Interactive Fiction: The Right Choice After Unemployment

Chapter 30 Fish

6.7% for option one, 20% for option three, and 73.3% for option four.

……

【Option [-]】

[Let him find a way to drop the items in Professor Lin Wen's suitcase and hide those items by himself]

……

"Listen to the next words."

Zheng Zhuo whispered to Chu Huairen.

"Do you still remember the suitcase that Professor Lin Wen has been carrying around?"

"You mean...the one that I helped him bring to the island and managed to snatch it away when he was escaping?"

"Yes." Zheng Zhuo said, "You have a way... No, you find a way to wrap the contents inside, hide it by your side, and be ready to take it away at any time."

what! ?

Chu Huairen was obviously taken aback by Zheng Zhuo's speech.

"Why...why? There should be research materials..."

"I suspect the crew and students are out of order because of what's in there."

Zheng Zhuo said briefly.

"The professor is not normal anymore. You take it first. I'm afraid it will be useful in the future."

……

In fact, Zheng Zhuo is not sure whether the professor's collection of pottery and relief fragments will come in handy.His main concern was what would happen after he reached the next two islets.

Judging from the golden dream when they entered the world, they must dive into the deep deep sea in the end.And right now, the ship isn't equipped with anything that would allow a human to dive to that depth.

Zheng Zhuo thought of the time when he first entered the small town world.At that time, the thief had brought him to use [Teleportation].

He now guesses that the second... more likely the third island, and there are devices that can achieve that effect.

"(Installation generally means...have a similar activation method...)"

Zheng Zhuo wants to gamble on whether the professor's collection can have this effect.He didn't dare to put those things in the professor's place. After all, the professor's current state was very wrong.

"(Let's not talk about borrowing things at that time...whether you can communicate with him in human language is a problem...)"

Human habits are terrible.Zheng Zhuo thought.

When he first noticed that the status panel of the crew members changed, he fell into an ice cellar.But after only a few 10 minutes, he accepted it.

"(My words are really right.)"

He watched Chu Huairen's back disappear into the cabin passage, thinking.

Strange software, subconscious world, small town, pure white, ocean, killing and being killed, saving and being rescued...

"(Only Chu Huairen is not crazy here.)"

After experiencing all this, Zheng Zhuo felt that there was something wrong with his sensibility.

The goal is to bring Chu Huairen to the deep sea statue where the [Wise Man] card is located.

Zheng Zhuo repeated his task again in his heart.

……

In the next few days, [Beautiful Future] broke through the waves and sailed day and night towards the second small island.

After the ship set off again, there were no more birds that attacked.The crew resumed their daytime routine, but the ship was still quiet during the day.

Everyone, sailor and crew, has become more and more reticent.The lively atmosphere when we left the port of departure is gone. Now, everyone spends more time without saying a word, working, eating and resting quietly.

In this silent day, Zheng Zhuo started to make some preparations.

First is food.

Zheng Zhuo began to frequently go in and out of the utility room and food storage room.He took care of all the porting and took advantage of his work to bring out unopened compressed biscuits, canned food and bottled fresh water.He hid them in a large snakeskin bag, which he stuffed into his own crew locker.

Moreover, since the second day after his return, when Zheng Zhuo went to the cafeteria to eat, he only wanted unopened food.

While he was doing this, the bald chef on board stared at Zheng Zhuo in surprise.Only then did Zheng Zhuo realize that the chef looked familiar to him.

That being said, the female student who is good at radio is indeed wearing square-rimmed glasses...

"...Stop thinking about things you don't know."

For his mental health, Zheng Zhuo decided not to care about these details.

Zheng Zhuo also asked Chu Huairen about the food.The next day, he saw Chu Huairen taking canned luncheon meat, vacuum vegetables and vacuum packed bread from the window while eating.

Chu Huairen did so without much hesitation.Zheng Zhuo thought, he is a person who is easy to communicate with.

He knows when to act with whom.

……

After the food problem was solved, Zheng Zhuo's purpose for entering the utility room changed: he needed some tools.

Zheng Zhuo confirmed it with [Appraisal] skill.Neither he nor Chu Huairen possessed the skill of [Mechanical Maintenance].

But he believes that using [Appraisal] to check the broken machinery can find the problem.So he quietly confirmed the location of the tools in the utility room, and took some screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, metalworking components and other "gadgets" from there.

Finally there are weapons.

"Weapon..."

