National destiny: Starting with a coffin, building an aircraft carrier is broadcast live globally.

Nathan rubbed the goosebumps that had risen on his arms.

He always felt that after his captain said "I want to hear everything," the temperature on the rooftop dropped by at least five degrees.

Noah's laziness disappeared.

Those emerald eyes gleamed in the darkness, so sharp that one dared not look directly at them.

but......

On one side stood the expressionless, commanding captain with a red mark on his forehead, and on the other side, the enigmatic Mr. Noah with two wads of cotton stuffed in his nostrils...

Nathan touched the slightly warm handprint on his face and silently turned away.

He was afraid that if he watched any longer, the serious negotiation scene would fall apart because he, as an audience member, would burst into laughter.

"all?"

Noah's voice remained muffled, but his tone was icy cold.

"Old friends... sometimes, knowing too much diminishes the enjoyment."

"I also enjoy piecing together the truth."

Ren Yi's dark eyes stared straight at him without flinching. "But I don't like it when someone deliberately hides some of the most crucial pieces of my puzzle."

He took another step forward.

This step made Noah instinctively straighten his back.

Just as Noah was about to break off the ice and say something, Ren Yi suddenly withdrew his aggressive stance and eagerly offered the cigar he had snatched back to Noah's lips.

Noah: "..."

A slap followed by a sweet treat?

But he was clearly slapped once, then slapped again, and then slapped again...

The sweet date I handed over was one that had already been traded to him!

"Random" doesn't mean acting crazy out of boredom.

When there is no irreconcilable conflict, giving someone what they need in a civilized and polite manner is more effective than holding a knife to their throat.

This is an initiative to show goodwill, and also a declaration:

The initiative is in my hands.

This guy...

Noah stared silently at the cigar offered to his lips for a long time before finally resigning himself to taking it in.

"Okay, okay."

He raised his hands in surrender.

"I admit that I do know some inside information about this ship."

Nathan's ears immediately perked up; even with his back turned, his gossipy nature couldn't be stopped!

"Oh?"

He casually pulled something out of the system's inventory as if to encourage someone.

A bottle of aged rum that has been used to marinate Lv7 squid.

Noah's expression changed.

He wasn't unfamiliar with good things, but this kind of method of taking things out of thin air... After observing for so long, he could confirm that the other party didn't have any items related to space.

This is... more fundamentally, the power to create a personal, independent space.

Even he couldn't do that.

This group was far more capable and organized than any other group of "cogs" he had ever seen on this ship.

Especially the one in the lead.

"Looks like you have a lot of good stuff." Noah's gaze shifted from the wine bottle back to Renyi's face.

"so,"

As the cork was casually pulled out, an overly rich aroma of liquor instantly filled the air. "We have enough leverage to talk about 'everything'."

"We want to disembark, and you want to get out of the ship. Our goals are currently aligned."

"We've tested everything we could; can't you make a decision yet?"

Noah's expression cracked for a moment.

After a long while, he sighed and completely gave up resisting.

"Fine, you win."

"I once made a deal with Wonka."

Nathan, standing nearby, interjected with a forced smile:

"Could it be immortality?"

Noah glanced at him, then solemnly patted his chest and gave Nathan an extremely flamboyant bow.

That's considered an implicit agreement.

"I gave him a way to prolong his life, and he should pay the corresponding price."

Noah complained in distress,

"But when I got here to complete the contract, I found that Wonka had done something again, turning the Narwhal into this terrible state."

"Everyone is trapped on this ship, forming a cycle...including me."

He grew angrier the more he thought about it; he was just there to collect a debt...or to get his payment—

Let's watch a show.

As a result, an audience member was pulled onto the stage without even being given a script. How can you complain about this?

As Nathan listened, his smile almost crept across his face.

In conclusion—this all-powerful Mr. Noah has encountered a deadbeat.

Renyi remained silent.

He recalled how, in Nightingale's memory, Noah had so easily lured a desperate girl into signing a contract she couldn't refuse and was destined to never let go of.

I often walk by the river, so how can I not wet my shoes?

And so, they were tricked by a customer who had even less sportsmanship.

Noah, oblivious to the mockery, was still indignant about his fate:

"I gave him a ticket to immortality, and it was pay-later!"

"And the result?"

Noah, with cotton stuffed in his nose, let out a loud snort.

"Every time a new 'variable' appears on this ship, like when you come in, the whole story starts from the beginning. The script will keep playing out until everyone's soul is worn away and they become completely part of this ship."

"I just can't figure it out," he shook his head, utterly perplexed.

"Wonka shouldn't have this ability... to trap an entire ship, including beings like me, in a constantly repeating time anchor point... This is something that simple magic can't do."

Repeated time anchors...

The words Father Myriel had said to him flashed through his mind instantly:

His real name—or one of his code names—was Nyarlathotep.

His playground is many, many.

Randomly staring at Noah, who was still pacing back and forth, he concluded that the two were probably not the same thing.

"Noah..."

"Huh? What?" Noah, who was pacing back and forth, looked at Renyi.

"Perhaps... your client found a new 'investor' to avoid paying the bill."

With a hint of sympathy, I casually shoved the bottle of rum into his hand as a consolation prize.

It seems this Mr. Wonka has a lot of guts.

To escape this debt he couldn't afford, he chose to sell himself, along with the debt, to a worse, more sophisticated, and more unreasonable person.

However, the new investor liked to engage in forced sales and monopolies, so he also took the creditors who came to collect debts and trapped them in this amusement park.

However, this is definitely a good thing for Renyi...

After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

He's starting to wonder what exactly Noah is asking Wonka to pay for the ticket.

This guy was so desperate that he was willing to do business with other people to skip out on his bill!

"By the way,..."

He asked casually, "Do you... know Nyarlathotep?"