Deep-Sea Ghost

He didn't want to die!

Xiao Hao's will to survive erupted. He desperately dragged himself forward. With a ripping sound, his pajamas suddenly tore apart, and he tumbled to the floor without warning, but still remembered to look back.

The female ghost's hand had thrust straight through the wall of water. Her entire arm resembled a withered tree branch, her five fingers like five handleless sickles, clutching a scrap of bloodstained cloth. Under the shell lamps of the Coral Shell Room, white smoke rose from her arm with a sizzling hiss.

Gritting his teeth against the agony in his back, Xiao Hao slammed the door shut with a bang, knocking her arm back outside.

The ghost outside let out a piercing shriek, then clawed at the door a few more times, seemingly unwilling to give up.

Xiao Hao slumped helplessly to the floor, his heart practically leaping into his throat. The bloody wounds on his back throbbed with pain and an icy chill, yet there was no medicine in the room to treat them.

Panting heavily, Xiao Hao turned to look around the Coral Shell Room, only to recoil several steps in fright.

The Deep-Sea Ghost was now pressed against the floor-to-ceiling window!

The ghost's features were hollow, scraps of flesh clinging to the bones of her face, washed pale by the seawater. Her uneven teeth chewed the bloodstained rag while her ten sickle-like fingers gripped the transparent window.

Her fingers scraped across the window, their tips like ten iron needles dragging over glass, producing a sharp, grating screech.

The ghost's chewing stopped, and she swallowed the entire scrap of cloth!

By the light of the Coral Shell Room, Xiao Hao clearly saw the bluish-purple veins in the ghost's neck and that lump, like a tumorous mass of flesh, sliding down her throat!

Xiao Hao felt his scalp tingle and goosebumps rise all over his body.

After lingering against the window for a while, the ghost finally faded from view. Before leaving, her hollow eye sockets remained fixed on Xiao Hao. He had a feeling this Deep-Sea Ghost would not let him go.

Only long after the ghost had left did Xiao Hao recover, shaken by lingering fear.

This ghost was scarier than anything in any horror movie he had ever watched!

Without the on-screen comments warning him, he would probably have been devoured alive!

The persistent agony in his back kept tormenting Xiao Hao. He couldn't leave it untreated. Enduring the pain, he looked at the game panel. Perhaps the comments could save his life again!

[He actually got away! What a tough bastard!]

[Even if he escaped that, he won't live long. Since this is a game, his health will slowly recover as long as he stops the bleeding from external wounds. But the Deep-Sea Ghost's attacks carry soul poison. Without soul-replenishing grass, he'll be dead once his maximum stamina hits zero!]

Soul poison?

Maximum stamina?

Xiao Hao opened the game panel and selected his personal information.

Name: Xiao Hao

Health: 60/100

Stamina: 40/90

...

Ignoring the other useless information, Xiao Hao immediately noticed that his maximum stamina had fallen from its original 100 to 90.

According to the comment, that maximum of 90 would continue falling over time.

Damn it, if my maximum stamina reaches zero, of course I'll die!

With a thought, Xiao Hao opened his Space Slot, hoping the chest contained something useful.

The game panel really worked just like a game. Selecting the chest brought up two buttons: open and close.

Xiao Hao drew a soft breath and gently selected open!

[Cloth ×20]

[Bread ×5]

[Mineral Water ×3]

[Coral ×5]

[Iron Ingot ×1]

[Copper Ingot ×1]

[Blood Potion ×1]

A large box popped up on the game panel. It looked like a decent haul, but disappointment flashed in Xiao Hao's eyes, even though he had prepared himself for this.

After he selected confirm, everything went into his Space Slot.

Xiao Hao felt groggy. He opened his personal information and discovered that his health had already dropped from 60 to 30!

Right, the torn flesh on my back is still bleeding!

If it were anywhere else, I could bandage it with what's left of my pajamas. But it's on my back, where I can't reach or feel it. How am I supposed to stop the bleeding?

That's right, the Blood Potion!

If I'm not mistaken, this should restore health! I've got no other options now. I'll have to try it!

Xiao Hao selected the Blood Potion icon and clicked use!

A test tube filled with red liquid appeared on the floor. Without hesitation, Xiao Hao opened it and drained the red liquid in one gulp.

A warm current flowed down his throat and into his body. Xiao Hao felt a burning heat in his back, and his mind cleared somewhat. Out of his sight, the flesh on his back writhed and gradually knit together.

