The harbor was dotted with ships. Water transport merchants had also stopped working, and the citizens of the royal city had all put down their work.

At this moment, the harbor was surrounded by countless citizens, lined up like a long dragon, just to see the King and the Little Prince Rongrong off, and to welcome back Little Prince Zaizai as soon as possible.

More than half of the army’s soldiers were mobilized to maintain order at the scene.

The sea was turbulent and unfathomable. A giant ship was quietly docked on the shore, the Pharaoh.

The Pharaoh was the most luxurious and oldest cruise ship in the Starsea Continent. It was originally a warship, belonging to the Nicholas family. After the Nicholas family was wiped out, it, along with Little Prince Rongrong, was handed over to the kingdom.

There was a black goat symbol on the cruise ship. The Nicholas family’s nickname was the “Black Goat.”

This time, nearly ten thousand people were going to the Ghost Realm of the Deep Sea. The army alone accounted for half of them. The five classes of citizens of the Starsea Continent, from the King, ministers, and nobles, down to the commoners and the lowborn, had all selected the most elite talents to embark on the Pharaoh’s journey.

In the past, the lowborn would certainly not have been qualified to board the Pharaoh, but this time, the enemy they were going to confront was the lowborn.

Only the lowborn understood the lowborn better. The lowborn of the Ghost Realm of the Deep Sea were traitors, but the lowborn on the Pharaoh were a group of tame lambs who had been subdued by the kingdom, sworn to die for the Louis dynasty.

Moreover, their families and relatives were all in the Starsea Continent, so there was no possibility of betrayal.

Gu Rong was the Little Prince, with a noble status. He wore a mask with a feather inserted in it, covering his fair little face, not easily allowing people to see the Little Prince’s true appearance.

Louis XIII held Gu Rong’s hand, one big and one small, boarding the cruise ship together.

This scene moved the citizens present, and everyone tearfully bid farewell, like a scene from a famous painting.

–

Gu Rong looked at the many citizens waving and crying, puzzled: [Huh? Why are they all looking at Rongrong and crying?]

006: [Probably because they’re excited to see the Little Prince. Now that the Starsea Continent is in turmoil, the Little Prince doesn’t show his face easily. They all know about the Little Prince, but few have seen him in person.]

Gu Rong oh-ed, and his attention was quickly drawn to the tall and magnificent cruise ship in front of him.

Gu Rong’s eyes widened in surprise, his mouth opening wide, and he let out a “wow.”

One of his soft and chubby little hands was being held by Louis XIII, and the other little hand stretched out a short finger, pointing at the warship in front of him.

The cub liked these cool things the most, and he said in a soft, babyish voice, full of envy, “Rongrong wants one too!”

“…”

Louis XIII’s foot, which was stepping onto the stairs, almost slipped. Fortunately, he steadied himself, so he didn’t lose his composure in public.

Children were innocent, and Louis XIII naturally wouldn’t argue with a two-year-old cub. But the ministers beside him didn’t think so.

Walking behind the two of them was the minister from the death faction. Hearing Gu Rong’s words, his expression became slightly serious.

Sure enough, the Little Prince had ulterior motives. He hadn’t even brought back Zaizai, and he was already thinking of taking back their Nicholas family’s warship. If Zaizai was brought back, and the two brothers joined forces and were then instigated by the lowborn, they might not just want to take back the Pharaoh, but to seize power.

Gu Rong didn’t know what the ministers were thinking, and even if he knew, he wouldn’t care.

What power? He had no concept of it at all.

Gu Rong was only interested in the warship in front of him.

He immediately and quietly used the copy card to copy the Pharaoh and put it into his system backpack, without anyone noticing.

Put into the system backpack, it was a 1:1 scaled-down model of the warship, but if taken out, it would be another identical Pharaoh warship.

006 said: [Congratulations, little host, for completing the initial task and obtaining 10,000 points.]

Gu Rong: [Yay!]

