Chapter 16 Stop Work
Standing on the shore, the water vapor mixed with the rain curtain sprayed upwards. Li Nanyi stood by the coast watching the dock, where several workers wearing raincoats were still directing the loading of cargo in the drizzle.
“I heard the dock has been stopped for a month?”
“Yes. A month ago, because strange things kept happening at the port and workers were getting injured, all business was gradually suspended.”
The umbrella handle had somehow ended up in Lu Xiuan’s hand. Holding the umbrella, he also shifted his gaze in the direction Li Nanyi was looking.
Li Nanyi turned his head to check on the two who were still arguing, hesitating whether to ask the question.
Lu Xiuan beat him to it. “Want to ask what I’m doing here?”
Meeting his smile, Li Nanyi paused. Lu Xiuan could always guess his thoughts. Clearly, they were the ones who shouldn’t be here. Lu Xiuan continued, “This is one of the industries invested in by the company I work for. Things have been happening lately, so the boss sent me to inspect.”
“Because of the special nature of the company’s reputation, these matters have been suppressed. There are no news reports. You should understand.”
“This is your secret. Is it okay to tell me?” He was so sincere that Li Nanyi felt a bit embarrassed.
“Of course… it’s okay. You are my friend. This counts as our secret. I trust you won’t tell anyone else, right?”
Lu Xiuan held up a finger and whispered, his face full of smiles.
“Your friends are looking for you. Looks like I should go do my work too.”
Li Nanyi turned around. Xiang Zhengming and Yan Hengze had stopped arguing and were looking over from under the eaves.
“It’s raining right now. Take the umbrella with you.”
Li Nanyi handed the umbrella over. Lu Xiuan didn’t take it. He took a step back out of the umbrella’s shelter, standing in the rain. Raindrops fell on his shoulders, quickly soaking a patch.
“This city is just like this. The more prosperous it is, the more extravagance and corruption are hidden in the background. You have to be careful of things hiding in the shadows.”
Lu Xiuan didn’t stop walking, and soon his back disappeared from view. Li Nanyi stood frozen in place, recalling his words. A clue flashed through his mind. He shook his head, taking it as a reminder to be careful.
“Hey, I wouldn’t have guessed. I saw it when I came in; he drives a global limited edition car. You actually have such a friend.”
Sure enough, this guy greeted him with unpleasant words right off the bat. Expecting the young master to say something nice was expecting too much.
Li Nanyi closed the umbrella and shook off the water, looking straight at Yan Hengze seriously. “What friends I have is none of your business. I don’t measure my friends by whether they have money or not.”
“I was just surprised.”
Yan Hengze shrugged.
“Yeah. At least whether money is much or little, it’s earned with one’s own hands, so one doesn’t feel guilty using it.”
“You!”
Facing the exasperated Yan Hengze, Li Nanyi shrugged his shoulders right in front of him with the same motion, then turned to talk to Xiang Zhengming.
Xiang Zhengming watched dumbfounded from the side. Looking at Yan Hengze sulking alone facing the wall over there, he only felt admiration. He had argued with Yan Hengze for so long and could only draw a tie; this person made the young master break down with one sentence.
“You’re so amazing. No wait, I wanted to ask you, what about this umbrella? I just saw your friend leave?”
“Give it to me. I’ll send it back to him when I have time.”
Xiang Zhengming handed over the umbrella, scanning Li Nanyi from top to bottom with eyes full of respect, thinking to himself that he must learn from him properly. Once he learned, let’s see if Yan Hengze dared to be so arrogant and choke him again.
“Let’s go. We don’t have much time. The No. 13 ferry leaves port tomorrow. Let’s go ask the workers at the dock first.”
The group walked into the rain with umbrellas. After walking for a while, Xiang Zhengming couldn’t hold it in anymore, scratching his wet hair and muttering, “Our organization is too lame. I thought it would be like in the movies, flashing a badge to enter dominantly. Turns out we get blocked outside by a security guard halfway.”
“This is a covert operation. There are so many workers staying here. EDFH hasn’t planned to announce the alien Xenomorphs to the public yet. Making a big fanfare would alert the enemy easily, and the higher-ups can’t intervene personally, so we can only suffer a bit.”
“Oh.”
Li Nanyi straightened Xiang’s crooked umbrella. He had a large build, and the umbrella barely covered him. Li Nanyi felt this guy was like a curly-haired dog—the large kind that frolicked everywhere.
Yan Hengze snorted with disdain, turning his head to watch the waves hitting the reef.
“But the explosion letter was only sent out a few days ago. Why has the port been stopped for a month?”
“Why else? Because the supercomputer detected abnormal energy fluctuations. In this port, more than once.”
The young master condescended to open his mouth, and after speaking, turned his head away again.
Xiang Zhengming realized he hadn’t done anything but got attitude from Yan Hengze for no reason. He couldn’t be bothered to deal with him this time, tossing his head and grunting without speaking.
Li Nanyi walked slightly ahead in the middle, looking left and right. Withdrawing his gaze, he felt hard to describe—why did he feel like he was taking kids out?
