Chapter 63 Chapter 63 One Chance

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"What do you mean? Something's wrong with our propeller? How come I didn't know about this?"

The pager was put back on the console, and Zheng Yijie, who had been holding back for a long time, was the first to raise questions.

Liang Zhao didn't have time to deal with him. He quickly adjusted the high frequency to Channel 22 and explained the situation to Heng Rong Sheng 2 who was following behind him.

His eager eyes turned to Gu Mengran, who glared at him unhappily, "Are you too alert? Back then, you were just as careful of Gang as you were of thieves. Why do you believe everything people say now?"

"Ah?" Zheng Yijie was stunned for a moment, with a slight surprise in his eyes, "That person is lying to us? No way. His tone and attitude are very good, and he explained the cause and effect very clearly, it doesn't seem like he is lying."

The old man nodded in agreement, "I was a little skeptical at first, but they have no shortage of boats or fuel, and they didn't hesitate when they heard we were carrying ore. They just needed some food and medicine, so it doesn't seem like a scam."

"Of course, even if I didn't cheat, I wouldn't drive the Wind Wing directly over there. I'm not that stupid. At most, I could drive a diesel boat to deliver some food to them as a favor, and then ask them to quickly get out of the way."

Each one was more deceiving than the other. Gu Mengran laughed in anger. He pointed to the river where the bodies were floating in front of him and asked in a deep voice, "Can't you see those bodies? In this weather, and soaked in water, how can they remain in this state for seven days?"

"I'm not a forensic doctor, how would I know?" Zheng Yijie muttered softly.

The old man did not refute what he said. He smacked his lips thoughtfully and said, "It seems to be true. From what he said, these people have been dead for at least seven days. But in this kind of weather, they should be highly decomposed in seven days. Hiss, what does he want from us?"

"We don't believe him, and he doesn't believe that our ship is carrying ore. After all, at this time, who would go through the trouble of carrying two ships full of ore?" Gu Mengran withdrew his gaze from the river and glanced at Liang Zhao out of the corner of his eye.

Meng Gaoyang followed his line of sight and looked at Liang Zhao in a daze. "What was Liang's intention in asking them to help clear the waterway? To lure the snake out of its hole? To lure the tiger away from the mountain?"

Liang Zhao made the decision alone, and Gu Mengran had no idea what he was thinking, but he could vaguely guess it from what he had just said.

Liang Zhao was holding the pager and still talking to Xu Xingran. Unable to resist the old man's curious eyes, Gu Mengran thought for a moment and said his guess: "There are not so many schemes. It should just be... let them take out the key and open a door."

Meng Gaoyang thought for a long time before reacting. He asked in confusion, "Key, door? Are you saying that we deliberately let them clear the channel so that they can untie the rope and sail out on their own?"

Gu Mengran said “hmm”.

The old man frowned more and more, "Well, what if they don't come out with a boat? You don't need a big boat to clear the waterway. Can't you just drive a diesel boat and tow a high-pressure water gun?"

"No, they will definitely sail a big ship." Gu Mengran said firmly, and analyzed with his grandfather: "If the 'chickenpox' is really under control, or they are not infected, then would they dare to come into close contact with the turbid river water?"

"Let's say that if they were already infected, they would not be so frightened as to expose themselves to the dangers of a diesel boat, which is easy to observe, when we were almost unprepared and willing to cooperate. Therefore, they could only use a large boat."

The analysis completely convinced the old man. The look in his eyes when he looked at Liang Zhao changed. His mouth opened slightly and he said in surprise: "I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful, Xiao Liang."

As he said this, Liang Zhao just put down the pager and looked up to meet the eyes of his old man and Gu Mengran.

He had also heard a few words from the two of them just now, especially Gu Mengran's guess and the old man's praise. But... Liang Zhao pursed his lips and chuckled, saying truthfully: "It's similar to Mengran's guess. He really wants them to sail a boat out to create a gap in the wall so that we can find an opportunity to break through."

"But I didn't think too much about it. It was just a risky gamble. If we win, it will help us pass quickly. If we lose, it can also distract the opponent's manpower. There are no disadvantages."

Zheng Yijie, who was standing stupidly by the window, came back to his senses and stared at Liang Zhao intently, "So... you opened the hard door at the beginning?"

Liang Zhao nodded, "If we don't go to Lingjiang, we can only force our way in. There is no other choice."

"How could that be!" Zheng Yijie still held on to a glimmer of hope. "What if, what if that group of people really just want some supplies before letting us pass? I'm not saying that we should give them supplies, I just think that between forcing our way in and paying for supplies to pass smoothly, the latter is definitely safer. Taking the Wind Wing to take risks, I really... Oh!"

Gu Mengran understood his concerns. If he could store the Fengyi and Hengrongsheng 2 in the space, he would definitely choose to go ashore immediately instead of taking risks with the Fengyi.

But after loading several hundred tons of diesel, his storage space could not even fit a Wind Wing. Unless a large amount of supplies were transferred to the ship to make room for the ship, which would take a long time, and obviously, this condition was not available now.

