Chapter 97 Chapter 97 A Chance to Catch Them All
*
The sky was gloomy, the clouds gradually thickened, and the drizzle suddenly poured down like thousands of dense silver needles hitting the water surface rapidly. The rapid sound of the rain was deafening.
On the rough water, a medium-sized bulk carrier was rocking in the wind and rain, sailing at a stiff and slow speed.
Black smoke floated out from the stern, the engine made a huge roar, and the propeller submerged in the water rotated at high speed, stirring up layers of waves, but the speed could not be increased because it was towing a tattered, unpowered small cargo ship behind it.
In the cab, the atmosphere is somewhat subtle.
Duan Yueyan sat upright in the captain's chair, steering the ship with both hands, looking straight ahead, concentrating on steering the ship.
It was a normal and harmonious scene, nothing wrong with it.
But the five men behind him seemed to smell some kind of danger, and they retreated to the door of the cab as if they were facing a great enemy, trying to escape the scene.
Before they could successfully walk out the door, an impatient "tsk" was heard.
It was a zero-frame attack. Duan Yueyan turned his head suddenly, raised his chin and glared at the few people, "What are you doing with all the fussing? Even sparrows are not as noisy as you. Can you please be quiet for a while and give me some peace and quiet?"
The shout made the five people stand at attention and look at each other, no one dared to say a word.
Are they noisy? They walk without making any sound, and they dare not even breathe, okay?
No one dared to talk back. Duan Yueyan was now like a firecracker that could explode at any moment.
A group of people drove a bulk carrier out with high morale, originally planning to go to Huangjiang to find a ship. However, before they even got out of Lanjiang River, they encountered a small cargo ship in front of a mountain halfway.
The small cargo ship is not the key. The key is that the small cargo ship came from the Huangjiang River. The crew brought information that the water level on the Huangjiang River had risen significantly and the current was extremely turbulent. They were pushed by the current for more than ten days after the fuel ran out and they couldn't stop at all. If they hadn't been lucky enough to be blocked by the mountain, they wouldn't know where they would have drifted to.
The situation was not good, and the trip to Huangjiang was aborted halfway, so Duan Yueyan had to return home. The small cargo ship that was running out of food wanted to join them, and adhering to the principle that a small boat is also a boat, Duan Yueyan decided to take them back.
However……
The small cargo ship had run out of fuel and had no power. It could still drift downstream but had to be towed upstream.
So the big ship towed the small boat, and it took a whole day to complete a half-day voyage. The delay in time was a small matter, but the exponential consumption of fuel made Duan Yueyan irritable and increasingly angry.
It was almost there. Through the hazy rain and fog and the vast expanse of water, the familiar mountains in the distance were vaguely visible. The five people at the back of the cab gradually let go of their hearts, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
But at this moment, the bow of the boat turned and entered Fengjin Lake, the hazy water mist was dispersed by the turbulent waves, and two slow-moving behemoths suddenly appeared on the left/front.
The crew immediately took out the ship's binoculars to observe the situation. Fortunately, it was not a strange ship, but their neighbors - Fengyi and Hengrongsheng.
The ship that had been anchored in the lake for a long time suddenly began to move and approached the village. Duan Yueyan frowned instantly and grabbed the high-frequency pager on the dashboard.
"Zizizizi, Xiao Duan? Is that you? ...Are you here?"
Almost at the same time, a high frequency sound rang out, and a slightly distorted and intermittent sound echoed in the cab.
Without a second's hesitation, Duan Yueyan quickly pressed the pager to answer: "Yes, I'm Duan Yueyan! Is this Grandpa Meng from the Fengyi? Where are you going? What happened?"
The fact that Feng Yi and Heng Rong Sheng moved at the same time was in itself very abnormal.
An ominous premonition came to his mind. Duan Yueyan had already prepared himself mentally in advance, but when the other party's words came again through the high frequency, his pupils contracted and the hand holding the pager trembled violently.
"Something happened, something happened in the village! A cruise ship came from nowhere, and they brought a lot of people. They looted all the supplies in the village and took everyone away! It's too late, Xiao Duan, hurry up, we must stop them!"
*
"How is it, can you open it?"
"This lock is a little different. It feels suspended."
"Hiss, what should I do?"
…
The fourth floor of Yongyue.
There were three layers of people inside and outside the entrance of the safety passage, surrounding it.
At the front of the crowd, under everyone's expectant gaze, Gu Mengran fiddled with the security door lock with a thin wire in his hand for nearly ten minutes, but the tightly closed door remained motionless.
I can’t open it. I can’t open it at all. All my lock-picking skills have been wasted.
Hearing the sound of discussion coming from behind, Gu Mengran blushed all the way to his ears, and he wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
He had taken on this job, and it would be embarrassing to quit. However, this lock was different from the others, and he was not completely sure of it. Continuing to open it would only waste time.
Just as he was hesitating and struggling, a bony hand reached out from the side and took the thin wire from his hand without any objection. Then, Liang Zhao's deep voice echoed: "The lock is difficult to fix and can't be opened. Think of another way."
It was purely because of the heavy burden, and no one blamed Gu Mengran for his poor skills.
As soon as the words fell, the villagers came up with ideas:
"Why not just use a chainsaw to break the door open? It's very powerful."
"Oh, right, don't we still have this good thing?"
"What are you thinking? This is not the wooden door in our village. This is a ship. This safety door is just a steel plate. It can't be sawed open."
"Well, what should we do then?"
