In the commoners’ dining area.
After picking the food they wanted, Ye Xun and the others had just sat down when the young wife who’d been humiliated on stage and her husband came over to sit with them.
The husband’s eyes were slightly red as he spoke gratefully, “We searched for days before finding you… You were the ones who stood up for us at the ball, weren’t you? I really can’t thank you enough.”
They were a newlywed couple—the man’s name was Li Wei, and the woman’s was He Yao. They boarded the ship because they couldn’t afford a house.
He Yao was a gentle-looking woman with a calm demeanor. She silently wiped away tears while Li Wei held her, full of regret, as if he wanted to slap himself. “I should never have taken you to that ball.”
He Yao patted his hand. “We didn’t have a choice. If we don’t participate in the ship’s events, even if we make it off alive, the money we earn won’t be enough to buy the house we want.”
Li Wei was full of frustration and muttered, “It’s my fault for being useless. I’ve let you down.”
Once the two calmed down, Zhuo Zhongqiu cleared her throat and asked, “Where did you first hear that getting on this ship could earn money?”
Li Wei wiped his face. “We both work at a bathhouse—she studied massage, and I do foot treatments for customers. One day, a very wealthy guest came in. We chatted a little, and he gave me two tickets, saying that if we boarded this ship, we’d make a fortune.”
“We thought he was just joking with us,” He Yao added softly, “But when we looked it up online, the two tickets were worth thousands. We thought it over for a night, gritted our teeth, and took half a month off to come aboard.”
“Actually, it was kind of strange,” Li Wei turned to her. “When I was giving that guest a foot treatment, I accidentally cut his foot. I thought I’d get my pay docked and was terrified, but the guy didn’t seem to feel any pain. He didn’t even mention it. After giving me the tickets, he rushed out in a hurry.”
As they spoke, a few waiters appeared pushing carts, placing bowls of fish soup on everyone’s tables.
The fish soup was fragrant, with a piece of fish in each bowl. Wenren Lian stirred her soup with a spoon, letting the savory aroma waft to her nose.
He suddenly recalled what Lisa had once told him: “Don’t drink the fish soup.”
Wenren Lian’s hand paused. He leaned in and whispered to the person beside him, “Remember what I told you before? Don’t touch the fish soup.”
Zhuo Zhongqiu nodded and passed the message along in a whisper to another person.
Lu Youyi, who was sitting next to the married couple, pushed the fish soup aside after being reminded. But the couple, unsuspecting, picked up their bowls. Lu Youyi stopped them. “Don’t drink it.”
Li Wei held his bowl, the rich aroma making his mouth water uncontrollably. He asked, puzzled, “Why?”
Lu Youyi stammered, unable to explain.
He had no idea why, but if Wenren Lian said so, there had to be a reason.
The couple saw that he couldn’t give a reason, and with the fragrant soup right at their lips, they couldn’t resist the temptation and lowered their heads to take a sip.
Kuang Zheng silently stirred the soup with his spoon.
Besides fish and spices, there were also some translucent chunks that looked like fruit pulp in the soup.
What was that?
He raised a spoonful to his nose. The tantalizing aroma that made the mouth water came from the pulp.
This rich smell must have come from these pieces—probably the key to why the soup smelled so good. Even though Kuang Zheng wasn’t particularly greedy, the scent made his stomach growl.
Meanwhile, Li Wei and his wife had already finished their bowls. Smacking their lips, they savored the aftertaste. “This soup is amazing. The fish meat doesn’t even have bones. It makes you want more.”
They looked like they hadn’t had enough. Li Wei’s eyes lit up when he saw the untouched bowl in front of Lu Youyi. “You’re not eating that?”
Lu Youyi swallowed hard and shook his head firmly. “No, I’m not.”
As soon as he said it, Li Wei reached over and grabbed the bowl. Before Lu Youyi could stop him, he took a sip and mumbled, “Then I’ll have it.”
While others ate enthusiastically, the six of them only picked at some bread, tastelessly, and returned to their room.
Once they carefully shut the door, Ye Xun was the first to ask, “Wenren, what was in the soup?”
Wenren Lian shook his head. “I don’t know either. It was the captain’s daughter who told me not to drink it.”
Zhuo Zhongqiu rested her chin in her hand, thinking aloud. “If the captain’s daughter said so, then we’d better listen. Anyway, it’s just a bowl of soup, no big loss.”
She noticed Kuang Zheng still looked uncertain and asked, “Kuang Zheng, did you notice something?”
“The aroma of the fish soup is really strong—it might be addictive,” Kuang Zheng replied uncertainly.
The moment he mentioned the smell, Lu Youyi’s stomach growled again. He grimaced, “The smell was overwhelming. I couldn’t eat anything else because of it.”
