Crown & Chain Cards

The dark-haired guest gets a positive answer from the captain, nods his head in satisfaction, and walks back with Ge Zhu.

They had not gone two steps when they heard a clamor coming from the civilian passage. Jiang Luo looked back and saw that a crew member had roughly thrown a civilian overboard, who had smashed into the sea and crawled to the shore in disgrace.

The crewman was a big, strong man, full of flesh. He grabbed the edge of the boat and yelled at the poor man who fell into the water: "How dare you board the boat without a ticket? Get out of here, if I see you again, I'll beat you up once!"

The poor man who crawled to the shore was punched in the face, his nose blood smeared all over his face, he cowered timidly, and then summoned up the courage to say, "I had a ticket, but you tore it up--"

The crewman sneered, "How dare you lie?"

The poor man who had been thrown overboard fumed in his place for a moment, and, without continuing to make a scene, slunk away in disgrace.

A crew member beside Jiang Luo said, "His name is Cheng Li, he is the one with the worst temper on our ship, and he is also a bastard who abandoned his wife and daughter, likes to bully the poor, and is full of lies. If you have any orders, you'd better not look for him."

Below, Cheng Li spat into the water and cursed.

Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu finished watching the fun and said goodbye to the crew. On the way, Ge Zhu asked, "Jiang Luo, did that first mate Winston really harass you?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Luo, who originally looked quite angry, unexpectedly revealed a smile.

Jiang Luo discovers a secret of the Evil Ghost.

Call it a secret, but it's really more of a joke. The evil spirits that lusted after him didn't seem to know how to express their desires.

As he examined him, the ghost's movements were teasing and ambiguous, but there was always some unappealing desire running around in his palm. On the surface, the ghost smiles with ease, but Jiang Luo can sense the darkness in his heart and the irritation he has no place to vent.

How ridiculous.

Chi You, an evil spirit so powerful that he seems to be everywhere and omnipotent, a Chi family mastermind with a deep heart and a huge agenda - can't even make love.

Jiang Luo almost laughed out loud when he found out about it.

He laughed at Chi You in his heart, and when he thought of what Chi You had once said to him, which gave him a sudden sense of crisis, "I'm going to fuck him", Jiang Luo regretted it.

How had he used the life preserver in the alleyway in the first place? In that situation, I guess Chi You didn't even know how to get it on, and at most followed the same vague bed scene on TV, touching him a few times haphazardly without rules. Pity, too bad, a life preserving charm wasted for nothing!

Jiang Luo suppressed his laughter at Ge Zhu's strange gaze as he coughed lightly and opened the door to his room, "His movements make me uncomfortable, forget it, don't talk about him."

Ge Zhu followed him in, and after Jiang Luo closed the door, he completely relaxed, paralyzed on the sofa and said, "Pretending to be rich is really tiring."

Zhu Ge has a Buddha's qi on his body, so dusty and unadulterated that it looks like he is not tainted by the stench of copper. In order to change his temperament, he has put on several large gold chains, which have caused his neck to ache.

Jiang Luo went to the balcony, Ge Zhu took off the gold chain, exhaled freely, also followed. Look down, boarding people have come up a big half.

They looked at it for a while, and Ge Zhu said, "Strange ......"

"How come I don't see kids in the boarding crowd?"

Jiang Luo frowned and looked over the people carefully, "Indeed there are no children."

Ge Zhu's eyes suddenly lit up and he pointed downwards, "Look, Wen Renlian and the others are on board."

Jiang Luo looked down the civilian passageway, where several of his companions had already stepped aboard.

They came back indoors from the balcony and Ge Zhu saw an invitation and a black box sitting on the coffee table. He picked it up and looked it over, "Jiang Luo, here's an invitation to the ball."

Jiang Luo walked over and took the invitation and read it over.

There is decidedly a lot of entertainment for the rich aboard the Angonese, even if there is a lack of electronics.

This evening, the day the ship Angonese sails, there will be a ball in the ballroom. This ball is open to both the rich and the commoners. But there is a strange rule, the rich need to wear half a mask, and the commoners before the beginning of the ball for the drawing of lots, if you draw a card with the pattern of the crown, it means that you become the "master" of the ball, if you draw a card with the pattern of the chains, then you become the "slave". If you draw a card with chains on it, you become a "slave".

The master has the power to choose the slave, but the slave does not have the power to reject the master's choice.

The rules are bold, but the invitations are for invitations only and do not force everyone to join.

However, if it is added, it is considered a default rule.

Jiang Luo was thoughtful, "I'm guessing you have an invitation like that in your room."

Ge Zhu went back to his room and looked around, soon he brought the same invitation and a silver box, "You guessed it, my invitation has exactly the same content as yours."

Both men unwrapped the box, and inside was a mask that covered the top half of their faces.

Inside Jiang Luo's box is a black mask. The ruby on the side of the face is embellished with a blossoming red rose, and black feathers are pinned to the ears in a mysterious and glamorous way, like a nobleman's accessory in Western mythology.

He gently picked up the mask and looked sideways at Ge Zhu's box. Ge Zhu's box was a silver colored mask, much simpler in style than the one Jiang Luo was holding.

Ge Zhu said uncertainly, "Jiang Luo, are we attending the ball tonight? This draw rule doesn't give me a very good feeling."

