Chapter 93
When night fell again, Lin Tu was roused by the distant strains of a waltz and a faint, persistent hum that seemed to hang in the air.
The room—unfamiliar yet strangely familiar—snapped her back to reality. This was her new bedroom. She turned over and walked to the window. The pitch-black, endless ocean and the slight sway beneath her feet confirmed that she was already aboard the [Kingdom of Plague].
[Player Deng Haixiang, hello. The system detects that you have... (garbled text)... We are now opening a solo disaster mission for you!]
[Abyssal Doomsday
Rating: C-level... B-level!
Disaster: Kingdom of Plague
Synopsis: The plague ravaging the continent has driven the last of humanity to the seas. Three grand cruise ships—the Empress, the Black Pearl, and the Watchman—have set sail with the vow never to touch shore again. But this has not spared humanity from calamity. Danger already lurks close by. If you wish to avoid being stranded on the boundless ocean floor along with the ships, survive—and be careful.
Mission: Survive for three months and keep your infection level below 90% (completing this will grant a random reward).]
[Now, you may check your own infection level, or that of others. When a person's infection is below 30%, it increases by 1% every three days; when between 30% and 60%, it increases by 1% each day; and when above 60%, it rises by 3% per day. Note that contact with infected persons or animals will further increase your own infection. These rules apply to everyone. When your infection reaches 90%, you will be deemed a monster and cannot return to Doomsday Town. Certain medicines or maintaining a healthy physique can reduce infection slightly.]
[Black Factory Extra Message: Team-up ticket location has been sent.]
The image that had flashed into her mind the night before, after using the Illusion Key, returned to her now.
In her dream, she had seen what Deng Haixiang saw before his death—a ship filled with despair, deathly silence, and disease. Yet the music drifting to her ears now told Lin Tu a different story: this vessel was full of joy and ease. Could it truly be the same ship?
Lin Tu thoughtfully opened the team-up ticket's location interface. As expected, the ticket's coordinates were nowhere near her—over a hundred thousand miles away.
But Lin Tu wasn't worried. Her little house had the [Morph Form] function. Worst case, she could disembark and head over herself. Before doing that, though, she should gather some intel. What exactly was this plague? How did the map here differ from her own world? What route would lead from here to that location? Would she have enough fuel? Charging in blind—that wasn't her style.
Besides, Lin Tu glanced at the big letter B at the top of the interface and rubbed her forehead. Indeed, time's passage had escalated the disaster's intensity.
Fortunately, her house had come with her. Lin Tu, in good spirits despite the music, opened the bedroom door. Before her was the living room—more precisely, her original combined living room, kitchen, and bedroom, all in one compact space. Now it was cleaned, tidied, and neatly arranged. Shelves lined the wall by the window, stacked with various supplies. The window faced the bedroom door. From the bedroom, the living room lay to the left, with a table and chairs, more stockpiled goods, and a dog bed. To the right was the kitchen and dining area, where the cabinet with the Time Freeze Card was placed. In the kitchen, there was a small window and a small door—the latter led to Lin Tu's freezer.
Over the past day, after shaking off the police, Lin Tu had been stuffing this place with supplies. But with limited time, it was only half full.
Lin Tu patted Xiao Huang's head. Since disasters were coming to whichever world she was in, she'd brought the dog along—it also made it easier for the Butler to function.
"Bang, bang, bang!" A knock came at the door.
Her house was currently situated in a standard room aboard the Black Pearl. Apart from the wealthy and powerful who could influence the world, everyone else's quarters were just like hers—standard. Even someone like Lin Tu, or rather Deng Haixiang, who was supposedly a professor at a renowned academy, had no better.
Lin Tu peered through the peephole. A steward stood at the door, his face flushed abnormally, pushing a cart: "Ms. Deng, your pan-seared salmon is here!"
Lin Tu didn't open the door. Instead, she held her phone camera to the peephole. In the image, the steward's infection level read 13%.
"Just leave it at the door!" Lin Tu called. "I'm feeling a bit under the weather."
"Sorry to disturb you, ma'am. Please come out and get it soon, or it'll get cold and taste bad," the steward said, setting the plate by the door and pressing the doorbell again. "If you need medication, feel free to call the room phone."
Lin Tu thanked him but didn't open the door right away. She heard the steward walk away, muttering under his breath, "At least these people are sick too—that'll make the higher-ups take it seriously. If the plague really comes back, people like us at the bottom, so many of us already ill, we'd be done for... When she takes her meds, I'll snatch half. No, can't call it stealing... I need medicine too..."
His voice was so low that he clearly intended no one to hear. If not for the Human Evolution Liquid, Lin Tu would likely have missed such vital information.
Things were worse than she'd imagined. Lin Tu stopped hesitating, called the room phone, and ordered medicine, masks, alcohol, and disposable protective suits.
About half an hour later, the steward returned with most of her items. Since the plague hadn't broken out yet, supplies weren't scarce. They only gave her a single disposable protective suit—those weren't distributed externally—but everything else arrived.
Seeing only half the medicine left, Lin Tu smiled, unfazed. This was a perfect chance for the steward to test how much infection a dose could lower, so she'd have a baseline.
After all, she'd known in advance that the disaster was the [Kingdom of Plague], so she had stocked up on plenty of drugs and medical supplies. Asking for these things was just a cover. Otherwise, a professor of animal behavior suddenly pulling out masks and such would raise too much suspicion.
After disinfecting all the supplies, putting on a mask, and donning the protective suit, Lin Tu finally opened the door.
She had called earlier to ask about the basics of the Black Pearl, but the deputy captain responsible for passenger inquiries had gone to the ball.
A ball... That sounded like a perfect place to spread a virus. Lin Tu didn't really want to go, but then she reconsidered. She could use her phone to scan and see how many people on board were already infected.
Her quarters were on Deck Four. She needed to go up two levels to Deck Two to reach the common areas like the restaurant. The corridor lights were warm and soft. As she climbed to the third deck, Lin Tu noticed the carpeted hallways and the noticeably more refined wall fixtures... Upper class, middle class, lower class—what a clear hierarchy, Lin Tu thought.
The higher she climbed, the louder the music and laughter grew. Stewards pushed silver carts laden with champagne, desserts, and small lamb chops, all arranged elegantly, toward the ballroom. Even through her mask, Lin Tu caught the enticing aroma—she'd check that salmon with a contamination detector later. She couldn't let good food go to waste.
Ladies and gentlemen in splendid attire danced gracefully across the ballroom floor. The gold around their necks and the bracelets on their wrists caught the dazzling light, casting a cold, opulent gleam. Lin Tu, in casual clothes under a protective suit, stood out like a sore thumb. She did her best to avoid the crowd, made her way to the corridor on the second deck, and, looking through the window, raised her phone to scan below.
"Ah!" A scream erupted from the center of the ballroom just as Lin Tu was about to check the contamination levels.
The crowd quickly parted, forming a clearing. In the middle of it, a man lay on the floor, clutching his throat, gurgling and spitting white foam.