Chapter 154

Thanks to her [Mechanic] profession, Kou Lin could travel through the pipes, but the more people she brought, the shorter the time she could keep them inside. Lin Tu had already left via [Lighthouse], leaving Kou Lin to escort the remaining five. Even so, they could only reach the empty room at the end of the dormitory corridor. The good news was that the door hadn't been broken down—so if luck was on their side...

They packed up their equipment and followed Kou Lin through the pipes to the end. To stay quiet, no one made a sound. Only when they reached the doorway did Yi Ying toss down a soundproof barrier—though its effect was somewhat lacking. There were plenty of soundproofing items, but very few that could completely muffle noise; Lin Tu's [Bloody Barbed Wire], for instance, made noise as it grew.

One by one, they climbed down—first Guan Suiyue, then she caught Guan Suixing, Yi Ying, and the others. Just as Luo Yongzhi, who was covering the rear, was about to jump down, footsteps suddenly echoed from outside. Kou Lin's tablet clearly showed a group of cannibals rapidly approaching their room.

"Holy crap! Do they have spider-sense or something?!" Luo Yongzhi hurriedly leaped down. A loud bang followed as the dormitory door burst open, and five cannibals glared at the survivors huddled inside.

Guan Suiyue almost instantly produced a capture net, hurling it at the cannibals while shielding her sister behind her. She knew these cannibals were high-level, so she cautiously drew her longsword, holding it defensively. As expected, the net was swatted aside by a whip. At the same time, several other whips lashed toward the group. Guan Suixing's long blade barely blocked one whip, while Yi Ying and Luo Yongzhi fended off others with their own weapons. No. 42 moved with agility, but Liu Sheng, facing an incoming whip, instinctively threw a defensive item ahead.

"Watch out!" Everyone knew the item wouldn't withstand the whip. Liu Sheng realized his mistake only after throwing it, his face turning pale. No. 42 yanked him back just in time, but when the next whip came, she couldn't help again—the dormitory was too cramped, and another pull would risk her own injury. "Be careful!" she shouted, leaping up to cling to the ceiling like a spider.

Liu Sheng's face was ashen. He wanted to be careful, too! He rolled backward, trying to dodge the whip, but its speed was too great. At the critical moment, Luo Yongzhi lunged over, grabbing him, and swung his staff against the whip. With a sharp crack, the staff snapped under the pressure. "Brother Luo!" Liu Sheng cried out as he shielded Luo Yongzhi, and the whip slammed hard onto Liu Sheng's back. In an instant, he collapsed, unconscious—the "stunned" status.

Meanwhile, Lin Tu, who had slipped out from the other side using [Lighthouse], heard the commotion and rushed over. She'd noticed earlier that blade-type professions seemed to deal extra damage to these monsters, so she immediately drew the [Serial Killer]'s pistol and fired at the whip-wielding cannibal. A gunshot rang out, and a bullet hole appeared in its forehead—killed instantly.

Guan Suiyue, witnessing this, had been about to use her diplomat skill, but seeing how devastating the blade profession was, she switched to [Avenger], drawing her pistol and firing at the remaining cannibals. Her aim wasn't perfect, and several bullets were deflected by whips, but she still managed to kill two. With only two left, Lin Tu used [Lighthouse] to draw their attention, allowing Guan Suixing to finish them off.

"Is Liu Sheng okay?!" Lin Tu closed the door and hurried over to the unconscious Liu Sheng. Luo Yongzhi had already checked his wounds, and Yi Ying was hastily bandaging him. "He's unconscious, but luckily the injury isn't severe." "Good."

There were still many cannibals outside. Lin Tu thought for a moment, then consulted the Butler and placed [Anju]'s living room alone in the bathroom. The others watched as she fiddled with the bathroom door, and when she opened it again, a completely different scene greeted them—a small living room of about four square meters, with warm yellow wallpaper, two small stools in the center, a shelf holding a kettle, water, and tea leaves, and a small basket of snacks. A door stood open beside it, revealing a narrow bedroom.

"A portable space?" Guan Suiyue gasped. "That's at least an S-rank item, and even among S-rank items, I've never heard of anything like this." "Guan Suiyue, I told you long ago that you're too narrow-minded. You still won't leave the Temple," Guan Suixing teased, then peered inside. "Sister Lin Tu, is this your home? You can bring your home into disaster worlds? That's amazing—I'd love to live in there." "Sort of..." Lin Tu paused. She couldn't exactly say her actual home was bigger and more comfortable, and this was just a living room—otherwise Guan Suiyue would probably lose it. "Let's get Liu Sheng in there to hide; if the cannibals find him, he'll be in danger."

