The Chi family man almost lost his composure when Jiang Luo singled him out.
But the brief look of rejection on his face was keenly noticed by Jiang Luo, who smiled slyly and deliberately coughed twice. His eyes gleamed with mischief: “Big brother, you don’t want it? That’s strange. Blood eel is such a wonderful thing, yet someone refuses to eat it? Is your throat bad too?”
The others turned their gaze toward the Chi family man. The captain also looked, suspicion in his eyes. Under so many eyes, the Chi family man forced a smile, “Blood eel is so precious. It’s just a sore throat; you can endure it and eat it.”
Jiang Luo frowned displeased: “You want me to force myself to eat when I’m sick? I told you my throat hurts. What do you mean?”
He glanced at the last seat at the table, growing impatient: “I said I’d give it to you, so it’s yours. If not now, there’s a second batch. If not then, there’s always next year. When do I not get to eat? Don’t be polite. The captain said it’s okay, right?”
The captain, having seen many rich people, found Jiang Luo’s stubbornness typical. He smiled as usual: “If you say it’s okay, then it’s okay.”
The Chi family man’s expression stiffened further as he tried to stall, “I’m embarrassed to take it…”
The rich people watching were annoyed enough to want to shove him aside. Those at the table grew impatient: “In business, you fight hard. Now at this crucial moment you’re hesitating? What’s there to be embarrassed about? Just pay what that young man quoted. Blood eel is priceless on the market. Why are you dragging your feet?”
Seeing the captain’s gaze darken, the Chi family man swallowed his excuses and reluctantly sat down. His face dark, he still had to thank Jiang Luo and pay him.
Feeling that wasn’t enough, Jiang Luo said: “Let’s be straightforward business people. Transfer the money to me now.”
He called a waiter, “Go get the POS machine from my room.”
He smiled and said, “POS fees are low, no limit. Feel free to swipe.”
Chi family man: “…” His face turned green with anger.
After receiving a large sum from the Chi family man, Jiang Luo leisurely stepped aside as a spectator, staring at him eating the blood eel.
Of course, the Chi family man was not so obedient. He played a trick, swallowing the fish meat but allowing a spot in his sleeve to slowly bulge and get soaked by the fish soup.
Jiang Luo didn’t point it out.
The Chi family man had no real achievement in the orthodox soul refining puppet technique, but he had learned many crooked tricks. Jiang Luo could see this; ordinary people could not, and he didn’t bother to cause trouble.
Leaning against the wall, Jiang Luo’s head grew even more dizzy. Heat sprayed from his nose to his lips, burning fiercely.
But besides the heat, he felt a chill coming from all directions, hot and cold mingling, his throat sore.
Jiang Luo rarely got sick, but when he did, it was fierce. He parted his lips slightly, breathing the cool indoor air.
The black-haired youth’s appearance showed no abnormality. His gaze was calm and expression steady. Only when close could one feel the heat radiating from him; otherwise, he was almost no different from others.
Not even the Chi family member noticed anything wrong with him.
The blood eel was brought to the table by the waiter—a small, bright red eel fry swimming in milky white broth.
So this was the female eel fry. When they dissected the victims in the lower cabin, all the fry inside were blackish red, not a single bright red one like this. No wonder the males said the female eel fry only appears once in a hundred.
The plates were placed in front of the wealthy diners. These rich people had long abandoned any pretense of dining etiquette—they almost didn’t wait for the plates to settle before eagerly stabbing the eel fry with knives and forks, gobbling it down ravenously.
They seemed afraid someone would snatch it from them. Not only the fish, but they didn’t dare to waste a single drop of the broth, fearing missing even a bit would ruin its effect.
The aroma was rich and pungent, wafting through the air and making people’s stomachs rumble with hunger.
The waiters also served food and drinks to the onlookers, inviting them to sit at another table. But smelling the blood eel, these people clearly had no appetite for ordinary food; they looked at the table of ten with envy and jealousy, barely touching their own meals.
Jiang Luo didn’t eat any of the food; he only took a glass of plain water to soothe his faintly aching throat.
Mature blood eels smelled extremely fishy, but the roe and fry were fragrant to the point of addiction, as if naturally knowing how to tempt humans. Watching the rich people devour the blood eel, Jiang Luo’s mind slowly turned, absentmindedly noting who ate and who didn’t.
As a student at Baihua University cooperating with the police on this mission, Jiang Luo should be responsible for protecting innocent civilians during the task.
But even if he now rushed out to tell those rich people not to eat the blood eel, they wouldn’t believe him. If they didn’t believe him, he would also completely expose himself, which would be more trouble than it was worth.
So without even thinking, Jiang Luo leisurely sat aside watching them eat the blood eel, without a hint of emotion inside.
They spent a fortune, struggled so hard to get this chance—how could he stop them from eating?
Soon, the lunch ended.
Jiang Luo followed the crowd out of the dining hall. Outside, he happened to run into the Chi family member. They gave him a cold, hostile look, forcing a fake smile as they roughly pushed past him and left.
Jiang Luo narrowed his eyes, knowing they still had tricks up their sleeves.
He walked back toward his room.
Along the way, Jiang Luo kept thinking about the Chi family’s purpose for boarding the ship.
They definitely wanted to kill him, no doubt about that—but why go through such a roundabout way of forcing him to eat the blood eel? Why not just use a quicker method?
