The boiler was churning with heat. Children’s skin was tender and couldn’t withstand being in a hot place, so Gu Rong was sweating all over his little head. He was already thirsty.

He stood in the small corner, obediently holding his milk and drinking, his little ears not missing listening to the uncles and grandpas talking.

The group was talking about the Second Prince.

“He was stolen when he was just this big, and now he’s two years old. How do we know what the Second Prince looks like? What if we mistake someone? What if someone tries to pass themselves off as him!”

“It’s said that the Second Prince and His Highness the Little Prince are twin brothers, and they must look identical. If we want to know if someone’s faking it, we can just compare them to the Little Prince, right? It’s impossible to fake that!”

“What does His Highness the Little Prince look like? Every time His Highness the Little Prince makes a public appearance, he’s covered up so tightly, for fear of being harmed by the lowborn. Damn it, we lowborn are already struggling to survive. Who has the energy to do such stupid things!”

“After all, he’s the orphan of General Nicholas, and the Nicholas family all died in battle to protect the Starsea Continent. If anything happened to the Little Prince, it’s hard to say if we could answer to the Nicholas family. The entire population of the Starsea Continent wouldn’t agree. Our King Louis is not stupid!”

“What are you saying? Are you tired of living?!”

“Oh? So what if I said it? Do you think in a place like this, besides the lowborn, who else would come here? Louis XIII, that brat? Hahahaha.”

“Hahahahaha.”

A burst of slightly mocking laughter erupted.

Speaking of this, someone looked at Old John: “Didn’t you say that the Second Prince is called Nicholas Zaizai? Your adopted grandson is actually named the same as the Second Prince, hahaha. But even though they have the same name, their fates are different. You’re destined to be poor, and the child you raise will also be a poor wretch. He can’t be compared to the Second Prince.”

Old John snorted coldly, not taking it to heart: “What’s so great about being a prince? I think our Zaizai is doing just fine, free and unrestrained!”

The others all agreed.

People who were used to being free and unrestrained at sea, even if they were at the bottom of society, wouldn’t want to be imprisoned in the cage of the royal palace. They would probably get sick from being cooped up.

Gu Rong’s little ears were sharp. He was drinking milk on the side, but he didn’t miss nodding his little head, agreeing with Grandpa John’s words.

He had been cooped up in his room for the past few days, and it wasn’t fun at all. It wasn’t as fun as watching Grandpa John and the other uncles and grandpas dig for coal.

Zaizai had milk to drink even before mealtime!

And Little Prince Rongrong could only drink milk in the morning. The royal family paid attention to etiquette and rules. You couldn’t eat anything before mealtime, and you were watched by people 24 hours a day.

006 said: [Ding, little host, Zaizai’s task has arrived.]

[Task: Please have Nicholas Zaizai interact with 5 people of nobility or higher, for three sentences each within two hours, to make an impression, but without revealing his identity as the Second Prince.]

[Judgment Standard: Both parties must speak three sentences for it to be considered a successful interaction.]

[Success Reward: 50,000 points, favorability of the 5 selected people +10%.]

[Failure Penalty: Deduct 50,000 points, identity card frozen for 5 hours.]

Gu Rong had only earned 10,000 points in this instance so far. If the task failed, it would be deducted from his total points.

Gu Rong was very serious about his points. He was saving them to find Daddy, Mommy, and Grandpa Ming. He immediately said seriously, [Zaizai go!]

006 said: [Little host, people of nobility or higher status all live in the first-class cabins and the special cabins. This is the lowest level, the boiler room. We have to get out of here first.]

The Pharaoh was very large. Gu Rong, a two-year-old cub, couldn’t run fast with his short legs. It would take a lot of time just to get there.

[Nicholas Rongrong] was in the first-class cabin, but this was [Nicholas Zaizai]’s task. Gu Rong could only use Zaizai’s identity to do the task, not Rongrong’s.

And Zaizai, as a child raised by the fifth-class citizens, wasn’t qualified to go to the first-class cabins and the special cabins without permission.

Gu Rong looked at the boiler room filled with firelight and said, [How does Zaizai get out?]

His little head turned to Old John, very concerned: [Zaizai has to tell Grandpa John first, otherwise, Grandpa John will worry about Zaizai!]

He used to run off, and Grandpa Ming would worry and look for him everywhere with his cane.

006 said: [The little host is such a considerate and good child!]

–

A stoker had been secretly observing Gu Rong for a long time.

He was a male player who needed to play the role of a lowborn. He lived in a lower-class cabin and, unfortunately, was a stoker. While doing his tasks, he also had to shovel coal.

But if he had enough points, he could also spend points to upgrade his cabin.

Each instance had its own rules, which needed to be explored by the players.

For players, they weren’t here to enjoy themselves, but to do tasks. A higher-class cabin wasn’t necessarily more convenient than a lower-class cabin. If you wanted to go from a higher-class cabin to a lower-class cabin, you also needed to spend the same number of points.

As soon as Gu Rong appeared, a large number of viewers flooded into this player’s livestream, frantically spamming the chat.

