"What happened? There haven't been any leaks in years. What could have caused the entire hull to be damaged?"
He Cong summoned the ship managers, and apart from Ruan Meng and her brother, only the people from Xinglin Hall were around.
Upon hearing the question, Manager Du voluntarily led his wife and daughter to step aside.
Ruan Meng was about to walk to the side when He Cong turned around and called her back.
“Miss Ruan, please listen to this.”
The second brother heard this, rolled his eyes a few times, and walked aside by himself.
Your inner thoughts are far from calm on the surface, Young Master He! Don't you think it's too obvious?!
My sister cooks for you, treats your family's wounded, and even inspects your wrecked ship?!
What do you take my sister for?!
Don't even think about it!
Although the second son is romantic by nature, he is unusually clear-headed when it comes to his sister.
He was self-aware; as a fugitive, his sister would not be happy no matter whose family it was, even if it was the He family.
Ruan Meng didn't think much of it and walked to the side to listen to the manager's explanation.
"Young Master, this was truly an accident! We were attacked by a school of fish..."
"shark?"
"It wasn't a shark. If we had spotted a shark, we would have turned back long ago. We avoided all the reefs we passed. After noticing the unusual situation, the crew recalled..."
"The only suspicious thing is that before the cabin leaked, a huge school of fish swam on the bottom of the water, so many that it was dazzling."
"Shortly after they swam away, bubbles started appearing on the surface. Just as we were about to inspect them, the bottom of the hull began to leak. Every compartment was damaged."
He Cong frowned and continued to ask:
"Are you sure there are no other abnormalities?"
The supervisor nodded. "The crew is very responsible and regularly inspects the hold. We've thought about it carefully, and the only suspicious thing is that it's a group of fish."
He Cong frowned. "What kind of fish?"
The foreman shook his head, feeling ashamed. "They swim extremely fast, and they're underwater. We were only on the boat when we saw a large group of them swimming rapidly, but we didn't pay enough attention and didn't get a clear look..."
He Cong remained silent.
Ruan Meng spoke up, "Can we look at the breach in the bed?"
The manager looked at He Cong, who nodded.
The foreman instructed the crew to use the reins to pull the hull up a little so they could better observe the damage to the hull.
Ruan Meng approached, and He Cong followed closely behind.
After carefully examining each tear, Ruan Meng asked the steward, "Steward, can you see anything?"
The manager nodded. "Each breach appears to have been deliberately created, and the immense pressure of the seawater caused the openings to split open in all directions..."
He Cong asked, "At the time, were you sure no one sabotaged the underwater area?"
The steward immediately bowed, "We wouldn't dare deceive the young master, we're certain there's nothing there! There are crew members on both sides, checking for any movement as usual. If there were someone, they would have broken open every cabin; it's impossible that no one noticed!"
After inspecting the damage, Ruan Meng noticed some shiny things on the broken surface, so she picked them off and brought them to her nose.
It smells fishy! Fish scales!
Ruan Meng suddenly gestured, "Manager, are the fish you saw this long?"
The manager thought for a moment and corrected, "It's not that long, but it's about two inches long."
Ruan Meng reminded her, "Is the beginning particularly long?"
The manager thought for a moment and nodded, "With the young lady's reminder, it is indeed very long at the beginning, but I didn't see it very clearly!"
"Because they were so densely packed, a whole group swam past..."
Ruan Meng nodded and gave her judgment:
"It might not be correct, but I suspect it could be a sailfish." (Image of a sailfish from the internet.)
"swordfish?!"
He Cong and the steward both raised questions at the same time.
Ruan Meng nodded and gestured, "The sailfish has a sword-like jaw about the length of an arm on its front, and its whole body can be half a zhang or a long strip."
"Their fangs are extremely penetrating and can easily pierce the bottom of fishing boats. They swim very fast, and combined with the breach in the hull, this makes me suspicious."
"Perhaps this is why, when a school of fish passes by, it can pierce the bulkhead without the crew noticing, and the water pressure causes the hull to crack..."
"However, it is rare to hear of such a large school of sailfish attacking fishing boats together. What the supervisors saw was probably a school of fish that were not yet juveniles."
The manager suddenly realized, recalling the seaside, where he often heard stories of small fishing boats being punctured by fish. He had heard of such a fish, but did not know it was called a "sailfish".
Unexpectedly, we encountered each other again, and were even subjected to a rare "siege," which was both innocent and frustrating.
He Cong listened attentively, nodded, and asked, "Is it possible that this kind of phenomenon doesn't happen often?"
Ruan Meng thought for a moment and replied, "At least, I've never heard of such a large merchant ship being pierced by a sailfish before. It's never happened to your merchant ships, right?"
"Merchant ships are generally more robust than ordinary fishing boats. If we keep an eye out for these types of fish, we should be able to mitigate the risks as much as possible."
The manager was completely convinced. Unbeknownst to Ruan Meng, He Cong was staring intently at her profile as she spoke...
The second brother stood not far away, clenching his fist.
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