“Some of us on the ship noticed something was wrong because the scale of the supply protection was abnormally high. Even the internal departments of our unit were not allowed to check the supplies.
“However, we were trained to follow the orders without any questions. Therefore, after a simple preparation, our boat departed.
“The thing we didn’t expect was…” The woman suddenly paused, “We reached international seas around early morning. It was the time for the shift change. I just finished my shift on deck. When I passed by the containers on the deck to return to my cabin, I heard sounds from the containers.
“The sounds were not loud, but they were very special.” She remembered, “It sounded like something sharp grinding against the metallic shell.
“I didn’t know what came over me. I was taken over by a sense of curiosity. I slowly moved over. As I neared the containers, my curiosity became more intense. Then, I had the urge to open the container.” At this point, the woman revealed the expression of regret. Even though she quickly covered it up, the other travellers captured it.
“And then?” The woman who climbed the cliff asked.
“When I woke up next, I was already in custody.” The middle-aged woman sighed. “A man sat across from me. He stared at me coolly. I had never seen him before. He was around 50 years old and was dressed casually. There was no rank or label on his shoulders and collar.”
“Was he not from your ship?”
“No.” The woman shook her head. “But I could sense that he was of the same faction as us. However, his ranking was much higher. After that, our ship captain was sent down by two people, and the way our captain treated the man showed the importance of his identity.” The woman pointed at her shoulder, “Our captain has two bars and four stars.
“Then, I was hauled out by two people. They wore helmets and dark green glasses that I hadn’t seen before. I couldn’t see their eyes, but I could sense their cold gazes.
“I was confused. I wondered why there were so many unrecognisable characters on the ship. I was brought to the big conference room. Along the way, we passed by the deck. I realised four of the containers were open. Groups of people were moving stuff. There were a lot of guards.
“They were transporting wooden boxes of varying sizes. They looked so heavy that four people were needed to move each box.”
Everyone narrowed their eyes. The wooden boxes probably had things like weapons and ammo. But… this was international seas. One accident could lead to a world war. What kind of situation required this kind of reaction?
“When I was looking that way, the person who escorted me shoved me with his gun. It was so sudden that I fell. I grabbed the nearest thing to save my fall. It was a large green waterproof cloth.
“I yanked the cloth off. It was a cannon underneath.
“However, it was not the kind that fired cannonballs. The cannon was equipped with a large trident. It was about 2 metres long.”
“A whaling cannon?!” Someone gasped. Everyone turned to the sound. The person who gasped was little Loli, who had said nothing until then.
The woman glanced at her. She didn’t confirm or deny it. She merely added, “I couldn’t tell the situation on the other side of the deck, but on my side, there were 4 to 5 objects covered under similar dark green waterproof cloths.”
The young master commented, “Your boat has great tonnage.”
“Please continue, “Jiang Cheng nodded.
The woman paused. “I was brought to the largest conference room. When the door opened, I noticed all the sailors were there. Everyone was so nervous because they jumped at the sound of the door opening.
“The man around 50 who I saw earlier stood at the most conspicuous spot. He was surrounded by armed personnel.
“I looked at the man beside me. I realised his finger was on the trigger and…” The woman took a deep breath, “The gun safety was not on.
“The mysterious man took a folder from another man. He opened it before all of us. The folder only contained one piece of paper. He read from it and announced an immediate control of the ship.
“Everyone on the boat, regardless of their rank, has to follow his orders.
“He initiated a martial law. Everyone had to abide by his orders unconditionally.
“Contact with the outside world was cut off, and communication devices were not allowed. At least two people would be assigned to patrol the important locations at all times.
“Any violators would be punished by martial law!”
When the woman explained these things, she was calm and even. She was merely reciting the truth.
The woman sighed, giving herself and the others a chance to breathe. “He got the captain and the leaders of the various departments to stay behind. The rest was chased away by the people with guns.
“Then, he took out another piece of document. It was related to our mission.”
Everyone realised that this was not a simple sea rescue. It was a highly confidential military mission.
From the mission details and the confidentiality clauses that were exemplified, the order probably came directly from the highest commander in the capital.
The woman was also very clever. Her story contained many vague spots that obfuscated the details that might pinpoint the characters and setting of her story.
She didn’t mention any locales or names. She made it sound more like a webnovel plot than anything.
This was protection for the woman and the other travellers.