Chapter 502: Dismantling the Ship
On the eighth deck, there was a fully transparent swimming pool. A heavily tattooed, shirtless man crouched there, scratching his head and saying, "What, do you have a grudge against us?"
"No." Bai Kou's gaze swept over Matt and the others beside the tattooed man.
Captain Matt, responsible for transporting the weapons; Vizen Meny, acting as the trading party; Ran Ying of the Black Epaulets, representing the cooperation side; and three noble high-level players who had come on vacation and to witness the transaction.
There were quite a few nobles on this ship, but most were just here to participate in this unregulated free-for-all hunt. Only a minority were aware of the Rongxin Group's arms deal.
Earlier, on the tenth floor, a noble high-level player had already clashed with Bai Kou. Neither side had suffered significant damage, but when Hugo expressed interest in Bai Kou, the 011 District side made room for them.
"No past grievances, no recent grudges. Little sister, why such a fiery temper?" Hugo opened two fingers to brush aside the seaweed that had mistakenly swept toward his face. From the point of contact, the seaweed began to rapidly wither, age, and then crumble. The decay traced back from the tip to the root, continuously destroying large patches of seaweed.
Jiang Feng's sister, who had been controlling the seaweed to attack Xu Huo, immediately noticed the widespread withering on the ship and turned to launch a seaweed attack at Hugo.
However, this man in the floral shirt, who looked like a slacker, was ruthless in his actions. In a flash, he appeared behind her and used a small scalpel to directly slit her throat.
Xu Huo saw clearly that when Hugo closed in, Jiang Feng's sister had already activated a defense item. Whether it was due to the vast difference in speed or insufficient defense power, the scalpel clearly cut through a membrane-like barrier before reaching her throat. But this obstruction caused almost no delay, so she was killed without any resistance.
The moment she died, the gathered seaweed collapsed. Hugo looked up at the people on the eighth floor and said, "Captain Matt, why don't you clean up this mess? It's useless anyway."
Matt smiled. The next second, the ship began to change. The seaweed returned to the floor and walls, the mottled hull gradually became brand new and shiny, even the vanished seventh floor was restored, and the ship's overall volume increased... The great ship was undergoing a new transformation!
Xu Huo, who was still outside the ship, immediately rushed back inside, charging in just before the seventh floor sealed shut. After landing, he glanced at the constantly splitting and changing walls and realized the distance between everyone was widening.
There were quite a few players who had fallen from the seventh to the sixth floor, as well as those hiding on the sixth. But after the ship's second transformation, the internal layout shifted slightly. Some people instantly disappeared into suddenly appearing rooms or behind corridors, while he himself was pushed by the ever-growing floor toward a position near the window.
Xu Huo glanced at Bai Kou, who stood motionless in her original spot, then ran toward a newly generated corridor, avoiding both sides' lines of sight.
The metal bar that had killed Jiang Feng earlier was probably no accident. It was likely Bai Kou helping him out. Judging by her attitude, she seemed intent on challenging the Eerie Sound Knights and the 011 District players single-handedly. He wasn't sure how strong she was, but if they went all out, the ones who would suffer most were low-level players like him.
He wasn't the only one who realized this. Taking advantage of the ship's transformation, neither Bai Kou nor Hugo made a move. Other players were scattering to hide, some rushing toward the elevators to go upstairs.
Among them were Black Bracelet and Red Bracelet players who had been happily hunting just moments ago.
Jiang Feng and his sister were nobles, yet Vizen Meny and the others had watched them die without intervening. And Hugo could casually kill a noble with ease. This showed that their lives were worthless in the eyes of those high-level players upstairs. The only option was to escape to a safe zone.
Currently, the only place that could be called a safe zone was near Captain Matt.
Most White Bracelet players chose to go below deck. Their reasoning was simple: the upper floors might be destroyed, but this ship would never completely capsize. As long as Captain Matt was still around, the lower floors were safer.
"You're not going down?" The Black Bracelet player who had fought off several Red Bracelet players suddenly called out to Xu Huo as he headed toward the space.
Xu Huo glanced at him. "Staying up here to watch the show."
The Black Bracelet player noticed that the color of Xu Huo's bracelet had also changed but said nothing more and silently left.
Xu Huo had originally planned to stay on this floor. But unexpectedly, at that moment, a powerful force suddenly erupted from the center of the ship, separated by several walls. The intense energy directly destroyed the newly generated seventh floor. The exploding hull carried immense force, shaking the entire vessel!
Xu Huo pulled out the "Door of Severed Ties" to block in front of him, but he still couldn't resist the force. The accumulating walls kept pushing him backward. The outer windows had already shattered from the shock. He, the Black Bracelet player, and some others were forced back to the window edge. Just as they hesitated whether to jump out, screams came from below.
Turning around, they saw that the sea below had somehow turned into boiling black water. Two players who had tried to use items to escape to the sea surface had their items melted upon contact. After using flying devices to get up, they were struck back into the sea by a tentacle that suddenly emerged from below, never to resurface.
The scream came from another player splashed by the seawater. The black water melted half his shoulder. His companion failed to grab him in time, and he fell into the sea without even a splash.
The tentacle that had just killed two players rose again from the sea, dripping with water, gently swaying in the air as if stretching. The part visible above the surface alone was over ten meters long, not to mention the tentacles that kept emerging one after another. The sea around the ship was instantly filled, trapping the vessel in the center.
"Don't go out!" the Black Bracelet player quickly said. "These are mutated giant octopuses. They're mating right now. Anything that appears on the sea surface will be attacked!"
"Then why aren't they attacking the ship..." Before another player could finish, a tremor came from the ship's stern, as if the octopuses were slapping it. Fortunately, the impact wasn't too strong.
But it still terrified the players.
"This ship must be coated with a special agent," the Black Bracelet player said calmly. "Since they're passing through this sea area, 011 District would have made preparations. Don't worry about the ship capsizing. If it does, we all die!"
"How do you know so much?" Serin suddenly appeared.
"This is common sense." The Black Bracelet player glanced at him. "If you pay attention to the news, you'd know that 011 often captures mutated species from this sea area. How could they not have a way to avoid large mutated marine creatures?"
(Chapter End)