William's Hongmen Banquet Invitation!

"How about you think of some other ideas?"

"From a humanitarian standpoint, I don't think this is something we should do."

Ms. Black Cat couldn't help but try to dissuade him. She had to talk him down. After all, this guy seemed mentally unstable.

A psychopath wasn't scary. What was scary was a psychopath who was armed and wanted to kill people.

Heaven forbid they wake up to find everyone on the ship waving at them from the afterlife. How the hell were they supposed to clear this Instance then?

Beside her, Bei Lang and Fox Loli could barely keep it together.

They were basically certain that Ms. Black Cat was the Calamity Cult's undercover agent. Yet here she was, a member of the Calamity Cult, telling a player not to be so extreme.

Such a situation was unheard of.

"What a pity. I really thought this was the fastest way to handle things," Wu Wang said with some regret.

Just the fastest? Does that mean he has other ideas?

"Let's hear them," Bei Lang said helplessly.

His mood was on a roller coaster. He had gone from suspecting this powerhouse, to trusting him, and now he was right back to doubting the man's sanity.

"It's simple," Wu Wang began. "Incite the passengers to seize control of the Mary and sail it back to the dock ahead of schedule."

His words made the others frown. That was like saying nothing at all.

What a joke. If a Nightmare-level Instance could be cleared that easily, he'd be seeing ghosts. Weren't the other guests afraid of death? The rule about dying for breaking the rules on this cruise ship didn't just apply to the players. The guests were subject to it as well.

But unexpectedly, Wu Wang seemed to have seen right through their thoughts.

He said calmly, "We just have to let them know they won't die."

"Don't forget what I said earlier. 【Most people must die at the ball for it to count as a Sacrifice】."

"William won't let so many people die for no reason while they're seizing control of the cruise ship. He needs those people alive to save his Mary."

"His representative, Captain Cook, has already lost the guests' trust," Wu Wang continued. "At that point, William himself will be forced to show his face."

At this, everyone was startled.

Luring the snake out of its hole!

Decade's goal wasn't to sail the ship back to port at all. It was to force the mastermind to step out from behind the scenes.

That's right! To stop the guests' madness, or even just to stabilize them temporarily, someone with more authority than Captain Cook needed to step forward. And right now, only William himself had that kind of power on this ship.

Could he really be a genius?

Now, the group was truly unsure what to make of Decade. Call him crazy, and yet he saw through to the heart of the matter in such a short time. Call him smart, but his first suggestion wasn't something a sane person would ever come up with.

Kill everyone in advance, for fuck's sake! And you were even being fair about it?

"We can discuss the specific details tomorrow," Bei Lang said, his expression suddenly changing. "If we don't leave now, we're all going to be feeding the fish."

Their respective waitresses had already surrounded them, the smiles on their faces a little chilly.

【All persons must return to their rooms to rest after the ball ends.】

【Roaming the cruise ship at night is not permitted.】

Naturally, no one had forgotten the rules they had learned yesterday. After hastily setting a time to meet up in the morning, they followed their own waitresses back to their rooms.

Wu Wang also returned under Number Five's guidance.

But what was surprising was that Number Five didn't leave. Instead, she followed him into his room quite naturally.

"Hm? Wait a minute, why haven't you left yet?"

Faced with Wu Wang's confusion, Number Five wore a mournful expression. Her look made him feel like a man trying to shirk his responsibilities the morning after.

Come on, lady, I didn't even do anything! It was just a dance. Are you planning to trigger some special plotline?

"Sir, I might disappear tomorrow," Number Five finally explained. "In my final moments, I don't want to go back and put on my shackles again. I want to leave with my freedom."

At this, Wu Wang breathed a sigh of relief.

You scared me to death, you should have just said so. So you just want to die. I thought you wanted my help making a life.

"Don't worry, you won't disappear. I promise."

"But if you want to stay, then stay."

With that, Wu Wang started to exercise. Watching him start to jump up and down, Number Five was a little stunned. She had learned in the warehouse today that he was capable of a Double Jump.

But what was he doing jumping around like this so late at night?

Wait a minute...

Last night, she had slept in this room and dreamed all night of a construction worker hammering on the walls. That thump, thump, thump sound.

Could it be the sound of this person constantly Double Jumping from the left wall to the right wall, then kicking off the wall to jump back again?

She didn't ask any more questions. Wu Wang naturally wouldn't explain.

He just silently counted his jumps.

【11,268 times】

Yes, the racket last night was indeed him jumping all night long. At this rate, he would probably be able to complete the evolution requirement for 【Cloud-Stepping Steps】 by tomorrow night.

