Tan Xiaonan chuckled. "I really am lucky. As soon as I entered the mission, I knew that following you would give me the best chance of survival."
Nan Yue arched an eyebrow. "Is that your ability?"
Tan Xiaonan looked bewildered. "I don't know. I didn't use any ability. I just noticed that every time I go through a mission, I can always find high-level players—and they're always high-level players with good character."
Nan Yue was silent for a moment before asking, "In your previous missions, if you were divided into groups, were you always with the people who survived until the end?"
Tan Xiaonan nodded. "Yes. I've always been very lucky. That's why I was so confident when I was assigned to the same room as you."
Nan Yue didn't ask further. If she wasn't mistaken, this was indeed Tan Xiaonan's ability.
However, this kind of ability was different from the ones they commonly knew. It was a passive ability that couldn't be triggered voluntarily.
This ability was simply luck.
No wonder Tan Xiaonan had mediocre skills yet managed to survive so many missions.
She was a lucky star.
However, this kind of ability was limited after all and couldn't be controlled manually, making it unreliable for Nan Yue.
But for Tan Xiaonan, it was enough.
Nan Yue stretched. "I'm starving. Let's go eat."
Tan Xiaonan looked distressed. "I don't want to eat. That thing was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. Who could have an appetite after seeing that?"
Nan Yue silently compared last night's eyeball monster with the Ant God and concluded that last night's monster wasn't actually that gross.
In the end, Nan Yue went to the restaurant alone. There weren't many scavengers there, perhaps only half of them had come out.
Fortunately, Wen Xiangyuan and the other two were there, though their expressions weren't great.
They all sighed in relief when they saw Nan Yue. Zhu Xining was still comforting Wen Xiangyuan.
"See? I told you A-Nan just has a great sleep schedule and overslept. There's no way anything happened to her."
Wen Xiangyuan looked at Nan Yue with a wronged expression, as if asking why she could sleep so well after what happened last night.
Nan Yue coughed twice to hide her embarrassment. After asking around, she learned that everyone's experiences yesterday were more or less the same.
They had all helped Joseph hunt, though what they saw varied.
For instance, Wen Xiangyuan had participated alone because her roommate had died during the first exploration.
Wen Xiangyuan's difficulty was lower than the others; she only had to help Joseph load the harpoon guns.
But one thing was consistent: whatever they caught definitely dealt mental damage. If the scavengers didn't attack it directly, it wouldn't attack them directly either.
"Su Qian and I are fine. We didn't even need to let our alternate personality appear."
Zhu Xining looked like she was fishing for compliments. "Su Qian almost jumped ship at the end, but I grabbed her. Though, if Joseph had been any slower in killing that long-beaked fish, I wouldn't have been able to save her."
Gu Xiangkai and Long Qinghe were in a pair. Both had strong mental stability. After realizing the thing wouldn't attack them once it boarded but would cause persistent headaches and hallucinations, they focused on helping Joseph reload the harpoon guns.
"Joseph is indeed a master fisherman with great aim. The thing died after four or five shots."
Gu Xiangkai noticed some cracks on Nan Yue's palms and frowned. "The one you encountered attacked?"
"Yeah."
Nan Yue ordered a coffee and stirred it with a spoon.
"Why would it target you? We were all together, so we shouldn't have triggered anything."
Although the creatures that climbed aboard were different, they were all hideous. If those things actually chased and attacked people...
Nan Yue took a sip of coffee. "Oh, probably because I shot its eye out as soon as it poked its head over the side."
Nan Yue thought for a moment and added precisely, "I don't know if that was an eye, but I shot it off the ship anyway."
The others were speechless.
Well, it definitely should have attacked you then.
The three of them looked at her with complicated expressions. It wasn't that they hadn't thought about operating the harpoon guns themselves, especially Gu Xiangkai and Long Qinghe.
But aim was hard to maintain in the tossing wind and rain, and they didn't know exactly what was boarding the ship. They had decided that cooperating with Joseph was the most convenient and efficient method.
However, by doing so, they wouldn't be attacked by the creatures. In exchange, the hunt took longer, and they suffered more mental attacks.
It was a trade-off. They had chosen the safest way given they didn't know what their opponent was.
Nan Yue praised them, "You did the right thing. You shouldn't act rashly."
The three of them thought: ...And you have the nerve to say that?
"Today's exploration was also in the early morning. I wonder if tomorrow will be..."
Wen Xiangyuan's question was answered as they finished their meal.
Along with the dessert, an exquisite card was served.
"Dear explorers, congratulations on completing your second exploration. Tomorrow's exploration content is: You are invited to watch a play at 8 PM."
Nan Yue held the card and examined it while the others savvy enough to go ask other familiar scavengers for information.
Everyone had received the same content.
"It seems a male scavenger died yesterday."
Zhu Xining brought back more news. "Apparently his mental stability was unstable, and he fell into the sea."
Nan Yue recalled a detail. "By the way, regarding the photos on our doorplates, is there any difference now that someone has died?"
It was just a sudden thought. After all, the doorplates had already helped the scavengers identify their dorms and didn't necessarily have another use.
But Wen Xiangyuan actually nodded. "My roommate's photo was taken away. Now the doorplate only has my information."
The four of them exchanged glances and walked around the cabins. Indeed, two scavengers' photos were now missing.
"Two deaths in two days. This mission shouldn't be too difficult."
Nan Yue also felt a slight sense of relief. She really didn't want to experience an extreme mission like Antswamp Village again.
"Wait... is this a printing issue?"
Zhu Xining suddenly touched a photo on another door. Nan Yue leaned in to look. Everyone's photos were black and white, but the photo of this scavenger named Wang Yaxu seemed a bit off.
How should she put it? It was as if there was a problem with the printer's ink ribbon; there were black ink stains on the person's body.
The stains hadn't reached the face yet, but they were near the neck.
"This one has it too."
Wen Xiangyuan looked at another one that was in a similar state. The four of them spread out to check and found that out of the twenty surviving scavengers, four or five had this condition.
The most severe was a man named Luo Jiyun. His ink stains had already extended up to his neck.
"What are you doing!"
While the four of them were huddled around Luo Jiyun's photo, a somewhat sharp male voice came from behind them.
Standing in the hallway was the owner of the photo, Luo Jiyun. He was a short, ordinary-looking man.
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