Chapter 294 - Two Hundred Ninety-One:

Chapter 294: Chapter Two Hundred Ninety-One: "You Deceived My Feelings!"What are you trying to say?" Green asked her.

Qiao Yuyu’s brows were tightly furrowed, "Although I hate to admit it, in some sense, the game’s matchmaking mechanism is quite fair."

She spoke gravely to her teammates, who were covered in dust,

"To my knowledge, all the powerful players are humans, none are from the Soul Clan... Although the credibility of this information is questionable, indeed, there has been no sighting of top-tier players attacking humans—they are temporarily on the same side as us, all belonging to the human faction. Furthermore, as far as I know, due to the dangers of the Soul Clan and their degree of animosity towards humans, very few players choose to join the Soul Clan."

"This leads to a faction imbalance. The number of people joining the Soul Hunter faction will definitely be far more than those who join the Soul Clan faction."

"Including what I know, the two powerhouses Bonnie and Agnes have already joined the Hunter faction."

"The matchmaking mechanism couldn’t possibly overlook this scenario, it must be able to predict that the number joining the Soul Hunter faction will far exceed those in the Soul Clan faction. Yet, it still matches so many powerhouses into the same instance, allowing them to join the Soul Hunter faction..."

"This means..."

Green picked up where she left off, "Are you suggesting that there are some overly powerful players in our instance who naturally belong to the Soul Clan faction?"

"Right." Qiao Yuyu nodded, "Players are well aware of the advantages of joining the Soul Hunter faction, but some players can’t choose their faction freely. If they are inhabiting a body that belongs to the Soul Clan, they won’t be able to join the Hunter faction that requires a stone test, and can only join the Soul Clan faction. If our instance naturally has that many powerhouses, there’s a possibility... that the system, in order to balance the strength gap between the two factions, intentionally moves powerhouses into the same instance, enticing them to join the Hunter faction, to confront those few players of the Soul Clan faction on the battleground..."

"The players we will face, belonging to the opposing faction, being from the Soul Clan... they must be extremely strong."

"So strong that the system had to specifically make matchmaking arrangements, bringing together players far stronger than the average strength of the instance to jointly confront him."

"...Only in this way, can we avoid total annihilation, being entirely defeated by the players of the Soul Clan faction."

Having said this, Qiao Yuyu looked very solemn, "...although this is just a wild guess, it also means that the one initiating the attack on board might be a player, and a very strong one at that. We must be careful in our actions."

"...So do we still take action tonight?" Fang Enze asked softly nearby.

"Act, of course, we must act." Qiao Yuyu said, "Based on previous instance experiences, sitting and waiting for death is definitely not a good plan for clearing the game. As long as we are a little more careful, and shout when we meet someone suspicious, I believe the Soul Clan member lurking at night won’t risk revealing themselves to forcefully kill us."

"Good."

The team came to a consensus and cautiously stepped out of the storeroom.

They reached the deck.

At night, the huge ship seemed not as strictly ordered as during the day, perhaps due to the impact of that attack, some crew members who were on guard had already left their posts and stayed in their rooms.

The Soul Hunters specifically instructed people to stay in their own rooms and not to venture out easily, generally speaking, there would be no incidents.

The group easily crossed the demarcation line between the rich and the poor and reached the corridor of the upper-class cabins, attempting to find traces of the Soul Clan’s movements.

"Everyone must be careful... now all the NPCs are hiding in their rooms, and those who move at night can only be players. Considering the current urgency of the situation, once we meet someone, that person is very likely to be related to the Soul Clan..."

Qiao Yuyu had already activated her skill, and as her vision brightened, some suspicious traces were highlighted in her eyes.

"...There are marks here of someone being dragged..."

Suddenly on alert, she noticed a long drag mark around the corner of the corridor.

"Jojo, be careful, don’t rush ahead so quickly!"

Captain Green, who was following, saw her suddenly quicken her pace.

"—I see someone!"

She suddenly spoke out.

Through the long corridor, she saw a glimpse of a garment’s corner that had just brushed by—someone was prowling at night!

She immediately thought to chase after them, and Green and the others also quickly activated their speed-enhancing skills, but at that moment, a crisp "click" sounded from the side.

Su Ming’an, woken by their loud noise, stood expressionlessly at the door, watching them.

"Is it you?" Green immediately recognized this noble player.

He knew that if his group were discovered, they would definitely be dragged away; only noble players could legitimately take them around this area to search, he immediately spoke up seeking assistance:

"Player, we have already found traces of the Soul Clan, if you can cooperate with us, I believe we can conquer the main quest tonight..."

