Xu Lian is dead. This seemingly shrewd and capable white-collar worker underestimated the selfishness of human nature.
She really believed it when everyone said they should help each other and work together to clear the game.
In the past few days getting along day and night in adversity, these people gave her illusions. An illusion that they can help each other, especially when time is getting tighter and the current environment is getting worse and worse. The excessive fear in her heart made her anxious. She makes a risky move, and also a wrong one.
When the ghost's hand grabbed her chest, she could even feel her beating heart being squeezed bit by bit by that skinny and cold hand. But she took more notice of You Chang who ran away directly without looking back.
At the moment when she closed her eyes, she was no longer afraid, and there was even a sliver of relief. The last thought that came to her mind was, the way of heaven is reincarnation, and heaven will spare no one.
-
You Chang returned downstairs with a shocked look. When the other players who were waiting anxiously saw him, they immediately ran towards him: "How is it? Has the matter been resolved?"
Under the expectant eyes of everyone, You Chang shake his head. Qiu Tian noticed that You Chang came down alone, and frowned: "Where's Xu Lian?"
Everyone was surprised that there was one less person, and asked quickly. You Chang took a breath and said: "The timing of the attack wrong, we were too nervous. We didn't notice that besides the pathogen, another person was locked up."
Zhang Ning looked at You Chang with a stern look: "And then? What about Xu Lian?"
You Chang glanced at them, with a look of grief on his face: "Originally we succeeded in getting close to the pathogen according to the plan, and Xu Lian did succeed, but the It in this game is not the pathogen. After that person was killed, she turned into a fierce ghost almost instantly.
"Holding the talisman and standing guard at the side, my first reaction at that time was to stick it to the ghost, then we would had a chance to run away. But we didn't expect that the act of killing people stimulated the man who was locked into that room. The appearance of that man changed at that time, and he rushed towards us.
"I ran out in a hurry and found that Xu Lian hadn't followed. Looking back, Xu Lian was already captured by that man. Pressed on the ground, the whole heart was pulled out."
Cui Ting's feet were weak, and she almost sat down on the ground. Zhang Ning and Qiu Tian's expressions were very ugly, and they even looked at You Chang with suspicion.
But Huang Ruifeng and that purple-haired Liu Ming's attention was not on the dead Xu Lian, but on the talisman: "That is to say, you did use that talisman? We won't have a second chance to try?"
You Chang nodded with a serious expression: "My ghost energy value cannot be exchanged for the second talisman."
Qiu Tian: "Killing people in front of others will stimulate them, and will also tear off the disguise of the living people and turn them into ghosts?"
You Chang shook his head: "I don't know. This is the first time this has happened. In other instances before, no player killed in public, unless he was very sure that the person was It. And the moment he killed It, the Ghost Domain will disappear."
He said some things half-truthfully, which made it more convincing.
Huang Ruifeng asked in a panic: "You used a talisman to deal with a ghost, what about the other one? Will he chase us down and kill us?"
You Chang shook his head again: "I don't know. This has never happened before. But I ran down, and there seems to be no ghost chasing after me."
The death of Xu Lian made people feel heavy, and the wrong target made people feel even more heavy. Everyone's eyes couldn't help looking at the bearded man enjoying himself like an emperor in the hall.
Is he the one?
-
Wen Ran in the captain's cabin signaled Qi Yunjing to look at his mobile phone. He had just asked them about the situation in the group, but no one else responded. Only Qiu Tian replied, saying that they kill the wrong target and Xu Lian died.
The captain's room is not a place to talk.
Seeing the father and daughter's frail appearance, Wen Ran left a pack of biscuits for them even though he knew they were just ghosts disguised as living people: "Since Miss Xia doesn't want to go with us, then we won't force it. Moreover, we haven't found a safe place to stay now.
"Let us leave here first, go check out the situation outside. If there is anything, we will come to you again."
Seeing that his daughter is so dependent on him, the captain had no choice. He didn't really trust handing over his daughter to these two strangers, so when he saw his daughter resisting so much, he no longer forced it. He watched them crawl away from the vent, and closed the vent door again.
Xia Yao said: "Dad, why don't we climb out from here too?"
The captain shook his head: "With my body size, Dad can't climb in at all. Even if we climbed out, we are on a ship at sea. Where can we hide? Now staying here, Xu Youwei may not dare to kill us directly, at least not yet, so we still have some time."
Xia Yao couldn't help but threw herself into her father's arms and burst into tears: "How did it become like this, oh... originally everything is fine, why did it become like this..."
