The next day, aboard a massive cruise ship, Ryan Ling sat quietly sipping red wine like any ordinary guy, taking in the breathtaking ocean view.
In the end, he couldn’t out-argue Gabriel Xue and agreed to head to the provincial capital in a month. But since the Shark-Hook Island battle was a huge deal, the Special Operations team was still under wraps—until they find a good excuse to go public, nobody’s allowed to leak a word.
Ryan didn’t care much either way. After the big fight, all he wanted was a good break. Sure, they’d won in the end, but this battle was tougher than any before.
So he wanted some peace and quiet—to clear his head and plan his next moves. Jason Lin, Warren Yuan, and the rest understood and didn’t dare bother him. At this point, Ryan was their real boss. Even with the big celebration banquet coming up in the provincial capital in a month, the crew decided to head north early for a road trip. After all, Jiangbei was Warren’s turf, and he hadn’t been back in ages. Plus, he still had a knot in his heart—he wanted to visit Orthodox Unity Daoist Sect again.
So, Ryan split off from the group for a while. He wanted to head back to Harbor City alone first. Last time in Wuzhou, Lily Liu actually got pretty badly hurt—Ye Nanfei and the others put a lot of pressure on her. She looked fine on the surface, but with a normal body, she probably still had internal injuries. Ryan wasn’t at ease, so he figured he’d check on his ‘big sis’ in Harbor City first. Plus, Sophie Su’s Su Group was swamped with work in the herbal medicine business, and she needed Ryan’s help too.
One was closer than a real sister, the other his actual girlfriend—of course he wasn’t going to say no!
But now he had a new problem—a clingy Angie Chen he just couldn’t shake off. When Angie heard Ryan was heading to Harbor City, she absolutely insisted on tagging along and dragged him onto this cruise ship. The ship had just come back from Southeast Asia, and its next stop was a short layover in Harbor City. It was packed with Jiangbei’s big and small tycoons, with all kinds of luxury services. If Ryan didn’t play along, Angie would probably cry and threaten to jump overboard.
Left with no choice, he accepted the invite and boarded the cruise. It was just one night—one comfy sleep and he’d be home.
“Never thought a sunset at sea could look this good!” Ryan took a deep breath, thinking this rich guy lifestyle was seriously comfortable.
But after relaxing for a bit, his mind started reviewing the results of the East Sea battle. Honestly, it was risky as hell, but the rewards were huge.
His Spirit Officer rank had just leveled up to Seventh Grade, then by some weird twist of fate, he met Guihai One-Blade’s soul and learned the first move of Hell Mad Blade—Severing Desire. Even crazier, he miraculously found the Hell Furnace. Any one of these achievements would be huge on its own.
And besides putting the fear of Hell into the Japanese, the System’s reward this time hit a new high: a whopping 150,000 Merit Points, plus a weird Netherworld Aura Absorption Card.
Ryan was dying to ask what this card actually did. With that mountain of Merit Points plus a mysterious card, it had to be something big. But the System was still off snoozing with Granny Soul—those two old ghosts were making the bed creak so loud, Ryan figured he’d better not interrupt.
Whatever, there’d be plenty of time to figure it out later. Ryan stared at the fat stack of Merit Points in his hand, totally hyped. This was the first time he’d ever scored so much. Granny Soul once said that with 200,000 Merit Points, he could unlock the second stage of the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art. Right now, his strength needed another boost. The other martial arts could wait—the only thing that really matters in cultivation is raw power. Only with real strength could he hold onto his Spirit Officer seat, gain deeper insight into martial arts, and unleash the true might of the Hell Furnace.
Now that he had 150,000, he just needed another 50,000 to hit his goal!
He took another moment to soak in the view, planning to crash early and recharge. Even after a whole day’s rest, there were still traces of exhaustion on his face.
But just as he was about to get up, he suddenly heard some rich kids from Jiangbei whistling behind him, all hyped up and shouting.
“No way, that’s Angie Chen—the Chen family heiress from the provincial capital, top five on last year’s East River Province Model Rankings, and a total knockout. And she’s actually wearing a bikini! Damn, I’m about to get a nosebleed!”
“What’s she up to, coming out at this hour—trying to hook a sugar daddy? Man, I wish she’d hook me! I’d serve her all night, no complaints!”
“Get lost, you idiot. Like you have a shot? Do you even know the Chen family’s background? You know why this cruise ship docked at that random East Sea island this morning? It was just to pick up Angie Chen!”
“What? This cruise ship is owned by the Wang family’s provincial capital shipping company. Last time, an East River deputy governor needed a route change, and the Wangs flat-out refused. But now they stopped just for Angie Chen? That’s some serious clout!”
“Now you get how much pull Angie Chen has? Forget getting her to hook you—if you could just treat her to dinner, that’d be the highlight of your life. Seriously, you know nothing!”
...
As the rich kids kept chattering, Angie Chen strolled by with elegant steps. The guys were practically drooling, but couldn’t help greeting her respectfully: “Miss Angie.”
Angie didn’t even glance at them. Instead, she bounced happily out to the deck and started fussing over a totally unremarkable teenage boy—bringing him drinks and fruit, all that. The kid didn’t care at all, just acted like it was no big deal. Even so, Angie kept sticking close, which left everyone around totally baffled.
“Who the heck is that guy? Why’s Angie acting so out of character?” The scene on the deck got the attention of a bunch of local tycoons. A young man in a white suit walked in, flanked by several burly bodyguards—clearly all martial grandmasters.
“Shaun, you’re just in time. That kid came with Miss Angie—I thought he was just a lackey, but now Angie’s acting more like his… his…” The pretty boy next to him trailed off, too nervous to finish.
“You mean maid, right?” Shaun said, his fists cracking. His full name was Shaun Wang, young master of the Wang family’s cruise line—and one of Angie Chen’s many suitors.
Shaun Wang knew perfectly well: last time Angie insisted on going to Shark-Hook Island, he’d wanted to tag along, but his dad Andy Wang made him board this cruise instead—said all the Jiangbei big shots were heading to the Southeast Sea for investment talks, hoping to land some major deals with a few tycoons. That’s how Adrian Zheng snagged the ‘goddess escort’ gig, leaving Shaun grinding his teeth in frustration.
He’d just come back from Southeast Asia all bummed out, when suddenly Angie Chen wanted to board the cruise—Shaun was thrilled, thinking his luck had finally turned. Angie must be worn out and ready to fall into his arms, and Adrian Zheng hadn’t come, probably kicked to the curb. It was the perfect chance—until this random guy showed up, daring to compete for Angie.
The more Shaun Wang looked, the angrier he got. With a dark expression, he marched right over.
“Angie, come on, let me take you up to the top deck—the view’s amazing, you can see the whole ocean. That spot’s reserved for goddesses like you!” Shaun shot Ryan a nasty glare, then turned on the charm for Angie.
“Not interested!” Angie snapped, scooting even closer to Ryan, acting extra sweet.
Shaun Wang was fuming inside, cursing Ryan a thousand times over. But in front of his ‘goddess,’ he still put on his gentleman act: “Angie, it’s so boring here. And as for your little friend, I’ll have the other ladies keep him company. I’ve got plenty of women—he can take his pick. You really shouldn’t be seen with him, it’ll look bad for you!”
Ryan snorted coldly, shooting Shaun Wang a glare.
Angie saw it all and instantly stood up. “Shaun Wang, you crude, horny jerk—who told you to talk to Master Ling like that? Get lost. Now!”