This Damned Thirst for Survival

The husband’s eyes were slightly red as he said gratefully, “We’ve been looking for you for days to find you. …… On the night of the ball, you were the ones who helped me protest together, weren’t you? I really can’t thank you enough.”

The couple are newlyweds, a man called Li Wei and a woman called He Yao, who boarded the boat because they could not afford to buy a house.

He Yao, a clean-looking but virtuous woman, had been silently wiping her tears as Li Wei hugged her and regretted it, wishing he could slap himself twice, “I should never have taken you to the ball that night.”

He Yao patted his hand, “We can’t help it, if we don’t participate in other activities on the ship, even if we manage to get off the ship, the money we get won’t be enough to buy the house we like.”

Li Wei said in a jarring voice, “I’m sorry for being a loser.”

When they had both calmed down, Zhuo Zhongqiu coughed up his throat and asked, “Where did you know that you could earn money by boarding?”

Li Wei wiped her face, “We both worked in a bathhouse, she studied massage and I gave pedicures to customers. One day at work we met a very rich customer who, after a few words, gave me two tickets to the boat, saying that I could make a lot of money if I boarded it.”

“We thought the guests were playing a trick on us,” He Yao followed in a whisper, “but when we checked online, the two boat tickets were worth several thousand. We thought about it all night, gritted our teeth and took half a month’s leave to get on the boat.”

“It’s strange to say,” Li Wei told her, “that I accidentally cut a customer’s foot when I was giving him a pedicure. I thought my wages would be deducted and I was scared for a long time, but the boss didn’t feel any pain and didn’t even mention it, so he gave me the boat ticket and left in a hurry.”

As they spoke, several waiters appeared with trolleys and placed bowls of fish soup on the tables of the crowd.

The fish soup was mellow and fragrant, with a piece of fish meat inside each bowl. Wen Renlian swirls his spoon around the soup a few times and the delicious aroma rushes to his nose.

He suddenly remembered what Li Sha had once said to him, “Don’t drink fish soup.”

Wen Renlian’s hand lurched and whispered sideways to those around him, “Remember what I told you before? Don’t use fish soup.”

Zhuo Zhongqiu nodded and whispered the words to another person.

Lu Youyi sat next to the couple and, when reminded, pushed the fish soup aside. The couple, however, picked up the bowl without precaution and Lu Youyi stopped them, “Don’t drink it.”

Li Wei held the bowl up, his mouth watering as he smelled the freshness in it, and wondered, “Why?”

Lu Youyi stammered for words.

He didn’t know why, but Wen Renlian had to have a reason for saying so.

Seeing that he couldn’t tell them why, and with the fish soup right on their lips, the couple still couldn’t resist the temptation of the aroma and buried their heads in a sip.

Kuang Zheng silently checks the contents of the soup with a spoon.

In addition to the fish and spices, the soup contains something clear that resembles fruit pulp.

What is it?

He lifted the spoon to his nose and smelled it, the mouth-watering aroma emanating from the flesh.

The pulp must be the key to the aroma of the fish soup. Even if Kuang Zheng doesn’t have a craving for fish, he feels hungry after smelling this.

On the side, Li Wei and his wife had already finished their two bowls of fish soup, smacking their lips as they reminisced about the taste of the soup, “The soup tastes so good, and there are no thorns in the fish, so you want to eat it again.”

Li Wei looked at the soup in front of Lu Youyi and his eyes lit up, “Don’t you want to eat?”

Lu Youyi gulped and shook his head firmly, “I’m not eating.”

No sooner had he said that than Li Wei reached out and took his soup away, and before Lu Youyi could stop him, he stuck his bowl in and took a sip, saying vaguely, “Then let me have it.”

A dinner was served, and they watched the others eat feverishly. The six men ate some bread with no appetite and went back to their rooms.

After closing the door carefully behind him, Ye Xun took the lead and asked, ” Wen Ren, what’s in the soup?”

Wen Renlian shook his head, “I don’t know what’s in the soup either, that’s what the captain’s daughter told me.”

Zhuo Zhongqiu dragged his chin in thought, “We still have to listen to what the captain’s daughter says, so let’s not eat it, we’re not short of this bowl of fish soup anyway.”

She looked at Kuang Zheng with some hesitation and took the initiative to ask, ” Kuang Zheng , what have you found out?”

“The aroma of the fish soup is so strong that it could be addictive.” Kuang Zheng said uncertainly.

Lu Youyi’s stomach rumbled at the mention of the smell, and he said bitterly, “The smell was so overpowering that I couldn’t eat anything just now because of the smell of the fish soup.”

“Bear with me,” Wen Renlian said, handing him a packet of instant noodles, “and eat this to satisfy your craving.”

