Irreparable Rift

  The Qinglong was approaching the waters of Devil's Island when the moon was already high in the sky. The pirates, who had been busy for two days and one night, began to fall asleep in an organized manner. Those on guard duty still had to keep watch, those who were supposed to climb up onto the nearby rocky outcroppings to keep lookout still had to go blow wind, and those who remained on deck still had to pace back and forth from time to time on the not-so-long ship. However, tonight's guards were all Ma San's trusted brothers, loyal subordinates of He Lao Da, and ardent admirers of Big Sister. Other countries like England and Russia have queens, didn't China have Wu Zetian in ancient times and Empress Dowager Cixi today? Why can't the popular Big Sister replace the incompetent Cai Daya?!

  A sampan carrying several trunks and three people was quietly placed on the water's surface at the side of the ship. The ropes were untied, and the Mao brothers rowed the sampan northward. Standing at the bow was the beautiful eldest sister He Ningxue.

  Two hours later, the raft arrived at a huge reef on the west side, after turning twice, the three people confirmed that the dark semi-circular cave in front of them was the destination of this trip - Treasure Cave!

  Completely different from the imagination of the previous three, although the entrance is only exposed for more than half and is over one meter high and two meters wide, as long as everyone lies on the boat, they can directly row into the cave. The match ignited the torch, under the disturbance of the sea breeze, the light of the torch was sometimes big and sometimes small, and the range of illumination also changed with the shaking of the flame. This situation improved fundamentally after the sampan entered the entrance, where there was only flowing air, which can't be called wind at all!

  The natural craftsmanship is amazing, Mao Si estimated that the cave has about 1,000 square meters, except for a small area with seawater, most of the ground is very dry. The entire cave is simply a natural dock, and even when the tide rises, the water in the channel leading out of the cave cannot overflow the steeply rising rocky embankment. Therefore, it is most suitable to store things here, and even hiding hundreds of people here is not inappropriate.

  One torch became three. Because the naturally formed cave was not a flat plain, but was divided into several interconnected spaces by huge boulders, the three of them had to split up to explore. Mao Si thought that this could be used as a secret base. Over there would be the best firepower configuration point, over there could serve as a combat conference room, and opposite it could be used as a kitchen and warehouse. The space behind was enough to set up a large platform bed, accommodating an entire company of troops to rest...

  "Found it!" The woman's voice echoed in the empty cave, sounding a bit eerie, and even startled the beautiful woman who made the sound, naturally leaning into the shoulder of the person beside her. Mao Si enjoyed this treatment, hoping that at this moment a ghost would suddenly jump out, and the woman would definitely hang on him, refusing to let go even if she died. That would be even more enjoyable! However, this was just a short-term shameless thought, after all, if he scared the beautiful woman, he would feel heartbroken.

  Three torches illuminated the approximately 200 square meter space very brightly. In front of them were over a dozen boxes, all reinforced with iron-plated wooden boards. Strength was demonstrated at this moment as Mao San's Mauser 1898 rifle butt quickly smashed open one of the boxes. He was disappointed! Inside, there was no gold or silver treasure as he had imagined, but rather a box of black spherical objects emitting a nauseating strange smell. It was opium!

  Mao Si Da patted the beautiful woman's full and elastic buttocks, gesturing for her to stand aside. He then walked over to another pile of boxes, pulled out a dagger from his boot, and used it to pry open the nailed lid of one of the boxes. With a loud creak, the box cover swung open.

  A miracle has occurred!

  Under the light of the torch, a box of gold bricks with golden light appeared in front of the three people, bringing a burst of "wow, ah, ha!" and a wild heartbeat. There is no need to rush to the gold like a greedy ghost, laughing or howling loudly, what's needed is to continue opening other boxes and checking out unknown things.

  With the concerted efforts of the Mao brothers and the help of the eldest sister, all the boxes were opened! Inside the three large boxes were gold bars and gold coins, while five other boxes contained silver rounds, jewels, jade, antiques, and the rest was opium. The value was inestimable, such a vast fortune would drive anyone mad! However, the three of them had mentally prepared themselves beforehand, unlike some mythological stories where the protagonist discovers a huge treasure suddenly after "opening sesame". So there wasn't much reaction, just a slight drooling (this description isn't very flattering to the beauty, I'll be more careful next time). Ali Baba's kids could handle large quantities of treasures calmly, let alone these three pirates?

