Volume 1, Chapter 31: Red Ocean 2: The Vacation Cruise

Page 1 of 3

Ten minutes later, the megalodon lost patience. It was desperate to swallow Chen Fan whole, so after swimming more than a hundred meters away, it turned around and charged back at him at tremendous speed.

Its enormous dorsal fin split the surface of the water.

Chen Fan’s eyes narrowed. He took out his sniper rifle, aimed at the fin, and fired.

Bang!!

The deafening gunshot echoed in every direction. Under the force of the tremendous recoil, the bullet tore straight through the megalodon’s dorsal fin.

Writhing in agony, it quickly swam several hundred meters away. It had realized that Chen Fan was not someone to provoke and silently waited for another opportunity to strike.

The standoff lasted a full five days.

The megalodon had locked onto him completely and displayed astonishing patience, constantly searching for the perfect moment to attack.

Over those five days, it made six attempts, but Chen Fan’s sniper rifle drove it back every time.

That night.

Stars dotted the dark sky, scattering a faint radiance that illuminated the world below.

The megalodon still had no intention of letting Chen Fan go. Its dorsal fin sliced across the surface as it continued swimming beneath the waves, waiting for an opportunity. At any moment, it might launch another attack.

Chen Fan tightened his grip and stared fixedly at it, his expression growing increasingly solemn.

It was simply too enormous, resembling a small gray-blue mountain. By his estimate, it was at least twenty meters long and weighed around a hundred tons.

Roar!

The creature was suddenly startled. No one knew what had frightened it, but it plunged into the water and sped away into the distance.

In the blink of an eye, it vanished without a trace.

“What’s going on?” Chen Fan murmured in surprise as he slowly lowered his sniper rifle.

A sense of unease welled up within him. He took a step back and looked out across the surrounding sea.

Countless bones floated on the surface. Chen Fan had long been puzzled by them, unable to determine where they had come from.

Just then, a rumbling sound arose in the distance. Chen Fan turned his head, and his pupils immediately contracted.

It was a super-cruise ship.

Twenty minutes later, the vessel drew near.

It was unimaginably huge—at least twenty times the size of the Titanic. It was like a city floating upon the sea and could accommodate at least thirty or forty thousand people at once. Standing beneath it, Chen Fan was as tiny as a grain of sand.

Its decks were packed with passengers, all raising their glasses, drinking, talking, and laughing.

Chen Fan’s brows drew tightly together, a trace of wariness appearing in his eyes.

He was no fool. He could naturally tell that the people aboard the ship could not possibly be… alive.

“Grab the rope and hurry up!” a dignified young woman shouted at Chen Fan. Concern showed in her eyes as she threw him a rope and told him to climb up.

Faced with such an enormous anomaly, Chen Fan would never willingly board the ship. Anxiety began to rise within him.

“Why aren’t you coming up? Do you want to die? Hurry!” the dignified young woman urged again, her expression turning frantic. She was afraid he would be devoured by some ancient creature in the sea.

“Brother, come on up,” the others began urging him as well.

“Is this… a game? What exactly is the mastermind behind it trying to accomplish?” Chen Fan wondered, his eyes filled with thought.

After hesitating for a moment, he grasped the rope and climbed upward, finally reaching the deck.

The people crowded around him, surrounding Chen Fan as they examined him and asked why he was there.

Chen Fan did not answer. In his eyes, these people were no different from Li Zongzheng and Wang Yan. They were either monsters wearing human skin, evil spirits, or vengeful ghosts.

In short, they were certainly not human.

The moment any of them displayed the slightest abnormality, he would draw his saber and hack wildly until they were all… dismembered.

The Chen Fan of today was no longer the Chen Fan of the past. Not only had he grown stronger, he had also become familiar with the strangeness of this world. Therefore, even if they were all monsters, even if they had surrounded him completely, he did not panic.

Staying aboard this superliner was far better than remaining atop that enormous skull.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

The dignified young woman looked at Chen Fan curiously.

“I saved your life. Why haven’t you thanked me?”

Thank her?

Chen Fan laughed. He was tempted to reach out and tear away the human-skin disguise covering her, or perhaps take out a talisman and force her to reveal her true form. But after thinking it over, he decided against it. After all, she had not attacked him yet.

“Thank you,” Chen Fan said after a brief hesitation. He looked her up and down, trying to find some flaw in her disguise.

