Because the ingredients were limited, and the ship only had a big pot stove, Fang Yunjiu simply made vegetable rice. She first washed the rice and ingredients, then cut the cured meat, ham, and potatoes into pieces and set them aside. Oil was poured into the pot to preheat, then the meat and ham pieces were added and stir-fried with seasoning. After that, the rice was poured in and stir-fried for a while, then potato chunks and green vegetable leaves were added. After seasoning, an appropriate amount of water was added, the lid was covered, and it was left to simmer.
Of course, if there had been lard for this kind of dish, it would have been even more fragrant. But given the conditions, adding cured meat was good enough.
A big pot full of vegetable rice—when the aroma spread as it simmered, Mu Anqi and the others were left standing eagerly at the galley entrance, unwilling to leave.
It really smelled so good!
When the lid was lifted, Fang Xunjiu was the first to rush up to serve himself. He piled spoonful after spoonful of meat into his bowl, the rice grains seeming to shine with golden light. After serving, he couldn't wait to take a bite—the salty, savory flavor instantly filled his mouth, and the rice itself was infused with the taste. Even though it was scalding hot, Fang Xunjiu couldn't bear to spit it out, wishing he could just wolf down three bowls in one go.
"…My brother is exaggerating, this is just ordinary vegetable rice." Fang Yunjiu was extremely embarrassed by her brother's series of actions and nervously explained. She carefully served Mu Anqi and the others one by one, then also served herself a bowl, sitting to the side, blowing on it and eating slowly.
"Delicious!" Mu Anqi couldn't help but praise. Speaking of which, her family had never made this kind of vegetable rice before. She had eaten plenty of fried rice, but this vegetable rice was her first time trying. The taste was unexpectedly good!
"Little sister's cooking is really good," Xia Yun also smiled and complimented, eating in big bites, and soon finished half her bowl.
Although Wu Sansheng didn't show much emotional fluctuation due to her ability, she still looked up and sincerely said, "Delicious," followed by a polite "Thank you."
Hearing this, Fang Yunjiu became even more embarrassed and lowered her head to eat quietly, until Fang Xunjiu, having finished his meal ravenously, ran over holding his bowl, looking pitiful: "Little sister, brother wants the rice you personally served too!"
Fang Yunjiu: "…Go away."
And so, the first meal in the game was settled. The events on this ship obviously had a gradual process of change. The information available on the first day was not much and very limited. More importantly, perhaps there were some hidden clues they hadn't discovered at all, or they had seen them but didn't notice or think deeply about them.
With the name "Spirit Ghost Voyage" and most of the ship's facilities intact—even the resting cabins had plenty of money and jewels left untouched—it was obvious that this wasn't due to pirates or anything like that. There was no blood, no corpses, and no signs of a struggle on board. Connecting the shadow figure with the sea monster Wu Sansheng had speculated about, Mu Anqi couldn't help but sigh: the people on this ship must have been incredibly unlucky to encounter all this.
After the meal, Wu Sansheng carried a small lantern and carefully inspected the entire ship again. Xia Yun, worried about the shadow appearing, followed closely beside her.
Mu Anqi washed the pot and dishes. The ship had ample water supply, so using a bit to wash dishes wasn't a problem even for a month. Besides, she had stored a week's worth of water in her storage ring, so spending some on washing dishes wasn't a big deal.
It was just… Mu Anqi sighed a little regretfully. She had really looked forward to the effect of her skill—why was Fang Xunjiu the only male player in this game this time? One careless move could end up "harming" a teammate…
Actually, it was kind of fun.
While Mu Anqi and the others were getting used to the game, the chief ghost in charge of the Spirit Ghost Voyage was growing increasingly anxious.
"This is only the first day of the game, you can't send out an especially powerful ghost! Besides, we have a script and a process!" the responsible ghost tried to reason with the withdrawn shadow ghost. "Don't act like this—you signed a contract. If you go on strike now, you'll have to pay ten times in compensation!"
"Try to look at the bright side. See, you also gained a huge amount of emotion points," the ghost continued. Whether contributed by Fang Xunjiu or the other three bystander players, the total emotion points added up to a significant number! As for the only player who hadn't contributed much emotion points… well, that player was an exception, with a special ability.
"I… I still want to find a wife," the shadow ghost said with a mournful face. "I can't believe I said that. I really don't want to live anymore. I never intended to reach the barrier-breaking stage, and now working here adds another obstacle. Doesn't that count as a work injury?"
"Who would recognize you in that blob of shadows? All our employees have signed confidentiality agreements, don't worry!" the responsible ghost tried to console him. "Even if it's a work injury, you still have to finish the job. Don't worry, no one will know who you are!"
"Besides, the sea monsters appear later, and they're really beautiful. Don't you want to see them? I spent a huge amount of money to hire them! They all show their faces, and if they get blessed by that player… that scene is priceless no matter how much money you spend. Look at you, just a blob of shadow—no one will recognize who you are."