"..." Su Ming’an just looked at them.

"Don’t court death," he said. "Go back to your room; night is not the time for missions."

Upon hearing him deny her plan, Qiao Yuyu immediately responded, "How can it not be? The Soul Clan is most likely to act at night, and with only two days and two nights for the voyage, if we can’t catch them this first night, the second night will be even more dangerous!"

"Exactly, and furthermore, we just clearly saw the movements of a suspicious person. Someone walked by there... Look, there are drag marks on the floor; there must already be another victim!" Fang Enze chimed in to support her.

Su Ming’an’s hand rested on the doorknob, "Things are not that simple. Without sufficient strength, striking rashly at the most dangerous time without adequate information will only lead to your complete annihilation."

"What kind of person are you..." Qiao Yuyu’s eyebrows furrowed slightly: "Even if you don’t want to cooperate, there’s no need to curse us like that, talking about complete annihilation... How could the first stage of the main quest be so difficult—Green, since he doesn’t want to help, let’s go after them ourselves. I’m not interested in contributing the mission rewards to a player who got a high status by luck."

With that, she turned and walked away, her steps swift.

Green gave Su Ming’an an apologetic smile and quickly followed her.

A group of players quickly disappeared from Su Ming’an’s sight.

Su Ming’an closed the door, waited ten minutes, then pushed it open again.

The corridor was exceedingly quiet; no one dared to venture out at night.

He followed in the direction that the group of players had gone, turned a corner, and saw a dead end.

After observing for a moment, he noticed the ventilation shaft above.

... These players are really courting death. To think they would dare to follow into such a place.

He was about to enter the ventilation duct to take a look when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming from behind.

He turned abruptly, his gaze meeting that of the woman who had just rounded the corner.

"... Miss Nailuo?"

Su Ming’an recognized the woman who had yelled at him right from the start.

Nailuo was still dressed in her gown, with bright red roses adorning her figure, holding a large black cloth bag in her arms.

"Su Rin?" Nailuo’s expression stiffened for a moment, then shifted to confusion, "What? You realize your mistake and are waiting here specially for me? Let me tell you—impossible. You’ve deceived my emotions; even if you wait here in agony all night, hoping I’ll change my mind, we can’t go back to the way things were!"

She smoothed her flame-like hair, speaking with great confidence, as if she truly believed that was the case.

"We can’t go back, we can never go back, you’ve completely shattered my feelings; there will never be another woman in this world who loves you like I do..."

As she spoke, she seemed unaware of their current situation.

... It was the middle of the night.

The night when the Soul Hunter’s orders prohibited going out.

Yet here he was, encountering Nailuo, both of them seemingly powerless nobles, in this silent night.

... Very suspicious.

"Why are you here in the middle of the night?" he asked.

"This young lady is in a bad mood and came out for a walk. What, you’re not my fiancé, so why are you keeping track of my movements?" Nailuo huffed, "Well, considering you care so much about me, can’t stop thinking about me, I might give you a chance to win me back after all..."

Listening to Nailuo’s nonsense, Su Ming’an felt it was absurd.

... It was impossible for someone to go for a walk at such a dangerously timed moment.

Unless she was directly related to the night’s events.

Realizing he couldn’t get any clues from her rambling, Su Ming’an activated his Ruler’s Skill.

... Huh?

Su Ming’an stared at the number, stunned.

...He really is the very definition of a tsundere who doesn’t mean what he says.

Although this tsundere isn’t too brainy, his feelings are genuine—they’re practically overflowing.

After favorability maxed out, Nailuo’s expression didn’t change much.

She just stared at him intently:

"Why are you not speaking? By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Clearing my mind, just like you," Su Ming’an said.

Nailuo looked at him with eyes full of suspicion.

He also gazed into Nailuo’s eyes, trying to find some suspicious traces on her.

He noticed Nailuo’s hand moving; she seemed to want to uncover the black cloth bag in her hand...

At the moment of this standoff, an elderly voice suddenly came from down the corridor.

"—What are you two doing wandering around the corridor! You are ordered not to go out at night; go back to your rooms immediately!"

An old man, wearing a Soul Hunter’s Medal and holding a revolver-like firearm, pointed at them, ordering them to go back to their rooms immediately.

Meanwhile, people who were awakened by the noise also opened their doors, looking around curiously.

With so many eyes on him, Su Ming’an turned and walked away.

He wasn’t in a hurry to confront Nailuo here and get some clarity; her favorability had already soared to the max, and there was no harm in asking tomorrow by daylight.

