Lucky Cruise Ship
Chapter 582: One-sided
Looking at that agate stone, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but be speechless.
Wen Ya’s words weren’t an exaggeration.
Each of them had given their all, sparing no cost.
He opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something, but just before the words could escape, he forcibly held them back.
Wen Jianyan stared at Chen Mo for several seconds, and finally said:
“…Well done.”
“If you want to reward me,” Chen Mo spoke, his voice still very weak, “wait until we leave this instance and do more work.”
Wen Jianyan: “…”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[?]
[??]
[Wait, what? Anchor, what exactly happens after you go offline? Just how much resentment do your guild members have toward you in this regard!!!]
[Did his eyes just dodge? They definitely dodged, right?]
[So do you not work at all normally?]
The elevator ran smoothly, the narrow space filled with the slight humming sound of mechanical operation. This space filled with blood-red light now provided them with a brief sanctuary.
Wen Jianyan took the agate stone from Chen Mo’s hand and found the agate stone he’d obtained from the negative fourth floor, piecing the two fragments together.
Just as they approached each other, the originally hard, smooth surfaces began to melt into each other, like some kind of viscous liquid, appearing eerily bright red under the lights. In the blink of an eye, the two fragments had become one, fitting perfectly without any flaw, as if it had always been meant to be this way.
Compared to the finished product in Figaro’s hands, it was already very close.
One last piece remained.
Also the most difficult piece to obtain.
Because it was on the resident dealer on the negative fifth floor.
Thinking of this, Wen Jianyan’s heart couldn’t help but sink.
“Ding.”
The elevator stopped, the bright red 【-4】 flickering overhead.
The attendant behind them spoke:
“Negative fourth floor has arrived, please watch your step.”
“…”
Wen Jianyan’s movements stopped. He was a bit surprised that this time the elevator attendant actually hadn’t asked them for a tip.
“President.” Chang Feiyu suddenly spoke, interrupting Wen Jianyan’s thoughts.
He tugged at Wen Jianyan’s arm and subtly pointed backward. Wen Jianyan looked in the direction of his finger—that “resident” had also very naturally and smoothly followed them out when they left the elevator.
“Do we need to do something?” Chang Feiyu asked in a low voice.
The interior of the elevator should count as a safe zone. After all, when they traveled with the three “residents” before, nothing had happened. But after leaving the elevator, it was hard to say.
If so, should they do something in advance, just in case?
“Uh.” Wen Jianyan paused and glanced back lightly.
He withdrew his gaze and said somewhat vaguely, “No need.”
No need?
Why no need?
Several people were stunned, unable to figure out where Wen Jianyan had drawn this conclusion from. But Wen Jianyan didn’t seem prepared to elaborate further, so out of trust in Wen Jianyan, even though they were still full of questions, they swallowed all their doubts.
Wen Jianyan lowered his head and tapped on his phone a few times before looking up at An Xin and Tong Yao.
He waved his phone: “The payment has been sent over. Thanks for your help this time.”
In this operation, both An Xin and Tong Yao had been a great help.
“No need to thank us!” An Xin came over, his handsome face bearing a brilliant smile, showing none of the fierce momentum from when he’d drawn his bow earlier. “If you need help again in the future, please be sure to think of me.”
He winked at Wen Jianyan: “Of course, publicly or privately, both are fine!”
Wen Jianyan shuddered. He reflexively glanced back, as if looking for something.
“Hey?” Seeing Wen Jianyan distracted, An Xin waved his hand in front of him.
Wen Jianyan imperceptibly moved back a bit. He cleared his throat, his tone rather polite: “Thank you. If I need help, I’ll contact your captain.”
As if not understanding Wen Jianyan’s attempt to draw clear boundaries, An Xin smiled even more happily:
“Good, then it’s settled!”
Wen Jianyan’s face stiffened this time.
“All right.” Tong Yao pulled An Xin back to stop him from continuing to embarrass himself. She turned to look at Wen Jianyan. “Since the commission is over, we’ll be going. Be careful on your way.”
Wen Jianyan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: “Okay.”
