CH 73

“The call has been made according to your request. May I ask when you will settle the remaining payment… Alright, I will definitely bring Si Huaixi onto the Angelina Cruise. So I will trouble you to make the payment afterwards…”

The broker, Li Zhuo, spoke politely to the unknown but mysteriously generous person on the other end of the call. His withered face was pale and bloodless, with sunken eye sockets tinged with sickly shades of dark blue. His hand, holding the phone, bore numerous small punctures and bruises.

Suddenly, a foolish wealthy individual called him and transferred a sum of over ten thousand interstellar coins, informing him that if he brought his artist, Si Huaixi, to the Angelina Cruise, even more would be given to him.

Li Zhuo, of course, wouldn’t let this money-making opportunity slip by.

He needed money, a lot of money, to buy medicine so that he wouldn’t have to resort to purchasing those subpar painkillers.

Sweat trickled down Li Zhuo’s forehead as his dark and narrow eyes, tortured by illness, struggled to stay open. His fingers gripped the skin on his arm, as if hoping that by offsetting the pain, the excruciating pain deep in his bones would diminish.

With trembling hands, Li Zhuo retrieved a bottle of painkiller from his bag and injected it into his own arm.

One shot wasn’t enough, so he administered a second one.

Only then did Li Zhuo find some relief from the tormenting pain, but his haggard and exhausted appearance seemed to age several years in an instant.

The liquid in this painkiller was a newly developed drug, with a steep price tag. If it weren’t for this wealthy individual’s money, he wouldn’t be able to afford such medication at all.

Ever since he contracted a peculiar illness a year ago, initially manifesting as unexplained pain in his legs, it had gradually spread throughout his entire body, intensifying to an unbearable level.

Li Zhuo had visited various hospitals but couldn’t find the cause of his ailment, so he resorted to buying all sorts of painkillers to alleviate his suffering.

But nearly a year had passed, and his savings had been depleted by this strange illness.

His body had long developed resistance to conventional painkillers, yet the severe pain forced him to purchase expensive ones he couldn’t afford. He had no choice but to resort to the black market and buy painkillers with severe side effects, which gradually worsened his physical condition and led to dependence and addiction.

Li Zhuo, weakly, couldn’t suppress his cough. But with every cough, the muscles tore, causing him to gasp for breath.

His weary and dark eyes stared at the name of Si Huaixi on the phone, while his mind continued to dwell on some unsavory dealings.

The Angelina Cruise was considered a large luxury vacation spaceship in the outside world, consisting of 32 floors with a total area of over ten thousand hectares. The first ten floors were dedicated to accommodation and recreational areas for regular tourists, with half of them being large entertainment venues, including casinos, indoor beaches, amusement parks, and bars.

The Angelina Cruise was hyped as a large luxury spaceship for endless amusement, attracting numerous distinguished guests seeking a vacation.

However, the eleventh floor onwards revealed the hidden dark side of the Angelina Cruise, which couldn’t be exposed. Only invited and exceptionally esteemed guests were allowed access.

While they were called esteemed guests, Li Zhuo, who had spent so long in the gray entertainment industry, knew very well that those who descended to the eleventh floor of the Angelina Cruise were actually a group of perverted wealthy individuals.

Beyond the eleventh floor lay the slave trading market under the protection of Grand Duke Basalom, concealing the empire’s most sinister and corrupt aspects. The esteemed guests sat at auctions, joyfully purchasing the slaves they desired, indulging their wicked desires in deeper and lower levels.

Outside the Angelina Cruise, Omega citizens were protected by imperial law, but once they entered the eleventh floor, they became slaves at the mercy of selection.

There are various sources of slaves, including those from the Federation, blacklisted individuals, criminals, and victims of abduction and deception…

It is said that even the most tainted wealthy guests are not allowed beyond the 18th floor. That is the private domain of Duke Basalom, where many of his perverted guests have seen his subordinates selecting slaves to take down, but none of them have ever seen a slave come back up.

The wealthy man who just gave him money clearly had more than a simple meeting in mind. Li Zhuo, the agent, wore a cold expression on his face, fully aware of the implications.

Si Huaixi also received an invitation from the Angelina Cruise.

The invitation displayed the Angelina Cruise, a luxurious and grand spacecraft shuttling through the dreamlike and mysterious starry sky, with a bright purple star shimmering beautifully.

