AWB Chapter 1039: Landing
Chapter 1039: Landing
"How would I know? There shouldn't be any. They're all from the same hometown and relatives. Even if they have some kind of conflict, they wouldn't go so far as to kill each other, would they?" Lin Zhenglin said in a trembling voice.
"Forget it, let's figure out a way to get the ship to shore first."
"Old Zhang and Xiao Liu must be hiding!" Lin Zhengfu wrung his hands anxiously. "If they didn't go into the water, they're probably hiding in the bottom of the aft cabin!"
Wu Mingqiang gestured for Lin Zhengfu to lead the way, and Gui'er quickly followed behind. The aft cabin, at the stern where the boat was raised, was dirty and messy, piled with old fishing nets and empty oil drums, and a fishy smell assaulted their nostrils. They had only taken a few steps when they heard rustling sounds coming from a corner.
"Come out!" Wu Mingqiang shouted, pointing his gun at the shadows.
Two dark figures crawled out, trembling. It was Old Zhang and Xiao Liu, their faces still smeared with grease. "No, don't shoot!" Old Zhang knelt down with a thud. "We weren't involved in what happened just now, please spare our lives..."
Before he could finish speaking, Wu Mingqiang suddenly pulled the trigger. Two shots rang out, and the two men fell to the ground, blood seeping into the sea through the cracks in the wooden planks. Lin Zhengfu's legs went weak with fear, and he collapsed to the ground, stammering, "You...how could you..."
"Keeping them around will only cause trouble if they go back." Wu Mingqiang wiped his gun expressionlessly. "Who do you think that pot of fish soup was for?"
Lin Zhengfu then realized what was happening, his face turning deathly pale: "It was you...you poisoned me?"
"You're not satisfied with just getting paid to do things, you actually tried to lay a hand on the young lady, you've really lived too long." Wu Mingqiang approached step by step.
"I didn't! They did it themselves, it has nothing to do with me!" Lin Zhengfu stumbled backward, his back hitting the oil drum. "How about I don't take your money? Let me go, let me go, I have a family waiting for me." He finally understood Wu Mingqiang's ruthlessness and knew that he probably couldn't escape today, but he still wanted to run away. However, his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.
"For the sake of your business, you've helped Captain Hao ruin so many innocent girls. Don't you feel innocent? And with your character, do you think you won't report us when you get to Hong Kong? How are you going to explain this to your Japanese masters?" Wu Mingqiang drew his short knife, and with a flash of cold light, blood gushed from Lin Zhengfu's throat. He stared, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only made a hoarse sound and collapsed to the ground.
Wu Mingqiang watched coldly as Lin Zhengfu's gaze dimmed and he finally stopped moving, before he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Turning around, he saw Gui'er standing at the cabin door, her face pale.
She hurriedly wanted to step forward to comfort her, but found herself covered in Lin Zhengfu's blood. Helpless, she stopped, sighed, and said, "Miss, you should go back to your cabin."
Gui'er opened her mouth as if to say something, but couldn't say anything, so she silently turned and left.
Wu Mingqiang dragged the corpse over, searched him, and took his good citizen certificate and other documents. After thinking for a moment, he put them in his pocket and then threw the corpse overboard like a sack of potatoes. With a few muffled splashes, the corpse sank into the sea, barely causing a ripple. He then went back and examined the other corpses in the cabin, taking out any identification and valuables, and then threw the bodies into the water one by one. The blood flowed over the deck and, blown by the sea breeze, quickly congealed into dark red patches.
After finishing all this, Wu Mingqiang was about to go find Gui'er when he looked down at the bloodstains on his body.
"Tsk, I forgot to take off that Lin guy's clothes just now, they're all dirty." He was afraid that if he went back covered in blood, he would scare Gui'er, so he searched through the cabins and finally found a spare shirt that they had left on the ship. He changed out of his bloodstained shirt and threw the clothes he had taken off into the sea.
Afterwards, Wu Mingqiang searched the entire ship inside and out to make sure there were no clues left that could lead to his whereabouts before he was finally relieved.
“Miss, let’s go.” Wu Mingqiang washed his hands, his face expressionless. “This boat is flying a Japanese flag. It must be registered in Hong Kong. We can’t use this boat to dock, so let it float here. I’ll find a plank, you can sit on it, and I’ll swim and push you to the shore.”
Gui'er stood at the cabin door, watching him skillfully handle everything. The sea breeze ruffled the hem of his clothes, carrying a strong smell of blood. Wu Mingqiang used to always smile in front of her, appearing to be very good-natured, making her almost forget that Wu Mingqiang was a well-trained, top-ranking assassin in the Ji family, trusted by all the other thugs.
“Miss, you won’t blame me, will you? These people are not ordinary people. They work for the Japanese and even kick their own compatriots when they’re down. They’re not good people.”
Gui'er smiled and said, "I know. If these people's families lose their breadwinners, they'll probably suffer too."
Wu Mingqiang shook his head and said, "Miss, you have the heart of a bodhisattva. People die every day in this world. I've been walking around outside Guangzhou these past two days and I've run into Japanese people walking on the street several times. If they don't like someone, they'll shoot them. Everyone is like chickens in a henhouse being led to slaughter. Who can we complain to?"
He dismantled a door panel and had Gui'er lie on it, while he pushed it in the water, slowly drifting towards the shore. The night wind made people shiver. Gui'er initially sat up, but the waves were a bit big, and the door panel was being tossed around by the waves, making it difficult to sit steadily. Wu Mingqiang then had her lie face down, and he struggled to swim while pushing the door panel towards the shore.
Gui'er looked back and saw that the boat she had just been on was now empty, but the lights on the boat were still on. It was already dark, the sky was gray and inky, and the dark coastline in the distance almost blended into the sky. Listening to the sound of the waves crashing, she felt as if she was walking on the edge of a knife.
Wu Mingqiang grew up on the banks of the Huangpu River and was an excellent swimmer. However, he found it quite strenuous to push someone along in the rough sea. He was also worried that Gui'er might accidentally fall into the sea, so he swam very carefully. Even though he was an excellent swimmer, he felt completely exhausted when he finally reached the shore.
They landed in a pretty good spot, a rocky beach, and the two of them hid in a crevice between the rocks. Wu Mingqiang gathered some dry branches, lit them with a flint, and the flames licked at their damp clothes, making a hissing sound.
“This is the suburbs, the security is not good, and it will attract attention late at night, making people more alert. Let’s wait until dawn before we leave, Miss. This area is flatter. Come and sit here next to this wall. I’ll move the fire here so you won’t be cold.”