Jiang Siyan, who had been maintaining a deathly expression, silently moved toward them. He used Zhu Xi Ning's violence to clear his surroundings and sat down within the range of her madness.
"Shouldn't we do something about her? She'll collapse from exhaustion,"
Jiang Siyan reminded Nan Yue. Nan Yue sat cross-legged, watching Zhu Xi Ning. "I can't control her either, and..."
She pointed at Zhu Xi Ning's feet. "She knows her limits. Haven't you noticed?"
A hint of a smile appeared in Jiang Siyan's eyes. "Yeah."
Although Zhu Xi Ning looked like she was chasing monsters to hack them apart, she never strayed too far from Nan Yue and the others.
If these monsters were illusions, then no one knew how far the illusion extended. If she wandered too far and fell into the sea to be swallowed by that thing, it would be over.
The others either realized this or were simply too afraid to move, staying rooted to the spot.
But Zhu Xi Ning had clearly considered this, using her powerful intuition awakened ability to carve out a safe perimeter.
Eventually, Zhu Xi Ning's speed slowed down. After a short while, she sat back down beside Nan Yue, breathing slightly hard.
She thrust her dagger into the deck, the tip sinking into the wood. She sat with one leg bent and her eyes half-closed to rest.
The night was still long. During that time, a male scavenger lost control of his fear. His psychological value collapsed, and he began screaming and trying to jump overboard.
Long Qinghe, who was closest, grabbed the man. Ignoring his struggles, he stripped off his own clothes, tore them into strips, and tied the man to the railing.
Nan Yue heard him grumbling incessantly about how he had finally bought new clothes only for them to be ruined like this.
She felt a slight urge to laugh.
Other scavengers with stable psychological value began trying to relax their nerves in this environment, half-closing their eyes to avoid looking at the mangled limbs everywhere.
Nan Yue glanced at Jiang Siyan sitting beside her. He was covered in blood and bits of flesh, and his refined aura had faded, replaced by a sense of despondency.
"If these things actually attacked people, what would you do?"
Nan Yue didn't quite understand. Had Jiang Siyan seen through the fact that these things posed no real threat long ago?
Jiang Siyan let out a small yawn and maintained his persona with a smile. "In a mission, I generally don't avoid this kind of indirect death."
"My ability is too strong. I simply cannot die."
It sounded like self-boasting, but Nan Yue heard the self-deprecation in his voice through that smile.
No matter how strong his self-destructive tendencies were, he had no way to kill himself.
His survival instinct would use his awakened ability to instantly heal any injury.
"I do value my life, though,"
Jiang Siyan laughed. "People are complicated. While you might feel bored with life, the hundreds of millions of cells in your body are working hard to stay alive."
"Giving up isn't that easy."
For some reason, Nan Yue thought of what Lan Jing Shui had told her about the three pathfinders who entered the contaminated zone.
They had given up.
"So your way of clearing a mission is to stay alert for instant-death rules and just coast through the rest?"
Jiang Siyan was amused by Nan Yue's phrasing. "That makes me sound like such a slacker."
He thought for a moment. "But it's more or less like that. That's why I don't proactively look for clues."
Nan Yue glanced at him. "Do you think your boredom is caused by your ability?"
His ability was too strong and his mental strength was exceptionally high. He could get out safely without even trying. To him, missions weren't even games; they couldn't even pass the time.
"You still need something that interests you, something that can make you feel excited."
Jiang Siyan let out an "ah," and his gaze darkened. "I think so too."
The night was incredibly difficult to endure, but by the latter half, everyone had become numb. After an unknown amount of time, the first light of dawn hit the deck.
Nan Yue woke up and looked down. The cruise ship was sailing on the deep blue sea, kicking up white sprays of water.
"It's over."
She stood up and carefully leaned over to look. All she could see were the barnacles she had discovered last night.
The female scavenger who had fallen into the sea was nowhere to be found.
Even if the sea of flesh from yesterday had been fake, the cruise ship had been sailing for so long that she wouldn't be in this area anymore anyway.
The other scavengers gradually woke up. They looked down and realized the sticky, foul-smelling blood on them had vanished.
Aside from the exhaustion of a night spent with their nerves on edge, there was no sign of what had happened.
Only Long Qinghe stood there with a bare upper body and a dark expression, his sinewy muscles on full display.
"Congratulations, explorers, on successfully surviving the first day's mission."
It was unclear where John had appeared from, but his expression was as cold as ever.
Though he was saying congratulations, there was no emotion in his voice.
"Today, you may enjoy everything on the ship to your heart's content. Now, I will announce tomorrow's mission."
"Tomorrow, I would like each of you to help Joseph catch a fish."
John left immediately after speaking, giving no one a chance to ask questions.
Joseph?
Who was that?
Catch a fish?
Everyone looked at the harpoon guns around the cruise ship. Just how big were these fish?
They were told there were no missions for today, but for a scavenger, there was no time to rest. They needed to find enough clues to ensure they could successfully complete the mission tomorrow.
"Go back and get some rest,"
Nan Yue instructed the others. Wen Xiang Yuan looked around. Several scavengers already looked terrible, but they had no intention of going back to sleep.
Although last night's situation wasn't exactly life-threatening, it was still nauseating.
They had absolutely no desire to return to their rooms.
"I'll come call you at noon. You must try to get some sleep,"
Nan Yue said helplessly. "Otherwise, with one mission every day, it's easy to be dragged down. Mental stability is like a spring; if you keep stretching it, it will eventually snap."
The group returned to their rooms. Tan Xiaonan had also successfully survived the night. She looked quite unwell. Although there were no stains on her, she desperately wanted to take a shower.
She stood at the bathroom door hesitating before finally giving up.
After seeing what the ocean had turned into in the early hours of the morning, she felt disgusted.
She crawled onto her bed and stared at the red ceiling.
The room wasn't actually cramped, but because the entire room was dyed red, it felt very oppressive.
Tan Xiaonan stared blankly, feeling as if someone had died in this room and their blood had been smeared everywhere.
She was startled by her own thought and turned to say something, only to find that Nan Yue was already asleep.
Tan Xiaonan: ...So this is the strength of a high-level player! Falling asleep so fast.
Perhaps because Nan Yue fell asleep so quickly and soundly, Tan Xiaonan's tense heart relaxed a little.
It seemed... not that scary?
Tan Xiaonan drifted off into a daze.
Rate on N.U.
