Unless I Were Blind, I Would Never Date You

South China Sea!

The world’s top luxury cruise ship, the Aegean, was on its maiden voyage. More than five thousand passengers from all over the world had gathered aboard; they were either fabulously wealthy tycoons or extravagantly adorned society ladies.

In short, everyone qualified to board this ship was either rich or powerful. Its launch ceremony had been even grander than the Titanic’s.

Mentioning the Titanic here was not meant to curse the Aegean. It was simply because the two ships shared roughly the same fate—the latter had also met with disaster at sea…

In the bridge, the crew stood helplessly before the control consoles. Static filled the displays, the main system had crashed, and they could think of no way to deal with it.

"What’s going on? What happened?"

"None of the thermal sensors or laser imaging systems are showing anything. We tried activating the backup power, but even the main system has crashed."

"Then hurry up and contact the outside world for help! The passengers on this ship are all important people. If something happens, we’re finished!"

"I’m sorry, sir. The communications system has failed too. There’s been no signal at all—we can’t contact the outside world."

One piece of bad news after another came in. The grim situation left everyone in the bridge deeply worried. Even the seasoned captain had furrowed his brow tightly.

"There’s no need to worry. Maybe it’s the storm. It’ll be fine after a while." One crew member forced a smile, though he knew his own joke was painfully unfunny. The Aegean’s equipment was all world-class; it could not possibly be affected by the weather.

"Gentlemen, I’ve got something here, but… you need to prepare yourselves. It isn’t good news." A crew member suddenly cut in.

"Could it get any worse than this? An iceberg?"

"Not an iceberg, but it’s huge. It’s beneath us!"

Watching the enormous shadow race toward the Aegean at thirty knots on the display, everyone’s hearts sank. Something seemed to be lurking in the deep sea.

"One hundred sixty meters directly below us. It’s accelerating upward—one hundred fifty meters… one hundred twenty… eighty… thirty…"

Boom!!!

With a deafening crash, the luxury liner listed violently to one side under the impact of the enormous creature, then began shaking furiously.

The bridge was thrown into chaos. Crew members fell and smashed their heads bloody, while the passengers were worse off—sent flying by the impact amid screams. Quite a few fell from the upper decks and died on the spot.

The real disaster had only just begun. Once the ship stopped swaying, people scrambled for their lives, searching for safe corners. Very quickly, they discovered that something extra had appeared aboard the ship!

Food storage room!

Russell adjusted the chef’s hat on his head. The employee badge on his chest showed that he worked here, but what was with the scattered shelves in front of him? Surely no one was going to say he had done this.

"Same old rule—I need to figure out where I am first." Russell muttered as he walked through the piles of groceries.

Squelch!

Something soft lay beneath his foot, as though he had stepped on a living creature. Russell rubbed it hard, then rubbed it again. It was definitely alive. Pushing aside the toppled cardboard boxes, he found a stunning blonde woman in a red evening gown lying unconscious on the floor, with a conspicuous shoeprint across her chest.

After traveling through so many worlds, Russell was confident in his ability to judge people. This blonde beauty had ulterior motives, and her chest had some truly deep cleavage—she was definitely a bad woman.

Women like this were not to be provoked. To prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings, Russell hurriedly crouched down and carefully wiped the shoeprint from her chest. Not for any other reason, but because the print was identical to the shoe beneath his own foot.

"Who was bored enough to frame me like this? Good thing I found it in time, or their scheme might have succeeded!"

Russell silently cursed his enemy for being so unscrupulous. As he wiped, he noticed something was wrong. The beauty had awakened at some point and was glaring at him with eyes blazing with fury.

"…"

The atmosphere was a little awkward, but a straight man feared no crooked shadow. Russell had done nothing wrong, so naturally he had nothing to fear. He met her gaze openly and honestly.

"I’m already awake. Didn’t it occur to you to take your hand away?" the blonde beauty demanded in a low voice, suppressing her fury.

"I know, but it’s still a little dirty. I haven’t finished wiping it clean." Looking directly at the blonde beauty’s face, Russell suddenly realized that she looked familiar. She resembled Jean Grey, the Phoenix Woman from the X-Men movies.

Smack!

After the slap, the blonde beauty clutched her right hand and hopped in place, sucking in cold breaths.

Clearly, she was not Jean Grey!

Russell calmly stood and leaned against the wall. "Don’t misunderstand. I have a severe case of germophobia and can’t stand dirty things. Someone happened to step on your chest and leave a dusty shoeprint."

"Well, thank you so much!" the blonde beauty gritted out, shooting Russell a vicious glare. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

Russell did not answer. He merely showed her the employee badge on his chest.

"I know you’re a crew member on the Aegean. I’m asking why you were locked in here." The blonde beauty was named Cui Lin. She was a jewel thief who had infiltrated the Aegean to steal and been caught. Since there was no prison aboard, she had been locked in the food storage room.

By the same logic, she assumed Russell had been locked up here for a similar reason. He definitely was not a good person.

If I knew why I was locked in here, would I need to fish information out of you?

Russell considered the keyword "Aegean" but could not remember what movie plot it came from. Still, learning that he was in the middle of the ocean put him somewhat at ease. With the trident by his side, the sea was his home ground.

After an awkward silence, Cui Lin pulled out her hairpin and pried open the electrical box controlling the security door. In no time at all, she flipped the switch and opened it.

"Where are you going?"

Russell followed Cui Lin. She had Phoenix Woman’s face, so she was definitely one of the plot characters. Following her would surely bring him into contact with other plot characters, and perhaps the World Quest would be triggered.

"The captain’s quarters!" Cui Lin snapped. With a pervert following behind her, she hurried forward at top speed.

The two moved swiftly through the corridors. Cui Lin was so focused on getting there that she did not notice anything unusual, but Russell was surprised to find the cruise ship far too quiet.

"Can you tell me about the Aegean?"

"You don’t even remember the place where you work?" Cui Lin sneered, then summarized the Aegean’s situation in a few sentences.

"That sounds awful!" Russell’s mouth twitched at her description. The Aegean was packed with fabulously wealthy passengers, and this was its maiden voyage.

Maiden voyage plus wealthy passengers!

Gather those two elements, and you could summon a shipwreck, pirates, sea monsters, icebergs, Great White Sharks, deserted islands, Atlantis, or aliens. No matter which it was, this luxury liner was doomed to sink.

The two quickly reached the captain’s quarters. Cui Lin was still thinking about the jewels locked in the safe, while Russell began looking around.

The captain’s quarters were a complete mess, with documents and papers scattered everywhere. Russell picked up one of the documents, and by sheer coincidence, it was Cui Lin’s Wanted poster.

"So your name is Cui Lin! You’re Wanted for theft, robbery, forging identities, and attempted murder… What an impressive record!"

"Good that you know. To tell you the truth, I’ve already started planning how to kill you." Cui Lin was picking the lock. She shot Russell a glare, signaling for him to keep quiet.

"Can you tell me who the person you tried to murder was?" Russell asked instinctively. Wolverine, or Laser Eyes?

"My ex-boyfriend!"

"Then you must have loved him very much… Huh, wait, are you taking advantage of me?" Russell’s eyes widened. He had been flirted with by a female driver.

"Shut up! Unless I were blind, I would never date you!"

Just as the two were bickering, hurried footsteps came from the corridor. There were quite a few people…