No civil mediation shows or wildlife programs appeared on the television. Instead, there were nothing but horror movies and gory films.
Si Yehan rested his head on one hand and watched the television with an air of indifference. His expression never changed at the frightening scenes. Most of the time, it was the background music that made them seem terrifying. In all honesty, they were quite ordinary.
They were not even close to the terror and gore he had unleashed when he massacred Cangyun City.
After watching just one movie, Si Yehan ran out of patience.
He picked up the remote and turned off the television.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door, followed by a voice: "Sir, your breakfast has arrived."
Si Yehan got up and walked to the door. When he opened it, he saw a woman in a short-skirted uniform pushing a food cart. Someone stood with a cart outside every cabin.
Several cabin doors were still open. The staff responsible for those cabins had simply left the carts outside and departed.
The woman wore a sweet smile, and her voice was full of eagerness to please. "Please enjoy your meal. When you're finished, you can leave the dishes on the cart. I'll come collect them in an hour. If you need any other services, you can ask then as well."
Si Yehan ignored her and took the food from the cart before going back inside.
Breakfast consisted of milk and bread, along with a serving of cold yogurt and a baked apple. Si Yehan ate casually as he briefly analyzed what he had just seen. The staff did not share information with one another.
Quite a few people had certainly died last night. Those cabins had probably been opened with spare keys, and the blood inside had most likely already been cleaned up. As for the bodies, the Ghost Slaves might have eaten them, or they might have been disposed of like the security guards yesterday.
The staff delivering breakfast this morning had still left a cart outside every cabin. From that, he could deduce that the staff did not share information, and each person knew only the part they were responsible for.
This cruise ship certainly had a lot of staff, Si Yehan thought. It suddenly occurred to him that he could use his fellow participants to speed up the process of testing the rules.
It did not matter if they were all killed in the course of testing and verification. There were so many people on the ship, and without relying on weapons of mass destruction, leaving them all until the final day would only tire him out. He might as well kill more of them beforehand.
As for the four led by Yan Jingxing, he could kill them tomorrow. They most likely had Ghost Tamers backing them, and any means those Ghost Tamers had left them would definitely be intended only for dealing with ghosts and would be ineffective against people.
Otherwise, he would not have warned him yesterday.
Si Yehan laid out all the information and began piecing it together to make deductions.
As his thoughts turned, he finished breakfast. He picked up the dishes, went outside, and left them on the cart.
Rather than wait for someone else to come looking for him, he might as well take the initiative.
Si Yehan went to the remaining four participants' cabins in order of their distance from his own, from nearest to farthest, and knocked on their doors. He left just one message: "Come to the observation deck on the fifth floor."
Xu Yuanjin's cabin, however, was empty. Si Yehan needed only one look to know she was dead. It seemed the killing rule that anyone in a bad mood would die if they fell asleep was true.
He had deliberately memorized everyone's cabin locations when they checked in yesterday. Si Yehan did not linger. The remaining participants surely knew he had left the entertainment hall last night.
Now, he needed to guide them and feed them false information.
Then he would verify whether the killing rules were true. Si Yehan had not identified himself when he knocked, and he did not know whether they could recognize his voice.
In any case, there had been some response from behind the doors.
When Si Yehan stepped onto the fifth-floor observation deck, the air felt especially fresh. The sea breeze blew against his face, and in the distance, fish leaped from the sunlit sea as gulls swept overhead.
The deck was deserted, with round tables and chairs everywhere. At such an early hour, Si Yehan was the only one there.
He found a seat near the front of the deck, slightly to the left, and turned sideways to gaze out at the sea.
There was an insulated carafe on the table. Si Yehan poured himself a cup of faintly steaming water and held it as he looked out at the sea.
He took a few sips from time to time. It was an exceptionally cozy scene, a picture of peaceful, tranquil days.
After a short while, a voice sounded behind him.
"This is a good place to talk. Better than where we were yesterday."
Si Yehan turned around unhurriedly and saw Jin Zhiguang walking in front. He was the one who had just spoken.
Chen Zhongshou was a little farther back, while Wang Yuxiu stood in the middle. The hem of her clothes fluttered in the wind, making a rustling sound. Her gaze was a little cold, though it was not directed at Si Yehan.
Cheng Zhuiyu stood at the very back, slightly out of breath, the excess flesh all over her body trembling. Si Yehan thought that if he stabbed a knife into her flesh, what came out first probably would not be blood, but yellow fat. Only then would blood spray out.
The four sat down around the round table one after another. When Cheng Zhuiyu sat, her chair even rocked slightly, and she turned her head away in embarrassment.
Wang Yuxiu was the first to break the silence. "Xu Yuanjin is dead. The people in those cabins with open doors and untouched food on the carts outside are all dead too. These Ghost Slaves have killed so many people, a lot more than were killed in the last instance."
Jin Zhiguang had not slept well last night, and the bags under his eyes were tinged blue-gray. Still, he wore an optimistic smile. "There weren't many people in the first instance. The natives of that instance didn't seem to die much, but this one is different."
Cheng Zhuiyu raised her eyes. Amid the fat on her face, they were almost reduced to slits, but a sharp glint still shone through. "Maybe it's because the instance natives who died weren't important. The truly important ones should be safe and sound, like those four powerful people. They definitely know the ghosts' killing rules. Why don't we try getting on good terms with them and sounding them out? If that really doesn't work..."
Cheng Zhuiyu's voice abruptly stopped. Only now did she suddenly display the qualities expected of someone participating in a second instance. "Find a way to capture two of them, then interrogate them separately under torture and compare their statements afterward. It's an extremely risky approach, but it's better than waiting for the ghosts to kill us."
Jin Zhiguang coughed, looking at Cheng Zhuiyu with admiration. "Miss Cheng... you really can't judge a sea by the bucketful, or a person by their appearance!"
Cheng Zhuiyu glanced at Jin Zhiguang. "Your Great Xia language is quite good too."
Jin Zhiguang looked thoughtful. "What Great Xia language? I've been speaking Korean this whole time. It seems the game automatically translates participants' languages into our own native tongues."
Wang Yuxiu seemed troubled. "We don't need to discuss that now. The problem is that this instance is really dangerous. And those natives give me a very dangerous feeling too. That powerful man in the dark gray coat yesterday felt even more dangerous to me than the ghosts."
Chen Zhongshou looked at Si Yehan. "Mr. Si, you left the entertainment hall yesterday. Did you discover anything?"
"What Cheng Zhuiyu suggested is too risky. There's no need for it. Last night, through some special means, I learned that there are eight killing rules."