This Text Adventure Game is definitely poisonous
Chapter 174 - 159: Disappear without Trace_1

Chapter 174: Chapter 159: Disappear without Trace_1

Mu You looked around.

He was currently at another city’s teleportation array exit. Nearby, there was another entrance to a teleportation array, and there were some people lined up, but the number of people could be counted on one hand.

Obviously, this place called Haimu City was much more remote than Sunset City, so fewer people could afford to use the teleportation array.

After a bit of delay, it had already come close to three in the morning. Mu You didn’t linger in the city and went straight out through the city gates. He found a secluded wasteland in the forest outside the city and placed a Dark Teleportation Array in a crack in a rock.

Then he switched to the Vampire skin and headed at full speed for the southern sea.

By the time he had run all the way to the coast, it was already six in the morning, and the sky was lighteninng up with a fish-belly white.

As dawn broke, the attribute bonuses of the Vampire had dwindled to nearly nothing, and the Sleep curse’s effects began to kick in. Mu You replaced the Vampire skin with the Fisherman skin.

But how was he supposed to get across the sea now?

Mu You reopened the map and took a look. Although the distance from the coast to the triangular maritime area on the map looked as small as the palm of hand, when converted into real-world distance, it would be several hundred miles at least!

If he tried to swim across, it would take him more than an entire day!

Mu You was thinking about jumping into the water and finding an Azure Seahorse or something similar to ride, when he suddenly noticed a small boat floating near the coast a little way off. Two people were talking by the boat, one standing on the shore, the other on the boat. They seemed to be the owners of the boat.

The reason Mu You had noticed these two people was because he saw that they were both players.

[Lv10 Player (Out Cave Flood Dragon), Attributes: Strength 20, Agility 21, Intelligence 19, Constitution 25, HP 2500, Magic Power 1900, Current Skin Loaded: Boatman.]

[Lv4 Player, Attributes: Strength 10, Agility 10, Intelligence 7, Constitution 4, HP 400, Magic Power 700, Current Skin Loaded: None.]

A veteran player at Level 10 and a novice who didn’t even have a skin yet.

Those two had also noticed Mu You approaching. The Lv10 Boatman immediately raised his hand and waved to him from the distance.

"Hey, man, need a lift? We’re about to go to sea!"

Ninety-five percent of those who appear alone by the sea at a time like this are players.

Mu You didn’t care. It would seem that this boatman was a player who specialized in earning money by picking up passengers by the sea. In the current tense situation, there would certainly be players who were chased to the sea from time to time. This guy was waiting here, giving a momentary rescue service, and making some small money in the process. This job was indeed good.

Mu You approached them. However, after just a few steps, he suddenly became suspicious.

These two seemed to be discussing the price of the sea-crossing. The rookie player seemed quite normal, talking in fits and starts, which was obviously due to the player controlling the game and typing, so his dialogues were intermittent.

However, the veteran player on the boat was speaking smoothly, and his every move seemed very natural, completely different from other players Mu You had seen along the way.

Seeing this, Mu You began to suspect: could it be possible that like himself, this boatman was a real person who came to this world through the door?

Thinking of this possibility, Mu You didn’t make a fuss but quietly walked up and asked about the price of the boat trip.

When speaking, he imitated the novice player beside him and deliberately behaved very mechanically.

The boatman apparently didn’t notice anything unusual, answering while his eyes stealthily lingered upon Mu You.

Mu You didn’t show any special treasures at this time. Besides the Magic Wand and Mud Shoes on his feet, all his other magic items were in his backpack.

"To cross the sea to the opposite coast, it will cost four years of lifespan. You can pay a deposit of one year first, and the rest can be paid after we reach the destination." The young boatman was specifically addressing Mu You, showing that he had already negotiated a price with the new player.

Mu You purposely paused for a few seconds before mechanically nodding: "Okay."

[You have agreed to the transportation deal with the boatman, -1 of Lifespan.]

"Alright, get on board."

Mu You followed the new player into the boat, and the boatman went to the bow to row the boat.

The boat began to slowly move in the water, gradually speeding up.

Through the Omniscient Crystal, Mu You discovered that this boat was actually a Rare Blue Rank item, much faster than he had imagined.

[Riding the Wind: A lightweight boat that can move quickly in the water, can carry up to four people, can use the energy of the sea breeze, double the speed when going downwind, and half the speed when going against the wind.]

Sitting on the boat, Mu You imitated the action of the new player, focusing straight ahead without glancing around, like an emotionless robot.

However, he could see from the corner of his eye that the boatman kept stealing glances at the them, his gaze filled with obvious greed.

And on top of that, the direction in which the boat was moving was not towards the opposite bank, but was going full speed further into the sea by the wind. Mu You knew that this person’s intent was definitely not pure.

And the reason Mu You got on the boat, knowing that it was a scam... was mainly because he took a liking to the boat.

He considered himself bold and artful. For this mere Lv10 player, he didn’t think the opponent was his match. Besides, he had the Merfolk Mask and could dive into the water anytime. He was absolutely self-confident.

