Chapter 171
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The giant white cruise ship sailed on the deep sea, with the black sea surging. The cruise ship swayed from side to side, but it always moved steadily on the sea.
The name of this ship is “Polar Bear KMK-03”, abbreviated as Polar Bear, towering nine stories high, including restaurant, bar, gym, music hall, cinema, and other functional areas, capable of accommodating a full 2,300 people, truly a luxurious cruise ship.
However, the number of people sailing this time has exceeded the total capacity of the Polar Bear, reaching as many as 2,737 people, which is more than four hundred people above the usual number.
The additional passengers would only burden the cruise ship with eating, drinking, and other necessities, but the captain could not refuse these passengers because they were all families who used various connections to force their way onto the ship to escape to other places.
At nine in the morning.
When Fu Xuezhou woke up, Lou Yan was no longer in the room.
The silver-haired man instantly opened his eyes and felt the bed next to him, which was cold, indicating that the person had left long ago. He sat up on the bed, the blanket slipping down to his waist. Fu Xuezhou pursed his lips straight, wondering when Lou Yan had left. He hadn’t noticed.
Had he really become so trusting of Lou Yan now?
Fu Xuezhou got up to wash and changed his clothes before going out to find Lou Yan. He smelled various scents in the air, listened to all the subtle sounds, gradually finding his target among the noisy and complicated information.
The silver-haired man walked through the crowd with an indifferent expression until he reached the deck, where he saw Lou Yan leaning against the railing, holding a cigarette, chatting and laughing with several young people with dyed hair.
Lou Yan’s hair was a bit longer than before, and he was wearing a loose white knitted sweater. The neckline of the sweater was large, revealing his long neck and collarbone. He wore light blue pants on his lower body, with the cuffs tucked into handsome black leather boots. This outfit made him look young and carefree. The sea breeze blew fiercely from behind, lifting Lou Yan’s slightly curly black hair and the knitted sweater, making Lou Yan squint his eyes in enjoyment, his smile deep and lazy, occasionally exhaling a faint puff of smoke.
The male and female non-mainstream young people opposite him could hardly take their eyes off Lou Yan, and a few of them couldn’t help but swallow saliva secretly.
Seeing this scene, Fu Xuezhou’s expression turned cold. He quickly walked up, and when Lou Yan heard footsteps, he turned to look at Fu Xuezhou, smiling faintly, then turned back to the young people and said, “My friend is here. Let’s chat later.”
Reluctantly, the young people left, reminding him as they left, “Brain, don’t forget to go to the bar with us tonight. You promised us.”
Lou Yan smiled, “Of course.”
Once the young people had left, Fu Xuezhou approached Lou Yan, looking coldly at the backs of those people. “Who are they?”
“Just some strangers I met on the ship,” Lou Yan shrugged.
Fu Xuezhou sneered, “Are you going to the bar to drink with a group of strangers?”
“A proper relaxation before the battle is essential,” Lou Yan said casually.
Fu Xuezhou insisted, “You’re not allowed to go.”
Lou Yan raised an eyebrow, looking him up and down, “Are you sure?”
Fu Xuezhou’s hostility emerged as he warned, “You can try going.”
Lou Yan chuckled lazily, “Forget it, I’m just appeasing them. I didn’t really plan to go drinking with them.”
Fu Xuezhou softened his tone, looking deeply at Lou Yan. “You better keep your word.”
Lou Yan clicked his tongue, then glanced around and signaled Fu Xuezhou to look around, “Have you noticed that the people on this ship don’t seem to be in good spirits?”
Fu Xuezhou looked around expressionlessly. There were many people on the deck, but they had two different expressions. Some were reveling in wild joy and pleasure, while others wore worried expressions, standing heavily by the railing and gazing at the distant sea.
Lou Yan took a puff of his cigarette and waved to a couple of ship crew members who looked troubled. When they approached, he took out a cigarette box and handed it over, “You seem worried about something. Can you chat with me?”
This cigarette was a famous brand, very expensive. The two crew members looked at each other, each cautiously took a cigarette and stuck it behind their ears. The slightly chubby crew member spoke first, “Wasn’t there an announcement about the Anomaly Resurgence a few days ago? Actually, before we set sail, we heard some rumors. Such as a giant monster hiding in the Pacific seabed, pulling passing ships down. Or there’s a ghost ship appearing in the North Pole Ocean, with all sorts of dead ghosts on it… We thought these were all false, but now it seems that these rumors might be the anomaly things that have come back to life. Sir, actually, from the captain to the crew, everyone on our ship feels very uneasy about this voyage, fearing that we might accidentally encounter those terrible anomalies.”
The other crew member sighed and comforted himself, “But it’s better on the sea than on land, right? It’s said that there are more and scarier anomalies on land than on the sea.”
“That’s true, but if we really encounter anomalies at sea, there’s nowhere for us to escape,” the chubby crew member scratched his head anxiously, “The people on this ship are all trying to escape to other places. It’s said that the fewer people there are, the less likely anomalies will appear. Not everyone on the ship is going to the North Pole. Many people will get off midway through the route. I heard the captain and first mate say that after we drop off all the passengers at the stations, we will also find a relatively safe place to stop and hide from danger. We won’t be going back to the country for the time being.”
