Chapter 1157: Chapter 1125: A Sinister Message
The tall, burly man turned his head and flashed a set of snow-white teeth at the Black Doctor. He seemed to be smiling. Because of the previous failure, the nerve tissues on his face were severely damaged. Although he was lucky to survive, he lost a quarter of his facial muscles. The concave surface now visible was the result after several repairs and filling using other muscle tissues from his body, which already demonstrated impressive surgical skills.
"Boss, this guy looks like he’s about to die!" Chuck shouted loudly as he exerted force to pull up the guy underneath. His voice was very booming. "Xiao Hei is down there. Could you help bring it up?"
Xiao Hei is a monkey, Chuck’s pet, agile and keen, a perfect match with him. The little monkey was screeching and waving its hands on the rescue boat, which was constantly rocking. Troy really liked Xiao Hei. He jumped down, grabbed Xiao Hei, and then used the rope Chuck threw down to swing back onto the ship. Meanwhile, the man Chuck pulled up had fallen into a deep coma, with his pupils seemingly dilating.
"He seems to be starving; give him some water first," the Black Doctor said, glancing at this Asian man. His sun-darkened skin was severely peeling, and his cracked lips were bleeding, emitting an unpleasant odor.
Chuck dragged him to a shady spot and replenished him with mineral water and glucose. A few of them stood at a distance, watching the man without too much concern. The lifeboat he came on was exactly the one missing from the cargo ship, and it didn’t have any extra items other than a few empty cans and water bottles, insufficient for these days.
"Lao Jiu was not on the ship. How did this Mr. Su escape?" Yelu Shou pondered, still thinking it almost impossible for a person to survive at sea alone for so long.
"Now that we’ve found him, we’ll know everything once he wakes up," Xiao Lin walked down the cabin first. The sun was particularly harsh today, and the sea breeze felt a bit too salty on the skin. "Chuck, give him something to eat once he wakes up and then bring him down to see me."
"Does the boss need him tied up?" Chuck grinned with his white teeth.
"No need, he won’t run away."
In fact, Mr. Su wasn’t entirely unconscious; he was somewhat aware of being rescued. So when he fully woke up, it was around two in the afternoon. Chuck, like a wooden post, stood by Mr. Su’s side, staring at him without moving. When Mr. Su awoke, Chuck handed him the food. After watching him finish eating, he escorted him to the lower cabin without saying a word the whole time, which made Mr. Su feel inexplicably strange.
In the cabin, there was no one else, only Xiao Lin and Yelu Shou. The Black Doctor and Troy had gone to the stern to fish, deliberately avoiding them.
"Sit!" Xiao Lin gestured to Mr. Su, pointing to the spot beside him. "I think you might need something warm. There’s freshly cooked fish porridge on the table, just right for your current condition."
Mr. Su looked at the steaming bowl and couldn’t help but sigh. To have such a bowl in front of him now made Su feel how wonderful it was to be alive, but his stomach didn’t feel as eager as the hot porridge. "Thank you, Young Master Xiao."
"We’ll talk after you finish eating. We have plenty of time. It’ll take four to five hours to reach the port, but rest assured, we’ll ensure your safety."
"We can’t go back!" Mr. Su got a bit agitated, clutching the bowl. Upon hearing Xiao Lin’s plan to take him back to Palermo, the bowl thumped against the table with a sound. "We can’t go back now."
"Oh?" Xiao Lin raised his eyebrows with interest, looking at Mr. Su. "I think you should go back and recuperate. With your current health, staying at sea isn’t ideal. Or is Mr. Su still worried about his hundred tons of drugs?"
When Xiao Lin mentioned the drugs, Mr. Su’s face turned from white to green. It was just money, just stacks of cash gone without a trace. Sighing yet again, Mr. Su didn’t even know how many times he had sighed, which made Yelu Shou, sitting beside him, raise an eyebrow.
"Do you know who did it? Everyone on the ship was left dead," Yelu Shou interjected before Xiao Lin and asked, "And your bodyguards?"
