Everyone Has to Die

The two exchanged pleasantries.

Wang Tai asked about the situation aboard his previous ship.

"How many people were on your last ship? How many Transcendents?"

Qin Mao hesitated slightly.

After all, his previous fleet had sheltered him for four days, and he did not want to bring trouble down on them.

"There were three ships, about a hundred people. As for Transcendents... about eight or nine! I don't know the exact number."

He made it up on the spot.

How would he know how many Transcendents there were?

He was just an ordinary person struggling to survive at the very bottom of the fleet.

He did not even know where the ships were going or which direction they sailed.

As he said "eight or nine," Qin Mao watched by the lamplight.

He clearly saw the middle-aged man's left hand shake violently and the corner of his mouth twitch hard.

"Eight or nine... damn it! And here I thought we could pick up some more free ammunition..."

Wang Tai muttered a complaint.

Hearing "ammunition" for the second time, Qin Mao connected it with Uncle Zhang's death, but he was still utterly baffled.

He keenly sensed something odd about the word, but could not make sense of it just yet.

What did they need ammunition for?

Wasn't it common knowledge that ordinary bullets were useless against the horrors?

But these were clearly not questions a newcomer like him should ask.

Perhaps acquiring a Shipwright had put Wang Tai in a good mood.

He waved his large hand and told everyone to get some rest.

"Off to bed! Anything else can wait until tomorrow!"

"Qin, we're counting on you tomorrow!"

With that, he returned to the captain's quarters.

The other survivors also began clearing the deck, preparing to head back to sleep.

Qin Mao was just about to find somewhere to rest,

when Zhang Qing suddenly came over, stooping obsequiously.

"Hehe, Brother Qin, hungry?"

Holding a coconut and two unidentified fruits, he clutched his aching jaw where he had been hit and looked pitifully at Qin Mao.

"I was out of line earlier. Could you not hold it against me?"

Qin Mao accepted the food with a soft chuckle and nodded.

"We got to know each other through a fight. We're even!"

"Yeah, yeah! Exactly! Thanks, Brother Qin!"

Qin Mao hefted the coconut in his hand. His stomach growled, but his expression was troubled.

"It wouldn't be right to take your food for nothing..."

"For nothing"...

At those words, everyone still working on the deck paused.

Someone looked at Qin Mao with pity in their eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"Go ahead and eat, brother. Now that you're aboard the Hope, you're one of us. The captain values fairness above all else. He gives everyone food every day."

Smiling, Zhang Qing pressed the food more firmly into Qin Mao's hands.

"I forgot to introduce myself properly. I'm Zhang Qing, and our captain is Wang Tai. He's got a really powerful gun, a curio ranked in the top three thousand of the Curio Ranking. Even against the horrors, he can keep us safe and sound!"

Zhang Qing winked excitedly at Qin Mao.

It was as though he were the impressive one, not Wang Tai.

Curios? The Curio Ranking?

Qin Mao silently committed both terms to memory, nodding as if he understood.

"So that's how it is!"

The man was showing off, but also making a show of force.

"Oh, right."

Zhang Qing suddenly stopped and whipped his head around.

He stared straight at Qin Mao, his expression more serious than ever.

"Qin Mao. Brother Qin."

"Whatever you do, don't try to escape the fleet or leave the Hope!"

"Hehe, why would I?"

"We've got food and drink aboard, and Captain Wang is so wise and mighty. I'd love nothing more than to stay here my whole life!"

Qin Mao scratched his head and gave an innocent smile.

But deep down, he was cold as ice.

His wariness rose a hundred thousandfold.

"Brother Qin, you'd better really mean that. Come on, I'll find you somewhere to sleep."

Zhang Qing nodded and led Qin Mao into the second-level cabin.

A jumble of unpleasant odors filled it, and many sallow, emaciated survivors lay inside. They said nothing at the newcomer's arrival, merely turning over numbly and going back to sleep.

Under these apocalyptic conditions, even Qin Mao's obsession with cleanliness had mostly been cured.

Outside the cabin, out on the sea.

Beneath the green moonlight, faint, low murmurs reached Qin Mao's ears from every direction, stirring waves of irritation and fear.

Ever since he had gone to sea five days ago, these sounds had come every night.

He could not make them out even if he listened closely, and blocking his ears did no good.

It was like the sea was talking to itself.