Lou Yan nodded understandingly, “Do you have enough supplies? I see the alcohol on the ship is being consumed quite quickly.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a few people in the distance who had been drinking heavily finally vomited, leaning over the railing and vomiting uncontrollably.
The crew member said heavily, “Drink up. When all the alcohol is gone, there won’t be anything to drink… The world is coming to an end, and no one knows if they’ll live to see tomorrow. If you can’t even drink, people will go crazy sooner or later.”
Lou Yan looked at the people who had vomited, and after they finished, they wiped their mouths, took a few more sips of alcohol, and then embraced each other unclearly, gnawing on each other’s mouths.
Looking further away, there were people who had drunk too much, taking off their clothes and laughing wildly into the wind blowing from the sea, then attempting to climb over the railing and jump into the sea.
“Someone’s trying to jump into the ocean,” Lou Yan immediately warned.
“D*mn it!”
The two crew members quickly threw away their cigarettes and ran over to pull the person back onto the ship.
The rescued man sobered up a bit from his drunken state and asked eagerly, “Has the Anomaly Resurgence ended?”
The crew member said no, and the man who tried to jump into the sea burst into tears, angrily punching and kicking the crew members, “Why did you save me? Why do you want me to continue living in this terrifying world! You’re devils! Devils!!!”
Lou Yan couldn’t bear to watch anymore. He turned away and leaned on the railing, letting the sea breeze blow his black hair in front of his forehead, revealing his full forehead and clear eyebrows.
Fu Xuezhou walked up to him, his long silver hair also flying in the wind, with a few strands even flying in front of Lou Yan’s face.
The sea breeze carried a salty and humid smell, and the air was slightly cold. Lou Yan reached out and grabbed Fu Xuezhou’s hair, lazily taking a puff of his cigarette. “Fu Xuezhou, do you see?”
Fu Xuezhou’s scalp was pulled a little painfully. He turned his head and grabbed Lou Yan’s wrist, prying open Lou Yan’s fingers that were clutching his hair one by one. “See what?”
“The breakdown of ordinary people. Either endure or vent,” Lou Yan shook off the cigarette ash, which was blown by the wind onto the sea surface, “Everyone is uneasy.”
Fu Xuezhou remained indifferent. “Mmm.”
Lou Yan chuckled softly, “Guess if there are any other people on this ship heading to the North Pole?”
“I don’t know.”
“Just now, those non-mainstream guys who invited me to drink tonight are also going to the North Pole,” Lou Yan smiled playfully, “They look different from others. Although they are also uneasy, they are more excited. I asked them why they wanted to go to the North Pole, and they told me an interesting story. They said they were going to the Paradise of the North Pole.”
“Paradise of the North Pole?” Fu Xuezhou was puzzled. “Are they cultists?”
“No no no,” Lou Yan yawned, raising a finger and shaking it at Fu Xuezhou, “They are just ordinary people who have never shed blood. The reason they think there’s a Paradise in the North Pole is that they found a mysterious message in a drifting bottle.”
Fu Xuezhou’s eyebrows twitched. “A drifting bottle?”
“These non-mainstream guys have a strong fishy smell on them. They grew up by the sea and their families are in the fishing business,” Lou Yan said, “They went out to sea in a group half a month ago and encountered a storm. Their boat was almost capsized by the storm. These people were knocked unconscious by a big wave, thinking they were going to die. But they woke up safely in the end, and when they woke up, the storm had stopped, the weather was clear, and there were no clouds for miles. There was a blue drifting bottle on the sea next to their boat.”
Lou Yan’s voice was melodious and magnetic, making the story very fascinating. Fu Xuezhou listened attentively. “Go on.”
“They thought they were lucky to survive, so they brought the drifting bottle back home. Later, they found a cut newspaper inside the drifting bottle. There was only one article on the newspaper, titled ‘The Only Safe Paradise in the World.'”
Lou Yan smiled, but his eyes were cold. “The article predicted the announcement of the Anomaly Resurgence by the country, and also described the chaos in human society at the beginning of the Anomaly Resurgence. It also bluntly stated that anomalies had appeared all over the world, except for the Paradise in the North Pole, which was the only safe place for humans to live. These non-mainstream guys didn’t believe what was written in the newspaper at first, until the country actually announced the Anomaly Resurgence, they realized that everything in the newspaper was true. So they decided to go find the Paradise of the North Pole, to find a truly safe place where they could live for the rest of their lives. Do you think this tactic is similar to the methods used by anomalies to attract humans to come voluntarily?”
Fu Xuezhou’s face turned cold. “The Anomaly Lord…”
“I also suspect that this Paradise is related to the Anomaly Lord. It’s possible that the Anomaly Lord is hiding in the Paradise of the North Pole,” Lou Yan said softly, “Even if it’s not the Anomaly Lord, it could be a clue about the anomalies. The North Pole is too big for us to find the whereabouts of the Anomaly Lord by luck alone, so I want to go to the Paradise of the North Pole to find some clues.”
