Ling Lan seemed to be looking around casually but in actual fact, she was gathering any useful information she could find .
She realized that the dining hall was filled with ordinary tourists . The dinner was a buffet where everyone just took what they wanted to eat . The food was ordinary too . There weren't any expensive ingredients and no chefs were present to cook food on the spot . The waiters took out trays of food from the back . They seemed delicious but might not be .
The tour group they joined was a civilian tour group . Ling Lan saw tourists, who dressed nicely in high-cla.s.s clothes, walking in and out of the other two halls and knew that the other two halls served people with higher statuses .
Ling Lan took her plate and placed the food that she liked on her plate . Her plate slowly piled up . When she saw the other people staring at her, she reminded them, “It is free . Of course we should take more . We must eat our money's worth . ” After she finished talking, she stuffed her mouth with food . She didn't look elegant nor ugly while she was eating . Her cheeks were stuffed with food and it made the food looked delicious .
Li Lanfeng understood Ling Lan . He took a pile of food too . As he ate his food, he scanned his surroundings and checked if anyone was looking at him . When he saw someone turning their head in his direction, he stopped chewing and pretended to be calm . His actions were comical .
However, these behaviours depicted a curious young man who just graduated from school and never went out of his own country before . The pile of free food in front of them showed others that they were civilians .
Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan's actions enlightened the rest of the people . They found their own seats and took a huge pile of food . Then, they stuffed their faces with food .
Only Li Yingjie was confused . He looked at the food in front of him and snorted . Then, he turned his head away . He would never eat this kind of food .
“Ma Rao, stop acting like a young master . If you aren't willing to eat the food, you can upgrade to VIP all by yourself . There is no need to follow us . ” Li Lanfeng smiled but his words were threatening .
Li Yingjie almost exploded in anger but he saw Ling Lan's eyes staring at him and s.h.i.+vered in fear . He remembered the warning that she gave him before they left .
He sneered and said, “Forget it, I will give you all some face and eat this civilian meal . ” He grabbed his chopsticks and slowly picked his food . After some time, he finally took a few pieces of food which looked appetizing .
He placed it in his mouth and chewed it . The colour of his face instantly changed . He wanted to vomit the food out .
“Ma Rao, swallow the food . ” Qi Long glared at him .
Li Yingjie had no choice but to swallow the food . However, he lost his appet.i.te .
“Young Master Ma Rao wanted to experience the civilian life so he decided to come with us . But, we can't let him suffer like this,” Lin Zhong-qing spoke up for Li Yingjie . Li Yingjie gave him a look of appreciation . Lin Zhong-qing was such a nice person . Sob . Why did he get s.n.a.t.c.hed away by Ling Lan? It would have been nice if he was in his team .
Lin Zhong-qing seemed to have guessed Li Yingjie's thoughts . He t.i.tled his body to block his face and glared at him with murderous intent in his eyes .
Li Yingjie s.h.i.+vered . He almost forgot how much Lin Zhong-qing hated him . He was acting just now . Li Yingjie felt depressed and looked down without saying a word .
“If Young Master Ma Rao wants to continue staying with us, you need to stop acting like a young master . We saved up for a long time to get on this tour . We don't want your att.i.tude to ruin this trip,” Zhao Jun reminded him unhappily .
Li Yingjie looked at the floor and replied in a soft voice, “I understand . I will eat and stay with you guys . I will not complain anymore . ”
Ling Lan placed some food from her plate onto Li Yingjie's plate . She recommended the food enthusiastically, “Ma Rao, this is delicious . Hurry up and have a taste . I will get more for you later before it runs out . ”
Li Yingjie felt helpless . He stared at the food that Ling Lan gave him . What is this yellow gooey pile? Can it be eaten? However, Boss Lan gave it to him . If he didn't eat it, he would be punished severely .
