Survival of the Poorest 2.0: Ghost Cruise

The year I hit rock bottom, I got sucked into a game. The rule was to survive a week on 50 dollars, and the winner would walk away with one million dollars. Everyone else was desperate to win, but I was the only one trying to escape. What they did not know was that I was the previous round's winner, and killing me meant they could steal my 500 million dollars. Chapter 1 I found myself in a stark white room packed with people. The system's robotic voice announced, "Welcome, all 100 players, to the Survival of the Poorest. Starting funds: 50 dollars. Objective: Survive 7 days inside the game. The winner gets 1 million dollars in prize money! Overspending, dying, or stepping outside the designated area will be treated as a forfeit, and you will carry one million dollars in debt." Then, with a sly tone, it continued, "Now then, do any cowards want to back out?" Just like the last round, no one chose to leave. Every face lit up with excitement, as if the million dollars were already within reach. "Um..." I slowly raised my hand, and all eyes snapped toward me at once. The system's threatening voice echoed in my head, saying, "Player 66, a reminder that you were the winner of the previous round, and if you forcefully exit, you will carry a 500 million dollar debt. Only players who win two rounds in a row are allowed to cash out and leave." I could not help but wonder why they did not mention the rule earlier. I asked the system in my mind, "What if I lose?" The system replied, "Your prize will be forfeited, and you will have a debt of one million dollars." I lowered my hand. "Never mind." "You're insane!" "Attention seeker!" Everyone turned their attention back to the front. The system announced, "The game rules are now active, and players may not withdraw. All 100 players have been deployed. "Welcome to the 'Ghost Cruise'. Remember: you are all stowaways, so good luck staying alive." A flash of white light burst out, and we were all transported onto a cruise ship floating on the open sea. The system gave each of us a card that we could use to make purchases anywhere on the ship. However, it only had 50 dollars loaded on it. My interface displayed three stats: hunger, thirst, and energy, and all three were currently in order. Once any of them hit zero, the player would be eliminated immediately. I was deployed on the third-floor deck and noticed the cruise ship was sailing across pitch-black waters. It meant the sea was unfathomably deep, and anyone thrown overboard would vanish without a trace. I found a staff member and asked for a map. The ship had eight levels in total. The first and second levels were crew quarters and work areas, off-limits to regular passengers. The third level was the deck and passenger lobby. Meanwhile, the fourth through seventh levels were filled with countless cabins, plus a theater, casino, spa, duty-free shop, movie theater, restaurants, and more. Lastly, the eighth level featured an open sun deck with a large swimming pool, while the other half was a buffet area. However, the ship actually had a hidden half-level above that. It was where the VIP suites were. VIP guests conducted all their activities up there, separated from the regular passenger areas. I then checked out the convenience store and saw bottled water for 20 dollars, sandwiches for 55 dollars, and cake for 70 dollars each. The prices were exactly what I expected for a luxury cruise ship. Based on my experience, the buffet restaurant had free water available during meal service. Since it was mealtime, I headed to the top-floor restaurant, where a decent line had already formed at the buffet entrance, waiting to scan their cards for entry. I joined the queue, standing behind two players who were one step ahead of me at the card reader. They pulled out the cards the system had given them and handed them to the attendant, but when she swiped them, the machine started beeping frantically. The attendant's expression instantly changed, and she told them, "These aren't legitimate room cards. You're not guests." Chapter 2 The two players tried to bolt, but several burly security guards rushed over. The attendant slammed the restaurant doors shut, blocking the view of the guests inside. The guards clamped down on the two players with iron grips, and their screams rang out in agony. Two sharp cracks were heard as their arms were twisted at sickeningly unnatural angles. Then, the guards dragged them away from the restaurant entrance. Moments later, the system announced, "Player 17 and Player 42 have been exposed as stowaways! They were eliminated with a one-million-dollar debt!" The doors slowly opened again, and the attendant put her professional smile back on. By then, I had already handed my card to the attendant, but she had not had a chance to scan it yet. The attendant held my card, moving it toward the machine. My heart hammered frantically in my chest, and I thought, 'What do I do? What do I do?' The guards were right there, and scanning the card would expose me instantly. Moreover, the massive crowd behind me had blocked any escape route. In a flash of panic, I suddenly grabbed the attendant's hand like I was steadying myself, while my other hand flew to my mouth as I gagged loudly. "I'm so, so sorry..." I mumbled weakly through my hand, looking embarrassed. "I'm going to be sick!" "Miss, are you alright?" The attendant jerked her hand back like she had been shocked. The guards stared at me warily. If I had something contagious, they would drag me out, and the system would eliminate me. Just then, a hand steadied me firmly and smoothly pulled the player card from the attendant's hand. A voice beside me said, "Sorry, my wife's morning sickness is pretty bad. Where's the restroom?" The guards' expressions visibly relaxed. I covered my mouth again and gagged. The attendant quickly pointed into the distance, saying, "Over there. The restroom is that way." A buzz-cut man in his early 20s supported my pale body and hurried me away from the restaurant. Once we had gotten far enough away, we both dropped the performance. I pulled my arm from