Chapter 33 Maritime Peril 8

Chapter 33: Maritime Crisis: Day 8

In the corridor, the gentlemanly man stared at the chilled mineral water, lost in thought for a while.

His companion gave him a light pat, whispering a reminder, "Who knows if this is a gift or a setup? Keep your wits about you." He himself was particularly alert, not even glancing at the mineral water to avoid temptation.

The gentlemanly man swallowed hard, then declared solemnly and righteously, "I'll take on the tough job of testing for poison!"

With that, he twisted open the bottle and chugged the water.

"Hey—" His companion tried to stop him but was too late, watching as his friend downed half the bottle in one go.

"Ah, that hit the spot!" The gentlemanly man looked utterly satisfied, feeling completely refreshed.

His companion said nothing. Suddenly, he snatched the bottle and also began chugging the water.

"Aren't you afraid it might be poisoned?" the gentlemanly man asked.

After finishing the bottle in one go, his companion said gravely, "We're in this together, for better or worse!" It sounded quite dramatic, but in reality, he just couldn't resist the temptation any longer...

"What are we going to tell them when we get back?" the companion asked, slightly worried.

The gentlemanly man stated confidently, "Didn't we exchange for clean drinking water?"

"But the chilled mineral water is all gone," the companion reminded him.

"It was a freebie from them," the gentlemanly man justified, "Besides, if we didn't drink the chilled water quickly, wouldn't it just return to room temperature?"

Overcome by his friend's audacity, the companion couldn't help but glance sideways—as if he didn't know that the Portable Storage could keep things fresh and at a constant temperature.

But since he was an accomplice, he just waved it off, acting like nothing was amiss, "Let's go, let's go track down other survivors. Wasn't there a girl selling mineral water on the deck earlier? Let's find her quickly."

"What if something's already happened to her..."

Before he could finish, the gentlemanly man was muffled by his companion. At the same time, a frantic, hushed growl burst out, "Shut up!!"

**

An Rongyue hid in a corner, her mind racing. It was already the 8th day; if she could just make it through two more days, she could leave the instance alive.

Thinking this, she decided to scout out a new hiding place. But as she walked, she was abruptly cut off.

An Rongyue, "..."

She took three steps back, her expression extremely wary.

"We mean no harm," the gentlemanly man tried to put on a gentle smile.

"Then keep your distance," An Rongyue said bluntly.

The gentlemanly man, seemingly oblivious to her disdain, continued to smile brightly, "How about we make a deal? I have a lot of daily necessities, we can exchange."

"No thanks," An Rongyue just wanted to escape, not engage in any deal.

"What about medicine? Would that interest you?" Seeing that daily necessities didn't sway her, the gentlemanly man quickly changed tactics.

You can never have enough medicine... An Rongyue was somewhat tempted. After a moment's thought, she asked, "What do you want?"

The gentlemanly man smiled, "You have a lot of mineral water, don't you? Let's trade for that."

An Rongyue's expression froze.

The gentleman asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

An Rongyue said expressionlessly, "I’m out of drinking water."

The gentleman, "..."

His companion, "..."

You’ve got to be kidding me! They came all this way just to trade for drinking water!

The companion blurted out, "Why is there none? Did someone steal it?"

An Rongyue thought about making up an excuse to dodge the question. But after thinking it over, she decided to be honest, "I have a special device that can desalinate seawater. But after the fire, the seawater turned black and seems to contain toxins. Would you really want to drink that?"

Of course not. The gentleman looked disgusted.

"So, no deal," An Rongyue sighed softly, feeling quite regretful.

"Don’t you have any extra bottles?" The gentleman, unwilling to give up, pressed further.

An Rongyue remained silent. She did have clean drinking water, but she also had to think of herself. What if the next dungeon was weird? What if there were no supply opportunities again?

She couldn’t just hand over vital supplies.

But if she gave nothing, she might not get out. Reluctantly, she offered, "I can give you ten bottles at most, but only for medicine, at a 1:1.5 ratio."

The gentleman sighed in relief, "Thank you."

Ten bottles of mineral water, plus the milk they had just traded for, finally eased their immediate needs. In two days, the players would be free to leave the dungeon. As for what to do afterward, they’d figure it out then.

Once the trade was done, they both backed away.

The companion muttered under his breath, "What’s the deal? We should’ve traded with the player in room 107."

They had plenty of supplies and cheaper prices. More importantly, they even gave chilled mineral water!

"I didn’t consider that," the gentleman said regretfully. Who knew the other party had a seawater desalination device? He thought they were stockpiling water on purpose.

He shook his head and whispered, "Forget it, let’s go back first. What we’ve got should last us until day 10."

"Ah," the companion sighed deeply, "If it wasn’t for that explosion, the guild wouldn’t be..."

