2: Class monitor, can I borrow your black stockings?

The thirty-odd girls on the deck were all stunned.

Tang Ran's ample chest rose and fell violently, being the first to snap out of the shock.

She wiped her face and took a large stride forward.

"I! I've awakened!"

She clenched her fists. "There's a voice in my head. I have [Frenzy], a B-rank combat talent!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the third Xia sister, Xia Mo, also stepped forward.

She was only wearing a thin silk bra and panties; her long legs were dazzlingly white.

There was no trace of shyness on her face as she used her body to shield her stark-naked second sister, Xia Lai.

"I... mine is S-rank, [Shadow Assassin]!"

S-rank!

The sound of sharp intakes of breath rippled through the crowd.

The Study Committee Member, Li Yaozhi, also walked out.

She subconsciously avoided looking at Chen Du's upper body.

She adjusted her lace dance dress, her long legs in black stockings pressed tightly together.

"I am a [Diviner], A-rank. I can foresee some... oh no!"

Before she could finish, her face turned deathly pale.

Terror welled up in her beautiful eyes as she stared fixedly at the thick fog at the bow.

It was as if something utterly horrific was about to emerge from there!

Almost at the same time, a voice rudely interrupted her warning.

Cr-crack... crackle... the sound of bones being ground inch by inch drifted eerily from the fog at the bow.

The viscous mist began to churn.

A figure carrying a white lantern slowly emerged.

Seaweed hung from its rotting black robes.

Hunched over, it approached step by step, its feet making dull thuds against the iron deck.

As it drew closer, the lantern's light grew increasingly ghastly, illuminating the face beneath the hood.

Holy shit, what the hell kind of face is that?!

Swollen, ulcerated, and covered in pustules and pits.

One eye socket was empty, while the other cloudy eyeball spun wildly, bulging like a dead fish.

Its mouth split open to its ears, revealing two rows of decaying, yellow-black teeth.

A foul stench wafted toward them!

"Ah! A monster! So disgusting!" A timid girl screamed in terror, nearly vomiting on the spot.

The monster abruptly stopped in its tracks.

Its eyeball locked onto the screaming girl.

"Disgusting?"

"You... fresh Sacrifice... actually dare to call me disgusting?"

It raised the bone-white lantern in its hand.

A ghastly pale beam of light locked onto the girl!

The girl's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the floor, her dress immediately soaked by a foul-smelling liquid.

"No... please..."

The Ferryman grinned, revealing a smile that caused physical discomfort.

It made a grabbing motion from a distance!

An invisible force throttled the girl's neck, slowly lifting her off the deck.

"He... help..."

Chen Du's muscles bulged!

Without time to think, he let out a thunderous shout: "Run! Scatter! Find a place to hide!"

Before his roar faded, he had already lunged into a nearby pile of bones.

The pungent stench made him want to retch.

Just as he hid himself, a short, shrill scream echoed in the air.

The girl shriveled up rapidly, like a punctured balloon!

In just two or three seconds.

A living person had turned into a withered corpse, nothing but skin and bones.

Skin clung tightly to bone, and her eye sockets were deeply sunken.

Bang!

The corpse exploded in mid-air, turning into a shower of light motes.

This horrific scene caused all the girls' brains to stall.

Even more bizarrely, the light motes did not dissipate.

Instead, drawn by some force, they slowly descended and eventually merged into the pitch-black deck beneath their feet.

The eerie runes on the deck seemed to flicker for a moment.

[styx ferry durability +5%, current durability is 85%.]

The emotionless notification voice rang out again.

At that very moment, on the cover of the ancient flesh-and-blood book in Chen Du's mind.

The tightly closed vertical eye suddenly opened a crack!

A flash of bloody light passed, and new words of blood slowly appeared on the inner pages of the notebook:

[Soul Essence... can be used to repair the ferry... can be used as a high-grade Sacrifice...]

Chen Du's mind exploded!