his grip and said, "Thanks for that." He flashed a cocky grin. "Hey, show-off, want to team up? One person playing 'rat' stands out too much. I'm Player 8, Henry Newman." I hesitated for a moment. Yes, we were stowaways, rats that could not exist in the open on this cruise ship. Surviving with just 50 dollars while pretending to be normal guests meant that two people covering for each other was better than going solo, and he had just proven his skills. "I'm Player 66, Julia Webb." I made up a name on the spot, agreeing to team up. Keeping your real name hidden was key in this kind of game, especially when I had a 500-million-dollar bounty on my head. It seemed like sneaking into the buffet was not going to work, and getting free water this round was harder than the last one. "Come on, let's go get some water." I led Henry as we slipped down to the fourth floor. The casino was packed with people coming and going, and the staff were busy entertaining guests, so it looked like they only checked chips, not cards. The air inside was thick with the smell of ozone, mixed with the electronic chirps of slot machines, the spinning clatter of roulette wheels, and the frantic shouts of gamblers. It was a wall of chaotic noise. I found an internal phone meant for guest use and picked up the receiver. A sweet voice from the operator came through. "Hello, how may I help you?" I spoke in a slightly anxious tone, "I'm a guest in Room 407. Send up four bottles of water. Charge it to the room, just leave them by the door! And hurry!" Chapter 3 I handed the phone to Henry and had him request water the same way. I said, "At this time, most people are either at the restaurant or just boarded and exploring, so rooms are probably empty. Cruise service is all about efficiency, and they won't question small requests like this, especially when it's charged to the room." Henry's eyes lit up. "Genius! Let me try!" We immediately left the casino and headed quickly toward the cabin area on the fourth level. Outside Room 407, four 500ml bottles of water sat on the floor. I quickly grabbed all four bottles and stuffed them into my backpack. We did not linger and moved on immediately to collect water from the other rooms we had called. In just half an hour, we had scored over 50 bottles of water. Henry was panting heavily. "Julia, that's way too much water. It's only day one... We won't need this much." I shook my head. "We have to stockpile all our drinking water today. This method won't work for much longer." Based on my experience, the system would patch this loophole quickly. However, I did not tell Henry that. Henry asked in surprise, "Why? How do you know?" I vaguely answered, "Every bottle we take gets charged to some unlucky person's room account. Once they notice weird charges on their bill, or staff realize the water they deliver keeps disappearing, they'll definitely investigate." The heavy load of water was both a lifeline and a burden, and we needed to find somewhere to hide it all. This time, I kept my guard up and had Henry hide part of the water separately. Then, I took my share and stashed it in my own spot. After hiding everything, we met up at the agreed location. Water was handled, so next came food. I had tried ordering food to be charged to a room earlier. However, the front desk mentioned they did not provide food delivery and told me to go eat at the restaurant. Just then, we heard arguing coming from the hallway. "I found this first!" "Bullcrap! I clearly saw it first!" We peeked around the corner and saw two players fighting over half a sandwich in a trash can. My heart sank. It was only the first day, and people were already digging through garbage. Their arguing caught the attention of a cleaning lady, who spoke briefly into her walkie-talkie. Within two minutes, a group of security guards rushed over. "Show us your room cards." Naturally, they could not produce any, and the guards quickly hauled them away. Elimination and debt awaited them. The restaurants were inaccessible, the convenience store had outrageous prices, room service would not deliver food, and scavenging trash cans would get us caught by security. What other options were there? We wandered over to the duty-free shop. A shop assistant at the chocolate counter was holding out a sample tray, and Henry and I exchanged a glance. I walked over first with a curious expression. "Excuse me, is this dark chocolate on the bitter side? I'm not a fan of things that are too sweet." "You can try this one," the shop assistant said, handing me a sample of chocolate. "This is 75% cocoa. It is rich, bittersweet with a lingering finish." She enthusiastically launched into her pitch, tilting the tray toward me. While her attention was fully on selling the chocolate, Henry's hand casually swept across the sample tray. Several of the largest chocolate pieces and two thick nut-covered cookies vanished into his palm in an instant. The shop assistant noticed nothing and kept talking about where the cocoa beans came from. From a short distance away, Henry flashed me an OK sign. Just then, the alarm at the entrance started beeping loudly. A player with bulging pockets had just stepped out of the duty-free shop, and a swarm of guards lunged at him, catching him on the spot and pulling stolen food from his clothes. Chapter 4 Naturally, that player got eliminated. I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, relieved that Henry had only swiped samples. That would not trigger the alarm. After downing a few chocolates, my hunger bar went back down. I said admiringly, "What did you use to do? Your hands are incredibly fast." Henry grinned. "I used to be a magician." "Impressive." I gave him genuine praise. "With skills like that, you won't starve." Henry lifted his chin proudly. "Piece of cake. I used to make a living doing this, but..." He looked around and lowered his voice. "Samples only tide you over. The portions are too small, and there are only a few sampling stations on the whole ship. Do it too much, and we'll get caught." "Right, can't keep milking the same cow." I agreed. Night fell, and our energy levels dropped