Before disembarking, Victor suddenly looked back again...
Ever since Yu Chaoxian saved her, Vivian had fallen head over heels for him, finding it hard to look at anyone else. But tonight, she keenly sensed a subtle change in him.
Although Yu Chaoxian still wore his usual faint smile, the smile only truly reached his eyes when he glanced at his phone before the meal.
What alarmed and worried Weiwei even more was that Yu Chaoxian's necklace was gone. He always wore that necklace; it was a very precious possession. According to Uncle Henry, the designer, the necklace with the bullet pendant was Yu Chaoxian's talisman that protected him from danger. Moreover, the silver chain of that necklace was a keepsake from Yu Chaoxian's mother, meant to protect his life, and he would never easily take it off.
What could be the reason that made Yu Chaoxian take off the necklace...? Could it be something more important than his life?
After dinner, Yu Chaoxian bid farewell to the McCarthy family, his manners impeccable, polite yet always tinged with distance.
Vivian watched his departing figure with a forlorn expression, but she did not receive a glance from him.
As Yu Chaoxian had predicted, maintaining good relations with the Americas was indeed crucial. By offering kickbacks to McCarthy, he not only obtained a large number of advanced weapons but also gained early access to the development progress of several new weapons. This mutually beneficial "cooperation" brought benefits to both sides.
Chen Diao had to admire Yu Chaoxian once again. The boss understood the true colors and hearts of these officials so thoroughly. If even one of them had truly been dutiful, they wouldn't have been able to exploit this loophole so easily.
In reality, these guns were not truly "defective," but rather rifles that were not yet fully manufactured and were only missing assembly. Yu Chaoxian took advantage of this loophole to purchase a batch of brand-new guns at second-hand prices.
Chen Diao excitedly looked in the rearview mirror and said, "Boss, in addition to the original rifle order and bullets, we've also bought a batch of brand-new rifles at a low price. The price of these 11,000 brand-new rifles completely surpasses the price of these 40,000 second-hand pistols. If we sell them to the French, this deal will be incredibly profitable!"
Therefore, the arms business is one of the fastest ways to make money.
Yu Chaoxian leaned back in his chair, lit a cigarette, and ignored the excited Chen Diao.
Under the cover of night, the convoy slowly made its way to the port. No one could predict what kind of waves these weapons, about to sail across the ocean, would stir up on another continent.
The neon lights of the shopping mall cast dappled shadows on the car window, and Yu Chaoxian suddenly raised his hand to signal the car to stop.
An hour later, Chen Diao came out carrying a bunch of shopping bags, all of which were clothes, shoes and bags for the girl, and even several boxes of donuts of various flavors.
Chen Diao wasn't stupid; he immediately recognized it was for a girl. Among the group of men, his aunt was the only girl.
"Boss." Chen Diao asked, as if he wanted to ask a question.
Yu Chaoxian didn't even lift his eyelids. "Speak."
"Boss, why are you treating Miss Yu like this? Is it to get revenge on Aunt Zhou, or to vent your anger? It can't be because you like her, right?" Chen Diao carefully chose his words. He originally wanted to call Yu Tang by her name directly, but when he remembered what happened to Liang Jiaqi after she called "Tangtang" before, he felt a tightness in his heart and decided to be more cautious and call her Miss Yu.
Unexpectedly, Yu Chaoxian's gloomy gaze followed, and Chen Diao immediately fell silent.
"Which eye of yours saw me bullying her?" Yu Chaoxian said coldly. "I think you're trying to become the next Guan Zhongpeng."
If he becomes the next Guan Zhongpeng, wouldn't that mean sitting on the sidelines?
"I'm sorry, boss." Chen Diao quickly shut his mouth. He had considered countless possibilities, but subconsciously ruled out the correct answer first.
After a while, Chen Diao asked again, unwilling to give up: "Boss, I've already seen it. American women have great figures and are very open-minded..."
"If you don't shut up, Ivan will come instead." Yu Chaoxian was too lazy to waste another word with Chen Diao.
Chen Diao remained completely silent this time. He simply couldn't understand why, even if his boss had never been interested in this before, he still had plenty of women around. Yet, he wouldn't touch the women he should be with, but he became addicted to the girls he shouldn't be with.