Soul Essence... so that was it.

His dead classmates... would become nourishment for this broken ship!

They weren't passengers!

They were... living spare parts!

This realization chilled him to the bone even more than the monster's slaughter!

"Aaaaaah—!"

"A devil! This is a devil!"

Hysterical screams and cries echoed across the deck.

The girls completely broke down, fleeing in all directions like headless chickens.

"Don't run blindly!" Ye Qiu tried to maintain order.

Xia Lai screamed, no longer caring about anything.

Naked, she ran frantically in the opposite direction, soap bubbles flying everywhere; she just wanted to get as far away from that monster as possible.

The Ferryman was extremely satisfied with the chaotic scene.

It turned its hideous head, its single eye scanning the fresh bodies screaming and fleeing.

"Let's play a game..."

"Hide and seek."

"I love... hearing your wails before you die... hehehe..."

It set off, lantern in hand, and began to search the entire ferry.

Chen Du hid behind the pile of bones, covering his mouth, his heart pounding wildly!

The [sacrifice notebook]!

The interface was appallingly simple.

At the very top was an illusory input box, seemingly waiting for a Sacrifice.

Below it, there were only two options.

[Supplies]

[Abilities]

Sacrifice... Sacrifice what? These beach shorts?

This was the only thing he had.

But if he sacrificed them, could he trade them for an ability strong enough to insta-kill the monster?

Chen Du didn't dare to gamble.

While he was calculating rapidly in his mind, a startled cry came from not far away.

"Zhou Qian! What are you doing!"

He saw that in order to seize the gap behind the stern winch, Zhou Qian had actually pushed her best friend out of the way!

The friend stumbled out of cover.

She happened to be exposed right in front of the Ferryman, who was slowly approaching with his lantern.

"No!" the girl screamed in despair.

Seeing this, Zhao Mengmeng's lips turned white with fear.

She didn't dare to scold Zhou Qian, but she turned her head, saw Chen Du hiding, and screamed with a sob:

"Chen Du! What are you doing! Go save her!"

"You're the only boy in our class! Aren't you really strong?!"

Chen Du hid behind the bone pile, not even bothering to look up.

Save her? With what? Use these big shorts to engage in melee combat with a monster?

Idiot.

His brain was working at high speed, directly filtering out the moral pressure Zhao Mengmeng was trying to exert.

He needed a Sacrifice.

A Sacrifice of sufficient value!

Tang Ran's sports bra? An Nuonuo's loli dress? Xia Mo's silk bra?

No... those things were too ordinary.

Suddenly, his gaze crossed the chaotic crowd and fixed on the cargo pile.

Li Yaozhi!

And those long legs in black stockings shimmering under the blood moon.

Ordinary things had too little value to trade for the power to turn the tables.

Beach shorts wouldn't work, sports bras wouldn't work... but what if... the Sacrifice carried conceptual value?

Li Yaozhi, the icy school beauty, the cold and aloof Study Committee Member.

The sexy outfit and black stockings she was wearing were themselves symbols of contrast, voyeurism, and social death!

These abstract concepts might be far more valuable than a simple piece of clothing!

The notebook had said that Sacrifice was not an equal exchange!

It was a gamble!

He would use those black stockings to gamble for a chance to kill the monster!

Thinking of this, Chen Du no longer hesitated.

He lunged out from behind the bone pile and rushed toward the cargo pile where Li Yaozhi was hiding!

Li Yaozhi was secretly observing the outside when she suddenly felt a flash by her side.

A lean, muscular body with the scent of sweat and a strong sense of pressure pressed up against her!

"Ah!" She was about to scream.

A large hand covered her small mouth!

Chen Du's muscular upper body almost completely pinned her against the cargo box.

In the darkness, those eyes shone like those of a hungry beast!

He didn't waste words, his voice kept extremely low:

"Li Yaozhi, do you want to live?"

"If you want to live, take off your stockings and give them to me!"