Chapter 29 Maritime Peril 4

Chapter 29: Peril at Sea 4

In the study, a man leaned against the bookshelf, half-dead, gasping for breath.

"Want to live?" Zhong Rui suddenly appeared, like a ghost.

"What are you getting at?" The young man tilted his head, his tone indifferent. He was about thirty years old, with a slim build and a scholarly appearance.

"I save your life, and you owe me a favor," Zhong Rui said seriously.

The young man's expression turned strange, "Exploiting the situation?"

Zhong Rui was unfazed, "It's a fair deal, not a shakedown. Both sides have to agree."

The young man suddenly laughed, "Sorry to disappoint you. My supplies got jacked, and I'm tapped out. I've decided to give up the competition."

"Too bad," Zhong Rui said, though his face showed no emotion, and he turned away without hesitation, heading to the next destination.

The young man's eyes flickered, and he muttered under his breath, "I don't need help, and I won't make any promises because of it."

**

In the chess room, a young woman was slumped in the corner. Her stamina was at 23%, so she kept a low profile.

"Need a hand?" Zhong Rui entered the chess room and sat down not far away, showing that he meant no harm.

The young woman hugged herself, warily sizing up the newcomer, her tone slightly harsh, "No thanks, scram!"

"Is that so?" Zhong Rui asked casually again, "You're running on empty, and death's at your doorstep. Clearly, your medicine has run out, otherwise, you would have pulled your stamina above the safety line."

"You lucked out meeting me; I'm not here to mess with you. What if you run into someone else? Think you'll make it out alive?"

Without waiting for an answer, he added indifferently, "I'm just looking to cut a deal. No hard feelings if you're not interested."

Zhong Rui stood up, ready to leave. Suddenly, a voice came from behind, "Alright, what's the offer?"

Zhong Rui lifted the corner of his mouth, "Simple: I save your life, and you owe me one, no questions asked."

The young woman sneered, unable to help but ask, "What if I kick the bucket before I can pay up?"

Zhong Rui remained calm, "If the bet goes south, that's just the way the cookie crumbles." After all, the stakes were not high; success would be a pleasant surprise, and failure wouldn't be a big deal.

The young woman fell silent. After a long while, she said, "New deal: I won't cross you, and I'll throw in a full-body armor. In return, you give me medicine totaling 300 stamina points, any kind will do. That way, even if I die in this instance, you won't lose too much."

Zhong Rui raised an eyebrow, quite surprised. This was clearly a refusal to owe a favor. Unconsciously, he thought of Su Han.

"Make it two, and we've got a deal," Zhong Rui began to bargain.

The young woman's eyelids twitched, and she couldn't help raising her voice, "Precious-grade armor! There's only one! It's stab-proof and bulletproof, top-notch stuff!"

"Got anything else? Rare-grade, I'll take two," Zhong Rui compromised.

The young woman thought for a moment, then tentatively said, "Protective vests? They're stab and bulletproof, but only cover your torso."

"Deal," Zhong Rui decided, and took out a variety of medicines, bandages, anti-inflammatory drugs, ointments, hemostatic powders, and more.

The young woman was incredulous, whispering, "Did you clean out a pharmacy?!"

Zhong Rui grinned, "Not robbery, but buying out the stock with money."

The young woman was speechless. She threw out two protective vests, then eagerly used the medicine to boost her stamina to 90%, finally letting out a long breath.

On the second day in the dungeon, she finally felt a sense of security returning.

Zhong Rui stored the vest in his Portable Storage but was quite curious. "You’ve got protective gear, so how’d you still end up near death?"

The young woman was completely helpless. She smiled self-deprecatingly. "Maybe because people think it’s easy to pick on a girl alone? Last night, I was attacked by many people, and all my medicine was used up. If it weren’t for the protective gear, I probably wouldn’t have made it."

"Good luck to you." Having gotten an unexpected bonus, Zhong Rui was very satisfied. As for the promise of "never being an enemy," whether the other party would keep it, he actually didn't care much anymore.

After searching around the gambling room and storage room, Zhong Rui noticed that the two other severely injured patients he had found earlier were no longer there. He didn’t know if they’d been helped, run into thugs, or just didn’t make it and turned into white light.

Zhong Rui didn’t think much of it. After finishing his rounds, he returned to room 201.

At that time, Su Han was cooking noodles in the room.

Cai Cheng was in charge of chopping chairs into wooden blocks and tossing them into the brazier.

Su Han used a pot to boil mineral water, then added seasoning packets and noodle cakes. Not content with that, she sliced up some fish and cut the squid into pieces, adding them to the noodles to cook together.

The rich smell of instant noodles mixed with the scent of seafood was enough to make anyone’s stomach growl.

Cai Cheng swallowed hard, feeling starved and desperate for a big helping of noodles and seafood!

But Su Han didn’t seem in any hurry to serve the meal. Instead, she turned to deal with a pigeon.

Soon, she lifted the pot of instant noodles and replaced it with a new pot, starting to stew pigeon soup.