He waved his hand in relief: “Goodbye.”
“Oh, before we go…”
Tong Yao hesitated in place for a moment, but still stepped forward and pressed something into Wen Jianyan’s hand:
“This is for you.”
Wen Jianyan looked down.
It was actually three red capsules.
When using Hawk’s legs to escape from the capsules, Wen Jianyan had told Tong Yao that during the process, she could distinguish and take away a small number of capsules containing items. It seemed she had clearly taken his suggestion well.
Wen Jianyan was stunned: “But we agreed before that all points and items obtained along the way would be yours…”
“That’s right.” Tong Yao nodded. “But you shouldn’t have paid us such high compensation in the first place.”
The compensation Wen Jianyan offered was far higher than any market price.
Especially in an instance like this where money was life, where the points they possessed determined how long they could live, the already precious points shouldn’t be given out so casually.
Though Wen Jianyan hadn’t stated his reasons for doing this, everyone understood.
—This was a concealed form of help.
“I think the captain would agree with my decision.”
Tong Yao looked deeply at Wen Jianyan and said.
“After all, you’ll need it more than us in what’s to come.”
“Goodbye.” Tong Yao smiled and waved at Wen Jianyan, dragging away the still reluctant, repeatedly looking back An Xin.
At this time, Wen Ya and the others who hadn’t participated in this operation arrived.
Seeing their current disheveled appearance, they were all shocked: “What happened? Who’s injured?”
Wen Jianyan looked down at himself. Because they’d gotten too close when dismembering Hawk and had used Hawk’s legs to walk, all of them were practically bathed in blood, looking truly frightening from afar: “Don’t worry, this is someone else’s blood—but Chen Mo’s condition isn’t great. He’s too depleted.”
Wen Ya noticed the “resident” not far away. She frowned: “That…”
Chang Feiyu shrugged: “The President said not to worry.”
While the team members were checking Chen Mo’s condition, Wen Jianyan lowered his head to look at the three capsules in his hand. One of them had already been opened, and what was inside made him pause—it was a tube of transparent liquid with a line of text on it:
Shorten talent cooldown time, remove negative status effects.
Tong Yao was right. He indeed needed this more than they did.
After the past two days, all the team members had been considerably depleted.
And they were about to go to the negative fifth floor. Not only were they completely unfamiliar with what they would face next, but the Oracle was also eyeing them covetously. The challenges they would encounter would likely only be more severe than now. In such circumstances, not recovering their condition would be suicide.
Wen Jianyan handed the tube of liquid to Wen Ya.
Wen Ya was stunned: “This is…”
“An item from the red capsules.” Wen Jianyan said. “You handle the distribution.”
“Okay.” Wen Ya nodded and took the item from Wen Jianyan’s hand, returning to the team—although quite a few people needed these items, their conditions weren’t completely identical, which required rather precise planning, and Wen Ya with her meticulous attention was clearly the most suitable for this task.
Just as the group began adjusting their conditions, the “resident” who had remained silent in the elevator and followed them out after it stopped suddenly moved.
It took steps and walked straight toward Wen Jianyan.
Its tall figure brought silent oppressive pressure, the pitch-black mask blocking all expression below.
“…” The golden eyes beneath the mask stared at him questioningly.
Wen Jianyan glanced toward the distance—seeing that everyone else’s attention didn’t seem to be here, he stepped forward, his lowered voice slightly unnatural, as if explaining something: “Uh, he’s one-sided…”
He suddenly felt something wasn’t quite right and immediately stopped.
Wu Zhu stared at him.
In his eyes, besides the unmasked intense killing intent, there was also difficult-to-express accusation and… grievance?
Wen Jianyan hesitated, quickly glanced around, then closed the live stream in one smooth motion.
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[?]
[?]
[???]
The human youth approached without warning and kissed the creature’s pitch-black mask.
Warm, soft lips touched the hard, cold mask, lightning-fast, touching and parting.
“…”
The other party froze, seeming not to expect Wen Jianyan to do this. He blinked slowly, the ice in his eyes completely melting away, like molten golden flow, passionate and sweet.
