Her voice was full of vigor, there was no hint of vulnerability when she was crying just now.
Ning Su immediately left.
He pulled up two children who were eavesdropping by the bedside.
As he walked back, Ning Su heard the sound of something falling into the river.
He turned around and saw that there was no longer a head in Xue Wei’s arms.
The window was open, and the pungent wind continued to blow into the cabin.
Ning Su glanced around, pulled the two children back to the bed, and grabbed Ling Xiao’s coat.
After one in the morning, two adults and two children appeared on the deck.
Under the moonlight, countless vines stretched into the dark river, swiftly spreading and weaving through the surging dark waves, stirring up white bones.
Under the black river water, bones surged.
The night wind lifted the clothes of the two adults and two children. They could smell the pungent scent in the air.
The steamboat continued to move silently forward; the vines threading farther and farther. Suddenly, a vine shot up from the river's surface.
A human head was entwined in it.
The dark river water washed away the fresh blood. Under the moonlight, that face not only didn’t become less terrifying, but even became more dreadful.
No eyeballs, only half a nose remaining. The shattered nasal bridge protrudes from the soft and fair skin, and the lips are still squirming.
The two adults and two children looked down at the head on the deck, deeply entangled in the vines.
Ning Su squatted down, removed a few strands of red seaweed from the head, and carefully examined it.
The mouth was still moving, emitting indistinct sounds.
Without a tongue, the lips moved up and down. When the wind changed, the voice became clearer.
“Silly sister.”
All four of them were stunned.
The wind rose again, carrying her voice into the distant darkness.
Ning Su looked up at Ling Xiao, “Is she really the sister of the human pupa master?”
Ning Su had his suspicions, which is why he had Ling Xiao accompany him to pick up this head.
He doubted whether most of the corpses on this steamboat were actually players.
If it’s a deceased player, they must have been transferred from different instance worlds.
Because this dungeon world was opened for the first time, no players had died in this world before they came in.
Since they could be selected from different instances, they could have directly chosen to bring over a deceased player with a close relationship with the players inside. There was no need for other corpses to pretend, making it more realistic.
So, Ning Su asked the human pupa master why she thought the other was not her sister.
Ling Xiao nodded. “She has been on the ship all along and in the bus as well.”
“When we just entered the instance, Xue Wei and I, we saw this corpse.”
“She has been lying on the upper bunk, without arms and legs, unable to move.”
Ning Su was stunned, feeling somewhat uncomfortable for no apparent reason.
She followed behind the human pupa master when she hadn’t fully regained consciousness.
Perhaps she hadn’t fully recovered her memory yet. At this time, the deepest desires in the depths of her heart would be exposed.
Xue Wei was wrong; her sister actually wanted her to hug her. That was what she yearned for the most.
Xue Wei said her sister was the only one who wholeheartedly cared for her.
Her sister should also be the only person she completely trusted.
After her sister’s death, she could no longer truly trust everything. She felt that everyone would harm her, and she would directly solve everything with violent means without listening or asking.
The mouth of the severed head slowly stopped moving.
Her true soul was extinguished, and in the instance world, she ceased to exist entirely.
Gui Sheng hugged Manman and rubbed her face against hers. “Smart sister.”
“Smart, don’t disappear!”
Manman gently patted his head. “Gui Sheng, I won’t lose you, and I won’t fail to recognize you.”
Gui Sheng: “Hmm!”
Ning Su looked up at Ling Xiao, “Do you have a favorite player?”
“What counts as a favorite?” Without waiting for Ning Su’s answer, Ling Xiao said, “I probably don’t have a favorite player who hasn’t died.”
Ning Su thought for a moment, “If I die in the future, come to this instance again.”
Ling Xiao also thought for a moment but didn’t speak.
That night, three more players died.
This time, the players gathered in the storage room. It was evident that throughout the night; the players were much quieter. Even Xue Wei didn’t flaunt her dominance as much.
After exchanging messages and clarifying the events of the previous night, everyone dispersed in pairs.
Fang Qi sat on Pang Yang’s bed, silent for a moment, and said, “It’s quite good.”
Pang Yang looked at him strangely. “What’s quite good? Uttering these three words at this time is creepy.”
Ning Su raised his head and looked at him, instantly understanding his meaning.
No ghosts came to find him last night, which was quite good.
Fang Qi said, “If he is in this infinite game and didn’t come to find me last night, it’s quite good. It means he’s still alive.”
Pang Yang, unaware of his background, said, “Those who came to find players last night are the dead players most loved by the players. If the person you’re talking about is dead, are you so sure he will come to find you?”
Fang Qi affirmed, “Yes.”
Ning Su glanced at him.
The timid and fearful high school student in the bus, after entering the game base, became a different person, tirelessly exploring dungeons to find that person.
This certainty supported his affirmation.
Ning Su didn’t say that this inference might not be correct.
The ghosts that appeared by the players’ beds on both nights were the ghosts of other players who had died in the base or instances while the players were present.
In other words, both of them had simultaneously existed in the base or instances, being captured by the system, confirming their connection.
Fang Qi’s situation with that person was somewhat different.
Pang Yang also said, “That’s good. It means the person you’re looking for is still alive!”
Fang Qi nodded again, a smile appearing on his face.
He rarely smiled, and this smile made even Ning Su take a second glance.
Ning Su didn’t like to inquire about others’ affairs, so he didn’t say anything and called Ling Xiao to go fishing with fishing rods.
In the afternoon, Ning Su grilled a lot of fish and distributed some to the old man and the boy with the backpack.
The two “people” seemed even more uneasy than the previous two days.
They both realized something was wrong.
This was the wrong path.
For them, this was a very frightening matter.
The path they chose would lead to the person they most want to see, so how could it be wrong?
But they didn’t understand how they ended up on this ship. They vaguely remember that they boarded it themselves.
These past two days on the ship, there had been unrest and anger.
Ning Su couldn’t find the proper words to comfort them.
Fang Qi said, “For them, accepting their own death is a difficult thing. It means saying goodbye to all their loved ones and bidding farewell to the whole world.”
Pang Yang said, “For players, accepting the death of the person they love the most and feel most guilty towards is a difficult thing as well. It’s like saying one last farewell to them.”
Fang Qi added, “There are those they feel guilty about, and there are those they love the most. If there’s another round, what kind of ghost will appear?”
Both of them looked at Ning Su.
Ning Su: “...”