  The Mao brothers came here as laborers, don't get it wrong, they didn't come to move anything away from here, but to move things from the raft to here and hold a "Treasure Concentration Torch Festival".

  The weight of a single banknote is negligible, but a box full of them requires two strong men to lift it together, and even then they need the encouragement of beautiful women's words and eyes to finally put ￡60 million out of ￡70 million in its rightful place. The diamond-studded box was also placed inside the box, becoming an unvisited exhibit in a treasure exhibition.

  The most important thing to move here is the result of a secret discussion by three people. Mao Si said the inevitable outcome after this transaction, strongly advocating for the arrangement of all the elderly, women and children to evacuate Devil's Island as soon as possible. Because from the situation on the night of the sniper, the British already know the old nest of the Black Shark Gang, a bloody battle will eventually unfold on Devil's Island! This bloody battle will be an extremely uneven fight! Mao Si didn't want to say the words "Black Shark Gang disperses" from his own mouth, but after his reminder, whether it was his beloved sister or his dear brother Mao San, they all knew what to do.

  First, we need to properly handle the hostage situation and take care of Wei, the suspect. More importantly, we must eliminate the traitor! Cai Daya and Kong Laoer must die for the safety of all Black Shark Gang members in the future, for the sake of He Laoda and Mao Da Mao Er who have passed away, and for the revival of the Black Shark Gang.

  Before doing these things, the three of them had to secretly move the spoils of war to a different location! After all, only the three of them knew the official results after counting. The other poor and uncultured pirates only knew that they had made a fortune this time, but they didn't know exactly how much. Even if you told them the exact number, they couldn't imagine what it really meant. Pitiful, pathetic people without culture! In the Qing Empire of 1901, in the South China Sea's Devil Island, such people accounted for the vast majority! A country with a 5,000-year civilization had fallen to this point, alas! The reason is that even if I told Empress Dowager Cixi, she wouldn't believe it! Moreover, she only cared about power and enjoyment, to the extent that she could divert the annual naval budget of 4 million taels of silver to the Summer Palace! (I wonder if people visiting the Summer Palace in Beijing today will remember the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Treaty of Shimonoseki, or the heroic deeds of General Deng!)

  As pirates, the Black Shark Gang has a good patriotic tradition, but this patriotic tradition will not affect the pirates' wealth! On the contrary, it is precisely because of the courage to oppose the foreign devils that the first three generations of leaders accumulated such a large family business. Today, this family business has increased by a considerable amount.

  When daylight broke, the three of them emerged from their cabins as usual and would be able to reach Devil's Island after another two hours of "road".

  Zeng Erliu, Zhou Laifu, Li Guoliang, Zhang Qiu and others were all informed of the smuggling incident last night. After breakfast, they were called to Mao San's single cabin (the only two people living in the single cabins were Dajie and Xiao Cui, the Mao brothers). They whispered for a while before returning to their posts without drawing attention to themselves. Even Wei Dazhu, who had been on the front deck all along, did not notice anything. As for last night's secret operation, he was also kept in the dark and knew nothing about it. In the eyes of Mao San and others, he had already transformed from a brother once praised by He Lao Da to an enemy, a despicable enemy! Zeng Erliu and others also believed that the person who attacked Mao Si must be him, as only he met the conditions in terms of motive and time. Therefore, no one spoke up for him during the secret meeting that decided his life or death. Originally, his ugly behavior of clinging to Cai Dajia had already caused widespread disgust, let alone now when he had done something even more despicable - harming none other than Mao Si's openly acknowledged son-in-law, the foolish Mao Si!

  To be honest, Mao Si has already established his own prestige on the Qinglong! He is very kind to people and never gets unhappy when others call him "fool"; he is clever, this time he made the most effort and ideas; he is brave, alone rushing into the enemy's lair to rescue a high-ranking officer; he is righteous, sharing all the credit with everyone. So, among the 52 people on the Qinglong, 50 people like him, and it is also sincere to support him as the object of affection for Dajie. This is strength, Wei Dazhu who has no strength can only stand by, becoming an object of disgust for everyone...

  Actually, the Black Shark Gang had cracks since He Lao Da sacrificed Cai Da Ya on the day of his ascension. Yesterday's letter was just a catalyst that expanded this crack into a fissure, and this fissure will inevitably trigger a life-and-death battle involving over 1,400 people on Devil Island. This battle is internal, not external!

