Chapter 488: The First Slaughter
A subtle change flickered across the man's expression. He gave Xu Huo a deep look. "You can go. Consider this never happened."
"How can it be considered as never happened?" Xu Huo fiddled with the recording device. "Aren't you afraid I'll tell the people on the ship?"
The man turned back, looking at him with an expression that was both pitying and mocking. "You're wearing a white bracelet. From the moment you boarded, you're the lowest status person on this ship. Who are you going to tell? If I were you, I'd find a place to hide, to avoid being found by other players."
He finished speaking and left. Xu Huo didn't pursue him. He planned to go upstairs to find Bai Kou, but just then the ship passed over a stretch of colorful sea. The moving vessel slowed down, and starting from the fourth deck, the hull rotated and shifted, opening up like a fan. This maximized each deck's exposure to the air, and from the right angle, people on lower decks could see into the upper ones.
The ninth deck had one-way glass installed on the outside. From outside, only blurry figures could be seen, making it impossible to judge height or build, but it was clear these people were looking down through the windows.
Suddenly, one pane of glass turned transparent. An old man in a white dress suit stood at the window, raising a glass to the people below.
The people watching from below raised their glasses in return, some even letting out cheers. "Captain Matt!"
The cheering lasted a full minute, with more people joining in, only dying down when the glass became blurry again.
Xu Huo overheard a few people nearby saying, "Can't believe our luck today, actually getting to see Captain Matt. I heard he's been traveling through other game zones since he retired. When did he come back to Zone 011?"
"Is this Captain Matt some kind of big shot?"
"You're out of the loop. Captain Matt was a B-rank player before he retired. He's been leading a fleet through various game zones, collecting and transporting supplies for Zone 011. I heard he could have advanced to A-rank long ago, but he always put Zone 011 first, so he never completed the upgrade."
"I see..."
There were quite a few people talking about this legendary captain. Xu Huo walked toward the central elevator shaft in the middle of the ship, picking up more stories about the captain along the way.
Descendant of nobility, military background, owner of a shipping company primarily engaged in transport—authentic armed escort. He had a considerable reputation in Zone 011. Though retired, he was still an important figure in the government, wielding significant influence in personnel changes.
Not only did ordinary people admire him, but even some nobles actively sought his favor. However, he rarely made public appearances.
According to a waiter, the captain hadn't attended this banquet for the past three years.
"Were you on the ship last year too?" Xu Huo listened near a few waiters for a while, then took the initiative to ask the most enthusiastic one.
"I'm new this year," the man said. The other waiters were also newly hired this year.
Xu Huo asked a few more people and found that all of them were on the ship for the first time. Everything they knew about the ship came from online legends or pre-job training.
Such a good job, and the people on board seemed brainwashed into blindly worshipping the captain—they probably wouldn't quit. Yet all the waiters were newcomers. That alone was suspicious.
"Aren't you in your room?" Ran Ying sent a message at that moment.
Xu Huo glanced at it but didn't reply. Instead, he followed a waiter who was sneaking a drink into the changing room.
The waiters' changing room here was a double room. After the waiter opened the door, Xu Huo went in, knocked him out, dragged him inside, removed the waiter's bracelet, and locked the door. Only then did he reply to Ran Ying.
"There are cannibal players on the ship."
Half a minute passed before Ran Ying responded. "Where are you now? I'll come find you."
"Fifth deck, waiters' changing room." Xu Huo gave the specific location, then asked, "Does the red bracelet represent cannibal players?"
It took another long while for Ran Ying's message to come through. "Where are you hiding? I don't see you. Come up to the seventh deck first."
Xu Huo looked up toward the upper decks. Dinner time was approaching, and most waiters were busy outside. Since he had entered this room, no one had come into the fifth deck changing room. Ran Ying also hadn't come downstairs to find him, as she had claimed.
But the act had to continue.
"I've moved. A waiter came in earlier. That noble is gone now. I'm heading upstairs."
After sending the message, Xu Huo swapped bracelets with the waiter, put on a waiter's uniform, and walked out of the room. As soon as he stepped out, another waiter called out to him, "Take this wine to Room 609. Mr. Palada ordered it."
He followed orders, escorting the automated delivery robot to the sixth floor. He knocked on the door of Room 609. The person who opened it was the nobleman he had seen in the dining room not long ago. He was bare-chested, with some suggestive marks on his neck. After opening the door, he stepped aside and gestured for Xu Huo to enter.
Through the wide-open door, Xu Huo saw Palada and two other noblemen, also disheveled, sitting in the room. The strange smell wafting from the room was mixed with the scent of blood. On the messy bed, a woman lay with her back to the door, most of her body covered by a blanket, only a bit of hair and a section of calf exposed.
The woman on the bed was already dead. Palada, lounging on the sofa and inhaling some stimulant, waved a stack of cash at Xu Huo. "Come in."
"Come on in, we won't eat you." The brown-haired man at the door licked his lips, his gaze freely sizing Xu Huo up.
Xu Huo acted as if he hadn't seen the look, following the robot inside.
As soon as the door closed, the brown-haired man flashed behind him, reaching his hands toward Xu Huo's head as if to twist his neck off. However, with a "crack," it was the brown-haired man's neck that was twisted off—he remained standing with his hands raised, but his head was now tilted at an impossible angle, resting on his right shoulder.
Xu Huo, who should have been in front of the brown-haired man, now appeared behind him. With a light flick of his hand, he pushed the brown-haired man's corpse to the floor.
The sound of the heavy body hitting the ground jolted Palada and the other two, who were still lost in their mental haze. The three of them stood up in shock, but by then Xu Huo's figure had vanished from its original spot. In the blink of an eye, he was standing on the sofa, kicking Palada against the window. With his other hand raised, crossed strings of a zither suspended the second man in mid-air. Finally, he whipped out a rope to bind the third man. With a pull of his left hand, now wearing a diamond-studded glove, the soft rope instantly turned into a blade, effortlessly cutting the man in half!
The falling corpse carried a heavy stench of blood, and internal organs spilled all over the floor. This scene jolted the other two completely out of their drug-induced stupor. Palada was the first to react, putting on a protective item, punching through the glass window, and jumping out. The other man, who had been suspended, used a ring to cut the zither strings. Once on the ground, he crossed two fingers and made a slashing motion toward Xu Huo!