Doomsday Cruise

Chapter 7: Cruise Ship First Boarding (1)

    Mo Xiaoyao thought that the octopus-faced first mate would take away the ticket, but the other party just looked at it, swept it on it with something similar to a ticket checker, and gave it back to her.

    The octopus-faced first mate's Mandarin words were eloquent: "Welcome to the Doomsday Cruise. Please board the ship, and I wish you a pleasant journey."

    Mo Xiaoyao swayed between active inquiries and stranger phobia. In the end, under the silent watch of the octopus-faced shipmate, she climbed the gangway step by step. They'll be fine for sure, all three won at the same time, and there's no reason why she should be on the ship alone.

    The gangway was wooden and connected the pier to the cruise ship, and the road beneath it sloped slightly downwards, leading to the first level of the cruise ship. Every time Mo Xiaoyao took a step, she felt that her body was not the same as before. It was a very subtle change, but she could still detect it.

    Halfway through, Mo Xiaoyao stopped, looked down at her open palm thoughtfully, tried to make a fist, and slammed the air in front of her with force.

    Her punching speed has become faster. Compared with the fluffy punches and kicks* before, her current state was as if she had practiced boxing for a long time, at least.

*花拳绣腿 (huā quán xiù tuǐ), literally flower fist and embroidered legs, is a metaphors only do things that look good on the surface and are actually useless. Took a bit of liberties here.

    Withdrawing her fist, Mo Xiaoyao tried her leg again, and she easily kicked to a height that she had never experienced before. For someone like her who did not stretch her muscles or legs, this was nothing short of a miracle.

    It seems that after the dungeon, her physical condition had improved, but it could only be stimulated by walking on this gangway. Mo Xiaoyao squinted her eyes, and suddenly understood why she was the only one on the pier - this was probably when the settlement was done separately, and everyone had a separate space to prevent each other from snooping.

    After she figured it out, the rest of the way was better. Mo Xiaoyao continued to move forward calmly. When she finally left the gangway and stood on the cruise ship, her physical fitness had been comprehensively strengthened, and at the same time, a large amount of information has been added to her mind.

    She was not in a hurry to organize the things in her mind, she wouldn't lose it, and it was not suitable to be done in public. Mo Xiaoyao turned back, the gangway behind her was gone, and the hatch was slowly closing. As the ship moved, the pier covered in mist gradually disappeared from her field of vision.

    Looking back, the originally empty cruise ship suddenly became lively, and NPC crew members in uniforms of different colors could be seen everywhere.

    Why could it be seen that they were NPC crew members? Of course it's because they all have an octopus face.

    Before Mo Xiaoyao could observe the place carefully, she heard a familiar voice greeting her, and following the voice, her heart calmed down inexplicably.

    It was Yue Yin and Jiang Yan, standing side by side, waving to her.

    The smile automatically climbed onto her face, and from the inside out, Mo Xiaoyao pulled the slippers that didn't fit her feet and ran towards them.

    "It's so slow." Jiang Yan said in disgust, but his expression was different. Obviously, he was very happy that the three of them could meet safely.

    Mo Xiaoyao admitted frankly: "Well, I tested something on the road."

    Yue Yin was very excited. The discomfort caused by vomiting just now disappeared, and the whole person was as excited as a golden monkey with a whole bunch of bananas.

    "Sister Xiaoyao, let me tell you, I got it—Ow! Why are you stepping on me!"

    Mo Xiaoyao silently retracted her foot and looked at Yue Yin seriously: "Don't say it here. It's better to not say it at all. This was not the world we used to be, not all secrets have to be shared with friends."

    Yue Yin was stunned, not quite understanding what Mo Xiaoyao meant, but Jiang Yan patted him on the shoulder and spoke earnestly: "You should be more cautious."

    "No, I said—"

    Before Yue Yin could finish speaking, 5 people who were dressed differently from the NPC crew walked over to them. The leader was a middle-aged man with a good figure and appearance. At least he was neither half bald nor beer belly. The facial features and expressions on the face also did not look greasy.

    There were three men and one woman behind him. There was nothing special about it. They belonged to the type of people who would not be noticed when they were thrown in the crowd. The clothes of the four of them are relatively similar, a bit like the kind of formal clothes worn by office workers.

    "The three are new, right?" The middle-aged man stopped near them. It was the kind of distance that would neither make the other party feel squeezed nor feel too alienated. It was obvious that he was an experienced negotiator in the business field. He inadvertently could brush up the other party's favorability, "My surname is Su, Su Wanfu, I came to this ship a few days earlier than everyone. If you don't mind, I will act as a tour guide and take you to the lobby to meet the shipmates?" 

    Yue Yin intuitively looked at Jiang Yan, Jiang Yan did not speak and was thinking, Mo Xiaoyao... Mo Xiaoyao had a phobia of strangers and refused to speak.

    Su Wanfu glanced at them and immediately came to the conclusion that Jiang Yan was in charge of the three, so he invited him again: "Besides you, there are 1,953 people on board, and this cruise ship has a capacity of 2,500. No one knows how long it will take for the new crew to arrive, everyone will gather together to exchange information, why don't you come and have a look?"

