Chapter 87 - Foreboding

The next day, the ocean weather started to turn bad. The skies were gray and there was the pitter patter of occasional rainfall. The strong winds cause the waves to start swelling. However, this cruise ship was huge, so the turbulence did not affect it much. Using the extra key card to open Lingjing’s room, the first thing that met his sight was the utterly soaked carpet. Jiaming couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. No need to exaggerate here. Not in his wildest dreams would he have expected there to be so much water. Women were indeed mysterious creatures……

It was already past 8am. The two girls were asleep in each other’s arms. They didn’t seem to have any intention of getting up anytime soon, clear proof of how wasted they must have been from the previous night. Jiaming shook his head, sighing once again in his heart. Raising the quilt, both girls were fully unclothed, their bodies tangled up ambigously with each other. Snow white flesh, alluring curves, one exposed bottom rubbing up against a thigh – Jiaming burst out in laughter then smacked Lingjing’s butt. Lingjing woke up in a daze as the offended part started to turn red.

“Oh, Jiaming, stop bothering me……”

Still in a daze, Lingjing grabbed on to the hand that was roaming over their two bodies but didn’t push it away. After a while, Shasha also woke up. Lingjing gradually raised herself up, seemingly looking to hold on to Jiaming for support, her forehead resting on his chest. Jiaming obligingly held her up: “Hey, last night the two of you……”

“It’s good you brought up last night……” Like an obedient little puppy, Lingjing affectionately rubbed her cheek on Jiaming’s chest while making lovey-dovey sounds. Jiaming suddenly had a bad premonition. Indeed: “Shasha, I got him now, bite him!”

Afterwards, the two still to be clothed young ladies acted out a fierce and charming show of “slaying the husband”. Jiaming finally managed to get the two female leopards to retract their claws, getting the two of them to lie submissively in his embrace. His shirt had been torn off. His back carved up with uncountable red streaks. The three cuddled in bed for a while. Lingjing giggled, playfully extending her cute little tongue to lick one of the marks she had inflicted near the pit of his stomach. Shasha held on to him tightly, starting to doze. Jiaming hesitantly remarked: “uh, can it be you two really went lily last night?”

“Lily, you still dare to say lily.” Hearing this word, Lingjing half laughingly, half in anger pinched his chest a few times. “It’s all your fault. You’ve led Shasha astray! Lily……”

Having this brought up, Shasha blushed scarlet then went on pretending to be asleep.

“You can’t blame me, I only meant it as a joke. Who knew Shasha would actually do it? I had thought that maybe if I blew up the ship, it would be simpler……but going back to that……now that you really did it, how does it feel?”

“Hmmph, since the lord husband wishes for us to be lilies, we as the wives have to of course make it happen.”Lingjing cheekily rolled her eyes, “I just realized, now that me and Shasha are lilies, we don’t have any use for you anymore. Might as well kill you off……”

Amidst the jokes and laughter, the three engage in more raucous clowning. After interrogating them, Jiaming found out the reason for the completely soaked carpet. While Lingjing and Shasha were fooling around on the bed the previous night, they had forgotten to turn off the bath water and it had overflowed out from the bathroom. This in turn had kept the two girls up half the night. With regards to the matter of turning lily, Shasha and Lingjing didn’t it discuss further by unspoken agreement. A little while later Shasha tried out the pregnancy test again and only just now determined that she was indeed not pregnant.

The truth is, the source of the two girls’ consternation couldn’t be put squarely on the pregnancy. However, this had been a wake-up call to Lingjing and Shasha. The harsh reality had shattered the fairy tale of the three living happily ever after and instead gave rise to a feeling of trepidation. Between themselves, feelings of jealousy would be inevitable. From society at large, they would be subjected to disapproval, gossip, etc. Through hard work and determination, they might be able to overcome societal pressure. However, there was no way to guard against the ebb and flow of human feelings. Now this knot had been untangled by Shasha’s actions the previous night. From here on all they had to face was external criticism.

After this false alarm, the two girls became especially close. For the whole day, the ship navigated through the gloom of the wind and rain. Even though it wasn’t possible to go out on deck, the ship had bazaars, casinos, cinemas, live shows and so on. There was no lack of options to entertain oneself. One doesn’t have to worry about having nothing fun to do. However, the four of them opted to stay inside the room to watch movies, play poker and other games. Compared to the previous day’s somber mood, today the inside of the cruise ship room was filled with cheerful talk and laughter. The four were transported back to that period of time that Yahan stayed over at the Liu family villa. The three pretty ladies proceeded to treat Jiaming as a laborer for them to order around. For Yahan, it was because she was still indignant about being taken advantage of by that fellow last night. For Lingjing and Shasha, every time they recalled that preposterous episode of playing lilies last night, they would find another reason to pick a fight with Jiaming.

