What’s wrong with three? Some people bring seven or eight.
Whether they’re male or female companions, they don’t qualify for selection. At best, they’re nothing more than accessories to the capital.
Whether they can enter depends on the status of the capital itself.
And the person Shen Zhizhao was impersonating carried serious weight. Even if he brought ten, they’d heap praise on him for it.
In other words, the saying “the more lovers, the more impressive” wasn’t wrong in itself.
“…”
“Please.”
The guard, clearly thrown off for two seconds by this unusual man, stopped asking questions and politely gestured for them to enter.
The group swaggered inside without a care.
Shen Zhizhao maintained that composed stride for about twenty steps. Once he was sure the gaze at his back had vanished around the corner, he immediately pulled his hands away from his two younger brothers’ shoulders, moving as if he’d touched a searing hot iron.
His lips couldn’t help tightening. His expression turned cold, visibly repulsed.
Shen Ruxu noticed his disgust and blinked.
“Eldest Brother, why won’t you even look at us?”
Wisteria was brutally honest: “Maybe he just doesn’t like you.”
Shen Xun didn’t care about either of his older brothers. He took off without a word.
He hated the clothes on him. He had to change out of this dress—walking in a skirt was already painful.
Shen Ruxu grabbed Shen Xun by the nape of his neck, freezing him in place. “Shen Zhizhao looks like he doesn’t want to move with us.”
Shen Xun stopped. “So?”
Shen Ruxu: “How about we both kneel down and beg him? I’m sure he’ll soften up and join us again.”
Shen Xun said nothing.
It took him about two seconds to process that sentence.
Probably a thousand reasons to refuse flashed through his mind.
Shen Xun and Shen Zhizhao exchanged a brief glance from a few steps apart.
Then, in silent agreement, they turned and went their separate ways without looking back.
“You’re on your own, Shen Ruxu.”
With that said, everyone scattered in different directions and disappeared.
Shen Ruxu, with his nonsense, had successfully achieved the status of being universally disliked.
Seeing no one cared about him, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. He headed straight for the ship’s night-open casino.
Now that was a good gamble!
…
The interior structure of the ship was far more complex than an ordinary cruise liner.
Apart from the temporarily invited guests and attendants, hundreds of cabins housed numerous gunmen, waiting for their employers to confirm the action date.
They never showed their faces, spending most of their time locked in their rooms cleaning weapons or sleeping. Only when orders came would they step out of their cabin doors.
Gunmen, like assassins, belonged to the dark, unseen underbelly.
The ship’s guests were ranked. So far, the top-tier guests were all on the upper decks, while the lower decks were packed with hidden gunmen.
The corridors perpetually smelled of gun oil mixed with tobacco.
Shen Zhizhao walked through a narrow passage and chose the nearest door—the room of a gunman from the list Shen Ruxu had obtained through the internal system.
He raised his hand and knocked twice with his knuckles.
A muffled reply came from inside. The door cracked open, and a wary eye peered through the gap.
Shen Zhizhao didn’t give the other party time to react.
The moment the door opened wide enough for one person to squeeze through, he sidestepped, pushed the door inward, and used the momentum to shove the person behind it back a step.
A blade struck precisely into the side of the man’s neck.
White knife in, red knife out. No sound at all.
Shen Zhizhao laid the man down on the carpet by the door, twisted the lock an extra turn, and made sure it couldn’t be easily opened from outside.
Then he moved on to the next door.
…
Shen Yi and Iris had changed into attendants’ uniforms, carrying trays as they casually wandered around the banquet hall.
Two pretty girls huddled together, whispering.
The whole scene looked peaceful.
—If only you ignored the daggers hidden in their sleeves.
Whenever a guest called for tea or water, they’d both conveniently feign deafness, quickening their steps and ignoring everyone.
The attendant disguise let Shen Yi use delivering items as an excuse to send the gunmen in the lower-deck cabins to their deaths one by one.
No one noticed two young attendants disappearing down the corridor before reappearing as if nothing had happened.
