Public Enemy

Ling Chu had initially felt a little upset when Missing Teeth exposed her secret, but she couldn't help laughing when she saw a post from someone with the ID Squid Ball.

Clearly, Squid Ball was far better at trash talk than Missing Teeth. A few short exchanges were enough to leave Missing Teeth speechless, pounding out question marks instead.

At that moment, players following the private channel all stopped digging for sea urchins in unspoken agreement and went to feed the schools of fish instead.

As soon as Ling Chu saw the message exposing her, she'd raced to feed the fish one more time. After they finished eating the sea urchins, they led her to another hidden treasure chest. After that, no matter how much she fed them, they just circled around her.

The number of treasure chests in the nearby waters was limited to begin with. With so many people competing for them, it seemed they'd already been claimed.

Ling Chu was quite satisfied. She'd found four treasure chests in total.

That was much faster than fishing.

Ling Chu went back to digging up sea urchins.

Before she knew it, half the challenge time had passed.

Ling Chu had just filled another whole bag with sea urchins and put it into her storage space. She didn't notice that, not far behind her, someone was quietly creeping closer.

The man who'd set his sights on Ling Chu wasn't particularly tall or imposing.

He was one of the few people still using their initial wooden rafts, looking gaunt and malnourished.

On his first day in the game, a fish had dragged his fishing rod into the sea by accident. He'd lost the gear he needed to fish right at the start, and he hadn't eaten a full meal in two days. He certainly hadn't had anything to trade for iron ore.

Just as he'd thought he wouldn't live to see the next night, he'd unexpectedly entered this Public Challenge.

As long as he could place in the rankings, he'd receive supplies. This was his last chance to get iron ore.

He hadn't eaten in two days and was too weak to gather sea urchins. He'd managed to collect only half a bag in all that time. He'd also missed the channel messages earlier and completely missed out on the treasure chest rewards.

At this rate, he'd never earn a ranking reward, so he turned his attention to the other players.

He'd been quietly watching everyone nearby. Ling Chu had gathered the most, filling a whole basket. Then, in the blink of an eye, the fish basket full of sea urchins in her hands had become completely empty, and she'd calmly carried on collecting.

He surmised that Ling Chu must have some kind of storage item.

If he could steal the storage item from her, he'd surely place near the top! He might even make a fortune on the side.

Watching Ling Chu, the man's hands trembled slightly around his iron pickaxe.

It was his first time killing someone, and he was nervous. But if he wanted to survive, he had no choice...

To stifle his guilt, the man tried to talk himself into it.

There was no beginner protection in this challenge. That meant the rules allowed players to attack and rob one another. He wasn't doing anything wrong.

Just as he crept up behind Ling Chu and raised his iron pickaxe high with both hands, a muffled gunshot rang out abruptly beneath the sea.

Ling Chu turned at the sound. A bloody hole had appeared in the man's chest, and blood gushed out, staining the surrounding seawater red.

Not far away, Titch was coldly pointing a revolver at him.

[Your servant killed player Zhang Shiba. Your Sin Value +10.]

Bullets traveled more slowly and had a shorter range underwater, but they were still deadly to people.

The man wasn't quite dead yet. He stared at the two of them with unseeing eyes, as if he couldn't understand why one player had helped another stranger kill him.

He'd never learn that the one who killed him wasn't human at all, but Ling Chu's "summon."

"Captain, are you all right?"

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Titch immediately swam over to check on her.

Ling Chu waved a hand to show she was fine.

The water pressure underwater affected hearing. She really hadn't noticed anyone trying to sneak up on her. It was a good thing Titch had spotted him.

Though she hadn't heard him approach, the water would have shifted when he attacked. She should have been able to dodge with Ghostly Steps.

Still, giving Titch the revolver had been the right call.

After Titch killed the man, her Sin Value had gone up by 10 points. Ling Chu guessed that killing a player with no Sin Value would add 10 points to hers, while killing a player with Sin Value would add an equivalent amount of Justice Points.

She still didn't know what having a high Sin Value would do, or whether it had any side effects.

[Nearby Channel]

"I heard a gunshot just now. Did someone kill somebody?"

"I heard it too. Did a pirate sneak in among us?"

"How come I didn't hear anything? Are you trying to distract everyone so you can dig up more sea urchins?"

The people in the channel were still discussing it when another line of information appeared.

[Player Ling Chu killed player Zhang Shiba.]

It was a simple message, but the channel fell silent for three seconds.

"There really is a pirate! That's outrageous. They're just killing people in the middle of a Public Challenge?"

"Doesn't mean they're a pirate. There's no beginner protection in this challenge. Anyone can kill."

"It was a pirate! I saw a sailboat with a skull painted on it earlier. Good thing I steered farther away."

"Damn it, pirates are a bunch of pests. Is there anyone strong enough to uphold justice and put a stop to them?"

"That pirate has a gun. Who'd dare pick a fight? I'm not going to get myself killed."

Missing Teeth: "If you don't go after him, you'll be crying when that pirate comes for you. We should work together and find him, then kill him first. Otherwise, I won't be able to dig up sea urchins in peace..."

Squid Ball: "Oh? How come you're not being so sanctimonious now? You're always going on about killing people."

Missing Teeth: "Killing pirates isn't murder. It's doing the people a service."

Squid Ball: "Tsk, what a waste of your talents, being so fierce. Why not come guard my front door?"

Missing Teeth: "? You've got a real mouth on you. Dare to give me your location? I'll kill you too."

Squid Ball: "Oh, I'm so scared! So, who's the pirate here? Could it be you're the thief crying 'Stop thief!'?"

Missing Teeth: "..."

Missing Teeth: "Don't you dare slander me!"

Now, "pirate" had become an insult.

Ling Chu felt conflicted.

She'd only killed someone who'd tried to attack her. How had that made the nearby players so furious?

At least she had a gun, which gave her plenty of confidence. Few players would have one during the beginner period.

She'd like to see who else wanted to come looking for trouble.

Zhang Shiba's body had already drifted away with the current and disappeared into a trench.

That was the advantage of killing someone underwater: she didn't even have to dispose of the body. The sea took care of it.

Ling Chu read the messages condemning her in the channel, thought for a moment, then gestured to Titch to hide behind a nearby reef and wait for a chance to act.

Titch immediately obeyed and hid behind a large reef that concealed her.

Ling Chu stayed where she was and kept her head down, digging for sea urchins.

Before long, four men swam toward her together. The man at their head had a double-barreled shotgun strapped to his back. Ling Chu grew wary, but kept her expression calm and focused on collecting sea urchins. In reality, she used her Eyepatch to check their basic information.