Chapter 41: The Cruise of Carnage (3)

“You really don’t know how to talk, do you? I’ve granted most of you the right to survive this round. Or do you all want to die right now?” As the broadcast echoed, a chilling gust swept across the deck. Many felt an invisible hand caressing their necks, and shuddered all over—at any moment, they might end up like the man from earlier.

Many trembled violently, death now closer to them than ever before, so near it was almost within reach.

“The hunters lose ten minutes. The game continues!” The voice from the broadcast rang out, and the icy sensation around their necks vanished.

This time, no one dared to speak out of turn. A crowd began searching the deck layer by layer, and from time to time, someone was dragged from a hiding place and killed.

Boom—

The room where Sun Ming was hiding was kicked open by a man. Under the bed, behind the door—no one. Only a double-door wardrobe remained as a possible hiding spot.

Footsteps drew closer to the wardrobe.

Creak—the doors swung open.

“You… What are you doing hiding here? Get out and hunt the ghosts!” The man dragged Sun Ming out and spoke gruffly.

“Brother, one of those rich men has a grudge against me. He’s surrounded by bodyguards, and I’m just an old man—if I go out, he’ll kill me for sure!” Sun Ming’s face was streaked with tears, and he lied as if it were the truth.

“That’s all the more reason to go out. This time, all those bodyguarded tycoons are ghosts—you might even get your revenge!” The man replied, hauling Sun Ming out of the room.

After Sun Ming and the man left, a faint sound came from the drawer beneath the wardrobe, where socks and underwear were stored. Sun Ming had smashed the three drawers, leaving only the outer halves, and thrown the rest into the sea. His wife was now hiding inside.

“There are still three people missing! Who saw them?”

“Did you check the storage room?”

“It’s all been searched!”

“Go check the ropes by the lifeboats!”

…

The hunters called out to one another, scouring the ship for hidden ghosts. Over a hundred people, terrified of being discovered, successfully transformed their fear into ghostly resentment.

With a shriek, another person was killed.

“One minute left. Two ghosts remain unresolved! Prepare yourselves for punishment!” The broadcast voice sounded, and all the hunters went mad, searching frantically for the last two ghosts, but finding nothing.

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

“Game over! Hunters failed. I never expected you would lose. Prepare to experience the terror of death!” Instantly, the remaining fifteen hundred people were plunged into a nightmare, experiencing countless ways to die.

“The two winning ghosts may leave at will!” The broadcast declared.

Splash—a figure with a backpack full of food and a flashlight jumped into the sea. This time, the ghost did not intervene; whether this person would survive was uncertain.

Sun Ming’s wife remained hidden beneath the wardrobe, unsure how to escape—she couldn’t swim!

The fifteen hundred people died repeatedly in the illusion; many with weak wills died of fright, releasing vast amounts of negative energy that pushed Sun Lang’s ghostly rank to the four-star peak.

But that was the limit. The intense, rapid stimulation had brought everyone’s fear to its threshold. Many survivors now stared blankly—no emotion could stir within them for a while.

“So it’s useless after all? Pathetic!” The ghost’s disappointed voice came from the broadcast. It was only a step away from five stars—just one more person, and it could break through, but that one had already swum far into the sea.

The remaining people on the ship were tossed into the ocean by the ghost; they were of no further use and, even if rescued, would likely end up mentally deranged—the best possible outcome.

At this moment, the hidden Zhao Qing caught the ghost’s attention.

“Mom!” A boy appeared before Sun Ming’s wife, his expression joyful.

“Son! You’re alive, thank goodness! Let’s go find your father!” Sun Ming’s wife carefully pushed open the drawer, trembling, whether from fear or excitement she could not tell.

“Dad protected you so well! But… why didn’t he protect me? Why…?” As the ghost roared, thick black resentment surged toward the woman before him, obliterating everything in its path.

Sun Lang’s mother felt… regret? Sadness? Astonishment? She couldn’t name the feeling—only that it hurt deeply. In the next moment, she exploded into a blood-red lotus.

Perhaps she had forgotten what Sun Ming once told her: even if their son returned as a ghost, he was no longer their son.