  Mao San and Mao Si always believed that if the traitors were not eliminated, when facing the British army's major attack in the future, the brothers of Hei Yu Bang would definitely die miserably. To defeat the external enemy, one must first stabilize the internal situation, a principle that had been pointed out by Zeng Wen Zheng Gong more than 30 years ago.

  Wei Zongxun has gone missing, and he took a large amount of spoils of war (the bullets that were shot into his body) with him!

  This was the first sentence that Cai Daya and Kong Er Gongzi heard when they welcomed Qinglong on the dock. What they never expected was: Wei Dazhu was killed to sacrifice the flag after learning that all personnel of Qinglong (including Xiao Cui) decided to eliminate the internal traitor Cai Daya and Kong Laoer, with more than 50 7.92MM Mauser bullets in his body, dying miserably!

  In the few seconds of brief distraction after hearing the news, Cai Daya and Kong Er Gongzi were surrounded by pirates who had returned triumphantly. These "meritorious officials" squeezed out the attendants of the two villains, escorting Lao Da, Jun Shi, and Xiao Jie, Vice Leader into the council hall. The people from the Tian Zi team and the law enforcement team also gave face to the brothers on the Qing Long number, they made a big catch this time, with great merit! They should be closer to the leader, it's not often that they have such an opportunity in 365 days of the year.

  Kong Er Gongzi had just stepped into the conference hall when he suddenly felt something was off. Why were all the people around him formerly under He Lao Da, and they were all from the Qing Long Hao, all equipped with new Mauser pistols and Browning guns! What's wrong? Where are my men? Ah, over there... these idiots don't even know to get closer to me! Damn it...

  Zeng Er Liu and his men quietly brought a few people to greet other pirates, answering their questions, such as: Did you bring back any women this time? How did you get so many new guns this time? I heard you caught a big fish, etc. Some non-essential but popular questions.

  Cai Daya and Kong Er Gongzi, who were about to step onto the first step, suddenly had their arms twisted behind them, and the guns and daggers at their waists were quickly taken away. At the same time, the doors of the conference hall were closed, and several trusted followers who came in were forced to put down their weapons by the muzzle of a gun. When the big shots were tied up, the smaller ones were also tied into bundles.

  "Choi Tai Yat! You've done a great thing! You actually sold out Hei Lao Da and the entire Black Shark Gang in Hong Kong just to sleep with a foreign woman! Are you worthy of being the gang leader? And you, Kong Lao Er! You're always an accomplice!" Ma San loudly proclaimed the two men's crimes while waving his left-handed revolver.

  "Good heavens, Mao Lao San! How dare you commit such a heinous crime and frame our leader Cai Bang Zhuang with false charges? This is treason!" Kong Lao Er was not one to be trifled with. Unlike Cai Da Ya, who had already turned pale and lost his soul, Kong Lao Er wanted to struggle, to counterattack. First and foremost, he had to rescue Cai Da Ya in order to clear himself of any involvement. Without Cai Bang Zhuang as the leader, the military advisor was nothing but a mere figurehead, and relying on the dozen or so law enforcement teams under his command would be no match for these people.

  A loud slap made Kung Erh's eyes turn black, and then countless stars twinkled before his eyes. His ears buzzed, and he couldn't hear anything else. He only saw the eldest sister walk onto the stage, take out a piece of paper, and say something... The one who slapped him was Mao Si. This slap might have cracked Kung Erh's cheekbone, as bright red blood mixed with saliva flowed non-stop from the corner of his half-open mouth.

  Kong Er Gongzi didn't hear what the eldest sister said, but Cai Daya heard it clearly and distinctly. He had already become a mess, wailing loudly "I'm not human! I deserve to die! I have no choice, for everyone's sake! I..." Until the doors of the conference hall were all opened and his loyal Tianzi team rushed in, he was still wailing wildly, exposing his crimes completely. Everyone knew - He Lao Da had been betrayed by Cai Daya! Everyone despised this former Cai Lao Da, including the Tianzi team and the law enforcement team!

  Mao San couldn't believe the matter was resolved so quickly, and Kong Lao Er's temporary deafness was undoubtedly the key. Otherwise, with his military strategist skills, it would have taken a lot of effort to pin down the two men's crimes! He looked at Cai Da Ya, who had been exposed in all his ugliness, and sighed inwardly: how could the wise and powerful Cai Zi Chen have given birth to such a son? Isn't it said that dragons give birth to dragons? Old Master Cai, why did you give birth to a worm?!

