Ding—
They’d just noticed they were on the ocean when a new notification sounded on <Cheat Sheet>.
<Welcome to the Endless Sea, please select a route. East Treasure Cove/West Treasure Cove/South Flying Island/North Flying Island>
“Is this the new stage already?” Qian Ai stared at the options on his wrist, completely mind-boggled. “Are we getting to the destination point by boat?”
Kuang Jinxin happened to glance towards the back of the ship and made a discovery: “Captain, a telescope!”
Ever since Xu Wang became team captain, Kuang Jinxin had immediately switched to calling him by his newest anointed title. He was perpetually loyal and warm like a well-fitted quilt jacket; if they weren’t tight on finances and didn’t have a long journey ahead of them, Xu Wang would’ve rewarded him with a red envelope to pay him for the title change.
The telescope in question was made of copper, with one single lens. The whole aesthetic of the ship fit together seamlessly, screaming the return of the pirates of the Caribbean.
Although the sea was calm, the waves still rolled gently, rocking the ship. It was difficult for them to find their balance with the constant movement; sitting and standing were okay, but as soon as they tried to walk on the deck, their struggles became obvious. Unless you were someone who lived on a boat year-round, most people would find it difficult to maintain balance.
They slowly stumbled their way to the back of the ship. Wu Sheng got there first, being the steadiest walker, and naturally was the first person to look out into the distance. Xu Wang, Kuang Jinxin, and Qian Ai came a moment later. They raised their hands against the sun and did their best to scrutinise their surroundings with their naked eye.
That turned out to not be completely futile, because they were able to make out a few ship masts and sails far out in the distance. The shapes were blurry, but they were able to surmise from the silhouettes that those ships resembled their own, scattered all across the horizon…
There were others here?
The thought startled Xu Wang. He turned to Wu Sheng impatiently. “What do you see?”
“A lighthouse,” said Wu Sheng.
“Lighthouse?” Xu Wang blinked forcefully and then refocused his gaze off into the distance. Definitely ships. Where was the lighthouse?
“There’s one in the southeast,” Wu Sheng said as he maneuvered the telescope around 180 degrees until it was pointing towards the front of the ship—behind them. “Another one in the north.”
“Are they far?” Xu Wang asked.
“Very,” said Wu Sheng.
“Well then, can you adjust your focal length and take a look at what’s closer?” Xu Wang had figured out why they seemed to be looking at two totally different things.
For once, Wu Sheng obeyed without a word, likely because he found observing both far away and nearby surroundings equally important. He adjusted the telescope lens carefully and pulled the scenery closer. The distance seemed nearby, but through the naked eye, it was still too far away. However, the telescope provided clarification.
“There are others like us,” Wu Sheng reported.
Xu Wang had been prepared for this, so he simply nodded and turned back to the barely visible white sails. This time, he imagined battle drums pounding on each and every one of them. Others like them were enemies.
The actions of the other team on the plane had taught them that.
“No way, there are this many people in this stage?” Qian Ai, under the guidance of his teammates, finally caught sight of the little white dots on the horizon. It was hard to tell whether there were 5-6 or 7-10. Moreover, they were scattered all over the place, wide apart and in all four directions. Occasionally, several of them would disappear behind rolling waves. But the exact number didn’t matter. If one ship meant one team and none of these teams had submitted the task yet, that meant that the upcoming competition would be brutal.
Kuang Jinxin scooted up close beside Wu Sheng. “Can you see the people on the ships? Maybe they’re NPC?” he suggested hopefully. He seriously hated fighting, completely abhorred it. Why couldn’t everyone just sit down, drink some tea, and talk nicely?
Wu Sheng didn’t answer him. Rather, he focused the telescope in one direction for a long time until finally, he pried his eyes away and turned to the rest of them. “Someone come confirm something for me.”
“Huh?” The other three asked.
