The Doctrine of the Mean
A salty, fishy wind howled in gusts, and heavy rain poured down on the deck. Layers of chilling air seemed to twist into a thin thread, seeping straight into the bones. Gao Junxiao shrank his neck and went down the ladder to the lower deck again.
The power had not yet been restored below deck, and a desolate atmosphere permeated the area illuminated by the emergency green lights. Gao Junxiao could vaguely see the pillars supporting the cabin and some wall structures.
Following the direction from his memory that was opposite to the rest area, he found the cargo hold where the soldiers were in the dark, but the tightly sealed steel door in front of him gave him a headache. The waterproof barrier was broken! Did he have to go up to find the captain?
The floor beneath his feet swayed with the waves, creaking and groaning. A strange noise came from the pulley system and hinges ahead. Gao Junxiao, rubbing his dizzy head, looked up in response to the sound, only to find the corridor empty.
An unusual feeling arose, and Gao Junxiao cautiously looked around. The laughter of the sailors, which could be heard from several cabins away, was now unusually quiet.
The squeaking sound in the cabin was almost identical to the roar of a monster in a movie. The long corridor was empty, and the cabin doors in the rest area were almost all open. Gao Junxiao gripped his sidearm and slowly approached. He took a deep breath and rushed in. There was no one in the cabin.
Then he noticed an open magazine and several piles of playing cards arranged in a fan shape on the dormitory bed, as if someone had left in a hurry and would be back soon.
The remaining crew rest rooms were almost all like this. Gao Junxiao felt more and more clearly that as he explored, the faint "restlessness" around him was about to become uncontrollable.
Being alone, he was vulnerable to being taken advantage of. Just as Gao Junxiao was about to return to the deck, the first mate's cabin door caught his attention. The door was not completely closed, with a gap of about one centimeter on the side.
The slightly ajar hatch seemed to be deliberately left a crack by some "thing" to attract passersby. Gao Junxiao pressed his ear to the crack and listened for a long time, but heard no breathing. Hmm, where did Lao Yan go?
The sailors might go out to work, but Lao Yan was seasick and couldn't think straight, so how was he supposed to get up? Something unusual happened. Gao Junxiao saw a broom on the side and had an idea. He tiptoed over to pick up the broom, put his hat on, and lightly touched the cabin door with his toes.
Squeak—
Before he could even get a good look at the situation inside the door, a sudden surge of gravity struck him, and Gao Junxiao felt a numbness in his hand.
Clang, clang, clang... The broom in his hand was repeatedly hit by the door, and his hat fell to the ground. Gao Junxiao seized the opportunity, mustered all his strength, and kicked the cabin door.
With a scream, Gao Junxiao rushed into the room with his gun. He saw the person inside slumped on the ground, his hair wet, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
Gao Junxiao kicked the man without hesitation and sternly urged him to get up. The man seemed to have fallen badly, his expression sorrowful. He struggled to his feet, supporting his back, his body swaying.
The next second, Gao Junxiao's vision blurred as a gleaming blade pierced his cheek from the side. Hiss! A sharp pain shot through his neck, and a line of bright red blood slid down the wound.
He touched the blood on his neck with his finger, and Gao Junxiao laughed angrily: "Kid, has anyone told you that I haven't taken my wedding photos yet!"
"What does it have to do with me if you take wedding photos... Ugh!" The man suddenly spat out a mouthful of sour water, and the sharp blade in his hand slipped from his grasp. Gao Junxiao withdrew his fist and tucked his sidearm into his waistband.
Before he could react, Gao Junxiao leaped up with a "whoosh" and kicked him in the chest again, the fierce force a result of years of battlefield training.
The man couldn't withstand the kick and was knocked to the ground, but he managed to roll away and avoid Gao Junxiao's fatal blow. Ouch, the kid can take a beating, but unfortunately, a spy is just a spy.
With a dark expression, Gao Junxiao grabbed the man's neck, tightened his fist, and mercilessly punched his slightly immature face.
"Where are the people inside?" Gao Junxiao's Adam's apple bobbed as he grabbed the little spy by the collar, his anger rising to his throat. But the only answer he received was the deafening thunder outside.
Clang! The ventilation grille above suddenly slammed down. Gao Junxiao reacted quickly, grabbing the little spy by the neck and intending to use him as a human shield.
"Big brother, big brother, it's me." The kitten's delicate face peeked out from its mouth.
"What are you doing up there? Where are the people on the ship?" Gao Junxiao was puzzled by the disappearance of the people.
"Let me down first." The kitten calmly threw out the gun, then flipped over and jumped down from the pipe opening.
Before the kitten could explain, the trouble at hand had to be dealt with. Under Gao Junxiao's orders, the two first tied the man up with hemp rope and threw him onto the bed like a blanket.
Then, the kitten said that they were all fine, except that Director Yan was seasick and didn't have the strength to climb up, so he would stay in the engine room for the time being.
"Why did Director Yan run downstairs?" Gao Junxiao's doubts were all pressing down on his chest, and he was about to explode.