He gradually realized that everyone around him was quite exceptional. To this day, he still didn’t know the true identities of Saya and Nailuo, and the people around them...

Who belonged to the Soul Clan, and who was a Soul Hunter?

If he wanted to catch the attacker,

perhaps he could use himself as bait...

Considering this, he entered his room.

Su Ming’an pushed the door open and saw Saya standing in the doorway, bathed in the morning sun.

"Rin," she started, her voice somewhat hoarse: "Last night another person died."

"How many?"

"Five."

Su Ming’an frowned.

Five meant that there could be more than one attacking Soul Clan member.

How could the cruise ship, which was supposed to be a relatively safe start, have such difficulty?

"What to do, what to do..." Saya was also panicked: "So many damn creatures have infiltrated the great Yate Vessel, and the voyage still has more than a day left, how are we going to hold on..."

"Can’t we gather everyone together?" Su Ming’an said: "For the next while, no one disperses, not giving the Soul Clan a chance to attack individuals."

Saya immediately shook her head: "Only the hunters can deal with the Soul Clan, but the hunters’ methods are mostly large-scale harm... If we group everyone together, it will lead to even more casualties..."

She said this, looking somewhat hesitant: "Moreover, there are only three hunters on board the Yate Vessel, two of whom are responsible for protecting the nobility. The remaining one also has to search for clues and doesn’t have the time to take care of so many people. Over two thousand people on the Yate Vessel... it’s simply not feasible to gather everyone together..."

Su Ming’an understood.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t, but that they didn’t want to.

The nobility valued their lives, clinging to the scarce hunters like lifelines. They would rather see all the lower-class people die than have their absolute protective shield leave their side.

If the hunters were let out to focus on some commoners, they might lose their lives due to that brief negligence. The shrewd nobility would never make such a risky decision.

Even Saya herself was now very afraid. Her butler grandfather was indeed a Soul Hunter, but at this moment, he had been temporarily dispatched to protect the Duke, leaving her as a person who might lose her life at any moment.

Su Ming’an saw the fear in her.

"Don’t panic," he said softly, "As long as you stay with me during the day, nothing will happen."

He just couldn’t find that member of the Soul Clan yet.

Once he found them, he saw no possibility of defeat. He didn’t believe there was anything at this stage that could kill him outright.

"Take me to the scene of the incident first," he said.

Saya nodded and led him forward.

The scene was a four-person room, the very bottom level room for commoners.

At that time, the room was surrounded by people, with panic spreading unchecked among the crowd.

"What to do..."

"Another victim has appeared..."

"One Soul Clan member on a killing spree is enough to wipe out half the people on this ship! If there are more than one, I fear..."

"Where are the Hunters? The Hunters, why haven’t they caught those damned creatures yet!"

Distressed nobles covered their faces with fans. Fat-traders loudly cursed at the situation, very dissatisfied.

Su Ming’an pulled Saya along, pushing through the panicking people and shoved open the half-closed door.

The thick scent of blood hit them face on, and the cursing trader paled and stepped back.

Su Ming’an looked at the four bodies laid out on the ground.

The corpses were ashen, covered in blood, with fierce wounds on their necks, exactly the marks of a Soul Clan attack.

He suddenly recognized them—they were the four Players who had courted death last night!

He wasn’t surprised these people died, but sure enough, there was a problem with that air duct. It was after entering the duct that they had died.

Suddenly, he remembered Miss Nailuo who he had encountered the previous night. Looking at it this way, Nailuo was very suspicious. Could it be that after he left, Nailuo returned there, entered the air duct, and absorbed the souls of these four Players...?

"Saya, where is Nailuo?" Su Ming’an immediately asked.

Saya’s face changed abruptly.

"Why do you mention Miss Nailuo..."

"Where is she now?" Su Ming’an stared at her with some urgency, "I suspect she’s involved in this attack, and we must immediately ascertain her whereabouts."

Saya looked at him.

She was giving him a very complex look, as if weighing her words carefully.

Then, her hand gently rested on his shoulder, seemingly offering comfort.

"Miss Nailuo..." Saya said softly.

Su Ming’an had a premonition.

Her voice was very light, very slow, as if she didn’t want to shock him too much.

He watched Saya standing in front of him, a sense of absurdity gradually surfacing in the back of his mind.

"...Miss Nailuo," Saya said, "is the fifth victim who was attacked last night."

She slowly stepped aside.

Behind her, on the corridor above, a body covered in a white cloth was being carried away.

Through the bloodstained white cloth, he saw a lock of rose-colored hair hanging down from beneath the fabric, its color as fierce as fire.