[Ahhhhhhhhhhh Zaizai, I can finally see Zaizai!! [Gifts points]]

[My destined little cub, Auntie is here! Oh my god, so many players. I don’t regret squatting in each one. I finally found him!]

[NPCs don’t have initial livestreams, which is troublesome. You have to earn 100,000 points in the current instance to unlock the livestream. If you want to see Zaizai, you temporarily have to mooch off the players’ livestreams! [Gifts points]]

[That’s right, that’s right. Without opening a livestream, there’s no way to gift Zaizai [Gifts points]]

[Zaizai is so cute, give Auntie a kiss!]

[Hahahahahaha Nicholas Rongrong, Nicholas Zaizai, family, I’m bursting out laughing. Is this Zaizai or Rongrong now?]

[LOL, it’s Zaizai now. Rongrong is the Little Prince, he should be dressed more luxuriously, right? Zaizai is dressed more shabbily.]

[Damn those human traffickers, stealing our Zaizai. Look at what a hard life he’s living. His clothes are faded from washing, and his little leather shoes are cracked. They don’t even buy him new little leather shoes!]

[Don’t be ridiculous. Old John has to take Zaizai with him to stoke the boiler. It’s obvious that he loves Zaizai very much. His little leather shoes are cracked, probably because he’s poor, not because he’s mistreating him!]

[Poor Zaizai, I’m heartbroken wuwuwuwu [Gifts points]]

–

The viewers finally found this NPC cub, and because Zaizai appeared on screen, they gave gifts indiscriminately. Just ask, they were willful!

This player was entering the game for the second time, so he was considered half a new player. He had cleared the previous instance by luck, and this was the first time he had seen such a scene, the first time he had received so many gifts.

In the previous instance, the total points he had earned throughout the entire instance weren’t as many as the gifts he had received at the start.

Before entering the instance, he had also seen the NPC cub mentioned on the game forum. He had also watched the livestream of the “The Mental Hospital” instance.

But he was still shocked. He knew that this NPC cub had a lot of traffic, but he didn’t expect it to be this big.

As expected of the infinite game, little top streamer!

Just showing up on screen and getting so many gifts?

It was no wonder there were posts on the forum analyzing that entering an instance and just holding onto this NPC cub’s leg tightly, you could completely lie down and win. From the looks of it, it wasn’t false!

He had thought that becoming a stoker in the instance was extremely unlucky, but it turned out he had great luck!

However, with the male player shoveling coal for a while and turning his head again, the cub who had been drinking milk in the corner was gone. His livestream’s viewers also plummeted, running away in the blink of an eye.

The male player: “…?”

–

Gu Rong’s little mind was very sharp. Dadada, he ran to Old John, using the excuse that he was sleepy and wanted to sleep. He even rubbed his eyes and yawned.

He had practiced acting skills with three NPCs in the previous instance, so now he had some basic acting skills.

Old John looked at the sleepy little radish head in front of him, took off his coat, wiped his hands, and picked up the cub, preparing to send him back to the lower-class cabin to sleep first, and then he would return to work.

Gu Rong obediently let himself be held, his chubby little arms proactively wrapping around Old John’s neck, leaving the boiler room.

Old John sent Gu Rong back to a large, shared room in the lower-class cabin. This large room could sleep 30 people. Double-decker beds were densely packed together, with not much space between the upper and lower bunks. It wasn’t much bigger than a sleeper train.

Whether it was the upper or lower bunk, except for this little cub, adults had to hunch over, unable to stand up straight.

These were single beds, very narrow and cramped. It was cramped for an adult to sleep on one bed, let alone with a cub.

Old John had a relatively long work history and had built up some seniority, so he helped Gu Rong strive for a bed as well. He and Gu Rong slept in the upper and lower bunks.

Old John placed Gu Rong on his lower bunk and covered him with a small blanket: “Little Zaizai, you sleep here yourself. At night, I’ll get you a big fish to eat, so you can grow taller, you little radish head.”

Gu Rong only showed his fluffy little head, his big eyes blinking, nodding, and waving his little hand at Old John: “Yes, goodbye, Grandpa John!”

Old John still had to go to work, and he left without waiting for Gu Rong to fall asleep.

After hearing the sound of the door closing, Gu Rong climbed up from the bed, slid off the bed, and dadada-ed out.

–

At this moment, it was 6 PM. The sky was overcast, and it was raining lightly. The corridor was wet.

The sea was shrouded in a thick fog, looking eerie. The sky and the sea were strangely similar, both looking like the gaping maw of a monster in the abyss.

Gu Rong ran unsteadily, running all over the place, looking like he would fall at any moment.

The sea breeze blew his hair back, revealing his little slicked-back hair. The rain fell on his fair little face.

He ran to a corner, and suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from the side and snatched the cub away.

Gu Rong’s baby voice: “Aiya!”

His little figure instantly disappeared around the corner.

–

At the same time, on the deck at the bow of the ship, many people were gathered.