The shadow ghost fell silent. He hesitated, looking at the responsible ghost, and finally sighed gloomily: "Fine, I'll go."
"…Well, that player isn't too bad-looking either, sigh."
Dragging his heavy body, the shadow ghost had no choice but to dutifully step onto the ghost ship again, continuing his scaring duties.
He kept reassuring himself: Tomorrow… tomorrow will be fine. Tomorrow there will be more victim ghosts working with him!
But in the next moment, he imagined a bunch of shadows closely dancing around that male player, flicking chins and teasing—his whole ghost went pale. He shuddered, quickly banished the terrifying scene from his mind, silently observed the position of the female demon, and then stealthily floated behind the unsuspecting Fang Xunjiu siblings, striking a pose and standing still.
Fang Xunjiu didn't turn around, carefully examining a small box he had found in the resting cabin. The box contained quite a few accessories. Although there was a warning not to take them away, the gems were very valuable. "Sis, when we get back to the Nirvana Space, I'll see if I can buy you some similar accessories. The craftsmanship on these is really beautiful."
Fang Yunjiu glanced at him, feeling that her brother's perception of her was a little off. She, who had gained the Evil God Possession ability, how could she possibly like these little accessories?! In that glance, she noticed the shadow silently staring at her brother from behind.
Fang Yunjiu opened her mouth, momentarily at a loss for words. She looked at her brother with complicated eyes, unable to understand why her brother's "good-guy card dispenser" skill now not only dispensed cards to girls but… to male… male ghosts as well.
Fang Xunjiu was completely confused by his sister's look. When he finally turned, he saw the shadow leaning at the cabin door, gazing at him "sentimentally." Fang Xunjiu's whole body froze! What the hell was going on? A side effect of the rich girl's skill? Or did that hot dance make the shadow understand how good he was? Fang Xunjiu's face turned pale. He took a Good Person Card from his pocket and handed it to the shadow with both hands: "Humans and ghosts are different paths, and I personally like girls more, so… I'm sorry! Thank you, you're a good person."
The pure shadow ghost had only wanted to scare someone! At first, he had no idea what Fang Yunjiu and Fang Xunjiu, the siblings, were up to—until Fang Xunjiu handed him a Good Person Card and said those words! His heart filled with indignation—how could there be such shameless players in the world?! Even worse, when the card was placed in his hand, the shadow ghost inexplicably found Fang Xunjiu… somewhat "appealing."
The collapse of his inner world took only an instant.
The shadow ghost suppressed the urge to scream, his sinister aura surging violently, and fled in a panic.
Leaving Fang Xunjiu alone, who, not knowing how to feel, touched his own face and sighed, "Ah, this damned, uncontainable charm of mine~"
This little episode was temporarily set aside. Fang Xunjiu also felt that being confessed to by a shadow ghost wasn't exactly something worth telling others. He pulled Fang Yunjiu aside and spent a while telling her to keep it a secret. She reluctantly agreed, finding him too naggy.
Not to mention the psychological damage the shadow ghost had suffered here, he thought that since the task wasn't yet complete, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and approach Wu Sansheng, who seemed the most normal and had the lowest emotion value fluctuations. He also prepared himself for the possibility of gaining no emotion points at all. After all, he had appeared in front of these players so many times already, which fit the storyline, and the responsible ghost couldn't hold it against him.
Who would have thought, just as he stood at the door, silently playing the part of a competent shadow, Wu Sansheng looked over, and the player next to her, wielding a sword, was about to attack him! The shadow ghost thought: This is perfect! I'm about to vanish in death!
Then… Xia Yun was stopped by Wu Sansheng.
"Just testing," Wu Sansheng said, quietly observing the shadow ghost. Confused, the shadow ghost didn't move, and then heard Wu Sansheng analyze, "It seems the shadows appearing on the first day don't have any attack capability."
The shadow ghost thought: What kind of players are these?! How did they randomly get matched here? All they do is torment ghosts!
Revealing his form and gaining nothing, the shadow ghost called it a day and went home. After working hard everywhere as a gatekeeper to scare people, the most rewarding moment turned out to be a "social death scene." The shadow ghost sighed a little self-consciously, glanced at the responsible ghost with a complicated expression, and looked forward to the group of ghosts mobilizing tomorrow.
…
Mu Anqi and the others gathered at the resting cabin. Wu Sansheng took out a simple alarm robot. According to her, although it looked like a robot, it was really just a machine that could detect yin energy and issue an alert in time… it was also an item she had drawn.
"…This should count as a somewhat useful gadget, right?" Mu Anqi wondered, questioning her life choices. "Why do I only draw furniture items?" She still had the Luck passive! Why was her lottery luck still so low?
Anyway, with the help of this simple alarm robot, they could rest a little more peacefully for the night.
After such a long time, the pitch-black sky began to lighten slightly. They didn't have much time left to rest. They needed to sleep a bit and, when dawn came, take another look to see if there were any differences on this ghost ship.
Spirit Ghost Voyage…
Maybe it's the sea area that's the problem, not the ship itself.