The cruise ship was copied, and the points were also obtained. Gu Rong was so happy that he shook his head and bounced, the curly wig on his head bouncing along.

Louis XIII glanced at him slightly.

The little hand in his hand was very soft. Louis XIII’s mind was heavy, not knowing what he was thinking, he unconsciously squeezed the soft little hand, using it as a stress reliever.

–

Gu Rong was an NPC. Unlike players, not every instance was like “The Mental Hospital,” where he entered the game with the players.

On the fifth day after the Pharaoh set sail, the players logged into the game, and the instance officially began.

The infinite horror instances were, after all, for players to play. The plot follows the players. Before the players logged into the game, the live stream was off, there were no viewers, and naturally, everything was calm.

After the players logged into the game, the plot slowly unfolded.

At the same time, the [Nicholas Zaizai] identity card lit up, changing from gray to gold, indicating that this NPC had been triggered.

At this moment, Gu Rong was staying in the special cabin’s room, bored, playing with the thread on the quilt.

Through the porthole, you could see the sea and the sky merging and seagulls circling in the air.

006 said: [Little host, the [Nicholas Zaizai] identity card has been unlocked! He’s also on the ship at this time. We can use this identity card.]

Gu Rong, despite his young age, was very good at grasping the key points: [Zaizai is on the ship, so why are we still going to get him?]

006 said: [Little host is right. It seems that picking up Zaizai is just a pretext. Taking back the Ring of Souls is the royal city’s true purpose.]

[Going to such great lengths to pick up Zaizai, it’s completely like using Zaizai as bait. They’re not afraid that the fifth-class citizens will kill Zaizai.]

Gu Rong patted himself: [Zaizai here! Don’t kill Zaizai!]

He meant that Zaizai was here now, and he wouldn’t be killed!

006 smiled and said: [Little host, should we use the [Nicholas Zaizai] identity card now to see what’s going on with Zaizai?]

Both NPCs were played by Gu Rong, but Gu Rong was only one person. When the [Nicholas Zaizai] identity card lit up, this NPC was unlocked, and the related plot would be automatically completed by the system.

Gu Rong scrambled up from the bed, speaking articulately, like a little adult: [Yes, Rongrong has been bored here for a long time!]

As the Little Prince, he couldn’t casually show his face, and he had to stay in his room most of the time.

Because they were afraid of being assassinated by the fifth-class citizens, the room was heavily guarded.

In the past few days, apart from the maids Daisy and Anna, Gu Rong had basically not interacted with anyone else.

The King and the ministers would come to see him once every morning, noon, and evening, as a routine matter.

Gu Rong was a lively cub, so naturally, he couldn’t stay cooped up in the room all the time. He immediately switched to the [Nicholas Zaizai] identity card.

[Nicholas Rongrong] went into standby mode, taken over by the system, falling asleep, and sleeping soundly on the bed.

–

The people of the Starsea Continent were divided into five classes, and the Pharaoh also had five classes of cabins.

The King, Little Prince, cabinet ministers, and some high-ranking soldiers were all staying in the special cabins. The nobles lived in the first-class cabins. The first-class and second-class cabins were for other soldiers and crew members.

The commoners, the poor, and the lowborn were crowded into the third-class and lower-class cabins.

At this time, in a large, shared room in the third-class cabin, Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao had already met up.

The two of them followed Mu Xingye into the game. Seeing the instance background introduction, they were very sure that Nicholas Rongrong and Nicholas Zaizai, one of them, must be Gu Rong.

The two of them were commoners, ordinary citizens of the Starsea Continent. Their treatment wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either, better than the poor and the fifth-class citizens.

As players, after entering the instance, the task was the most important thing. But the two of them were now more concerned about the two-year-old cub.

Zhuang Yu said, “Should we go find Rongrong first?”

Shen Hanxiao: “No, I think we should go find that Mu idiot first and test the waters.”

Zhuang Yu: “Your senior brother who would rather use his fists than his mouth…”

Shen Hanxiao sighed.

Zhuang Yu also sighed.

