Chapter 40 Dying One by One

Reception room.

Currently, there are four players remaining in the game: Jiang He, the stocky man, the middle-aged sailor, and a woman in a skirt who possessed very little presence. Perhaps due to drinking alcohol at breakfast, her gaze looked hazy, and she seemed on the verge of falling asleep.

The middle-aged sailor slowly spoke, "My name is Zhao Xuan. I worked at sea for a full twenty years. My education is passable, and my resume is passable. Because I spent long years on the ocean, I developed severe joint disease, and I was forced to retire from frontline work. Later, I went to America and joined a large ocean-going shipping group. Before long, this group launched a blockbuster project, namely the New Las Vegas—the Never-Sleeping City on the Sea."

"I remember it was an ordinary night. A female colleague and I served together as the headquarters liaison officers for that day."

"I only learned afterwards that at that exact same time, a hurricane of unprecedented scale was forming in the Pacific."

"There were no weather signs whatsoever, and the meteorological observatory didn't give the slightest warning either. Anyway, when the captain of the New Las Vegas contacted headquarters, my female colleague was on top of me. We had been drinking a lot and failed to report the news in time, and another department responsible for supervising the procedure was likewise unmanned."

"No one thought the New Las Vegas could have a problem. Its length was twice that of the Titanic, and no waves in the world could overturn an island."

The middle-aged sailor said despondently, "The howling wind and torrential rain blocked all signals, and the captain pinned his last hope on me, while my little brother at the time was busy enduring a different kind of storm. Lacking a live satellite map of headquarters, the New Las Vegas drove straight into the center of the hurricane. There was no wind there, but there was a sea eye that swallowed everything. I killed over seven thousand people."

The stocky man said, "So you were the first to board the ship at the Modu Port."

The middle-aged sailor nodded heavily. "The Death Cruise is the New Las Vegas. There's no doubt about that."

The woman in the skirt said fuzzily, "Then what else is there to say? Why don't the three of us just shoot him dead right now?"

Jiang He extended his leg to step on the handgun belonging to the female corpse on the floor. Si Ning had failed to pull the trigger successfully before she died. He gave it a couple of kicks; it indeed had the loose feel that a corpse should have.

"Zhao Xuan's sin belongs to dereliction of duty. In the computer system's judgment, he might be the executioner who killed all the passengers, or he might simply be an insignificant link in the accident. Once the three of you shoot and kill him, the wolf will clear the game. It doesn't matter much to me, but this brawny gentleman seems unable to accept it. As for whether he is a more wicked fellow than Si Ning, it is hard to judge."

The stocky man remained silent.

Zhao Xuan said, "Since doubts remain whether we pull the trigger or not, I suggest everyone instead aim our gun barrels at our host. There is a high probability that this game was designed by him, and he definitely has nothing to do with being a good person."

Host Z1 narrowed his eyes. "Hey, hey, hey, you don't really think your marksmanship is better than mine, do you?"

Suddenly, an electronic voice sounded.

"The reading of sins is over. The right to use firearms is granted."

With the host deliberately stalling, the Death Cruise took over the control of the game's progress.

Zhao Xuan and Host Z1 grabbed their handguns at almost the exact same time, but before they could raise them, the gunshot had already rung out.

The revolver in Jiang He's hand let out a roar. His agility stat, reaching as high as ten, gave him the margin to carefully aim. The bullet burst from the muzzle, piercing straight through Host Z1's forehead like a heavy hammer, and the target instantly lost all ability to resist.

The stocky man was startled. The world's fastest gunfighter held a record: drawing, aiming, and firing took a total of 0.21 seconds, which was already a peak that ordinary people could scarcely hope to match. Yet this current shot was simply a fleeting flash of lightning!

"The game sequence continues. Everyone present, return your firearms," the Death Cruise announced.

Jiang He said, "Now it seems that neither of the two deceased is the wolf, and neither am I, the one who fired the gun. At the very beginning of this game, even the wolf couldn't confirm whether they were the wolf, but now it seems it's likely among the three of you."

The woman in the skirt said, "What if I get up and leave the table?"

The stocky man sneered, "Then you'll eat a bullet just like Blondie."

The woman in the skirt shrugged. No one could be sure about this matter. Host Z1 had concealed far too many rules; compared to the cabin sector, order was rising, but not to the extent of earning trust.

