Chapter Fifteen: Mario’s Sewers and the Cockpit That Should Never Have Existed

“What was that just now?” Zhang Wen’s face turned pale; seeing the colossal figure looming in the fog, he felt certain he was doomed.

“That must be the ‘god’ mentioned in the little girl’s diary…” Liu Tong was only just recovering from the terror.

“Is there really such a horrifying and bizarre thing in the world?” Bai Wan’s expression grew unusually serious, his hand pressed against his rapidly beating heart.

As the eerie game instance’s difficulty increased, Bai Wan hoped he would not encounter such bizarre phenomena again. It was hard for him to imagine how one could possibly defeat such an existence.

What was even more terrifying was that if this game was a recreation of history, then could there really be such a god wandering the deep sea in reality? If so, that was truly frightening.

“Relax, this is a beginner’s instance. This bizarre entity is clearly just part of the background setting. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have stood a chance at survival. Also, remember the current heartbeat sound — it’s called the Heartbeat Alert.”

Liu Tong explained to the group: “Sometimes, in the game, you encounter horrors beyond the instance’s difficulty. When this happens, the game triggers a protection mechanism — the Heartbeat Alert. Usually, this entity doesn’t affect the main storyline, so when you hear the alert, run as far as you can until your heartbeat calms down. That means you’ve left the entity’s range.”

Bai Wan curiously touched his still-racing heart. So that’s what the Heartbeat Alert was — the game was surprisingly considerate.

“All right, regardless, we survived. Congratulations everyone. After exiting the game, you can complete the settlement and claim your rewards,” Liu Tong said with a smile.

Hearing this, the group visibly relaxed.

Yes, no matter what, they had survived.

Only one person, Lin Xi, had died in this instance, so the survival rate was fairly high.

Of course, this was largely thanks to Bai Wan.

Zhang Wen couldn’t wait to exit the game, clearly not wanting to spend another second inside.

Chen Weiyu also woke up somewhat dazed but was overjoyed to hear about the clearance. She was quite lucky — she’d cleared the game with ease. After thanking Bai Wan, she exited immediately.

“Let’s all exit together and see what rating we get. You literally trapped the bizarre entity in a wall and still managed to clear it — I bet the lowest rating you get is an A,” Liu Tong said enviously.

An A-rank reward was very generous. He had participated in three bizarre game instances before, but his highest rating was only a B.

“Liu, you go ahead first. I want to explore the ghost ship a little longer,” Bai Wan suddenly said, remembering he hadn’t used his Mario Coin House ability yet.

It was a perfect chance to see what this ability was really about.

Honestly, he was quite looking forward to it.

Liu Tong nodded, somewhat surprised about what there could be to explore on a ghost ship, but since the young man in front of him was a bit crazy anyway...

Even if he said he wanted to drop a deuce inside the ghost ship, it wouldn’t surprise him.

“All right, I’ll go out first. Once I’m out, I’ll contact you,” Liu Tong said, bowing slightly before exiting.

Hearing that Liu Tong would contact him, Bai Wan was initially puzzled but then realized that since Liu Tong was official, he was probably trying to recruit him.

However, Bai Wan wasn’t interested in joining the officials.

After Liu Tong left, Bai Wan slung the family photo frame on his back and, a little excited, headed to the first-floor restroom. There was a drain inside, though he wasn’t sure if he could enter it, as it didn’t look like a typical pipe.

He lightly touched it and was amazed to see a black void appear inside the drain, which then sucked him in.

Whoosh!

Bai Wan felt his body moving rapidly through darkness.

After a few seconds, light returned to his eyes, revealing a hidden space before him.

The area was roughly half the size of a football field and utterly empty, except for many magical wooden bricks arranged in midair.

At a glance, Bai Wan recognized them from the Mario game — the bricks you hit with your head, which can release coins and mushrooms.

However, the earlier skill description mentioned that this skill was only level one, allowing entry into the drain but without adding the Mario coins yet.

At the top of the drain pipe was a timer counting down from ten minutes.

This was the amount of time Bai Wan could spend inside the drain.

With plenty of time and a small area, Bai Wan patiently wandered around.

After two minutes, he had explored every corner.

“Huh.”

Bai Wan suddenly made a small sound of surprise.

He looked around and saw two exits.

One was the drain he had entered through, but where did the other one lead?

Curious, Bai Wan approached and placed his hand on the second green drain pipe.

Whoosh!

A second later, his body once again moved swiftly, landing somewhere else.

Pat!

Bai Wan dusted off his pants and began examining the room before him, growing increasingly amazed.

“This… where is this?” Bai Wan’s eyes showed a hint of shock.

What appeared before him now was not any room he had been in before, but the captain’s cabin!

That locked door which had never opened before.

Staring at the electronic screens and the captain’s chair, Bai Wan stood stunned for a long time.

Good heavens, was this a hidden Easter egg?

Theoretically, normal players could never reach the captain’s cabin, since the main door was locked.

But because of his bug skill—the Mario Drain—he had somehow clipped inside.

It seemed the Mario Drain ability wasn’t just for hiding but could teleport him randomly to a room.

This skill was quite interesting.

“Though, it really is a ghost ship; there’s no captain at all,” Bai Wan said, curiously inspecting the cabin.

Though Bai Wan had suffered much hardship from his bug constitution since birth, the one benefit it brought was endless amusement.

Observing strange bugs and using them for experiments was a joyful pursuit.

Just like today, entering the captain’s cabin.

A map area that players should never reach, but he did.

It felt like discovering a hidden treasure map.

Bai Wan eagerly walked around the cabin, but suddenly stopped when his gaze fell on the ship’s steering wheel.

A bold idea formed in his mind.

Could he actually steer this ghost ship?

If he could, what would happen?

The original plot was a single voyage to Four Seasons Island. But if he could steer, could he go elsewhere?

No, was there anywhere else to go?

After all, this was just a game, not the real world.

Bai Wan’s eyes looked toward the mysterious distant sea, a trace of anticipation appearing on his face. Then, without hesitation, he sat down in the captain’s chair and grasped the steering wheel before him.