Boarding the large ship, Ling'er familiarized herself and led Lin Qingyuan and the others directly to the ship's cabins.
"Stop right there!"
Just as they neared the entrance to the cabins, a fierce-looking fellow blocked their path.
He directly stopped Chu Ling'er and the others.
"The lower-deck rooms are full, no need to go any further!"
Ling'er had paid ten mid-grade soul crystals for the boat fare, which indeed secured them the lowest-tier cabins on this Cloudwater Express ferry, located at the bottom of the large ship.
The four of them each held a low-tier cabin pass, and the person before them was likely the ship's steward.
Lin Qingyuan and the others were taken aback.
"Do you think we're fools? If there are no rooms, why give us passes? These passes have room numbers on them. If you say there are no rooms, then where did our assigned rooms go?"
Ling'er, after a moment of surprise, spoke with a displeased expression.
The man's face turned cold.
"I am the steward here, and if I say there are no rooms, then there are no rooms. You can either pay extra to go to the middle deck, or sleep on the deck!
Heh heh! But I'll tell you, there's no protection on the deck. If you encounter strong winds and waves, you might not survive!"
The man chuckled sinisterly as he spoke.
It was then that they realized why there were still so many people on deck when the ship was about to depart.
Those people were also looking over with expressions of grief and indignation.
Clearly, they had also been wronged by this fellow.
An old man, accompanied by a little girl, slowly shook his head as he looked their way.
"Alas, young lady! If you have the money, upgrade your cabin! Don't get into conflict with them. Just now, someone was already thrown off the ship!"
The little girl beside the old man had teary eyes.
She clung tightly to the old man's leg.
Hearing this, Lin Qingyuan and the others understood what was going on.
Chu Qiankun was amused rather than angered. So, there were all sorts of schemes.
A price before boarding, another price after boarding.
You buy a ticket and are told there are no rooms.
They force you to upgrade or pay more.
Otherwise, you can only sleep on the deck, and if you complain, you'll be thrown overboard.
These scoundrels were certainly skilled in business.
They even hired extras. The merchants likely didn't say these words themselves to avoid leaving any evidence, so they arranged for an old man and a little girl to spread fear and uncertainty.
Chu Qiankun had, after all, spent time on Blue Star.
How could the clumsy acting of the old man and the little girl fool him?
The old man's outer clothes were ragged.
But at his trouser cuffs, a sliver of lining was visible.
It was made of luxurious silk brocade.
Failing to perfect even this small detail, and yet he came out to act.
"What if I say no?" Chu Qiankun's eyes narrowed sharply.
"No? You say no? Hahaha... If you don't want to take the ship, get off now. I see eighty to a hundred people like you every day. You're too young to try to impress me!"
The man sneered, appearing utterly unfazed.
"Make way, make way, don't block the esteemed lord's path. If you don't have money, scram!"
Behind Chu Qiankun and the others, a group of people suddenly surged forward. The leader was a fat man dressed in ostentatious clothing, looking like a nouveau riche.
He walked in front of Chu Qiankun and the others, took out a cabin pass, marked with the number 7219203.
The fat pig waved the pass in front of the steward, who nodded. The man then swaggered towards the teleportation array for the low-tier cabins.
"He boarded after us, why does he have a room?"
Lin Qingyuan, seeing this, felt a surge of childlike indignation.
"Heh heh, there are a total of 7,219,800 low-tier cabins. Look at the numbers on your passes!"
The steward sneered.
Ling'er and the others promptly took out their cabin passes.
8121029, 8121030, 8121031, 8121032, these were the numbers on their passes.
Upon seeing this, if they still didn't understand what was happening, they would truly be fools.
After all this effort, the tickets they bought were fake.
No wonder the guide who brought them onto the ship had led them to a place with almost no one.
That guy had even said it was a VIP channel, and only he could escort people up.
It turned out they had been scammed from the start.
Scammed, and they even gave him a mid-grade soul crystal. It was like being sold and still helping count the money.
"Pay now to upgrade your cabin, or get lost. Without a valid ticket, I can consider you enemies and even kill you directly!"
As the steward spoke, his eyes flashed with a chilling light.
The implication was clear: refusal meant robbery and murder.
Chu Qiankun's aura also began to fluctuate. When had he ever endured such humiliation?
Besides fearing Chu Tian, he truly feared no one.
"We'll pay!"
Just as the situation was about to escalate, Ling'er's voice cut through. Though her words were gritted out.
Chu Qiankun's action was interrupted, and he looked at her with confusion. She then directly threw the soul crystals over.
The man took them, weighed them, and with a curl of his lips, waved his hand, tossing them a golden pass.
It read: Middle Deck - No. 2110203.
"What does this mean?" Ling'er asked, holding the cabin pass.
"What does it mean? Four people to a room. If you want to stay, stay. If not, get lost!"
The man, after collecting the money for four people, had only given them one room pass.
"You..." This time, even Ling'er was starting to lose her temper.
This fellow was employing one trick after another, an endless pit.
The man, however, grinned and walked away.
As he passed them, he lowered his voice and said, "On this ship, dragons must coil and tigers must crouch! Here, I am the sky, understand?"
His words were incredibly arrogant, infuriating everyone to the point of wanting to kill him.
However, the man's consistently unfazed demeanor, coupled with Chu Qiankun inexplicably staring intently at one spot with a wary expression, made them hesitate.
"Let's go!" Lin Qingyuan was fuming, and he had been expecting Chu Qiankun to do something.
He never expected Chu Qiankun, who had been ready to fight moments before, to suddenly utter these two words.
Aside from Ling'er, even Lin Qiaoqiao looked at Chu Qiankun strangely.
They said no more, and the four of them simultaneously entered the teleportation array leading to the middle deck.
The entire large ship, while appearing no different from an ordinary vessel, was actually not. The entire ship was like a magical artifact.
Apart from the deck, access to the various levels required teleportation arrays, and passing through necessitated a ship pass.
One person holding a ship pass could bring three companions. Lin Qingyuan's group perfectly matched this limit.
The ferry was divided into four zones: lower deck, middle deck, upper deck, and top deck, with prices increasing as one ascended.
The lower deck alone cost ten mid-grade soul crystals, a price already beyond the reach of ordinary people.
The middle deck was thirty mid-grade soul crystals per person, although the advertised price was per room per person.
But now, it seemed this was not the case at all. As the few walked in, they discovered that almost every room housed three to four people.