"How about finding another entrance?"
"There are only two roads in front of us. Besides the emergency door, there is the stairs."
"Be quiet, be quiet."
After talking for a long time without any solution, Zhou Jing waved his hand to quiet everyone down. Then he pointed to the stairs behind the crowd and raised his chin slightly, "Go upstairs, go around the open deck on the fifth floor and see if there is another door to enter. If that doesn't work, then-"
"So what?" someone asked.
Zhou Jing held the hemp rope on his shoulders, his eyes firm, "Take the empty road."
"Come on, there's no need to go around and look, just go straight." Sister Fang suddenly interrupted. Seeing that everyone was looking at her in confusion, she explained, "We went there before and it didn't work."
"Why!"
Sighs were heard one after another as a group of people climbed up the stairs, passed through the hall and passages, and arrived at the open deck on the fifth floor smoothly and quickly.
The rain was getting heavier. After arriving at the open deck, Zhou Jing leaned on the guardrail and looked down for a moment. He chose a suitable position, took off the hemp rope and squatted on the ground.
A hemp rope two fingers thick was tied to the bottom of the guardrail and tied into a strong, non-slip icicle knot. The other end of the rope was then thrown down to measure the required length from the fifth floor to the fourth floor deck. Zhou Jing then used a machete to cut the rope in half.
It is actually very dangerous to slide down a rope. Young people with good physical strength and courage may be able to go down with a little effort, but uncles and ladies who have not received professional training... their legs will start to go weak just by standing next to the guardrail.
The Yongyue is nearly 30 meters high, and the fourth floor is about 20 meters high, which is equivalent to the seventh or eighth floor of an ordinary residential building. From this height, if one slips and falls, one may be seriously injured even if there is water below.
There was no other choice, they had to make this trip anyway. To prevent the uncle and aunt from accidentally falling, Zhou Jing quickly made a simple safety noose with the remaining ropes, adding an extra layer of insurance to this difficult and dangerous journey.
The process went very smoothly. After the preparations were completed, a group of young people took the lead, sliding down little by little holding the ropes, slowly climbing over the fourth-floor railing, and successfully reaching the open deck on the fourth floor.
A good start boosted the morale to a great extent. Some people were protecting above, some were supporting below, and uncles and aunts also started to try. Soon, more than 20 people came down from the open deck on the fourth floor.
He was one step closer to the driver's cab and closer to success. It seemed that everything was moving in a good direction. However, after Gu Mengran stood firm and looked around, he felt inexplicably uneasy.
It was so quiet, so quiet that it was a little eerie, like being on a deserted ghost ship. No one was seen, no sound was heard, and time seemed to have stood still.
We encountered two groups of reinforcements on the second floor, about fifty people, and there were about thirty people scattered in the room. Fang Jie, Liang Zhao and the others encountered a total of about fifty people on the fifth and sixth floors, which means... together there are fewer people than the villagers of Shijin Village.
Dong Hongbo seemed fearless and bold, but Gu Mengran knew that he was actually very cautious and cherished his life. If he had not had the upper hand and was certain, he would not have rashly gone ashore and attacked Shijin Village.
He has a backup plan, there must be someone else on the fourth floor.
Gu Mengran didn't know exactly how many people there were, and he didn't really care, because it wouldn't be too many. He was more concerned about one question, what exactly was Dong Hongbo waiting for?
The villagers had already reached the fourth floor, but they didn't send anyone out to stop them, waiting for them to get in and catch them in a trap? Or were they too confident in the steel door of the Yongyue, and were sure they couldn't get in?
No, Dong Hongbo would not be that naive.
He was waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to catch everything in one swoop.
When is the best time to take action? Gu Mengran noticed something and turned his head to look at the villagers who were lying on the guardrail to respond, and Uncle Liu who was hanging in the air and descending little by little. His heart suddenly "clicked".
The best chance... is now!
“Wuwuwu——”
A deep and long whistle sounded through the sky, and the huge thing standing tall in the water, like a steel city, began to move without any warning.
The cruise ship swayed violently with the water flow, like a pendulum activated by a single button, and the unsuspecting people were thrown all over the place. In just a short moment, the open deck fell into chaos.
Uncle Liu, hanging in the air, was about to touch the guardrail, but the sudden shaking threw him far away. He was like a fish hanging on the fishing line, struggling desperately but to no avail.
Strength will eventually run out, and everyone on the deck will lie down, with no one to help him. Gu Mengran finally stabilized himself with the help of Liang Zhao, and when he raised his head again, Uncle Liu, who was hanging in the air, loosened the rope and fell straight down.
"Uncle Liu, Uncle Liu fell down!"
"Woo woo woo, Uncle Liu!"
"Don't panic, grab the railing! Hold on tight!"
“Ahhhhh—”
The roars of fear, panic and despair were deafening.
Before one wave of troubles subsided, another wave of troubles arose. With a loud "crunch", another large object fell from the fifth floor. The falling speed was too fast, and before Gu Mengran could see clearly, one after another, people fell from the top of his head like dumplings.
"The guardrail upstairs has fallen off, be careful!"
"Quick, get away from the guardrail! Stand close to the wall and grab the handle at the back!"
“Bang, bang, bang…”
Several muffled sounds were heard like torpedoes exploding, and layers of water splashed. The villagers who had sunk into the water disappeared almost instantly, crushed by the huge bottom of the ship, swallowed by the high-speed rotating propeller, and turned into bright red blood.
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