Chapter 36 Part 1

A portable flashlight cast a beam of light inside the room, deliberately set to the lowest setting—enough to see by, but not enough to hurt the eyes.

Zhong Nian, who had been in the dim environment for a long time, quickly adapted. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash the blood off his hands.

He didn’t let anyone follow him, so the three outside—whether standing or leaning—exchanged hostile glances in the air, undercurrents surging.

What was a bit comical was that all three had a bloody handprint on their faces—the blood came from Zhong Nian’s slaps, sourced from Zhan Lu’s wound.

Charles glanced at Zhan Lu, then at Ke Zhengchu, and quickly understood what had happened.

A few minutes earlier, when he had turned on the flashlight and seen Zhong Nian’s bloodied hand, his heart had nearly stopped in fright. Fortunately, someone else was the one injured.

He was happy to see dogs fight dogs, but…

Charles sneered, “No wonder Little Nian got mad at me the moment he saw me. So I got the fallout because of you guys.”

Zhan Lu: “No one asked you to come.”

“It’s so unsightly, making such a scene.” Charles turned his head and saw Zhong Nian coming out of the bathroom. He immediately switched to another expression. “Little Nian, you should still come with me. They’re all unreliable.”

“With you… Can you get me off this Cruise Ship, or convince your Boss?” Zhong Nian tossed the paper towel he had used to wipe his hands aside. The moment Ke Zhengchu saw it, he immediately picked it up and stuffed it into his pocket.

“…”

Zhong Nian couldn’t even be bothered with him anymore and just looked at Charles.

The smile on Charles’s face stiffened a bit. “I can arrange a safer, more hidden place for you, where he won’t find you.”

Zhong Nian had already anticipated this and sighed. “What’s the difference from now?”

Wasn’t it still being locked up?

Charles lowered his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Zhong Nian wasn’t too disappointed. Whether he could leave the room was secondary; more importantly, could he safely get through the last two days?

He still remembered the noises he had heard in his half-asleep state before and looked toward the three of them. “Something happened to the Cruise Ship, right?”

While Zhan Lu was still hesitating, Charles laid everything out clearly without hesitation.

It turned out that a hostage had used a secretly hidden satellite phone to successfully send out a distress signal, exposing their location, which was extremely unfavorable to the kidnappers.

And after interrogation, that hostage claimed it was Sheng Chu who had instigated and instructed him.

Hearing a familiar name, Zhong Nian furrowed his brow slightly. “Then… what happened to him now?”

Without naming him, Zhan Lu and the other two knew exactly who he meant.

“Whether true or false, the Sheng guy won’t come to any harm.” Charles tightened his gloved hand. “Although they belong to those three families, their hands are still relatively clean, and their lives must be preserved as bargaining chips.”

After the explanation, Zhong Nian finally understood why Zong Xing Yi was out of favor in the Zong Family: he extremely despised the existence of Hope Island and had resisted it, though his power was limited.

Sheng Chu was the heir and had been secretly and gradually divesting the Sheng Family’s shares in it bit by bit, wanting the Sheng Family to wash their hands of it.

As for Guan Shan Yue, he was the youngest and most inconspicuous child at home, with no ambitions, indifferent to power, and only pursuing art.

“Even without direct involvement, they are still beneficiaries.” Zhan Lu said coldly.

After pondering, Zhong Nian looked up. “What you really want isn’t money, is it?”

If it was just money, they had no need to take a whole ship of people back to Hope Island. They should have grabbed the money and run immediately—the longer they dragged it out, the worse it was for them.

Not to mention the Rich Second Generations with extraordinary backgrounds—even if it was just a ship full of ordinary people, kidnapping everyone was bound to be impossible to hide. It must have already caused a huge uproar outside.

The silent Ke Zhengchu picked up the conversation. “What we want is to inform the world of all this filth and depravity, to let everyone know the true face of Hope Island.”

–

Zhong Nian chased the three who had sneaked in during the chaos out of the room and stayed behind by himself.

What worried him was whether this exposed position would lead to loss of life.

Not just himself—this whole ship of people was hard to say. Without a doubt, those utterly inhuman elites would do anything to silence them.

So, the most urgent thing right now was still to resolve the issue. These three key figures couldn’t waste time here with him.

Worried about the matter, Zhong Nian grew restless and couldn’t sleep.

Although Charles had left the flashlight with him, Zhong Nian didn’t turn it on, afraid that someone might come back at any moment.

In the hard-to-endure darkness, Zhong Nian hugged a pillow and stared toward the door.

He didn’t know how much time passed before someone finally came.

It must have been morning by then; the lights in the corridor outside were on. The Black-Clothed Man walked in backlighted, carrying a tray in his hands.

“Awake?” The first thing the man did upon entering was walk to the bedside to check on Zhong Nian. He hadn’t even set down the tray before he cupped Zhong Nian’s dazed face and planted a kiss on his forehead.

In the end, he glanced at the loosened ties scattered at the foot of the bed, his expression unchanging.

“They came to see you?”

Zhong Nian stiffened slightly and nodded.

He thought the man might get angry, but he didn’t. He just asked that one question and said no more, then bent down to pick him up from the bed.

“Go wash up.” The man said.

“Let me do it myself…” Zhong Nian tried to suggest.

The man ignored him completely. He didn’t tie Zhong Nian’s hands again, but he also didn’t give him the freedom to do it himself. Brushing teeth, washing face—he did it all personally.

Zhong Nian tilted his face up, mouth open, silently accepting everything. In his heart, he thought: He’s definitely angry after all.

Maybe Zhan Lu and the others had been punished.

Lost in thought, the man fed him a spoonful of sweet porridge. “Tomorrow night, the Cruise Ship arrives at the destination. I’ll take you away.”