As the ghost unleashed its resentment, the cruise ship began to collapse, all the human corpses transforming into fragments that fell into the sea. Thanks to Zhao Qing’s overwhelming negative emotion at death, Sun Lang ascended to a five-star ghost.

By now, the cruise ship drifted in the waters of Great Metropolis. The ghost floated above the sea, in no hurry to return to China.

Yesterday, Great Metropolis’s capital had also witnessed a strange phenomenon—twin suns shining in the sky. All day, two suns burned above, doubling the heat and forcing people indoors.

Every time such phenomena occurred, the place became a rare treasure for ghosts.

Having determined its destination, the ghost headed for the site of the twin suns. Now a five-star ghost, it would outcompete all others.

After Sun Lang departed, a monstrous creature appeared near the sunken cruise ship, feeding on the dead bodies. Its body, once over twenty meters long, now approached fifty, bloated by devouring so much flesh.

Its head bore a human face Wu Zui recognized.

After its feast, the monster sped toward the site of the twin suns in Great Metropolis. The sea returned to calm, and only the broken planks floating on the surface bore witness to what had happened.

When the cruise ship massacre began, Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai of the Binhai City traffic squad had just finished reviewing surveillance footage. The video showed Qian Lan walking back to the city herself—strangely, her stride covered three or four meters at a time!

This almost proved she was no longer human, though Wu Zui couldn’t determine what type of ghost had possessed her.

Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai arrived at Qian Lan’s last known location: Jiaxing Street.

Once the manor of a prince from the last century, Jiaxing Street was now a modest tourist spot in Binhai City, popular for photos.

Now, Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai could only rely on faint magnetic sensitivity to find Qian Lan in the vast crowd—a needle in a haystack.

Beep—

Beep—

Both their phones rang simultaneously: an urgent message from the Ghost Handling Center—high-level ghosts detected in China’s coastal waters. All non-assigned investigators must immediately head to the nearest coastline for support. The department had also dispatched personnel.

Wu Zui frowned. What level of ghost required so many investigators, even departmental backup?

Could it be even more powerful than the one at Haishan? Wu Zui was startled by his own thought—the Haishan ghost had nearly killed them all. If it was stronger than that, who knew how many would die!

“Get in, Master!” Xiao Ke’ai called to the absent-minded Wu Zui.

“Oh—coming!” Wu Zui responded, hurrying to Xiao Ke’ai’s vehicle.

They sped toward the coast, knowing the urgency meant the threat was formidable.

China’s southern coast.

Many monsters had already reached the shore in coastal areas; numerous investigators had arrived to battle them. Some appeared as mutated fish, others as grotesque masses of flesh stitched together.

After emerging from the sea, these monsters crawled inland, seemingly intent on hunting humans to ascend by feeding on their flesh.

Investigators blocked their advance, their golden weapons stained with black monster blood. Wang Yichuan and his team, who had not yet left after sealing Haishan, were also present. Compared to other awakened ones, four-star Wang Yichuan moved effortlessly through the tide of monsters.

Thankfully, most were only around two stars.

Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai arrived in their car. Wu Zui warned Xiao Ke’ai not to stray too far, and they joined the fray.

The southern coastline became a slaughterhouse—countless monsters were slain, many investigators seriously wounded or killed.

Even Wang Yichuan, a four-star awakener, was ambushed by a monster: a red, flesh-formed needle twenty centimeters long pierced his shoulder blade.

Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai fared well. Aside from a serpent-tailed monster whose bone-knife arm grazed Wu Zui’s chest, they had no major issues.

That monster, having touched Wu Zui’s blood, howled in agony as its arm burned to blackened charcoal.

The battle raged for over an hour, and fewer monsters swam up from the sea. Just as the investigators thought the assault was over—

Boom!

A colossal bird, like an eagle, burst from the ocean. Its body was entirely red, covered in fine scales instead of feathers.

Its two pairs of wings bristled, and its scarlet eyes swept the investigators on the shore with obvious disdain, before soaring away.

The bird’s true length was unknown, but the wave it raised as it surfaced swept many investigators into the sea. Though none died, all were left bedraggled.