The density of the crowd was slowly decreasing, and about one-third of the people had left the dinner venue. Tasia was still sitting at the bar, looking alone at Philip who was chatting animatedly with several men in the distance.
"Would you like anything more, ma'am?" the bartender asked.
"Thank you, no need," Tasia turned around, "When does the banquet usually end?"
"Not necessarily," the bartender replied, "Sometimes it's early, sometimes it's late. If you want to go back and rest, you can leave now."
"Okay..." Tasia yawned, "Then I'll stay a little longer."
"Do you like it here very much? I haven't seen you anywhere else this evening."
"Fortunately," Tasia looked into the distance, "I think my friend is still interested, so just stay a little longer..."
"It's better not to go back too late. If it's too late, it won't be safe outside."
"what time is it now?"
"Five minutes to eleven."
"Okay," Tasia said softly, "I'll just sit there for another five minutes. Thank you for reminding me."
"You're welcome."
The bartender put down the last glass, turned around, opened the wooden door next to the bar, and left.
Across several sofas and wine tables filled with people, Tasia saw Philip gesticulating excitedly with a few people around him. His face was slightly red, and the blood vessels on his neck appeared from time to time with his movements. The few men around him were equally excited and engaged. They slapped the table or the sofa from time to time and burst into laughter.
This kind of Philip made her feel a little strange. In her impression, Philip seemed to be a person who was as bad at dealing with such situations as herself. He was shy and introverted, but...
In the midst of their excitement, the two people's eyes met inadvertently. Philip's expression condensed for a moment. He smiled at Tasia with a complex expression, then quickly turned around, changing his original side-to-side posture to Tasia's back.
Tasia looked up at the time—ten fifty-nine.
She stood up and walked in the direction of Phillip. Just as she was about to call his name, the entire hall suddenly dimmed, and all the lights suddenly went out, leaving only the candles on the dining table and walls that were used to set off the atmosphere, still shining dimly.
The crowd fell into restlessness. Everyone stopped enjoying themselves and began to ask each other what happened. At this moment, the door of the hall opened. An old man in a suit and tie stood there. He held a gas lamp in his hand, but the light was extremely weak. The corridor The light shone in from behind him, making his face even more unpredictable.
The old man coughed lightly.
"I announce that the night banquet will end immediately, and the third safety inspection will begin from this deck in ten minutes."
In the brief silence, the old man faced the hall and stepped back.
Immediately afterwards - almost instantly - the entire hall fell into complete chaos.
…
At eleven o'clock sharp, Si Lei took most of the passengers to the Grace Theater on the sixth deck. People looked at each other nervously, tacitly confirming who was absent tonight - apart from Tasia and Philippe, who were attending the dinner at the moment, there were obviously some people who were also absent, such as Helen and Gustav.
After a while, Rico appeared at the entrance of the theater with Gustave.
"Okay," Rico patted Gustave on the back and motioned for him to go to the middle of the crowd, "find a seat by yourself."
Gustav was extremely panicked: "...has something big happened?"
"It's nothing serious, but there will be a security inspection tonight. This is a temporary shelter." Li Ge stepped out of the door with half a foot, "Everyone can go back to sleep in half an hour. Anyway, just follow Si Lei's command."
"Ms. Rico, wait a minute!" Someone in the crowd suddenly said, "...Where's Ms. Hesta, doesn't she need to come with us to hide for a while?"
Rico smiled, "No need."
The door slammed shut.
"Okay, everyone, stop talking and stay quiet." Si Lei looked at his watch and said, "From now on, no one is allowed to talk."
…
"Philip!!"
Tasia shouted, trying to move towards where she had just seen Philip, but it was all in vain amid the rush of people heading towards the door.
Even though only two-thirds of the guests at the banquet were left, when everyone was running in the same direction, the scene was still uncontrollable.
Tasia was carried into the corridor, and one of her shoes was stepped off. However, what made her even more panicked was that she could not find Philip's face among the people who then left the Bishop's restaurant.
Hundreds of people flocked to the elevator entrance, but the elevator could only carry less than 13 people. People rushed to get into the car, squeezing out every bit of space that could carry people. At the other end of the elevator entrance, there is an escape tunnel with a door ajar, but no one cares about it.
Tasia tried her best to carve out a breathing space for herself, and slowly moved against the crowd. When she finally came to an open space, she immediately rushed back to the lobby - there were no normal passengers there at this moment, only a few disheveled ones. crazy man sitting in the corner, holding a wine bottle and laughing maniacally.
Tasia did not dare to go deep, so she had to turn back and shouted Philip's name loudly towards the huddled crowd, but still no one answered.
Six minutes have passed - only more than three minutes are left before the "ten minutes" mentioned by the old man... Looking at the ridiculous crowded scene in front of her, Tasia gritted her teeth and turned towards the escape tunnel. Run in the direction.
Sure enough, behind the ajar door was a dark staircase.
She took a few steps, one foot deep and one foot shallow, then simply threw away her other shoe and hurried downstairs. This did not seem to be the stairwell she had walked before. The distance between the corridors was narrower and there was no night light.
In the darkness, she quickly reached the next deck, but when she tried to open the door to the cabin, she found that it was locked.
Tasia banged on the door, asking if anyone heard. The knocking on the door and the sound of questioning overlapped, echoing in the originally silent corridor. The eerie echo hit the back of her head, extremely weird... However, at this moment, these things that should have frightened her instead made her feel numb. At this moment, she had no second thought except leaving here.
Tasia went downstairs, one floor at a time, and each time she went down, she seemed to be getting closer to hell. The courage she had was shrinking, and there seemed to be little strength left. She couldn't remember which door she had knocked on, but she knew that if she continued walking, she would really have no strength to look back.
"Is there anyone? Is there anyone? Is there anyone?" Tasia asked tremblingly.
After the usual silence, she heard the sound of a key unlocking the door.
The fire of hope surged instantly.
The door opened quickly, and a familiar face appeared in front of her - it was the bartender who was at the bar just now.
"Tasia?" She looked at Tasia's face in surprise, "Why are you here...come in!"
(End of chapter)
