This Damned Thirst for Survival

The crewman was powerful and strong, with a face full of flesh. He grabbed the side of the boat and yelled at the poor man who had fallen overboard: “How dare you board without a ticket, get out of here and if I see you again, I’ll beat you up every time I see you!”

The poor man crawling to the shore was punched in the face, his nose was bloodied, and he shrank back timidly, plucking up the courage to say, “I had a ticket, but you tore it up-”

The crew sneered, “And you dare to lie?”

The poor people who had been thrown overboard were dumbfounded for a while, and left in a huff.

A crew member next to Jiang Luo said, “His name is Cheng Li, and he’s the worst-tempered man on our ship, a bastard who abandons his wife and daughter and likes to bully the poor, and is full of lies and bullshit. If you need anything, you’d better not call him.”

Below, Cheng Li spits in the water and curses as he walks away.

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

At these words, Jiang Luo, who had looked angry, gave an unexpected smile.

Jiang Luo discovers a secret of the evil spirits.

Called a secret, it was more like a joke. The evil spirits who lusted after him didn’t seem to know how to express their desire.

As he examines him, the demon’s movements are provocative and ambiguous, but there is always some unrequited lust running around in his palms. The ghost smiles lightly and effortlessly, but Jiang Luo can feel the gloomy, unexplained irritation inside him.

How ridiculous.

Chi You, an evil spirit so powerful that it seems to be omnipresent and omnipotent, a Chi family ruler with a deep heart and huge plans – can’t even make love.

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

He laughs at Chi You in his mind and regrets the words you once said to him, “I’m going to fuck him”, which gave him a sudden sense of crisis.

How had he used his life preserver in the alleyway in the first place? In that situation, I guess Chi You didn’t even know how to fuck him, or at most followed that vague bed scene on TV and touched him haphazardly a few times without any rules. Too bad, too bad, a life-saving charm was wasted!

Jiang Luo suppressed a laugh at Ge Zhu’s strange gaze as he coughed lightly and opened the door to the room, “His actions make me uncomfortable, forget it, let’s not talk about him.”

Ge Zhu followed him in, and when Jiang Luo closed the door, he relaxed completely and slumped on the sofa, saying, “It’s exhausting pretending to be rich.”

Ge Zhu has a Buddhist aura, so unearthly that he seems to be untouched by copper, and to change his temperament, he has put on several large gold chains that hurt his neck.

As Jiang Luo walks out onto the balcony, Ge Zhu takes off his gold chain, exhales happily and follows suit. Looking down, a large number of people had already come up to board the ship.

They looked at it for a while and Ge Zhu said, “Strange ……”

“How come I didn’t see any children in the crowd boarding the ship?”

Jiang Luo frowned and looked closely at the people, “There are indeed no children.”

Ge Zhu’s eyes suddenly lit up and he pointed down, “Look, Wen Renlian and the others are coming aboard.”

Jiang Luo looks towards the civilian passage, where several companions have already walked onto the boat.

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 prom.”

Jiang Luo walks over and takes the invitation and reads it over.

On board the Angonese, even though there is a lack of electronics, entertainment for the wealthy is decidedly plentiful.

This evening, on the day the Angonese sails, a ball will be held in the ballroom. This ball is open to both rich and commoners. But there is a strange rule: the rich people have to wear half a mask and draw lots with the commoners before the ball starts. If you draw a card with chains on it, you become a “slave”.

The master has the right to choose the slave, but the slave has no right to refuse the master’s choice.

The rules are bold, but the invitations are by invitation only and do not oblige everyone to join.

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

Jiang Luo was thoughtful, “I assume you have such an invitation in your room.”

Ge Zhu went back to his room to have a look and soon he brought the same invitation and a silver box, “You guessed it, mine contains exactly the same contents as yours.”

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

In Jiang Luo’s box is a black mask. The ruby embellishes the side of the face with a blossoming fire-red rose, and black feathers are pinned to the ears in a mysterious and beautiful way, like a noble accessory from Western mythology.

He gently picks up the mask and looks sideways into Ge Zhu’s box. Inside Ge Zhu’s box is a silver mask, much more simple than the one Jiang Luo is holding.

Ge Zhu said uncertainly, ” Jiang Luo , are we attending the ball tonight? This lottery rule doesn’t give me a good feeling.”

“I don’t feel very good about it either, but I’m going to attend anyway,” Jiang Luo shrugged, hiding the curiosity and excitement that came from 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 at the ball is the perfect time for us to meet up with Lu Youyi and the others.”

