AS that singing voice continued, a thick fog suddenly appeared and enveloped the whole ship. But no one seemed to notice it because there were all attracted by the sound of that melodious voice. It was so beautiful and magical that it seemed otherworldly.
The players who heard this song, slowly became dazed. All started moving towards the same direction. As if a road had been opened in front of them. And this voice was seducing them to go to the end of this road. Their mind just turned completely blank. All they could think was how they wanted to see the owner of this voice. And they just instinctively knew that they would be able to see them once they walked down this road.
Soon, the sound of something falling on the water sounded one after the other.
To everyone who's watching this scene – those players who bought tickets and currently watching everything in the prism building and those players simply watching the live broadcast – what they saw was players jumping on the sea on their own volition. Despite the fog, the game made it in a way in which everything was clear to the viewers.
That's why they could see how those players seemed to lose the light in their eyes and just walked dazedly towards the edge of the ship. And finally jumping down to the ocean. Of course, those players never swam back up again. Which most likely meant that they were already eliminated.
But there were still many players who were on the deck who didn't fell into whatever was happening right now. That included the Luo brothers.
When the song started, Luo Yan had a bad hunch. Considering how this game loved to pit their players, his brain immediately worked on overdrive just to figure out the game's next move. He was sure that this one was another trial that they had to face before they reached Four-Seasons Island. The ship just went through a storm.
What could possibly involve the sea, a ship, and a beautiful voice? Only one thing came to mind.
Mermaids!
According to myths, mermaids seduced sailors with their voice and led them into their doom.
The first thing that Luo Yan did when he realized that was to take out one of his daggers and slash his palm. He didn't even wince. Then he pulled Luo Jin's hand and slash his brother's palm, ignoring the other's surprised expression.
"Yan, what are you—"
"Concentrate on the wound. If it's not painful enough, pinch it. Just make sure that you don't listen to the song," Luo Yan said before Luo Jin could finish what he's saying.
This was the fastest way he could think of under the circumstance so that the two of them wouldn't fall under the hypnosis of the mermaids. Pain was always a good way to help a person to not think about anything. Although the pain a player could feel in this game was just similar to someone giving you injection, if one kept poking at the injection wound, it would still hurt.
Even if they couldn't use any potions right now, he was not too worried about their HP decreasing to the point that they would die in-game. Because it was just a small wound that could barely make a dent on their HP bar.
Luo Jin wanted to ask his brother to make things clearer. But when there seemed to be something whispering to his mind to go somewhere, he felt like he finally understood something. Because this urge to go to the sea just became stronger and stronger as he listened more and more to the song that suddenly sounded out of nowhere.
So, he did what his brother asked him to. He pinched the wound that the other slashed on his palm. The sudden pain quickly cleared up his mind. It was a further proof that something was truly amiss.
"What's happening? What's wrong with that song?" he asked his brother who seemed to already figure out things.
"It's mermaids."
After Luo Yan said that, they heard the splashing of water one after another. As if something just fell to the sea. Because of the dense fog, they couldn't see the situation of the other players. But Luo Yan had a feeling that those 'splashing sounds' were playing falling to the sea.
"What should we do now?" Luo Jin asked.
He knew that he should probably help his brother in thinking of a way to pass this stage. But he could barely keep his wits about. If he didn't concentrate and focus all his attention on the pain brought by the wound on his palm, he might be the next playing jumping all too willingly to the sea.
"Stay here and keep your message tab opened. I'll go somewhere to check on something. Once I find what I'm looking for, I'll send you a message. Remember to pinch that wound every five seconds."
Before Luo Jin could ask what he meant, his brother had already ran off somewhere. He took a step, instinctively wanting to follow. But then he stopped. With this dense fog, he couldn't even see properly where Luo Yan went. It's better to just follow what his brother said.
So, he opened his Message Tab while pinching on his wound from time to time.
The beautiful song of the mermaid continued. Despite that and the fog, the ship still continued to sail.
Luo Jin looked at the clock on his Status Window and saw that it had been almost 20 minutes since Luo Yan left. In that duration of time, he had heard more and more people falling into the sea. The number of players who had been eliminated was probably already on the hundreds.
Suddenly, he felt a strong wind coming from somewhere on the deck. Because of that strong wind, the fog was slowly being dispersed. Before he could turn to that direction, he saw that his brother sent him a message.
[Ah Jin, can you jump on the highest point of the ship and then fire one of your guns at this angle and the other at this one?]
He answered a simple 'okay' and then raised his head. Because the fog was slowly dispersing, he could now somehow see the point where Captain Roger stood earlier. He no longer wasted time and jumped to that spot. Of course, he couldn't jump there straight away. He had to step on something like some ninja. But he did it quickly and arrived there in no time.
Then he pointed both his guns on the separate angles that his brother specified.
The moment he did, he received another message from his brother.
[Good job. Now hang onto something.]
He did as he was told almost automatically. Then, without warning, the ship suddenly swerved to the right. If his hold had been a tiny bit weaker, he would have probably already sent flying to the ocean.
It was only then that Luo Jin noticed that the ship was about to hit a big iceberg. If it didn't swerve at the right moment, then this ship would have already turned into the next Titanic. He had a feeling that this had something to do with his brother.
[Yan, where exactly are you right now?] – he couldn't help asking.
[I'm in the wheelhouse.]