Chapter 695: Sacrificed |
The first mate watched as the captain’s expression gradually grew heavy. From the captain’s words, he understood what he was saying.
Life on the ship was very boring. When these people were idle, they would chat.
The lower the social class, the more they liked to discuss high-level topics, domestic politics, foreign politics. Why?
Why do those in the upper class instead talk about eating, drinking, and having fun all day, instead of discussing the political current events that many people like to discuss?
Because they are in contact with these things from morning to night. The so-called national policies, the world’s trends, hold no secrets for them.
On the contrary, it is because the lower class of society lacks the channels to access this information. They are trapped in a class that is far away from these things. They will be curious about these things, which is why they will discuss them.
It’s like… the crew would not discuss how to swab the deck to make it shine. They would only discuss where the Dantra mechanics had reached, how many people they had killed, and where they might go next.
In these heated discussions, they would inevitably also discuss how the Federation would intervene in this battle.
Now, it seemed to have arrived.
The first mate pursed his lips. He sat down next to the captain, holding on to the wall of the cabin. He took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one for himself. “Sometimes, knowing too much is really annoying.”
The captain’s originally quite tense expression became a little more astonished, and then a smile appeared. “It seems this news is still within your tolerance. At least you are still in the mood to joke.”
The first mate gave a bitter smile and patted his forehead. “What else can I do?”
“Cry?”
He paused for a moment. “What should we do? Is it too late to turn back now?”
The captain shook his head. “I wish I were a conspiracy theorist, a serious conspiracy theorist. That way, the probability of us getting hurt would be smaller.”
“But the wisdom I have accumulated over decades of life tells me that once the bait is put on the hook and cast out, it will either be eaten or sink to the bottom of the water.”
“The fisherman will not take the bait off and put it back in the bait box.”
“As long as we turn back, we are dead for sure.”
A look of despair appeared on the first mate’s face. “Are we not going to do anything at all?”
“Why don’t we abandon the ship!” his eyes lit up, as if he had thought of a good idea.
The captain, however, asked back, “How are you going to solve the problem of our direction at sea, how are you going to solve the problem of our food, how are you going to solve the problem of fresh water and a call for help?”
“We won’t even be able to last until we reach the shore. We will die of dehydration. This is not realistic.”
“The only hope now is that the Dantra warships won’t open fire immediately when they see us!”
Soon some of the crew members on the Hope were asked to take out their bedsheets, and then they were stitched together into a larger white cloth curtain, sewn together with rope.
This freighter could fly a flag, right above the main control room. Although the sailor in charge of the daily maintenance of the flag was not very clear why he had to be ready to raise a white flag at any time, he still did as he was told.
This also made the atmosphere on the ship a bit low and oppressive.
Some people had a good relationship with the first mate. Relying on their good relationship, they ran to secretly ask him what had happened.
Some people also found the captain, wanting to know what had happened.
At first, they did not say anything, but in a repressive environment, some things could not be hidden.
Soon, some sailors had opened more containers and had seen more stones inside. A terrible rumor began to spread on the ship.
In just three or four hours, the outside of the captain’s cabin was crowded with sailors.
They were eager to know what on earth had happened, whether it was as they had imagined!
The captain, seeing that he could no longer hide it, could only state his guess. The sailors in front of him, after a period of extreme silence, completely erupted.
They cursed the shamelessness of the capitalists, cursed the despicableness of the politicians, and prayed for the forgiveness and attention of God.
There were also some who lost control of their emotions and tried to harm others. In the end, after the captain pulled the trigger of the weapon in his hand, they quieted down.
The captain walked out of the captain’s cabin and stood in the sight of the people. “The only thing we can do now is to immediately raise the white flag when that moment comes.”
“If we are lucky, we may be captured. At that time, we will be able to survive.”
“If we are unlucky…”
He shook his head. “Everyone go back and write your wills, and then give them to me. My cabinet is sealed.”
“I will also write one. I will record everything, write it in, and one day, they will see the light of day again.”
“At that time, we will let people know how despicable, shameless, and evil the federal government is!”
The captain’s voice was full of tragic heroism and helplessness. The sailors silently returned to their own rooms.
No one asked them to swab the deck at noon today, and no one asked them to check the ropes. Everyone was sitting in their own rooms in a daze, holding a pen, not knowing what to write.
It was quiet all afternoon, and people also discovered that in fact, doing nothing at noon would not have any impact on the voyage.
Seeing that evening was about to arrive, the captain breathed a sigh of relief. At night, it was unlikely that they would be attacked.
“Maybe the situation is not as bad as I thought. It’s just a problem of corruption within the group company,” he glanced at the container outside again. He actually knew that this was impossible.
It’s possible for one box of goods to be switched, two boxes are also possible, three or five boxes, are all possible.
But for all of them to be switched, it was absolutely impossible!
