Leaving the captain’s room, the two adults and one cub removed their disguises.

Gu Rong hugged a football. He was small, making the football seem particularly large. It wasn’t heavy, but carrying it made him feel top-heavy.

Zhuang Yu asked, “Does Big Brother need to help you carry it?”

Gu Rong said clearly, “Zaizai can move it!”

The use of the word “move” was quite clever, implying a football required effort akin to moving furniture.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao couldn’t help but chuckle, watching this little radish head move the football himself.

The aunties in the livestream chat were also utterly charmed.

After taking two steps, Gu Rong huffed and puffed, heixiu heixiu. His little body lost balance, and whoosh, he tumbled sideways.

Zhuang Yu quickly steadied him with sharp eyes and quick hands, while Shen Hanxiao caught the ball with one hand.

Gu Rong cried out clearly: “Zaizai’s tummy is flat hungry, can’t walk anymore!”

It was already past one in the afternoon, but because the Ghost Realm of the Deep Sea was perpetually dark, the concept of time was blurred, making people forget to eat on schedule.

Gu Rong was so hungry that his little head was seeing stars. The two could only take the little cub to eat first.

Cabins of different classes had different dining halls. The group went to the third-class dining hall.

Third-class citizens didn’t even get a chance to see the Little Prince, so Gu Rong’s appearance here wouldn’t cause trouble.

Arriving at the dining hall, Gu Rong ran ahead, dadada. His big eyes shone as he scanned the delicacies at each counter, simultaneously glancing at the people in the restaurant.

Looking around, he sighed.

006 asked: [Little host, what’s wrong?]

Gu Rong, in his milky voice: [The prey runs around under Zaizai’s nose every day. Why hasn’t Zaizai drunk any blood yet?]

006: […]

Wait, why is the little host still thinking about drinking blood?

Gu Rong clenched his little fists and said: [Hmph, Zaizai is so busy doing tasks, he doesn’t even have time to catch prey! After eating, Zaizai will go catch prey!]

006: […]

Just then, as Gu Rong passed a dining table, a large hand reached out from the side and snatched the randomly running little dumpling.

Gu Rong was caught off guard, letting out a small cry: “Aiya!”

Gu Rong’s little body was grabbed. He froze for a moment, saw the person holding him, and blinked his eyes.

“Hahaha, look familiar? That’s right, it’s me again haha!”

The one holding Gu Rong was none other than Ye Qiuwu.

Looking at the NPC cub who had fallen into his hands again, he couldn’t stop grinning. Traffic, come to papa!

He was just about to say something when a hand slapped him on the head, coincidentally hitting the exact same spot the Earl had hit yesterday.

Ye Qiuwu: “…”

Damn it!

–

The babysitting trio sat at one table. Ye Qiuwu, holding his tray, quickly moved to the adjacent table with sharp eyes and quick hands.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao glanced at him without reaction and looked away again.

Gu Rong buried his head in his food bowl, focused solely on eating, unable to pay attention to anything else.

Ye Qiuwu attempted to strike up a conversation: “Don’t misunderstand, I know this little cub. I was the one who took him to the upper-class cabin yesterday. Originally, I was planning to bring this little cub to meet up with you…”

Shen Hanxiao chuckled, exposing him: “You’re just trying to leech off the traffic, right?”

Ye Qiuwu wasn’t embarrassed despite being exposed: “You can’t put it that way…”

Seeing that Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao were ignoring him again, and the only little cub who would pay attention to him was engrossed in eating, Ye Qiuwu paused and said: “I’m a good person, don’t doubt me. Where’s the trust between players?”

Zhuang Yu: “.”

Shen Hanxiao: “.”

If the game didn’t prohibit players from killing each other, they wouldn’t need NPCs to kill them; they’d finish each other off first.

Ye Qiuwu could only resort to his trump card: “I heard some extremely beneficial news for you… No, for this little cub…”

Having said this, ignoring whether they were listening, he lowered his voice, “Isn’t Mu Xingye always hunting this Zaizai? Well, good news. A top-tier Big Boss player, said to be Mu Xingye’s nemesis, has also entered the game. Now Mu Xingye can’t even fend for himself, he probably won’t have time to trouble this little cub.”