Shen Hanxiao had indeed planned to find his senior brother, Zhao Jiuquan, to help. But unfortunately, when he entered the game, his senior brother had secretly done something big.

He had renounced his monastic vows!

Shen Hanxiao couldn’t find anyone, but he left a message for his senior brother. He hadn’t received a reply yet, so he followed Mu Xingye into the instance.

Shen Hanxiao said, “One less person, one less cannon fodder, sigh.”

Zhuang Yu: “…”

Your senior brother really has to thank you.

Unlike Gu Rong, who didn’t have a live stream, their live streams already had viewers waiting.

The viewers couldn’t see Zaizai for the time being, so they came to Zaizai’s Big Brother and Little Brother’s livestreams to wait.

[Zaizai’s Big Brother and Little Brother, I beg you, please go find Zaizai. The instance has already started for ten minutes and eight seconds, and I still haven’t seen Zaizai! It’s ridiculous! [Gifts points]]

[Ahhhhh, I want to see Zaizai, please show Auntie Zaizai!!! [Gifts points]]

[There are 23 players, 23. Not one of them has found Zaizai? Ah, I can’t live without sucking on Zaizai!] (T/N: “sucking on Zaizai” is internet slang, meaning to enjoy watching/interacting with something cute, like “cat videos”)

[Don’t make me kneel down and beg you! [Gifts points]]

[Mu Xingye and his lackeys are in the second-class cabin, a little higher status than you, and they’re moving faster than you. They’re already searching the ship for Zaizai. Hurry up, don’t let them get there first, ahhhhh!!! [Gifts points]]

[Oh ho, it’s not just Mu Xingye and them. This instance has a lot of big-shot players. I guess they’re all here for Little Rong Zaizai! O.o]

[There’s no doubt, they are hahaha! This instance is going to be interesting. I’m really looking forward to it!]

—Spoilers are only visible to the players—

The last three comments were blocked by the system.

Viewers couldn’t reveal any clues to the players, nor could they reveal anything related to other players. This was also the reason why, in the previous instance, before Lin Xuezhu’s player identity was revealed, viewers couldn’t post related comments.

Seeing the viewers giving them gifts just because of that little cub, Zhuang Yu, and Shen Hanxiao were silent.

This was really…a familiar operation.

–

The fire reflected on Gu Rong’s fair and delicate little face. He could hear the noisy sound of the generator, mixed with the shouts of many craftsmen.

Gu Rong didn’t know yet that players were already on their way to catch Zaizai.

At this moment, he was wearing dark blue suspenders and shorts with a white polo shirt. The clothes were old, washed until they were faded and discolored, but they were clean.

The exposed little arms and legs were chubby like lotus roots. He wore knee-high socks and little leather shoes. The little leather shoes were cracked, and when he moved his toes, they opened and closed like little mouths.

Although he was dressed in old clothes, the cub’s features were exquisite, fair and tender, round and chubby, not affecting his looks at all. Instead, it added a touch of cuteness and adorableness.

This was the Pharaoh’s lowest level, the boiler room. Many stokers were shoveling coal and adding coal to the boilers.

Gu Rong stood in a relatively clean little corner. The stokers in front of him were sweating profusely, constantly shoveling and adding coal.

Gu Rong first looked at his current outfit, pulled at the straps, and seeing the cracks in his little leather shoes, he wiggled his round, chubby toes, playing for a while.

Then, he looked at the scene in front of him and the busy people.

Everyone was busy, and no one had time to look after this little cub. Gu Rong, dodging the stokers, walked aimlessly towards a cooler place.

Gu Rong’s little hand fanned himself: [Zaizai’s going to faint from the heat!]

006: [Little host, this is the boiler room. Be careful not to trip.]

Gu Rong was tiny, mixed in among the many adults. If you didn’t look carefully, it was easy not to notice him.

The stokers next to him were chatting while working, their voices extremely loud. In this noisy environment, if you didn’t shout, you couldn’t hear clearly.