This picturesque scene filled with charming voices and laughter and the sight of elegant legs and bare white arms is naturally quite fulfilling to a man’s libido. However, with the gradual passage of time, the wind and rain started to get stronger. Looking out through the room’s balcony at the unending cascades of rain, Jiaming was furiously calculating. Since it was nearly two days, the luxury cruise ship was already on the return half of its journey. In order to prepare, he needed to be able to figure out in advance Minamoto Hajime’s whereabouts and movements.

For Jiaming, this was the personal bar he had set for himself. Since Minamoto Hajime’s target was Chen Guxia, he had to protect the man properly. Even though the current Minamoto Hajime had reached the pinnacle, he was not yet at the level he would be in later years as the fearsome and matchless king of assassins. Jiaming can definitely still grasp his mentality to a certain extent.

Presently on this ship, Ancestral Awakening and Peroka’s forces were directly opposed. Lyra Tenebris whose purpose was yet unknown completed the 3rd corner of this triangle. While he, in his role as Mr. Tulip, was undoubtedly the most mysterious factor aboard this ship. As long as he didn’t openly reveal himself, Peroka and Lyra Tenebris would hesitate to act rashly for fear of the unknown consequences. However, fearing to act wasn’t the same as doing absolutely nothing. Tomorrow night, this ship will return to dock at Jianghai City. With Peroka’s people on the ship, under the cover of the wind and rain, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to try take advantage of the situation. To avoid the interference of the mysterious Mr. Tulip and accomplish their objective, what method will Minamoto Hajime choose……

In any case, playing defense is harder than being on the offensive. Sighing in his heart, Jiaming looked at clock on the wall, then at the three loosely dressed women playing poker on the bed, smiling: “I’ll go out first for a walk.”

“Come back quick, I already ordered dinner, it should be delivered soon. If you missed it, we won’t wait for you.” Shasha said laughingly.

“En”. Nodding his head, Jiaming opened the door and went out. Although it was only just past 5 pm, the sky was already dark. Except for this solitary festive spot, in the vast expanse of ocean outside there was only water, water, water. This kind of feeling made him extremely uncomfortable. Facing the cold wind head on, he walked a few steps, then suddenly gave a start and stopped moving.

No, that’s not right…… when taking on a mission with too many difficulties, then just keep on raising the stakes. As long as the mission is accomplished, it doesn’t matter if it triggers a world war. That was the style he was formerly used to. If it was Minamoto Hajime…… Peroka and Lyra Tenebris have been continuously at odds this last years, and no matter what, if this was a matter that needed Natalie of Annis to act personally, then it should be treated as a peak confrontation of the underworld. In his previous life, Kelly Founîmes position in Lyra Tenebris was too high. Many of these matters naturally fell to her to oversee. As for Natalie, he was still more accustomed to her image of a willful woman who did things according to her fancy. Then this time around, his own considerations have not encompassed the whole picture……

Supposing the reason Natalie showed up now was to personally deal with Minamoto Hajime, then that guy, under the pressure of the two powerful factions, in order to accomplish his mission…… Jiaming understood him too well. The current Minamoto Hajime was flourishing in his ruthlessness. He wouldn’t care about any innocents that were in the way of his mission. The things he would do, it wouldn’t be impossible to be even crazier than what Jiaming would dare. All the people on this boat……

Slowly propping his hands on the railing, a grim smile appeared on his face. After a moment, he turned his gaze back to the sliding room door that he just walked out of. It was still hard to say whether the situation will turn out as he expected. If it did however, he would have to fight with his life.

The unpredictable wind and rain unceasingly grew stronger. Around 8pm, after everyone had eaten, the captain stepped into the main control room, quickly checking over the relevant console data. As he prepared to leave, the radar technician suddenly remarked: “There is an unknown ship 7 nautical miles away at the 2 o’clock position…..eh? It disappeared……”

On the open ocean, the seemingly limitless torrents kept on pouring down, gradually engulfing the splendid floating palace in its midst……