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Renyi didn't think Nathan was joking.

Judging from the roles assigned to them in this illusion, the most fitting place for Sean, the fish, is probably in the kitchen—

It's just used as an ingredient.

Thankfully, there wasn't any in the refrigerator, so it's safe for now.

No guests were coming in through the main gate anymore. As anyone passed by, they noticed that the back seam of Ivan's uniform was ripped.

Their eyes darted around, conveying a message to their captain through their gazes:

I feel stuffy in my clothes, and I'm so hungry.

Raise your thumbs up at will.

The oval hall was freely explored, with guests discussing stocks, horse racing, and romantic escapades, but nothing of real importance.

The other friends couldn't be found either; perhaps they were assigned to other floors.

He glanced discreetly at the empty staircase.

Time passed slowly, the food on the table was cleared away, the champagne tower was emptied, but the legendary Mr. Wonka still hadn't appeared.

Eventually, the hall became empty, and Klaus directed the waiters to clean up the mess.

"Table number 5 is crooked, rearrange it."

"The candles on table number 8 are of different lengths; replace them."

The NPC waiters all seemed to be in good spirits and showed no signs of suddenly transforming.

Renyi exchanged a knowing look with Nathan, who was leaning back behind the bar watching the commotion, and Nathan seemed to be saying, "He's completely in character."

"Why do I get the feeling that he's enjoying it?"

soon.

Klaus dutifully gave the hall one last check, making sure it was restored to its initial state, before clapping his hands and summarizing his work like a true factory worker:

"Alright, that's all for tonight's work. You can go and rest now."

"...So, Mr. Supervisor, where are we staying tonight?" Nathan asked Klaus lazily as he walked over.

This time, he fell silent after all the questions.

The four of them know nothing about anything except the identities they were forcibly given.

Fortunately, the NPCs made a move at this moment. They lined up and walked towards an inconspicuous door next to the stairs leading to the second floor.

The four immediately followed at the back of the group.

The staircase spirals downwards, but it is far less spacious than the one going upstairs; it can only accommodate two people walking side by side.

The basement level is somewhat like an old-fashioned train compartment, with a row of corridors along the windows and a row of identical wooden doors.

The NPC staff dispersed and went into their respective rooms.

This looks like the staff dormitory.

"Where are our rooms?" Ivan looked at the yellow nameplates nailed to each door.

But those nameplates didn't have names written on them, but rather some strange codes!

"Octopus...A7...Tuna...B1..."

"I also have cod C9 here, what is all this about!?"

The four of them walked back and forth down the corridor twice, but still found nothing.

"That's it," Nathan said, leaning against the wall.

"We've become unregistered residents! They conscripted us but didn't even assign us dorm rooms! Are we supposed to sleep in the hallway?"

Ivan's stomach growled.

He touched the tear in the back of his clothes, his face filled with grief and indignation: "That's not all, we don't even have food to eat! I'm going to tear all these doors down!"

"No," Klaus immediately stopped him, "What if it triggers some kind of transformation mechanism?"

He still felt that something was off about the nameplates on those doors.

Just as Ivan and Klaus were arguing quietly, Renyi suddenly spoke up:

"Let's try a different approach."

"Just find out which rooms are empty."

Since the NPCs all have fixed rooms, the remaining empty rooms should be prepared for these temporary workers.

They stopped looking at the cards and started trying to open the doors one by one.

"There is one here."

"This one's empty too!"

......

"One, two, three... seven," Nathan counted, leaning against the door of an empty room. "Exactly seven rooms."

Any, Nathan, Klaus, Ivan, Aurora, Luigi, and Esting.

That's exactly the number of people in their group.

As for Sean... he probably wasn't counted among the staff.

The group exchanged glances, all with a sense of foreboding.

The room was simply furnished with a bed and a cabinet, nothing more. The door wasn't locked at all; it could only be locked from the inside with a chain lock. This meant that once they left the room, they couldn't lock the door from the outside.

The group gathered in the room furthest from the other NPC dormitories.

"Worrying won't help."

Renyi broke the silence, "Such a large ship needs fuel and a lot of supplies to be stored... There must be functional areas below the staff dormitories."

Moreover, they came to this place after following Shak.

If Sean is also there, then Shak, Xiao Jiu, Angela, and Jin should also be there, possibly imprisoned elsewhere or with different identities.

"So we split up and acted separately."

It was decided arbitrarily.

"Ivan, you and Nathan stay in the dorm. Don't miss any clues here."

If there is any danger at night, their combination should be enough to handle it.

Thus the two groups separated.

After Renyi and Klaus left, Ivan and Nathan entered a room with a plaque that read "Sea Urchin F4".

Upon entering the room, Ivan immediately occupied the small bed:

Aren't you hungry?

“Of course, my brave friend,” Nathan paced around the fairly spacious room, rummaging through drawers and cabinets trying to find something unusual, “but more than filling their stomachs, the objects wanted to figure out what these delicious room names meant.”

Why use food ingredients as code names for employees?

The owner of this boat has a... well, let's just say his sense of humor is questionable.

"Delicious room names... I'm getting hungrier just talking about them..."

Just as Ivan was complaining quietly, a soft creaking sound came from the corridor, as if some heavy thing had stepped on the wooden floor. The two of them fell silent and listened intently.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

A polite knock came from a room in the distance.

Then someone pushed the door, and the chain creaked and snapped shut. After a moment of silence, the creaking sound of a heavy object being moved rang out again.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

This time, the knocking sounded a little closer.

It seems someone is making room checks!

Ivan and Nathan exchanged a glance, took out the weapons that Renyi had left for them before leaving, one lay down and pretended to sleep, while the other slipped into the closet and stood ready.

......

Meanwhile, Renyi and the engineer had found the stairs and reached the cabin.

The air below smelled strongly of rust.

The passageway here is lined with thick pipes and wires, from which white steam occasionally billows out, and the dim emergency lights overhead are very dim.

Klaus frowned. "Steam engines? How do they withstand pressure?"

"Perhaps they don't need it."

Continuing down, at the end of the passage, we saw a circular hatch.

Upon opening, a strong fishy smell wafted out.

This is the storage room, filled with huge, pitch-black water tanks, making it impossible to tell if there are any living creatures inside.

The temperature in the entire space was extremely low, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the walls.

"Captain! Mr. Klaus!"

A familiar voice came from deep within the warehouse.

A tall, thin figure in a white waterproof suit was squatting in front of a row of tanks, holding a signboard, looking like he was about to collapse.

Esting?!