Cai Cheng looked away, unwilling to watch—if he kept looking, he felt he might not be able to stop himself from reaching out with greedy hands. But he was clearly no match for the boss in a fight, and the consequences of disobedience would be dire. So, he could only endure desperately.

But even though there was no meat soup in sight, the aroma kept wafting into his nose. Cai Cheng closed his eyes in agony, feeling like he was being put through a major test.

The door was knocked on, and Zhong Rui's voice sounded. "It's me, open the door."

Cai Cheng perked up and hurried to open the door. In his mind, with everyone there, the next step was obviously to start eating.

As soon as he stepped inside, Zhong Rui caught a whiff of an unusual aroma and quickly shut the door.

Su Han said casually, "You’re here? Perfect timing, dinner’s ready, let’s eat."

Cai Cheng was thrilled and couldn’t wait to dish up the noodles. Suddenly, he remembered something, his expression tightened, and he obediently sat down beside them, saying righteously, "Bosses go first, I’ll eat last." There was no choice—living under someone else’s roof was tough, and being polite was the only way to avoid being disliked.

Su Han shrugged, "Who goes first doesn’t matter. There’s plenty of food, and if we run out, we can always make more."

With that, she dished herself up some instant noodles, noodle soup, squid tentacles, and fish slices, and dug in with gusto.

Zhong Rui didn’t hold back either, serving himself a heaping bowl. He first brought the bowl to his face, took a deep breath, and then started eating.

Cai Cheng wanted to eat a lot but was afraid of being seen as greedy, so he only took half a bowl of noodles.

"You’ve paid your dues, eat as much as you want," Zhong Rui suddenly said.

Cai Cheng looked up, his eyes filled with hope. "Really, can I eat as much as I want?"

"Go ahead," Zhong Rui said calmly. "We caught several fish, there’s more than enough."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cai Cheng quickly picked up several pieces of fish for himself and started eating happily.

While eating, Zhong Rui started chatting. "From what I’ve seen, there haven’t been any more fights among the players, so things have calmed down for now."

Su Han was somewhat speechless. "Are you kidding? On the deck, in front of everyone, I was almost robbed, okay?"

Hearing this, Zhong Rui also found it strange. He had seen it himself, so why did he subconsciously dismiss it as not being a fight?

Probably because the fight was over so fast and was a total blowout!

Zhong Rui quickly changed his tone, "Maybe there are still local conflicts, but the frequency has significantly decreased."

Su Han agreed with this statement, "Indeed, at least no one has come knocking on our door to cause trouble."

"In the next few days, try to fish and catch birds to solve our food problems," Zhong Rui said seriously. "I don't know how long the other players will remain peaceful. Once supplies run short, they will have no choice but to steal from others to survive essential supplies."

Su Han nodded, "I've also considered this issue. Being on a cruise ship, daily necessities and water are in short supply, and we can only rely on our stock. If we run out of supplies, we'll have to steal from others to survive."

"By the way," Zhong Rui took out a protective vest from his Portable Storage and threw it to Su Han, "Here, take this."

Protective Vest: Reduces damage from melee attacks by 5 and ranged attacks by 8. (Only protects the torso)

Su Han shook her head and threw it back, "I can't accept something without earning it."

Zhong Rui, somewhat displeased, threw the vest back, "Then think of it as a thank-you for dinner."

Su Han was speechless and threw it back again, "It's just a few fish, no big deal."

"Take it," Zhong Rui insisted firmly.

"Stop it," Su Han said firmly.

Cai Cheng, "..."

He looked totally done, like he couldn't eat another bite.

Zhong Rui composed himself, his expression serious and his tone grave, "Take it, it's for both our sakes. I'm happy with how things are and don't plan to switch teammates."

Su Han was silent. Why did it sound like accepting the vest would make him forever thankful? This didn't seem right. Besides, they weren't exactly teammates... just more familiar than strangers.

Zhong Rui, with a cold expression, said indifferently, "If you don't want it, just toss it."

This guy...

Su Han had no choice but to take the protective vest in her hands, accepting his goodwill, "Alright, thanks."

Zhong Rui's expression softened a bit, and he went back to eating.

Cai Cheng muttered to himself, "PDA leads to quick deaths!" Then, turning his frustration into hunger, he shoveled food into his mouth.

After eating and drinking their fill, Su Han said, "Let's split up." With all three of them in the same room, she was worried she'd never sleep.

Zhong Rui nodded and readily agreed, "Rooms 202 and 203 are free. Cai Cheng and I will take one each. Just shout if you need anything, we're right next door."

"Okay," Su Han responded softly.

Cai Cheng, knowing he had no choice, went along with it without a word.

Night fell.

Su Han opened the window to air out the room and get rid of the instant noodle smell. Then she sat by the window, sorting out her thoughts with the sea breeze.

The situation had temporarily stabilized, but hidden dangers remained. Who was the poisoner? How many were involved? Had they been eliminated, or were they still lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity? Did they have other poisons on them? Or were they actually preparing for the next attack?

After thinking it over with no answers, Su Han had to give up, feeling frustrated, "There are many curious questions, but for now, we can only take it one day at a time."