  The Devil's Island returned to calm after a brief chaos, and the life-and-death battle that was originally envisioned did not occur. Only one person was confirmed injured - Kong Lao Er's cheekbone was indeed cracked, and his jaw was also dislocated, but it was put back in place with the help of Yang Shen Yi. However, waiting for him and Cai Da Ya were not peaceful retirement lives, but a grand memorial service for He Lao Da and 5 other brave warriors who died less than half a month ago. At the memorial service, they would become ghosts under the knife!

  Everyone is still doing what they should be doing, after all, He Lao Da has been dead for less than three years. His lingering influence and the personal charm of the eldest sister, combined with the efforts of the Mao brothers to maintain order, quickly calmed people's minds. Such "high-level changes" have nothing to do with the brothers below or their families, everyone is concerned about the distribution of this time's spoils and the sacrifices that will be made after a while.

  Throughout the entire event, Vice Leader Mao San's prestige rose to a new level! After Big Sister considered Mao Si's feelings and refused to take on any leadership role, Mao San smoothly became the fifth leader of the Black Shark Gang. Mao San was very clear about his younger brother's abilities, just look at this "palace coup" for example. It was Mao Si who suggested taking advantage of Cai Da Ya coming out to greet them, creating a chaotic scene, allowing their people to organize and surround Cai and Kong into the conference hall. And then it was Mao Si again who took the initiative to eliminate Kong Lao Er, cutting off the biggest source of trouble for this action! The merit is indeed not small!

  But Mao Si was unwilling to take on any duties, nor did he want any special status. He just wanted to be with the beautiful fairy maiden and live a carefree and romantic life; he only wanted to train a team of brothers to deal with the revenge of the British in the future; he only wanted to extract valuable intelligence from the mouths of the hostages and find a way to resolve this crisis; he only wanted to quietly hide on the side at the right time and think about his own affairs; he only wanted to gather the island's children together and tell them things that even adults couldn't understand...

  So, in the following days, there were many things for Máo Sì to do, so much that he wished he had several clones. One was accompanying the beautiful young lady everywhere, enjoying the flowers and moonlight; one was training the young and strong pirates, letting them quickly form basic combat capabilities; and another could go negotiate with the foreign hostages, where only he could communicate with these hostages. In short, Máo Sì was very busy! He was so busy that his feet didn't touch the ground when walking, so busy that the noble young lady would sometimes inexplicably scold poor little Cuì, so busy that even when Brother Máo Sān came to discuss things with him, he had to wait for a good while.

  The identities of the foreigners were quickly figured out! It was very simple to figure out! Because Mao Si said under the black cloth covering his face: Our pirate rules are----people with value will be kept to eat and drink well, waiting for their families to pay ransom; people without value can only become slaves, when they get old or sick, they will be chopped into 7 or 8 pieces and thrown off a cliff to feed the sharks; of course, women will receive special treatment, they will have neat clothes to wear, they will be raised to be white and chubby, and give birth to handsome (beautiful) children for pirates who don't have wives... when they get old, they can still enjoy noble treatment...

  Before Mao Si had finished speaking, the foreigners rushed forward one after another to boast about their family background, how much property they owned, and who their relatives were... Afraid that if they didn't exaggerate their wealth, they would become worthless people, afraid that their connections weren't impressive enough, and would be treated inhumanely here! As a result, everyone's identity was exposed, including the niece of the late Governor of Hong Kong (who had not been rescued), her husband, and the director couple from Taikoo...

  The letters from the Western hostages to their families and the British government were quickly sent out from Malacca, Keppel Bay, Jakarta, Manila and other places. The contents of the letter have been verified as true! Under the strong appeal of the victims' families, the British government and military temporarily withdrew the warships heading to the South China Sea. The Devil's Island was temporarily safe, and the pirates got some breathing space and room to maneuver with the British.

  How to ensure the safety of the transaction personnel and the Devil's Island while exchanging hostages for ransom; how to respond to the British retaliation after the transaction is completed; where will the future of Hei Yu Gang be? These questions are now a difficult problem that makes Mao San, Mao Si, He Ning Shuang, Zeng Er Liu and Li Guoliang anxious.

  In the past, the rule of thumb in the gang was to not leave any live mouths, and they would all be thrown into the sea to fend for themselves (actually, it's just feeding the turtles). What a hassle! Exchanging hostages is another profession in the future thief career. Therefore, Mao San has no experience in this regard, and can only continue to promote democratic spirit, discussing what to do next! Anyway, Big Brother Mao San never lacks awareness in this aspect...