Lin Tu turned to the others. "You've seen how effective blade professions are against them. I have a blade-type class card, so I'm planning to do some tasks to gain experience. Guan Suiyue, you're with me. Anyone else want to come?" In the end, Yi Ying and No. 42 stayed to look after Liu Sheng, while Luo Yongzhi, Kou Lin, and Lin Tu set out together. As for Guan Suixing, Guan Suiyue originally refused to let her go, since her skills leaned toward close combat, which was heavily countered by the cannibals. Moreover, with Liu Sheng unconscious, his [Guard] skill's protection for Guan Suixing was invalid. But Guan Suixing insisted, and with Lin Tu's persuasion, she managed to earn a spot.

Kang Lina and her group were on the first floor, planning to investigate the two systems there. The second floor had four systems, and Lin Tu handed those to Guan Suiyue and the others. She herself planned to descend to the third floor to try her luck at the last two systems. The third floor was the work area and the lowest level. Since ship structures tended to be similar, this work area was much like the bottom level of the [Plague Kingdom]. Lin Tu only glanced at the map, quickly matching the locations and committing them to memory.

Unfortunately, this ship was clearly older, lacking the industrial structure of the [Plague Kingdom] ship. When she tried to find a tunnel beneath the ship, she found only wooden construction and had to abandon the shortcut. The cannibals, dressed in nineteenth-century sailor outfits, matched the ship's era. What was their connection to this ship? Thoughts crept into her mind.

At the ancient ship's bottom, the lighting was dim. Lin Tu carefully avoided players and cannibals, soon reaching the first fuel storage system. The puzzle was not difficult—just a math problem. Lin Tu solved it quickly, used the answer to open the safe fixed to the system, and retrieved a gold card inside. [Experience Card: Equivalent to completing four daily quests; apply to your class card to use.] Solving the puzzle drew attention from many cannibals. Lin Tu wasted no time, slapping the experience card onto [Serial Killer]. Then, using [Lighthouse], she snuck to the power system, completed its puzzle with practiced ease, and applied the new experience card to [Serial Killer] as well. Thus, [Serial Killer] upgraded to level three.

[Level 3 Serial Killer (Red): You can now kill three people per day. Every time you kill three, you trigger a critical hit, allowing you to mark and kill a fourth person, dealing double damage to them.] The [Serial Killer] class could only be upgraded by killing the fixed daily target, but that target was always from the good camp, so Lin Tu couldn't act. Thus, she used the experience cards on this class, and the effect was even better than expected. Now she had a crit chance on fixed targets, and with [Cannibal Hunter], she could add negative statuses to them, increasing her chances of making enemies suffer. Lin Tu grinned at the thought.

Just then, two groups of cannibals attracted by the puzzle completion caught up to her. The players, who had been fleeing in disarray, were astonished to see a large number of cannibals abandon them and head for the third floor. Through the communicator, NPC messages revealed that someone had completed the third floor's puzzles—

[From "Cannibal Invasion Event": Fuel storage system decrypted; Power system decrypted;] Not only that, the heating system on the first floor and the water supply system on the second floor had also been decrypted.

"From the Captain: Everyone, hide! We've discovered that the more decryption tasks completed, the more agitated these cannibals become. The second system on the first floor is nearly done—when over half are complete, they'll likely enter a berserk state!" "From the Captain: Wait, another one on the second floor is almost done..." As he spoke, players received two more NPC messages—[From "Cannibal Invasion Event": Security system decrypted; Navigation system decrypted;]

Only two systems remained. In an instant, the cannibals' eyes turned red, and their speed, strength, and reflexes surged—they were definitely at S-rank level now! "Run!" Everyone scattered, using whatever skills they had.

Lin Tu noticed the change too. She ate a blueberry, quickened her pace, and wove through the work area, successfully bursting out of the third floor. Meanwhile, on the second floor, Guan Suiyue dodged a leaf that sliced past her neck, bent nearly ninety degrees to avoid another whip, and raised her sword to activate her skill—

"Diplomatic Rules..." She got halfway through when another leaf sliced through and struck an invisible barrier, shattering it outright. Guan Suiyue's words vanished as if they'd never been spoken. She knew her opponent had interrupted her skill. Gritting her teeth, she raised her sword again—

"Doomsday Reconstruction Base Diplomat's Code," another leaf came, but Guan Suiyue knew she couldn't impose overly forceful rules. She quickly changed her phrasing: "Two nations at war don't behead envoys; any message I wish to send to my allies will be successfully delivered!" The rule was established, but Guan Suiyue knew her time with the man before her was limited. She quickly took out her communicator and sent a message to Lin Tu—"The person you wanted found!"