Mr. Su glanced at Yelu Shou, then at Xiao Lin, moving his lips but not uttering a sound. "Mr. Su, you’d better be straightforward with us. If you’re hiding something, my companions might not be as patient as I am. If they decide to send you back to that ship, you may not be as lucky to meet kind-hearted rescuers again. I noticed there’s no communication equipment on your ship, so finding the coast guard or waiting for passing ships in this sea area is very unlikely. That’s why you chose to dock your cargo ship here, isn’t it?"
The blatant threat had an absolute deterrent effect. To Mr. Su, who had just endured such a bitter taste, he would never want to return to that time. The feeling of waiting for death was indeed unbearable.
"No, don’t do that." Mr. Su said weakly as he picked up the bowl again and drank with effort. Xiao Lin glanced at Yelu, who, after receiving a silent message from those pitch-black eyes, quietly left, leaving only the two of them in the room.
"It’s just you and me here now, Mr. Su. Can you boldly tell me what’s going on?"
"I don’t know if the people they mentioned are referring to you. They just said to pass on a message the first time I met someone passing by."
The abrupt start made Xiao Lin’s pupils contract. "Are you saying you didn’t escape by yourself, but they let you go?" Mr. Su nodded. "They had a few incredibly skilled people. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the people on the ship were killed by them. We had no way to retaliate. The last time, that bodyguard was the only one by my side who could match them, but... sigh!" At this point, Mr. Su paused, unsure if he was recalling or avoiding the thought of that scene, but Xiao Lin knew the cruelty of that moment.
"They took my bodyguard, threw me onto a lifeboat, and told me to wait at sea for others to appear."
"How do you know the people who appear will be the ones they’re looking for?"
"I asked the same question. They said you’d know who it is as soon as you met them." Mr. Su stole a glance at Xiao Lin. He wasn’t wrong. When he saw Xiao Lin, he knew it was indeed him. But... with a moment of clarity, Mr. Su couldn’t help but wonder why they had encountered each other.
"Before us, had you encountered anyone else? Or someone passing by?" Mr. Su shook his head.
"You were the first to find me, so they told me to give you the message ’Follow me.’"
Xiao Lin’s pupils contracted again. The sinister aspect of those three words was too obvious. "Mr. Su, don’t play games with me; this isn’t fun. If we hadn’t come, you might have died here."
Mr. Su was also a smart man; he naturally understood Xiao Lin’s implication. "I can’t explain it. If Young Master Xiao chooses not to believe, there’s nothing I can do. They just said they wanted to take someone back with them, so follow me."
Did they know about Lao Jiu’s identity from the start? So they only took Lao Jiu from the entire ship and not this drug lord. Then they were targeting me. If there are other assumptions, it might be that they’re after the hundred tons of drugs. Who could it be?
Standing on the deck, their ship remained anchored in place. Xiao Lin smoked, appearing particularly solemn. This was a trap and a conspiracy. The other side might want two outcomes: one for Lao Jiu, bringing me here, and another for the drugs, targeting a different group. Whoever first met Mr. Su would pass it on the same way. They might be the first ones to find Mr. Su’s freighter. Perhaps the other side doesn’t know that while they hijacked the ship, the Wang Weibo brothers were already dead, Robert’s at ’Va Gagne.’ Even if Shao Weihua wanted to move the goods, it wouldn’t work now. Genovis is still in prison, and Augusto remains in a coma. It’s not impossible if ’Va Gagne’ also wants those goods.
"Mr. Su, do you know the name Dong San Province?" Xiao Lin asked the man beside him. Near dusk, the ship swayed with the wind.
"I’ve heard of a formidable figure in Palermo, a weapons dealer controlling the Sicilian arms line, closely associated with Augusto, but I haven’t had the chance to meet this person."
"Oh? Really?" Xiao Lin asked with emphasis. "Hasn’t Mr. Su always coveted a shipment transported here from Yanjing?"
"How did you know?"
"I have more than a slight acquaintance with Nicholas. I’m somewhat aware of your control over the Sicilian drug line, but now with Robert involved, it seems your business isn’t going very smoothly."
"That’s right. I do want those arms, but Nicholas has always delayed giving me an answer. Robert’s price was too low, so I agreed to renegotiate cooperation with Nicholas, but I didn’t expect issues to arise in between."
"So you returned to the freighter, and then you were attacked, right?" Mr. Su nodded. (To be continued. If you enjoyed this work, feel free to vote for recommendations, monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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