Eerie howls occasionally mingled with the whispers, making them even more unsettling.

"Am I still on Blue Star...?"

After "dying" once, Qin Mao's mind was perfectly clear.

Looking at the world felt like waking naturally at four in the afternoon on a day off, his thoughts lively and his head clear.

He really had no idea what stupidity had possessed him before, making him trust Su Miaomiao blindly.

Three months ago, the horrors had descended, with jade-green blood hanging in the sky. All manner of bizarre horrors appeared across the world's continents, devouring countless living beings, and humanity's firearms and explosives proved useless.

Only a very few lucky people who awakened supernatural powers during the apocalypse could fight the horrors.

These people were called "Sequence Transcendents"!

Yet he had heard that even Sequence Transcendents... could only protect themselves against the horrors and flee in panic!

"How can I become a Transcendent...?"

Thinking hazily, Qin Mao fell asleep.

In his dream.

He seemed to dream that, using the system, he had upgraded his ship into an enormous vessel as dazzling as the sun.

He had also awakened as a Transcendent.

He could eat his fill of instant noodles in every flavor, so scarce in the apocalypse.

All sorts of Transcendents stood beneath him like lackeys...

Qin Mao licked the corner of his mouth. He had just put his favorite Kang Shuaifu chili-oil sour soup noodles on to soak when a burst of noise and shouting jolted him awake.

"Damn it! Don't run..."

"You ungrateful little bastards! Have you forgotten the fleet's ironclad rules..."

A clatter of fleeing footsteps and furious shouts abruptly rang out aboard the quiet ship.

Then he could feel the Hope change direction, turning its bow around and suddenly accelerating.

Before long, the ship stopped again.

The human clamor grew louder too.

It mingled with the unknown whispers from the sea, churning up irritation in those who heard it.

"Damn it, my noodles had just finished soaking..."

Qin Mao woke, rubbing his eyes helplessly, and cautiously climbed up from inside the cabin.

Seeing that most people had gone out to watch the commotion, he got up and followed.

By the time he reached the deck, people were already gathered two or three rows deep.

Qin Mao was of average height, close to six feet tall.

Standing slightly on tiptoe in the crowd, he looked toward the center of the deck.

There on the deck,

three men and a woman knelt at the bow, their hands and feet bound with rope.

Zhang Qing swept back his long bangs and stood to one side, shouting in bitter anguish.

"Aw, this ain't right! Just look at yourselves! What's the first ironclad rule of our Hope Fleet? No leaving the fleet!"

"How many times have we said it? No leaving! And you actually tried to steal that canoe and escape in the middle of the night?"

At Zhang Qing's questioning, the woman among the four spat and sneered repeatedly.

"What would we stay for? To be lackeys like you? Or to be ammunition?"

Listening to their exchange, Qin Mao tilted his head in thought.

The sea stretched endlessly, food and water were scarce, nearly all the surrounding islands had horrors on them, and the sea was far from safe either.

What exactly had happened aboard this ship to make these four survivors risk their lives to escape?

And this was the third time he had heard the word "ammunition"...

Faced with the woman's defiance, Zhang Qing bared his teeth in fury.

"Oh, so you dare insult your grandpa Zhang! It's so dangerous out there. Being allowed to stay aboard is a blessing! Don't you know how to be grateful?"

Zhang Qing viciously kicked all four of them.

Afterward, he wondered whether he had stolen the spotlight, afraid that acting too imposing might displease Boss Wang.

Timidly, he checked Wang Tai's expression out of the corner of his eye.

"Everyone, living aboard the Hope, we all have to thank Boss Wang Tai for looking after us!"

"Without him, we wouldn't have stayed safe these past several months!"

"So many people died in that battle, and three ships sank. Only Boss Wang brought us out alive. Boss Wang... is the great benefactor who saved our lives!"

Zhang Qing's eyes reddened, tears glistening at their corners.

He slowly swept his gaze over everyone.

When he faced Wang Tai's direction, he deliberately held his face at a particular angle for two extra seconds.

He had calculated that this was the angle at which Wang Tai would be most likely to notice his tears.

"Hehe... pah! Wang Tai should be thanking us!"

The woman spat straight onto Zhang Qing's trousers.

Then she looked at everyone aboard and burst into crazed laughter.

"You're all going to die! Every last one of you is going to die!"

"In seven days, everyone's going to die! Hahaha!"