"It was the secret investigation team's agents who caused this!" The little cat explained the situation in the simplest terms, and a clear picture instantly formed in Gao Junxiao's mind.
Led by the first mate, the kitten went directly down to the second basement level, which was higher than the rest area and was densely packed with pipes and instruments.
Inside was a spacious office where the chief engineer was arguing with the second and third wingmen about the maintenance plan. They asked the first mate to judge whose plan was more reliable.
The content was too technical for Xiao Mao to understand, so he could only stand by anxiously with his brothers. However, the fact that Jiang Cha had been poisoned made him wary, so he had his brothers leave and patrol and guard outside the office.
After walking around, the cat found that the route to the engine room was quite complicated. The stairs between the upper cabins were continuous, allowing for efficient access to each cabin. Even the exit of the rest area below deck was very close to the galley.
However, to get to the final engine room, you have to go down the stairs at the end of the lounge corridor and then go through almost an entire floor to get there. If someone is lying in ambush at the bottom of the stairs, the hold will become a natural prison.
As the cat was planning to set up a guard post at the stairwell, he noticed some wooden barrels and crates piled up in the corner of the cabin. The planks seemed a bit loose. The group exchanged glances and went over to investigate.
What's piled up here is definitely not cargo for transport, but rather supplies for the merchant ship itself. He could vaguely sense someone breathing inside. Sailors probably wouldn't slack off here, since there are large blind spots behind the pipes where they could go to waste time.
"Not bad, its ears are like awls, really sharp." Gao Junxiao generously praised the kitten's alertness.
The kitten chuckled and continued recounting how, in order to lure the snake out of its hole, it used a bird bow to throw a stone at the empty kerosene lamp on the wooden bucket.
The people inside thought it was a gunshot. The little cat proudly said that he had just startled them, and the three agents, facing Cen Liang's rifle, obediently came out with their hands raised.
The three men confessed after only a few beatings; they admitted they were secret agents from the investigation team, ordered by their superiors to sabotage the steam pipes.
Whenever someone came down to make repairs, the other six members would launch a surprise attack. They would have someone impersonate a sailor to report the incident, drawing more sailors down. After several such incidents, many sailors were ambushed and locked in the central engine room, guarded by two armed agents.
"If the engine room isn't burning coal, then the ship will stop, right? Why would they stop the ship in this terrible weather?" Gao Junxiao couldn't understand the spies' thought process.
"According to the spies, the ship was rocking too much while it was moving, so they couldn't get through the vertical and smooth pipes. Their ultimate goal was the bridge. If they didn't get the bridge, they would block the descending stairs and use the lives of the people in the electrical room to threaten the captain," Little Cat replied.
Heh, a mere dozen or so people dare to seize a ship, they're just young and fearless, Gao Junxiao sneered. Now he understood why they had to split up their forces when they were outnumbered. Chen Jian was gambling; if he won either the gamble in the bridge or the engine room, he could control the entire ship.
Gao Junxiao waved for Xiao Mao to continue. Xiao Mao cleared his throat and said that he would use a counter-strategy, deliberately scattering his brothers and having them hide near the ventilation shaft, thus setting up an ambush. Before long, he captured four spies and then rescued the sailors trapped in the engine room.
"You're quite something, kid. You've got a whole repertoire of idioms. Now that we've caught the person, how did you end up climbing back into the pipes?" Gao Junxiao asked.
The kitten scratched its head, a shy look on its face: "I want to catch the other two."
"No need, they've already taken the bridge, but the captain has been rescued," Gao Junxiao said, dissuading Xiao Mao from her idea.
The kitten exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? Should we use the pipes to retake the driver's cab?"
"Absolutely," Gao Junxiao smiled slightly, "but if the last uncontrolled area gets back on track, there's no point in playing around. He has to stir things up even more."
Huge waves surged up, making the merchant ship rock even more violently. Gao Junxiao, clutching his neck, stumbled into the restaurant, his eyes quickly glancing at Zhang Chong, who was slumped weakly on the sofa, apparently the drug had taken effect.
"Chen Jian! If you're a man, open the door!" Gao Junxiao pretended not to see them and ran upstairs to the second floor, kicking the door. "My men drank ginger tea and can't even stand up straight. What drugged them? And what's going on with the spies in the engine room? What right do you have to detain our Director Yan? Open the door!"
From inside the cabin came Chen Jian's smug voice: "Colonel, don't worry, I have no grudge against the headquarters and won't harm your lives. I just put a little something in the ginger tea; by the time we return, the effects of the medicine will have worn off. As for the engine room, of course, it's temporarily taken over by our secret investigation team."
"You've got guts to admit it, kid. What exactly do you want?" Gao Junxiao shouted.
"I am here on orders from Team Leader Dai to arrest the fugitive G Party member. I am very sorry that I have temporarily requisitioned your passenger ship. However, Colonel, you are also a soldier of the Party and the State. Please cooperate with our work for the sake of the Party and the State." Shen Jian lowered his tone and seemed much more polite.