The task was completed almost a day faster than expected. Chen Diao arranged for Ivan, who had arrived earlier, to be in charge of transporting the batch of firearms, while he and Yu Chaoxian boarded a plane to the next port to meet up with Yu Tang and the others.
On the plane, Chen Diao casually showed Yu Chaoxian more photos of girls with black hair and fair skin. "Boss, this one has a better figure, also black hair and fair skin. Which one do you like, boss? Any of them?"
Yu Chaoxian, who was resting with his eyes closed, was extremely annoyed, which was why he didn't want to take Chen Diao on the mission. Chen Diao was quick-witted and skilled, but he was incredibly talkative.
Yu Chaoxian finally opened his eyes and looked over coldly. Chen Diao had no doubt that if this were on a helicopter, Yu Chaoxian would have thrown him out.
On the plane, during the ten hours that Yu Chaoxian couldn't receive calls on his phone, Yu Tang and her group on the sea were unaware that a danger was about to approach.
Ten thousand meters above the ground, the azure sea was streaked with white by speedboats – three silver speedboats belonging to the international crew were searching in different directions.
The Yu family's cargo ship was smoothly cutting through the sea, the hum of its engine blending seamlessly with the rhythm of the waves. Suddenly, a high-frequency siren blared in the distance, and the radar screen showed a speedboat directly behind the ship!
Mickey picked up his binoculars and clearly saw the black bear emblem on the speedboat. He immediately frowned and his tone turned sour: "It's the KX arms dealer from the Suss Alliance!"
Yu Tang and A Jin both looked at Mickey, who suddenly became unsettled.
Mickey explained, "KX arms dealers are composed of mercenaries, and can be considered a replica of the Yu family."
The Cold War sworn enemy of the Americas, the Suez Alliance! If the Suez Alliance found out that the Stinger missiles on the cargo ship were meant to be used against Suez Alliance Hind helicopters in the Fuzhou battlefield, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Mickey had once carried out a mission to steal confidential documents from the Sussley Alliance. If it weren't for Yu Chaoxian's timely support, he would have died in that general's office.
The strength of the Sussian Alliance should not be underestimated, after all, it is the only country besides the Eastern countries that can rival the Americas.
Yu Tang still only had a vague understanding of this organization, but she could see Mickey's nervous expression, which suggested that KX was not very friendly to Yu's ship.
Mickey stared at the sea. “Their speedboats are searching in different directions. It looks like the one behind us is going to stick to us. The boss is still on the plane and won’t arrive until tomorrow.” He gritted his teeth. “We absolutely cannot let them find anything on the ship! Otherwise, the Yu family will lose hundreds of millions.”
Upon hearing this, Ah Jin had already loaded his gun, ready to fight at any moment.
The salty sea breeze ruffled the stray hairs on Yu Tang's forehead. She stared through her binoculars at the approaching black dot in the distance, already having an idea in mind: "How long do they estimate it will take for them to catch up with us?"
Mickey frowned and said, "Forty minutes at most."
Forty minutes is enough. Yu Tang gazed into the distance, gripping her phone tightly. The Yu family isn't just about Yu Chaoxian; besides Yu Chaoxian, the only one who can mobilize the Yu family is herself, Yu Tang.
"Put down your guns and hide them. We're just ordinary businessmen. I have a way to get them somewhere else." The faint light from her phone screen illuminated her calm face.
Mickey immediately looked over. The girl's fair face was solemn, without panic, only an unusual calm. Yu Tang's face was half-shadowed, and the faint curve of her lips reminded him of Yu Chaoxian's scheming manner.
Yu Tang then calmly asked A Jin about the ship's location, and then dialed the Yu family's internal phone number.
Only the Yu family knows this number.
Yu Tang was the person who could mobilize Yu's Shipping Company the fastest right now, so she immediately called the person in charge. Yu Tang had an internal number within Yu's, and according to the numbering system, her number was second only to Yu Yanting, and even Yu Chaoxian was ranked after her.
Yu Tang, who usually hid behind Yu Chaoxian and was often playful, was surprisingly steady as she pressed the number. Time passed second by second.
"Beep~beep~beep" Yu Tang had never felt that the few seconds before the call connected were so long.
It felt like an eternity.
Upon seeing the encrypted call from the internal number 02, the man from Yu's Shipping Company nearly dropped his coffee cup. He abruptly sat up and answered the phone: "Yu's Shipping, please give us your instructions!"
