How could a normal person's body temperature be so low?! And yet, Mr. and Mrs. Lin were breathing steadily, their cheeks ruddy, not at all like people in any kind of trouble.

For a moment, Ye Shu had no idea what to do.

"Sister Ye... My dad, my mom, last night when they came home... I couldn't wake them up... my brother is missing too..."

Lin Baozhu’s eyes were rimmed red. She had grown up doted on by the Lin family; if anything ever happened, her beloved parents would shield her from it, and at worst, her brother would always stay by her side. But now—her brother was gone, her parents suffering an inexplicable mishap that might never end, and she was at a complete loss to accept it.

"Baozhu, darling, does anyone else know about this?"

Ye Shu’s gaze fell on the several empty plates on the dining table, each streaked with blackish blood, and upon the sticky threads of clotted gore that gleamed with hints of green-black mold. Without a doubt, they'd eaten those creepy slices of raw fish. Maybe those dredged-up fish were hiding something more sinister.

"Yes," Baozhu whispered, dabbing her tears and putting on a brave façade. "After I couldn't wake my parents, I panicked... so I called Uncle Lin."

Mention of Lin’s uncle sparked a vague memory within Ye Shu.

"Baozhu… did you eat the sashimi?"

Ye Shu leaned in over the table, using chopsticks to prod at the leftover fish. What had once been plump, lustrous flesh had withered to dry husks in a single day, the black-red streaks enough to turn anyone’s stomach. Even worse, Ye Shu caught that sticky, almost putrid stench lingering on the air.

"No... Sister Ye, what does this have to do with my mom and dad?" Baozhu looked confused. She’d been tempted, sure, but with her fish allergy, she hadn’t dared try it. Yet, for some reason, her parents—normally so attentive—had completely forgotten about her allergy, and even invited her to join them, touting the fish as an unparalleled delicacy!

"Your parents..." Ye Shu hesitated, unsure whether to continue. Just then, the door was knocked upon, and Lin Baozhu, like a lost bird finding its branch, flew to answer it, flinging herself into her uncle's embrace.

"Sister Ye, this is my uncle, Lin Tian."

Baozhu’s eyes clung to her uncle as if anchoring herself. Without her parents, her brother, or even the bodyguards who were always nearby, she was terrified—all the more grateful her uncle had joined them on this ill-fated cruise.

Ye Shu nodded in greeting, deciding it best to keep quiet for now.

Lin Tian gazed at Ye Shu, who was wrapped up tight, his narrow eyes flickering with something dark and secret before disappearing beneath a brisk, formal demeanor. "Miss Ye, thank you for watching over Baozhu. My elder brother is the head of the Lin Group. We can't allow word of this to get out. Please—your discretion is necessary."

"Of course," said Ye Shu. Passing through the game was her only goal—she had no interest in family dynasties. If not for the clues that might be buried here, she wouldn’t have left her own room at all.

Baozhu looked from her uncle to Ye Shu, clearly sensing the unspoken current swirling between them. Though only ten, she’d been raised to read moods and situations—a talent especially crucial now, when nothing was clear.

"Baozhu, Sister Ye is heading back now."

Ye Shu turned away, leaving Lin family matters to Lin Tian. No need to get caught up in a mess that wasn’t hers.

From down the hallway, Ye Shu could still faintly make out Lin Tian’s somber tone—so painfully sincere in his sorrow over what had befallen his brother and sister-in-law. If she hadn't glimpsed that fleeting smirk at the corner of his mouth, she might have believed he truly cared.

"Baozhu, with your parents’ fate uncertain, I think it's best we relocate everyone to the 90th floor—the best doctors on the cruise are there..."

Perhaps it was the game boosting her body's stats, but Ye Shu’s senses—hearing and sight included—had never been sharper.

In the restaurant, with the knowledge that the cruise food came free of charge, players had gorged and hoarded until their backpacks were bursting—some clever ones even had the staff deliver food to their rooms.

Ye Shu scouted the area but came up empty-handed. The only piece of solid intelligence: avoid all seafood.

Back in her quarters, Ye Mu had joined the growing number of people refusing to open their doors to anyone.

Ye Shu tried to open her mother’s door—suspecting she, like the Lin couple, might have become living dead with nothing but breath—and the moment her hand brushed the knob, it flung open. A briny stench slammed into her nose.

"You... is that you, Shushu... Didn’t I say... krrk, not to disturb me? Why can't you ever listen?"

Bloodshot eyes, a twisted expression—her mother's face had gone tight with anxiety, her words brittle with hysteria.

"Mom, I didn’t mean to."

"Shushu..."

Ye Mu gave no reply; instead, she glowered, her gaze utterly devoid of warmth—almost as though her own child was a stranger.

The door slammed shut so hard that the rotting stench inside still seeped through the seam, exactly like the one Ye Shu had smelled in the Lin family's suite.

Ye Shu’s nerves screamed red alert, but the Ye couple remained eerily unmoving.

That entire day passed peacefully, eerily so. Even the clouds scattered overhead, letting waves of sunlight shimmer over the sea’s sparkling surface.

……

Day four of the game.

Ye Shu woke up to dozens of pleas for help on the system display.

[Little Fragrant Pork: For some reason, I feel so weak... But my family's taking care of me, made me my favorite fish congee. It's sweet, really.]

[Little Yellow Duck Quack: Bro, you're still eating fish? Are you insane?!]

[I’m Li Dagang: Everyone knows heat kills germs—even if there’s something wrong with the fish, high temps fix it. Anyway, I've eaten it two days in a row, feeling stronger, faster, healthier!]

[Ximen Chuixue: Seriously! Three days on the sashimi, and I’m up one point of strength—got quicker too. Downside, though, my memory’s a bit fuzzy. Guess there’s always a trade-off.]

[Pineapple Pineapple Mo: Ate some too, and yeah, I feel healthier, but now I’m sooo itchy everywhere.]

[World Conquest: Seems legit! Minor side effects—who cares? Twenty days and we’re out. Even the last instance only raised my stats a bit. What’s a little itch?]

……

Word spread quickly: sashimi could boost your stats. Overnight, the previously shunned delicacy became hotly contested.

In the restaurant, people were literally brawling over bites of fish. Ironically, these were the same players who’d trashed it on the forums just a day before.

"Yu Xiaohan, that’s mine! Don’t you dare grab!"

"Wang Da on 78th floor is already up 5 points in strength! He can lift hundreds of kilos with one hand—I can’t even snatch a single piece!"

"Same! They promised we’d stick together, but now they’re sneaking fish behind our backs."

A pale, chubby figure tumbled out of the scrum, ejected straight from the dining hall.

"Fatty, you’ve eaten enough! Give someone else a chance! Get lost!"

Pang Tong looked up, meeting ridicule full in the face, feeling the brunt of ugly malice. He wasn’t even vying for fish—on the very first day, he’d sensed there was something dangerous about this so-called sashimi.

"Slurp—slurp—"

The young man who’d expelled Pang the Fat sprawled at the doorway, shoveling raw fish into his mouth by the handful.

All around, players were losing their minds for the fish—waitstaff could barely keep up.

Pang watched with a growing pain in his stomach. "Not even a whiff of fishiness—goes down like jelly. My stats went up by one… No, I have to get more, can’t let anyone else have the advantage."

The youth licked blood from his hands, eyes clouded with rapture.

Ye Shu sat on her bed, gnawing on a leopard-print banana, a matching mango at her side. The cramped room forced her to keep only the most vital supplies in her space.

As a seasoned veteran of this horror event, she couldn’t believe the game would kindly hand out stat boosts for free.