severely. However, finding a place to sleep on the cruise was not easy. The lounge chairs on the open deck were already taken, and the hallways were too dangerous. We needed to find somewhere safe to spend the night. I remembered the karaoke rooms I had scoped out during the day. "Do you want to check out the karaoke bar? The couches there are big enough, so it might work." "Sure." Henry nodded. "Karaoke's probably noisy, but the couches should be decent for sleeping." The karaoke lounge was small, and one person was howling into a microphone, while the air reeked of smoke, alcohol, and perfume. The luxurious wraparound couches were wide enough, but they were already sprawled with people lying in every direction. There was no need to guess that they were definitely players who had beaten us to the karaoke bar. Henry brazenly tried to negotiate with them. "Hey guys, any chance you could make some room for us?" A player with a scar across his face snarled, "Get lost!" His three equally burly companions sat up straight, eyeing us with hostility, muscles tensed in clear threat. Even the guy who had been singing shot us a murderous glare. Henry did not try to force the issue and backed away with a smile. However, just as he reached the doorway, flames suddenly erupted from the scarred man's body without warning. "Holy shit! I'm on fire?!" The scarred man was the first to scream. His companions all sprang off the couch in panic. The flames spread rapidly, seemingly reaching toward the ceiling. "Run!" The five burly men fled from the karaoke room in panic. At the exact moment the last one bolted out, Henry moved at impressive speed near the door, and his fingers brushed the lock with lightning speed. The door locked with a click. Looking back, there were no flames at all, and it was the magician's illusion. "Done deal." He flashed a brilliant smile, walked over to the now-empty couch, and patted it, saying to me, "Come on, let's sleep!" I lay down on the couch, thinking to myself that things had gone unusually smoothly today because of Henry. However, that smoothness scared me. When the moment came for the system to announce the hunt, would Henry bare his fangs at me? Sure enough, all the sampling stations on the ship had disappeared the next day. Calling to charge water to rooms no longer worked either. Someone was extremely hungry, so they took a desperate gamble and tried to steal food from an NPC, only to get thrown overboard by security. Henry and I wandered the ship, finding every restaurant entrance heavily guarded by vigilant staff. Finally, someone could not take it anymore and pooled 55 dollars with another person to buy a sandwich. Henry asked me, "Should we pool our money and buy food too?" I shook my head. "If we can't find a way to actually fill our stomachs, eating one meal now just means we'll still get eliminated tomorrow." Chapter 5 By early evening, Henry's and my hunger meters had already risen to a dangerous level. At that moment, the poolside snack bar on the eighth floor opened for service. The pool area was open access and did not require card checks, while the bar itself only scanned cards at checkout. Henry winked at me and said, "Time to put on a show." A group at one table looked like they had finished eating and left the outdoor pool area, and a lot of half-eaten food was still sitting there. While the server was not paying attention, Henry casually sat at that table and pulled the fruit platter toward himself. He frowned and complained in a voice just loud enough for nearby people to hear. "Where did she run off to? I told her not to wander around." Then, he stabbed a piece of watermelon and popped it into his mouth, waving at me in the distance. "Hey, Julia! Take a seat. I ordered everything!" I immediately slipped into character and hurried over to take a seat. A server glanced our way when he heard the commotion. However, he naturally assumed we were friends of the previous guests and paid us no more attention. Right under the server's nose, we brazenly polished off all the remaining food. Henry even grabbed a few plates of food from other tables the servers had not cleared yet. After a full meal, our hunger bars shot back down, and we quietly slipped back downstairs. We headed to the karaoke bar as usual to rest, but just as we reached the entrance, five burly figures burst out and instantly pinned us against the wall. It was the scarred man and his four buddies from last night, the ones Henry had chased off with his illusion. "So it was you two–you tricked me! I was wondering how the hell a fire started on the ship! Get them!" Henry was slammed to the ground as the men kicked and punched him. Yet, all he could do was curl up to protect himself while muffled groans and cries of pain kept escaping him. I tried to help, but two people held me down tight. "Search them! Take everything valuable they've got!" All the food we had stolen from the restaurant, and even the bottled water in our backpacks, was stripped away. "Listen up, punk! If you try to mess with me again, I'll throw you overboard to feed the fish!" the scar-faced man snarled, kicking Henry one last time before leaving with his crew. I quickly helped Henry up. "Are you okay?" His face was bruised, his lip was split, and the skin at his temple was scraped raw. Deep in those eyes, I caught a glimpse of something bloodthirsty, like a predator just before the kill. "I'll live..." He wiped the blood from his lip, his gaze still frighteningly cold. "Julia, you go rest inside the karaoke bar. I'll be there in a bit." "You're badly hurt! Where are you going?" I tried to grab him, but he firmly pushed my hand away. "Getting some medicine. Don't worry about me." Henry insisted on leaving. With no other choice, I entered the karaoke bar and found a couch to lie down on. Just as I was drifting off, the system broadcast suddenly rang out. "Players 22, 37, 48, 55, and 63 have been eliminated. They now have a one-million-dollar debt!" I jolted wide awake, no longer feeling drowsy. I remembered that the scarred man was Player 22. Five people were all eliminated! What the hell had happened?