After a quiet hour’s journey, the sea ahead suddenly started billowing.

A cloud of murky mist began to float on the sea, forming a line that stretched all the way to the horizon along the surface of the sea. It looked extremely eerie.

The small boat sped ahead unfazed by the wind and sailed into the miasma without slowing down. The trio instantly felt their bodies soaked in the miasma, making it kind of difficult to breathe and move.

Mu You guessed that this must be the so-called ’Devil’s Triangle.’

Immediately after that thought, a prompt appeared in his mind.

[You have entered the Demon Sea, be careful, if you die here, you will not have a chance to resurrect.]

At that moment, Mu You noticed that the boatman pulled out a transparent mask and covered his face with it.

Hmm, it was a familiar object: a Merfolk Mask.

He intentionally brought them to the Demon Sea and put on a mask that could breathe underwater... Mu You instantly realized what this man wanted to do.

If they drowned here, NPCs would turn into ghosts and would not be able to resurrect. But what about players?

He didn’t know if a player turned into a ghost would have their accounts deleted by the game, but a player who cannot revive can definitely drop all their possessions!

At this point, the rookie player seemed to have received the game prompt as well, and immediately stood up to question the boatman, "What’s going on? Weren’t we supposed to go to the other shore? What is the Demon Sea?"

"Heh heh, don’t blame me for being heartless. It’s not easy to make a living these days, so I’ll just send you here!"

The boatman sneered coldly, and as he spoke, he had already waved the magic wand in his hand. A fire missile rapidly materialized and whistled towards them.

However, it was not aiming for the rookie, but Mu You.

The boatman deemed Mu You to be the stronger of the two. Even without the Omniscient Crystal, he was still able to make such a simple judgment. At this time, he must prioritize eliminating the threat. As for the rookie, he could kill him with a few slaps.

The boatman was prepared for a series of subsequent attacks. However, to his surprise, Mu You didn’t even attempt to dodge the incoming missile. Seemingly unresponsive, he remained stationary, allowing the missile to hit him head-on, screaming in agony as he toppled into the water engulfed in flames.

The boatman was taken aback but was then overjoyed.

He had seen this situation before: the game was on auto-mode. People couldn’t always stare without blinking. Maybe the player had stepped away from their phone. The game character, uncontrolled, couldn’t respond on time.

Taking the threat down into the water made things much easier!

The boatman instantly turned to attack the rookie, casting several offensive spells in quick succession.

The poor rookie only had 400 HP. He couldn’t withstand such a bombardment of firepower. Without putting up a decent fight, his health bar drained to zero, and he fell down unwillingly.

With his death, his flesh and blood instantly dissolved as if corroded by strong acid. In the blink of an eye, only a small shrunk skeleton was left. Next to the skeleton, a few small objects fell with a clink.

The boatman swept his eyes over them. They were all ordinary items of low value. He muttered, ’a poor ghost,’ put away the items with a wave of his hand, and kicked the skeleton off the boat. He then jumped into the sea himself.

Originally, he didn’t think a beginner player with no equipment could drop anything good. His actual target was the veteran player who had gone overboard just now.

After jumping into the water, the boatman dove toward the spot where the player had fallen into the water. If the player remained uncontrolled, they would reach the bottom and drown soon.

Even if someone came back to control the character, it would be too late. He had a breathing mask, and anyone else in the water couldn’t be his match.

The boatman held his magic wand, ready to fight. However, he dove all the way to the bottom of the sea, searched around and still didn’t see the person.

"Not good!"

No sign of the person alive, no corpse. The boatman finally sensed something wrong. Could it be that the person didn’t drown, but took advantage of his dive to swim back to the boat?

The boatman hastily returned to the surface.

However, to his despair, the surface was empty, his little boat had disappeared!

"Damn, I’ve been played!" The boatman cursed angrily, but quickly calmed down.

In such a short time, even if the other party had taken the boat and left, they couldn’t have escaped his field of vision so quickly...

There was only one possibility: the other party also had a means to breathe underwater. The other party deliberately fell into the water just now, so as to draw him in, then went back and stole his boat!

If so, the other party was likely still nearby, maybe hiding somewhere watching him!

The boatman shivered. The enemy was hidden and he was exposed. On top of that, it was in this unrevivable sea. He admitted, he was indeed scared.

No time to think anymore, he hastily took out a new small boat from his backpack, started rowing desperately, and quickly left the sea area.

It was not until the prompt of leaving the ’Demon Sea’ came up in his mind that he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that the person was also wary of him and did not dare to initiate an attack directly.

But now, the boatman had no time to relax. He had lost a boat of enormous value. His backup boat was much slower, and there wasn’t much time left; he had to rush back. If he missed the closing time, it would be dire if he was left here.

The boatman hastily rowed the boat in one direction and soon left the vicinity.

Not long after the boatman left, Mu You emerged from the water, silently followed the direction the boatman left.

Actually, he had the ability to leave the boatman in that sea area forever. The reason he deliberately let him leave was to follow him and find out where the ’door’ he came through was located.