Colonel? Gao Junxiao figured that Shen Jian didn't know him well and could only address him by his rank, so he decided to play the hot-tempered card: "Bullshit, if you want a share, just say so. Why are you being so high-handed?"
“Only those with real ability talk big; those without are just spouting nonsense. Colonel, your injuries weren’t in vain. You know very well whether I have the ability or not,” Chen Jian said arrogantly, his smug expression visible through the round glass.
Faced with Shen Jian's aggressive attitude, Gao Junxiao's eyes lit up and his tone softened: "Captain Shen, since we're all trying to catch the G Party, why go to such lengths? The captain just said that if the ship stays stationary for too long, we'll all die. Why not cooperate?"
“Colonel—Sir, it seems you have no other option but to let the captain in,” Shen Jian said matter-of-factly.
Damn, that brat is so arrogant, just like Dai Yunong. Gao Junxiao pondered for a moment and then stated his neutral position: "Our headquarters has no intention of getting involved in the conflict between your two groups. We were invited by the concession commander to supervise the CC operation and cannot harm civilians."
"Don't worry, we're only interested in the G Party. I can assure you that neither I nor my men will harm any civilians." Shen Jian's assurance did not reassure Gao Junxiao. There was a saying among military commanders: "It's better to believe in ghosts than to believe the words of a spy."
However, Gao Junxiao had other ideas and was naturally willing to play along with Chen Jian for a while.
“Alright, since you understand my difficulties, I’m of course willing to support your work. However, I don’t have the final say on this ship; I still need to discuss it with Section Chief Zhang.” Gao Junxiao kept his loud voice, making sure that Zhang Chong downstairs could hear him too.
Just then, the sound of leather shoes clicking on the stairs came from behind. The captain had come upstairs at some point and said, "Sir, there's no need to discuss this anymore. I'm the captain, and I make the decisions. If we don't set sail now, we'll drift off course. Once we drift off course, we'll either hit a reef or get lost at sea."
Turning his gaze to the stairs, Gao Junxiao guessed that the captain's coming up was probably Zhang Chong's idea. He had also arranged an advance team on the island, with ships and men at his disposal, and was definitely capable of turning the tide. Now that the situation was unclear, his slight show of weakness would lower the children's guard.
Before the captain could knock, Chen Jian opened the door and looked at Gao Junxiao with a half-smile: "Colonel, let's not discuss this anymore. If the ship doesn't set sail soon, we'll really be swallowed by the sea."
Their gazes locked, like a standoff on a narrow bridge, each trying to force the other to give way.
Suddenly, the ventilation ducts in the room emitted a terrifying creaking sound, and at the same time, the ship began to rock violently. Right then, before Shen Jian could react, Gao Junxiao delivered a lightning-fast punch to the most vulnerable spot on his neck.
With a "crack," Chen Jian's eyes rolled back, and he fainted. The two of them had only exchanged one glance, yet they had silently taken away half of the secret investigation team's fighting strength.
The other two agents tried to draw their guns and return fire, but the next second they lowered their pistols and retreated step by step towards the wall. Two dark gun barrels were pointed directly at their heads. Who would dare to joke with their own life?
The change happened so fast that even the captain, who was closest to the cabin door, was stunned. Gao Junxiao hurriedly pulled him into the bridge and asked the captain to open the bridge door first, as their soldiers needed to get some fresh air and also to maintain order on the ship.
The captain nodded hesitantly. Gao Junxiao then whispered a few words to the captain, who then rang the bell again.
Soon after, the boat started moving again. Gao Junxiao then went downstairs and sat down next to Zhang Chong, complaining, "Section Chief Zhang, how could you let the captain go to the bridge alone? We just rescued that man for nothing."
“The situation is beyond my control. I’m exhausted right now, and most of my men have also drunk ginger tea. There’s no need for a head-on confrontation. So what if he gets on the island? A little mouse can’t cause any trouble.” Zhang Chong frowned slightly, but every word he said made sense.
"Are you planning to go to the island and...do that to him?" Gao Junxiao wiped his neck, trying to get information out of him.
"Don't worry about that. I only promised William I wouldn't kill civilians." Zhang Chong forcefully pulled a blanket over his knees, without giving a direct answer.
"It's best not to. Although he's just a little mouse, Team Leader Dai probably treats him like a son. It would be best to release Chen Jian on the way back. That way, it will show your CC's magnanimity to the higher-ups," Gao Junxiao suggested.
"Let's talk about it later. Councilor Gao, I estimate that only you and a few of our agents are physically capable on the ship right now. Could you please capture the rest of the secret investigation team?"
Gao Junxiao sighed and refused. He had no right to command CC's people. Let the little mice make a fuss. It was just a short distance, and once they got to the island, it would be CC's territory anyway.
“We can’t wait for the rats to multiply. Who knows if they have any backup plans? As for the authorization, I’d appreciate it if you could draft a warrant for me.” Zhang Chong tapped his chest with his chin. “I have my personal seal in my upper left pocket. They will obey your orders once they see my seal.”
Hey, what a pleasant surprise!
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