Ge Zhu sighed, worried, “Well, let’s hope we get a good draw.”

Jiang Luo’s excitement stalled at his words.

If you play your hand …… will he draw the master card?

But how can anyone be unlucky all the time? Jiang Luo convinced himself that perhaps he had been lucky, otherwise how could he have drawn the rich man’s ticket?

With that thought, he steadied again.

While they were resting, Lu Youyi and the others returned to their rooms.

The regular rooms are small, have cramped beds and are two to a room. Only three bottles of mineral water per room are free, the rest is nothing else.

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

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

“Over here over here, you’re in the wrong place!”

“Who’s shoe got stepped off? Come and take it away.”

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

“Want to go?” Zhuo Zhongqiu asked.

Wen Renlian read over the contents of the invitation and nodded slowly.

“I felt like going too,” Zhuo Zhongqiu said, sitting on the edge of the bed, “I had just wandered around the stern and was stopped by the crew when I tried to go to the bow, they forbade civilians from entering the bow, according to them it was an area for the rich. ”

“What an age to have such a serious hierarchy,” Lu Youyi muttered, “and to have so many people who can tolerate such discrimination rushing to get on board.”

“That’s what makes it so strange,” Wen Renlian said with a smile, “that poor people board a ship, most likely for the money. But a cruise ship is just a cruise ship, sailing into the deep and back, what benefit can they gain from it that will outweigh the risk of death?”

Kuang Zheng suddenly said, “They don’t always know they’re going to die.”

“That’s right,” Wen Renlian snapped his fingers, “tonight’s ball divides people into two identities. One is a ‘master’ and the other is a ‘slave’, and these two words mean many things. Perhaps these poor people boarding the ship are no more than slaves in the eyes of the rich, poor people who have no idea where this cruise ship is going and what they are going to do.”

“We don’t know anything about the rich areas yet, and according to Zhong Qiu, the areas where the rich and the poor operate don’t overlap, so 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 was the only place where we could reasonably meet.”

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

Ye Xun said indifferently, “The odds are against it.”

The ball, obviously, was an event for the rich to entertain.

*

The Angonese sets sail.

The shoreline fades away, brushing against a cargo ship. The water in the harbour is murky and yellow, but gradually it turns a deep blue.

The gulls hovered above the cruise ship, the wind howled and Jiang Luo’s shirt rattled as he looked far up the deck.

There were already many people standing on the deck, huddled around the railing looking out to sea. A few crew members were also walking through it, checking lifebelts and ropes.

At sea, time is gradually confused. The rich man’s room has 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 for a buffet dinner. When 7pm rolled around, it was time to change and head to the ballroom.

Night falls and dark clouds obscure the starry sky.

The ballroom is brightly lit, and the crowd is thriving and lively as they mingle and drink.

Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu put on their masks, half of their faces concealed. Seeing their masks, the waiter at the door looked respectful as he placed the draw box in his hand on the table and picked up the other one and handed it over, “Two guests, please.”

Jiang Luo gives Ge Zhu a look, encouraging him to go first. Ge Zhu gulped, thinking Fu Sheng is the Supreme Being, and drew out a card with his eyes closed.

Jiang Luo , “What is it?”

Ge Zhu opened one eye and falteringly turned the card over, the next instant snapping out a sigh of relief, “Crown card.”

It means becoming the “owner” of the initiative.

Jiang Luo silently looked twice at the card in his hand, suppressing the dangerous thought of snatching it away, and looked to the waiter, “Has anyone drawn a slave card from this box of lottery cards?”

The waiter smiled and said, “There hasn’t been one yet.”

Relieved for the moment, Jiang Luo reached into the draw box, selected a card and was about to take it out when another hand also reached into the box. The white gloved fingers entwine with Jiang Luo’s, and cards the size of playing cards pile up next to their hands.

Jiang Luo looks up, and behind him, a man in a pure white mask, looking deceptively familiar, reveals a high nose and a pale jaw. He smiles pleasantly, and in the night, his dark blue eyes meet Jiang Luo’s through the mask.

“First Mate,” the attendant bent down, “you can’t have two people drawing at the same time.”

“Shhh,” the man held his other hand up in front of his lips, “you didn’t see anything.”

The waiter stopped talking and acquiesced to the man’s behaviour.

“Guest, I think you’ve chosen the wrong card,” the first mate looked to Jiang Luo, a certain nasty tease 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 hand is charmingly drawn with an itchy circular mark on a card.