Overall, this mission felt unusually relaxed.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
“…”
The knocking echoed intermittently through the lower-deck corridor.
Doors opened and closed.
Many gunmen fell silently that night, without a struggle.
When Iris backed out of the third room, she shook the blood off her dagger. The dark red stain was barely visible under the dim corridor lights.
She tucked the dagger back into her sleeve, smoothed her collar, and with a shy, timid smile on her delicate face, she looked nothing like a killer.
Coming around the corner of the corridor, Iris ran straight into Shen Yi, who was just slipping out of a room.
Shen Yi had also put her dagger away.
They exchanged a glance.
After confirming that the room numbers they’d cleared didn’t overlap, they kept walking side by side.
Iris lowered her voice and asked, “Xiao Yi, what about your second brother? Isn’t he helping?”
On their way, they’d both run into Wisteria and Shen Zhizhao.
The former was at the edge of the banquet hall, using a glass of champagne to make small talk with a man. The latter had just emerged from the far end of the corridor.
Earlier, Shen Xun had also passed by from another passage.
The boy had changed out of his white dress into a black outfit that allowed easy movement.
Among these few, Shen Ruxu’s shadow was nowhere to be seen.
Where had Shen Yi’s second brother disappeared to?
Iris didn’t really mind doing a bit more work here and there, but the problem was that if someone was slacking off in the group, that was wrong.
Shen Yi hadn’t spotted Shen Ruxu either.
She thought for a moment, considering every place he might go.
Soon, a thought struck her.
This ship had a separate casino open all day, brightly lit.
Shen Yi remembered her brother’s bad habit. The corner of her mouth twitched. She snatched away the iron tray Iris was using to block the stabbing motion.
“Give me this. Go grab something else.”
“Sure,” Iris said. “But what are you using the tray for?”
“To hit someone.”
With that, Shen Yi stormed off.
Fuming, she crossed two corridors and pushed open the casino door carved with golden patterns.
It was smoky inside, dripping with extravagance. Men and women were flashily dressed, chips stacked on tables.
Shen Yi, as an attendant, was hardly noticeable in such places.
She weaved smoothly through the crowd, scanning every card table quickly.
Soon, she spotted Shen Ruxu’s face—one of pure disbelief.
He’d changed out of that annoying dress and into a sharp dark suit. His jacket was open, paired with the careless demeanor of a gambler.
Under the casino lights, the youth’s refined features looked especially stunning.
Chin propped on his hand, he stared at the cards spread across the table.
The chips in front of him were pitifully few, just a last few thin stacks piled together, barely enough for two more rounds.
Amid the opulent backdrop of the casino, he slouched with his head tilted to one side, his entire demeanor loose and dazed.
Shen Yi couldn't take it anymore. She stormed over, grabbed him by the collar, and yanked him up from his chair.
Shen Ruxu was lifted half an inch by her grip.
"Shen Ruxu, are you trying to ruin us? I asked for your help, not for you to gamble," she said, suppressing the urge to scream, disbelief clear in her voice. "And when are you ever going to quit gambling?"
Shen Ruxu tilted his head in her grasp, his body swaying slightly with her movements, offering no resistance.
Then, in one sudden move, he lunged forward, wrapping both arms tightly around her, his chin resting on her shoulder. He hung limply against her, as if all his strength had drained away.
His voice came out muffled from the crook of her neck, with a deliberately drawn-out petulance:
"Xiao Yi... why am I so unlucky?... I lost again."
Shen Yi thought he was beyond saving.
She stood still, trapped in his embrace, unable to move, the tray in her hand held aloft, uncertain where to set it down.
"Since you lost, leave already! Do you want to get locked up by the casino?"
This casino was backed by Visconti—no pushover.
Shen Ruxu lifted half his face from her shoulder, lashes lowered, his voice feathery: "But I bet all the money in my card."
Shen Yi's grip on the iron tray tightened.
"Shen Ruxu?!"
She couldn't take it anymore and brought the tray down on his head.
"Thump!"
The force was just right—enough to stun, but not to hurt.
