A faint cracking sound came—what they had feared was finally happening. The cracks on the clay figurine were growing larger, and with a sharp snap, it shattered into several pieces.
Su Er froze for two seconds before putting away the stun gun. He lowered his gaze to the fragments in his hand. “It broke.”
As expected, Ji Heng didn’t react much. He turned slightly and said, “Try injecting a small amount.”
After mixing in some mud to repair the figurine, they began the second round of testing. Drawing from their earlier experience, Su Er paused after each injection of yin energy to check the figurine’s condition.
Suddenly, the figurine’s head seemed to twitch slightly.
Su Er was sure he hadn’t imagined it. He placed the figurine on the ground. Its movement was extremely slow; after taking a few steps, it froze like a jammed cassette and toppled stiffly to the ground.
Hearing the commotion behind him, Ji Heng sighed and fully turned around, advising, “At this rate, even if it works, it won't be of much use.”
Su Er patiently pieced the shattered figurine back together and tucked it into his pocket, clearly determined not to give up on it.
Inside his pocket, the little figurine twitched occasionally, like a dying fish weakly flicking its tail. Su Er didn’t pay it further attention for now. After a moment's hesitation, he looked up and asked, “Do you already know who the Love Killer is?”
Ji Heng nodded.
Given Ji Heng’s experience, Su Er wasn’t surprised by the answer. What puzzled him was that, knowing the Love Killer’s identity, Ji Heng hadn’t taken any action to push the mission forward. Instead, he seemed to be deliberately stalling for time.
Meeting his gaze, Ji Heng seemed to sense his thoughts. “There are some theories I need to verify.”
Su Er disliked beating around the bush. Since it didn’t involve solving a puzzle in the instance, he asked directly, “What theories?”
Ji Heng was about to speak when a noise from afar interrupted him. His expression shifted. “Let’s go check it out.”
A boat had docked along the coast. Upon closer inspection, it looked more like a fishing vessel. Two crew members were unloading cargo.
Ji Heng said, “You run, I chase.”
Su Er looked at him, puzzled.
Ji Heng explained, “Your flesh seems to have a special allure to certain ghosts.”
Su Er understood immediately. He deliberately messed up his clothes and exposed the wound on his arm. Staggering forward, he ran while shouting for help.
Just as he reached within a meter of the crew, he intentionally fell to the ground.
The crew had only unloaded half the cargo when the tantalizing scent of blood drifted over on the breeze. They both wore intoxicated expressions.
Lunch delivered to the door!
“He’s not dead yet,” one of them, slightly more rational, warned.
According to the rules, they couldn’t eat living players.
At that moment, Ji Heng ran over and saw the crew looking like they were about to retreat. One of them snapped, “Didn’t you want to kill someone? Why are you running!”
Frightened by the outburst, Ji Heng paused and glanced back at them, looking hesitant.
One of the crew said, “Kill him, and not only will we let you go—we’ll even give you some benefits.”
After a moment of inner struggle, Ji Heng stepped forward, picked up a large stone, and looked as if he was about to smash it down on Su Er. But at the last second, he changed his target. At the same time, the ‘badly wounded’ Su Er suddenly sprang up and opened his mouth, sucking the two crew members in.
Surprise was key. Ghosts typically occupied the middle tier of the power hierarchy. They never imagined they’d one day fall into a human trap.
“Back off,” Ji Heng reminded in a low voice.
Su Er took a step back just in time to see Ji Heng throw a punch. In that instant, it felt like the entire space around them twisted slightly.
Killing ghosts and disposing of corpses was second nature to Ji Heng. After swiftly finishing off the crew, he jumped onto the boat, with Su Er following close behind.
The boat was surprisingly well-equipped—it even had fresh water stored on board. Su Er looked around. “This ghost really lived a refined life.”
As they spoke, the boat slowly pulled away from shore.
Besides lockpicking, Ji Heng could also steer a boat. “These supplies were originally meant for the guests.”
This was Su Er’s first time at sea. With someone else at the helm, he relaxed at the stern of the boat. Staring at the coastline shrinking into a black dot in the distance, he suddenly recalled a popular phrase and waved at the empty horizon—
“Goodbye, host! Today, I set sail for distant seas!”
Ji Heng glanced back at him from the helm with a complex expression.
Amused by himself, Su Er found an open spot and sat down to sort through the clues from the instance.
Mister Rose had clearly stated that there was only one Love Killer. Logically, that person would do everything they could to locate and destroy the altar. If Su Er were the killer, he would avoid group activities and search alone.
Thinking along these lines, Qu Qingming became more suspicious. Though his partner had changed to one of the judges, he could still avoid interacting with the others.
Unknowingly, they had been at sea for a long while. All around them stretched the vast ocean.
Su Er stood up. “Shouldn’t we stop and search the area?”
Ji Heng chuckled. “I didn’t come out here to look for the altar.”
Su Er raised an eyebrow.
Gazing into the distance, Ji Heng suddenly said, “The world is so big—I want to see it.”
The two stared at each other. Su Er blinked, then placed a hand on the boat’s edge and said with a laugh, “So you know how to joke, too.”
Five minutes later, the boat was still forging ahead, showing no sign of turning back.
Only then did Su Er realize something might actually be wrong. Still, he wasn’t panicked. He just looked at Ji Heng and said, “If we don’t make it back within seven days to finish the mission, we’ll both die.”