“Hahaha, the Starsea Continent cannot be without the lowborn. Without us lowborn, who would do these dirty and tiring jobs? Do you expect those nobles who do nothing but hold wine glasses and talk big to dig coal?”

“Long live the lowborn, eternal life! We are the true masters of this continent!”

“Hey, you little fatty, so small, and you’re already starting to learn to watch us work. When you grow up, you’ll be good at stoking the boiler!”

“Zaizai is so cute, but his life is hard. Cute can’t be eaten. You’re just a reserve for hard labor!”

–

At this moment, a shirtless, brawny man pushing a wheelbarrow almost didn’t see this little cub and nearly ran into him. Fortunately, he stopped in time.

“Go, go, little cub, don’t get in the way here, delaying Uncle’s work. Go play somewhere else!”

Clearly, these stokers all knew Gu Rong.

Their tone was gentle, not harsh, and their dark faces even carried smiles.

Gu Rong quickly retreated to the side, making way for this strong uncle, and even patted his little tummy in fear.

The people of the Starsea Continent were divided into classes, the citizens did not know what the little prince looked like. But neither the King nor the Ministers knew that the second prince had been lost.

After being stolen, during his passage to be taken away, he was lost!

He was then picked up by Old John, who stoked the boiler and was raised to two years old.

No one knew that this child was Nicholas Zaizai.

The reason why his name was also Zaizai was because the stoker was uneducated and just picked a name at random, hoping he would be easy to raise.

The stoker, Old John, waved his hand, signaling Gu Rong to come over.

Gu Rong saw this dark-faced grandpa waving, turned his little head, looked left and right, not knowing if he was calling him.

Old John: “…What are you looking around for? Come here!”

Gu Rong, certain that this grandpa was calling him, tilted his head, thought for a moment, and his little legs deng deng deng ran over.

Old John, like the other stokers, had dark skin and a strong build. He looked to be in his forties, but he was actually fifty years old.

Old John had ashes on his hands and body. He bent down, his line of sight level with Gu Rong’s, and gently taught this two-year-old cub: “Zaizai, you must remember, we are the lowest of the low. To be able to live is already a blessing. Don’t be lazy and avoid work.”

“Learn this skill of stoking the boiler from Grandpa, and you’ll be able to make a living in the future.”

006 had already obtained Zaizai’s script and explained to Gu Rong: [Little host, this is Old John, who raised Nicholas Zaizai. He’s your Grandpa John. Except for a few people who lost Zaizai during the smuggling, no one else knows that Zaizai was lost during the process of being stolen. Now you’re just a little orphan, no one knows you’re the Second Prince.]

Gu Rong blinked his big eyes, tilted his little head back, looked at Old John, and sweetly called out, “Grandpa John.”

Hearing this crisp, babyish voice, Old John smiled, showing his wrinkles.

After all, he had raised this cub himself. They depended on each other for survival, and their relationship was deep.

He was unfortunate, doing the lowest kind of work, but he had also raised a cub. He had an indescribable affection for Zaizai.

Old John said, “Go, there’s milk prepared for you in the backpack. Go drink a bottle of milk to fill your little tummy first.”

When Gu Rong heard this, he started turning his little round head, his big eyes shining. His two little hands, with dimples, each grabbed a strap of his overalls, searching around.

Old John: “…”

Old John had ash on his hands, so he just used one finger to poke Gu Rong’s little head, guiding him in the right direction.

Gu Rong indeed found a black backpack in the little corner where he had been standing at the beginning.

Gu Rong saw Old John sweating profusely and said thoughtfully, in his baby voice, “Grandpa John, drink milk!”

Old John raised his eyebrows: “You little Zaizai has a conscience. Grandpa isn’t thirsty. Go to the side and drink your milk. Be careful that your uncles and grandpas don’t accidentally step on you.”

Gu Rong was the most obedient and well-behaved: “Okay!”

Then, with his two little hands grasping the straps, he dodged obstacles and dadada-ed towards the small corner.