Survival in the ship of the dead was an I-ranked level that was made especially to make the players lose or at least that was the conclusion Zhihao came up with. To survive for three days on a ship that was filled with rotting corpses and hungry sirens and late system notifications? How could any player actually manage to win with such bad odds? But what scared Zhihao more wasn't the fact that he was completely helpless inside this level, but the fact that this level was an I-ranked level. If this level was meant for Intermediate players then what was as S-ranked level like? Damn! Now he understood why none of the players who were randomly assigned to S-ranked levels won, they were all defeated within ten seconds and that was the record for the longest time a player had spent in an S-ranked level; 10 seconds.
But Zhihao had no plan on giving up. He looked at the back of the gamemaster as he thought; It's going to be me! Nobody but me can kill him, I won't allow it! That 1 million dollars is mine.
So how could Zhihao who wanted to beat the gamemaster just sit back right now and let the gamemaster protect him?
"What are Sirens?" It was a stupid question, but a valid one. Zhihao had read tales about Sirens; The mythical evil versions of mermaids, creatures who lured the sailors with their voice and devoured them, but was the siren they were dealing with here the same sirens as the one Zhihao read about, or were they more dangerous?
[New species found: Siren]
Zhihao wanted to curse at the system. So damn late! In the E-ranked and A-ranked levels, the system used to give necessary information about their situation at the beginning of the level itself, but it seems, that is not the case in I-ranked levels. At this level, the player had to ask the system about certain things and if the player failed to ask the system; the system would only announce it when the player was facing adversities.
[Sirens are sea creatures that live deep underwater, away from human civilization. They mainly eat big fishes and occasionally prey on Humans. They have 263 sharp teeth that clutch onto their prey's throat to drain out the blood and kill their prey slowly. Once a human is half unconscious and doesn't have any energy left to fight back, they start devouring the organs of the human. If their prey is dead; they won't eat it. They only eat living things that are still breathing. A Siren's special ability is to lure prey with the help of its voice. This ability is called enchantment and as the name suggests; Once a player is caught in the range of a siren's enchantment, the player has no way of breaking free unless with the help of special artifacts meant to break Siren's enchantment. They do not like to be seen. Unlike other creatures who don't hunt when their stomach is full, a siren loves playing with its prey even when it has no appetite. The only way to kill a Siren is if you stab its throat that contains its heart.]
Zhihao stopped cursing the system as he figured out that no matter how late it was, the system was still really useful to them. He also had another revelation; The woman they saw earlier had fallen prey to a siren and was in the middle of having her internal organs be devoured whole when they came and interrupted the sirens feast. Because the Siren didn't like to be exposed and seen by others, it abandoned its prey and fled away. Such despicable creatures. Playing with its prey, eating it alive, and losing interest in it if it died. Zhihao really wanted to avenge the people who fell prey to such creatures.
"Don't think about killing the siren." The gamemaster spoke.
"Huh? Why not?"
"If you go too close to the siren, you're as good as dead." This was a problem Zhihao had clearly thought about.
"What if we shoot it from afar?"
"No use." The gamemaster didn't reply further or justify his answer, but luckily he didn't need to, Even without his explaining things Zhihao had already caught on; If the system said stab, there was no way they could shoot the creature, and even if they did manage to shoot its heart, the creature would not die so easily.
Now the question remained how could they stab the creature?
But thinking about the answer to that question was futile. The most important thing they needed to know at the moment was just how many Sirens were inside this Ship at this moment?
Before that question could ever be answered, The ground shook; The ship that was floating on the open sea had come to a stop, probably collided with maybe a piece of land. Wasn't this a good thing? If there was land, they only needed to run away. Zhihao saw a ray of hope; Maybe they would manage to complete this mission after all.
And that ray of hope was destroyed by the sound of the notification system.
[The ship has entered the cave of the sirens]
Damn! Curse it all!
"Follow. Fast." The gamemaster didn't seem to be too shocked, after all, wasn't he the creator of this world? If there was anybody who deserved Zhihao's curses, wasn't it this man in front of him?
Zhihao followed the man silently.
Corpses.
Blood.
And more corpses; Some were empty shells with hollow eyes and wide-open mouths while some still had their eyes intact, but their internal organs were not inside their bodies anymore; These poor people probably could not take the blood loss and pain and 'gave up' halfway through.
As they continued moving, Zhihao found that the number of corpses, they encountered was decreasing in number; This was a good sign, This indicated that they were probably heading somewhere safe.
They found a staircase which led them downstairs, the gamemaster seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
"Is this the...?"
"Engine room." The gamemaster responded, "It's safe for now. We'll stay here for the night. The Sirens are not hungry yet so they won't purposefully come looking for us."
They entered the congested engine room of the ship where there was not a single corpse in sight and the door had been locked by the gamemaster when they entered so there was no way any creature could sneak up on them here.
They were safe, at least for now.