The captain stroked his daughter's hair, and said with heartache: "It's all my fault. I have lived this long, but I can't even recognize people. It's all my fault. Dad shouldn't have you got on the ship, it was your father who harmed you."
Xia Yao cried and shook her head. She was also wrong, she was blind and didn't see that Xu Youwei was a bastard!
-
Wen Ran and Qi Yunjing carefully climbed up a section of the vent. They originally wanted to find an empty cabin to stay for a while, but the power was cut off in the cabins that were not in use. With all sides closed, the air was completely blocked.
In the end, the two men chose a storage room near the deck and opened the door so that he could see outside and get a fresh air.
Wen Ran was in a daze. He felt that this kind of game without any hints and relying entirely on guessing was not suitable for him at all.
There were so many people on the ship. Although many people had died now and there were not a thousand people left, there are still hundreds of them. If you want to find It, how to do it with so little hint.
Qi Yunjing was also silent for a while, and then suddenly said: "I suspect that It is probably the captain."
Wen Ran looked at Qi Yunjing: "Why?"
Qi Yunjing said: "An old captain, the obsession with the ship is far beyond ordinary as one would think. Among almost all shipwrecks, the captain is the last one who will abandon his ship when there is a way out and is forced to do so, otherwise even if he die, he would prefer to die on the ship."
Wen Ran: "Just based on this?"
Qi Yunjing said: "Not entirely, I just consider the probability of the environment."
Wen Ran said: "Then I think his daughter is also a possibility. If it really develops according to the current situation, the captain will definitely die at the hands of his daughter's fiancé.
"When the food on board becomes less and less, and there is no way to survive, reducing the consumption of personnel is the only way. People marked for death are raised in captivity and used as two-legged sheep.
"Think about it, if the daughter watched her father being killed, maybe even eaten, all by the person next to her pillow who betrayed her. Wouldn't the hatred be greater than the sky?"
Qi Yunjing looked at Wen Ran with a serious look: "Will you do it?"
This question really caught Wen Ran.
Would he do it? Even if he was sure who the owner of this ghost domain was, would he kill someone? Even if he killed, it was actually a person who was no longer in this world. It's not that Wen Ran is being pretentious. He has never experienced such a thing. He has turned eighteen this year. For him, this question is not so easy to answer.
He would not hesitate to kill the evil ghost with his bare hands. Even if his own life was endangered, no matter how pitiful the evil ghost's past was, he would not relent. But now let the ghost go through the murder first, and then killing the ghost again. It would be terrible.
After enduring it again and again, Wen Ran still couldn't help but cursed: "Psycho."
He really don't know who set up this game. Whether it is hatred for those ghosts who created the ghost domain, or does he want to dig out the truth that have been covered up by time?
If it is the former, then give them a hint directly, let them find It, and take action directly. Why bother make them observe and search so hard. If it's the latter, they have to kill the It after they have seen the tragic truth. What was this person trying to do?
Qi Yunjing knew who he was cursing, but he himself couldn't figure out whether it was ghosts playing tricks on people or people playing tricks on ghosts.
Wen Ran opened the bag he was carrying, rummaged through it for some filling food. He and Qi Yunjing ate some to regain some strength, and then said, "You stay here, I'll go see the ghost ship."
Qi Yunjing said: "Do you want to go and see the part that has been assimilated?" Wen Ran nodded, and Qi Yunjing said: "I'm with you. It's not appropriate to act separately now."
Wen Ran thought about it. Even if he was hiding here, he couldn't prevent himself from being discovered, so it was better for them not to separate.
At this time, the people on the ship had already noticed the strangeness on the ship. Starting from the stern, it seemed that another time and space continued to spread over, and what they saw was a strange dilapidated state. Many people hurriedly moved their positions. The farther away from that weird change, the better, for fear of being swallowed by something.
Therefore, Wen Ran and Qi Yunjing were avoiding people at first, but the closer they were to the assimilated place, the less people there were. Wen Ran didn't stop until they reached the middle of the hull: "It's so fast. When we discovered it before, it just assimilate to the stern of the ship."
Qi Yunjing: "Want to go there?"
Wen Ran stretched out his hand to Qi Yunjing: "Hold on to me, let's go take a look."
Qi Yunjing glanced at his hand, and held it up without any hesitation. Just when they were about to go in and take a look, a scream came from behind them, and the two immediately found a place to hide in. After a while a group of people rushed to the deck of this floor noisily.
Wen Ran leaned over and saw that the captain and his daughter had been captured at some point. At this moment, a man with an unshaven beard but a vaguely handsome appearance was holding a knife against the captain with a fierce look on his face.