Zheng Zhuo has no intention of reaching into the kitchen to take away the knives—although it is undeniable that he did think about it.

"A wrench should be enough."

He hid the wrench under the quilt.Of course, just as he instructed Chu Huairen, he also locked his bed curtain with a copper lock.

"I don't want to have the experience of a murloc watching me sleep again."

He muttered to himself as he locked the curtains.

……

After starting to take action, everything became less difficult.Zheng Zhuo had some confidence in his heart.He began to use [Appraisal] to confirm the condition of the crew members every day.

Most of the crew can revert to [human] after flashing.After a long time, Zheng Zhuo actually relaxed a little bit about it.After all, they look, behave and speak exactly the same as before.

On such a day, one day, Chu Huairen quietly stopped Zheng Zhuo in the corridor.

"I have already taken out the pottery fragments and relief fragments from Professor Lin Wen's suitcase." He said nervously, "The professor wrapped those things in plaster, and then wrapped them in cushioning materials and put them in the box. I knocked After opening, I replaced them with some plaster with clay, and sealed them with plaster. You can't tell from the surface... I am confident that I will not be found until I go back to college. What I took out, I Sealed with plaster and wrapped in several layers of thick blankets, it was kept in its own box under my bed."

"very good."

To be honest, what Chu Huairen has done has exceeded Zheng Zhuo's expectations.

Next, they just have to improvise.

……

Zheng Zhuo once thought that the time of "responsibility" would be the moment when "Beautiful Future" arrived at the second island.Unexpectedly, this time point was two days earlier.

a few days later.

Just when the scientific research ship was about to reach the waters where the second island was located, something unusual happened again.

The schools of fish gathering around the boats are growing.At first, it can also be said to be a unique phenomenon of the migratory season.But soon, the number of fish schools reached an exaggerated level.Looking up, you can only see different types of fish piled up on top of each other.

"...It's very similar to when the birds flocked."

Every time [Beautiful Future] approaches the island, many animals will gather here.It is difficult for Zheng Zhuo to confirm why.But he knew that the place he arrived at next was definitely not ordinary.

But the crew and students seemed to ignore all the danger signs contained in the sight.

"There are too many fish. The tiny deep-sea probe will not be able to enter the water normally."

After Zheng Zhuo boarded the boat, no one felt the humid sea breeze at night.But everyone's insomnia seems to be continuing.Everyone's eyes are bloodshot, but in contrast, the enthusiasm for scientific research is increasing day by day.

"How to do?"

"...use some methods to expel..."

Zheng Zhuo seldom participated in discussions anymore.He always watched silently from the sidelines.He could sense an inexplicable frenzy spreading among the students and crew.

He also saw the scratches on some of the crew's necks worsen.Some began to fester, others had purple marks on their necks.

"..."

And Chu Huairen, who was originally an opinion leader, has also become silent these days, rarely participating in discussions.

"I can go into the water and drive fish away."

Suddenly, Zheng Zhuo heard someone in the crowd talking.

It was the sailor who was unwell at the beginning of boarding the ship, Cao Yang.His eyes and neck were the worst of the group, but he looked refreshed—much better than he had looked limp when he first boarded the ship.

He's going into the water?

Zheng Zhuo was shocked.Indeed, there is equipment for wet and dry diving on board.But manpower to expel fish schools?Anyway...

"It's going to be a little dangerous."

However, no one said it was impossible.It's just that some people raised security concerns.

"We also have spotlights. How about using spotlights to drive fish at night?"

"Will the effect be too bad? The cables on the shore could not be retrieved when the anchor was lifted, so the cables were all cut. In my opinion, those broken cables can be electrified and then enter the sea, and the expulsion effect will be better."

"It's useless for big fish..."

There was a lot of discussion.

Zheng Zhuo sat in the distance.He couldn't make up his mind whether to intervene in the discussion.

But he thought, this is a crucial decision.

……

【problem】

[There are schools of fish near the boat!How to expel them? 】

[Option [-]: Let Cao Yang go into the water]

Possible problems: unknown
[Option [-]: Use high-power ship lights]

Possible problems: limited effect
【Option [-]: Use a Broken Cable】

Possible issues: only works on small fish, may irritate larger fish

　After [Option 1], [Option 1] and [Option [-]], you can leave a message in the form of [this chapter says]. A message under [-] id counts as [-] vote.

　　票数统计截至至2022/11/16日晚20：00.
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(End of this chapter)