’ steps were stiff and jerky. The smooth and beautiful music became the background color, masking all disharmony.
One two three, one two three…
In the strengthening music, humans and corpses spun.
“Ah!” Suddenly, Blond let out a scream.
Wen Ya: “What’s wrong?”
“Over there,” Blond’s face didn’t look good. He raised his hand and pointed to a corner of the dance floor. “You… look at that pair.”
Everyone looked in the direction Blond pointed. Between the intersecting bodies, two shadows danced gracefully, their movements equally elegant. However, when they turned around, everyone’s heart sank involuntarily—those were two identical, hollow, pitch-black faces.
“Two corpses?” Ji Guan lost his voice.
“No…” Blond shook his head, his face pale as a sheet. “Just now, one wasn’t.”
Although he didn’t finish the sentence, everyone knew exactly what Blond was saying—when this dance just started, there was still one living person in that pair. But when the dance was halfway through, only two corpses remained.
At this moment, in the center of the dance floor.
Like Blond, the vast majority of anchors also realized this.
Faces already filled with fear instantly lost all blood color. Even steps that could originally be danced well became unstable.
Wen Jianyan wasn’t affected much. He embraced a female corpse, his hand resting lightly on her waist, seeming not to notice the other’s hollow pitch-black face at all. His movements remained elegant and gentlemanly.
Strictly speaking, this wasn’t his first time dancing with a dead person. In the [Yuying Comprehensive University] instance, to complete his graduation thesis, he had to complete three rounds of dance-related death assessments alone, so naturally, he was already accustomed to this.
It was just that, at the end of the last time he encountered this situation, his partner was…
Wen Jianyan’s thoughts drifted for a moment.
Suddenly, a light chuckle came to his ear:
“Spacing out?”
“?!” Wen Jianyan shuddered, almost stepping wrong.
He used the spin to steady his mind, raised his eyes, and looked in the direction of the voice.
A tall corpse had its back to him, and resting on its shoulder was an incomparably bewitching face.
It was Dan Zhu.
In this ball of the dead and the living, she was obviously the most eye-catching existence.
Her blood-red long dress was like a wound tearing the air. Her waist bent into a soft arc in the music, slender high heels clicking on the floor, spinning lightly.
A pair of misty, mysterious eyes narrowed, a smile always on her face, as if she was truly enjoying this dance.
Whether it was the audience in the livestream room or the anchors present, all seemed attracted by some magnetic force, unable to look away.
And at this moment, Dan Zhu was tilting her face up, looking at him smilingly over her partner’s shoulder.
Wen Jianyan composed himself: “…No.”
“Hmm.”
Dan Zhu held the shoulder of the corpse in front of her with fingers painted with red polish, her movements light and extended. Those misty eyes still gazed at Wen Jianyan. She curved her lips: “Quite fun, isn’t it?”
Wen Jianyan: “…”
He thought for a moment and said cautiously: “Our concepts of fun might not be quite the same.”
“Heheh…” Dan Zhu laughed. “Hahahahaha!”
She laughed so hard she almost collapsed into the corpse’s arms. Seeing her like this, Wen Jianyan almost felt fearful.
“Don’t worry,” as if seeing Wen Jianyan’s doubts, Dan Zhu turned her head smilingly, her bewitching black hair flowing down like a waterfall. “You should have noticed something wrong, right?”
Wen Jianyan gave her a deep look and didn’t answer.
Dan Zhu was right.
In fact, he did have doubts about this dinner.
In any case… the mechanism of this dinner was somewhat too simple. As long as one followed etiquette, one could pass. Such a simple and easy-to-understand rule didn’t seem like a level an SS-rank instance should have.
Indeed, people died.
But the number of deaths wasn’t large, and basically, they were people who couldn’t stay calm under extreme pressure. Wen Jianyan knew clearly that with these people’s aptitude, even if this instance were A-rank, their probability of survival wouldn’t be high.
Although the instance had only started for a day, obviously, the overall structure of the [Lucky Cruise Ship] instance was built on the casino, yet this dinner seemed out of place with everything.
“This is just a game, just…
For the vast majority of people, perhaps a bit higher level.”