The four returned their firearms. The stocky man began his reading, a painful expression on his face as he said, "I am the driver who rushed onto the street as described by Si Ning. Zhao Xuan has the greatest suspicion, and his inclination to shoot was the most obvious. I believe he spoke the truth in order to make his sins heavier."

"The right to use firearms is granted."

In a split second, the stocky man fired at Zhao Xuan, but Zhao Xuan did not resist; instead, he slid the gun in his hand over to the woman in the skirt.

The woman in the skirt fired to kill Jiang He. The bullet burst forth, but he dodged it by tilting his head.

The woman in the skirt: "Ah?"

Two gunshots rang out simultaneously, and Zhao Xuan died.

"The game sequence continues. Everyone present, return your firearms."

The woman in the skirt hurriedly placed her own gun on Zhao Xuan's seat. There were no longer any bullets inside it, but the gun the other party had tossed over right before dying became the only loaded handgun on the tabletop.

The stocky man was dumbfounded. "There's more!"

The woman in the skirt said drunkenly, "Neither the person who shot and killed nor the deceased is the wolf. There's actually no need to read. I was Zhao Xuan's colleague. On the night the New Las Vegas sank, I was the one who took the initiative to find him and cut off the communication signal. Thinking back now, there wasn't really any reason, simply that I didn't want to be disturbed. Over."

"The right to use firearms is granted."

The stocky man stood up abruptly, holding the empty handgun and fiercely throwing it at the woman in the skirt. The guy wearing the monocle could dodge bullets with his head; it went without saying who she planned to shoot and kill next.

The handgun smashed into the woman in the skirt's eye, and a bullet also struck the stocky man's abdomen.

Due to his sturdy build and with the reinforcement of adrenaline, the stocky man fiercely tackled his enemy to the ground, and the two wrestled wildly together. But not long after, the woman in the skirt got up, firing the revolver at close range. Very few people could survive that unscathed.

"The game sequence continues. Everyone present, return your firearms."

The woman in the skirt first frowned, then gave a derisive laugh. "I suspect the game is just for fun, and everyone has to die."

Jiang He calmly said, "You aren't, and neither am I. That only proves the wolf isn't dead."

The sound of seats being righted rang out. Si Ning patted the two footprints on her shirt, and seeing that the blood-red marks left by the fake bullets were truly difficult to clean off, she simply gave up and sat back down at the table.

She rested her chin in her hand, looking bored, and said, "What 'old lady is just a prank'? But Z1 did give you a hint: the host must also participate in the game as an invitee. The best choice in this situation is to form an alliance with other hosts, though more often it's mutual checks and balances. My sin was personally executing nearly a hundred prisoners in [Hell]; the Death Cruise only counts direct crimes."

The woman in the skirt said coldly, "The next sequence isn't yours."

Jiang He picked up the revolver he had been stepping on. After the woman calling herself Si Ning "died," her corpse indeed became soft, yet no excrement flowed out from it to trigger a foul stench. This was not normal.

"I have killed 1,742 people."

Si Ning raised her thumb and laughed, "Pro."

The identity of the person with the heaviest sins was transferred. Before Jiang He's eyes, his invitation letter turned as crimson as blood, and he held the last gun with bullets in the reception room.

As the wolf in the game, he only needed to shoot one person to clear the stage.

The woman in the skirt grew secretly anxious and said, "She's also a host. The organizers on this ship are all lunatics..."

Si Ning remained indifferent.

Jiang He raised his hand and shot the woman in the skirt dead, then calmly asked, "I killed Host Z1 earlier. According to what he said, I should be able to inherit his identity."

Si Ning nodded. "That's true. Except for twenty-six assistants like Ms. A and Mr. Z, the other hosts are all hidden among the invitees. Therefore, secrecy is the primary imperative. Only by forming alliances and gaining favorable conditions through each other's home grounds can one survive better. For instance, this time, Z1's first shot was a fake bullet, and he deliberately chose a silenced revolver. If he were alive, he would also receive preferential treatment on my home ground. You killed Z1; take his mask and you can inherit his identity."

At the same time, an electronic voice came from the Death Cruise.

"Game over. Survivors: 2/6."

Against the wall of the reception room, a dim passageway opened up.