The cruise ship was large, with a dance floor, banquet hall, bar, and other gathering places on the first level, and a game room, guest lounge, gym, and other lifestyle and entertainment hubs on the second floor.
The circular plaza where people on the first floor were previously gathered was actually the banquet hall, and directly above it was the casino on the second floor, which was the site of the gambling games held before.
Besides these two areas, both the first and second floors had many other rooms, which is why the corridors were crisscrossing, the stairways numerous, and there were seven elevators. In addition to the stairways for staff, there were also over a dozen staircases for moving up and down.
But at this moment, the stairs leading from the first to the second floor were all covered in wet footprints, the carpet was trampled and wrinkled, and the handrails bore the marks of frantic rubbing, clearly from a crowd that had swarmed and scrambled upstairs.
The reason was simple, the gunshots on the first floor were the most threatening eviction order. After all, in this country, gun violence is the human disaster that most people are most likely to encounter and that poses the greatest threat to their lives.
The fear of gunshots was etched in their bones; even the rocking of the ship and the assault of the sea waters did not scare them as much. Once gunshots rang out, everyone followed the instinct sharpened over many years, evacuating the area as quickly as possible.
The deck was deserted, with almost no cover, not a good place to take refuge, so the crowd could only choose to go up to the second floor.
But the problem was that the trap Beihan and the others had encountered was also on the second floor, which meant that Shiller, after finishing off the Flamingo, had returned to the second floor.
Beihan didn't dare to think what would happen if Shiller burst into the panicked crowd. So he said to Oliver, "We've got to find a way to draw Shiller downstairs. The first floor is larger and the terrain is more complicated. It's easier to maneuver there."
"How do we lure him?" Amanda raised her voice, "You said the countdown accumulates, so if anyone goes to lure him, it means if they show their back again later on, they'll be immediately locked onto."
"But we have to do it," Beihan said. "Neither of you is suitable, so it has to be me, while you two provide support from the side."
Oliver frowned slightly, his instinct not comfortable with letting someone else sacrifice themselves, but Beihan explained, "It might be hard to understand, but in a previous game, I encountered many morbid Shillers. I understand them better than you do."
"They're all special, but there are differences in strength. In terms of combat ability, the Hunter is not the strongest. His forte is the chase, able to focus single-mindedly during pursuit, and this kind of focus creates a pressure that causes his prey to make mistakes quickly."
"However, as long as we can maintain a steady state of mind, there is still room to maneuver with him. The other two Batmans have gone to restart the power and to set sail. As long as we can hold on until we dock, we can find a way to calm him down."
Seeing that Beihan had a real plan and wasn't planning to blindly sacrifice himself, Oliver agreed to his plan, saying, "If you get locked onto and chased, I'll disrupt his movements as appropriate."
"I can rally support," Amanda sighed, "I'm not sure how much is left, but it should be enough to cause him some interference."
"No, if you have extra manpower, go and watch the stairwell entrances on the second floor to prevent the guests from coming down," Oliver said. "The key is to clear an area for Shiller to roam, which will minimize losses."
Amanda nodded, and Beihan said, "Go up there, ma'am. If you are down to your last chance, not only can you not afford to buy time, but you will also be in danger."
Amanda hesitated but eventually agreed, saying, "If necessary, I'll call for support. This ship has been missing for so long, all sides must be getting anxious. As long as the message gets out, the probability of their intervention is high. Shiller only chases one target at a time, enough to drag it out until they arrive."
Both showed no objection to this, and Beihan led the way past the body hanging in midair. He knew Shiller was definitely lurking in the shadows at the end of the corridor, not far away, like a spider standing at the center of a web waiting for its prey.
As expected, once Beihan crossed the body and took about five or six more steps forward, he could see the end of the corridor, which was also the entrance to the dining room, and there stood a figure holding a Gunfish mask.
He stood quietly in the darkness, mysterious and silent. As Beihan approached, he still did not react.
Not until Beihan was only about ten steps away did he suddenly flex his entire body and leapt to Shiller's side, while leaving his back exposed to him.
Through the shadows on the ground, he could see Shiller turning his head over, then his whole body turned towards him. Beihan silently counted to three in his heart, then with a burst of speed, he dashed into a room.
He only stayed in the room for two seconds before bursting back into the hallway, flashing by, he then darted into the room across the way.
This was his method of delaying being locked onto. Assuming Shiller saw only one back in front of him now, he would certainly try to lock onto it. Even if he couldn't lock on, he wouldn't turn to do something else.
The time he could not lock on was ineffective time. As long as in this period he ensured not to close the distance, he still had the ability to strategically move. Thus, by repeatedly causing Shiller to lose sight of him, one could dilute the originally short countdown process, making the short process longer.
Beihan entered a door every second, the two seconds he stayed inside were not enough for Shiller to catch up, so his one-second countdown was delayed to three seconds, giving him around a dozen seconds to run down the already short corridor and draw Shiller downstairs.
