The usually aloof CEO rarely smiled; his stiff lips curled into a mocking arc. He Jun's imposing aura instantly crumbled, and he didn't even dare meet his gaze: He knew? How did he know? Was he seeking revenge?
Ren Yifei had already put away his phone. He still had three points left, but he wasn't going to buy any more items.
This infinite world can restrict the items in the desolate corner, but it cannot affect his inherent abilities.
"Want to talk?" Ren Yifei gestured for him to sit in the empty seat next to him. "I don't eat people, and I can't eat people."
However, He Jun avoided him like the plague, and quickly walked a few steps ahead.
Ren Yifei coldly watched his hasty retreating figure: No rush, there are still six days.
At 10:00, the game started on time, with a one-hour countdown.
A casual game: Guess Who I Am.
Everything is part of the food chain. Guess what fish ate you! What kind of fish are you? What kind of fish did you eat? Guess one correctly to pass the level. One fish is worth three points. Be careful not to get eaten!
This is a vast lake, where moonlight shines quietly on the surface, creating ripples.
The players each sat in a small, solitary boat, each holding a wooden oar. They could see a white-painted character on each other's boats, but not their own.
Some people were curious and wanted to see the characters on their canoe, but before they could even tilt their bodies slightly, the little canoe lost its balance and capsized.
A white-painted "B5" was upside down on the water's surface at the bow of the boat.
The other players who had the same idea were startled. They froze, too afraid to move, and watched helplessly as the player thrashed about in the water, causing ripples to spread across the lake.
The boat was too small; it could only seat one person. If another person sat in it, it would capsize. Therefore, no one dared to rush to the rescue, and no one even dared to extend a wooden oar.
Glug, glug, a string of bubbles rose from the water, and several triangular fish fins appeared on the surface.
"It's...it's a shark?" The faces of the players who were nearby turned pale. The player in the water was even more bloodless, and he desperately swam towards the nearest canoe.
"Don't come any closer!" The owner of the small wooden boat frantically pounded on the oars, but he didn't know how to row, and no matter how he rowed, the boat just kept spinning in place.
Coincidentally, the small wooden boat chosen by this player belonged to He Jun. Ren Yifei stayed away from the crowd and watched indifferently.
"Snap!" The player grabbed the oar that He Jun was wildly swinging, his head popping out of the water, his face as white as a ghost, but his mouth was smiling.
"Ahhhhh—" He Jun was so frightened that he dropped the oar, but it was too late. The man had already swum over and grabbed the edge of the wooden boat. It looked like he was about to reach out and grab He Jun.
"Splash."
A huge splash erupted from the water, and the player clinging to the edge of the wooden boat screamed and released his grip. Behind him, a triangular fish fin appeared. On the fin was clearly a number painted in white: d4.
A ring of bloody foam churned in the water as a shark writhed and tore at the player. The surrounding canoes were terrified, and their riders paddled frantically. It was only then that they noticed triangular fins emerging around them, further throwing the players into disarray.
He Jun, who was next to the bitten player, was the most terrified. He couldn't shout anymore, and since he didn't have any oars, he could only cower on top of the boat, trembling.
"If I can't live, you'll die too!" Knowing he was doomed, the player somehow mustered up some strength and dragged the shark to He Jun's boat, gripping the edge of the canoe with his fingers, veins bulging.
"Ah!" He Jun waved his hands wildly, which only made the boat more unstable.
Just as the boat was about to capsize, and he was about to follow in the footsteps of this player, a shark that had been chasing another player suddenly turned around and charged towards the first player who had fallen into the water.
It was so fast that it even left a white trail in its wake.
Ren Yifei saw the shark's fin clearly; it had the words "b2" written on it.
I thought the next scene would be He Jun capsizing and falling into the water, with two sharks devouring the player.
But to everyone's surprise, just as He Jun was about to capsize, the shark that had been biting the player earlier defied science and spat out its prey. It then turned around and slapped its tail, creating a wave that actually stabilized He Jun's small boat.
"Ahhh—" Unfortunately, although the boat stabilized, He Jun's poor sense of balance led him into the ditch—he finally fell into the water.
Ren Yifei thought that the original owner's great revenge should be able to be avenged, but who knew that an even more unbelievable scene would happen next.
The two sharks, b2 and d4, acted as if they didn't see He Jun, and instead pounced on the first player who was already half-dead.
If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad, but even the shark that had been circling He Jun's boat earlier retreated, hovering blankly a short distance away, refusing to move forward.
Everyone else was fleeing, but Ren Yifei noticed this incredible scene.
"..." He began to suspect that He Jun was a game agent, otherwise it would be difficult to explain such behavior that could be described as cheating.
Good grief, the enemy even has a cheat code.
Ren Yifei watched as He Jun crawled back onto the boat like a dog, and just a meter away from him, the first player who fell into the water was torn to pieces.
The shark, which was originally painted with d4, had its dorsal fin characters changed to b5.
Does the shark that kills a player inherit the player's symbol?
But what special significance does this have?
Bubbling and gurgling, a string of bubbles rose from the side of Ren Yifei's boat. He didn't even lower his head, but quickly glanced down and saw a triangular fish fin: h7.
The shark popped its head out, baring its teeth at him, the triangular fangs reflecting a cold light. But what it met in return were a pair of eyes that seemed to say, "Keep acting, or I'll admit defeat."
shark:...
The H7 shark circled the small boat, its eyes darting around as if questioning its very existence.
