Chapter 2: Awakening

  "Where is this?" Ah, it hurts, hurts... I covered my head and suddenly woke up, my brain was dizzy and confused. I found myself lying on a narrow single bed, the quilt had been soaked with sweat and felt a bit chilly.

  I don't know how long I was unconscious, had many illogical weird dreams, but now can't remember them, only feel weak and drained, more tired than after a day of physical labor.

  Taking a deep breath to calm down, I looked around and found myself in a small room of less than eight square meters. A small bed, a wooden table, a dim green ceiling lamp above my head, an open closet with a few sailor suits inside, and a used spittoon in the corner. There weren't many things in the room.

  The room was slightly undulating.

  "Is this a sailor's cabin?" I wondered where I was, had I already boarded the ship? I remembered that before I fainted, someone attacked me...

  Wait!

  I suddenly reacted, hastily feeling my right arm, but I didn't find anything unusual. However, I didn't relax at all, and in an instant, I rolled up my sleeve to the top. Under the dim green light, I held my breath and looked closely, and a red blood spot appeared on my vein.

  At this moment, my heart sank to the bottom. After a second of silence, the nameless anger in my heart burst out instantly.

  This is the needle mark left after injection! I was actually injected with unknown ** under broad daylight!

  "I'll screw your grandma to death!" I was really furious, and in my heart, I cursed that pervert's ancestors for eight generations, no matter who he was. As long as I found out, I would skin him alive.

  Bang! Bang... The steel plate wall was hit with a hammer several times, the fist was sore and burning... Venting the anger in my heart!

  "Shut up! You're disturbing people's sleep. Be quiet!" The next room suddenly shouted, and a few knocks on the wall were returned.

  I was stunned, but someone came up beside me! I actually started to calm down instead.

  Suppressing the anger in my heart, soon, the police's professional instincts made me calm down and slowly analyze this sneak attack. Is the opponent a pervert? It's possible, but it's more likely that he's a pervert who knows me. I clearly remember him calling out my name, which is what made me let my guard down. Although I'm not a martial arts expert, I've received strict semi-military training, and the fact that the opponent was able to sneak up on me so easily and escape unscathed suggests that he's extremely skilled. More importantly, it seems like he had been lying in wait for some time, which means my movements have been known to him.

  As I thought about it, my face turned solemn. I lightly touched the bloodstains on my arm and thought to myself that things were getting complicated. Why would someone attack me? What was their goal? The first thing that came to mind was my secret agent identity and the mission assigned by the deputy director. If someone wanted to sabotage this protection mission for the Golden China ship, then attacking me, the executor of the mission, would be the most convenient choice.

  "What secrets is the Jinhua ship hiding?" The mission only said to escort the Jinhua ship to Taiwan, and didn't mention what specific dangers would be encountered. It wasn't even mentioned if there were any companions on board who were executing the same task, or who the contact person was. All of this was a mystery.

  From the very beginning I accepted an utterly unknown task.

  "What's going on anyway." I slumped down at the head of the bed, my mouth a bit dry, and pulled out a cigarette from my shirt pocket, starting to smoke, filling the small space with smoke in an instant.

  Thoughts began racing at high speed considering the current situation.

  What I don't understand is that there are countless ways to attack, guns, knives, fists and feet, why did it have to be an injection? Is it poisoning? But I'm still alive and well, just a bit tired. I couldn't help but wonder if the person was a medical idiot who thought glucose was poison or bought fake goods. The most likely explanation is that it's a slow-acting poison, this poison will remain in my body, waiting for a special moment to take my life!

  Just as I was hesitating about whether or not to disembark and check my body first, a sound came from outside.

  Giggle... giggle... splash splash...

  It was very loud and the sound lasted for a while, as if someone was pouring goods into the hold of the ship, one load after another.

  My nerves tensed up suddenly, and after a moment of identification, I was shocked. This sound is extremely familiar, and there's no need to look, I can be sure that these goods are absolutely piles of scattered... silver coins!

  A large number of loose silver coins collided with each other, producing a mesmerizing tremolo sound like that of silverware.

  "This is a golden ship heading for Taiwan!" I was startled, and secretly suspected that perhaps the superior had sent me here just to protect these silver coins from being transported safely to Taiwan?

  It's possible that the clinking sound is still going on, and I'm afraid there's a huge amount of silver coins, I don't know how long they've been loading, so many silver coins would make anyone have evil thoughts, even the captain might embezzle the money and escape. With silver coins, wouldn't there be gold too? I remember seeing porters carrying heavy loads from the customs building before, now it seems likely that there's a high possibility of gold. You should know that next to the customs building is the headquarters of the Bank of China, and the underground vault of the Bank of China is the national treasury of the National Government!