Was it better to be disgusted by the food or to be tortured by Ling Lan? Li Yingjie chose the first option . He forced himself to have a bite . He wanted to swallow it immediately but the delicious taste in his mouth stopped him . His eyes lit up . He chewed the food and ate the rest of the food that Ling Lan placed on his plate .
I decided that I will just eat this dis.h.!.+ Li Yingjie had no shame at all .
“It is delicious, right?” Ling Lan asked seriously .
Li Yingjie nodded furiously . Although it could not be compared to what he ate before, it was at least edible .
“I will help you take more then . ” Ling Lan took her plate and prepared to go for the second round . Li Lanfeng immediately stood up and said, “I will go with you . ”
Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan came to the buffet table again . There was no one around the buffet table . Only the two of them stood beside the food and whispered into each other's ear . They seemed to be discussing which food was more delicious…
“How is the observation going?” Ling Lan grabbed some dishes that were left and asked Li Lanfeng in a low voice . It was near the end of meal time . There was no one coming to take the food anymore .
Li Lanfeng pointed to the dish in front of him and whispered, “There are at least five suspicious people . ”
Ling Lan looked at the dish that Li Lanfeng pointed at and shook her head . She said, “I agree, good observation . Where are the five people located at?”
Li Lanfeng nodded to express that he accepted Ling Lan's suggestion . They walked to the next dish and lifted the cover . The food inside seemed good so he took some and placed it on his plate . “There are two people sitting at the table closest to the entrance . They didn't release their power but their hacker aura is evident to people with spectre abilities like me . I pretended to look at them casually just now . They had the Shun Feng Tourist Group badge on their chest . Seems like they plan to hide themselves in this tourist group too . I am just not sure if they are our friends or enemies . ”
Ling Lan appeared to have seen something good and pulled Li Lanfeng's hand hurriedly . She came to the other side of the buffet table, cleverly dodging two tourists who came to take some food . The Feiyang s.h.i.+p's crew saw that there were still many people in the dining hall and there wasn't much food left . Hence, they took out three more trays of food . The three waiters placed the food on three different spots of the buffet table . The food which Ling Lan chose was the most expensive dish out of the three: Barbecued Duomo Meat .
Ling Lan quickly took the meat and placed it on her plate . She only stopped after her plate was full . Li Lanfeng did the same thing . They took almost one-third of the meat . The tourist behind them rolled their eyes at them .
The two of them snickered as they walked back to their table . Zhao Jun and the rest of the gang welcomed them happily . However, after eating a few pieces of meat, they chased Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan away to get more food .
The three dishes were empty already . There was no one at the buffet table again . Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan frowned as they opened the covers of the other food items .
Li Lanfeng stood in front of an empty plate with a sad look on his face . “The third person is the one that tried to come close to us just now . He seems to be very interested in the six of us . I don't know if we exposed ourselves . ”
Ling Lan shook her head and pulled Li Lanfeng in front of another dish . “It is okay . Only Li Yingjie had some loopholes in his acting . He is unable to suppress his physical skills like us so he is at the peak of Refinement now . Reaching Refinement at his age makes him a talent . It is normal that people would take notice of him . However, our conversation just now should have lessen his suspicion on us . ”
“Another one is sitting at the Southeast corner of the dining hall . If I didn't make an effort to look at every corner of the room, I might have been fooled by him . His physical skills are powerful . The corner he chose allowed him to observe everyone in the room . No actions would be unnoticed by him . Impressive . ” Li Lanfeng couldn't see the person's level so he was worried that he might have seen through them .
“I can sense the murderous presence on his body . He is either a soldier or an a.s.sa.s.sin . I feel that he is an a.s.sa.s.sin . The position he chose was a position that a.s.sa.s.sins would like…” Ling Lan took all the remaining food left on the tray . She said with an unhappy face, “However, we can't deny the possibility that he might be a soldier . Some soldiers do similar things too so it is normal that he has the habits of an a.s.sa.s.sin . ”
There was only a thin line between an a.s.sa.s.sin and a soldier . Because of external pressure, some things couldn't be solved openly . At that time, the military would send out soldiers to do such missions .