Ji Heng remained calm. “We’ll make it. Someone else will be more desperate than us.”
Before Su Er could ask more, Ji Heng turned to him with a small smile. “Don’t you want to see what’s beyond the island?”
After watching him for a long time, Su Er finally realized something: if the show was being filmed, then someone must be watching. So what kind of beings were the audience of this variety program?
The boat cut wide ripples across the sea. As he gazed at the boundless ocean, Su Er thought of the film <The Truman Show>, where Truman once tried to sail away from the world he lived in.
Often, even without speaking, Ji Heng could guess what Su Er was thinking. He shook his head with a smile. “The game is dedicated to digging out human potential—and their deepest greed. And it won’t give you a chance to escape.”
Su Er stroked his chin. “Let’s see how much time Mister Rose gives us.”
Once the host discovered a guest had gone out to sea, he would surely come after them immediately.
“Not for now,” Ji Heng said. “Because he doesn’t want to see you.”
Out of sight, out of mind—ordinarily, Mister Rose didn’t pay much attention to Su Er’s behavior, probably fearing it would shorten his life.
Saying the truth often brings conversations to a halt. Su Er rubbed between his eyebrows, unable to come up with a retort. In the end, he simply changed the topic. “Maybe… it’s all predestined.”
“Predestined?”
“Mister Rose was also the host of my first novice game,” Su Er recalled.
Ji Heng had watched the entire game through the water curtain. The image of the child being thrown out the door left a deep impression.
Su Er remembered the same thing and curled his lip. “That ghost infant’s bones were completely crushed. Looking back now, the one traumatized back then was probably me.”
Otherwise, he would have thought of exploring the world beyond the island on the first day.
Ji Heng replied, “Being cautious isn’t a bad thing.”
It was only after seeing the two crewmen arrive safely by boat that he was sure the game didn’t forbid going beyond the island.
Now, he wished they could cross the entire ocean in a blink. Time seemed to pass quickly. Su Er watched as the sun slowly shifted position, signaling the arrival of afternoon.
“I feel like the host can vanish into thin air. What if Mister Rose appears on our boat in the next second?”
“That’s not teleportation—at most, it’s spatial hopping,” Ji Heng replied, denying the possibility. “It’s hard to pinpoint a location at sea. He can’t use it frequently.”
Even hosts had their limits.
“Fair enough,” Su Er muttered.
The stun gun could provide vitality to the host, which indirectly proved their life force could be depleted.
Though he was anxious, the boat’s speed was what it was. Su Er set aside his worries and went to search the cabin, finding some food.
He gnawed on a chocolate bar while pulling out the little clay figure from his pocket to study it.
The boat’s movement caused slight vibrations. The clay figure couldn’t keep its balance—its matchstick-like legs staggered awkwardly, and in the end, it toppled over like it was seasick.
Fortunately, Su Er had anticipated this and placed a coat underneath it to prevent it from breaking any limbs.
“When will we ever find a proper vessel for you?” Su Er sighed and poked the figure, still getting some dirt on his fingers.
Ji Heng glanced back, then suddenly frowned and gestured for him to bring it over.
Su Er obeyed, and seeing that Ji Heng didn’t intend to take it by hand, he laid the coat out and placed the figure on the ground again.
Standing above it and looking down coldly, Ji Heng suddenly curled his lips in a chilling smile. “You almost fooled me.”
The clay figure didn’t react—it continued repeating its previous clumsy movements like a toddler learning to walk.
Su Er blinked. “You think it’s faking?”
“Hard to say whether it’s faking or not. But it does have some level of awareness.”
Su Er scrutinized it carefully and noticed something strange. Every time it fell, it landed in a weird pose—its arms slightly bent, palms up, as if protecting something.
A chill passed through Su Er. Could it be… protecting its face?
Ji Heng said, “Even when it falls, it knows not to land on its face. It’s not as simple as you think.”
Su Er stared at it for a few seconds and muttered, “How promising.”
Even if it had some intelligence, it clearly wasn’t very high. After a short discussion, they decided to keep it for now—and destroy it immediately if anything went wrong.
Some time passed. Seeing Su Er still crouched there staring blankly at the clay figure, Ji Heng spoke: “Nothing is going on right now. You should get some rest.”
Su Er put the little figure away and nodded, heading into the cabin.
He hadn’t slept much last night, yet now he felt wide awake. After lying down for a bit without getting drowsy, he began wandering around and unexpectedly came across a telescope.
He stepped out with the telescope and looked through it—off in the distance, he could just barely make out the outline of a city.
Su Er’s heart leapt. They were almost there!
But when he turned around to check the scenery behind them, his smile vanished. “I think there’s a shark following us.”
He handed the telescope to Ji Heng, who examined the scene more closely and confirmed that the dark shape thrashing in the sea wasn’t a shark.
The shadow was moving fast, closing the distance quickly. Ji Heng frowned and increased the boat’s speed.
Su Er ran to the back of the boat with the telescope. From this closer distance, he could now see that the swimming figure looked like a person—and near the shadow’s ear, there was a red dot.
The only boat had been taken by them. If the host used spatial hopping too often, it would drain his vitality. With that in mind, the one desperately swimming after them could only be—
“Mister Rose,” Ji Heng said coolly, voicing the worst possible answer.
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