Hearing this, Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao finally reacted, turning to look at Ye Qiuwu.

Seeing the two finally willing to acknowledge him, Ye Qiuwu became more enthusiastic: “Really, I’m not lying. It’s common knowledge on the game forums. You can search it up easily after leaving the instance.”

“That Big Boss player is called Xie Lingjiu, a Miao youth with a head full of dreadlocks. He uses Gu poison and toxins, always has a poisonous snake with him, ranked 59th in the entire server. He could crush a whole group of Mu Xingyes with one finger. Forget troubling this little cub, Mu Xingye can barely protect himself now.”

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao showed no reaction.

No matter how powerful Xie Lingjiu was, he couldn’t directly attack Mu Xingye within the game.

Although Gu Rong was focused on eating, it didn’t stop him from hearing Ye Qiuwu. He hadn’t reacted to the earlier uninteresting parts, but now, hearing “head full of dreadlocks, poisonous snake,” his little head turned slightly, and he raised a small hand to tug at his own short, smooth black hair.

Clearly, he was still quite envious of those braids.

Zhuang Yu smiled: “Why is the little dumpling pulling his own hair?”

Gu Rong spoke clearly and tenderly: “Brother Braids, Zaizai saw him! Big black snake!”

Zhuang Yu: “…”

Shen Hanxiao: “…”

Ye Qiuwu: “…”

What a “Brother Braids”!

[Okay, congratulations to Big Boss Xie for gaining the title “Brother Braids”!]

[Dying laughing, it’s Brother Braids. Zaizai is as polite as ever.]

[I can’t imagine if Big Boss Xie heard this “Brother Braids” himself, would he cut off his braids overnight hahaha [Gifts points]]

[If he cuts the braids, would he not be Brother Braids anymore? Referencing Jie Xiu, his hair was gone, but wasn’t he still Hairy Uncle [doge]]

–

Ye Qiuwu was also struck dumb for a moment by “Brother Braids.” “Little cub, where did you see Big Boss Xie?”

Gu Rong, scooping rice with his spoon, said: “At the banquet.”

The group exchanged glances.

Banquet? Oh, that’s indeed something to check out.

Zhuang Yu said, “Maybe we can find clues about the Soul Ring there.”

[If you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d forgotten you guys were here to clear the instance. Forgot you even had tasks.]

[I forgot too, was too busy fawning over the cub.]

[Me too…]

[Wait, why are you guys looking for the Soul Ring? No, wait, let me go check the players’ instance tasks first.]

[Haha, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d forgotten these three were players.]

The three players: “…………”

This was too absurd.

–

Gu Rong could move freely on the lower decks, but couldn’t appear publicly on the upper decks.

Regardless of whether he used the Little Prince identity or the Zaizai identity, he wasn’t free.

Gu Rong simply decided to use the [Hanged Little Ghost] Identity Card directly. But the problem was, if his soul left his body, there was nowhere to place Zaizai’s body. If his soul didn’t leave his body, others could still see him.

006 said: [Little host, for 10,000 points, you can upgrade the [Hanged Little Ghost] Identity Card. Does the little host choose to upgrade?]

Gu Rong nodded: [Mhm, upgrade!]

[Ding! Identity Card has been upgraded~]

[Identity Card updated~]

[Identity Card 089: Hanged Little Ghost]

[Basic Function: Wearing this identity card allows completion of high-difficulty aerial maneuvers, such as flying by stepping on your own feet, Tai Chi, aerobics, juggling, somersaults, etc.]

[Upgraded Function: The owner of the identity card, whether wearing it or not, will not die from neck injuries as long as the neck is not completely severed (head and neck completely separated; even if a tiny bit of tissue remains connected, it is considered not completely severed), and can fully recover.]

[Wearing Mode: 1. Soul leaves body, can choose visibility for 0~5 people only. 2. Soul does not leave body, can choose visibility of physical body for 0~5 people only. 3. Soul does not leave body, physical body visible to everyone.]

[Note: Selected individuals can only be refreshed after the cooldown period.]

[Duration: 4 hours (stackable)]

[Cooldown Time: 12 hours]

After hearing this, Gu Rong’s little face was bewildered.