Fu Xuezhou nodded, his gaze deep. “Where is the Paradise of the North Pole?”
“I don’t know,” Lou Yan shrugged again innocently, “Those people didn’t tell me, so I agreed to go drinking with them just now. But since you won’t let me go drink with them, what should I do?”
Fu Xuezhou sneered, knowing that Lou Yan was still thinking about going drinking. He said directly, “I will go and take the newspaper and the drifting bottle from them.”
Lou Yan pretended to be surprised. “Are you going to drink with them? Can you get them drunk? Fu Xuezhou, don’t go there and get drunk after just a few sips. I don’t want to take care of a drunkard.”
“Besides drinking, I can also snatch, steal, and threaten them to hand it over voluntarily,” Fu Xuezhou said expressionlessly, “Besides, I can drink. I can drink them under the table.”
Lou Yan raised an eyebrow. “So confident, have you drunk before?”
Fu Xuezhou smirked, as if he had heard something funny, “Lou Yan, I’m bigger than you.”
“Bullsh*t!” Lou Yan’s sensitive nerve was touched, and his forehead veins bulged instantly. He subconsciously retorted, “Fu Xuezhou, stop talking nonsense. I’m not smaller than you anywhere.”
Fu Xuezhou smiled faintly, deliberately glanced at Lou Yan’s lower body, and said leisurely, “I mean, I’m older than you in age. Where did you think?”
Only then did Lou Yan realize that Fu Xuezhou wasn’t referring to that. His face turned red in an instant, and his expression became a bit awkward.
It was all because last night, when Fu Xuezhou and he were doing it, Fu Xuezhou had held both their… assets with one hand, rubbing them and making frivolous comments about who was bigger or smaller. He even made Lou Yan open his eyes wide to see clearly. Fu Xuezhou’s fingers were slender, his palms were large, and his skin was pale, making the contrast obvious. Lou Yan remembered that embarrassing scene so clearly even now. So when Fu Xuezhou said “I’m bigger than you” just now, Lou Yan immediately thought of last night’s incident, which led to his misunderstanding.
But Lou Yan wouldn’t admit to such an embarrassing thing. He cleared his throat and pretended to be calm. “I was talking about age. Don’t forget, you’re still a university student who hasn’t graduated, while I’ve been working as a boss for several years, Fu Xuezhou.”
Fu Xuezhou asked, “Are you serious?”
“Did I say something wrong? You’re just a university student,” Lou Yan smirked, emphasizing, “So, who’s older after all?”
Fu Xuezhou hummed, lowered his gaze, thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. “You’re older. I’m indeed still a university student.”
Before Lou Yan could feel happy, Fu Xuezhou lifted his eyelids and glanced at Lou Yan, then said slowly, “An older man has a strong body, an older man is tough, an older man—”
Lou Yan rushed over and covered Fu Xuezhou’s mouth, his face turning dark, “Shut up!”
Fu Xuezhou reached out and wrapped his arm around Lou Yan’s waist, a hint of playful smirk in his eyes.
Lou Yan gritted his teeth, “Can we please move on from that sentence?!”
Fu Xuezhou removed Lou Yan’s hand covering his mouth and acted as if nothing happened, changing the subject casually, “Hungry, want to eat?”
Lou Yan was determined to get an answer. “Fu Xuezhou, promise me you won’t say that sentence again.”
Fu Xuezhou nonchalantly led Lou Yan towards the restaurant. “Smells good, what’s the flavor?”
Lou Yan twitched his mouth. “Fu Xuezhou!”
Fu Xuezhou turned his head, his pitch-black eyes swirling with mischief. He seemed to remember something and said, “Baby, don’t be naughty.”
Lou Yan: “…”
Lou Yan: “…….????”
“What did you call me?!” Lou Yan suddenly coughed several times, unable to believe it, shivering involuntarily, chicken skin bumps rising all over his body, “What baby? What are you talking about, Fu Xuezhou?!”
Fu Xuezhou tilted his head, explaining, “The book says that when the other half of the couple is angry, saying this sentence can make them feel better, and then they’ll obediently listen. Are you feeling better?”
Not only did Lou Yan feel better, but he also felt like he was going to be cheesy to death. Lou Yan rubbed his arms hard, his expression numb, “What kind of book are you reading?”
Fu Xuezhou said, “The Handbook for Making Your Lover Completely Devoted to You.”
“…”
What on earth is this!
Lou Yan’s expression was very strange, as if he were in a trance.
Fu Xuezhou was even more puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
Lou Yan murmured, “Baby, don’t be naughty.”
Fu Xuezhou: “?”
“Pfft.”
Lou Yan struggled to suppress his laughter, his expression slightly distorted from the effort. He couldn’t hold it in any longer, doubled over laughing, holding his stomach, “Baby, don’t be naughty, hahaha, Fu Xuezhou baby, did you hear me? Stop being naughty, hahaha.”
Fu Xuezhou: “…”
Fu Xuezhou: “………”
For a moment, he understood how Lou Yan felt when he heard that sentence earlier.
Author’s note:
Fu Xuezhou: “6”
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