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Chapter 290 - 287: Opening Thunderstrike

Chapter 290: Chapter 287: Opening Thunderstrike

Su Ming’an had not had time to react when he saw the woman quickly open the door of the private room and walk out, fuming.

"Bang!"

The door slammed shut in front of him. He did not chase after her, but instead he recalled the woman’s attire.

She was wearing a foreign-style dress adorned with gemstones, and around her neck was a necklace of brilliant blue, resembling attire from recent modern times.

Combining that with the neatly arranged and clean setting around him, could this instance... be of a near modern era background?

The live comments flew across the upper right corner of his field of vision, and the audience seemed to enjoy this opening.

[Here it comes!]

[A scolding right at the start; a thunderbolt opening.]

[With this setup, it’s a modern instance! It must be modern! Su Ming’an’s role has to be an overbearing CEO! This is bound to be a melodramatic arranged marriage plot!!]

[I’m sitting down at the table, and I’m not leaving this live stream all week.]

[Wait a minute, do you guys feel like the first-person perspective is a bit shaky...?]

[It is a bit shaky, comes and goes. Could it be an earthquake escape quest at the start???]

Su Ming’an quickly got up.

He too noticed the floor trembling beneath his feet, though it was very faint. But it didn’t feel like an earthquake to him, it felt more like...

...the thing under his feet was sailing on water.

When thinking about the name of the instance, "Maritime Banquet"...

He walked past the white dining table and pushed the door open—

He saw an endless expanse of blue sea before him.

"Whooosh..."

The sound of the sea rippled in front of him, and white foam flew past along the side of the ship.

A deep red railing stood in front of his eyes, the yellowish deck beneath his feet reflecting the sun’s blinding brightness. Clouds like cotton candy floated in the air, and the sky was like a lid covering his head.

Not far away, seagulls drifted past leisurely. Under the bright sunlight, the sea surface glistened like transparent fine sand.

He walked up to the railing and summoned the System Mirror.

He saw his own face, leaning towards Western features with slightly profound facial contours. Notably, this body’s eyes were of a darker golden color, reminiscent of someone of mixed heritage.

He was dressed in a medieval European style suit, and judging by the texture of the fabric, it appeared to be quite valuable.

...The identity of this person must be of no low status.

He observed the layout of the ship.

This was a huge vessel; at least from the corridor where he now stood, he couldn’t see the edges of the ship. The ship’s lighting fixtures resembled oil lamps, and he did not see any modern electrical devices.

He rummaged through his clothes and found an identity card, along with a ship ticket.

First, he looked at the identity card, which was something akin to an identification card, with his name and date of birth on it, as well as a very blurry photo.

The information was very limited, but as his gaze shifted towards the identity card, additional information popped up before him—

[Name: Su Rin]

[Identity: A down-and-out noble of the Yate Empire, boarding the Yate Vessel to seek out Cloud City.]

...

...Cloud City?

Su Ming’an roughly understood the ship’s voyage destination; it must be that so-called Cloud City.

Ten thousand players, and certainly not all of them on this ship; this ship can hold at most two to three thousand people, including the local NPC natives as crew members, so having all ten thousand is simply impossible.

From this, one could infer that the players’ starting locations must be different. Only a small part of them, like him, began their game on this massive vessel, and a considerable portion of the rest must already be in that so-called "Cloud City."

His current identity was that of a destitute noble, and the woman from before might be akin to a family’s matrimonial match. Judging by her reaction, she was likely an NPC.

He looked at the other hand holding the ship ticket.

On the ticket, his room number was marked as "Third Layer b02", with an image of a gigantic cruise ship beside the text, which was the very model of this vessel.

As he examined the ticket, it was as if something had been activated. The familiar system broadcast resonated in his ears—

[Welcome to the Seventh World, players!]

[World Name: Maritime Banquet]

[Basic Quest for All Players: Survive until the twelfth day.]

[This world is an open-type world; there are no fixed advancement quests, players may explore at will.]

[This world is an open-type world; there are hundreds of Perfect Pass routes, players may explore at will.]

...

"Ding Dong!"

[Ruler’s Quest: Reach the coordinates (256, 835, 1350).]

[Quest Reward: Advancement to "Ruler" identity.]

