Feng Bujue walked down the stairs and came to the main hall, still observing the surrounding environment and people.
Although the word "dinner" was used in the previous broadcast, the organizers of the banquet obviously had no intention of inviting everyone to sit around the table and eat Chinese food.
Of course, food and drinks are still provided in the main hall. Various drinks, champagne trees, as well as many ready-to-eat snacks and fresh seafood... can all be taken by guests themselves.
In other words...you can only get it yourself.
Because there are only men in suits and sunglasses responsible for maintaining order here, not waiters.
Considering that many guests choose masks that "can't eat without taking them off", the demand for food and beverages here is actually quite limited, so there seems to be nothing wrong with this arrangement.
After a while, Brother Jue, who quickly wandered around the main hall, resisted the urge to take off his mask and eat some food... He found a corner against the wall and stood still, continuing to watch the changes.
"What happened as expected..." Looking at the various guests in front of him, Feng Bujue thought to himself, "Even though everyone is wearing a mask and is a stranger to each other, many people have already formed a 'small group'.
"
His eyes moved quickly, scanning the groups of people one by one.
“Even if their faces are covered, people who are good at communication are still good at communication.
"Stature, conversation, temperament; and taste in drinks, clothes, and even masks...these are all explicit capital that can quickly reflect self-worth."
Thinking of this, he looked at other people.
"Those who are not good at those can only act as vassals for the time being, or fight on their own like me."
Then, he hummed softly.
"Hmph... However, in the long run, there is no difference between the two.
"Those people who are talking and laughing now also understand in their hearts that the 'relationship' established in this situation is nothing more than just playing around and taking advantage of each other.
"Once it comes time to involve one's own interests, anyone can easily betray the other..."
Feng Bujue raised his head and glanced at the second floor of the main hall; there... there was a doorway guarded by many black suits that no one could approach.
"In the final analysis... in the eyes of the 'organizer' who is promoting this good show, the people standing in the main hall at this moment are all playthings for his entertainment...
"Whether it's gorgeous clothes or excellent social skills...
"Whether it's showing off your knowledge or showing off your skills...
"No matter what you do, you can't hide the most basic fact that those who come here are at the end of their rope.
"If I hadn't been desperate, I wouldn't have come to this ship.
"If I hadn't been desperate, I wouldn't have risked my life.
"Moreover, these people... are different from the people at the bottom who have never touched the resources of the upper class of society; they are all 'successful people', 'social elites', 'winners in life'... Their abilities, courage, vision, etc. are all
It is different from the former.
"However, because of some kind of mistake, they all brought their lives to the edge of destruction.
"They...are more afraid of poverty and losing power than the average person.
"For mortals, being a mortal is life, but for gods, being a mortal... is the most terrible punishment.
"In the hearts of this group of people, the 'fear' of a poor life even exceeds the fear of death. At least, that is what they must have thought before they really faced death.
"So, they're desperate...
"So. They came here...
"In order to escape the abyss in front of them, they rushed towards a single-plank bridge in excitement, but they deceived themselves and ignored... Only a handful of people can cross the bridge; and the rest will all fall from the bridge and fall into
In another even deeper abyss..."
Thinking of this, Feng Bujue actually smiled.
"Haha... watching these people struggling in desperate situations, tearing each other apart... gradually peeling off the layers of disguise on their bodies, revealing the dirty essence, or... nature, under the bright appearance, must be a very extreme thing.
Let’s have some fun.”
His smile contains elements of self-deprecation and some indescribable emotions...
I'm afraid Brother Jue himself has realized it... The reason why he can think of these is precisely because the dark side of his heart is also longing for this "show".
…………
Evening, ten past seven.
Maybe it's for show. Maybe it's to give the guests time to communicate beforehand, or maybe... it's just random.
In short, tonight's protagonist has just arrived belatedly and made his debut.
It was a yellow man wearing a tuxedo, about 1.8 meters tall, and with medium black hair.
Like the guests, the "host" also wore a mask.
Therefore, people cannot see his face; the only information that can be confirmed from his body is his hair color, skin color, height, and body shape.