Dan Zhu spun smilingly. Suddenly, she let go of the corpse’s hand in her arms without warning.
The next second, endless black juice flowed out from the pitch-black hollow in the corpse’s face, pouring toward Dan Zhu like an ocean. But unknown what Dan Zhu did or what item she used, the black water was blocked by an invisible wall in front of her.
Like a flame, a rose, a drop of fresh blood, Dan Zhu came lightly to Wen Jianyan, reached out, and forcibly snatched him from the corpse’s embrace.
The same black water gushed out from the female corpse’s face but was dissolved by the same means.
“Your partner is mine now.” Dan Zhu winked at that corpse, revealing a charming smile.
After a brief surprise, Wen Jianyan quickly recovered. Although he changed partners, his steps remained smooth: “So, you know how to end this game?”
Although he used a question, his tone was incomparably certain.
“Of course.”
Dan Zhu leaned close to Wen Jianyan with a smile.
At such a close distance, even Wen Jianyan was stung by the other’s almost sharp glamour.
But Dan Zhu continued to close the distance carelessly. She leaned into Wen Jianyan’s ear and whispered in an extremely soft voice:
“Just catch the game master.”
Almost the moment her voice fell, Wen Jianyan’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. His gaze shifted in a certain direction for an instant.
“So smart.”
Dan Zhu giggled twice.
Outside the dance floor.
The remaining anchors stared at this scene in horror, seeming completely unable to understand what had just happened, why people in the dance floor could change partners themselves and even be completely unaffected.
More importantly… who was that person dancing with Dan Zhu?
Compared to Dan Zhu, who loved attracting everyone’s attention, he was obviously more introverted and low-key.
So much so that before being pulled into the spotlight of everyone’s sight by Dan Zhu, almost few people noticed his existence…
But when he crashed into view, everyone realized with a start that under Dan Zhu’s terrifying, overwhelming charm, this guy actually didn’t fall behind, and was even equally matched.
Under the light, the young man lowered his brows and smiled. Beyond that extremely approachable gentleness, there seemed to be more, more elusive things hidden.
“Who is he?”
“Is he also one of the top ten?”
“Could it be that rarely seen Grey Crow?”
“No no, although Grey Crow doesn’t appear often, our Guild Vice President has seen him once, the description doesn’t match…”
“Hiss!” Suddenly someone sucked in a breath of cold air. “This guy, I think I know who he is!”
“That textbook Platinum, the anchor who entered the top ten after participating in only six instances!”
“—Pinocchio? That Pinocchio??”
“Holy crap, the one who PKed Anis and killed Mason?!”
Because the number of instances he participated in was too few, and he was too accustomed to disguising himself within instances, to the vast majority of anchors, the title [Pinocchio] was almost synonymous with a thousand faces, extremely mysterious.
After he created one miracle after another, his fame was almost pushed to the peak.
There were a total of ten positions in the Nightmare Top Ten. Ten top anchors. Two lost to him, and one had even died…
He was simply a catfish put into stagnant dead water.
Ferocious, terrifying, turning everything upside down, leaving no peace.
“Wait a minute, where are they going?”
In the music, the bewitching woman and the handsome man spun in the dance floor, moving lightly, changing direction elegantly.
“…”
Qi Qian’s gaze fell on the end of their path.
Standing there was an NPC of average height, with androgynous features and a gloomy aura.
At this moment, he was standing high on the platform, staring at the hall in front of him with eyes full of death aura.
Dead corpses and living people danced together; the aura of fear filled the air.
That always expressionless face was slightly twisted, the corners of the mouth curled up slightly in an arc, as if… he was feeling very happy about what was happening now and enjoying every minute and second.
Clearly quite exquisite features, but at this moment, he looked somewhat chillingly terrifying.
That was exactly one of the cruise ship’s management levels.
—Eaton Ethan.
In an instant, Qi Qian’s heart beat wildly.
He seemed to know what Wen Jianyan was going to do.
This guy actually had the audacity to make a move on a instance manager!!!
One had to realize, this wasn’t just an SS-rank instance, it was also the first day on the ship!
How dare he!