“This is Yu Tang.” Yu Tang’s clear and firm voice came from the other end of the phone. “Our ship is now at 53.5417°N, 9.9937°W. Please arrange for a cargo ship of the same type to appear in the nearby waters to attract the attention of the speedboat! Repeat, 53.5417°N, 9.9937°W.”
Mickey couldn't help but look over. The voice was crisp and calm, unlike Yu Tang's, yet it was indeed Yu Tang's.
Many developed ports have Yu's shipping companies, including Haibao Port, where we stopped last time. So, arranging a ship within forty minutes is still feasible.
Yu Tang had the company send an identical ship to the nearby sea area, and flew the flag of Taicheng on the ship.
After hanging up the phone, Yu Tang's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Which country is on good terms with the Sus Alliance?"
Mickey didn't think too much about it. "The Polish-German alliance." Poland and Sousse are important economic and military allies.
Having received the answer, Yu Tang's clear eyes flashed with a cunning light. She instructed A Jin to quickly remove the flag of Taicheng from the ship and replace it with the flag of Bode, an important ally of the Sus Alliance.
The deck swayed in the waves, and even Mickey and Ajin looked a little nervous. Only Yu Tang stood by the ship's side, her long black hair fluttering in the wind, with a few strands hidden in her collar, as if even the wind could not tame her lively wildness.
Mickey was momentarily stunned; his boss often stood in this spot. But he quickly regained his senses and understood Yu Tang's meaning. Since the people of the two countries were friendly to each other, the Sus Alliance naturally wouldn't risk damaging the relationship by rashly searching the Bode Alliance's cargo ships.
The calm and composed Yu Tang now was a completely different person from the girl who always followed behind the boss with red eyes. Mickey suddenly realized that the obedient Yu Tang might just be the most harmless one she had chosen from among hundreds of masks, enough to make the boss lower his guard. Given the boss's possessiveness towards Yu Tang, Yu Tang might be able to easily deliver a fatal blow to the boss later.
This fatal blow might not happen to the boss, because the weakness isn't there, but rather... He subconsciously looked at Yu Tang.
A gust of sea wind caused the deck to shake violently. Mickey remembered his boss's orders to take good care of Miss Yu. He immediately reached out to help her, but Yu Tang had already turned around and steadily climbed the gangway.
Mickey had never been so certain that the boss might not win Yu Tang's heart in the end. Even if Yu Tang was kept by the boss's side, physically inseparable, the emotional gap between them was an insurmountable distance that the boss could never bridge. He really didn't know how crazy the boss would become in the future.
Ah Jin searched through the warehouse boxes thoroughly but couldn't find the Podkov flag. Yu Tang was also anxious, her forehead beaded with sweat. Suddenly, her eyes lit up as she spotted a red, white, and black flag among the pile of flags.
"That's it!"
Under Ajin's confused gaze, Yu Tang picked up the three-stripe flag and said, "If you turn this flag upside down, isn't it the flag of the Bode Alliance?"
Designers in these countries, perhaps lacking inspiration, often have flags with three stripes: red, white, and blue; red, white, and black; or red, yellow, and green. They frequently use clashing colors, and some even use the same color scheme, but one is horizontal and the other is vertical.
But this is just right, the person who designed the flag didn't know that he had done Yu Tang a great favor today.
The setting sun, like blood, dyed the sea a dark red. The black speedboat of the Suss Alliance cut through the waves, casting a small shadow on the side of the cargo ship.
An announcement came over the loudspeaker: "Please stop immediately and submit to boarding inspection!"
KX received a message from the Yaihai Armed Forces that a ship flying the Thai flag was transporting weapons toward Fuzhou.
Fuzhou is putting up a fierce resistance against the invasion of the Sus Alliance army, so KX, upon receiving the news, immediately rushed to search the area.
Time ticked by, and Yu Tang still hadn't received a reply from the Yu family. It seemed the ship, which had been relocated to another area, hadn't made it in time. Mickey and A-Jin's faces tightened, their hands instinctively reaching for the pistols in their pockets; a fierce battle seemed inevitable.
“We are candy merchants from Bode,” Mickey negotiated in fluent English. “You have no right to board the ship without a search warrant.”
KX was particularly cautious, showing his credentials authorizing a search by the Suss Alliance and insisting on boarding the ship to conduct the search. But Yu Tang remained completely calm.