The weather was gloomy, the gray drizzle ceaseless. The waves at the dock grew larger. A few workers had just finished work and were returning. Li Nanyi stopped one of them, finding a spot with eaves to talk.
“You are?”
The worker looked at the three suspiciously. Li Nanyi spoke calmly, “We are here to inspect for the boss.”
“Huh? One inspector just left, and now three more bosses come. We didn’t slack off; we’ve been working diligently…”
The worker complained in a low voice.
“Don’t misunderstand. This inspection is regarding your safety. So, you can tell us the problems found in your recent work, and we will resolve them.”
Li Nanyi put on a standard smile.
…
“Zhong Yi, what does the supercomputer’s result say?”
Qin Dayu rarely sat in the main control room. He looked up following the calculation results of the supercomputer. Zhong Yi moved her eyes from the screen, waving her hand helplessly. “Energy fluctuations are unstable, flickering in and out. The coordinates aren’t accurate either. That guy seems to know we can probe Him and keeps changing locations.”
“They are getting smarter. That’s not good for us. We don’t know what the Cocoon is, and it’s hard to find its location. We can only passively follow the Xenomorphs’ actions, completely led by the nose.”
Zhong Yi checked the time and said, “Tomorrow is the time the ship leaves port. I hope the few of them can find the anomalies as soon as possible. If possible, they must snatch the Cocoon back first. I have a hunch that if the Xenomorphs really find what They are looking for, Earth will definitely undergo earth-shaking changes.”
Qin Dayu propped his chin in thought for a moment, then dialed the Xishui Port police team. The call connected, and a middle-aged man’s serious voice came from the other end.
“Director Qin.”
“Captain Shi, trouble you to take your men and surround the port tomorrow. Remember, don’t let a single mosquito in.”
“You mean, that explosion forecast letter?”
“Yes, not just that one.”
Qin Dayu looked at the optical computer screen. The whole screen was filled with explosion forecasts collected by the supercomputer in recent days. Times varied, handwritings varied—some handwritten, some pieced together with cut-out words. These had all sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain following the first forecast.
Maybe some were just seeking attention and clout, and maybe some were sincere. But what was worrying was that no matter what, their ultimate goal was the No. 13 ferry about to set sail from Xishui Port.
A few hundred meters from Xishui Port was a dense residential area. If an explosion really occurred, setting aside the flammable and explosive goods piled at the port, no one could guarantee the safety of those residents.
Tao Lang had three computers open in front of him. He was carefully identifying the text on the “Cocoon” stolen from the museum through various literature materials. Since the Cocoon wasn’t in their hands now, he could only rely on these twisting, hard-to-decipher texts to confirm the true contents of the Cocoon.
Everyone in the main control room was busy. When the electronic clock beeped, Tao Lang pushed the computer away. A few papers fell from the table, wavering as they dropped, but he had no time to care anymore.
“Director Qin, I know what is written on those Cocoons.”
…
The worker chattered incessantly about various shortcomings here—nothing more than the food being terrible, lunch break being too short, and so on. Yan Hengze’s ears were getting calloused from listening. He picked his ear and simply turned his back to patrol around.
“…You don’t know. A few days ago, Old Wang fell into the water and was almost scared to death. When he was fished out, his legs were purple and green. It looked scary.”
Li Nanyi, who was listening drowsily, shuddered and grabbed his hand. “What did you just say?”
Realizing he had misspoke, the worker didn’t dare say more, lowering his head and mumbling.
Li Nanyi took a step forward, lowering his volume to persuade him. “We are here to deal with this problem. Don’t be afraid. Only by speaking out can we help you solve it.”
The worker still hesitated to speak. Li Nanyi continued to guide him patiently. “Look, you’ve already stopped work for a month. In a month, only a few of you came to work. If the problem isn’t solved and things remain at a standstill, do you think you can keep this job?”
“That’s right, don’t be afraid. We specialize in solving this.” Xiang Zhengming put his hand on the worker’s shoulder and patted it, encouraging him to speak.
“Alright, since the leaders say so,” the worker sighed awkwardly. “A few days ago, we were moving things at the dock. It was hot, so Old Wang went to the waterside to cool off. As a result, when it was time to work, he hadn’t come back. The foreman went to look and found him soaking in the water, silent and breathless.”
Recallling that scene, the worker couldn’t help but shiver. “We hurried to pull him up. Once up, we did artificial respiration and CPR, tossing him around for a good while before he started breathing again.”
“Then,” he swallowed his saliva, “we found his calves and thighs were covered in blue and purple marks, like he had been strangled by something. The foreman had him sent to the hospital quickly. We thought the matter would pass, but after him, several others had the same thing happen. Someone even saw a huge shadow under the boat.”
“We felt there were monsters, but the foreman wouldn’t let us say it. It was reported as accidentally getting injured while moving things. It was too weird, so we didn’t dare speak out.”
Boom—
Just as his voice fell, a huge explosion suddenly came from not far away.
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