006 explained: [Little host, we can choose not to let the soul leave the body, and then choose 5 people who can see the little host. Everyone else won’t be able to see you.]

Gu Rong understood and started counting people on his little fingers: [Big Brother, Little Brother, Doctor Uncle, Grandpa John, Captain Grandpa…]

006: […]

Wanted to stop him but didn’t have time!

Never mind, it’s not a big problem. Anyway, after 4 hours, it just needs a 12-hour cooldown to refresh.

–

As soon as Gu Rong used the [Hanged Little Ghost] Identity Card, Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao could still see Gu Rong, but Ye Qiuwu couldn’t anymore.

From Ye Qiuwu’s perspective, the little cub had suddenly vanished into thin air right before his eyes.

Ye Qiuwu’s eyes widened: “What the hell, where did that little cub go?”

Gu Rong stood right beside him, tilting his little head up to look at him. Seeing that Ye Qiuwu really couldn’t see him, he skipped away happily.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao held back their laughter. No one volunteered to tell him.

Someone else should experience the kind of predicament they faced in their first instance.

Compared to Gu Rong using an Identity Card to sneak into the banquet, the three players, Zhuang Yu, Shen Hanxiao, and Ye Qiuwu, had to either disguise themselves to blend in or spend a high amount of points to upgrade their cabin class to noble or above, allowing them legitimate entry. However, the cost was too high. Forget not having enough, even if they did, they wouldn’t waste it here.

The three chose to pose as waiters.

There were numerous waiters at the banquet venue. Blending in among them, the three were completely inconspicuous.

Gu Rong held the straps of his overalls with his dimpled little meaty hands and entered the banquet hall through the main entrance with a skip in his step.

There were two waiters at the door. Whenever someone entered, they would bow and make a welcoming gesture. Gu Rong copied them, made a welcoming gesture himself, and then walked in.

The waiters couldn’t see Gu Rong, so Gu Rong welcomed himself in.

The aunties in the livestream chat died laughing. Truly a little drama queen.

The banquet scene was just as lively as yesterday, as if entering the Ghost Realm of the Deep Sea did not affect them at all.

And King Louis XIII surprisingly acquiesced to their absurdity.

This was clearly highly abnormal.

Lin-dalao wasn’t present today; he usually appeared alongside Jameson.

Xie Lingjiu sat in the same spot as yesterday, a black poisonous snake still coiled at his feet. As a wizard from the Starsea Continent, his status was not low. The tables around him were empty, as everyone was terrified of the snake flicking its tongue.

Wu Yao and Xia Wan still wore their flower-adorned hats, but they had gone outside to look at the sea instead of staying in the cabin.

What was surprising, however, was that Mu Xingye, who had been demoted to a fifth-class citizen, had somehow transformed into an Earl. He wore a glittering golden wig, had a small mustache pasted on his upper lip, and was pretentiously wandering around with a wine glass.

He deliberately avoided the area around Xie Lingjiu and would occasionally shoot wary glances in his direction.

Xie Lingjiu glanced at him expressionlessly before looking away.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao, dressed as waiters and carrying trays, felt their hearts skip a beat when they saw Mu Xingye.

Mu Xingye was also very alert. As soon as the two appeared, his gaze locked onto them, discovering them.

He made a throat-slitting gesture towards them. Not seeing the little cub, he quickly ignored them.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Good thing he couldn’t see the little cub.

Before they could fully relax, they turned their heads again and gasped, “What the hell?” their eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

They saw Gu Rong, taking advantage of his invisibility, darting around the dance floor in an S-shaped pattern, like a little loach, weaving back and forth.

After running around in a circle, he ran up to the band, stood right in front, pulled out his silver straw again, used the straw as a baton, waved his little arms, acting as a tiny conductor, directing the band’s performance…

After conducting the band, Gu Rong then used the straw to drink up all the orange juice a waiter had just put down.

The two players: “…”

Livestream Chat: […]

Good heavens!

However, no one saw, sitting on the nearby piano frame, a three-year-old child with folded arms. He had exquisite features, wore a black robe, and was surrounded by a faint black mist.

He watched the little cub enjoying himself, a trace of amusement showing in his scarlet eyes.