"Don't be so nervous," Yu Tang put juice into Mickey's and A Jin's hands. "Relax, smile. We're just ordinary merchants transporting candy. Mickey is the older brother, and A Jin and I are siblings who came along to play."
At this moment, the leading commander, Victor, had already stepped onto the gangway.
Viktor arrived in a hurry, without even having time to change out of his uniform jacket. His brown hair was a little messy from the wind. He wore a neat white shirt with a shoulder strap holster across his shoulder. The black shoulder strap and white shirt gave him a strangely ascetic sexiness amidst his serious and righteous demeanor.
The heavy black boots pressed down on the deck, and Victor's figure completely obscured Yu Tang.
Yu Tang did not back down in fear. She had been able to withstand Yu Chaoxian's pressing figure, so she could naturally remain calm now. Therefore, when she met Viktor's sharp, misty blue eyes, she was quite composed, although her hands, hanging behind her back, unconsciously tightened their grip on her skirt.
She was still a little flustered.
The metal badge on Victor's hat brim gleamed coldly in the twilight. He pulled out his identification to prove his identity and glanced at the Polish-German flag hanging on the ship.
He then looked down at Yu Tang in front of him.
Victor glanced at it and looked away, then pointed and ordered his men to open the container.
Colorful candies were immediately poured onto the deck, with a few rolling down to Victor's feet.
Viktor glanced down, his shoulder straps taut with the movement, pressing a few fine wrinkles into his shirt. He suddenly seemed to lift his foot and move forward.
This is to check inside the candy. It's full of guns...
Yu Tang was already covered in cold sweat. A Jin's eyes fell on the towel under the sun chair, where there was a gun. He was watching Viktor's every move, and walked in front of Yu Tang to protect him, ready to fire at any time. Mickey, who was next to him, also came under the cover without anyone noticing. It was a piece of cake for Gatling guns to mow down these mercenaries.
But killing KX members would inevitably bring inescapable trouble, such as the CIA mercenary pursuit last time. If possible, Mickey still hopes they live.
Viktor continued walking closer to the container, his long fingers reaching for the candy inside. Just then, at the critical moment, the mercenary beside him received a phone call, his expression immediately changing. He quickly told Viktor, "Commander Viktor, there's a report that the Taicheng ship is in another sea area."
Viktor stopped in his tracks, glanced back at the bright and composed girl for a couple of seconds, then immediately turned and retreated, ordering his men to give chase.
The moment the mercenaries turned around, countless candies slid down, silently revealing rows of black gun barrels.
Just as Victor was about to glance over, whether the ship was genuinely rocked by the waves or Yu Tang lost her balance, she fell forward.
Just as she was about to hit the deck, a strong arm caught her before Ah Jin could reach out, and then quickly let go once she was steady.
He noticed the girl's incredulous look, as if she was surprised that he would intervene.
Viktor suddenly smiled, his eyes softening and losing their coldness: "What's there to be surprised about? I'm the commander, not a villain. Boarding the ship for inspection is my duty and job, so you can rest assured to ask me for help if you encounter any danger or difficulties."
"Thank you." Yu Tang's opinion of Victor had changed somewhat, because from the Yu family's perspective, she subconsciously rejected Victor and forgot that Victor was on the opposite side.
There are no real heroes or villains, only different perspectives.
It was only when they got closer that Yu Tang noticed the misty blue in his eyes, which resembled the sea.
She felt a strange sense of familiarity. But many people have blue eyes, and Mickey Mouse has blue eyes, so Yu Tang didn't think about it any further.
Ah Jin frowned. Yu Tang's ears were a little red. He looked at the scene before him and remembered the way Yu Tang had looked at Liang Jiaqi before. Ah Jin hadn't intervened that time, but this time he stepped between the two of them, supporting Yu Tang and separating them.
Before Viktor disembarked, he suddenly looked back, and Yu Tang also turned to look at him. Their eyes met unexpectedly.
A sea breeze swept across her, ruffling the stray hairs on her forehead. Victor stood where light and shadow met, his eyes beneath the brim of his hat swirling with a turbulent undercurrent, no less calm than the sea itself. No words, no movements, only a fleeting encounter, like a string carelessly plucked by fate.
No one knew that after that glance—it was the end the story should have been;
Or perhaps it's the beginning of another silent entanglement.
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