Counting the seconds in his heart, Beihan quickly saw the stairwell to the first floor. He knew he had to stop here and let Shiller fully lock onto him before running down, otherwise prolonged loss of sight might make Shiller choose not to follow him down.
Before turning the corner, Beihan counted silently to three. As expected, the footsteps behind him paused for a moment before speeding up by at least double.
Beihan knew he was locked on, and the hunt had begun.
He ran towards the stairs below with lightning-fast speed, but just as he took the second step onto the landing of the stairwell, he suddenly saw a shadow appear abruptly behind him.
Impossible! How could he be so fast?!!
That was Beihan's last thought before getting thrown out. He felt a heavy strike against his back and neck, tumbling down the stairs, with no time to ponder the reason, he rolled to the side at high speed, dodging the sharp spike of the mask that lunged at him.
This isn't right, Beihan thought, I must have made some mistake. The hunting speed he had encountered in the game was fast, but not impossibly so, the strength was great, but not to the extent of being smashed away in a single encounter.
What on earth is happening?!
But Beihan had no time to think about the reason. Before Shiller could reach out to grab him, he rolled over from lying flat, opting not to rise with the support of his arms, instead quickly standing up with a kip-up and started running.
Beihan's full-speed run was not slow, reaching the first floor corridor in the blink of an eye, but it was this straight corridor chase that confirmed Shiller was much faster than before at the hospital.
Beihan was already sprinting towards the end of the corridor, but the gap between him and Shiller kept shrinking. Just as he rounded the corridor corner, running towards the deck exit, he heard a commotion from the other side, as if someone was cursing.
It was too late to stop now, so Beihan braced himself and burst out, just to see several individuals dressed as tourists, but with an overly fierce expression and holding guns, discussing something.
Seeing Beihan run out, they immediately raised their guns, but Beihan continued to charge right at them, which threw them off.
Knowing he had no time to explain, Beihan could only shout a syllable: "Run!!!"
It was this deafening cry that made the strange group of tourists miss their best opportunity to shoot him, and Beihan dashed past them at great speed towards the other side of the deck.
However, the group was still dumbfounded, not understanding the situation, when suddenly they saw another figure emerge from the door.
The moonlight on the deck was much brighter than inside the cabin, and the visibility was wider. Then, they saw this person wearing an Octopus Mask, drenched in blood, with dried blood on the evening suit turning his entire outfit into a fearsome black.
Bang! Out of fear, one of them fired a shot.
Shiller was hit in the right side of his abdomen, the bullet's impact made him step back slightly, but he showed no sign of pain.
Seeing the gunshot was effective, the others prepared to fire. Beihan, who had already run past, stopped and turned to look at them, uncertain whether to intervene.
But no one had the chance to fire a second shot.
The Shadow rushed into their midst at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye, first using his arm to strangle one person's head, snapping the spine with a crack, then grabbing another's wrist who was lifting the gun, pressing on his spine with his hand, and thrusting his knee up, the Gunfish mask piercing the throat from below.
Ducking to avoid a punch from behind, he elbowed his attacker, driving him back, then with a hook from his hand holding the spiked mask, he plunged the spike directly into the temple – an eyeball rolling out of its socket.
After dealing with three people in an instant, Beihan saw Shiller's gaze lock onto him again and he turned and ran.
This time, he finally felt panic; Shiller's speed had increased again.
This time, before he could even take a step, the shadow had already enveloped him. Beihan was well aware of his own explosive power, and while not the human limit, his start-up speed was still unmatched by most.
"How has he gotten faster?!!" Beihan roared in his mind.
With a bang, he was sent flying, hitting the ground, blood flowing from his head due to the impact with the ground. Not only was his nose painfully throbbing, but his vision was also darkening.
The crucial thing was that the bandages on his arm had come undone with the impact, and with the wound not healed, fresh blood splattered everywhere.
But Beihan didn't even pause for a second; he rolled to his feet, dodged the incoming spike, and landed a hook punch on Shiller, only to be kicked and sent flying again.
His strength has increased too, Beihan thought getting up. Something must be wrong; he needed to find answers quickly, otherwise, as Shiller got stronger and he grew weaker, it wouldn't be about delaying anymore, he might die here.
In that moment of thought, Shiller had appeared behind him again, his arms wrapping around Beihan's neck in an attempt to strangle him. Beihan instinctively employed a combat counter – grabbing the wrist and leading it forward, followed by an over-the-shoulder throw.
But the arm was much stronger than he anticipated, and before he could fully exert force for the throw, he met resistance, and both Beihan and Shiller tumbled sideways.
They both landed right at the employee corridor door connecting the gangway to the cabin. With a squeak, the corridor door opened, and a pair of hands grabbed Beihan's shoulders, pulling him inside, and with a click, the door locked.
Beihan turned around and saw Bruce's blue eyes.