Xiao Hao checked his personal information again. His health had risen to 85 and was still ticking upward. Even his stamina had recovered a little, but unfortunately, his maximum stamina remained at 90.

Xiao Hao took off his shirt, synthesized two sets of clothes from cloth in the Synthesis House, and changed. Unfortunately, without cotton, he couldn't synthesize sweaters, coats, or anything similar. The clothes barely covered him and offered no warmth.

Xiao Hao ate a piece of bread and drank half a bottle of water. It wasn't enough to fill him up, but he didn't dare have more.

He had to save some supplies and see whether he could trade them for soul-replenishing grass and weapon materials at the marketplace. He had enough materials to synthesize a [Fine Coral Club], but compared with a pointed [Coral Spear], the club still fell short.

Now that he was safe and had time to rest, Xiao Hao also had the energy to think about the comments.

Recalling the comments from earlier, Xiao Hao remembered one that read, [With so many streams, there's bound to be one or two especially lucky ones.]

Streams?

So this really is a game...

Is every player a streamer?

Then who's sending these comments?

Following that reasoning, there were probably "people" watching every player, and every stream had comments. The only difference was that he could see them, while the other players couldn't.

Life really has no rehearsals. Every day is a live broadcast...

Xiao Hao could do nothing about whether the commenters were human, so he put that question aside for now. The most important thing was to resolve several pressing problems.

First was the room's mana. Including the mana consumed by the exploration bubble, he had used 80 L in total, leaving 920 L.

Second was the soul poison. While exploring outside, he had used quite a few plants as landmarks. Perhaps some soul-replenishing grass was hidden among them.

Damn it, thirty minutes of exploration cost the Coral Shell Room 5 L, and the exploration bubble used a whole 30 L!

The soul poison was probably even more urgent than the mana problem. Xiao Hao wasn't sure whether he would ever wake up again if he fell asleep.

He checked his personal information again. His maximum stamina had dropped from 90 to 89. With the Blood Potion's effects gone, his back kept feeling chilly.

Left with no choice, Xiao Hao asked on the forum and at the marketplace whether anyone had soul-replenishing grass.

As expected, no one had any.

The early stages of a survival game were too dangerous. Either you lived or you died. Few people ended up half-dead like him...

If he could survive until later, raise his level, and get a guardian's help, the chances of surviving encounters with monsters but getting injured would increase dramatically. Only then would soul-replenishing grass become easier to buy.

Since the other players had none, he could only rely on himself.

He would have to go out again that afternoon.

If you encounter ads such as "Are you a real person?", simply ignore and close them. Do not scan any QR codes or send text messages!

While his maximum stamina was still adequate, he had to find soul-replenishing grass as quickly as possible.

After finding some players selling iron ingots at the marketplace, Xiao Hao quickly traded two pieces of bread for four iron ingots.

[Synthesize Coral Spear?]

Worried, Xiao Hao selected yes.

The materials in his Space Slot vanished, and a Coral Spear slowly materialized on the floor.

Xiao Hao took a deep breath and picked up the spear with a grave expression, only to be pleasantly surprised.

The Coral Spear was unexpectedly light!

Damn, I remember weapons in most games weighing dozens or hundreds of pounds. Those so-called divine weapons wouldn't even dare show themselves unless they weighed thousands. Forget aiming properly while fighting monsters-I might not even be able to lift one.

Fortunately, this game's system was fairly considerate. The weapon weighed roughly eleven pounds, light enough for even a frail woman to lift.

Xiao Hao ran his hands over the Coral Spear. Its feel and texture were both good. He swung it a few times, managing some decent-looking moves that sent it whooshing through the air.

He glanced at the game panel. No more comments had appeared.

If every player has a stream, does having no comments mean no one's watching mine?

In that case, wouldn't attracting enough viewers get me more hints from their comments?

Judging from the earlier comments, the viewers probably didn't know he could see them.

In other words, to keep certain viewers from deliberately leading him astray, he had to attract more viewers without letting them discover that he could see their comments.

Then how do I get viewers to watch my stream?

This was a survival game. Even in a life-or-death moment, judging from those few comments earlier, not many "people" seemed to be watching.

Too many people were experiencing "life-or-death moments." To the viewers, it was nothing new.

Xiao Hao suddenly remembered the street dance club he had joined in high school.

He had gone from flailing wildly alongside the other freshmen to looking effortlessly cool. His street dancing couldn't compare with the masters on television, but at least it had become reasonably appealing to the general public.