The first mate and second mate were in no mood to talk. People were constantly sending over their wills. The captain put them all into his own sealed and waterproof cabinet.
One day, it would be opened by someone at a certain moment, making what had happened today one of the biggest scandals in the history of the federal government!
He firmly believed this.
Seeing that the sun was about to disappear on the horizon, some smiles also appeared on the faces of the sailors. The captain walked out of the captain’s cabin. He held on to the railing by the door and looked at the “children” on the deck. A smile also appeared on his face.
“I’ve prepared some wine,” he said loudly. The sailors on the deck were all attracted by his words. They turned their heads to look at the captain, with some pleasant surprise on their faces.
“This wine was originally something I planned to take out and share with you bastards on the day I retired.”
“But I feel that it is more meaningful for us to drink it now!”
“Long live the captain!” a sailor took off his hat and waved it, shouting something similar. The captain couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
He liked everything here. If it weren’t for the fact that he was about to retire, he would still be willing to be on this ship, with these young men.
Soon, the first mate and second mate, with a few sailors, carried a few barrels of wine out of the warehouse. Their lids were all opened. The sailors took their own cups and scooped up a cup from inside.
They looked at the captain. Someone shouted, “Say something!”
“Just like the gentlemen at a banquet!”
The other sailors also started to heckle. The captain also had a wine glass in his hand. He held up the wine glass and thought for a moment. Just as he opened his mouth, a sound like thunder suddenly came to his ear.
A rumbling sound of thunder. This sound of thunder interrupted his train of thought for his speech. He looked up with some confusion.
Although there were clouds in the sky, he couldn’t see any dark clouds at all. How could there be thunder?
And even if there were rain clouds, and it was thundering, then what about the lightning?
There was no lightning?
Just as he was a little puzzled how there could be thunder on a clear day, a kind of whistling sound suddenly appeared in his ear.
The piercing scream of something tearing through the air, with a huge pressure from far to near.
The pressure pressed on everyone’s heart, pressing so hard that people couldn’t breathe.
Seven or eight seconds later, a huge wave suddenly rose from the sea on one side of the freighter. Then, perhaps with an interval of only about a second, more splashes rose.
Everyone was stunned by this scene!
The captain directly shouted, “Go raise the white flag, go raise the white flag!”
The four sailors were stunned for a moment, and then they ran towards the tower like crazy. The captain, on the other hand, had everyone protect themselves as much as possible and not to be exposed outside.
A violent sound of thunder came to his ear again, and then a whistling sound. The captain raised his head and looked in the direction from which the whistling sound was coming.
In the sky, some small black dots flew over at a speed he could not comprehend.
Some fell around the freighter, and some fell directly on the deck.
With a loud bang, everyone felt a clear shaking. A sailor who was raising the white flag lost his footing and fell from the tower.
With his “ah~~~” and “smack!”, everyone fell silent.
The man was already dead, but the shelling was still continuing. Although this freighter was already large enough, at this moment, it was like a leaf in a turbulent current, in danger of capsizing at any time.
The freighter had been hit. Seawater was pouring into the hull through the breach. The captain, while instructing the sailors to save themselves, also had the radio operator send a surrender telegram in plain text as soon as possible.
They had surrendered, unconditionally!
At the same time, in a more distant place, three warships were sailing quietly.
One of the radio monitors looked at an officer behind him. “I have monitored a plain-text radio message from the Hope. They are requesting to surrender.”
The officer frowned. The sinking of the Hope was the result of a discussion among the entire federal upper class. Only when it was completely sunk could it trigger the wrath of the federal government!
Tens of millions of dollars’ worth of goods sunk in the East Ocean, and the deaths of hundreds of federal sailors, would be enough to shake the entire society.
At that time, for the federal government to declare war on the Dantra Republic would be within reason, and would also be in line with the “will of the people.”
They had deliberately revealed the route of the Hope, as well as the supplies on board, to the Dantra Republic through some known spies, with the purpose of having them accurately lock onto this freighter.
If they were unlucky, or too stupid, and couldn’t find the Hope, then the three warships following behind the Hope would directly destroy the Hope and then frame the Dantra Republic.
The Hope had to be sunk, and the crew on board had to die, whether at the hands of the Dantra navy or the federal navy, it was all fine, but they had to die!
Now they didn’t want to die. This was not allowed.
The officer had the radio operator continue to monitor the radio, and then quickly left the room to report this matter to the captain.
The captain of this operation was a brigadier general. He immediately gave an order. “Fire on the sea area where the Dantra navy is located.”
“We don’t need to hit them, but we need to put some pressure on them.”
The officer carried it out without a flaw. Soon the three warships began to open fire.
Sometimes, battles at sea all take place beyond the line of sight.
Because this planet is round, you can’t see beyond a certain distance, but the cannonballs can reach.