When the man came to stand by the guardrail on the second floor, the crowd in the main hall naturally fell silent.
【Sense of presence】
These are the words that are running through people's minds at the moment.
He didn't speak or do anything that would attract other people's attention. He simply "appeared" and stood there, giving people a strong sense of presence that could not be ignored.
Not long after, the entire venue fell silent, and hundreds of scorching eyes were fixed on that person.
People were waiting...waiting for him to say something.
This reaction made the organizer quite satisfied.
"As usual, these ordinary, vulgar ants pretending to be elites... quickly noticed that I was different."
He thought something in his mind and was about to speak, but he didn't expect...
Snoring, snoring
Suddenly, there was a very obvious sucking sound.
Since the main hall was very quiet at this time, the sound seemed extremely ear-piercing.
So... people's attention, which was originally focused on the organizer, was instantly attracted by the sucking sound.
But I saw the source of the sound... a man wearing a crow mask, holding a drink and inserting the drink's straw into the "eye" part of the mask, snoring and sucking...
Faced with the crowd's onlookers, this guy has no intention of stopping this weird behavior.
He just drank the drink slowly as if nothing had happened, then put down the cup, and slowly closed the "glasses" on the mask (the two eyes of the crow mask are like two small portholes)
Round glass design; on the mask bought by Brother Jue, both glasses can be opened separately).
"Let me tell you, this is the big brother." After taking a sip of the drink, Feng Bujue turned around, took two steps, and said hello to the man in a suit and sunglasses who was nearest him.
The man in the suit was also stunned. After two seconds, he replied hesitantly: "What...what's the matter?"
"Don't you have those kind of bendable straws here? These straight ones are so inconvenient." Feng Bujue said something to the other party in a complaining tone in front of the convenience store counter, which everyone heard.
Insignificant things.
But... judging from the actual situation, his opinion is indeed reasonable and well-founded.
Because Feng Bujue couldn't open the mouth of the mask, when he was sipping the drink just now, he could only fold the straw at an angle of nearly 60 degrees and lift the drink to about the same height as his face. Let the straw pass through the holes in his eyes.
Reach into the mask, then put it into your mouth...
In this case, if the straight straw is forcibly bent, it will be very difficult to suck things, and then a very unpleasant and obvious sucking sound will be made.
Of course... Normally speaking, when the mouth of the mask cannot be opened, most people will just give up drinking and eating. And if the mouth of the mask can be opened, then a straight straw will have no effect.
"This...this..." The man in the suit was a little confused by the question. As a small person, under the focus of so many people, he couldn't help but become nervous.
"Haha...hehehe..." Fortunately, two seconds later, the organizer standing on the second floor laughed.
His laughter drew people's attention back.
"Oh? He's younger than expected." Feng Bujue immediately thought after hearing the other party's voice, "I just inferred from his gait when walking, exposed skin, and posture when standing.
, he should be no more than forty years old. But listening to this laughter now... he is probably under thirty."
"Hey! Who is that?" Before his smile disappeared, the organizer used his slightly arrogant voice to call out to the man in a suit.
"Ah...ah! Yes! Sir!" The man in the suit hesitated for half a second, then immediately stood up straight and responded loudly.
"You should go to the logistics department immediately and confirm for the gentleman next to you whether there is the straw he wants on the boat." The next second, the organizer calmly ordered. "If not, you can take a helicopter back to the city.
Buy some for him."
"Uh...yes!" When the man in the suit responded, he showed a "saved" expression. Then, he looked at Brother Jue with a proud look before leaving...
What happened in just one minute was undoubtedly the first round of "confrontation" between Brother Jue and the organizer...
Feng Bujue spotted the moment when the organizer was about to speak, and disrupted the other party's rhythm with some nonsensical behavior.
The organizer used an extremely simple and direct method that ordinary people might not think of to solve the other party's demands.
As a result, Brother Jue's current situation seems a bit embarrassing... However, after all, he is thick-skinned and has a mask bonus today, so he doesn't care much about the crowd.
In any case, this first "exercise"... seemed to be the organizer's victory.
"Uh-huh..." After a slightly awkward silence, the organizer cleared his throat and spoke again, "Ladies and gentlemen..."