Lu Youyi didn’t want to eat, but couldn’t resist the hunger and made noodles. When the smell came out, the others also piled in and finished the noodles in two bites each, without even leaving any soup dregs.

Lu Youyi was about to burst into tears, “When will this miserable life ever end?”

Late at night, they went back to their respective rooms. In the middle of the night, Sai Liaoer was sleeping soundly in bed when Kuang Zheng suddenly heard two footsteps outside and stopped at their door.

After a few seconds of silence, the door lock was unlocked with a click.

Kuang Zheng’s hand under the bedding was clenched into a fist.

He kept his breathing steady as the two men outside the door walked gingerly into the room, one to Kuang Zheng’s bed and the other to Sai Liaoer.

Kuang Zheng’s forehead was swept by some machine and someone whispered, “No fever.”

The man then peeled back Kuang Zheng’s eyelids to look at them and shone a light on them, “The eyeballs are unchanged.”

In the brief interval when his eyes were peeled back, Kuang Zheng recognised the man as one of the ship’s crew.

The other replied, “This one has no symptoms either, let’s go.”

After a few moments, the room reverted to silence.

Kuang Zheng waited for a while before opening his eyes. He first got out of bed to check on the safety of Sai Liaoer, who was sleeping with his hair in a messy, blissful state. After making sure he was all right, Kuang Zheng went to the door and looked out through the cat’s eye.

In the light of the corridor, two crew members in dust jackets entered the civilian’s room one by one, occasionally carrying some civilian out and placing him on the floor.

The civilians seemed to have passed out, and there was no reaction to such a great commotion. Their faces were flushed and they were breathing heavily, as if they had a fever.

Soon the area was checked over. Two crew members dragged the people in the corridor away, and Kuang Zheng saw Li Wei and He Yao among those being dragged away.

Li Wei’s face is even redder and her chest heaves violently.

It was an hour after the two crews had hauled away dozens of people, the last of whom had been hauled away.

Kuang Zheng loosens his stiff muscles as he places a glass against the door and sits beside Sai Liaoer to watch over him until dawn. Kuang Zheng wakes Sai Liaoer up only when there is the sound of other people moving around outside.

The six men met at breakfast. Thankfully, none of them were taken by the crew.

Ye Xun’s first words upon meeting them were, “The fish soup last night was spiked with sleeping pills.”

There are many more questions before them.

Why did the crew give them sleeping pills? And where did they take the men?

With more than 20 people missing at once, not only Kuang Zheng and his men, but also others noticed something was wrong. It was frightening to see people disappearing without a sound. Cheng Li, the crew member on duty in the dining room, kept being asked where the men had gone, and he didn’t bother to answer at first, but eventually got fed up with the questions and said, “The men had a fever last night, so we moved the sick ones to another place to prevent infection.”

“Where is the other place?” One girl pursued anxiously.

Cheng Li cursed impatiently, “The bilge, it’s all in the bilge!”

Someone just couldn’t help themselves, “Why do you have this attitude?”

Cheng Li smiled coldly, “Complain about me if you can.”

Friction between the civilian areas and the crew soon spread to the richer areas.

Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu exchanged a glance, intending to find a chance to visit their pals in the civilian area.

The day passed uneventfully. In the evening, Jiang Luo went to the auction hall and sat at the back of the crowd.

The person presiding over this auction was none other than the Captain. Before the auction, the captain smiled broadly and gave a definite time, “Three days from now is the most suitable time to eat blood eels, and the first group of diners will be only ten. We do not use an open bidding format, but rather guests will write down their names and the price they can afford on a piece of paper, and we will use the first ten from highest to lowest.”

This method is quick and easy, but it is extremely psychologically torturous for the rich. Jiang Luo and Ge Zhu are quite indifferent, they have no money at all.

When writing the price, they both cast straight onto the blank roll.

The captain took the crew and sorted out the price list and ten minutes later the captain returned to the stage with the list, “Congratulations to these ten gentlemen and ladies who have qualified to taste the blood eel in three days.”

“Mr. Zhao Juezhi, Miss Yoona ……”

Every time the captain read out a name, the faces of the rich people who were not read out paled. Jiang Luo, who was almost watching the show with a melon seed, said to Ge Zhu, “Look at that one in the first row, his face is turning yellow.”

By the time the ninth name was read out, many of the wealthy and powerful were already looking defeated, while others raised their hands reluctantly and said, “Captain, can we still rebid?”

The captain gave him an apologetic look, “I’m sorry, but the list cannot be changed after it has been chosen. However, you can wait for a place in the second batch of blood eel tasting, and the second batch is very good.”

He then read out the last name: “…… Mr Zhong Wei.”

Before Jiang Luo could react to who “Zhong Wei” was, Ge Zhu had already turned his head to look at him dumbfounded, “How could it be you?”