Reality is cruel. Gu Mengran glanced at Zheng Yijie and ruthlessly pierced his fantasy. "Don't think about it. How can those who are stuck in the middle of the road during the chaos be good people? Their rhetoric doesn't make sense at all. The high-frequency is not for display. They can contact us, so how can they not contact the boat coming upstream?"

Zheng Yijie was speechless and lowered his head unconsciously, his expression unable to hide his disappointment.

He once thought people's hearts were too bad, and now he thinks people's hearts are too good. It turns out that he has no judgment at all. When he gets old, he will be fooled into buying health products.

Ten minutes later, the ships lined up in a straight line at the other end of the Lingjiang Bridge released the cables, and then a medium-to-large bulk carrier in the middle began to move slowly and sailed straight ahead.

Two men walked out of the open deck under the scorching sun. They were wrapped up very tightly, wearing long sleeves and long pants, hats and masks, with only their eyes exposed, and even their hands were covered with rubber gloves.

The bulk carrier sailed steadily, its propeller spinning rapidly, drawing the rotten fish, shrimp and carcasses floating on the river surface into the bottom of the ship bit by bit, shredding them and spitting them out, leaving only a pool of turbid sewage.

It was a very simple and rough way of cleaning. They would just roll all the way over. If there were any large floating corpses that could not be rolled in, the two men standing on the deck would use high-pressure water guns to push them away.

It took about ten minutes for the silvery-white Yellow River to split open in the middle. The slightly swaying water waves were turbid and a lot of black and white pieces of unknown meat could be seen at a glance.

The bulk carrier was very cautious and only cleared about 700 to 800 meters of the 1,000-meter channel. It turned around and stopped in the middle of the water, keeping a distance from the Feng Yi, facing each other across the river.

"—Zizizizi, Wind Wing, Wind Wing."

The high frequency rang again. Liang Zhao immediately picked up the pager and answered, "Got it, please speak."

It was the same man's voice as before, saying directly: "The channel has been cleared. Please start the ship, maintain a speed of 4 knots, and follow the Xiangyang!"

As soon as the words fell, a deep and rich sound of a flute echoed throughout the entire river basin.

“——Woohoo!”

In response to the ship's whistle, Liang Zhao's hand holding the pager trembled slightly, and he said with a stiff face, "Got it, got it."

There was a change of plan. Originally it was agreed that the lead boat would sail all the way to the water service area and wait for them there, but unexpectedly the other party suddenly changed their mind and asked the Wind Wing to sail with them.

It would be fine if you just followed the Xiangyang, because you have to dock to go to the water service area anyway, instead of going in a straight line. You can just speed up and rush over when the other party turns.

The only thing to be afraid of is that the other side has changed even the "transaction location", and will follow them to their lair, and then quickly block the gap, and then the Fengyi will have no way to escape.

Of course, Gu Mengran was not the only one who realized this. The atmosphere in the cab, which was not relaxed to begin with, suddenly became extremely solemn.

This is only one chance, and negotiating terms now will only make the other party more vigilant.

Gu Mengran gritted his teeth, spoke a few simple words to his grandfather, and quickly took out three sets of protective clothing and three pairs of wired headphones from the space.

As the whistle sounded again, the pathfinder began to move slowly. The old man took Liang Zhao's place in the captain's chair, and without saying a word, he controlled the Wind Wing to follow slowly.

At the same time, Gu Mengran, Liang Zhao and Zheng Yijie in the driver's seat quickly put on the headphones connected to the intercom, and then put on a set of fully enclosed chemical protective clothing over their clothes, and put on a thick protective mask on their heads.

The three of them then hurried down to the first floor and stood at the door leading to the deck, waiting patiently.

Three engines were running at the same time, and the noisy humming sound hovered over the Huangjiang River. The three ships, one in front and two behind, kept a safe distance and maintained a delicate stability, slowly sailing towards the Lingjiang Bridge.

Breaking the peace requires courage and opportunity. The moment the bow of the Xiangyang passed the broken bridge, the Fengyi, which was originally crawling slowly, turned and accelerated in one go, and went from straight to sideways in an instant, like a runaway truck, rushing towards the shore at a very fast speed.

Before the observers on the Sunward had even had time to react, the Windwing turned into a bumper car again. Just when its bow was about to touch the shore, it suddenly bounced back, stirring up a gust of wind and huge waves, which rushed forward along the muddy shore.

The lead ship changed, and the Xiang Yang exploded. The crew tried to turn the rudder to stop it, but at this moment, Heng Rong Sheng 2 followed closely behind, almost replicating the Feng Yi's dangerous driving, and overtook the Xiang Yang like a loach.

"Fuck! These bastards are quite cunning. They found out!"

"Catch up with them, don't let them get away!"

"I finally caught a fat sheep, do you know how to drive a boat? I let two of them get away. Chase them, why don't you chase them quickly!"

The cockpit of the Xiang Yang was in chaos. Four or five men were scolding the driver verbally, but their eyes were fixed on the windshield in front of them. The only eyes exposed to the air were flashing with viciousness and anger.

The man standing next to the cab was an exception. He seemed to be unfazed. He slowly switched to the high-frequency channel and picked up the pager:

"The fish is in the net, get ready to pull it in."