“I see Tall, Handsome, Skinny, and Fresh,” Wu Sheng said. His face read, “I don’t want to say my eyes are bad, but I don’t want to accept the truth of this statement even more.”
Captain Xu offered himself up and took up the job of looking through the telescope. He didn’t even have to move it, simply putting his eyes up to it and peering through the lens. “Shit, it really is them.”
“Shouldn’t they be back in the first stage?” Qian Ai pushed aside Xu Wang and went to go look for himself. Very quickly, he was proven wrong.
With three confirmations, Kuang Jinxin didn’t even bother looking. Still, he found it strange. “Even if they passed stage one last night, they should be in stage two right now, why would they be here in the third stage?”
“Unless…” Wu Sheng stared at the foamy sea, deep in thought. “Unless this isn’t the third stage.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Suddenly, the waves surged, sending the ship rocking back and forth. The four of them had to cling onto the railing to keep their balance.
“They’re going that way!” Qian Ai had one hand on the railing and one hand on the telescope and was leaning on the telescope stand with a knee to maintain steadiness. His one eye was focused intensely through the telescope lens, spying on their enemies.
“Which way?” Wu Sheng asked.
Qian Ai didn’t have Wu Sheng’s sense of direction; all he could do was wave an arm generally towards a direction, saying, “That way.”
Which way was that?
Neither Xu Wang nor Kuang Jinxin could make any sense of his answer, but thankfully, there was a human compass among them.
“East,” Wu Sheng deduced immediately. He looked down at the options menu that was still scrolling across his wrist and finally came to a conclusion. “They chose the East Treasure Trove.”
How come their nemeses, who couldn’t possible have made it past stage two already, were able to show up here and choose a navigation route? Xu Wang couldn’t come up with an answer, but he said decisively, “We’ll go that way too.”
“Hm.” Qian Ai let go of the telescope and, in a rare display of sympathy, said, “It’s not really moral to continuously shave all the wool off one sheep, right?”
If they followed Owl’s logic, then choosing the same route meant an inevitable battle. They’d already tortured their old enemies once; if they chased after them again to do the same thing, it would be like continuously pinching a soft persimmon.
Xu Wang didn’t know what to think about that. Somehow, it seemed more disturbing to be thinking of the other team as sheep to begin with. He took over the telescope and continued following Tall, Handsome, Skinny, and Fresh’s ship. “They’re more experienced than us so there must be some reasoning behind the route they chose. If we follow in their footsteps, I don’t think too much could go wrong.”
The waves grew more tumultuous while he spoke, soaking the entire deck and their shoes in seawater.
What was that?
Xu Wang had been about to end his telescope session when he noticed tiny floating black things dotting the empty areas in the water between the ships. He zoomed in—they were floating balls. Each ball was about a metre in diameter and transparent, and there was a person seated within. It was like a bunch of Gachapon balls floating in the sea.
The balls didn’t especially stand out in the vast span of ocean, and most of the time they were swallowed by waves, but just then, one of the balls got tossed into the air in an arch that just so happened to cross Xu Wang’s line of sight; if not for that, he wouldn’t even have noticed them.
What the hell was this supposed to be? There were solo players in here too?
He was still thinking about this when a low tenor sounded behind him—“Quick, look up towards the gods.”—which prompted him to lift his head instinctively. In hindsight, he marveled at why he even followed such a ridiculous suggestion.
However, in the next moment, he felt ashamed of his own ignorance.
There was a flying carpet.
Covered in Bohemian patterns, with four men sitting on top of it. It was flying north at about ten metres above the surface of the ocean, completely unburdened by the tumultuous waves beneath it. The four men on top of it were playing poker. From the way they lay down their cards, it was Fight The Landlord.
“Damn, that is freaking impressive,” Qian Ai exclaimed in envy.
How come other people’s items were so useful? And then there was their items: Death glares, flame wheels, some race car, an invisibility cloak… not a single one was meant for water commute!
