The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

After the tragedy, survivors invariably asked themselves, "How did things turn out this way?"

At first, the cruise ship had merely encountered a storm.

Though the rain came suddenly, changeable weather at sea wasn't uncommon, and the subsequent power outage was normal. As for the engine room problems, they weren't unheard of, and encounters with sea creatures like squid had made the news before.

The only one slightly flustered was the captain. He was an acting captain; the World Cruise Liner belonged to the 3Q Group and had no permanent captain, hiring professionals only before sailing.

The captain had previously worked Southeast Asian routes and wasn't particularly familiar with the Yellow Sea area, though it wasn't entirely foreign to him. After a brief bout of agitation, he calmed down and handled the situation based on past experience.

Other staff members, though cursing their bad luck, showed no signs of panic. Everyone had been trained and wasn't new to sea voyages, so they knew what to do.

Seeing everything under control, Jian Jing used the pretext of notifying passengers to check on the situation in the cabin area.

The passengers, all awakened, opened their doors to inquire.

"What's happening?"

"Is it windy? The waves are huge."

"Do you have seasickness pills? I think I'm going to be sick."

"Oh my God, what's going on? Why is the ship rocking so much?"

Jian Jing, feigning authority, announced: "There are life jackets in the rooms. Put them on and gather in the main hall."

"What? Is the ship sinking?" someone screamed.

"Stay calm, it's just a precaution," Jian Jing said. "Isn't it scarier to stay alone in your room?"

"That makes sense. Let's gather first." The ship was rocking, but humans, relying on technology, had conquered nature multiple times. Most people remained calm and returned to their rooms to pack.

Before boarding the cruise, everyone had to attend a rescue class to learn how to wear the life-saving equipment in the cabins. So, although alarmed, no one was at a loss, and all managed to put on their life jackets properly.

At this point, Jian Jing noticed a problem.

"Have you seen Jenny?" she asked, grabbing a familiar-looking photographer.

It was the cameraman who had been following her. He hesitated, then shook his head. "No, hey, has anyone seen Marlon and Jenny?"

"Marlon's drunk," someone said, dragging the heavily intoxicated director out of the lounge. "I haven't seen Jenny."

She couldn't still be on the ninth floor, could she?

Jian Jing hesitated but decided to return upstairs.

The ship swayed back and forth, seemingly worse than before. Fortunately, all large objects on the cruise were secured, preventing accidents.

Jian Jing returned to the restaurant as quickly as possible.

The moment she stepped onto the floor, her intuition was triggered.

An extremely cold, shivering sensation rose from the top of her head, crawling down her spine. Her hair stood on end, pulling her skin painfully.

Jian Jing slowly looked down and lifted her foot.

The sole of her sneaker pulled out thin, transparent threads.

The carpet in the hallway looked like hairy jelly, covered in a layer of crystal-clear adhesive. A strange yet familiar smell wafted through the air.

Jian Jing held her breath and nimbly jumped onto the stair railing, using her night vision device to observe her surroundings.

There was something under a distant decorative painting.

She switched her high-tech glasses to telescope mode and zoomed in.

A tentacle (possibly from a squid, cuttlefish, or something similar), with long suction cups secreting mucus, was clinging to the corner and moving outward. Its motion resembled that of an earthworm, arching and stretching, thick yet agile.

Jian Jing: "Shit!"

The tip of the tentacle immediately stiffened, as if it had also caught her scent.

Their eyes (?) met, and the air instantly became tense.

Half a second later, both parties moved simultaneously.

Jian Jing took off running. The tentacle slid across the floor like a smooth snake, reaching the staircase in the blink of an eye. The tip of its tail curled slightly, reaching for her waist.

She grabbed the handrail, leaped into the air, and simultaneously pulled out a gun from her storage compartment, aiming it at the tentacle and firing.

The tentacle flinched in pain, retracting slightly.

Jian Jing's face changed dramatically.

A single bullet could only make it bleed a little. How was she supposed to deal with this? Better to run.

