Chapter 5

Chapter 5

We rushed to the Captain’s Cabin, and the scene before us left us stunned.

The woman was clutching that military overcoat, her back pressed hard against the wall as she curled up in a corner of the bed.

The Captain was slumped near the door with a massive hole in his head. Blood was gushing out; he was beyond saving.

And inside the room stood another man.

He was holding a gun, aiming it right at us as we burst in.

“Zhang Shengli, what the hell are you doing!” Chao Ge cursed.

The man with the gun was named Zhang Shengli, apparently another veteran crew member.

Flinching at Chao Ge’s roar, the hand he used to steady the gun trembled slightly.

“Chao Ge, I… I didn’t mean to.” Even as he said it, the gun remained pointed at us.

Good grief, he’d literally blown the Captain’s head off and still claimed he didn’t mean to.

“Put the gun down. Let’s talk this through. What exactly happened?” Chao Ge continued.

“I didn’t mean to, I really didn’t mean to. I wanted to kill this woman, but somehow, I ended up shooting the Skipper.”

As Zhang Shengli spoke, he redirected the muzzle toward the woman on the bed.

Seeing the gun turn back toward her, the woman let out another scream of terror.

“Zhang Shengli, you… you know her?” Chao Ge asked.

“It’s her! It’s her fault my wife and child left me! It’s her fault that at my age, I still have to go out to sea to do hard labor!” Zhang Shengli’s vocal cords vibrated with a tremor as tears began to well up.

It was clear he was becoming agitated. If we didn’t calm his emotions, things were likely to get even worse.

He continued, almost through gritted teeth, “She’s a prostitute from a club! I shouldn’t have, I never should have caught real feelings for her, but the moment I turned my back, she brought people over and swindled me out of every penny I had!”

“Zhang Shengli, put the gun down. If she’s wronged you, your brothers will stand up for you!” Chao Ge said.

“Stand up for me? How? I’ve killed the Skipper. How can you help me? Let’s just end it here. Once she’s gone, I’ll…”

Before he could finish, the ship suddenly lurched again. The previously calm sea seemed to have been hit by a sudden, massive wave.

The entire vessel felt as if it had suddenly jumped on the water.

A shot rang out, but it didn’t hit anyone.

Because of that sudden jolt, Zhang Shengli was knocked backward. His shot merely punched a hole through the ceiling of the Captain’s Cabin.

In that split second, Chao Ge lunged forward with lightning speed, grabbing Zhang Shengli’s gun hand with both of his own. Then he shouted for the rest of us to charge.

Xiong Liu and I rushed forward to pin him down.

Chao Ge pried the gun from Zhang Shengli’s grip and tucked it into the back of his waistband.

But just as he straightened up, the ship lurched again-this time even more violently than before.

Xiong Liu and I, who were still pinning Zhang Shengli down, were both thrown off.

In that moment, Zhang Shengli scrambled out from under us on all fours and bolted outside.

Chao Ge pulled out the gun and shouted, “Zhang Shengli, you get back here!”

But Zhang Shengli didn’t even look back as he dashed to the railing.

He turned his head, gave us a wide, toothy grin, then flipped over the side and jumped into the sea.

This sequence of events left the three of us staring in dazed silence.

“Did you guys think… that smile Zhang Shengli just gave us… looked a bit like Daiyu Zai’s expression in the dream?”

Xiong Liu was still sprawled on the floor, asking us from his side.

Chao Ge ignored Xiong Liu’s words. Instead, he pointed the pistol at the woman on the bed once more.

“You’d better explain yourself right now. Who the hell are you!”

As for me, my head was just buzzing.

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

This woman, Zhang Shengli, that smile he gave before jumping into the sea…

And, despite such a massive commotion,

Why was it that until now, aside from the three of us, not a single other person had come over!