Chapter 32 Maritime Peril 7

Chapter 32: Maritime Peril 7

Despite the combined efforts of all the players on board, the system remained inactive, and the C23 Cruise Ship was nearly wiped out.

Su Han opened a crack in the window to observe the outside situation. She noticed the once thick black fog had started to thin out, and the color of the seawater had deepened again.

After assessing the situation, she quickly shut the window.

Cai Cheng muttered expressionlessly, "Day 4 of the game? Why does it feel like I've been on this cruise ship for forty days?" Each day was filled with anxiety and despair, dragging on like an eternity.

Zhong Rui looked thoughtful, "If the cruise ship could sail, could we escape the toxic fog zone? If we go far enough, maybe the seawater will become clear again."

"Who knows?" Su Han was equally curious. But with the ship's equipment malfunctioning, they couldn't test their theories.

"Forget it," Zhong Rui said, giving up and closing his eyes to rest.

The three of them stayed in the room, eating and drinking, living quite comfortably.

On the 5th day, the black fog thinned further, leaving 33 survivors, with all NPCs wiped out.

On the 6th day, the black fog continued to dissipate, with 29 survivors left.

The system announced, "Temperatures are abnormally high, suddenly rising to 38 degrees, with a sharp increase in mosquitoes and bugs."

"Exposure to sunlight can easily result in strong UV radiation, causing 'dehydration' and 'burning' symptoms."

As soon as the announcement finished, the temperature noticeably increased, and the room became stuffy.

Cai Cheng said expressionlessly, "If we open the window, we'll have to breathe in toxic gas, right?"

Su Han calmly replied, "So keep your cool and tough it out until the temperature anomaly passes."

Cai Cheng loosened his collar, feeling the strain—sweat was pouring from his forehead from the heat. Without a fan, air conditioning, or even a cool breeze, how could they possibly endure?

But the next moment, Zhong Rui took out calcium nitrate and mineral water and started tinkering.

After watching for a bit, Su Han raised an eyebrow, "Making ice with saltpeter?"

Saltpeter is calcium nitrate. When dissolved in water, it absorbs a lot of heat, lowering the temperature and causing the water to freeze.

Su Han understood the principle of making ice, but she had been too poor previously to stock up. By the time she had the money, she was thrown onto the cruise ship with nowhere to buy.

"Right," Zhong Rui replied simply and kept tinkering. Shortly after, a plate of ice was ready.

Cai Cheng leaned in, took a deep breath, and instantly felt a cool breeze.

He volunteered, "I'll fan it." With that, he picked up a cattail leaf fan from the room and gently fanned the ice.

Instantly, a slightly chilly breeze spread around.

Su Han was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Let's exchange contact information. After leaving this instance, let's team up."

As long as both parties apply officially to team up, they will definitely enter the same instance in the next game.

After some observation and interaction, she felt that no one would be more suitable as a teammate than Zhong Rui. Not only is he meticulous and friendly, but he also never interferes with his companions' actions.

When help is needed, they stand on the same front; when the situation is stable, they each take action, playing the game in their preferred way. As a result, they get along very well.

After careful consideration, Su Han thought, if she must have a teammate, it might as well be this person.

Cai Cheng almost thought they were talking about him and was about to reply, "I need time to consider," when the next second, Zhong Rui curled his lips and cheerfully responded, "Okay."

Cai Cheng, "..."

Wait, these two still haven’t teamed up? Then why have they ended up in the same instance twice in a row? Is this what they call fate?

As he kept fanning himself, he pondered (and doubted) life.

By the 7th day, the black fog had completely lifted, leaving 22 survivors on the cruise ship.

Thanks to their ample supply of saltpeter, Su Han even placed mineral water together with ice cubes. Once chilled, she twisted open the bottle and took a sip, feeling an incredible sense of refreshment.

Cai Cheng sincerely remarked, "If I were alone, even with my Portable Storage, I’d have died a dozen times by now. Thanks to meeting you guys, I've managed to survive till now."

Zhong Rui nonchalantly replied, "No need to thank me. You pay, I deliver—fair and square."

Cai Cheng thought to himself, the big boss is a powerhouse; once you latch onto them, passing levels becomes easy. Maybe he should just become their lackey from now on?

But even if he was willing, the big boss might not agree. Cai Cheng couldn't help but feel conflicted.

**

That afternoon, the sun was especially brutal. The sunlight felt like it was roasting people alive.

An Rongyue stayed in the shade, sighing over and over. Since entering the sea instance, she felt like she was cursed with the worst luck.

On the first night, chaos broke out, and everyone saw her as an easy target, relentlessly pursuing her.

She’d managed to create a freshwater source, but no one trusted it, always suspecting that she had also poisoned the water.

And now, her bad luck just kept getting worse—she had a distillation device capable of desalinating large amounts of seawater, but suddenly the seawater turned black, clearly containing toxins.

An Rongyue genuinely felt that life was unbearable.

If it weren’t for the medicine she had exchanged with someone, and with only a few days left before leaving the instance on the 10th day, she was ready to give up and face death head-on.

Waves of heat washed over her, and the exposed skin felt a searing heat, as if being roasted over a fire.

An Rongyue pulled out a bottle of water and took small sips, ensuring her mouth was fully moistened before swallowing the fresh water. Then, with a sigh, she got up, ready to move on—the sun was setting, and soon the sunlight would fall on her.

After walking a few steps, she spotted someone on the deck hunting pigeons. After hitting the prey, they directly twisted its neck and made a cut to drink the blood.

Bright red blood dripped from the corner of their mouth, looking quite terrifying. An Rongyue felt her hair stand on end, and she decisively changed direction.