  Thinking of this, to be precise, thinking of gold, I was a bit out of breath. The glittering gold, the most valuable hard currency in the chaotic world, if I could embezzle one or two bars from it, then after landing in Taiwan, I wouldn't have to live a difficult life. However, I immediately dispelled this idea, as there might be other secret agents on the ship, and stealing gold is only possible when everyone has the same mind, otherwise, once landed, we would be waiting for a bullet.

  Chiang Kai-shek used a civilian cargo ship to "privately" transport mainland gold, this shameful thing has been exposed by domestic and foreign media before, and it is no longer a big secret within the Bureau of Confidentiality. Only because... there was a precedent.

  "Taiping... Taiping..." I muttered the name of a ship, which was a sensational ship a few months ago. On its way to Taiwan, it collided with Jianyuan and nearly a thousand people died, known as the Oriental Titanic. The sinking of Taiping was widely publicized, but the small messages I saw or heard had one thing in common: Taiping was carrying a large amount of gold, making it a veritable golden ship, which also led to its severe overload.

  "This ship won't end up like the Taiping, will it... Ugh! My big mouth, I don't want to be fish food!" I muttered to myself.

  I was thinking of taking a break and going out for some fresh air, if possible, to the hospital outside the ship for a diagnosis, but in less than half an hour, the clinking sound of silver coins stopped, replaced by a burst of screams.

  Suddenly, chaotic footsteps came from above and moved towards one side of the boat.

  I lay here in a state of shock and surprise, so I decided to go outside and see what all the commotion was about.

  He put on a pea jacket from the wardrobe and walked out of the cabin.

  The door was unlocked, and as soon as it opened, a faint musty smell wafted out.

  I furrowed my brow and leaned out more than half of my body to look around, just as several figures walked by from one side.

  "Ah, Brother Hong, you're awake! You almost scared the life out of Third Brother Xie!" The leader, a bald-headed man with thick eyebrows, looked fierce and was none other than Old Three himself.

  He saw that I was fine, patted me on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Brother Hong's body is strong, I knew nothing would happen to you. But do you know, you've been unconscious for a whole day and night? The doctor on the ship has checked and said all your physiological functions are normal. What the hell! You're still normal even when you're not conscious! If you hadn't woken up in another hour, I would have sent you to a foreign hospital for a thorough check-up."

  "What! I was unconscious for a whole day and night?" I exclaimed in shock, but there were more important things to ask: "And that bastard who attacked me? Was he caught?"

  Xie Lao San's face turned awkward upon hearing this, and he shook his head. He said uncertainly: "That pervert is incredibly fast, more than a dozen sailors surrounded him but he still managed to escape. I've lived for half my life and it's the first time I've seen someone with such excellent lightness skills, he jumped five meters away from my shoulder with just a slight touch. If we're not careful, he'll disappear in an instant. Tsk tsk, this lightness skill is terrifying to hear about, only found in...

  "It's said that Swallow Li San was seen there!" Old Third Shui interrupted a young sailor.

  "Right, only Swallow Lee's lightness can achieve that." Old Third Xie saw my face didn't look good and hurriedly comforted me: "Brother Hong don't worry, although we didn't catch the person, but his appearance we have memorized clearly, already reported to the police station, guaranteed to be caught."

  Looking at Lao San's solemn expression, I nodded my head in gratitude, but in my heart, I cursed him: "Police? I am the police, what is the police station? You tell others that Yanzi Li San is a flying thief, they won't even take you seriously. If you say it's an underground party, they might pay more attention."

  It's no use expecting anything from these people, can only take things one step at a time.

  At this time, the "noise" on the deck came again, and this time it was bigger than last time.

  Xie Lao San looked up at the top and spat out a mouthful of foam, saying: "Nana's bear, shouldn't it be that little devil again."

  "What's going on upstairs?" I asked San Ge.

  Xie Lao San's face looked strange, and when I turned to look at the others, they were also silent. The atmosphere suddenly became strange.

  "Alas, what bad luck! What bad luck!" Xie Lao San sighed and said: "Anyway, everyone on the boat saw it, and we can't hide it from others. Brother Hong, follow me up to take a look and you'll understand."

  Having said that, several people hurriedly walked towards the narrow staircase leading to the deck.