“That was awfully perfunctory,” the dignified young woman said angrily, puffing out her cheeks.

“What’s your name?” Chen Fan asked, looking into her eyes.

“Song Linger. And you?”

“Why are you traveling on this cruise ship? Where are you going?” Chen Fan asked. In his view, they were merely putting on an act for him.

“This is a vacation cruise. I heard that this red ocean is one of the most famous sights in the Eastern Grand District, so I came here especially to see it.”

She looked into his eyes and slightly furrowed her delicate brows.

“Is that not allowed?” she asked, clearly unable to tolerate Chen Fan’s almost interrogative tone.

“There are this many people in the Eastern Grand District?” he said with a laugh. He did not believe a single word she had said.

“Who told you I’m from the Eastern Grand District? That place is nothing but a deserted world where not even birds would lay eggs. How could I possibly have been born there? I’m from the Southern Grand District! The Southern Grand District is vast and prosperous, with people everywhere. The Eastern Grand District could never compare.”

After saying this, she raised her chin high, like a proud white swan flaunting her distinguished identity.

“The Southern Grand District?” Chen Fan’s brows knitted slightly.

According to Luo Ling’s diary, anyone wishing to leave the Eastern Grand District had to raise their personal level to become a Level-One Mutant and obtain a Hunyuan Stone Inscription.

This meant that barriers resembling walls between worlds likely existed between the various grand districts, preventing people from the Eastern Grand District from entering the others at will.

Could the restriction be one-way?

Perhaps people from the Eastern Grand District could not easily enter the other districts, while those from the other districts could enter the Eastern Grand District freely.

“Are all of you from the Southern Grand District?” Chen Fan asked, looking at the people around him with slight confusion.

“If not, then what?” A long-haired youth dressed like a rich young master stepped out from the crowd. He scanned Chen Fan from head to toe, then covered his nose with one hand. The disgust in his eyes was entirely undisguised.

“You can stop envying us. As a native of the Eastern Grand District, your status is lowly. You cannot enter an advanced world like the Southern Grand District. The walls between worlds will keep you out.”

“I really don’t know why Big Brother Ye ordered us to save your life. What are you, anyway? You’re nothing but a lowly native. What right do you have to board my family’s cruise ship? If you dirty or damage the deck, can you afford to compensate us? Unbelievable!”

His brows twisted into a knot. He maintained a distance of three meters from Chen Fan at all times, afraid that the foul odor coming from Chen Fan would seep into his designer clothes.

After glancing at the spot where Chen Fan stood, the disgust in his eyes nearly solidified. He turned toward a male crew member nearby.

“Wipe down the place where he was standing with alcohol, then bring him a pair of shoe covers. Most importantly, keep an eye on him and don’t let him wander around. People from the Eastern Grand District are all uncivilized brutes. Their hands are practically never clean.”

The male crew member nodded vigorously and looked at Chen Fan with disgust and contempt. Chen Fan’s arrival had only increased his workload. But he dared not complain. He quickly took out a rag and a pair of shoe covers and walked toward Chen Fan.

Although the people nearby wanted to help, they did not even have the courage to speak.

There was only one reason: this man was a notorious heir to a wealthy family, a member of the highest social class. The cruise ship beneath their feet belonged to his family.

In Yushan City of the Southern Grand District, he had run over at least twenty people with luxury cars. Yet every case had ultimately gone nowhere, and no one had been able to do anything to him.

A person of such stature was not someone ordinary people could afford to offend. If they truly angered him, they might not even know how they had died.

So there really were walls between the grand districts…

Chen Fan exhaled a breath of stale air. If the two of them were telling the truth, then the people present were likely genuine humans, not monsters wearing human skin.

He gathered his thoughts, slipped the blue plastic shoe covers over his feet, and looked at the arrogant heir.

“Being rich really does make you impressive. According to you, I’m a lower-class person. Tell me, then—what is a lower-class person in your eyes? Are they still human? Do they deserve any dignity? Do they even have the right to go on living?”

“What is a lower-class person?” The young heir looked into Chen Fan’s eyes and sneered. “Interesting question. Lower-class people aren’t human. They’re no different from pigs or dogs. They don’t deserve to live. They should all die.”

He scanned Chen Fan from head to toe, the disgust in his eyes growing stronger.

“Take you, for example. You should have died in the sea instead of standing on my ship and dirtying my deck.”