"I don't feel very good about it either, but I'm still going to attend," Jiang Luo shrugged, hiding the curiosity and excitement he felt because of such rules, "Figuring out the secrets of this ship is the only way to figure out what the hell a Blood Eel is. Not to mention that being at the ball is the perfect time for us to meet up with Lu Youyi and the others."

Ge Zhu sighed, worried, "I hope we draw a good one then."

Jiang Luo's excitement was stifled when he heard this.

Can he draw the master card if he's lucky ......?

But how can anyone be unlucky all the time? Jiang Luo convinced himself that maybe his luck had turned, otherwise how could he have drawn the rich man's ticket?

With that thought, he steadied again.

While they were resting, Lu Youyi's few people also returned to their rooms.

The common rooms are cramped with little space, crowded beds, and are two to a room. There are only three bottles of mineral water per room free of charge and nothing else.

Lu Youyi and Ye Xun have one room, Wen Renlian and Zhuo Zhongqiu have one room, and Kuang Zheng and Sai Liaoer have one room.

After they put their things away, they stood by the door and watched the people coming and going looking for a room.

"Here here here, you're going the wrong way!"

"Who's shoe got stepped off? Come and take it away."

Yells and noise mingled as six people gathered in a room and saw the same invitation to the ball.

"Going?" Zhuo Zhongqiu asked.

Wen Renlian finished reading the invitation and slowly nodded.

"I feel like going too," Zhuo Zhongqiu said as he sat on the edge of the bed, "I was just strolling around the stern of the ship, and when I tried to go to the bow I was stopped by the crew, who forbade civilians from entering the bow, which, according to them, was an area for the rich. "

"What a time to have such a serious hierarchical division," Lu Youyi muttered, "It's amazing that there are still so many people who can put up with this kind of discrimination rushing to get on board."

"It's because of that that it's strange," smirked Winnie Lane, "the odds are that the poor people boarded the ship for the money. But a cruise ship is only a cruise ship, sailing into the deep and back again, and what profit can they derive from it to outweigh the risk of death?"

Kuang Zheng snapped, "They don't always know they're going to die."

"That's right," snorted Winkler even, "Tonight's ball divides people into two identities. One is 'master' and the other is 'slave,' and the two words have many meanings. Perhaps these poor people who have boarded the ship are no more than slaves in the eyes of the rich; the poor have no idea where this cruise ship is headed and what they're going to do."

"We don't know anything about the rich areas yet, and according to Zhongqiu, the rich and poor don't overlap in their areas of activity; we can't go to the rich areas to find Jiang Luo and the others, nor can we wait for them to come to us at the risk of being targeted. This ball is the only place we can reasonably meet."

Sai Liaoer nodded in understanding, "Can we draw master cards too?"

Ye Xun faintly said, "The odds are against it."

The ball, obviously, was an event for the entertainment of the rich.

*

The Angonese set sail.

The coastline faded away, brushing past a freighter. The waters of the harbor were murky and dim, but gradually, they changed to a deep blue.

Seagulls circled above the cruise ship, the wind howled, Jiang Luo's clothes were blown to the wind, he looked toward the deck from afar.

There were already many people standing on the deck, gathered around the railings looking out to sea. A few other crew members were walking through it, checking for life preservers and ropes.

At sea, time is gradually confused. The rich man's room had clocks and newspapers and magazines, as well as board games and poker to relieve boredom. Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu played games to pass the time and went to a buffet. When seven o'clock in the evening came, they changed their clothes and went to the ballroom.

Night fell and dark clouds obscured the stars.

The ballroom lights were bright and dazzling, and the crowd was prosperous and lively as they mingled and drank in it.

Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu put on their masks, half of their faces covered. The waiter at the door saw their masks and looked respectful as he placed the draw box in his hand on the table, picked up another draw box and handed it over, "Two guests please."

Jiang Luo gave Ge Zhu a look, encouraging him to go first. Ge Zhu swallowed his saliva, thought to himself, "Blessed is the Infinite Heavenly Father," and drew out a card with his eyes closed.

Jiang Luo, "What is it?"

Zhu Ge opened one eye, turned the card over shakily, and in the next instant let out a sharp sigh of relief, "The Crown Card."

It means becoming the "master" of the initiative.

Jiang Luo silently looked at the card in his hand twice, suppressed the dangerous thought of stupidly wanting to snatch it away, and looked at the waiter, "Has anyone drawn a slave card in this box of lottery cards?"

The waiter smiled, "There hasn't been one yet."

Relieved for the moment, Jiang Luo probed his hand into the draw box, selected a card, and was about to take it out when another hand probed into the box as well. Fingers in white gloves entwine with Jiang Luo's, and cards the size of playing cards pile up beside their hands.

Jiang Luo looked up, and behind him, the man wearing a pure white mask that appeared to be particularly treacherous revealed a high nose and pale lower jaw. He hooked up a pleasant smile, under the night color, his deep blue eyes were as dark as darkness, looking through the mask and Jiang Luo.

"First Mate," the attendant bent down, "you can't have two people draw at the same time."

"Shhh," the man put his other hand up in front of his lips, "you didn't see anything."

The waiter stopped talking and acquiesced to the man's behavior.

"Guest, I think you chose the wrong card," the first mate looked over at Jiang Luo, some sort of nasty teasing dripping from the corners of his charismatic mouth as he said slowly, "You can choose this one."

In the draw box, which no one can see, Jiang Luo's palm is charmingly drawn with an itchy circular mark by a card.