Was it that they couldn’t kill him yet, or did they want to use him for something?
The corridor from the dining hall to his room felt unusually long. As Jiang Luo walked, he suddenly pressed one hand to the wall, bent over, and let out a hot breath.
Sweat slid down his face. His vision blurred, and a sudden surge of heat rushed through his already sick body, making his legs weak in an instant.
So hot.
Jiang Luo rested his head on the hand against the wall, eyes closed tightly, brow furrowed.
Something was wrong.
This feeling was very similar to how he felt after tasting the blood eel blood yesterday. Jiang Luo tried hard to think with his burning, foggy brain and fixated on the Chi family’s ambiguous but clearly unfriendly smile—and the glass of water the waiter gave him in the dining hall.
It seemed he had been drugged.
Jiang Luo pressed his lips tightly, eyes flashing with fierce intent. He forced himself to stand up and staggered toward his room.
D*mn it.
Were the Chi family crazy? Why would they drug him?
And at a time when he was already sick.
He bit down hard on his tongue; the taste of blood suddenly filled his mouth, snapping him momentarily awake.
Filled with murderous intent, Jiang Luo quickened his pace—but suddenly two men jumped out ahead and blocked his way.
Sweat wetting his face, Jiang Luo looked at them with an expressionless face, but the redness on his cheeks made him look less threatening and more embarrassed.
His voice was low and hoarse: “Who are you?”
“Who are we?” The taller one sneered and spat on the ground. “We’re your enemies. Today, you’re finally caught.”
“Old Three got tricked by him too,” said the shorter, fat man whose long black hair covered his eyes gloomily. “He cost us two big debts. Boss, I want to teach him a good lesson first.”
The tall man looked unhappy but stopped the short one. “We drugged him to lure out Chi You. Why are you beating him now? Wait until we catch Chi You.”
“D*mn, didn’t they say Chi You has been pestering him? I don’t believe his old lover’s become like that and he still won’t show up.”
The short man suppressed his anger. “Fine, then let’s first send him to the room we prepared.”
Their conversation lagged slightly before reaching Jiang Luo’s ears.
Jiang Luo thought: it’s all because of Chi You.
And because of his own lies.
Inside him felt like ice and fire battling, so uncomfortable he just wanted to collapse on the bed and roll around. Taking a deep breath twice, Jiang Luo had no patience to mess around with these two, but thinking he was dragged into this mess—mainly because of his fabricated story—he couldn’t help but say through clenched teeth, “Chi You…”
He wanted to strangle that ghost, bleed it dry, and fry it in oil again and again until devoured.
The two men closed in on Jiang Luo, but when they got close, they were shocked by the heat radiating from him. The tall man cursed, “How much drug did you give him? Don’t kill him!”
The short man frowned, “I only gave him a little.”
But what they didn’t know was that this little drug awakened the blood eel’s residual blood inside Jiang Luo, and the two combined, producing an effect strong enough to make an adult lose their mind.
Jiang Luo’s willpower was already strong enough; at least at this moment, he still retained his sanity.
The two men reached out to grab the black-haired youth, but Jiang Luo, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath, didn’t move. Just as they were about to touch him, he suddenly pulled out a dagger and slashed at their wrists. After a successful strike, he turned and staggered off in another direction.
The tall man cried out in pain and cursed, “Old Two, catch him quickly! Don’t let him get away!”
Jiang Luo fled at a brisk pace.
It was getting hotter and hotter.
His vision blurred, and the heat inside his body seemed to rise even further. Breathing heavily, he forced his eyes open to look at the distorted corridor ahead; his heartbeat thundered like a drum.
A restless desire erupted from inside him, spreading outward.
So uncomfortable.
This discomfort was so intense that Jiang Luo even thought if rolling in bed with Chi You could relieve this torment, he would be willing.
Just this once, as long as it made him feel good and freed him from this burning pain, d*mn it—even if it was Chi You, his enemy, it was acceptable.
After all, they would still be enemies afterwards; Chi You wouldn’t influence him, nor would he be influenced by Chi You. They could still turn their backs on each other and keep fighting.
This experience of being drugged would become Jiang Luo’s dark secret. He had been tricked this time, but he’d remember—there would be no second time.
The Chi family, huh? The Qi family, huh?
Gritting his teeth, he clung to the wall unsteadily. “Where the h*ll did you run off to…”
Did he have to just randomly drag someone along?
But the crew on the ship were all males, and Jiang Luo looked down on the rich and the poor alike.
People he knew couldn’t escape, and strangers were too dirty for him.
Although Chi You was also sick, at least Chi You’s face and body were still somewhat pleasing to his eyes.
More importantly, Chi You didn’t know how to do anything, was clean and pure.
Jiang Luo was extremely irritated and thought, “Forget it, I’ll just find someone good-looking to sleep with.”
Just as he finished speaking, Jiang Luo tripped over a wrinkled carpet and stumbled forward.
A fierce, menacing black mist immediately caught him. The mist instantly wrapped the black-haired youth tightly and fiercely charged toward the short man chasing from behind.
The short man was terrified to his core; the black mist rushed past him, and his life-protecting charm shattered into dust in an instant.
Life and death hung in the balance. The short man’s face turned pale as he shakily called for backup, “Chi… Chi You appeared! Hurry, Chi You appeared!”
Author’s note:
Chi·once again a tool·You: …Is it surprise or joy?