A purple star…

Si Huaixi furrowed his cold brows and pulled out a drawing from the shelf.

In the sky depicted on the map drawing, there was also a dazzling purple star, surrounded by stars of different colors.

It was a painting by the ghost girl, Irin. She had a moment of clarity when she was abducted and saw such a starry sky outside the window, which she memorized firmly.

Now Irin’s soul was growing weaker and weaker. After Brother Pei disappeared, she traversed different star networks in search of him.

But not only Brother Pei, even the smart brain, Silver Arc, who was involved in the development of the game ‘Star River Battlefield,’ had gone missing. Due to the disappearance of the main system’s AI, Silver Arc, the entire game fell into an abandoned state, and most players had already quit.

Irin couldn’t find any trace of Silver Arc either, and coupled with her deteriorating physical functions, she found it increasingly difficult to maintain a stable state of consciousness. Many times, she could only manifest as a blur and fall into a weak sleep, nearing death.

Even Si Huaixi couldn’t help her.

No one could help someone who was gradually dying.

Si Huaixi’s cold and intense eyes twitched, as one by one, the people around him left. It seemed he was growing numb to it all.

Although he knew the chances were slim, Si Huaixi still awakened the ghostly Irin.

“Irin, do you have any impression of this place?”

Awakened from her frail state, Irin slowly glanced at the location on the invitation, and while she was unsure and unaware of other details, she was immediately captivated by the bright purple star.

“It feels very familiar. Irin can’t be certain, but does Mr. Si think that Irin’s body might be there?”

“Well, it’s not impossible. Since we’ve discovered a lead, let’s go take a look. Besides, I have some matters to attend to.”

Si Huaixi asked again, “Irin, do you know about Angelina Cruise?”

Irin’s tone was surprised and hesitant. “Why would Mr. Si want to go to such a place? While searching for Mr. Pei and Mr. Silver Arc’s clues in the star network, Irin did come across the Angelina Cruise, but it’s not exactly a clean place…”

“It could be described as nauseating. The Angelina name bestowed upon the Angelina Cruise Ship conceals the most repulsive and festering sins. For those struggling there, being alive is worse than death… If it’s that kind of place, perhaps my body is truly there…”

Irin’s voice was filled with a faint sense of sadness and desolation.

Si Huaixi gazed at the invitation letter, which displayed the vibrant and glamorous Angelina Cruise Ship. His deep and reserved eyes revealed no hint of emotional fluctuation.

The Angelina Cruise Ship.

At the ordinary entrance, many visitors who had come eagerly wore smiles on their faces, hoping to spend a pleasant vacation on this grand imperial luxury cruise ship. Numerous families also arrived, with children bouncing around in lively excitement.

At the exclusive VIP entrance, the esteemed guests of the Angelina Cruise Ship also wore smiles. However, the superficial greasy smiles on those guests’ faces were repulsive to see.

Li Zhuo, the agent, seemed worried that Si Huaixi might change his mind at the last minute, so he deliberately waited at the entrance of the Angelina Cruise Ship. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally saw Si Huaixi, who had kept him waiting for so long.

Feeling relieved, Li Zhuo then put on a self-satisfied and arrogant expression.

Li Zhuo scrutinized Si Huaixi with a critical eye. Even in his clean and ordinary clothes, Si Huaixi exuded an aura of aloofness and detachment like a mountain peak.

As he approached, the surrounding gazes couldn’t help but be drawn to him, like moths chasing after a light.

This included ordinary tourists.

This also included the affluent guests lingering in the VIP passage.

Upon seeing Si Huaixi, this rare and precious treasure, aboard the Angelina Cruise Ship, many well off guests cast covetous and excited glances, eagerly dispatching their subordinates to inquire about who this person was.

Suddenly, Irin spoke, “Mr. Si, my body is on this cruise ship. I can feel it.”

“Mhm,” Si Huaixi responded with a slightly cold tone.

His vast spiritual power unfolded throughout the entire ship, leaving no place to hide.

A total of 32 floors.

Descending layer by layer, the spiritual power observed the people on the Angelina Cruise Ship— those who were joyous, ignorant, twisted, in pain, in despair, nauseating, fallen, and ugly.

Si Huaixi furrowed his brows indifferently.

– It dirtied his eyes.

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