Relying on her agile body, she slipped through the gap between the stair railings, dropping two floors at once to the seventh floor area.

Having played games for several days, she was familiar with the layout and headed straight for the kitchen of the buffet restaurant.

There were some very sharp knives there.

Jian Jing chose a suitable one and squinted at the pursuing tentacle. It was thicker and longer than she had imagined, following her all the way from the ninth floor, its length astonishing, and still no sign of the main body.

She slowly backed away, hiding behind a stainless steel table for cover.

The tentacle curled its tip, moving left and right for a while, then suddenly darted out.

Jian Jing was about to throw the steak knife when she saw it make a turn, not attacking her but instead attaching to a tuna fish kept in the sink.

It was unclear how its suction cups worked, but the nearly half-meter-long tuna was reduced to just skin in an instant, with no flesh left.

The tentacle flicked its pointed tip contentedly, then suddenly split in two, like a forking tree branch, and jabbed fiercely towards Jian Jing.

Even more hair-raising was how flexible the forked tips were, resembling a two-headed snake from a supernatural film, flanking left and right to cut off her escape routes.

Jian Jing leaped to dodge, stepping onto the dining table and swinging her arm down forcefully.

It got stuck.

The blade that could cut through beef bones was lodged in the tentacle, and she could feel it embedded in something hard.

A soft-bodied creature with bones inside?

This was absolutely ridiculous!

Jian Jing let go and retreated, her worldview shaken once again.

She had thought it was a giant squid like in disaster movies, but now it seemed this was no mere oversized squid – it was more like a tentacled version of the Alien.

This was big trouble.

She thought, quickly summoning her cheat: "System, draw a card, special card."

At this point, ordinary cards were useless; she needed the expensive ones.

[System: Special card drawing in progress]

[Name: Special Card - Multifunctional Army Knife (Cold Weapon)]

[Description: A versatile tool from the multifunctional series, an anti-fouling, rust-resistant, unbreakable multi-purpose army knife made of special materials. Extremely sharp, capable of cutting diamonds. Includes basic forms such as bottle opener, nail clipper, screwdriver, tweezers, scissors, saw blade, etc. When not in use, it appears as a black hairpin. Special contribution points can be consumed to add more forms.]

[Note: After binding to the host, it is locked and cannot be used by others]

The default blade of the army knife was too short for monster-slaying, so Jian Jing had no choice but to spend 5 special contribution points to add a katana form.

It felt perfect in her hand.

Jian Jing looked up at the restless tentacle and decided to use it as her first target.

The tentacle seemed to sense her killing intent. Its head, which had been moving towards the refrigerator, paused and turned to stare at her.

"Come on," she taunted.

The two-headed monster reared up like a snake and darted towards her.

Jian Jing wanted to end this quickly. She activated her White Kitten State, leaping and dodging in mid-air while wielding the katana. Its weight was just right, swinging with a cold, hard gleam that followed her movements.

The snow-white blade sliced through the vicious tentacle.

The mucus-covered skin burst open, flesh separated, and the second tail that had just grown after devouring the tuna fell to the ground.

The severed tail writhed on the spot, shedding layers of red and white flesh, revealing a thinner entity inside.

Jian Jing stared at it, feeling it looked somewhat familiar.

But the main tentacle didn't give her a chance to pick it up for a closer look. Starting from the upper trunk, its form suddenly expanded, as if some nutrient had been pumped into it, swelling from the thickness of a bucket to that of a water tank in an instant.

It thrashed its body, overturning knives, forks, tables, and chairs in the kitchen, all sweeping towards her.

Jian Jing, being mere flesh and blood, couldn't withstand such an assault. She quickly retreated.

Faint footsteps sounded from behind.

"Run!" she warned the unfortunate soul who had stumbled in, without looking back.

Instead of the expected scream, her warning was met with a gunshot.

The bullet broke the sound barrier with a sharp whistle.

Her intuition played a crucial role at this moment. Before her brain could process the direction and speed, her body had already reacted, rolling on the ground to avoid the sneak attack.

Looking back, sure enough, it was Jenny.

