A little earlier, a few minutes ago.
When Captain Ruan and Feng Ge's group reached the cabin where Chu Xiaoxiao and the others were, two mercenaries were removing the cutting tools. Four fierce-looking mercenaries stood guard on either side, weapons at the ready.
"Boss!" The mercenaries made way for their leader.
Captain Ruan nodded, examined the locked door and the cuts in it, then turned to one of his men. "Get to it!"
The man acknowledged the order, pulled two tear gas grenades from his belt, and stepped forward to kick open the door, which had been cut through except for a small section.
Just then, a deafening BOOM! shook the hull. The ship lurched violently, as if struck by an earthquake.
The mercenaries staggered in every direction at the sudden jolt. Feng Ge slammed face-first into the wall, his nose gushing blood. He let out a cry of pain.
Once the shaking had eased, Captain Ruan scrambled to his feet, looking disheveled. "What's going on? What happened?!"
Everyone exchanged bewildered looks. No one knew how to answer.
"A Ping, take two men and go see what's going on!" Captain Ruan quickly ordered, his face darkening.
Something like that could only mean trouble outside!
"Yes, Boss!" A Ping answered, then hurried off with two men.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Before they'd gone far, a tremendous roar of artillery fire erupted outside. The hull shook repeatedly, and the sound of a fierce firefight followed.
Captain Ruan, a battle-hardened veteran, blanched. That was... artillery?!
How could there be that much artillery fire out here at sea? At least twenty guns were firing volleys at the yacht! But how was that possible?
The bombardment continued for nearly a full minute before gradually subsiding. Fortunately, their section of the ship seemed to have escaped damage, but everyone was still shaken.
The lights overhead flickered, then went out completely. The emergency lights switched on, but the yacht's electrical system had finally suffered irreparable damage from the barrage.
Only dim light remained in the corridor. The sudden darkness stirred up another wave of unease among the mercenaries. No one knew what was happening outside.
But these men were seasoned veterans. They quickly recovered from their brief panic, took up defensible positions, and focused all their attention on the passage they'd come through as they waited for their leader's orders.
Feng Ge clutched his nose and stared at Captain Ruan in a panic. "Captain Ruan?"
"Quiet!" Captain Ruan shot him a vicious look.
The artillery outside had stopped, but strange, intermittent explosions could still be heard. Could they be grenades?
"Captain! Captain! Help!" A mercenary stumbled in from the passage outside. He was covered in smoke and clearly badly injured, but his expression was one of sheer terror—the look of someone on the verge of a breakdown.
"Lao Liu?!" Captain Ruan recognized him and rushed over, grabbing him by the collar.
"What happened out there?! What about the others?"
"Ghost... ghost ship! There's a ghost ship! Ah! Help! Don't come any closer! Stay away!" Lao Liu was clearly traumatized, his words tumbling out in a panicked jumble.
SMACK! Captain Ruan slapped him without hesitation.
"Get a hold of yourself! Talk! What happened out there?" he snarled, his face twisted with fury.
The slap seemed to bring Lao Liu back to his senses a little. He stammered, "It... it was a ghost ship! It... it rammed us! It was a wooden sailing ship, but its whole hull was as hard as iron. Our rockets barely did anything to it.
"And... and it had so many cannons! So many!
"Then there was a whole swarm of little demons! They exploded! They chased us everywhere, crying as they ran. When they caught up, they blew themselves up! It was terrifying! Absolutely terrifying! The guys... they're all dead!"
The corridor fell utterly silent.
Captain Ruan slowly released Lao Liu, who had gone limp and was still muttering "ghost ship." He looked around. Fear showed in everyone's eyes.
Feng Ge was in even worse shape, his legs trembling uncontrollably. He was filled with regret. Why had he come along to get involved in this mess? I'm such an idiot. I really am!
Captain Ruan's expression darkened. He'd thought this would be a simple kidnapping job, but now it seemed his men outside had been wiped out. His mercenary band had been reduced to fewer than ten people in an instant. He'd never suffered a loss like this.
He couldn't help glaring at the trembling Feng Ge.
"Hmph! A ghost ship? Just a bunch of tricks! I don't believe in ghost ships. And even if one exists, I'll send it straight back to hell!
"Leave two people here to guard the target. The rest of you, search your way out slowly. If anything seems wrong, don't bother warning it—open fire at once!"
The leader's steady voice helped calm the mercenaries. They exchanged glances, then six or seven of them began moving out, covering one another as they went. They switched on their tactical flashlights and started searching the passage, with A Ping in the lead.
By now, the occasional explosions and screams outside had died away completely. The yacht was frighteningly quiet.
The only sounds in the corridor were the mercenaries' heavy breathing and faint footsteps.
Squelch! A Ping's foot seemed to land on something soft. His whole body stiffened.
Breaking into a cold sweat, he slowly aimed his flashlight at the floor. He saw that he'd only stepped on a silvery-white ribbon, and let out a long breath of relief. Cursing himself for being jumpy, he turned his attention forward again.
What he didn't know was that, as soon as he passed, the silvery ribbon liquefied like molten metal and silently flowed along the dark corner of the wall, deeper into the corridor.
"A Ping, how's it looking?" Captain Ruan's voice came through the radio on his shoulder after they'd walked for a while.
With the speedboat outside destroyed by Nie Yun, the communications jammer had also been knocked out, and their radios were working again.
"Reporting in, Captain. Everything's normal so far!" A Ping replied.
"Good. Stay alert and keep searching!"
"Yes, sir!"
A Ping ended the call and continued forward.
They cautiously rounded a corner. Their tactical flashlights swept across the new stretch of corridor, watchful for any sudden attack.
But then all the mercenaries froze.
No enemy had appeared. Instead, a row of three tiny figures stood abruptly in the corridor, some thirty or forty feet ahead.
The flashlight beams revealed them clearly. They were toy robots with bizarre designs, their bodies bright green and their faces zombie-like. Their bulging eyes and buck teeth stood out, making them especially eerie in that setting.
One zombie robot held a tiny door as a shield. Another had an old-fashioned pot lid perched on its head, while the third was wrapped up like a mummy. Every one of them had a round object strapped to its back.
"W-what are those things?!" A Ping gripped his submachine gun and aimed it at them, his voice faltering.
"Mercenaries versus zombies. Let the game begin!"
The three tiny robot figures spoke in eerie metallic voices in unison. Then they set off with their short legs moving in perfect sync, shambling forward with the lurching gait of zombies!
Mercenaries versus zombies?!
A Ping understood Chinese. And, as ill luck would have it, he'd played a game called Plants vs. Zombies! His eyes widened, and a sense of dread rose in his chest...
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