824: Chapter 824 Four Slaps!

Ye Chen looked at Derek with a smile. "What's wrong? You dare to do it, but you don't dare to admit it?"

Derek's smile faded slightly.

"Mr. Ye, since it wasn't my doing, I naturally cannot admit to it."

"Otherwise..."

"How would the world view me? And how would they view my Buster?"

"True." Ye Chen nodded. "With how sissy you are, how could you ever admit to it like a real man?"

Derek's face finally darkened. "Ye Chen, watch your tongue!"

"Watch my tongue?"

Ye Chen suddenly reached out and grabbed Derek by the collar.

This scene...

...shocked the surrounding members of The Association.

Fuck!

This kid actually dared to make a move in public?!

In the next second...

...just as they were about to step forward, they found an invisible pressure enveloping the entire area, rendering them completely unable to move...

Not just them.

Even Derek's body seemed to be completely immobilized.

At this moment...

...he could no longer maintain his hypocritical facade, and a look of panic washed over his face.

"Ye Chen! What do you think you're doing?!"

Ye Chen didn't answer. Instead, he raised his hand and slapped him across the face.

Slap!

The crisp sound of the slap was exceptionally piercing in the quiet restaurant.

A handprint quickly swelled up on Derek's cheek.

Everyone in the room was dumbfounded by this sight.

That was the Vice President of The Association!

Ye Chen actually dared to slap him in public?!

Derek's head was knocked to the side, and his mind went completely blank.

No way...

He had lived for over thirty years and had never been slapped in public.

Yet Ye Chen actually dared to do it!

He was furious!

Absolutely furious!

What a disgrace!

It was a fucking disgrace!

How did that kid dare?!

Just as he was about to speak...

Slap!

The second slap landed immediately after.

Ye Chen's voice rang out, "This slap is for your hypocrisy."

Derek's face was knocked to the other side.

Slap!

The third slap landed.

"This slap is for being a despicable coward."

Both of Derek's cheeks were now red and swollen, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Slap!

The fourth slap followed closely behind, striking Derek's face.

Ye Chen's voice turned cold. "This slap is because you dare to do things but don't dare to admit them. You're not a real man."

Derek's face was swollen like a steamed bun, and his hair was a disheveled mess. He looked incredibly pathetic...

He wanted to struggle.

He wanted to fight back.

But Ye Chen's hand gripping his collar was like an iron vise, keeping him completely pinned.

Even worse...

...he couldn't muster even a single shred of the power within his body.

The restaurant was dead silent.

Everyone stared with wide eyes as the Vice President of The Association was held like a broken sack of potatoes and slapped repeatedly by Ye Chen.

The scene was so bizarre it felt like a dream.

Yan Qingwu leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed, watching the show with amusement.

Truth be told...

...this Derek was a real idiot.

It was one thing to play dirty tricks behind their backs, but he actually dared to jump out in front of them afterward...

Wasn't that just begging for death?

If he hadn't shown his face, Ye Chen might not have bothered to go looking for trouble.

But now that he had...

Tsk, tsk, tsk!

That changed everything.

After a long while...

...Derek finally snapped out of it, his face filled with shock. "You... you dared to hit me?!"

"I already did. Why are you still asking if I dare?"

Ye Chen let go of his collar and gave him a casual shove.

Derek stumbled backward, tripped over his own feet, and fell flat on his butt.

He was dazed!

Completely dazed!

He looked up blankly. His once handsome face was now swollen like a pig's head.

But his eyes were bloodshot, filled with pure malice and humiliation.

"Ye Chen... you will regret this..."

"Oh, I'm so scared."

Ye Chen shrugged.

"There are two things I hate most in this world: one is when people plot against me, and the other is when they plot against me and then play innocent."

"Congratulations, you managed to do both!"

"So you got exactly what you deserved with these slaps."

"But... I'll save you a bit of face today and stop at four slaps."

"If there's a next time..."

He paused and smiled slightly. "I will replace these four slaps with four knife slashes."

The surrounding air seemed to grow a few degrees colder.

A layer of cold sweat broke out on everyone's backs.

They didn't doubt for a second that Ye Chen was dead serious.

"Oh, right."

Ye Chen suddenly remembered something. He crouched down and grinned at Derek.

"That ton of gold—I'll stop by The Association's headquarters to collect it on my way back."

"You'd better have them prepare it in advance. It would be quite awkward if I showed up and didn't even get a cup of tea, wouldn't it?"

Derek glared at him, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles popped.

But in the end, he couldn't squeeze out a single word.

Ye Chen stood up and turned to walk out.

As he passed by Yan Qingwu, he whispered, "Let's go. I've got nothing to do this afternoon, so I'm going to catch up on some sleep."

Yan Qingwu smiled and followed him.

"Alright, alright, you're the boss, you call the shots."