Li Lanfeng nodded . He opened another tray and realized that there were still so much food left . He happily called Ling Lan over and they took everything that was left .
Li Lanfeng said as he took the food, “I didn't notice the last one at first but when we were talking, he put down his chopsticks . This was a reaction of someone who is eavesdropping . He was very careful and didn't look at us . I might have missed him if I didn't notice this action . ” Li Lanfeng didn't expect so many powerful people to be hiding in a civilian dining hall . It widened his perspective and realized that the outside world was indeed very interesting .
“Actually, if he looked at us while he eavesdropped, I might have not suspect him . However, he pretended to not see us . ” Ling Lan put the cover back .
Li Lanfeng pondered over her words . “That is true . If he did things openly, I would rule him out . However, he didn't . ”
“It was not easy for you to find these five people . In actual fact, the two hackers were the hardest to find . However, they didn't expect someone with spectre abilities to be here . If not, they would stay in their rooms and try to hack the mainframe of the cruise…” Ling Lan seemed happy at the hacker's misfortune . Li Lanfeng realized that after Ling Lan relaxed, his tone gotten livelier too . It was not as cold as before .
Ling Lan didn't notice Li Lanfeng's change in expression . She continued, “There is actually a 6th person . ”
“A 6th person?” Li Lanfeng was shocked . “Who?”
“One of the waiters who brought out the food trays just now,” Ling Lan replied calmly . She turned and left after seeing that there was no food left . They returned to their table with piles of food .
Li Lanfeng stuffed his face with food as though he was extremely hungry . He was wondering which waiter it was . He sighed . He was still a level behind rabbit . He didn't notice the waiter . He needed to work harder .
Li Lanfeng took a huge bite of the meat . His eyes lit up . He looked at Ling Lan and pointed at the meat . “This… is really delicious . ”
Ling Lan nodded . “Yes, this is the one . Luckily we managed to get a huge portion of it . ” Ling Lan confirmed Li Lanfeng's guess . The waiter who served the Duomo meat was the 6th person she was talking about .
Li Lanfeng remembered that buffet waiters were supposed to place new dishes at conspicuous locations so that customers would know a new dish came out . The other two waiters placed their trays on the side of the buffet table facing the dining tables . The one who carried the Duomo meat, on the other hand, placed the tray on the other side of the table . There was only one table which was able to see that tray of meat . That was the table which the potential a.s.sa.s.sin was at .
Without a doubt, the waiter was pa.s.sing a message to the a.s.sa.s.sin . He did it so well even Li Lanfeng didn't notice him . Unfortunately, Ling Lan was here . Nothing could escape her eyes .
Li Lanfeng was finally able to eat his meal in peace . Very quickly, the two of them finished their food . Li Lanfeng was in a good mood so he finished everything without caring about the taste . Ling Lan was able to eat anything after being trained by the learning s.p.a.ce . When she was famished, she even dug out worms and ate them raw . As long as the food was edible and it was not harmful to the body, she would swallow them .
The group of them happily returned to their rooms and waited for the dance party at night .
This dance party was not organized by Shun Feng Tourism Agency . It was organized by the crews on the Feiyang s.h.i.+p . This meant that people you met at the dance party might be civilians or elites . It might even be an explorer or a member of a n.o.ble family…
According to rumors, people from n.o.ble families and explorers liked to find 'partners' at dance parties . Partners here had many different meanings .
Some people liked pretty women so their targets were the beautiful ladies . Others wanted to look for followers for their families so their preys were civilians who had the talent and ability but lacked the opportunity due to their status .
Every year, many female commoners would get the chance they wanted at dance parties . However, no one cared about their ending .
Everyone remembered the moment when Cinderella wore her gla.s.s heels . They forgot that this was just an illusion . Once the clock struck midnight, Cinderella had to return to where she came from . No one could stop time .
Not every lady was fortunate enough to let the prince find her with a gla.s.s heel .