## Chapter 90: Sea City of Peril (Part 3)
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Andy, a Thai man nicknamed “Sea Shark,” was the leader of the Fire Eye Mercenary Group. His heart was a mixture of excitement and agitation.
This large-scale operation to hijack the Star Dream cruise ship wasn’t just his mercenary group participating. Pei Luojia had brought together several major mercenary groups and guerrilla organizations for this attack. After all, there were over a hundred wealthy individuals on board. If this operation succeeded, the spoils would be enough to support a small country. However, despite the ship’s lack of firepower, the resistance they faced was surprisingly fierce. Two other mercenary groups had already made it to the second-floor cabins. While his men were about to break through, they were lagging behind. This meant they’d get a smaller share of the loot.
“Damn it, you little bastards still haven’t made it? Hurry up! Hurry up! Otherwise, those guys will get the meat, and you’ll be left with the soup! I told you to go around from the side! Hit them by surprise! Lone Wolf! What the hell are you doing? Answer me!”
“Boss, we’re in position. We’re about to go up. You…”
The voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie was cut short by a loud “bang.” Then, silence. After a brief pause, Sea Shark pressed the talk button again. “What happened? Were you ambushed?”
A different voice crackled through the speaker after a moment. “B-Boss, we were attacked…”
“How many of them? Where’s Lone Wolf? What happened to him?”
“T-There’s only one. Wolf Brother… he’s dead. We lost two brothers. The guy… he was wearing a black cloak. He was so fast. He swung down from above on a rope. As soon as he landed, he charged into the cabin. Boss, should we chase him?”
“Which way did he go? I’ll call the others to intercept him. You guys stick to the plan. Be careful. If they have more ambushes, just charge through!”
“Okay, Boss. That guy… he seems to be heading towards your location…”
Chaos, disarray, and darkness engulfed the ship’s interior. Tables, chairs, and furniture were shattered. The restaurant and the various lounges were reduced to mere frameworks, littered with broken glass. Exposed electrical wires sparked and crackled, illuminating the path for Sea Shark and his ten remaining men as they cautiously moved through the corridors.
As they reached a fork in the hallway, Sea Shark gestured, ordering his men to split into two groups. The moment they stepped out, a loud “whoosh” echoed behind them. Several bolts of electricity shot through the air. A wire descended from the ceiling above, ensnaring the neck of the last man in the group. A thin iron rod plunged down, piercing his skull.
“Above!”
Instantly, over a dozen guns roared to life. The beams of light swept across the ceiling above, then ceased. Only the sound of distant gunfire echoed in the darkness. The body, with its pierced skull, swayed in the air, a chilling mockery of their helplessness.
They retraced their steps a few feet, shining their flashlights on the ceiling. They could only see bullet marks, but no blood. One of the mercenaries peered into the gaping hole in the ceiling, his flashlight beam sweeping across the space. Then, a gunshot rang out.
A body fell from above, a clear bullet mark on its forehead.
“Chase him! Kill him!” The sound of gunfire, originating from the corner of the hallway, sent the group rushing forward. They nearly tore the entire ceiling apart with their barrage of bullets, but the silence above persisted.
The group of ten huddled in the corridor, their flashlights scanning the ends of the hallway. Sea Shark took a deep breath. “We’ve run into a pro. Be careful… We have to take him down. We have the numbers!”
Meanwhile, a figure emerged from a hole in the ceiling, far from the two corridors. After standing for a moment at the half-open door, staring at the number “1029,” he took a deep breath and pushed it open.
The room, while not as badly damaged as the rooms on the upper floors, was still in disarray. It was a standard room, lacking the lavishness of the VIP suites. It was easy to see that the room was empty.
He carefully examined the footprints on the floor, some still wet with rain. Then he checked under the bed and in the closet. He pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers, his gaze sweeping over the call button for room service before settling on the direction where Sea Shark and his men were.
That stupid shark would never know that his playful pressing of the button had brought him such a nightmare…
Soon after.
Blood, death, shadows, fear… After traversing the long corridor, only two men remained by Sea Shark’s side. The past few minutes had been a nightmarish massacre. Unfathomable attacks and assassinations had struck them relentlessly, their comrades falling one by one.
It was a silent bullet from an unknown direction, then a hidden trap of thin wire stretched across the hallway. The last man in the group would fall with a thud, and their return fire would find no target. The fallen comrade’s neck would be spurting blood, his body twitching in death. Before they could recover from the shock, the assailant would be unleashing a barrage of gunfire from the other side, his black cloak a blur of motion. If he hadn’t been wielding a gun, but a giant scythe, he would have been the very embodiment of the Grim Reaper from ancient myths.
And indeed, he was death.
Every attack resulted in a casualty, but they seemed unable to decipher his pattern of movement. He was too fast, his actions too unpredictable. Each appearance, each attack, seemed chaotic, yet they were always at a point where he could advance or retreat, ensuring success with each strike and a swift escape afterward. It was only now, with only two men left by his side, that he realized how foolish it was to think they could kill him in this complex environment. Even if they lost face, he was ready to flee to the main force of mercenaries who were currently storming the second floor. A dozen guns weren’t enough in this labyrinthine space, but a hundred guns wouldn’t fear him.
