Chapter 503: Ocean of Death
"Then as long as we stay on the ship, we should be safe, right?" a female player said, her voice trembling.
Was the ship safe?
Definitely not. The seventh floor, which had just been restored, was torn apart again. They were squeezed to the edge of the ship by a pile of decorations and wall debris, unable to enter or exit, trapped on both sides with death looming.
"Why can't the ticket be used!" someone roared in fury. "It's so close to Zone 011 here, how could it not be in the game!"
"Can't you see they did this on purpose? They deliberately brought us to this sea area where tickets can't be used, intending to kill every single one of us!" someone shifted the blame to Xu Huo and the others. "You're wearing black bracelets!"
The crowd glared angrily, with a mad desperation to kill at least one to break even before dying, or two to come out ahead.
"Everyone, calm down," Serin raised his voice. "I'm a believer. I always stand by the weak. If you don't believe me, ask the people around me."
The few white bracelet players who had followed him earlier quickly came forward to testify. The crowd reluctantly believed him, then turned their attention to Xu Huo and the black bracelet player, especially the latter, who was covered in blood. The other players had seen such bloodthirsty nobles before.
"I'm also wearing a white bracelet," Xu Huo revealed his original bracelet. "As for this friend, he's a good person. He killed several red bracelet players, and we switched bracelets for safety. If we were really on the nobles' side, with such an obvious advantage, we wouldn't have prepared a white bracelet."
"Besides, the situation is dangerous now. Instead of arguing here, we should find a way to leave the sixth floor."
"We can climb along the outer wall of the ship to the seventh floor or go down to the fifth floor."
Right now, the residual shockwaves were still hitting them. A crowd was blocking the debris just to barely avoid being swept off the ship. Once they lost their grip, they would be thrown out immediately!
Apart from the two routes Xu Huo mentioned, there was no other choice. The longer they delayed, the higher the risk. So, some players on the periphery immediately used props and traits to climb onto the ship's hull.
The outer wall of the ship had a certain slope. As long as the mutated giant octopus didn't directly attack the ship, clinging to the hull was safe.
But the problem was that too many people wanted to get out first, which reduced the number of people resisting the front. After Bai Kou's side unleashed another shockwave, most of the people were thrown out of the window!
"Whoosh!" It wasn't a cry, but the sound of air rushing past as tentacles scraped against the ship's hull. Several players were snapped in half, and a few more were injured and fell into the sea.
Xu Huo had props. After exiting the sixth floor, he hung on the edge of the floor and took the opportunity to throw "Hurt Others, Not Self" at the black bracelet player who had been hit by a tentacle.
The other player grabbed the rope and crashed through a glass window, landing on the fifth floor. Then Xu Huo retracted the prop, grabbed the strings, and jumped into the fifth floor as well.
He hadn't counted how many players were on the sixth floor, but after this wave, only a dozen or so made it to the fifth floor.
Looking at the tentacles still swaying outside, the black bracelet player breathed a sigh of relief and said to Xu Huo, "Thanks for that."
"Reciprocity," Xu Huo said with a slight smile. He hadn't had to deal with so many red bracelet players alone earlier, and the imitation doll might have been a factor there.
Regardless, he had received the other's goodwill.
"My name is Lu Yun," the black bracelet player shook his hand.
"Xu Huo," Xu Huo glanced at the constantly shaking ceiling. "We need to find a way to leave now."
Lu Yun shook his head. "It's hard."
If the ship were merely hosting a hunting game, they might have been able to hide with special props until the ship returned. But now that an accident had occurred, the battle between the nobles and the foreign players was hard to resolve, and even this prop ship might not survive.
"What the hell!" a player leaning against the wall suddenly shouted, struggling to tear off two black arms wrapped around him.
Xu Huo was close by and slashed with his sword, cutting the two "arms" clean off. They fell to the ground and turned into seaweed.
Lu Yun walked over to take a look. "They really are arms."
Although the fallen objects had turned into seaweed, the things growing on the wall did look like human arms. The cross-sections had realistic human arm textures, with bones and fascia visible, but instead of blood, a green-black liquid flowed out.
Lu Yun cut off a piece with his knife. "Seaweed."
"Seaweed turned into human hands?" Xu Huo swept his gaze over the corridor, which was noticeably thinner and more numerous than during the day, and said in a deep voice, "I'm afraid this stuff is all over the ship."
No sooner had he spoken than his feet were grabbed. He looked down to see another pair of seaweed human hands, pulling him with tremendous force. At the same time, the floor began to soften, like quicksand, swallowing his feet.
He cut off the seaweed hands, hung in the air with his strings, keeping his distance from the ship while slashing at the ground with his sword.
As expected, the sword energy didn't leave a single mark on the altered ship's hull.
"What kind of damn prop is this ship!" a player cursed.
"At least an A-grade prop," Serin said, floating in the air, calmly dodging the seaweed hands. "It can change time and form. Maybe it's a time-space prop. The only question is how long its usage limit is."
"A time-space prop," Xu Huo's gaze darkened. As long as it wasn't an S-grade prop, he could use "Three Seconds of Life" to stop the ship's operation. Even if it couldn't completely shut down this prop ship, it would at least affect its effects.
But the problem was what to do afterward.
The members of the Eerie Sound Knights had clearly not arrived here through regular train channels, meaning they had a way to travel between game zones without needing tickets. Bai Kou might have one too.
Judging from the earlier situation, Bai Kou didn't seem to have any helpers. If she couldn't achieve her goal, she would likely leave directly to protect herself.
Although the two were cooperating, Bai Kou might not consider him at a critical moment.
Therefore, the best current scenario would be for Bai Kou to form a stalemate with the other high-level players on the ship, or force the ship to turn back.
"I have a way to deal with this," Lu Yun said, stepping on a flying device while smashing seaweed hands. "I brought a lot of fuel through a special channel when I boarded. These seaweeds are afraid of fire. Once the fire starts, they won't dare to come out!"
As he spoke, he headed toward a corridor.
The other players had no choice but to follow to stick together. Xu Huo caught up to him and asked directly, "Did you have an escape plan when you boarded the ship?"
Lu Yun had come prepared. Given his understanding of the ship's characteristics and the events on board, he must have done some prior investigation.
"Does this sea area completely block instances?"
"My original plan won't work," Lu Yun hesitated for a moment before saying, "You're thinking of using the ticket? This sea area has no instances, but if we follow the original route for another half hour, we'll pass through an unstable space. There, we might be able to take a chance."
"Unfortunately, the ship has already deviated from its course."
(Chapter End)