Chapter 191: Classmates
To be perfectly honest, Fu Qingyan wasn’t very optimistic about this operation.
The whole thing probably started when a kind captain offered them a job. In all fairness, any player who was actively trying to explore the game at this point should no longer be in a situation where they had to sell their labor just to survive.
Fu Qingyan and her teammates were both classmates and members of the same school club. While they weren’t exactly hardcore, skilled players, they had moved past the initial stages and possessed a certain level of game experience. Logically, they wouldn’t need to take on tasks that were both energy- and time-consuming.
But this time was different. The captain was willing to let them aboard, requiring them only to do what they could manage, with wages paid on time. Most crucially, the ship’s destination was Port Beren. This was particularly important because not long ago, one of their teammates, while working at an old bookstore in Leicester, had discovered an old sea chart.
Someone had vividly described the location of an underwater ruin on that sea chart, a ruin where countless fortunes and secrets were buried. That location happened to be in the sea area near Port Beren.
They had originally planned to head to Port Beren immediately, but they coincidentally arrived just as a major event was about to unfold in Leicester City. Although they had no intention of participating, they were still forcibly drawn into it. After the dust settled and they heard that the so-called supreme treasure had been taken by an NPC, their team re-evaluated their plans for the underwater ruins.
From a logical standpoint, Fu Qingyan did not believe in the existence of underwater ruins. Even if such a place filled with treasures and secrets truly existed, it was unlikely that they would be the ones to explore it. Moreover, why would the creator of this sea chart be willing to share this secret?
This was most likely a trap set by someone with ulterior motives.
However, Fu Qingyan did not stop her teammates because of this. With her prestige in the class and club, even if she had, others would have readily accepted it. After all, “World Tree: Origin” was just a game. Even if it had achieved near perfection in “building reality,” and even if producing such a game was impossible with current technological levels, Fu Qingyan’s experiences over the past few days told her that it was indeed a game.
Since it was a game, any secret or conspiracy in this world was waiting for players to explore and experience. With that in mind, there was no need for her to be a spoilsport.
So, they accepted the captain’s goodwill and boarded the ship as temporary sailors.
Shipboard life was monotonous and tedious, not as thrilling and exciting as they had imagined. Fu Qingyan didn’t mind, but her classmates didn’t have the patience to endure such a life. So, they started asking around on the ship, hoping to find some entertainment. They expected to find nothing, but to their surprise, they did find something.
An old sailor who had encountered a mysterious incident in his youth and was now deranged – wasn’t that a key character in a hidden quest?
So, they immediately tried to approach the sailor named Old Joey. Things didn’t go smoothly at first. Old Joey was usually either rambling or ignoring everyone and refusing to communicate. However, Fu Qingyan deduced from his demeanor and daily habits that he wasn’t actually crazy but was pretending to be foolish. This brought about a breakthrough.
After Fu Qingyan’s teammates spent considerable effort convincing Old Joey that they meant no harm and only wanted to help him, Old Joey reluctantly agreed to tell them about what happened back then. However, he refused their help and warned them that this was not something mortals could intervene in. He stated that he had to seek revenge on the Twin-tailed Mermaid alone, and only then could the curse be broken.
Fu Qingyan and her classmates could do nothing but give up. But the matter didn’t end there. After a routine daily log-in and log-out, they discovered that they weren’t logging in on the Adventurer, but had appeared on a dim and unlit wreck.
Countless stacked and twisted rooms surrounded them, forming a labyrinth. They then encountered the deranged sailor, Old Joey, who once again warned them not to meddle and told them it would be best to stay put and not go anywhere if they wanted to keep their lives.
Such warnings were meaningless to players. Fu Qingyan didn’t think anyone would listen.
As expected, after Old Joey left alone, the group, without even voting, decided to follow him. However, they had only gone a few rooms before they were attacked.
Their attackers were not humans, but corpses. Judging by their bloated and rotten bodies, they had likely drowned long ago. Fu Qingyan had seen this type of monster in the monster guide created by players on the forum – drowning corpses, a type of walking corpse, with high attack and low defense. They were no threat at all to Transcendent beings.
But what was distressing was that there were no Transcendent beings in their party.
The classmates with combat abilities immediately decided to hold back the drowning corpses and let the others escape. After all, the number of drowning corpses was too great, and engaging them head-on offered no chance of victory. Therefore, it was better to split up. Besides, they could revive even if they died.
But before they could implement this plan, a deeper, more profound darkness suddenly descended, extinguishing their torches, oil lamps, and other lighting tools. Following a series of piercing and terrifying roars, the darkness dissipated. The walking corpses were gone, leaving only a cloaked figure standing not far away, who spoke in a cold and indifferent voice:
“Are you alright?”
The voice was clear and pleasant. Although cold, it didn’t evoke aversion. Fu Qingyan judged the person’s age to be around 16-18 – assuming they were human – and very likely a beautiful girl. It seemed she was the one who dealt with the drowning corpses, and it was not impossible that the drowning corpses were controlled or guided by her – although using such methods on them would be meaningless.
In a brief moment of thought, Fu Qingyan had concluded that the cloaked girl before them was probably a young Transcendent, and at least for now, showed no malice.
Blinking, a standardized smile appeared on Fu Qingyan’s face. She always led the communication and thinking for this team, not to mention that the others were still stunned by how the drowning corpses had suddenly disappeared.
“Thank you for saving us, honored sir/madam.” The other party did not have some of the small habits of players, such as occasionally staring blankly at the air. Coupled with the absence of a “high-level player” vibe in their tone, it was highly likely they were an NPC. At this moment, she needed to carefully choose her words to avoid saying anything wrong and reducing favorability.
“We are sailors from the Adventurer and are trapped in this strange place due to some unforeseen circumstances. If you know where this place is or how to leave, please inform us so that we can return to the ship and complete our duties. Otherwise, the boatswain might not be pleased with us.”
However, to Fu Qingyan’s great surprise, the other party directly said:
“You are players?”
Li Wen frowned as he looked at them. He really hadn’t expected to encounter his real-life classmates here.
