Swish—
The sound of a blade slicing through the air.
Brussels' vision blurred. The chef, who had walked up beside him without his noticing, had driven a kitchen knife as long as a man's forearm into the table in front of him.
He swallowed instinctively.
Brussels was so frightened that his dreadlocks nearly stood on end.
Xie Qi leaned down and blew in his ear. Only when he saw goosebumps rise on Brussels' skin did he say with a grin, "Dear guest, I explained the rules. You're not allowed to break character during the game~"
"I, I didn't... I understand."
Even Brussels, the most rebellious of them, had been cowed by the chef.
The others hadn't expected him to pull a knife at the slightest disagreement. They had only suspected him of murder before, but now they were all certain he was the killer. They hurriedly hid their private schemes, afraid to anger him, and began playing their roles in earnest.
Only the viewers cared where the chef's knife had come from.
[Could the chef really be the streamer? (The more I think about it, the scarier it gets.)]
[Yeah, how else could a knife appear out of nowhere? Same as before, when he pulled a board out from behind his back. Nobody saw it beforehand.]
[Maybe it's this NPC's ability? This instance doesn't seem to have any supernatural powers, but the people in it aren't quite normal either.]
[The person above obviously doesn't know magic tricks exist. My smart brain has finished analyzing it. The chef used a kind of optical illusion, using the light and surroundings to keep you from noticing. Those things were actually there from the start.]
[There's something that good?]
[Never heard of it. Speaking of which, doesn't this chef have way too many skills? And they're all over the place. After that card game appeared, it became playable in the forum's game section too. I learned how and played a few hands. It's so addictive!]
[Wait, person above! Me too. Let's get together and play! There aren't many people there right now, so I can only play against the AI. It's beating me to death!]
[Texas Hold’em should be played face-to-face with people in virtual space. The AI only knows how to calculate probabilities. What does it know about the thrill of the weak beating the strong? (Cigarette)]
As the barrage of comments went on, the discussion drifted off topic.
That had become the norm since yesterday's game.
Xie Qi's Royal Flush had set many viewers' blood pumping, and they wanted to experience the thrill of the winner taking all for themselves.
Of course, even after Xie Qi had explained the basics to them, the bunch of rookies were still complete beginners when it came to Texas Hold’em.
Some would fold early even when they were dealt a good hand, simply because they couldn't keep their nerve.
Never mind matching Xie Qi—even the wealthy businessman Stock, whom everyone had mocked afterward, could outlast most of them in just a few rounds when they actually played.
Even so, the appeal of Texas Hold’em quickly won over these rubes, who had only ever played high-tech virtual reality games.
Those games could offer the ultimate sensory experience, like adventuring in a real world, but they lacked the tangible thrill of a contest of human nature.
With the discovery of a new game, not only these viewers but also passersby who hadn't watched the livestream were swept up in it, joining this invisible battle.
If Xie Qi learned that he had merely brought out a casino game from his previous life, only for the Prisoner Island game to take it without permission and turn it into a finished game to attract viewers to play, he too would marvel at the business sense of the people controlling the game from behind the scenes.
They really were stripping prisoners like them down to the bone, letting none of their value go to waste.
Perhaps to compensate him for using his creation to make money without permission, the points awarded after yesterday's game had been unprecedentedly generous: a full 1,000 points, an amount an ordinary prisoner would need to complete two F-rank instances to earn.
Besides the points, he had also received a coupon for twenty percent off a skill card.
Skill cards were valuable, but they were also something new prisoners dreamed of day and night yet couldn't afford.
Prisoners generally had to reach D-rank and complete an instance of the same rank before they had barely enough points for a skill card of the lowest rank.
The lowest-rank skill cards were F-rank. Skills of this rank generally had many restrictions and weren't very powerful, yet they were still listed in the shop for tens of thousands of points.
With his current total of just over 1,500 points, Xie Qi couldn't afford even the cheapest skill card.
While the viewers' attention had wandered, the people in the villa continued the role-playing game.
They had to solve the water problem, or they would all die of thirst before three days were up.
Although they were surrounded by the sea, anyone with common sense knew seawater couldn't be drunk. Not only would it fail to replenish their fluids, it would actually accelerate the loss of water from their bodies, making them thirstier the more they drank.
The seven had learned from experience. Brussels took out the condoms, and although he didn't dare look openly at Xie Qi, anyone with eyes could see how pleased he was with himself for being well prepared.
"Fill these with seawater, then cover them with plastic bags and leave them in the sun for half a day. That'll distill fresh water. I'll share some with anyone who wants it."
Brussels was generous now.
But the others weren't as undiscriminating as he was. Annie took out a wooden bucket she had prepared and used her action for the day to start collecting fresh water.
The others also searched everywhere for things to hold water, leaving Brussels alone holding those things, looking somewhat awkward.
Sofina moved over to him and said cautiously, "Hello, could you spare me one? I didn't bring anything to hold water."
"Ha! At least you've got an eye for these things."
Pleased that someone could appreciate his ingenious idea after all, Brussels gave Sofina one.
The two had only met once on the cruise ship and didn't know each other well. Seeing Sofina leave the rich young master to come over to him, Brussels wore an extremely smug look.
Phil cared even less about what Sofina did. The woman was a high-society socialite to begin with; he had only brought her along to experience the luxury cruise because he thought she was perceptive. He had never expected her to show him any loyalty in a situation like this.
With the fresh water problem solved, the ten of them spent a few peaceful days, although they still hadn't caught any fish.
But by the tenth day, everyone had run out of biscuits. Hunger swept over them, and their health points began to drop sharply.
At first, to improve their chances, Bailey and Stock also entered the water to fish, joining the original three.
But after a sudden shark attack, although Stock narrowly escaped with his life, his health points fell because he had inhaled water, and he also received a cold debuff.
Feeling unwell, Stock reverted to his true nature. He treated his wife and daughter terribly and even demanded that they give him the biscuits they had hidden away.
By the twelfth day, the ten had been without food for two days.
After repeated failures in his research, Song Nan's progress had only reached 80%.
Hunger filled everyone's minds, and after yet another failed fishing attempt, silence settled over the group.
The health points of Stock's wife and daughter had both fallen below 250; they were practically at death's door.
Stock himself, on the other hand, had rested for several days and was in fairly good spirits.
A strange atmosphere spread.
Several people began exchanging glances, and then, as if by agreement, their eyes fell on the mother and daughter in the corner.
But before they could reach an understanding, a languid voice suddenly spoke up.
"Though we can't catch fish, isn't there something we can easily catch right now?"