They were still wallowing in saltiness when a dark shadow suddenly appeared in the water beneath the flying carpet. With the shadow came a heavy current that they felt all the way out on their own ship, sending them swaying back and forth.
At that moment, a creature that was somewhere between a fish and a monster came shooting out of the water, heading straight for the flying carpet. Its body was several times larger than a whale and resembled a fish, with the skin and scales of an alligator. Its open mouth showed neat rows of sharp teeth eerily similar to a piranha.
The people on the carpet didn’t have any time to react before the creature closed its jaws over them, swallowing the humans and the carpet in one gulp. Then, with a glorious swish of its tail, it pummeled right back into the sea.
The surface of the water convulsed with crashing waves like a pot of boiling water. The four of them clung onto the railing of their ship with death grips, temporarily at a loss for both air and words.
“They died… just like that?” Everything had happened to quickly that Qian Ai hadn’t even come back to his senses yet.
“They’re back in reality… probably.” In truth, Xu Wang had no idea. All he had was his own experience with the bear attack.
Wu Sheng sucked in some air, then let it out, feeling heavy and complicated inside. “It’s better to be low-key.”
The ship rocked heavily as the crashing waves buffeted it up and down and sideways. At first, they thought this movement was normal, until they found themselves leaning further and further backwards. Realising something was wrong, they all turned their heads back.
In an instant, the true meaning of the pot calling the kettle black dawned on them.
A gigantic tentacle had come out of the sea and was already settled over the railing on one side! It was a fleshy white colour, covered in suckers ranging from big to small like a giant octopus. The force of its grasp tilted the ship so that one side of it angled downwards towards the creature.
“What do we do?” Qian Ai was sweating bullets.
Xu Wang and Wu Sheng exchanged a glance, and as if their thoughts aligned, they set off for the ship’s cabin simultaneously.
“Are you guys kidding me?!” Qian Ai shouted when he saw that he was not going to get some sort of solution. But still, he ran.
Kuang Jinxin had no idea what was happening but followed everyone to the cabin. He was the last to arrive, so by the time he got there, his three teammates were already on their way out with weapons in hand.
It turned out that Xu Wang and Wu Sheng hadn’t run off to go into hiding, but to find spare weapons. Seeing as there was a telescope on deck, that meant that there was likely to be other items onboard; they hadn’t explored the ship’s cabins yet.
Why didn’t they use their items? Because what happened to the flying carpet was still etched in their minds. Who knew if using an item at sea was some kind of death wish?
There were supplies in the ship’s cabins, except—An axe. A spear. Bow and arrows.
Was this some kind of freaking pre-modern weaponry era?!?!
“What about me?” Blood was rushing through Kuang Jinxin’s veins, but he only saw his teammates carrying three weapons.
“There’s no more.” Qian Ai held a bow in his hands and a satchel of arrows under his arms. He fumbled with the bow, pulling the string tedious back and then let go. It slapped his hand painfully. “Here, you use this,” he said, handing the weapon to Kuang Jinxin decisively.
Having witnessed the entirety of what just happened, Kuang Jinxin suddenly felt very burdened.
“Xiao Kuang,” Xu Wang called out, making his way swiftly towards the tentacle with the axe, “you keep watch. If you see anything, whether it’s a monster or a ship, report immediately!”
“Roger that!” The ship had already tilted over 45 degrees. Kuang Jinxin held onto the railing and made his way as quick as possible to the back of the ship and took up his duty with both the telescope and his naked eye.
Qian Ai, having failed to switch his task, had no choice but to force himself to meetup with the captain.
Xu Wang pointed the axe at the tentacle and brought it down. However, he missed—the tentacle was coated with water and thick slime. Wu Sheng came up from behind him and thrust the spear forward turning to Xu Wang. “Go again!”
The second time, Xu Wang raised the axe high above his head and brought it down with force.
Bang—
The axe lodged itself deeply into the wooden railing, the tentacle splitting in half. A piece of tentacle half a metre long fell onto the deck, bounced a couple times, then slid in the direction of the ship’s swaying and fell into the sea.