The two of them walked out of the restaurant one after the other.

Leaving behind a floor full of injured people, a crowd of pale-faced onlookers...

...and Derek, who was slumped on the ground with his face swollen beyond recognition.

After quite a while...

...Derek's men finally dared to step forward and help him up. "V-Vice President, are you alright?"

Derek brushed off the man's hand and stood up, leaning against a table.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stared in the direction Ye Chen had vanished, muttering under his breath, "Ye Chen... just you wait."

...

...

For the next day and night, the sea remained calm and peaceful.

The aurora continued its voyage toward Antarctica.

Ye Chen spent half the day sleeping in his cabin and the other half sunbathing on the deck. His life was even more leisurely than it had been back in the city.

Yan Qingwu curled up on a lounge chair with her tablet, watching dramas and occasionally bickering with Ye Chen.

That posture!

That scene!

It was as if they were on a vacation...

"Don't you think... it's a bit too quiet?" Yan Qingwu suddenly set down her tablet and looked toward the distant sky.

Ye Chen kept his eyes closed. "Isn't quiet good? It's for the best if that crowd doesn't come looking for trouble."

"That's not what I mean."

Yan Qingwu pointed toward the horizon. "Look at those clouds over there. The color doesn't seem right."

Ye Chen opened one eye and followed her gaze.

Near the distant horizon, a massive expanse of grayish-black clouds was slowly churning.

"A typhoon?" Ye Chen sat up.

Yan Qingwu pulled out her phone to check the satellite cloud map, her expression changing slightly.

"The weather forecast shows no typhoon forming in this sea area within twenty-four hours, but... those clouds don't look normal at all."

"And the phone signal is getting worse too."

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes, staring at the bizarre clouds.

As time passed, the wind gradually picked up.

The sailors on board also began to bustle about, and the atmosphere on the entire ship instantly grew tense.

Twenty minutes later, the ship's broadcast rang out.

"Attention all passengers, an abnormal cyclone has been detected in the waters ahead of the aurora. We expect to encounter strong winds and rough waves within an hour."

"Please return to your cabins and secure yourselves. Do not leave your cabins unless absolutely necessary."

"Finally, something exciting." Ye Chen stretched and turned to walk toward the cabin door.

Yan Qingwu immediately followed.

Just as they returned to their cabin, the ship began to rock violently.

The sky outside darkened at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The grayish-black clouds hung low like a massive quilt, completely smothering the sky.

Raindrops began to pelt the portholes, clattering against the glass.

The wind grew stronger, and whitecaps began to churn on the surface of the sea.

The hull of the aurora began to list heavily. The port side vibrated from the pounding of the massive waves, and the entire ship was tossed about like a leaf on the turbulent sea.

Ye Chen sat on the edge of the bed, as steady as a mountain.

Yan Qingwu leaned against the wall, holding onto a handrail with one hand, her brow slightly furrowed. "This storm isn't right..."

"You felt it too?" Ye Chen looked at the window and smiled slightly.

"Yeah."

Yan Qingwu nodded. "For normal typhoons, the changes in atmospheric pressure follow a pattern. But the pressure outside is dropping too fast right now, as if it plummeted dozens of hectopascals all at once. This is abnormal."

Before she could finish her sentence...

...the ship suddenly lurched downward, as if something was pulling it from below.

Immediately after...

...the ship listed sharply to one side, and the water glass on the table shattered on the floor.

The lights in the cabin flickered twice and went out.

In the darkness, the violent rocking of the ship did not cease; instead, it grew increasingly intense.

Yet both Ye Chen and Yan Qingwu could see...

...that outside the window, the height of the waves far exceeded normal limits.

A massive wave, easily three or four stories high, loomed like a moving wall of dark ink, bearing down directly on the aurora.

Ye Chen stood up and walked to the window, his gaze locking onto the giant wave.

The crest of the wave drew closer and closer, about to crash against the hull at any second.

At that very instant, two massive black silhouettes suddenly emerged behind the giant wave, like two moving islands rising and falling beneath the churning water.

Immediately following that...

...a muffled roar echoed from the depths of the ocean, shaking the entire ship.

The sound was deep and long, like the cry of some ancient beast, carrying a primal sense of dread...

Ye Chen's expression finally changed.

"This thing seems a lot more interesting than a typhoon."

Yan Qingwu was utterly dumbfounded. "You call this interesting?!"

Before her voice could fade...

...the ship shuddered violently, as if something had struck it from underneath.

Right after that...

...came another jolt!

The ship listed to one side, and seawater surged wildly onto the deck.

Screams of panic from the passengers echoed from outside.

Ye Chen pushed open the cabin door and strode toward the deck, braving the howling wind and crashing waves.

Yan Qingwu hurriedly followed behind.

When the two of them reached the main lounge, the sight before them left Yan Qingwu completely dumbstruck...