    This time, Jiang Yan put a smile on his face, and nodded to Su Wanfu: "Hello, we meet for the first time, I am Jiang Yan. Please, Mr. Su, lead the way."

    He didn't mean to introduce Yue Yin and Mo Xiaoyao, and Su Wanfu didn't ask. He probably regarded them just like the four people behind him, just followers, and they didn't matter.

    Didn't the attendants need names? In some people's eyes, yes.

    Since someone had done the cliché chatting and greeting, Mo Xiaoyao was so happy that she didn't need to think about it. She could not walk fast in those slippers, so she wanted to give it back to Yue Yin. She would also feel more comfortable barefoot.

    Yue Yin scratched his head, thinking that Mo Xiaoyao was being polite to him: "No, you can wear it, I'm not cold, you can see that the floor is full of carpets, it's quite warm."

    Mo Xiaoyao silently put both feet from the ground. She stretched out his slippers, stepped on the soft and warm carpet, and said to Yue Yin with great earnestness, "I think so too. Besides, your shoes are big and my feet are small, so I'd better not wear them."

    "Oh... Oh!" Only then did Yue Yin suddenly realize, and put on his shoes a little embarrassedly, then felt Mo Xiaoyao touched his arm, looked sideways, and received a very sincere thanks.

    "Thank you." Mo Xiaoyao sincerely thanked Yue Yin. There are really not many bad people like him this year. Rare species must be protected, so she stopped Yue Yin from blurting out the words just now, even if it would be very beneficial to her.

    "Small things, small things, you are too polite, Miss Xiaoyao." Yue Yin was very embarrassed, and he said to her, "I didn't take a closer look just now, this place is quite beautiful."

    Mo Xiaoyao: ... Except for the decorations in the hall that was obviously reserved for queuing up and getting on and off the boat, the rest are all cabins. What's so beautiful about it?

    Yue Yin was quite sad. The first cruise in his life was this kind of doomsday cruise. But since he didn't say it, Mo Xiaoyao, as a bystander, could only see through it but not speak.

    It was a beautiful virtue that every survivor should possess.

    The layout of the cruise ship was not very complicated, and it was obvious that passengers do not want to travel in circles in the labyrinth with large and small bags. So soon, under the leadership of Su Wanfu, they successfully boarded the elevator and went straight to the theater that can accommodate 2,500 people at the same time in the atrium on the third floor.

    "This cruise ship is similar to an ordinary cruise ship. There are activities from the third floor, duty-free shops, cafeterias, gyms, etc., everything. After you go back to your room, you will see a brochure on it. It's all about the introduction of the facilities on the cruise ship, so I won't say more."

    The first time Mo Xiaoyao stepped into the theater, she was attracted by the huge sea map hanging on the stage curtain, and she ignored Su Wanfu. After hearing the chatter about the introduction, she walked straight over, stopped about 3 meters away from the chart, and looked up slightly.

    The entire sea map is about 10 meters long and 8 meters wide. Most of the territory was covered by the familiar fog, and it was difficult to see what was there. Its lower left and upper right corners were the only two clearly visible places on the chart.

    There was a red dot in the upper right corner, next to it was marked [Ultimate Paradise], which looks like the end of the journey of this doomsday cruise ship.

    The lower left corner was the starting point of the journey. A dot marked with [Earth] has turned off the light and turned into a black symbol of the past.

    After the earth was a red dot with the word [supply station] written, and there are 2 other [Supply Station] of the same type, listed at the back at the same distance. And after the three [Supply Station], there was a red square with the words [Sightseeing Station] written on it, which looks so different.

    Between [Earth] and the first [Supply Station], there was a scaled-down image of a doomsday cruise ship dangling on the chart. Where it passes, a gray track composed of line segments was pulled out, and it seemed to be heading towards the first [Supply Station].

    Here Su Wanfu had also mentioned this chart: "...The boat was driven by entering the dungeon, you know the dungeon? I heard that people will die there. But whether to enter or not, you will still be alive. The name of the end point looked pretty good, but who knows how long it will take us to get there? This chart is full of fog, and you can't move it with your hands. Why don't you just stay on the boat. There's food and drink on it, and you don't need money, enough for the rest of our lives."

    Jiang Yan looked at the chart and asked Su Wanfu calmly: "What you said is everyone's idea?"

    "Yeah, everyone has studied it, it is better to hang out on the boat than to enter the dungeon where you might die. It's better to eat and wait to die." Su Wanfu turned around and pointed to the outside of the theater, "There are four restaurants on this ship, except for the most upscale one, you can't enter, the rest are all eaten casually - we have all eaten here for 5 days, from the most high-end restaurant. From the first 1,500 people, to more than 1,900 people now, there has never been a shortage of food."

    Jiang Yan smiled and didn't answer. What was the supply station on the chart for? Was it there just because it looked good?

    But he wouldn't say it. Some people were like this. When the facts didn't hit them and they didn't see the interests of their own survival, they were willing to be blind.

    Since they couldn't get anything else useful from them, Jiang Yan wanted to say goodbye. As a former terminally ill patient, his time was precious, every minute and every second.

    Even if his body had recovered, he had regained his health, and he had a lot of time to squander, he didn't want to waste it on such a boring person.