[Quest Failure Penalty: "Ruler" identity reverts to First Rank.]

...

[Welcome to the Yate Vessel, players!]

[This world is a large-scale competitive world for ten thousand players; instance chat channel is now open.]

[Messages sent in the channel by players can be seen by all ten thousand players simultaneously.]

[The instance chat channel has an information blocking mechanism; some hidden "specific information" cannot be conveyed.]

[Detected current player identity: Second Rank Ruler, number of speaking turns in this instance: 20 times.]

...

[Detected current team composition, number of team members: 5.]

[When squadron members are within one kilometer of each other, squadron chat is enabled.]

...

A series of "dingling" and "dongling" sounds resounded in his ears.

At the same time, the world chat channel opened at that very moment.

Like snowflakes, information swiftly floated across the lower left corner of his vision. Behind these names were some special titles; some content represented the players’ honors, while others were the names of the guilds to which the players belonged.

[Kerry (Guild·Nightingale Member): So few speaking turns!? Why do I only have a total of five? Didn’t the Fifth World have no limit on speaking?]

[Terry (Organization·United Group): It might be related to the conditions for passing the instance, not allowing players to pass along too much information.]

[Alisa (Guild·Saint Knight Crusade Member): This time’s instance looks like a good one, blue ocean, beaches, Cloud City, and there are even boats and canals in the city, like a beach vacation world.]

[Bild (Guild·Never Setting Sun): Vacation?? Although up to now, this city looks like an ordinary maritime city, who knows what kind of strange events might lurk later, just like what happened with Ming Hui... Who could have predicted a mass death determination on the tenth day...]

[Sakai Kaita (Guild·Falling Cherry Blossoms): What? You all are already at the maritime city? Why am I still on a ship...]

[Zhuang Jing (Organization·Wanli Troops): Ship +1, it seems that the players’ starting points are different, I haven’t even found my teammates yet...]

[Wood (Unaffiliated): This instance seems brighter than the Sixth World, still an open world without specific tasks to complete, probably a buffer-type instance, right?]

[George (Organization·World Tree Guild): Hey, any big shots crashing our instance this time? It’s a ten thousand player instance, and I’ve seen quite a few clashes among titans in the previous ones. There must be some heavy hitters in this one too, right...?]

As soon as this message came out, it was immediately followed by countless others.

The players seemed not yet to realize the importance of limiting the number of messages they sent, or perhaps they were too excited; they kept spamming messages nonstop.

As the chat went on, it turned into a sort of "leaderboard player comparison meeting", with many nominating the big guns they hoped to encounter. The scene momentarily became like a special world forum meetup.

And then, a message popped up.

The sender also had a ranking by their name in a bracket, but unlike the other players, this bracket was golden, making it quickly stand out amid the black and white text.

[Yamada Machiichi (Ranked 17th in the world): Hmm...]

...Yamada Machiichi.

Su Ming’an, who was watching the channel, noticed this message.

Indeed, these ten thousand player instances were likely to result in bumping into acquaintances.

However, it was a relief that Yamada Machiichi wasn’t someone who had been perfect passing all along, so there was no need to worry about his potential failure.

[Chen Le (Unaffiliated): Holy crap! A big shot has appeared!]

[Hettis (Organization·Storm Science): Big shot!!!]

[Momo (Ranked 9700th in the world): Big shot! Want to team up for a temporary try? I’m on the third layer of a huge vessel called the Yate Vessel, and I have a skill for insight into clues!]

[Baker (Organization·United Group): Found a big shot! This instance’s chat channel must be useful. I’ll squat here and see if I can catch any other hidden giants speaking in the same parallel instance...]

[...]

Su Ming’an kept an eye on the instance channel, trying to find messages from people like Lv Shu.

Theoretically, as long as a player of Lv Shu’s caliber sent a message, it would surely spur a flurry of posts, and he wouldn’t have to bother looking for Lv Shu’s messages individually.

But after a while, he still hadn’t seen the names of Lv Shu and the others.

The system message indicated that when team members were within a thousand meters of each other, they could form a team channel. Given this, Lv Shu and the others were probably not on this giant vessel; perhaps they had reached the maritime city at the start.

