Watching through the communication lens, Audrey’s almond-shaped eyes widened in disbelief at the scene unfolding before her. Fatty threw Ivan into a chair and yelled furiously, "I’m telling you one more time, give me the password for the power system now, stop the ship, or I won’t wait for the pirates, I’ll dismantle this place myself first!"
Audrey finally snapped out of her shock and shouted, "Stopping the ship won’t help! They’ll kill us for sure, we’ve been running for so long, they won’t let us go!" Seeing Old Ivan still trembling and frozen, Fatty turned his rage towards Audrey and screamed, "Stop the ship and give me the password for the power system now. I can make this ship faster! Hurry! We’ll be too late otherwise!" Audrey shook her head frantically, "You can’t fool me! Redbeard’s ship is the latest civilian fast boat, we can’t outrun them!" Fatty’s desperation turned into madness. This idiot woman, what kind of captain is she, looking like someone begging to be raped and killed! No civilian boat can match the speed of a military destroyer! Overcome with fury, Fatty grabbed Old Ghost Ivan by the neck and snarled, "Believe it or not, I’ll break his neck if you don’t stop the ship and give me the password now. We’ll all die here anyway!"
Audrey, having taken over the ship not long ago, usually put on a cool and frosty facade to deal with these scheming crew members, but deep down, she was just a girl who had never faced such turmoil. Unexpectedly, the stowaway she let on board turned out to be a wild wolf, demanding to stop the ship at such a critical moment. Struggling to take care of the ship her father left her, Audrey finally broke down, tears streaming as she cried, "Go ahead! Kill! We’re dead anyway, I... I’ll kill you first!" Fatty was startled by her sudden outburst. On the screen, he saw the chick rushing out of the command room with an energy gun in her hand, seemingly heading for the power cabin.
Fatty was dumbfounded, shouting into the communicator, "Hey, hey, lady, let’s talk this out, hey... damn woman, this ship really can double its speed!" But Audrey, having stormed out of the command room, could not hear him. As Fatty yelled into the communicator, someone grabbed his collar. He turned to see Old Ghost Ivan, eyes glimmering, trembling with excitement, "Can... can you really increase the speed?"
Fatty barked, "If we’re just waiting to die, smashing your control console would be easier. Why would I need the damned password?" Ivan seized this lifeline, his eyes shining, "I know, I know, I’ve always felt something was off with this system, but never had the chance to figure it out before..." Fatty, gritting his teeth, growled, "Password!" Wake-up call, Ivan quickly lunged at the power system control terminal, pulled out a key, inserted it into the keyhole on the console, turned it, and a monitor and keyboard rose from a hidden panel. He repeatedly entered the password, and as the engines stopped, the entire Apollo’s thrusters shut down, drifting quietly through space with only inertia. The lights went out, everything fell silent and dark. After a few seconds, the emergency lights flickered on, shedding a faint light in the power cabin.
Fatty picked up a civilian repair arm nearby and was about to walk into the power equipment room when suddenly, the door to the power cabin burst open. Audrey, tears streaming down her face, charged in, pointing her gun at Fatty and screaming, "You’re with Redbeard! I’ll kill you!" Fatty panicked, only managing to dodge and leap into the equipment room. A series of energy bullets whizzed over his head, hitting the steel plates of the equipment room with a rapid clang.
"This crazy chick!" Fatty, cold sweat dripping, hid in a corner. He never expected the woman would actually start shooting. She must have grown up on a smuggling ship, inherently stubbornly wild. Outside the equipment room, Ivan’s anxious voice called, "Audrey, stop shooting! Misunderstanding, misunderstanding!" The gunfire ceased. Peeking through a crack in the door, Fatty saw that possibly the barrage of bullets had cleared Audrey’s mind. She saw Ivan waving his hands desperately and quickly dropped the gun as if it were a hot iron, panic rising, "Did I kill him?" Cold sweat beaded on Fatty’s forehead. Though his evasive tactics were agile and correct, the woman had been shooting with her eyes closed!
Old Ivan, worried, couldn’t say for sure, "I don’t think so... he seemed to dodge into the equipment room." Audrey, panicking, quickly picked the gun back up, crying out, "Really? I didn’t hit him? Uncle Ivan... I’m scared, it’s all my fault I let him on board!" Crying and stomping her feet, she sobbed, "I... I’ll go kill him!" Ivan, terrified, shook his head vigorously, "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! Audrey, don’t act impulsively, he’s helping us."
Audrey, losing all her cool and distant pretense, looked like a half-doubtful little girl, her tear-filled almond-shaped eyes blinking, "Really?" Ivan hurriedly nodded, "Really, I turned off the engine. You... put the gun down, it may go off accidentally." Audrey hesitated, still unbelieving, "But... he looked so fierce, he was strangling you." Glancing down at the gun in her hand, she jumped in shock and dropped it again like a burning coal, stepping back with her arms wrapped around her chest. Fatty wiped the cold sweat off his forehead; this woman had thoroughly impressed him. Trying to look calm and wise on the outside, inside, she was just a naive little girl. If he’d been shot to death by such a woman, as the renowned pervert, he’d die with a tarnished reputation.
Old Ivan, anxious to see how Fatty would speed up the power system, seeing Audrey had dropped the gun, quickly moved into the equipment room. Audrey, curious yet frightened, followed behind him. Fatty, taking a breath, mischievously stepped behind the equipment room door. As Ivan and Audrey unknowingly entered, Fatty shut the door with a "bang." Terrified, Audrey jumped, and turning around, she saw Fatty’s face close up, tongue out, eyes rolling. The pudgy face wrinkled like a Shar Pei, causing her to scream. Panicked, she reached for the gun at her waist and shut her eyes, ready to shoot. Fatty, terrified, realized this chick had another gun, and in that critical moment, swiftly grabbed her wrist with his left hand and used his right hand to strike the pressure point on her right hand, making her drop the gun.
Fatty, still fearful after seizing the gun, heard weeping beside him. Audrey was crying, sitting on the ground like a lost little girl, looking pitiful, far from the mature and composed captain. Compared to earlier when she shamed Eric with a few words, she was unrecognizable. Her beautiful face, though displaying the charm of a mature woman, also showed the naivety of a young girl, invoking an instinct to care for and cherish her. But Fatty acted vilely. He grabbed Audrey, pressing her down in front of a stunned Ivan, shamelessly frisking her until he was sure she had no more weapons. Only then did he let her go.
Audrey cried even more, feeling deeply wronged. This was her first time being groped by a man, and even her most private areas had been touched. She felt both angry and humiliated, tears flowing. What upset her the most was the tingling sensation in her sensitive parts that Fatty had touched, making her face blush and burn with shame. Audrey sat on the ground, glaring at Fatty with her almond-shaped eyes, wanting to carve this enemy’s face into her memory.
****************** Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on NovᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet
The network here is bad; I couldn’t open the page until now. Though it’s the 27th domestically, this Chapter still counts as the 26th.
I’ve seen all the enthusiastic monthly votes. Whether I reach third place or not, I’ll keep writing hard this week. (To be continued. For more Chapters, please visit WWW.CMFU.COM. Support the author, support official reading!)