"I knew you'd cause trouble," she said, her face contorted, mercilessly pulling the trigger again.

The bullets sprayed continuously, with some even ricocheting off the walls, nearly hitting Jian Jing in the calf. Furious, she laughed sardonically, "Have you gone mad?"

Jenny didn't respond, emptying an entire magazine in one go.

Jian Jing had been waiting for this opportunity. She immediately lunged forward, grasping Jenny's arm and twisting it outward. Simultaneously, she exerted force with her leg and waist, sweeping Jenny off balance and bringing her to the ground.

While Jenny was skilled with a gun, her hand-to-hand combat abilities were ordinary. She was no match for Jian Jing's advanced fighting techniques and was swiftly subdued.

But Jenny proved to be a fierce opponent. She sank her teeth into Jian Jing's fingers, clamping down with all her might.

The pain was excruciating – Jian Jing had never experienced such agony before. Unable to endure it, she reflexively released her grip.

Jenny quickly broke free, but this time, instead of attacking Jian Jing, she lunged towards the tentacle.

"Hey!" Jian Jing's face paled as she reached out to grab her.

However, Jenny seemed to have taken a potent stimulant, her speed surpassing that of an Olympic champion. In the blink of an eye, she appeared beneath the tentacle.

Jenny spread her arms wide, fervently shouting, "Cleanse the world of its sins..."

Before she could finish her proclamation, the tentacle, unable to contain its eagerness, pierced through her torso. Its countless suction cups acted like powerful straws, drawing her flesh and blood into its core.

Jenny transformed from a robust, healthy woman into an emaciated figure, and then into a desiccated corpse.

The entire process took no more than five seconds. Death came so swiftly that it left Jian Jing completely stunned.

Realizing the danger, she turned and ran.

Thanks to her quick thinking, she narrowly escaped as the tentacle's size exploded in the next second.

Its dimensions grew to the width of several people embracing, almost instantly blocking the corridor. More terrifyingly, its intelligence seemed to have grown along with its size. Realizing its body couldn't pass through, it immediately split into three parts, pursuing the fleeing Jian Jing from different directions.

With everyone else downstairs, Jian Jing dared not lead the tentacle there. She ran upstairs instead.

The tentacle followed relentlessly.

She remained incredibly calm, first using her White Kitten State to leap up to the ninth floor using the staircase railing. The stairwell was even narrower than the corridor, forcing the tentacle to split into two more tails to reduce its size.

As the tentacle divided to give chase, Jian Jing grasped the handrail and, like any cat would do, adjusted her direction mid-air, leaping back down.

Her sword struck mercilessly at the nearest tail.

One was severed.

She landed on the eighth-floor railing, spun around again, and repeated her tactic, jumping down once more and cutting off another tail.

The balance of power shifted slightly in her favor.

But at that moment, Jian Jing heard the voice of a crew member.

"Everyone, please remain calm. The lifeboats are located at the stern of the seventh floor."

This was quickly followed by passengers attempting to maintain composure: "Don't panic, ladies first. We're just taking precautions, we may not need to abandon ship."

Yes, everyone was still maintaining their composure, still able to think rationally, still showcasing the brilliance of human nature.

But this was the final second.

First came the stunned silence.

For about 0.3 seconds, nobody reacted. Those who saw it first froze, while those behind who couldn't see pushed forward, asking, "Why aren't we moving..."

Then, silence fell.

The tentacle, too, seemed unprepared for encountering so many "meals".

Or enemies, one could say.

It couldn't assess their combat capabilities and even recoiled slightly. But it wasn't the first to retreat. While it was still evaluating its opponents, the humans were the first to falter.

Blame it on horror movies, perhaps.

To varying degrees, everyone had seen tentacled monsters, had seen alien squids. They didn't need to analyze; they instinctively knew this thing was extremely dangerous.

"Aah!" Reason shut down, instinct took over.

The wisdom etched into human genes said: Danger, run!

As their strength scattered, the enemies became prey.

The tentacle became thoroughly excited.