Twelve Children in the Cargo Hold Weren't Cargo

The moment the hidden compartment was pried open, the smell of medicine came rushing out.

Twelve children were crammed into the dark hold, barely half a person tall. The oldest was only thirteen or fourteen, while the youngest was still wrapped in burlap.

Every one of them had a numbered wooden tag tied around an ankle.

Su Hang crouched down.

"Don't touch them. Open the ventilation panels on both sides first."

Lorne's expression darkened.

"This compartment isn't on the Morning Bell Caravan's ship plans."

"Save them first. We can look at the plans later."

Mia removed the securing planks, and sunlight streamed into the dark hold.

Several children immediately shrank back, while a hushed warning came from the deepest corner.

"Don't come in."

A hand covered in blue-gray scales reached out from the shadows, shielding the children.

The adult fish-man slowly raised his head. The gills on both sides of his neck were cracked and bleeding, and iron-chain abrasions still marked his wrists.

Su Hang looked at him.

"Who are you?"

"Alan."

"Their families?"

"Dead."

Alan stared at the people on deck.

"You bring grain to Grey Stone Island, then send them into the factories. Since we've been found, kill us quickly."

Lorne tore the caravan's bronze badge from his waist and tossed it before him.

"This is a Morning Bell Caravan ship. I transport grain, medicine, and disaster survivors. I've never sold people."

Alan picked up the badge. He saw the Morning Bell insignia on the back, but his expression did not relax.

"The middlemen who loaded us aboard wore the same badge."

Lorne's breathing caught.

"Where were you loaded onto the ship?"

"The outer harbor of Deerskin Town. Three men had branch passes and said they were taking survivors to a resettlement site. The children drank medicine, and when they woke up, they were here."

Su Hang looked at the wooden tags around their ankles.

"How was the island destroyed?"

Alan's throat was dry.

"Pirates took the water and food. The local garrison sealed the harbor and wouldn't let refugees ashore. After the pirates burned the villages, officials came to register the survivors and charged thirty thousand Beli per person for resettlement."

Mia asked quietly.

"Where were they supposed to get that kind of money?"

"If they had no money, they used themselves as payment."

Alan tore the rag from his wrist.

A black gear-shaped brand lay beneath it.

"Adult men were sent to the mines. Women and children were priced separately. I bit off a guard's hand before they locked me in here. They gave me the most medicine because they were afraid I'd make noise."

Lorne immediately turned around.

"Get the ship's doctor. Bring fresh water and soft food too. Don't feed them too much at once—they've been starving for too long."

Su Hang glanced at him.

"You really didn't know?"

"If I knew, there'd be no reason to bring you out from the harbor, much less let Mia open the compartment."

"That only proves you don't want to be exposed yet."

Lorne did not get angry. He merely took off his coat and spread it across the deck.

"You can search the whole ship. The loading crew, harbor signatures, and seal numbers are all in the captain's cabin. If you still think I was involved after checking, I'll get off the ship with them."

Alan sneered.

"Merchants are best at pushing their dirty work onto the people below them."

"Then don't listen to what I say. Watch what I do next."

Lorne turned and ordered the sailors.

"Keep this quiet. Move the children to the crew quarters, and treat the badly injured first. If anyone asks who they are, tell them they're disaster survivors rescued by the Morning Bell Caravan."

A sailor reminded him in a low voice.

"Manager, Graystone Port will check the headcount. If people without identities disembark, they'll impound the entire ship."

"Get them to the port alive first."

Su Hang picked up a crumpled slip of paper from the corner of the dark hold.

It listed twelve medicine-crate numbers. Each number was followed by a weight, age, and handover price.

At the bottom was a blue seal from the Graystone Port military supply depot.

He said nothing and simply handed the paper to Lorne.

After reading it, Lorne's fingers slowly clenched.

"These numbers really are on the cargo manifest."

"Where are the medicines?"

Lorne turned his head.