To be honest, it would be difficult for anyone else to meet such an insane evolution requirement. There was no time during the day, as one had to explore the Instance. At night, after spending several hours dancing and depleting one's stamina, one still had to come back and Double Jump for an entire night.

An insane player with an insane evolution requirement. It was a perfect match.

Early on the morning of the third day, as soon as the curfew was lifted, Wu Wang washed up, rinsing off a body full of sweat.

Everyone gathered in Bei Lang's room. Of course, he didn't bring Number Five with him. The other players couldn't know about Mary's awakening consciousness for now. After all, there was still a Calamity Cult member among them.

But as soon as he entered the room, the expressions on everyone's faces were exceedingly strange. Their guardedness was even tinged with a hint of hostility.

"Were you really in your room last night?"

"Otherwise? In your bed?" Wu Wang shot back at Ms. Black Cat.

She did not reply.

Bei Lang came over with a dark expression to explain the situation.

Thorny Show-off was dead.

He had died on the bed in his own room. The waitresses patrolling outside said that no one had entered his room last night. He had truly died in his dream.

Just as a certain psychopath had claimed at the ball, "I enjoy killing in dreams."

Of course, Bei Lang's dark expression wasn't because he suspected Wu Wang. He knew Ms. Black Cat was the problem player. He just hadn't expected her to be so blatant, first using the cruise ship's rules to kill people, and now directly offing Thorny Show-off in his own room.

"Forget it. Regardless of whether Yan Shuangying is the killer or not, what we need to do now is still to force William out," he said, changing the subject to clear Wu Wang's name.

"I have an item here that can quickly gain the trust of a large number of targets. It's perfect for inciting the guests," Bei Lang announced.

Before anyone else could ask what it was, he quickly added, "But it has a side effect. Twenty-four hours after use, all affected targets will become extremely hateful toward the user, making it easy to get ganged up on."

"..."

Ms. Black Cat, who had been about to offer to use the item herself, clamped her mouth shut. She needed to stay on this ship and do some things before the fifth night's ball. If she used this thing today, the entire ship would hate her tomorrow. Drawing all that attention would make it difficult for her to act.

The next second, she thought of a great idea.

"Then let Yan Shuangying use it. Isn't he the biggest suspect right now?"

Ms. Black Cat's words made Bei Lang's expression darken. Honestly, if revealing her now wouldn't risk their plan to incite the passengers, he would kill this Calamity Cult bastard right now. To think she would try to make Big Brother Yan bear the side effect!

"Sure, I have no objection," Wu Wang agreed, to everyone's disbelief.

He even added, "Actually, even without this effect, I can successfully draw everyone's aggro. I'm the MT!"

That's not it, pal! It's a side effect! A side effect! Why do you make it sound like the item's main function is to draw aggro?!

"In that case, come over here. I'll tell you how to use the item."

Bei Lang pulled Wu Wang toward the door, trying to find a way to tell him outside that Ms. Black Cat was the problem.

But unexpectedly, the moment he opened the door, something happened.

A gold-gilded invitation card fell from the doorframe.

Written on it was a message.

【A sincere invitation for the four of you to meet at the ‘Hongmen Club', regarding the matter of how I might gain your trust.】

【Ball Organizer, William】

Hongmen Club. This was a place on the cruise ship that few people knew about. Bei Lang had only heard of it from the library administrator who had revealed his identity. It was said that when all the guests holding an identity went to the Hongmen Club, they would receive an opportunity to have their questions answered.

Because the previous clues had been so fragmented, Bei Lang hadn't understood what this "opportunity" meant.

But now he knew. It meant William would personally appear to answer their questions.

And therein lay the key. There were six identity-holding guests every year, so this wasn't the first time people had gone to the Hongmen Club. But William's identity had remained a secret until last night.

What did that mean?

It meant that the people who went in never came out again.

He scoffed. "Hongmen Club? More like a Hongmen Banquet."

No one had expected that before their plan had even begun, William had made the first move. He was inviting them over for the so-called purpose of gaining their trust? Only an idiot would believe that.

"Wait a minute, Big Brother Yan, what are you fumbling for?"

Just as Bei Lang was about to ask for the others' opinions, he saw Wu Wang rummaging for something inside his suit.

The next second, Extreme Bro was online again.

"Getting my landmines and AK!"

"Hasn't that guy already exposed his location? Just wait, I'll go and block the club's entrance with explosives."

"I guarantee the blast will be powerful enough to level that entire floor!"

"Why did Liu Bang go to the Hongmen Banquet? Because he couldn't blow up the entire Hongmen. But I can."

I don't fucking need that kind of guarantee! Bei Lang screamed internally. An explosion that can level an entire floor could probably sink this entire cruise ship!

His face turned completely black.