NOVPUBChapter 174: Chapter 173 Three Parties Take Action
Chapter 174 -173 Three Parties Take Action
An evening quickly passed, and by dawn of the following day, a city guard messenger brought news from Shandela: Jerry Will had agreed to cooperate with them, including providing the crew list and the corresponding replacement work. However, as for the information about the invited guests, he himself had no access to it; it was up to those boarding the ship to investigate.
At three o’clock in the afternoon, Chaoyang, acting as the manager of the Gate of Destiny, formally made contact with the city guards along with the players. Then Zhang Zhiyuan, Qianyuan Mingzi, Zhou Zhi, Cui Zhen’en, Anthony, and Ailuodi, a group of six, donned crew uniforms and masqueraded as general workers, boarding the ship early to hide.
Shandela also made large-scale deployments within the city guards—but to cover their true purpose, she moved most of her forces to the Inner City District, ostensibly to conduct raids on Aibuvich’s numerous properties. In reality, she had selected only one hundred fifty relatively reliable subordinates, manipulating two assault patrol boats to stand by on the high seas. Land operations were entirely entrusted to Ge Wei and the Mechanical Sect behind the female priest. 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓅𝓊𝓫.𝒸ℴ𝓶
Although Magnificent Castle had only one Executive Priest from the Mechanical Sect, the ordinary staff had also undergone armed training and were a force to be reckoned with once equipped with steam rifles. At Ge Wei’s request, a squad of twenty believers was assembled; their task was to capture those enemies who, in desperation, might jump into the water, to be apprehended onshore.
In preparation for this battle, the city’s military forces, apart from the companies, were mobilized, and the plan was conducted entirely in secret without causing the slightest ripple on the surface. All residents were completely unaware of the imminent battle, and the harbor and surrounding streets were bustling as normal.
Evening approached swiftly.
When the setting sun left only a sliver of purple-red afterglow on the sea surface, the Joyous Goddess sounded her steam whistle as scheduled.
“Whoooooo—————!”
Even at the top of the dilapidated Distant View Tower, Shandela could hear that prolonged sound.
In her heart, she silently prayed—not to any divinity, but to the conviction in her heart, hoping that this battle, which was truly aimed at surrounding and annihilating the heretical cult, would be successful.
At 7 p.m., the Joyous Goddess slowly left the harbor and headed out to the open sea.
…
“Quick, set the plates properly! The Divine Envoy doesn’t like to wait!”
“How come there is dirt on this tablecloth? Hurry up and change it for me! Imbecile, can’t you even handle this simple task?”
In the cruise ship’s banquet hall, the purser Fame was directing the arrangement of the tableware—he might have been dressed in an appropriate suit, but his words lacked any semblance of propriety, and the look in his eyes toward the crew members was filled with disdain.
Perhaps to him, anyone irrelevant to the event was of the lowest servitude.
And at that moment, the unfortunate ones doing these menial tasks were the players.
To minimize contact with other crew members, Jerry thoughtfully replaced the entire banquet service team with the six-player group, which also happened to be the team best suited for gathering information. Even though they were not allowed to appear at the official event, their resting place was just in a compartment in the corner of the hall; cramped as it was, the environment was much better than working below deck with the engine crew.
Undoubtedly, the Joyous Goddess was a large ship, with a total length of nearly two hundred meters. The banquet hall was also quite imposing, roughly the size of the main hall of the Sinclair Theatre, and even more lavishly decorated. Aside from being smaller in size than the superliner Titanic, it was basically on par with it in other respects, particularly in terms of pleasure services. For example, the beautifully scantily clad girls were already dressed and on standby in the cabin across before the guests even entered.
The lighting on the Joyous Goddess was also unique; the large space was not only fitted with many circular chandeliers, but the walls were also embedded with crystals that emitted a soft glow. Even without electric lights, the upper area was as bright as day, showing that the design philosophy was a step ahead of the city construction in Magnificent Castle.
It was said to be the most luxurious ship operating in the New World.
No wonder Aibuvich was so concerned about this ship.
But beneath its bright and splendid facade, its core was no different from the slums in the city. In those places the guests wouldn’t visit, the floor was forever flowing with sewage, the stench sharp and nauseating. Crew members either crammed into stifling small cabins or slept in hammocks, and the entrances and exits between the upper decks and lower cabins were even locked with iron gates, to prevent these dirty, smelly crew members from startling the guests above.
Even the players tasked with miscellaneous duties stationed on the upper levels weren’t allowed to leave the banquet hall and lounge at will after the ship set sail, and it was common for them to be scolded and berated by the supervisor.
The luxurious decor and exquisite food on the ship were not intended for them.
Zhang Zhiyuan had no complaints about this predicament, knowing that his current role was that of an undercover, as long as he wasn’t discovered, everything else was negotiable.
What he was truly worried about was Anthony. Since they started setting up the banquet hall, he had been paying close attention to the other’s actions. That guy had always been hot-tempered and extremely impatient, and a sudden outburst would probably arouse the supervisor’s suspicion.
“Hey, you!”
What he feared most had happened—Fame suddenly addressed Anthony with a face full of anger, pointing to the dining table, “What’s the use of having a brain if you can’t set this up right? How many times have I said that the tall glass must be placed five centimeters to the left of the plate, the dinner knife three centimeters to the right, and the central position should line up with the handle of the glass! Have you got them in place?”
Anthony frowned, “To my eyes, they’re no different… and it doesn’t affect their use at all.”
“You dare talk back!?” The supervisor shrieked, “Uniformity is a requirement of the Divine Envoy, everything in the hall must be orderly. If you can’t do it right, get out of here now!”
Zhang Zhiyuan clicked his tongue, ready to step forward to mediate, but Ailuodi had already run to the supervisor, bowing deeply, “I’m sorry! He’s just a bit clumsy and didn’t mean to question your orders. I’ll rearrange the glasses right away, please don’t be angry!”
Her magically influential voice immediately dissipated half of the supervisor’s anger, “Fine, I’ll give him another chance.” Then Fame eyed Ailuodi for a moment, “Is this your first time here? I haven’t seen you before.”
“Yes,” Ailuodi replied with her head down, “I used to work at the Cloud Pavilion.”
There was substantial turnover in the crew list of the Magnificent Castle, not always the same personnel, a rule they knew before boarding.
“Not bad, not bad… You’re promising,” the supervisor nodded with satisfaction, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone as polite as you among the common folk. Do well, and I’ll give you an extra reward after this event.”
“Yes, thank you for your recognition!” Ailuodi’s tone was filled with excitement, as if genuinely delighted.
Phew… that was close.
Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief—Miss Fiend really was a special player with official backing; whenever she spoke, people felt a comforting tranquility take over their minds—a feeling that could be dismissed as illusion once or twice, but when it happened every time, it could only be attributed to magic.
“Is this ‘Heretical Cult Divine Envoy’ a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder?” Cui Zhen’en leaned over to him, laying out the tablecloth while whispering, “Such high demands, feels like he could apply for a mental hospital.”
Indeed… Zhang Zhiyuan glanced over the banquet hall, sharing the sentiment. The items on each round table had to be set up with strict adherence to the sample table, with vases, candlesticks, and cutlery forming a standard inverted triangle. The entire hall’s tables were symmetrically arranged, with the central axis being the ship itself. Just considering the visual effect, the banquet hall did possess a certain symmetrical beauty, but remembering that these requirements came from the famously mad heretics made the action seem quite abnormal.