“Hold on,” Wenren Lian handed him a packet of instant noodles. “Eat this to take the edge off.”
Lu Youyi didn’t want to eat it, but hunger got the better of him. He made the noodles, and as the aroma filled the air, the others came over and each had a few bites. They finished it all, down to the last drop.
Lu Youyi was nearly in tears. “When will these hard days ever end…”
Late at night, they returned to their respective rooms. In the middle of the night, as Cyril slept soundly in his bed, Kuang Zheng suddenly heard footsteps stop outside their door.
After a few seconds of silence, there was a soft click—the door lock was opened.
Kuang Zheng tightened the hand he had tucked under the covers into a fist.
He kept his breathing steady as two people crept inside. One approached his bed, and the other went to Cyril.
A device scanned Kuang Zheng’s forehead, and someone muttered, “No fever.”
Then the person pried open Kuang Zheng’s eyelid and shone a light into it. “No change in the eyes.”
In that brief moment, Kuang Zheng recognized the intruder—it looked like one of the ship’s crew members.
The other whispered, “No symptoms in this one either. Let’s go.”
Moments later, the room returned to silence.
Kuang Zheng waited a while before opening his eyes. He got out of bed and checked Cyril first—his hair was tousled, and he looked blissfully asleep. Once he was sure Cyril was fine, Kuang Zheng moved to the door and peeked out through the peephole.
Under the corridor lights, two crew members in dustproof suits were going from room to room in the commoners’ section. Occasionally, they would carry someone out and lay them in the corridor.
These people looked like they had passed out, completely unresponsive to the noise. Their faces were flushed, their breathing rapid, like they had a fever.
Soon, the whole floor was checked. The two crew members dragged the unconscious people away. Among them, Kuang Zheng spotted Li Wei and He Yao.
Li Wei’s face was extremely red, his chest heaving violently.
In total, the crew hauled away dozens of people. It was about an hour before they dragged the last one off.
Kuang Zheng finally relaxed his tensed muscles. He pressed a glass against the door and sat by Cyril’s side, keeping watch until dawn. Only when he heard other people moving about outside did he gently wake Cyril.
At breakfast, the six of them regrouped. Thankfully, none of them had been taken.
Ye Xun’s first words upon seeing them were, “There was a sedative in last night’s fish soup.”
Now, more questions piled up in front of them.
Why did the crew drug them? And where were those people taken?
Over twenty people had disappeared. Not just Kuang Zheng’s group—others had noticed something was off too. It was terrifying to realize someone could vanish overnight without a sound.
The crew member on duty in the dining hall was Cheng Li. People kept coming up to ask him where the missing ones had gone. At first, he didn’t bother to reply, but after being pestered, he grew annoyed and said irritably, “Those people had fevers last night. To prevent infection, we relocated the sick ones elsewhere.”
“Where is this ‘other place’?” a girl asked nervously.
Cheng Li cursed impatiently, “The lower deck—they’re all in the lower deck!”
Someone couldn’t hold back anymore. “What kind of attitude is that?”
Cheng Li sneered coldly. “If you’ve got the guts, go complain about me.”
The conflict between the civilians and the crew quickly reached the wealthy district.
Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu exchanged a look, planning to find an opportunity to check in on their friends in the civilian area.
The day passed quietly. That evening, Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu went to the auction hall and sat at the very back of the crowd.
The one hosting this auction was the captain himself. Before the auction began, he beamed as he gave a firm announcement: “Three days from now will be the best time to consume blood eels. Only ten guests will be in the first group to taste them. We won’t be doing an open bidding process. Instead, please write your name and the price you’re willing to pay on a slip of paper. We’ll select the top ten highest offers.”
This method was quick and straightforward, but psychologically torturous for the rich. Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu didn’t care—they had no money anyway.
When it came time to submit bids, the two of them handed in blank slips.
The captain and his crew collected the price slips. Ten minutes later, the captain returned to the stage holding the list: “Congratulations to these ten gentlemen and ladies who have earned the right to taste the blood eel in three days.”
“Mr. Zhao Juezhi, Miss Yin Na…”
Each time a name was announced, the rich who weren’t called grew visibly paler. Jiang Luo, casually watching like it was a show, nudged Ge Zhu. “See that one in the front row? Face’s gone yellow.”
After the ninth name, many of the wealthy and powerful were already showing signs of defeat. Someone raised a hand in protest, “Captain, can we rebid?”
The captain gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, once the names are selected, they can’t be changed. But you may wait for the second round of blood eel tasting. The effect is also quite good.”
He continued and announced the final name: “…Mr. Zhong Wei.”
Jiang Luo hadn’t reacted to the name “Zhong Wei” yet, but Ge Zhu turned to him, wide-eyed in shock. “Why is it you?!”