His words made those who still despised Brother Brother look back.
"Welcome to Song of Songs." When the organizer said this, there was no eagerness. There was a faint chill in his tone. "I am the organizer of this banquet. You can just call me 'host'."
That’s fine.”
He paused for two seconds, looked at the reaction of the crowd below, and then said: "You are all smart people. I will save you those false feelings and beating around the bush..."
He was not someone who would say that kind of thing...because "hypocrisy" and "beating around the bush" are rhetorical techniques that people use when they want something from others. And this organizer had almost no chance to say anything.
Such words.
"I'll just talk about the parts that interest you..."
When the organizer said this, eight men in suits appeared silently on both sides of him, four on each side, standing side by side.
Each man in a suit holds an object covered by white cloth in his hand. Looking at the outline... there should be some kind of rectangular object under the white cloth, with a side length of about thirty centimeters.
"Haha..." After waiting for a few seconds, the organizer sneered, "Allow me to introduce to you the prizes for tonight's 'game'."
Before he finished speaking, the men in suits each took off the white cloth on the object they were holding.
Under the white cloth... without exception, there are small glass cabinets.
The bottom of those cabinets is made of metal, and the base is covered with a rectangular glass cover, and what is stored inside the cabinet is...
"I'll start from my left hand side... and introduce you one by one." The organizer just glanced left and right, confirmed the position and order of those things, and then no longer turned his head, but kept looking down.
The gestures of the crowd below are narrated...
"First, 'Red Tears', one of the most famous natural red diamonds in the world, was stolen from a collector's home in 2040 and has been missing since. The market value at the time of the last valuation... was approximately
$6 million."
"Second, 'Firefly' is nothing special, just a perfect cat's eye stone with a market value of about US$5 million."
"Third, 'Fragrance' is a funerary object excavated from the royal jewelry of a certain European country. Legend has it that it will bring bad luck to the woman who wears it, causing her to lose her fragrance within a few years. Moreover, every deceased person,
Everyone will die in a place with a strange smell. The last time 'Fragrance' appeared on the auction market, it was sold for US$12 million."
"Fourth, 'Lover', is one of the largest diamonds in the world produced in Myanmar. It was first discovered in the 19th century. The original stone was cut into two pieces because it was too huge. It was cut into two pieces by two skilled Italian craftsmen.
The hand is born.”
"Fifth, 'Lover', this is the sister stone to the one just now. The individual market value of these two diamonds is about 5 million US dollars."
"Sixth, the 'Dashmere Pink Diamond', originally belonged to a well-known actress in the 20th century. In 1968, she was murdered in the living room of her home, and the only one stolen from her mansion that day was
The thing was this diamond. A year before she was killed, she bought this diamond for US$180,000. I think everyone knows about inflation. US$180,000 at that time was equivalent to what it is now.
You should be able to calculate the money quickly."
"The seventh, 'Crown', was a series of competition prizes held by a game company in the United States in 1982. It was made of pure gold and embellished with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and aquamarines. Due to the collapse of the U.S. game industry in 1983, the
The competition game related to the prize only had a limited release and failed to reach the finals. The whereabouts of the 'Crown' were unknown in the same year. The valuation of the item at that time was twenty-five thousand US dollars. Again, accounting for inflation,
Coupled with its background story, the market value is now at least US$4 million."
"Finally..." When talking about the last item, the organizer paused, glanced at the cabinet, and then said, "'Heart of the Ocean'."
He only said these four words about this gem.
For this gem, he only needs to say these four words...
There is no one here who doesn’t know the story of the Heart of the Ocean, and no one will value this gem.
"Well... as long as we get 'that'..." When the crowd in the main hall looked up at those priceless gems in a daze, Feng Bujue was unmoved. He only cared about... his trip.
It’s just a “goal”.
"Okay, I think you all have an idea of the value of this prize." After another pause for a few seconds, the organizer continued, "There is no doubt that any one of these jewelry is enough to get you out of the current situation.
dilemma.
"As long as you win the 'game', you can choose one to take away.
"But...if you fail in the 'game'..." (To be continued.)