The injured tentacle let go of the railing immediately and fell back into the water. However, the ship didn’t regain its balance because the waves had gotten massive and were growing taller by the second. The waters were so tumultuous and far stronger than the tentacle had been, it was as if their ship was going to capsize at any moment!
And then another tentacle reached over. Or no, five tentacles!
Five tentacles wrapped themselves around the railing from the bow to the stern of the ship, resembling abduction ropes.
Xu Wang intended to keep on chopping with the axe, but he’d just raised the weapon over his head when suddenly, the ship rocked forward. Aside from Kuang Jinxin, who was clinging onto the rails at the ship’s stern, all three of them lost their balance and began tumbling towards the tentacle.
Wu Sheng and Qian Ai reacted by instinct and grabbed onto the railing just in time, but because Xu Wang had been holding onto the axe, he couldn’t react fast enough. His waist rammed into the railing, but inertia kept propelling him forward; his body went up and over the railing and he fell into the sea.
Ice-cold ocean water quickly submerged Xu Wang’s eyes, ears, mouth and nose. He didn’t have the time to think about whether or not this was real; only one word was running through his mind at the moment: death.
It was an instinctual fear, that of the deep ocean.
He held his breath and struggled towards the surface of the water, but a rolling wave held him down, submerging him underwater. He couldn’t get his head out of the water at all! As he grappled and fought, his fingers suddenly came into contact with something. He forced his eyes open and saw, through the salty seawater, a spear pole.
Xu Wang reached out to grab onto it, and as if something on the surface felt him, the pole slowly pulled up until he was at the surface. Head out of the water, he saw Wu Sheng hanging on top of a rope ladder over the side of the ship with one arm while he held the spear with the other.
Wu Sheng took a deep breath when he saw Xu Wang come out from underwater and used his strength to pull him close. Finally back beside the ship, Xu Wang grasped the rope ladder amidst the fierce waves and followed Wu Sheng, crawling up and hauling himself over onto the deck.
He knew that the only reason he was still alive was thanks to Wu Sheng, but when he opened his mouth in gratitude, the only thing that came out was, “Thanks.”
Wu Sheng stood with the spear propped on the deck like a staff, looking like a general from the Yang family. “Next time I should just tie a rope to your body.”
Xu Wang ground his teeth, but he still owed the guy one, so he kept his head down. Lowering his line of sight led him to a new discovery. “Huh? Why’s it straight again?” At some point, the ship body had lost its tilt and straightened out. It still wasn’t completely flat, but was a step above the near perpendicular angle they’d been at previously.
“Old Qian can’t figure out the bow and arrow for the life of him, so he went down a different route.” Wu Sheng angled his chin towards the ship’s bow.
Xu Wang looked over to see some kind of a flaming human ball that was currently unleashing a barrage of attacks on the one remaining tentacle still on the railing. There was no sight of Qian Ai anywhere.
The flames were at least three metres tall, engulfing Qian Ai’s body from head to toe—or more accurately, it was like the flames were coming out of Qian Ai’s body, forming a “fire suit.” The heat it he emanated could be felt from all the way where Xu Wang and Wu Sheng were standing. Fire illuminated the ship’s deck and set it aglow, burning the railing and the tentacle on it to a crisp.
“Not so arrogant now, are ya? I’m not Old Qian Eats the Divine Land if I don’t turn you into barbecue squid!”
With a gulp, Xu Wang decided not to step forward after a moments’ hesitation in case his teammate turned him into barbecue as well. “Invincible Wheel of Flames?” It was the only thing he could think of that had to do with fire.
“Yup,” Wu Sheng said.
“We can use our equipment?”
“Cr bo cbk, la vbfrc’a rffw ilxf kf mjc’a. Ktf oislcu mjgqfa wera’nf pera yffc yjv iemx.”
