At that moment, a sudden thought flashed through Nie Yun's mind. He froze, then his expression changed, and a boundless fury surged in his heart. The veins on his forehead bulged!
An hour earlier.
Chu Xiaoxiao and her party's yacht was heading back, sailing through the afterglow of the setting sun.
At the helm was a middle-aged captain who had worked for the Chu Family for over ten years. But his gaze kept darting toward the radar in the control room.
"Beep, beep!" The radar sounded an alert. A dot appeared at the edge of the screen, then headed straight for the center.
The captain's expression changed. He gritted his teeth, silently turned the yacht, and headed toward the dot.
At that moment, Chu Xiaoxiao's personal bodyguard was patrolling the yacht, checking on the security team.
Her name was Ye Min. She was a bodyguard with Longquan Security Company and had once served in Min Province's armed police special operations unit for women. Skilled in hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, and protecting important targets, she had later been recruited by Longquan Security Company to serve as a security consultant.
This time, she had been personally hired by Chu Group for a hefty fee to lead the security detail and protect Chu Xiaoxiao.
"Hm?" Ye Min suddenly paused. She could clearly feel the yacht making a fairly sharp turn.
There weren't any roads or traffic lanes on the open sea, so once they'd confirmed their destination, all they had to do was head straight for the port. There were no nearby vessels to avoid, either, so there was no reason to make such a wide turn.
She looked toward the bow. On the pitch-black sea, she could faintly hear the roar of an engine, seemingly drawing closer.
Ye Min was highly alert and sensed that something was wrong. She immediately went to the yacht's control room to investigate.
She reached the control room and tried to open the door. Then her expression changed. "It's locked from the inside!"
"Bang, bang!" She pounded on the door. "Captain Wei! Are you there?! Why did you lock the door?"
There was no sound from inside...
"Damn it!" Ye Min immediately realized something was wrong, but it was already too late.
"Bang, bang!" "Ah!" Bursts of automatic gunfire and a scream came from outside.
"Damn it!" Ye Min immediately drew the pistol at her waist and rushed toward Chu Xiaoxiao's bedroom.
Gunshots erupted across the yacht.
A dozen minutes later, a grim-faced man clad in tactical webbing and carrying an AK-47 stepped onto the battered yacht. Seven or eight armed men surrounded him.
The yacht had lost all its former elegance and refinement. Bullet holes pocked the walls, shattered glass littered the floor, and heavy weapons had blasted a gaping hole through one section of the hull.
"How's the situation?" the grim-faced man asked in Vietnamese.
One of his men immediately stepped forward to report. "Boss, there were eight bodyguards in total. Apart from their leader and the target, who are holed up in the central cabin, we've taken care of the rest. We dealt with everyone else on board, too, except the captain!"
The mercenaries around them looked utterly unconcerned, as if killing a few people was as routine as eating or drinking.
"Why haven't you caught the target yet?" the grim-faced man asked.
"The female bodyguard leading them was extremely alert and pretty capable, too. As soon as we attacked, she wounded one of our men and took the target into the central cabin. The walls and door there have been reinforced with bulletproof steel plates, so it'll take some time to break in!
"But don't worry, Boss. Two of our men are watching the entrance. They can't get away!"
"Mm." The grim-faced man nodded to show he understood. Then he glanced disdainfully toward the speedboat they'd arrived in and shouted in stiff Chinese, "Feng, you can come out now. It's safe here!"
A figure appeared on the speedboat. He seemed to look the yacht over for a while before cautiously walking up to the grim-faced man. It was none other than Feng Ge from the Riyao Group!
"Captain Ruan, is everything taken care of?" Feng Ge asked eagerly.
"There's still one rat. She took the target into the central cabin, but don't worry. It'll only be a matter of time before we catch the target."
"Great! That's excellent! Captain Ruan, catch the target as soon as possible. I'll notify our young master to come over right away!"
"That won't do just yet. We've activated an electronic jamming device. Until we flush out the rat in there, we need to keep communications blocked to prevent any news from getting out."
"I see. Fine, then I'll wait a little longer. Captain Ruan, please catch the target as soon as possible!"
Captain Ruan gave his men an order. Soon, one of them brought over the trembling Captain Wei. He had just witnessed the Annamese mercenaries killing people and was scared out of his wits. When he saw Feng Ge standing beside Captain Ruan, he looked as if he'd found a family member.
"Feng Ge! I'm so glad to see you! You have to make sure I stay safe!" Captain Wei stammered.
"Don't worry, Old Wei. As long as you cooperate, your son will be safe. And when this is over, I'll arrange for your whole family to spend your retirement in peace in Kangaroo Country!"
"Yes, yes! I'll cooperate, I'll cooperate!" Captain Wei nodded furiously.
"Good. Let me ask you: can you open the door to the central cabin?" Captain Ruan nodded.
"Well... If it's locked from the inside, there's no way to open it from the outside. That cabin was designed as a shelter to protect important people. It has three-centimeter-thick steel plating and can withstand most situations, giving the people inside time to wait for rescue."
"Boss, how about I use high explosives to blast the door open?" one of his men suggested.
"No. Explosives could easily kill the people inside. We need them alive and unharmed! Get the tools from the boat and cut the door open!"
"Yes, sir!" Two mercenaries immediately nodded and left.
"Everyone else, leave some men to guard the target and keep her from escaping. The rest of you, search the yacht. Don't leave anything valuable behind!" Captain Ruan ordered.
"Yeehaw!" The remaining mercenaries cheered and scattered to loot the yacht.
As was customary, most of the extra spoils picked up during a mission could be kept by the men themselves.
Feng Ge didn't dare object. Faced with this band of mercenaries who killed without batting an eye, he had to tread carefully.
The mercenaries rushed around the yacht, stuffing anything that looked valuable into their backpacks. The luxury yacht was ransacked for the second time, leaving destruction everywhere.
"Hey, brother, there's a safe here. There's bound to be something good inside. Get the captain over here—he'll know how to open it!" Someone spotted the safe on board and called for help.
As it turned out, Captain Wei really did have a spare key. The safe was soon open, but the mercenaries found nothing inside except a silver-white case secured with nine locks!
The mercenaries' eyes twitched at the mass of chains wrapped around it.
"This is something good, all right!" The mercenaries were delighted. If it wasn't something good, why would anyone lock it up so thoroughly?
They quickly found a fire axe. One blow later, the case was unscathed, but the mercenary who'd swung the axe felt his arm go numb from the shock.
"It's so sturdy—it's got to be made of specialty steel! There's definitely something incredible inside!" The mercenaries were worked up.
They weren't afraid of it being sturdy. The sturdier it was, the more valuable the contents had to be!
Next, they tried every method they could think of to open the case. Afraid of damaging the priceless treasure inside, they didn't dare use powerful explosives. In the end, they'd accomplished nothing beyond leaving a few white marks on the case.
Eventually, even their leader, Captain Ruan, heard about it. The mercenaries stood around the case, exchanging glances.
"What's with this case?" Captain Ruan asked Captain Wei.
"It seems Eldest Miss Chu got it from a mysterious person today. Apparently, there's something very precious inside. She handled it herself the whole time and even sent her personal bodyguard far away." Captain Wei answered honestly.
"Oh!" Captain Ruan's eyes lit up. It seemed the mission had brought them an unexpected bonus!
As they excitedly thought about the treasure they'd seized, Nie Yun received a message from the Mechanical Insect inside the case as well.
"Boss, someone wants to mess with your fleet!!"
The moment Nie Yun received the message.
Nie Yun??
Nie Yun!!!
Nie Yun's forehead—
He was furious!
Before you continue