But how long would that safety last? How long till the Sirens became hungry again?
Zhihao had yet to come face-to-face with a Siren so his impression of the creature was solely based on the left behind corpses that fell prey to these creatures. The information the system gave was quite useful but it was still not enough and because Zhihao didn't know just how scary these creatures could be, He was not as afraid of them. But that didn't mean he wasn't afraid at all; He was indeed afraid of failing the mission and being eliminated. The picture in his mind, he had of a Siren was still that of a fairy tale mermaid just..... more evil. That being the case, Zhihao could relax and distract himself from the current situation; The way he decided to do that was by pestering the gamemaster for information.
"Say, didn't you create those creatures? Don't they have any weak spots or something?"
"Their heart."
"Nothing else?"
"..." The silence was an affirmative no.
"Just curious, but how does it look like? A sirens heart?"
"Glowing green." Zhihao wanted to chuckle as he heard the unexpected answer; A glowing green heart? Wasn't it extremely cliche?
"I have another question; Did you personally come up with all the scenarios?"
"Hmm."
"What?! For real? How many scenarios are there?"
"A few million."
Zhihao choked on air. How could the man just calmly say that? To create a few million scenarios was clearly no easy feat. Even if Zhihao started writing one or maybe even ten scenarios per day, he still would not be able to finish it in the next ten years. Just how inhuman was this man?
"Do you remember every single one of them?"
"Obviously not. Just some major aspects of each." The gamemaster answered as he closed his eyes and leaned back on the sidewall.
"Makes sense. You are... Really amazing. Did you know that?"
"Hmm."
"Since we are now temporary partners, are we not considered friends? I don't even know the name of this friend yet...?"
"If we successfully complete this mission, I'll tell you."
Motivation!
Although Zhihao seemed to calmly communicate with his idol, the reality inside his mind was something entirely different. He was trying his hardest to speak casually as if he wasn't affected by the man's presence, trying his hardest to regulate his breath and hiding his sweaty hands.
Zhihao was shocked at his own ability to act so well; He had managed to stop himself from talking nonstop nonsense, from clinging to the man, and from praising him too much.
"If we get out of here alive you have to promise you'll tell me your name."
"..."
Zhihao didn't mind how responseless the man was, as long as he wasn't annoyed at him; everything was well and good.
"So how long can we get to stay here?"
"16 hours; in-game time."
"What happens after that?"
"We move."
"Do you think we can keep hiding for the next three days?"
"Not possible." Short but straight to the point; Zhihao oddly liked the way the man would respond to all his questions.
"How do we fight it? Do you have a plan?"
"Age."
"Age?"
"As long as the Siren is not old, we have a chance."
"And what are our chances?"
"70% chance of encountering young ones."
"What do we do if it's an old one?"
"You hide. I fight."
"..." The offer was certainly tempting but Zhihao's dignity had already been crushed by Li Ling once before so there was no way in hell, he'll let it happen again.
The gamemaster saw the unwillingness in Zhihao's eyes and spoke sternly, "You will not fight."
"I appreciate your worry but I'm a player too."
"Moon goddess spellbook."
"huh?" Zhihao was confused.
"You have it, don't you?"
He certainly did, He received it this morning itself by playing an E-ranked level but how did this man know it?
Oh! Once again Mastermo was reminded of the fact that the handsome youth was the gamemaster; gamemasters had the added ability to see through other players, His entire inventory and skills were plainly visible to him so of course, he had already seen the said item in his possession.
Zhihao had no idea what the item was about, only that it was gained by mistake; The book he had kept with him as a clue in the last level wasn't exactly a clue but was in fact a moon goddess spellbook that he carried with him by accident. But Zhihao thought of it as nothing more but trash so he was ready to discard it after some time but he had eventually forgotten about it completely.
Now that the gamemaster had mentioned it; The book was clearly no trash. Zhihao opened his inventory and took the item out.
[Accessing the moon goddess spellbook]
[Moon Goddess Spellbook: With the blessing of the moon goddess, this rare item has the ability to fend the player from all in-game evil creatures.]
So basically, a lucky charm.
How lucky of Zhihao to pick it up by chance.
"If you use it, you should remain safe."
Zhihao was still unsatisfied. He didn't want to owe this man too much.
If the gamemaster was to fight the Sirens, Zhihao would join him, no questions asked. That was just how his personality was. He had depended on himself for the entirety of his life, If someone were to suddenly tell him that they'll do the hard work for him; He'll certainly be happy but he would also happily decline the offer.
Zhihao was touched. Although the gamemaster ignored him for the most part of it, even if he gave short answers or didn't catch Zhihao when he fell down; Zhihao still felt that this man hadn't necessarily been bad to him. Hadn't he silently protected him throughout the way? Hadn't he warned him whenever something dangerous came up? The gamemaster was indeed worried about him and just showed his concern in a really low-key manner.
Maybe all that or Zhihao just had a new crush.