“Vb tf yegcfv jii atbrf afcajmifr jkjs?”
“He cooked them.”
Suddenly, it occurred to Xu Wang that he’d smelled the aroma of barbecue when he came back onboard.
The last tentacle gave one last struggle, finally escaping Qian Ai’s “devil claws” and fell pitifully back into the sea. The waves were still rolling tumultuously; evidently, all was not peaceful beneath the surface of the water, but a trace of barbecue dampened the tense atmosphere that swirled on the ocean breeze.
The flames on the human fireball grew weaker, until finally flickering out, revealing the red and burnt face of Mr. Qian. Burn marks covered the railing, displayed like trophies for his contribution.
“Impressive.” Xu Wang shot him a thumbs-up.
Qian Ai rejoined his teammates and gave a slight nod, filled with a sense of merit and fame.
Xu Wang tapped him on the shoulder. “You can let it out.”
“I thought Invincible Wheel of Flames meant a super cool-looking hot wheels sort of thing,” said Qian Ai, shaking his head slowly. “I thought I could fly with it, use it to beat people up…”
“I understand,” Xu Wang said with a sigh.
Qian Ai’s dignified expression crumbled. “Why did it turn me into a flaming wheel? That’s not cool at all, and it was so damn hot!”
While Qian Ai was still questioning his life, Kuang Jinxin suddenly shouted from the end of the ship, “Captain, there’s a ship!”
Xu Wang and Wu Sheng stiffened and ran to the stern, with Qian Ai following a beat later.
Kuang Jinxin wasn’t using the telescope. He was simply staring straight ahead, and he didn’t bother pointing the ship out because it was already right in front of them. There was less than ten metres between the two ships, so close that that they were riding on the same waves.
The people on the other ship had seen them as well; both parties exchanged glances and set themselves on guard. It didn’t look like the other team came up intentionally against them; their ship just happened to coincidentally end up on the same current.
Suddenly, a burnt tentacle curled itself around the railing of their ship. The sea monster that Xu Wang’s team had defeated had found itself a new target.
“Watch out behind you!” Kuang Jinxin hollered.
The three men on the opposite deck jumped and looked behind them, immediately noticing the tentacle. They immediately went into their cabin and came out with an axe and spear—same ship, same weapons. So, where were the bow and arrows?
Xu Wang suddenly realised that not only were they missing a weapon, they were also short one person. He searched high and low until he found the fourth person.
The man was sitting on top of the mast, too far up for his face to been seen. All Xu Wang could make out was a slender, long body wearing a jacket. A decent-looking guy.
Just like their own harrowing experience, the other team’s ship began tilting in one direction. Among the three of them, the one with the axe was the main fighter, although he wasn’t as lucky as Xu Wang. After two attempts, he still hadn’t managed to chop the tentacle.
The one with the spear fought for a long time without getting anywhere, and the repeated failure set the man off. He raised his head and shouted towards the mast, “Chi Yingxue, get your ass down here and help!”
“Just give up already,” said the person on the mast. His voice was lazy and just a tad antagonistic, “Considering how much you three suck at fighting, you’ll just end up in the sea. Why waste your energy.”
“What do you mean by ‘us three’?!” the other man screeched furiously. If he had wings, he probably would’ve flown straight up the mast to fight with that Chi-whatever. “Aren’t you a fucking member of this team?!”
After a while of thinking, the man on the mast said, “Based on physical appearances, definitely not.”
“Fuck!” the man down below cursed. However, all he could do was raise his head and shout towards the sky, “Adding you to the team is the worst decision I’ve ever made!”
Thanks for the chapter!
Lmao these new people are hilarious XD
I’m just waiting for one of them to bite into the nicely burned tentacle xDD
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
thanks for the chapter <3
Owl really knows how to pick his prey lol so many interesting characters. Its funny how xu wang is always checking out the opponent based on appearance. There is tall, handsome skinny, fresh, and now ‘a decent looking guy’.