Chapter 201: Chapter 120: Fangs of Ferocious Beasts
Yan Fei began analyzing the intelligence he had obtained. He was certain that Old Man Gu possessed an amazing ability to foresee the future,, so when Old Man Gu said that Lu Pingping was at these coordinates, and he happened to find this cargo ship and submarine at the same location, it meant that Old Man Gu had not lied to him. Lu Pingping must be at this location. The only issue was that there were two different targets at this spot: one was the cargo ship on the sea surface and the other was the submarine below.
The cargo ship had set sail from China’s Min River two days before Lu Pingping was kidnapped. Yan Fei had just checked the ship’s log in the room and discovered that the ship had been heading toward The United States of America the whole time, without any stops anywhere, let alone Shanghai. If we assume that Lu Pingping is on this cargo ship, then how did she get from Shanghai to this ship so far away?
If we assume that Lu Pingping is in the submarine beneath the cargo ship, the same issue arises. How did Lu Pingping get from Shanghai to this submarine?
However, the crew of the cargo ship might be lying, and the ship’s log might have been altered. It travels faster on the sea surface and could have covered 1500 kilometers in three days, so it’s possible to have traveled from Shanghai to these territorial waters. But the submarine looked decrepit and moved very slowly underwater, nowhere near the speed of the cargo ship on the surface. Assuming the submarine picked up Lu Pingping off the coast of Shanghai, how could it have brought Lu Pingping to the sea, 1500 kilometers away from Shanghai, in such a short time?
After much thought, Yan Fei still felt that the cargo ship was the most suspicious, and there was a very high probability that Lu Pingping was on board. Suddenly, there were a few unidentified people on board, and this cargo ship, contrary to its usual practice, was moving very slowly and had chosen such a remote route in the Pacific Ocean. Such a remote course is not only dangerous but also much longer and costlier. Shouldn’t a cargo ship be focused on economic costs? Moreover, the owner of the ship was a man from the Middle East with a mysterious background, which was also suspect. Lastly, Yan Fei had found this place following Old Man Gu’s directions, and the first thing he saw was the cargo ship. All these pointed to a high probability that Lu Pingping was on this cargo ship.
Yan Fei thought about it and decided to find the few suspicious individuals who had suddenly appeared on the ship, looking for clues on them. Although the two crew members said that they had not discovered a Chinese woman on board, it was possible that the suspicious individuals were the kidnappers guarding Lu Pingping, and she could be in the room where those people were staying. If that was the case, things would be much simpler. Yan Fei could just kill the kidnappers and rescue Lu Pingping.
Earlier, Yan Fei had already asked the two crew members about the location of those suspicious individuals, and with the help of the Drone Assisted Intelligent Brain, he had noted down the structure of the cargo ship. He then began to stealthily head towards the rooms of the suspicious individuals. Soon, Yan Fei arrived at the corridor of the lower deck. Carefully avoiding being caught by the surveillance cameras, he reached the door of the room at the end of the corridor. This room was where the suspicious individuals were located.
Yan Fei stood quietly at the door of the room, holding his breath and began to listen to the sounds coming from inside the cabin. After his Strength enhancement, his listening ability had also been greatly Enhanced and had reached an extremely deviant level. As long as he was willing to listen, he could hear even the faintest sounds within a hundred-meter radius. Fortunately, this deviant listening ability was under his control, and Yan Fei could decide when to turn it on and off. He usually didn’t use this deviant ability to listen, for if he did, the constant barrage of various noises every day would have driven him to a nervous breakdown.
Using his enhanced listening ability, Yan Fei immediately heard voices speaking inside the room. Based on the noises, Yan Fei slowly pieced together a rough picture of the situation inside. There were four individuals in the room. Judging by the rhythm of their breathing, they were all adult men. They were playing cards, conversing with each other in English,, though not very fluently. One of them seemed to be losing a lot and was continuously complaining.
Another person laughed and said, “Yiben, already grumbling about losing so little? That doesn’t match your usual boldness at all. Just think that after we complete this Task, once the rewards are distributed, we’ll be making a fortune. Then you can afford to lose at poker for the rest of your life.”
The man named Yiben responded, “Big Brother Sharim, isn’t gambling forbidden by our Sect? You tricked me into playing cards! Now I’m breaking the rules, and if my parents find out I’m gambling, they might kill me.”
The person who had been teasing Yiben was Sharim, the very owner of the cargo ship who was elusive. His crew didn’t know where he was, yet he was spending time with these suddenly appearing suspicious individuals.
In the room, Saliem laughed, “Yiben, you just joined our Sect not long ago, so it’s normal for you not to know about the changes in our doctrines. I will explain them to you now. Our Sect had many prohibitions in the past, all of which had to be strictly followed, with severe punishments for violators. But that was the past. Some of those rules are actually outdated and can hinder our development. If we continue to adhere to these prohibitions, we will never rise again, which is our biggest lesson from the past several hundred years. So, don’t mind these details. The style of our Sect has always been: to achieve our goals by any means necessary. We have always been seen as deviants by the mainstream Sects,, so we should not care about their opinions. What’s suitable for us is always the best.”