Or is it that the other party merely boarded the ship as a member of the Withered Flower family?

Xu Xiaoyou quickly followed, the scenery outside the porthole gradually receding. At this moment, the ship's horn sounded, signaling that the Dream of the Ocean was departing the dock, heading out into the vast sea.

The ship swayed slightly, yet the young men and women dancing hand in hand in the ballroom remained steady amidst the jolt. The young noble gentleman would reach out to hold the girl before him, inquiring about her well-being with concern, the scent of cologne and cedar mixed in the hormones exuded in the gestures.

The sound of the ship's broadcast echoed, and Xu Xiaoyou walked steadily through a bout of turbulence until she arrived at an alloy door of a storage compartment, through the circular glass on the door she could see the scene inside the room.

In the dim light, dust swirled in the air, beside an antique wine cabinet, two figures appeared to be engaged in dialogue.

A brown-haired young man leaned against the wall with arms crossed, dressed properly in a champagne and blue-white academy uniform, opened his hand to the side, with the corner of his lips curving to a playful smile.

Standing opposite him, Lancelot was in the distance, with his expression obscured by the shadows of the shelves.

Xu Xiaoyou pressed against the wall, overhearing the contents of their discussion.

"Do you intend to keep following me, Gao Wen?" Lancelot asked.

The brown-haired youth chuckled upon hearing this: "The president is quite selfish, isn't he? Hard-earned leisure time, having finished all the busy work of the second half of the academic year, comes for a vacation alone."

Lancelot's brows furrowed tightly: "Did you bring them?'

The playful smile on Gao Wen's lips grew even broader.

"I thought the president had forgotten to notify everyone."

"As the considerate vice president, of course I have to be concerned for the president, so I informed everyone on behalf of the president, it's a rare chance to relax together. Why doesn't the president look too pleased, is there something you don't want us to know?"

"Gao Wen!" Lancelot suddenly stepped forward, pushing the youth against the wall, causing the shelves to rattle, with a lion-like anger emanating from his gaze.

"Don't think I don't know your little tricks. I'm warning you, Gao Wen, this is my own business, and it's none of your concern."

"Your own business?"

Gao Wen raised an eyebrow, spreading his hands in feigned helplessness.

"What kind of business could it be? Is it your business, or the family's business, related to that 'miracle' the Withered Flower family guards on the island?"

'Miracle'? Xu Xiaoyou recalled the information she had found online before landing on the island, those suspicious clues hard not to ponder deeply.

It makes sense, the family couldn't be engaging in charity, inexplicably renovating tourist facilities on the island, even if making a loss, maintaining those facilities, actually guarding a miracle on the island?

The concept of 'miracle' was vague; in Xu Xiaoyou's impression, miracles only came into existence in the Wastelands. The official explanation was that when an object with traits is in deep contact with the "Mysterious," its essence will undergo an irreversible transformation into a 'miracle'.

A 'miracle' could be a trial, a tangible object, or even just a sphere of light gathered from multiple rays, understood only upon contact with the miracle.

Suppressing her thoughts for the moment, Xu Xiaoyou continued listening to the conversation of the two inside the room.

"Quite the stance, Mr. President, is there really a need to make things so tense? Did you think I really wanted to come? I'm already busy enough entertaining among a dozen blooming girls, you know?"

"Did the academy send you?" Lancelot, sharp-eared, picked up on the youth's implicit message, his gaze wavering slightly.

Only then did Gao Wen finally strip away his disguise, like a cunning wolf, leisurely pacing around Lancelot, and eventually placing his hands on the latter's shoulders, whispering into his ear.

Xu Xiaoyou wanted to listen carefully, but suddenly noticed a pair of bright black eyes blinking at her under the light.

A tall young girl, unknown from when, appeared beside her, also leaning against the wall eavesdropping on the conversation of the two inside the room.

The girl had her hair in a ponytail, looking pure and lovely, with her academy uniform jacket tied around her waist, exuding sporty energy.

Just as Xu Xiaoyou was about to speak, the girl gestured for silence: "Those two are always at odds in the student council, I just enjoy watching them bicker.'

"Who's outside the door?"

Lancelot's questioning voice arose, prompting the girl to awkwardly scratch her face, intending to apologize to the golden-haired girl, only to find that the latter had disappeared, the room door simultaneously opening.

"Yaqing? Why are you here too?" Recognizing the girl's appearance, Lancelot's tense expression softened slightly, opening his mouth to speak.

"Oh, I'm just worried something might happen to you alone on the island, Gao Wen organized something in the student council, and I heard about it, so I came along."

Finishing, Lin Yaqing righteously placed her hands on her hips, not just feeling guilty at all, but instead, frequently poking Lancelot's forehead with her fingertips:

"Going out alone without telling me, what if some sea monster eats you, am I not your girlfriend or what?"

"I won't disturb you two any further, I'll take my leave now." Gao Wen smiled politely, weaving between the two to leave.

Watching the youth disappear at the end of the corridor, Lancelot turned, his demeanor becoming more serious:

"Yaqing, was there anyone else besides you in the hallway just now?"

Lin Yaqing rarely saw the youth with such a serious look, recalling the golden-haired girl, wondering if she was a member of the student council? She didn't seem to have seen her usually.

Not wanting to trouble the other party, she shook her head, speaking in a forthright tone:

"No, I was the only one outside just now."

...

Meanwhile, somewhere below the ship's deck, a robust crew member was using a flashlight to navigate the pitch-black corridor.

A cold, dreary wind blew in the darkness, with drops of water condensing on the metal pipes, dripping onto the floor with a ticking sound. The damp moisture in the air brought chills. Thirty minutes after the cruise's departure, a large-scale power outage suddenly hit the area of Deck 21, and he was assigned to repair the anomaly.

None of the VIPs on this cruise could be offended, if anything happened to them, the entire crew would suffer. As the man thought this, two small black figures suddenly flashed past in the flashlight's beam.

The sudden change made the man's heart skip a beat, scenes from the horror movie he watched earlier when the ship was moored involuntarily drifted into his mind, swallowing his saliva, could he really be so unlucky to encounter something unclean?

As the light refocused, the man breathed a sigh of relief, they were two little girls, both dressed in exquisite doll dresses, wearing round-toed small leather shoes, with chubby, cherubic faces, clearly children from some noble family who had wandered off.

"Hey, you two, what are you doing?"

It was only at this time that the man could act more assertive in front of the family, like an adult catching hold of a child's misbehavior, scolding sternly.

The two little girls didn't respond to him; they merely stared straight ahead, as if something in the darkness piqued their innate curiosity as children.

As he frowned and moved closer with the flashlight, he discovered they were standing in front of a restaurant kitchen, with impenetrable darkness ahead, vaguely spotting rows of stainless-steel cabinets with various dishes, and kitchen appliances like ovens.

"There's someone in there." One little girl pointed forward and said.

"She's very hungry, very hungry."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.