“Cough, anyway…”
As if to find an excuse for his action just now, Wen Jianyan coughed dryly and said:
“That was beautifully done just now.”
Wen Jianyan pushed him:
“Go on now; I need to start the live stream.”
Not far away, Wen Ya, squatting beside Chen Mo and pouring medicine into his mouth, raised her head. Not knowing what she saw, she suddenly froze.
Chang Feiyu: “What?”
“Nothing,” Wen Ya shook her head, her tone hesitant and uncertain. “I might have seen wrong…”
When Chang Feiyu looked in the direction she’d been watching, he could only see the figure of that resident and Wen Jianyan passing by each other.
He blinked, completely confused.
Seen wrong? Seen what wrong?
On the other side.
An Xin and Tong Yao walked forward together. They had received a message from Qi Qian. Clearly, Qi Qian didn’t plan to continue descending like Wen Jianyan. On the contrary, he had An Xin and Tong Yao head to the negative first floor.
Unlike other areas on the cruise ship, because the rewards on the negative first floor were really too low, almost no anchors stayed on this level anymore.
In the empty hall, gambling tables were set out one after another. Although there were no more gamblers at the tables, the uniformed, pale-faced dealers and attendants still wore smiles, looking especially eerie.
Just arriving at the negative first floor, they saw an unexpected guest.
An Xin looked questioningly at Qi Qian.
Qi Qian was brief and to the point: “We’ll be acting together with him from now on.”
“You may call me Figaro,” Figaro smiled as he removed his hat and greeted the newly arrived An Xin and Tong Yao. “Pleased to meet you.”
An Xin’s brow furrowed tightly. He glanced at the well-dressed, courteous Figaro not far away, clearly not trusting him. “What action?”
Qi Qian: “Official business.”
He didn’t seem prepared to say much more.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. Following me will surely help you achieve your wishes.”
Figaro said with a smile.
“As for the fee, someone has already paid it; no need to worry.”
Qi Qian interrupted him: “All right, stop the small talk. Our time is tight.”
Even though Qi Qian’s attitude wasn’t particularly good, Figaro always had a high tolerance for clients who could pay the commission. He nodded good-naturedly:
“Fine, fine. This way, please follow me.”
Even though they didn’t have much good feeling toward this suddenly appearing, smooth-talking fellow, this was Qi Qian’s decision after all. So several people exchanged glances and followed.
At the rear of the group.
Tong Yao’s steps suddenly paused. She looked down and glanced.
An Xin: “What’s wrong?”
Tong Yao raised her head, her expression normal, and shook her head: “Nothing, let’s go.”
After simple adjustments, although they couldn’t be said to have completely recovered to their peak condition, they had basically received considerable improvement.
Watching the renewed team members before him, Wen Jianyan asked, “How do you feel?”
Chen Mo had now stood up. Although his face was still somewhat pale, his complexion was much better than at the start. He nodded.
“Of course!” Ma Qi shook her braids vivaciously, the first to respond.
“Me too,” though Blond still hadn’t removed the eye patch on his left eye, the red bloodshot color in his right eye had completely disappeared, only carrying a slight, eerie red gleam. He nodded forcefully. “Don’t worry, I can see very clearly now!”
Kong Wei clenched his fist and gave a muffled “Mm.”
Wen Ya looked at Wen Jianyan, her voice still gentle and calm as always: “We’re about ready.”
It seemed so.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, withdrew his gaze, and pressed the elevator button.
Soon, the elevator docked on this floor. With a “ding”, the doors opened. Under the bright red light inside stood the smiling attendant.
“Distinguished guest, which floor would you like to go to?”
Wen Jianyan walked inside. He took out the pitch-black, gold-embossed pass from his pocket, took a deep breath, and said:
“Negative fifth floor.”
It was about time.
Author’s Note:
An Xin is one-sided.
Then who is two-sided, baby?
aguardando ansiosamente os próximos. obrigada pela tradução!!!
This was a lovely scene, I actually like their dynamic so much!!! Wen Jianyan was so happy that Wu Zhu saved Chen Mo! I’m so happy too! He deserved that kiss!