This time, it was the gentleman’s turn to cover his companion’s mouth. He warned, "Watch what you say."

Soon, the companion realized he had said something wrong and quickly shut his mouth.

**

At exactly 9 a.m. the next morning, the system's mechanical voice announced, "Day 9 of the game."

Su Han was a bit surprised. Her Portable Storage had an extra bottle of milk, a piece of rye bread, and something else.

Nutrition Capsules: Rare-grade food. After consumption, satiety +60, cleanliness +60, stamina +60.

Su Han counted—she had received five in total.

So this is rare-grade food? She thought to herself, increasing all three attributes is quite practical.

Hearing the system notification, Cai Cheng was thrilled, "We can leave the dungeon tomorrow!!!"

"Congratulations," Zhong Rui said indifferently.

Cai Cheng glanced left and right, then naively asked, "You guys aren't leaving?"

Zhong Rui casually replied, "I always wait for the system to teleport me."

Being teleported by the system means you've successfully cleared the level.

Cai Cheng hesitated, wanting to stay and rely on someone to clear the level.

Little did he know, Zhong Rui wasn't about to take any losses, seriously stating, "We agreed to protect you up to the 10th day. If you want to clear the level, it'll cost you extra."

Cai Cheng, "..."

Usually, after entering a dungeon, chaos ensues within a few days. Currently, his assets are far less abundant than before, so he thought it better to save more gems for shopping in the next dungeon.

Thus, Cai Cheng forced a laugh, pretending it was no big deal, "It's okay, I don't plan to clear the level." But inside, he was dying.

Zhong Rui nodded, 'That's good.'

Cai Cheng was crying inside, wondering what was so good about it. Was it because he could finally ditch the dead weight?

Time flew by, and the 9th day went by without a hitch.

The next day, the system's mechanical voice announced, "Game Day 10." Cai Cheng eagerly requested to leave the dungeon. Soon, he vanished in a flash of white light.

Right after, the system's mechanical voice echoed in Su Han's ear, "Experience 30/30, congratulations, player level increased by 1, hunger limit 100, cleanliness limit 100, stamina limit 100, talent level 1."

The transparent attribute panel showed—

Name: Su Han (verified real name)

Level: 3 (Experience 0/30)

Occupation: Nutritionist (with advanced talent, experience 0/30)

Satiety: 340/340

Cleanliness: 340/340

Stamina: 340/340

Talent Skill (Advanced): In the dungeon, there's a 60% daily chance to get a 'one bottle of milk and one piece of rye bread' combo. A 15% chance to get a 'three bottles of milk, one Pork Floss Cream Bread, and one chocolate cake' luxury combo. A 2% chance to get rare food.

Note: These events can happen at the same time.

Knowing she was about to level up, Su Han stopped eating and using daily necessities since yesterday afternoon. Sure enough, as soon as she leveled up, all three attributes were instantly restored to full.

With the nuisance gone, Zhong Rui and Su Han could finally talk freely.

Su Han asked first, "Did you get the physician's precious level medicine?"

Zhong Rui didn't hide it and took out the potion.

Vigor Potion: Light blue liquid, sour plum juice flavor. After consumption, all three attributes are restored to full, and all negative statuses on the player are removed.

Su Han was astonished, "A very powerful potion, equivalent to an extra life."

Drinking the Vigor Potion when near death, instantly reviving to full health, would definitely surprise the opponent.

"The item is good, but too hard to obtain. Up to now in the game, I've only managed to get this one tube of potion," Zhong Rui felt regretful. But soon he perked up and asked in return, "What about you?"

Su Han took out the nutrient capsules and showed them to her companion.

Zhong Rui looked thoughtful. "If you get a minor injury or run low on daily necessities or food, you can take nutrient capsules. If you're in a life-threatening fight, it's better to drink the vitality potion."

"That's correct," Su Han said, handing over three nutrient capsules to her companion.

"I'll ask for them when I need them." Zhong Rui was getting a headache from his companion's stubbornness.

"No, take them now," Su Han insisted. She had received a protective vest, so she felt she should return the favor.

"Alright," Zhong Rui replied lazily, not wanting to argue further, and accepted the capsules.

Only then did Su Han smile with satisfaction.

At that moment, a mechanical voice from the system announced, "Temperature has returned to normal. There are currently 7 survivors on the C23 Cruise Ship."

In just a few days, the number of people had drastically decreased from 1,000 to 7—a terrifying attrition rate. Although a few players had left the game instance on their own, they were in the minority; most hadn't survived.

"Seven people..." Su Han muttered, quickly thinking things through.

Zhong Rui murmured to himself, "The biggest question now is, how many of these seven are from the Moonfall Guild?"

Su Han paused, glancing at her companion, and instantly understood his concern—if, apart from the two of them, the remaining five were all members of the Moonfall Guild, they'd be at a serious disadvantage.