For the time being, Su Ming’an put aside the channel messages.

He followed the address on the card and tried to find his room based on the wall-mounted map.

Along the way, he took note of some of the information written on the ship.

The ship was named the Yate Vessel, with passenger quarters located inside the hull. There, the top three floors were for the vessel’s most luxurious rooms, reserved for nobility, while the lower three floors housed slightly less opulent accommodation for the wealthy merchants with money but lower social status.

The rooms for crew members and common folk were even further down.

Su Ming’an glanced into the area designated for the commoners as he passed by.

Inside the cabin, people in various tattered garments were gathered, and fast-paced music played, punctuated by constant, "boom boom boom" stomping sounds as if some were embracing each other in wild dances.

The air was laced with the smell of alcohol and the scent of cheap tobacco wafted out.

This giant vessel had sharp divisions between social classes, with explicit notices about which rooms’ occupants could access certain areas. People from lower levels simply couldn’t enter the areas reserved for higher-tier passengers.

Turning away, Su Ming’an pondered how to go upstairs but then saw a small soccer field-sized deck.

...Unbeknownst to him, he had already reached the very front of the deck.

In front of him, the deck floor shone brilliantly under the sunlight, almost blindingly so.

The deck was spacious and gathered many people.

Those were all the poor, leaning on the railings, smoking, and it was unclear how many were players. Most were tall and thin, with poor quality hemp garments hanging on them like large, tattered sacks. Their eyes held a murky light, worn down by life’s hardships.

When Su Ming’an looked at them, the group also cast a glance at him in unison. Their head-turning was remarkably synchronized, as if they had spotted an anomaly that shouldn’t be there.

Their gazes were mixed with jealousy and malice, as if they resented his noble status intensely.

But these people just watched, not daring to approach, and some even stepped back, whispering to their neighbors.

"...Why would a noble lord come here?"

"Don’t they think we are dirty? Yet someone actually took the initiative to come to this filthy place."

"Must have gone to the wrong place, didn’t some just run around lost before?"

Only then did Su Ming’an realize that this area seemed to be the commoners’ quarters.

Standing among this group of grey and black figures, he stood out like a spot of bright color, suddenly isolated.

Unfriendly gazes surrounded him, as if his presence were unwelcome.

He turned to leave, but then he heard someone softly calling out to him.

"—Su Rin, what brought you here?"

He looked up in the direction of the voice.

The caller was a girl standing on the second floor of the cabin, looking down at him.

Her flax-colored hair smoothly fell over her shoulders, and her eyes, tranquil as the Heavenly Sea, gazed at him, shining like gemstones in the sunlight.

A gemstone-adorned feather fan covered her rosy lips, and a pale yellow gown outlined her fair skin. She stood under the brilliant sun, like a blooming tulip.

As he saw the girl, an information panel popped up.

[Character Name: Saya]

[Identity: The second daughter of the Warren Family, Su Rin’s childhood friend who grew up with him.

Forced by family pressure, she had to keep her distance from the increasingly declining Su Rin.

Intelligent and kind-hearted, she enjoys an excellent reputation.

To promote her family’s honor, she represented them aboard the Yate Vessel.]

...

Su Ming’an glanced at the girl.

Saya was looking at him gently, her gem-like eyes sparkling radiantly by the feather fan, reminiscent of two blue diamonds flowing with stardust.

The salty sea breeze stirred her brilliant golden hair, the strands like streams of bright sunlight.

"...I took the wrong way," he replied.

"Then come up quickly," Saya spoke gently, "It’s getting dark, return to your room soon. It’s not too safe on the deck."

...Getting dark?

Su Ming’an looked up.

All of a sudden, he noticed that the brilliant sunlight had uncannily shifted to a deep red, as though the sunset had unexpectedly soared up, like flames burning the edge of the azure horizon.

In just a few blinks, the daylight rapidly dimmed.

Just moments before, it was a sunny day. Sunlight and sea waves, clear skies as far as the eye could see, everything looked as lovely as if on a beach vacation.

...But how did it get so dark in the blink of an eye?

"Boom!" a loud explosion.

A white light, like a dragon, shot down from the sky; that was a massive bolt of lightning.

Dark clouds gathered.

This was the harbinger of a storm.

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