Ren Yifei remained motionless, his eyes like a camera, recording everything happening before him as closely as possible, without even glancing at the shark circling around him.
He had noticed before that although the sharks chased the player, none of them would touch the player's ship. This might be a self-preservation strategy left for players by the game.
If players are calm enough, they will realize this and then, in turn, restrain the sharks in the water.
Unfortunately, players don't have that kind of mental fortitude; they're just ordinary people, lacking the composure that comes with years of experience.
"Calm down, everyone." Ren Yifei raised his voice. "As long as you don't fall into the water, these sharks can't do anything to you. They are also bound by the rules."
But only two people believed it. They stopped rowing and instead took deep breaths, gripping the oars and huddled in the small boat.
The small boat rocked gently, and the moonlight rippled with the water. The people on board watched as the shark's triangular fin appeared and disappeared, their hearts pounding in their throats.
However, just as Ren Yifei said, these ferocious sharks swam around the ship but never managed to touch it. They could only reluctantly stick their heads out, baring their teeth at the players and threatening them.
"Really, really. Sharks, sharks can't touch boats!"
However, many people did not believe it, or rather, they had lost their composure and could not hear these voices. Ren Yifei saw that the owner of a small boat had not used the oars properly and, in his haste, had capsized the boat. The sharks surrounding the boat immediately rushed up and bit him.
"Ahhhhhh—" Blood gushed out, startling the other players near the small boat once again.
Ren Yifei stared at the shark until the characters on its fins changed, becoming the characters of a dead player.
"It seems that the killer fish replacing the player's character is not an isolated case," he thought to himself, and looked at 'Lucky Guy' He Jun.
He Jun, soaking wet, huddled on the boat, still shaken.
From this angle, He Jun, whose appearance is merely delicate, has an exceptionally endearing and pitiful quality, especially when his jet-black hair frames his snow-white face, his eyes are filled with tears, and his pale eyebrows are slightly furrowed, making him look like a poor little thing with wet feathers.
"It's not so cute to send your invitation code to someone else just to save your own life."
Ren Yifei was past the age of being easily deceived by appearances. He stared at the man, simply curious as to why this little game was going easy on him.
Why? Because he has a fair complexion?
If there were a complaint channel for mini-games, he would have already filed a complaint.
Another player capsized, and the player next to him panicked and crashed into Ren Yifei's direction.
Many of these people lacked rowing experience and couldn't steer properly, often leading themselves to their own doom and taking several unfortunate souls with them. This person was clearly no exception.
"Help me!" The person rushed straight towards Ren Yifei's boat. Ren Yifei naturally wouldn't sit idly by and wait to die. He simply paddled the oar into the water, turning the horizontal boat into a vertical one, and the boat just brushed past him.
"Don't be nervous, stay calm, the shark can't touch your boat."
The player heard this, but he didn't see it as advice; he just thought it was mockery.
By this time, his small boat was already tilting slightly. The player lost control of his emotions, and evil thoughts arose in his heart. He ignored the fact that he was about to lose his balance, and disregarded the sharks that were chasing him again. He raised his oar and swung it towards Ren Yifei.
Ren Yifei never expected that his well-intentioned reminder would result in this outcome.
Even knowing the evil in human nature, he still occasionally wants to believe in true love—provided he can protect himself.
"I can only say, it truly lives up to its name as an infinite world."
He had actually stepped back half a meter, but the incident happened so suddenly that even though he managed to dodge, the bow of the boat was still scraped hard, and his boat began to rock violently.
The player had already fallen into the water and was being chased by a shark, but he didn't care. He pointed at Ren Yifei and laughed loudly, as if he had gotten his revenge.
"Damn it," Ren Yifei cursed inwardly, while trying to steady the swaying boat by slapping the water with his oars.
A shark circled the boat, baring its large, white teeth, trying to scare him.
"Ah, I almost forgot about you." Ren Yifei only then noticed the shark.
The shark suddenly felt a chill, and before it could be frightened any further, a paddle slammed into its head with lightning speed and precision.
The shark was stunned by the slap, and only when it came to its senses did it realize that Ren Yifei had used the slap to stabilize the boat, and then... it remained motionless.
Ren Yifei was trying to extract all the symbols, and he had a premonition that as long as the secret of the symbols was cracked, the puzzle presented by the game could be easily solved.
Time was passing, and he already knew yesterday the punishment for losing the game: death.
But it is precisely in moments like these that he must remain calm.
"Splash! Splash!" During the time Ren Yifei was silent, the shark circling around him was trying to make its presence known. It would wag its tail and stick its head out to give him a smile, but Ren Yifei, as cold as ice, didn't even glance back.
After a few minutes, the shark finally stopped moving; it gave up and floated quietly in the water, blowing bubbles.
But as soon as it calmed down, Ren Yifei became energetic.
They checked their phones and saw that only forty minutes remained on the countdown, meaning they had already wasted a full twenty minutes. In those twenty minutes, eight players had already perished, and the rest were either too afraid to move or trying to avoid the sharks, seemingly facing total annihilation.
He has actually matched these players with the corresponding shark characters, but he hasn't figured out the pattern yet.
8x8, the food chain, a combination of letters and numbers, selective slaughter... Ren Yifei suddenly thought of something. He quickly memorized all the symbols on the canoes he could see and matched them with the shark numbers on the side of the boat.
The clues, one by one, were strung together, forming a line that shimmered in the darkness.
"I see."