Most of them were fourth and fifth-class citizens. In this kind of bad weather, nobles wouldn’t come here to get rained on.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao were sitting on a public bench, getting rained on, looking at two young men not far away who looked very pleased with themselves.

One was shorter, but still 180cm tall, and the other, taller one, was about 190cm.

The two of them were Mu Xingye and Zhao Minghai.

The shorter one was Mu Xingye, and the taller one was his lackey, Zhao Minghai.

Surprisingly, Mu Xingye was quite handsome, with red lips and white teeth, the kind of appearance that elders would like, and he even had a pair of tiger teeth.

But his temperament and appearance were completely opposite extremes. His temperament was extremely annoying, while his appearance was very likable, as if an incompatible soul was installed in his shell.

Zhao Minghai had a scar in his eyebrow, and his arms and neck were covered in colorful tattoos. He was a head taller than Mu Xingye and had a strong and sturdy build.

Zhao Minghai, the scarred man, said in a rough voice, “Starsea Continent. Ye-ge’s^[1]T/N: Here, Ye-ge is said in a respectful/familiar way to address an older brother figure, more like in a gang/group context. name has ‘star’ in it, and my name has ‘sea’ in it. Damn, this instance is simply tailor-made for us!”

Mu Xingye slightly opened his arms, letting the light rain fall on his fair face.

After a moment, he put down his hands, curled the corners of his mouth, and said disdainfully, “What Starsea Continent, Ghost Realm of the Deep Sea? Heh, what can they do to me even if I spit in it?”

Zhao Minghai, as a model lackey, immediately chimed in, raising his scarred eyebrow wickedly: “Hahaha, I could even shit and piss in it, and they couldn’t do anything to me.”

Mu Xingye glanced at him sideways.

Zhao Minghai understood instantly, and cowardly said, “I take it back, I take it back.”

Only then was Mu Xingye’s expression better, and he said, “Even if I shit and piss in it, they can’t do anything to me!”

Zhuang Yu: “…?”

Shen Hanxiao: “…?!”

Damn, I thought he was disgusted that Zhao Minghai said something disgusting. Good grief, it turned out he wanted the other person to take it back so he could say it!

Was this some kind of golden sentence? That they had to fight over who said it?

The livestream chat was filled with a uniform:

“As expected of you!”

“Get lost! Can these two be thrown off?!”

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao had done their homework before entering the instance, flipping through all the information they could find about Mu Xingye, especially the “Museum of Oddities” instance that made Mu Xingye famous.

Shen Hanxiao clicked his tongue: “Sure enough, it’s not his own shell, so it’s mismatched. This shell is from that old player he harmed.”

“Not only did he harm the other person into becoming part of the museum exhibits, but he also stole the other person’s body.”

Mu Xingye’s original appearance couldn’t be described as ugly, it could only be called deformed, completely different from now. It could only be said that he didn’t deserve this skin.

He himself craved beautiful skins, but he also couldn’t stand people who were born beautiful. He was born without it, and even though he later stole someone else’s, he still couldn’t stand people who were born beautiful.

Shen Hanxiao: “The NPCs he chose, the NPCs he tortured and killed, all had one thing in common: they were good-looking.”

Zhuang Yu: “Like Rongrong.”

Shen Hanxiao nodded: “That’s right.”

The two of them had a preliminary understanding of Mu Xingye. Of course, apart from the fact that the other person was morally corrupt, they didn’t figure out much else. But at least they knew that the other person was quite crazy.

However, the good news was that the other party had not found Gu Rong yet.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao quietly left the deck. It was urgent, they had to find that little cub first.

–

There weren’t just a few of them who wanted to find the cub.

At this moment, Gu Rong was being carried and run with by a man in his twenties. This man was also a player.

There were many players in this instance, and Gu Rong had a lot of traffic. Just appearing in the livestream could earn a lot of gifts.

Now they had finally found the code to traffic, many people wanted to kidnap this cub.

The aunties in the livestream chat were all shouting to see Zaizai. This male player was lucky. As soon as he left his room, he saw the cub running around, and he snatched him up.

The male player was carrying Gu Rong, running. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he let out a cry.

Looking down, the cub in his arms was using his thumb and index finger to pinch a piece of skin on his arm.

The male player: “…?!”

Good grief, he even knew that a small surface area hurt more when pinching, so he used two fingers to pinch. The round little fist extended two short, ridiculous fingers, pinching a small piece of his flesh and not letting go.

The male player endured the pain, stubbornly holding onto the cub and not letting go. He had already kidnapped the child, so he even had the nerve to ask, “…Why are you pinching me?”

Gu Rong was very calm even after being discovered. One hand was tired from pinching, so he let go, switched hands, and switched to a different spot to pinch.

The player: “?”

Gu Rong confessed without reservation: “Pinching you.”

The player: “…”

You’re pinching me, so why are you saying it out loud?

It was as if he was supposed to pinch him, that there was nothing wrong with it, so why couldn’t he pinch him?

Who wouldn’t praise this mentality for being awesome!