Free Web NovelChapter 1119: Chapter 1090: The Door Opens
A week later, a cargo ship slowly docked at the port, quickly connecting with cranes stretching towards it.
There are many ships and workers at the port every day, making such scenes quite commonplace. But for one observer, this was far from ordinary.
With binoculars in hand, Xiao Lin watched as two cranes moved swiftly towards the large cargo ship as it docked, seemingly prearranged, without any delay, making the ship appear as if it had been specifically reserved.
"This must be the one!" Xiao Lin handed the binoculars to Yelu Shou beside him. "Finally, after such a wait, we’ve gotten results. Notify Troy outside, it’s time to prepare!"
"It doesn’t look any different!" Yelu Shou watched as cranes lifted containers from the ship and set them on trucks, then watched the trucks drive out of the port and informed Troy waiting outside through his earpiece.
Xiao Lin smiled. "The ship is definitely real, and the cargo is real too. We just need to find Shao Weihua’s batch. If your intel from Yanjing is correct, this batch should have been shipped out a month ago."
"The intel is definitely correct!" Yelu Shou replied confidently. Just then, a blue Porsche appeared in his view. "By the way, who is that?"
Xiao Lin took the binoculars, noticing a tall figure emerging from the Porsche. His pupils contracted as the figure boarded the ship. "Who is it? You know exactly who that is, yet you ask me!"
"Xiao Mu came to Sicily. Would you say it’s the old man’s plan?"
"He’s looking for Chopin, not me. What does it have to do with me?"
"Now it should have everything to do with you!" Yelu Shou saw Xiao Lin standing up and quickly pulled him back. "What are you doing? You’re easily spotted like that."
"Let’s see whether he’s got anything to do with me or not!" Saying this, Xiao Lin leaped towards the containers, rapidly closing in on the ship with a few jumps.
"Troy! Boss has boarded the ship, proceed with caution." Helplessly, Yelu Shou had to let Troy sort out the situation outside. He couldn’t leave Xiao Lin to board alone, especially knowing he hadn’t recovered fully; facing Xiao Mu wasn’t feasible.
"What the hell?" was the last thing Yelu Shou heard from Troy over the earpiece. After removing the earpiece, Yelu Shou quickly followed Xiao Lin’s leaping path.
The first batch of cargo slowly moved from the depths of the port towards the entrance. At several pathways outside, Troy angrily removed his earpiece as the noise inside agitated him.
Container trucks drove off in different directions from the exit, possibly carrying the batch or not. Intuition seemed to fail utterly at this moment. At the first intersection where the port road met the main road, vehicles followed the container trucks, moving slowly. At the same time, the second batch of cars exited the port, and without Yelu Shou’s intel to identify the right vehicles, the clumsy approach would be to use more people for elimination.
On the 5000-ton cargo ship, rows of containers were packed. Above were two large cranes being guided by people below, slowly lowering hooks. Xiao Lin weaved through these rows, searching for Xiao Mu’s traces, yet he seemed to have vanished into thin air.
"Damn, when are they unloading all this cargo? Are the people up there eating dog shit or what? It’s almost time to clock out, and we’re still unloading. This is such a fucking rip-off!" A crude curse rang out nearby, as Xiao Lin quietly hid behind the man who was directing the hook on the other side, with another person standing beside him.
"Stop whining and get to work! The sooner we finish, the sooner we’re done. Besides, the big boss is below; be careful not to be overheard! If heard, we’re dead!"
The man stopped talking as the hook descended on the container’s four corners, adsorbed by gravity, and slowly lifted. Xiao Lin moved towards the stern, bypassing the left side, where a person emerged through a door, glanced around, then went left.
Immediately following, Xiao Lin descended through that door into the cabin. Surprisingly, it was quite clean and tidy, looking like sailors’ living quarters. The next level down was the kitchen, where a whiff of oil could be smelled, bringing him closer to the ship’s heart.
After circling around, Xiao Lin returned empty-handed to the second cabin. He tried every door, but they were all tightly locked. Voices approached from behind, making escape impossible. Xiao Lin wandered on the floorboards, trying to open room doors while searching for a hiding place. It wasn’t like a building, with no ventilation ducts. The voices grew closer, leading Xiao Lin to the last door. The handle was movable; recognizing the sounds inside, he opened the door.
The room resembled a captain’s office, with ocean maps hung up. The desk held flags from different countries, along with documents scattered across, while a deep blue uniform and white cap hung on a rack beside the chair, with a file cabinet and couch on the other side. The room was so bare, there was barely a place to hide; only hope lay with the desk. On second thought, Xiao Lin abandoned that spot, testing the space between the file cabinet and couch. From this angle, the entrance formed a dead corner. He curled up, bones crackling as he squeezed into the tiny gap.
Just as Xiao Lin adjusted his position, the door pushed open from outside, followed by a curious noise. Two pairs of different-colored shoes appeared before Xiao Lin’s eyes.
"What happened? I remember locking the door when I left! How did it end up like this?" The speaker should be the ship’s captain, followed by a creak from a sinking chair, perhaps due to frequent swiveling.
"Is there an issue, Captain Renado?" Squeaking leather sounds erupted instantly as Xiao Lin felt sweat in his palms. The captain’s words raised another question for him; the door was open when he entered, meaning someone else had already entered before him? (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for it on Qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation.)