Xia Yao was subdued by two men, one on the left and the other on the right, but she still struggled desperately towards her father and wanted to pounce: "Bastard! Xu Youwei, you are a beast! How have my dad treated you all these years! Could it be that you aren't afraid of retribution!!"
Xu Youwei bared his teeth and smiled: "Retribution? Look now, you don't even know if you can leave alive in the end, what retribution am I afraid of? How did your father treat me? Do you think you are treating me well? In the eyes of others, I am just a dog of the Xia family. Xia Yao, your princess disease makes me sick!"
Xia Yao's eyes were red with hatred, seeing her father's half body being pushed out of the railing, she struggled like crazy: "Xu Youwei, you will die! You let my dad go! Come at me if you have the ability!"
Xu Youwei sneered, he said: "No hurry, it's your turn next."
After Xu Youwei finished speaking, he let go of the hand that was holding the captain's neck. The hunger these days left the captain and his daughter with little strength to resist.
Looking at the man who used to be aloof and always seemed to be giving alms to others, Xu Youwei was extremely happy. He always dreamed that one day he would trample Xia's father and daughter under his feet.
After kicking the old captain in the face, Xu Youwei grinned, "It's too cheap for you to die like this. You don't have to feel what despair is, how can you be worthy of the suffering I have suffered all these years."
At this moment, the old captain, who he thought had no power to resist, suddenly jumped up and snatched the knife from Xu Youwei's hand. He tried to hack the scum to death, but was kicked away by the person next to Xu Youwei.
But even so, the tip of the knife still scratched Xu Youwei's face.
Xu Youwei didn't expect that this old thing still had the strength to resist, so he didn't react for a while. Looking at the old guy who was kicked to the ground, Xu Youwei touched his face and then touched the blood in his hand, his eyes suddenly change: "I heard that the people above are running out of food."
Most of the people who followed Xu Youwei were crew members. Hearing Xu Youwei's words, their heart suddenly jumped. No matter what, he was the former captain. Some people couldn't help saying, "Why don't you just throw them into the sea?"
Xu Youwei gave the man a cold look: "If you want to go into the sea so much, how about I throw you first?"
The person suddenly didn't dare to speak. The people following Xu Youwei are the most abundant. There were a lot of weapons and food in their hands, and they even had the only escape pod left in their hands. No matter what, they didn't dare to really offend Xu Youwei.
Xu Youwei withdrew his gaze coldly, and said to the people beside him, "Take them to the hall and tie them up."
After the group of people left, Wen Ran walked out, glanced at the assimilation line that was getting closer behind him, and said: "It is basically certain now that this It is either the old captain or his daughter. When they are angry, the speed becomes faster."
Qi Yunjing said: "That is to say, if they die naturally according to their original fate, this ship will completely become a ghost ship?"
Wen Ran said: "I don't know, but it's very possible." After Wen Ran finished speaking, he looked at Qi Yunjing: "There is another method, which is a bit risky, and I don't know if it will succeed."
Qi Yunjing said: "What method?"
Wen Ran: "Rescue them and take them to the place where it have been assimilated. The missing ship has turn into a ghost ship, and one of them will turn into a ghost that create the ghost domain. The obsession must be quite deep.
"If I let them go back to the ghost ship, maybe it will stimulate them to think of their own death. Once they think of their own death, they will naturally take off their disguise of living people.
"I will try to liberate them. If I can't, then I can only beat their souls to pieces and break this ghost domain."
Qi Yunjing knew that he was not as good as Wen Ran in this regard. Although Wen Ran was not sure, but he had to give it a try, so Qi Yunjing agreed to Wen Ran's proposal.
It's just that before they acted, the captain and his daughter ran out first.
Most of the people below are crew members. At first, Xu Youwei did use food as an excuse to incite many people to join him in relinquishing the captain's rights. There were also quite a few people standing in line as the deputy captain at that time. But it didn't mean that everyone has completely lost their conscience.
Previously, the captain was locked in the cabin. Even if he only had a small piece of bread and a bottle of water every day, he was not forced to die. But now, Xu Youwei obviously wants to kill the captain's family.
There is a person who has been favored by the captain in the crew. Taking the opportunity while delivering food, he stuffed a razor blade into the palm-sized bread. The captain take advantage of the night, when everyone was resting, to cut off the rope and run out with his daughter.
But the ship was only so big, there was no food, and they would die wherever they hid. The captain ran out with his daughter, but he didn't run far, he brought his daughter to the deck.