He signaled his remaining companions and they crossed a doorway in the darkness. This was a restaurant located on the side of the banquet hall. Most of the furnishings had been destroyed. In the darkness, the faint echoes of their footsteps seemed eerily loud, especially under the heavy weight of fear of death. The echoes felt amplified, almost endless. They spread out, each guarding a corner, cautiously moving forward. Suddenly, a faint sound came from the side of the restaurant.
One of them reflexively squeezed the trigger. A moment later, a child’s scream rang out from behind the kitchen counter, about ten feet away.
“Ah—Help, help… Don’t kill me, don’t kill me. My family is rich, my family is rich, don’t kill me…”
The gunfire ceased. The three men exchanged glances. Sea Shark roared in Chinese, “Come out.”
Hesitantly, a boy of about fifteen or sixteen years old emerged from the counter, hands raised, trembling. His face was etched with fear. He was an average-looking boy, the kind you’d instantly recognize as harmless.
“Please, don’t kill me… My family is rich, please, don’t kill me, don’t kill me…”
As the boy pleaded, Sea Shark glanced at him, his attention fixed on the rear with his remaining companion. In Thai, he said, “Kill him.”
A shot rang out, but the boy had already leaped forward in an instant, pushing off a nearby dining table. His body flew diagonally through the air.
Three meters was too short a distance.
Almost simultaneously, a chilling sensation shot from Sea Shark’s neck up to his head. He turned his head abruptly, just as the restaurant’s bright lights blazed to life, delaying him for a fraction of a second.
He saw only the boy’s body twisting in the air. Two hands, two blades, traced elegant arcs of crimson against the backdrop of his companions’ necks as they were severed. The blood seemed to form a circle in the air. The boy’s legs wrapped around the arm of the man with the gun.
The rotation didn’t stop. Sea Shark, a hulking figure of nearly two hundred pounds, was lifted into the air by the boy’s grip on his arm. His strong right arm was twisted into a pretzel in mid-air.
With a thud, the two bodies slammed onto the floor. Without a moment’s hesitation, Sea Shark reached for the military dagger strapped to his leg. But the boy was faster. Before he could fully extend his hand, the boy’s knife pierced his wrist. The other blade sliced through his thigh muscle.
In the blink of an eye, both hands and a leg were severely injured, effectively crippling his ability to fight. The boy stood up, grabbed Sea Shark’s jaw, and pulled him to his feet.
The restaurant’s lights had only flickered for a moment, plunging back into darkness. Only the flashlights on the fallen guns continued to illuminate the scene. Sea Shark looked at the boy’s cold face, unable to comprehend how someone like this could be the reaper who had slaughtered over a dozen of his men.
You could disguise your appearance, but not your size. This was clearly just a boy, still growing.
“You ordered room service…”
The boy spoke coldly, pressing Sea Shark’s head against a long table. He pulled over a bucket of ice and stuffed the ice cubes into Sea Shark’s mouth. Then, he picked up a small iron hammer used to crush ice and pounded on Sea Shark’s mouth four or five times. His entire lip area was mangled and bloody.
“Okay, now we can talk… In room 1029. Did you or your companions press the room service button?”
Sea Shark, his mouth filled with ice and blood, glared at him, his eyes filled with resentment. The boy shook his head, a hint of pity in his voice. “I think I’m right. There were footprints in front of the button. So, another question. Have you seen this girl?” He pulled a photo out of his pocket and turned on a flashlight. “Look carefully.”
“C-Cough, cough… Hahahaha… This, this woman has… already been… taken care of by us…” Sea Shark struggled to spit out the ice cubes, trying to laugh, but before he could finish, the boy shook his head again. “I saw the confusion in your eyes. Unfortunately, you haven’t seen her… You wasted my time.”
The blade flashed. In that instant, Sea Shark heard the air rushing through his windpipe and the sound of blood gushing out. His life was draining away before his eyes. The boy took a deep breath, ignoring the collapsing body behind him, and walked towards the door. After a moment, he returned, gently rubbing his forehead.
According to Sha Sha and Ya Han, they thought he was eating outside. They had searched all the restaurants on the upper floors. So, Ling Jing’s first instinct would be to search for a restaurant as well…
He picked up a submachine gun and used the flashlight to search for clues on the floor. Then, he stepped into the kitchen inside the restaurant. There were two dead bodies on the floor, likely the bodyguards of some wealthy passenger. The room was filled with the damage caused by bullets. He circled the room, then turned to leave. But then he turned back, walking to a large freezer at the end of the kitchen. The temperature control dial was set to the highest temperature, indicating that the freezer was working.
He pulled open the iron door and instinctively ducked to the side. The first thing he saw was the muzzle of a gun pointed at him. Then, he knelt down. Inside the freezer, a girl, clutching a gun, was curled up in a ball, her body covered in fine snowflakes. Her face was pale, and her breath was almost invisible. Even at the highest temperature setting, this large freezer was not a place where a person could hide.
He reached out to feel her hand, her breath. Then, he finally scooped the girl, curled up in a ball, into his arms. Thank goodness, she still had a faint pulse and was breathing.
This type of freezer couldn’t be opened from the inside. It was hard to imagine what would have happened if he had been even a moment late. The thought sent chills down his spine. He couldn’t bear the thought of that outcome. Even if he killed every intruder on the ship and destroyed the entire Pei Luojia organization, it wouldn’t make up for it…
“I’m sorry, Ling Jing. I’m late… It’s okay. You’re going to be okay…”