Interactive Fiction: The Right Choice After Unemployment

Chapter 37

11.8% for option one, 76.5% for option three, and 11.7% for option four.

……

【Option [-]】

[Crew members who have been completely deformed + crew members who have not yet been transformed but their sanity has completely collapsed]

……

"How many people are needed at least?" Zheng Zhuo glanced at the [Subconscious Voting] panel and quickly asked the captain.

"Twenty... no... 15 people..."

Zheng Zhuo quickly swept towards the sane crew members, they were terrified to confirm their scaled hands and faces.Some of them, who had been relieved by God, began to climb up the fire rope ladder.

Including Zheng Zhuo, Chu Huairen, Professor Lin Wen and the captain, there are only eleven people.

But Zheng Zhuo thought, he can't pull people anymore.

"Everyone who can get on the boat, hurry up!"

He pushed the captain first toward the rope ladder, followed by the crew members, flustered by the change.These directionless sailors had already lost their minds, and as soon as they were instructed, they did it in a snap.

Zheng Zhuo glanced at the crew members who were crying and lying on the ground in the distance, and then quickly looked away.

The current boarding method is only a rope ladder.It's a waste of time trying to bring these inactive crew members on board.

Next, he stared into the distance as he woke the crew.

……

【■■■■■■】

Aggression: 67, 69, 71...

……

The fully murloc-like crew got closer and closer.Moreover, aggressiveness has been increasing...

If being chased by the murlocs was the fear of wanting to explode their chests, then now, these murlocs who were silent and slowly turned their heads to the scientific research ship brought about a kind of quiet madness.

Finally, finally, Professor Lin Wen successfully climbed up the rope ladder, and Zheng Zhuo followed closely by grabbing the hem of the rope ladder.

"Collect the ladder!"

he shouted upwards.Chu Huairen directed several sailors to forcefully manipulate the hinge, and he was lifted high.

The murlocs below looked at the sky blankly, and finally, they let out their first scream.

The wound is hot.Zheng Zhuo didn't look at it, he knew that it wasn't just an inflammation.

……

[Beautiful Future] has left this beautiful but deadly island.Here it left more than half its crew.

No one talked to each other, and the atmosphere was even weirder than before.The captain did not convene any more meetings, but the scientific research ship still headed for the third island as planned.

Zheng Zhuo is not sure whether this is because their voyage mileage no longer supports the return, or because the captain's physical and mental changes are becoming more and more obvious.

The ship sailed at sea for several days.Some of the surviving crew members who successfully boarded the ship began to lock themselves in empty cabins and shut their doors.Among them is Professor Lin Wen.

The crew lost their ability to work one after another, making the already tense manpower even more stretched.Crew members like Zheng Zhuo and Chu Huairen, who were in better condition, could only work on day shift and night shift for many days in a row.

No one complained.Because they are not very able to fall asleep at night, and they dare not fall asleep.

After the exhaustion and fear had passed, what remained of emotion was reduced to a numb dregs.The scientific research ship is like a huge coffin, drifting on the boundless sea.

……

Another day.

Zheng Zhuo opened his eyes, watching the morning sun shine through the porthole and sprinkle on the bed.

Haven't reached the third island yet.How many days have passed?Three days, four days, a week, or longer?
The concept of time is destroyed.Zheng Zhuo stood up shaking.

His forehead was getting hotter and hotter, but his body temperature was getting colder and colder.The scales and thorns had completely covered the wound, and a fishy liquid flowed out intermittently.

"(Damn... can it last to... the third... island...)"

The long wait was starting to break down his nerves, too.

He numbly reached for the coat hanging by the porthole, trying to use the key to open the locked bed curtain.

"The key... is in..."

Zheng Zhuo's memory also deteriorated, and he made a mistake in the pocket where he put his keys.

What he touched was the textured cover of the cowhide account.

"……Yup."

He forgot his account.After coming back, haven't seen it yet.

Zheng Zhuo sat up.He pulled out the account and opened it.

……

"I fell in here. Why? I have to find a way out."

"I don't belong here."

"Damn it, what about playing the game? Why didn't I return to reality after being killed in the last [subconscious world]?"

"Is it the number of times? Or time? Or is it the spiritual limit?"

"The people who played with me in the previous games are not here. It's just me here."

"Haha, I'm so desperate."

"Can this software really fulfill all wishes?"

"It's a scam."

……

Turning to the first page, there are densely written words of doubt and despair, mixed with countless abuse.

But among them, there are some words that Zheng Zhuo is very familiar with.

That pilot...is also a participant who came from the real world after using the [Collective Subconscious] software! ?

Zheng Zhuo suddenly raised his spirits.

He quickly turned the first page.

Second page, third page.This was the case for the first few pages, the content with information decreased, and the proportion of verbal abuse began to increase.From those words, Zheng Zhuo could only tell that the pilot entered the [Ocean World] 55 years before Zheng Zhuo fell into it.

I turned to a quarter of the way through the notebook, and suddenly, the abuse stopped.

……

"I can't die here."

……

With this sentence as the dividing line, the pilot recorded everything he did in his notes in detail.

When he entered this world, he held the [Change Owner] skill, which allowed him to transfer the ownership of a specific item to himself.He used this skill to obtain a large number of maps, artworks and supplies, and from them determined the secret of this world - the city under the deep sea.

He began to consult a large amount of information again, going back and forth in various fishing villages on the Atlantic coast to confirm the tiles and bricks washed ashore.

Finally, he confirmed one thing——

——That is the last island. The location of the "Round Island".

"(He didn't pass the first two islands? The third one he went directly to...)"

Zheng Zhuo was surprised and continued to look down.

After confirming this, the pilot "transferred" a propeller plane from a flying enthusiast.On a clear day, he took off.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a propeller plane was considered an impossible task at the time.But he didn't need and didn't have to fly the full distance.

He knew that he only had to fly to half the distance.

"..."

Zheng Zhuo continued to turn the page.Afterwards, many wind direction, location and coordinate parameters were recorded in the notes, and everything looked normal.Fourteen hours later, he noted in his notebook that he "saw a beautiful circular band".

……

"I can go home."

……

These were the last hopeful words he recorded.

In the records since then, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse.No matter how he tried to land, he couldn't land on the small island.After lowering to a certain height, the small island suddenly disappeared without a trace, and even when flying at low altitude, it could not hang on to any raised rocks, and could only stir up waves.

"I have a few guesses," he wrote in his journal. "It might—"

Zheng Zhuo was about to continue watching, when suddenly, a black shadow appeared on Zheng Zhuo's bed curtain.

"Zheng Zhuo?"

It was Chu Huairen.He knocked on the curtain,

Zheng Zhuo unlocked the bed curtain.

"You didn't go on duty." Chu Huairen stood outside and said, "It's time to change shift..."

"Thank you. I'll go right away."

Zheng Zhuo got up.He saw Chu Huairen glanced at the account in his hand.

Chu Huairen's complexion was not good.The mental stress seemed to build up to the limit.

Do you want to explain the [subconscious world] to him?
Zheng Zhuo thought suddenly.

Now, he has this journal in his hand.Credibility becomes high.

Explaining the situation may relieve Chu Huairen's pressure, and more importantly, it can improve Chu Huairen's cooperation in the next action.But this risky behavior could also lead to another consequence: driving him completely insane.

So, what to do?

……

【problem】

[Do you want to tell Chu Huairen the truth? 】

【Option [-]】

[Announcement]

【Option [-]】

【Not informed】

　After [Option 1] and [Option 1], 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2022/11/20日晚20：00.
　　Finally, please recommend tickets~
　　
　　


(End of this chapter)