Originally there was an escape pod here, but now it has been directly dragged to Xu Youwei's side to guard. The captain didn't expect to escape from here, he looked at the only daughter he brought up with a sad expression: "Yaoyao, Dad has wronged you."
Xia Yao cried and shook her head: "Dad, let's find a place to hide first. The ship is so big, they won't be able to find us for a while."
The captain just shook his head, they couldn't hide. He was also starving to death. If they were found when they were so hungry and completely exhausted, it would be even worse.
He was not afraid of his own death, but when they tied him and Yaoyao in that hall just now, those people made no secret of it. The unabashed animal looks, verbal insults, and even physical bullying. The daughter he raised was not born to be abused.
Thinking of the fate their father and daughter with no escape, the captain said cruelly: "Yaoyao, climb up. Dad knows that death will be very painful, but don't be afraid, Dad is with Yaoyao."
Xia Yao's eyes widened suddenly, she became afraid. What she was afraid of was not jumping into the sea, but facing the unknown of death.
The captain stretched out his arms and hugged his daughter: "Don't be afraid, Yaoyao. Dad is always here. In the next life, we will be father and daughter. In the next life, Dad will definitely protect you."
Xia Yao was raised naively, but she is not stupid. She knew in their current situation they would die sooner or later. She also knew that her father could no longer protect her, and she knew even more that if she didn't die, what kind of terrible hell she might face next.
Despite the fear in her heart, she climbed up the railing while trembling, crying with tears all over her face.
The captain held his daughter in his arms like he did when she was a child: "Don't be afraid, Yaoyao. Living is more terrifying than dying. You go first, and Dad will come soon." He pushed her daughter down before he had time to regret.
To kill his own daughter with his own hands, for a father who loves his daughter like his life, it is more painful than cutting him into pieces. The captain has never hated himself so much. Why did he bring his daughter on board? Why he cannot recognize people clearly. But it's okay, dead is better than alive.
However, the second Xia Yao was pushed down, a figure suddenly appeared beside her, grabbing Xia Yao's slender wrist.
The captain was startled, and saw that it was the two young men who had been in his room before.
Qi Yunjing dragged Xia Yao, and Wen Ran hurried over to help. It was too easy for two big men to lift a girl who weighed eighty pounds.
The captain looked at them in a daze, but when he saw his daughter being dragged back to the deck limp and crying, he couldn't help but stepped forward and hugged her: "Yaoyao, Dad's Yaoyao..."
Xia Yao also hugging her father tightly, she couldn't say anything. At that moment, she really felt that she was going to die.
At this moment, there was a noisy sound from a distance, and the light of the flashlight. Wen Ran pulled the two of them together: "Come with us."
The captain who had already panicked instinctively followed suit, and Wen Ran dragged Qi Yunjing. He didn't know what would happen if he took Qi Yunjing into a place that had been assimilated by the ghost ship, so both of them were taking risks.
Separated by a line, one is a brand new and luxurious cruise ship, and the other is a dilapidated and rusty hull.
When he walked into the boundary of the ghost ship, Qi Yunjing looked around in amazement. He could see that the hull was the same, but it seemed that time had been accelerated. It was decayed, dilapidated, gloomy, and desolate. Truly like an abandoned place.
Wen Ran has been paying attention to the changes in the surroundings, and at the same time to the captain father and daughter. Xia Yao's face is frightened, she doesn't understand how a good ship has become like this in an instant. She was clinging tightly to her father's arms, carefully looked around.
The captain, on the other hand, was stunned at first, then confused, and then gradually calmed down.
Seeing the captain's change, Wen Ran immediately understood.
He held Qi Yunjing tightly with one hand, hid the other hand behind his back, and began to accumulate spiritual power. As long as the captain turned into a ghost, he could strike immediately.
It's just that the captain was exceptionally calm from beginning to end. Looking at his daughter who was relying on him, he reached out his hand to stroke her hair lovingly: "Yaoyao."
Xia Yao raised her head: "Dad? How could this place become like this? It wasn't like this just now."
The captain smiled when he heard the words: "Don't worry, Yaoyao, no one will bully you again in the future."
Xia Yao only felt that her father's words were a little strange, but she only thought it was his father's comfort. So she wiped away her tears, and nodded obediently. Then her body softened, and she didn't know anything anymore.
The captain put his daughter on the ground, then looked up at the two young men in front of him.
Wen Ran was quite calm, but full on guard.
The captain said: "That day, no one came. I pushed Yaoyao into the sea. It was foggy, I could only listen to my daughter struggling, but I couldn't see anything."
Wen Ran didn't speak, his hold on Qi Yunjing hand tightened. As expected, it was the captain. He remembered everything.