"There were never twelve crates of medicine. Go to the captain's cabin and bring the original loading manifest."

The manifest was delivered quickly.

The twelve supposed medicine crates had all been added at the last minute by middlemen from Deerskin Town.

The shipping fees had been paid by the Graystone Port military supply depot, but the handover location was listed as the rear pier of the 16th Branch.

Alan pointed to the final line.

"This black gear is the factory mark."

Su Hang touched the corner of the paper, and a system panel immediately appeared.

[Low-tier event-type opportunity detected.]

[The human trafficking chain has not yet completed its handover.]

[Key nodes: cargo numbers, military supply route, recipient.]

[Intercepting the carrier can convert it into a basic intelligence module.]

Su Hang silently asked, "What happens to the original after conversion?"

[Carrier information will be recorded by the system.]

[The original carrier may be damaged.]

"Refuse."

The system prompt remained before his eyes.

[Low-tier opportunities can be used to supplement the host's intelligence-gathering capabilities.]

"This paper can turn living people back from cargo into people. If you want a reward, wait until I drag out the person receiving them."

Lorne could not see the panel. He only saw Su Hang fold the paper, then unfold it and smooth it flat again.

"What did you find?"

"This chain is still active."

"You mean we continue to Graystone Port?"

"Changing course would alert the recipient that something happened. They'd immediately destroy their identities, change ports, and seize another batch of people."

Alan braced himself against the deck and stood up.

"You want to use the children as bait?"

"I'll keep them in the crew quarters. The fake crates will be handed over as usual."

"If the recipient finds the crates empty, he'll seal the ship anyway."

"Then we can't let him discover it first."

Su Hang handed the manifest to Mia.

"Can you copy these numbers?"

Mia took the paper, looked it over twice, and nodded.

"I can't make the handwriting exactly the same, but I can copy the crate numbers and weights."

"Copy only the crate numbers. Find twelve empty crates and nail the planks from the hidden compartment back onto them."

Lorne asked, "What about the original?"

"Keep it."

Su Hang looked at Alan.

"Do you recognize the people who escorted you?"

"I'd recognize them even if they turned to ash."

"What about the recipient at the port?"

"I never saw him. But the military supply officer in Deerskin Town said one thing: the 16th Branch would handle people without identities for them."

Lorne's expression was grave.

"If the military supply depot and the underground factories are working together, one manifest won't be enough to bring them down."

"I never planned to put my hopes on them investigating themselves."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Make the recipient open the crates himself, admit the numbers himself, then detain him on the ship."

Alan stared at Su Hang.

"You don't even have a Marine identity. How will you detain a military supply officer?"

"Once he boards this ship, he follows this ship's rules first."

"The port has gun emplacements."

"Then we move fast."

Alan walked to the hatch and looked toward Grey Stone Island, whose outline had already appeared in the distance.

"One more thing. The rear pier of the 16th Branch has a Seastone inspection gate. Everyone leaving a ship must pass beneath it."

Su Hang's gaze darkened slightly.

"Can Seastone touch the body?"

"Seastone powder is embedded in the gate frame, and there are sensing plates underground. Ability users go weak in the legs when they pass through, and the guards seize them immediately."

Lorne warned him.

"You can't disembark."

"I don't need to."

"The military supply officer may not board either. If he just tells us to deliver the crates into the warehouse, the plan is ruined."

Su Hang looked at the twelve fake medicine crates by the stern.

"Then give him a reason he has to board personally."

Mia had already begun copying the numbers.

When her pen reached the final line, she suddenly stopped.

"There's a second seal here."

A seagull emblem, washed over with medicine, remained on the corner of the paper.

Mia lightly brushed charcoal powder across it, and the branch number gradually emerged.

Sixteen.

Lorne raised his telescope.

At the rear pier of Graystone Port, a group of people in Marine uniforms were already waiting at the berth. A blue flag of the military supply depot stood at their front.

The recipient was not a merchant, but Marines from the East Blue's 16th Branch.