The rumbling of the naval guns began to show its power. To be honest, their artillery was far off from the Dantra warships, but their purpose was achieved.
The Dantra navy, which was originally still thinking whether this was a conspiracy, now also couldn’t care less about where these shellings were coming from.
Their purpose was to sink this important supply ship and then leave.
The Dantra naval commander directly gave the order to continue the shelling. After two more rounds of shelling, the lookout had already observed that the freighter was beginning to sink.
The Dantra naval warships, having received the news, immediately began to return. They were not sure how many warships were escorting this freighter, nor did they know where these warships were, but in short, their mission was completed.
An hour or so later, the sky had basically become dark. The federal navy’s warships arrived at the “disaster” sea area. The huge searchlights almost illuminated the entire sea surface.
This was the place where the freighter had sunk, but because some of the containers were well-sealed and there was still enough air inside, they would float on the sea surface.
At this time, the first mate, who was shivering, saw a searchlight shining over. He also couldn’t help but fix his body and shout, “Save me, I’m here!”
“Hey, do you see me?”
“I’m waving my hand, I’m here!”
With his shouts, a beam of searchlight shone directly towards him.
The strong light made it impossible for him to open his eyes. Although he couldn’t see clearly whose ship it was, at this moment his heart was full of joy. He was saved!
He waved his arms even more vigorously, but what greeted him was the “thump thump thump” sound of a machine gun firing.
Bullets the size of a child’s arm shot towards his position. In an instant, it tore apart the container that was holding him half-submerged, and also tore his body apart.
His upper body spun in the air and fell. He looked at his lower body that was sinking in the water, his mind buzzing.
A naked massacre. Some of the surviving sailors were shot dead because they had exposed their position.
There were also some sailors who were hiding behind or under the floating containers, using the visual dead angle to try to survive.
In fact, they couldn’t survive on the water for too long. Those containers might slowly sink in two or three days, and they would have no way to live or leave.
But if they could live for a few more days, who could give up?
The sound of the machine guns outside had stopped. These survivors had thought they had survived and let out a heavy sigh of relief.
But then, those warships began to strafe all the floating objects, ensuring that not a single thing could float on the water!
More than ten minutes later, the three warships left here, leaving only endless despair.
At 7:30 in the morning, Lance woke up from his sleep. He supported his forehead and sat for a while, then took a shower, changed his clothes, and came to the dining car.
The chefs were cooking in another glass room. Because of the glass, the smell of cooking oil and smoke would not drift in.
“It’ll be ready in five minutes. Please wait a moment.” The waiter in the dining car placed the morning newspaper by Lance’s hand. “Would you like some milk, coffee, or black tea?”
Lance thought for a moment. “Milk, but no sugar.”
He then picked up the newspaper by his hand and began to read.
The train had passed through a city at six o’clock. He had had someone prepare the day’s newspaper and put it in the station in advance.
When the train arrived to get water and coal, the newspaper was brought up.
All the itineraries were arranged.
The people of the Federation always say that the Federation’s trains are either a little late or two points late, but for the “special train” of the rich, its error is within five minutes!
For the distance of a thousand kilometers from Golden Port City to New Golden City, he needed to pay a fee of 12,000 to the railway company.
But it had to be said that it was worth it.
His car was also in a later carriage, along with the people he had brought.
There was no Golden Port Today here. The Golden Port Today was a local newspaper of Golden Port City, and only had some influence within Likalai State.
After leaving Likalai State, basically no one had heard of it, let alone subscribed to it.
He was holding the Federal Post, a heavyweight newspaper.
When he unfolded the newspaper and saw the headline on the front page, he frowned.
Dantra Republic Navy Attacks Federal Freighter, Causing a Thousand to Be Missing or Dead, and a Loss of Tens of Millions!!
They had used bold and thickened font, and the exclamation marks were also bright red, as conspicuous as fresh blood!
The report roughly reported on the cause, the process, and what they knew now.
The person who wrote this report was a chief editor. His writing style was very sharp and extremely inflammatory.
A large section of description made even Lance feel an impulse to “if the Dantra people can’t give a reasonable acceptance and compensation, then they must be made to pay the price.”
After reading this report, he flipped through other newspapers. The headlines were all this. They were revealing a message to the public from all aspects.
The war was really coming this time!
Everyone knew that it was impossible for the Dantra Republic to apologize, let alone compensate, so the federal government would definitely declare war on the Dantra Republic.
What should have been a depressing matter, under the inflammatory description of these reports, instead made people feel a sense of power and passion!
The nearly one hundred million people of the entire Federation were being coerced onto this war chariot by a small group of people.
Perhaps people had not yet realized that this was not an easy matter, nor was it romantic.
Either they would charge headlong and smash everyone in their path, or they would be knocked over by someone else’s carriage.
There was no third possibility!
(End of a Chapter)