He took out a white handkerchief and pressed it firmly over his nose, then retreated several more steps. He clearly could not tolerate Chen Fan’s stench. He turned toward the people gathered nearby.

“What are you all staring at? What does this have to do with you? Get lost!”

The faces of those nearby changed dramatically, but none dared oppose him. They quickly dispersed.

Chen Fan said nothing more. He clenched his five fingers into a fist, gripping it so tightly that his knuckles creaked. He had never been so furious in his life, but the situation was stronger than the man. All he could do was forcibly endure it.

“Are you all right?”

A voice suddenly rang out from beyond the crowd.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

The crowd parted, and a young man in white, golden light flowing around his entire body, slowly walked toward Chen Fan. Above his head floated the name “Ye Feng.”

“He’s a Visitor… and a Hunyuan Stone Inscription collector at that!”

Chen Fan took a step back.

“Captain!”

The people around them cried out in excitement. Every one of them bowed respectfully, their faces filled with delight and exhilaration.

Ye Feng waved lightly, then looked at the long-haired youth dressed like a rich young master.

“Yun Yi, you’re getting more and more carried away. Does being from the Southern Grand District really make you this proud?”

“Brother Ye, please calm down. I was wrong!” Yun Yi gave an awkward smile. Although he admitted his mistake aloud, the disgust in his gaze toward Chen Fan did not change in the slightest.

Ye Feng poked him lightly on the head, then gave a helpless smile and looked at Chen Fan.

“Come with me.”

The people nearby all turned toward Chen Fan curiously, unable to understand why Captain Ye Feng was treating him so kindly.

That was only natural. From their perspective, they could not see the golden radiance, nor could they see the names floating above the heads of the two men: “Ye Feng” and “Chen Fan.”

According to Chen Fan’s guess, there was probably a law in this world called the Law of Identity Markers. Moreover, this law had been specifically established for the group of Visitors known as Hunyuan Stone Inscription collectors.

“You should take a shower first. I mean you no harm.” Ye Feng frowned slightly and pointed toward the bathing room nearby. He seemed unable to tolerate Chen Fan’s stench. Then he pointed toward an empty stretch of deck in the distance. “I’ll wait for you there.”

Chen Fan nodded and strode toward the bathing room under the scrutiny of the people around him.

Once inside, he turned on the shower. Thousands of fine streams of warm water poured slowly over his body from above.

Under the glare of the incandescent lights, the thin streams of water shimmered faintly, creating a hazy beauty.

White steam filled every inch of the bathing room, drifting slowly with Chen Fan’s movements.

The warmth completely enveloped his body.

At last, he relaxed a little.

As the hot water spread over him, an itch suddenly emerged from every part of his body.

His brows knitted together. Puzzled, he hung the showerhead on the wall and looked over his body.

At that glance, his brows drew even tighter.

He discovered that his body was covered with tiny holes. They were so small, and the circumstances earlier had been so dangerous, that he had failed to notice them immediately.

“What are these things?”

Chen Fan bent over and lowered his head. He extended a finger, pulled the skin apart, and peered into one of the holes.

Then he saw a… maggot.

The maggot was only the size of a grain of rice. It squirmed slowly through his flesh, gnawing at it while excreting yellow liquid feces.

He pulled open the other holes as well, and his anxiety deepened. Without exception, every one of them contained maggots.

Deep within his flesh, he even saw more than a dozen motionless, milky-white roundworms.

Clearly, the maggots had burrowed into his skin when he had fallen into the cesspit, while the roundworms had taken the opportunity to enter his body during his battle with the Roundworm Breeder.

They had remained dormant all this time. Now that they had come into contact with the hot water, they had awakened.

“Could there be worms inside my body as well?”

His brows twisted into a tight knot. When he had fallen into the cesspit, he had accidentally swallowed a large mouthful of maggots. Although he had later vomited many of them out, he had always felt that he had not expelled them all.

He closed his eyes and carefully examined his body. At last, he noticed something.

On the surfaces of his stomach, small intestine, and large intestine were several motionless, rice-grain-shaped foreign objects.

What else could they be but maggots?

In this bizarre world, even these maggots had mutated. Not only was their vitality extraordinarily tenacious, they had also learned to conceal themselves so that he would not discover them.

Chen Fan opened his eyes. A cold light flickered within them as he immediately activated the Vibration Formula.