Xiao Hao had never been a streamer, but he knew viewers liked watching things that were fresh and a little exciting.

Suppressing his embarrassment and the chilly feeling in his back, Xiao Hao stood up, played some music on his phone, and began dancing to the beat.

After dancing for a while, Xiao Hao indeed saw comments appear on the game panel!

[Pfft, hahahahaha! What's he doing?!]

[Dancing, I think! He looks pretty cool. I want to learn too!]

[Learn, my ass. He's got two long legs. You've only got a fishtail.]

That comment startled Xiao Hao. The commenters really weren't human!

Are they aliens?

[I love this streamer. Screenshot saved.]

[Screenshot +1.]

[If he clears the game, this picture could socially ruin him several times over.]

[Amateurs take screenshots. Pros record their screens.]

Xiao Hao: ???

With more people watching, the comments naturally grew more varied.

[This stream's interesting. He's dancing. But stream 456 is pretty interesting too. They're doing some hehehehe... don't want this getting taken down, so figure it out yourselves, folks...]

[Speaking of which, there are way fewer streams in this region now. People are dying too fast.]

[Yeah, so many deaths on the very first day. There were a thousand streams, and now there are fewer than eight hundred.]

Xiao Hao's heart immediately grew heavy.

No wonder the forum had been updating less frequently, and there hadn't been that many people talking. It turned out to be a regional channel.

He could barely keep himself alive, so Xiao Hao had no way to look after anyone else.

New topics kept appearing in the comments, and the discussions ranged across all sorts of bizarre subjects.

The most important thing now was to steer these viewers into helping him survive his predicament.

Pretending he hadn't seen the comments, Xiao Hao said with a troubled expression, "My back keeps feeling chilly. I can't keep dancing."

Watching closely, Xiao Hao immediately saw plenty of relevant comments appear.

[No shit! You've got soul poison. Of course you feel chilly!]

[I'm new here. He looks fine. How did he get soul poison?]

[A Deep-Sea Ghost clawed his back. The Blood Potion healed the wound, but he hasn't gathered any soul-replenishing grass for the soul poison.]

[Soul-replenishing grass usually grows where Deep-Sea Ghosts roam. The problem is that he's too weak. He has to avoid the ghost to gather the grass, but the grass grows right where these ghosts roam, so there's no avoiding them. It's a total catch-22!]

[Actually, he still has a slim chance. He got a Shadow Seahorse Egg earlier.]

[Holy shit! A Shadow Seahorse Egg! What an insanely strong start!!!]

[Bro, calm down. However awesome an egg is, it's still just an egg. Even after hatching, it'll only be a juvenile. That Deep-Sea Ghost's combat strength is already brushing the ceiling for the beginner zone.]

[The soul poison will slowly eat away at his maximum stamina. He won't survive three days.]

[Even if he hatches the seahorse egg, heading straight out to find soul-replenishing grass would just get him killed.]

[His only hope now is to hatch the seahorse egg as soon as possible, quickly gather resources and level up, then find soul-replenishing grass and gang up on the Deep-Sea Ghost before his maximum stamina falls below 10. Once it drops below 10, he won't even be able to move.]

[Can't move? No problem. I'll do the moving...]

At that point, the comments began veering off track.

There were more comments below, things like [So kinky. I love it], but Xiao Hao ignored them.

With his life at stake, he had no interest in useless information.

He opened his inventory and took out the seahorse egg, wondering how to hatch it.

By chance, Xiao Hao spotted his torn, bloody pajamas beside the door.

What if...

I add some blood?

That's how it always works in novels, isn't it? Like one of those blood-drop kinship tests.

I'll try it. Maybe the comments will give me a hint.

Xiao Hao picked up the bloody cloth in one hand and held his phone in the other.

Sure enough, he found his answer in the comments.

[How did he know the seahorse egg needs blood to bind to its host?!]

[Maybe because the only blood in the room is his?]

[Then why didn't he use mineral water?]

[Bro, that egg came from the seabed. It was surrounded by water...]

[The streamer probably figured blood was more nutritious and decided to try it. He just happened to stumble onto the right answer.]

Reading that last comment, Xiao Hao felt deeply reassured.

He liked viewers who filled in the blanks like that. He didn't even have to come up with excuses himself; they would explain everything for him.

Now, he could look forward to the grand debut of the Shadow Seahorse, which these otherworldly netizens had called an "unbeatable opening hand"!

Next, he looked forward to the grand appearance of the Shadow Seahorse, which was called a “heavenly start” by netizens from another world!