By the 8th day, only 20 survivors remained on the cruise ship, but more and more people were on the verge of giving up.

No one wanted to just sit around waiting to die, so the players began seeking cooperation.

At 8 a.m., just as Zhong Rui woke up, there was a knock on the door. A male voice followed, "Hello, is anyone there? I want to exchange supplies with you."

Zhong Rui was instantly on guard. He quickly stuffed the ice cubes into his Portable Storage and swiftly cleaned the table.

Su Han, expressionless, softly reminded, "Cleaning up won’t help; the room’s too cold."

Zhong Rui, "..."

Just woke up, didn't react immediately. Now thinking about it, his companion was right. Even if they put things away, the lower room temperature would indirectly indicate they had ice. Unless they didn’t open the door, the person outside would definitely notice.

"It's okay. There are only 20 people left in the instance, and we have guns," Su Han comforted.

Zhong Rui thought again, "True." It's good enough that they don’t actively provoke others. If anyone tries to mess with us, they’ll regret it.

"Shall I open the door?" Cai Cheng asked for approval.

"Sure," Su Han approved.

As soon as the door opened, a cool draft escaped.

The two players outside looked surprised. They exchanged glances, and one of them politely asked, "Can we come in?"

"Come in," Cai Cheng stepped aside to let them in.

The inside was a world apart from the outside. The intense heat was blocked at the door, and the two immediately felt comfortable all over, wishing they could stay put.

"What do you want to exchange? How?" Su Han cut to the chase.

The bespectacled, refined man smiled and then said seriously, "Our top priority is a large supply of clean water, followed by food. If you have any medicine, we're open to trading for that too."

Zhong Rui didn't bat an eye, not interested at all. Since he had everything he needed, he didn't need to exchange with others.

Su Han couldn't help but wonder, "What do you have?"

"Daily necessities," the refined man answered without hesitation. After thinking for a moment, he added, "A large amount of daily necessities."

Su Han pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you have a talent skill that can obtain daily necessities?"

The refined man smiled and admitted helplessly, "Yes."

"Then it's very suitable for us to make an exchange," Su Han said, taking out rye bread and milk from her Portable Storage, filling the entire table, "The milk's packaging is intact, no worries about tampering."

Food and water can be obtained through talents, but daily necessities are a finite resource, so she agreed to the trade.

Seeing this, the refined man and his companion couldn't help but gulp.

The blazing sun made them sweat buckets, and daily necessities were consumed faster than usual.

On the other hand, although the system only requires drinking 500ml of clean water daily to avoid negative statuses, when thirsty, they threw the system's rules out the window and just wanted to drink more water.

Unfortunately, after entering the instance, there was no chance to replenish, and their stock wasn't much, so they had to ration their water. At this moment, their throats felt like they were on fire.

"How to exchange?" The refined man tried to play it cool. Although he felt that his face probably gave him away, he still kept up the indifferent act.

"Daily necessities: Food = 1.2:1, how about that?" Su Han proposed. This is a very common exchange method, meaning, using daily necessities with a cleanliness of 11 to exchange for food with a satiety of 10. The types of items are not limited, only the total value is considered.

The reason she had a slight advantage was that she was not in a hurry to exchange, and the value of water resources could not be entirely calculated based on satiety. In fact, given the other party's urgent need for drinking water and food, not taking advantage of the situation was already quite generous.

If it were someone else, ratios of 2:1 or even 3:1 would be dared to propose.

Sure enough, the refined man eagerly said, "Okay, let's exchange now." He quickly took out daily necessities from his Portable Storage, fearing the other party might change their mind.

One hand with daily necessities, the other with food. After several exchanges, the transaction was completed.

The refined man unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. He politely said, "Then, we won't disturb you any longer."

Just as they were about to leave, Zhong Rui casually threw out a bottle of chilled mineral water.

The refined man instinctively caught it. When he realized the mineral water was cold, his hands couldn't stop trembling. Chilled mineral water! He actually saw this in the game, was it finally his turn to be lucky?!

Zhong Rui didn't care much, "It's a gift for you, consider it a meeting present."

The refined man nodded blankly, actually not hearing clearly what Zhong Rui was saying, his focus entirely on the chilled mineral water he held.

The companion couldn't bear to watch any longer and dragged the man away.

The door opened and closed, leaving only Su Han and her two companions in the room.

Su Han looked at her companion, her curiosity piqued. "Do you really think giving an extra bottle of mineral water could win them over?"

Zhong Rui shook his head lazily. "Rather than relying on talent skills to obtain a large amount of Daily Necessities, I'm more inclined to think they are from the Moonfall Guild. They likely commandeered the cruise ship's inventory, hence they don't lack Daily Necessities."

"In fact, I believe what they really need is water resources. Claiming a lack of food is just a smokescreen to prevent the trading partner from becoming suspicious and refusing the exchange."

"They have everything except for drinking water, with an abundance of supplies that they can't even use up. And we don't lack clean water resources, so we might be able to cooperate in the future."

Despite possessing relatively strong combat power, they still chose to hold the fourth floor and avoid conflicts with others, which shows that the players of the Moonfall Guild have good character.

"That's a fascinating theory," Su Han said, but then she changed her tone. "But what if you're wrong? What if they really obtained the Daily Necessities through talent skills?"

Zhong Rui didn't care. "If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. Given our combat strength, we needn't fear being targeted. And not everyone is a warmonger; many just want to live peacefully."

Su Han was speechless. She thought to herself that Zhong Rui's Portable Storage was nearly bursting with supplies. If he chooses to give it away, so be it. With such an abundance of resources, it's of little consequence to him.