Chapter 149 Ugi is in danger

Flower Buddha simply lit a cigarette, gazing blankly at the pattering raindrops outside. Reading the expressions and sensing that the mood of the other two was hardly joyous, Oogi tactfully sat down in a corner, placed his harpoon within easy reach, hugged his knees, and watched them.

Lu Tianming cast a look of tender affection at his wife, yet dared not disturb her. Instead, he sat nearby and watched her in quiet silence.

The cigarette butt had burned down to his fingers. Exhaling a cloud of smoke, Flower Buddha suddenly said, "Without a boat, leaving this place will be extremely difficult!"

Chen Cao rolled up a piece of steaming, white-vapor-emitting clothing, paused for a moment, and replied, "The water below is teeming with piranhas, and who knows what else. The risk of trying to swim away is simply too high. This device designed by the biologist Colby on the warship was clearly meant to protect the weapons hidden beneath it!"

Flower Buddha flicked away the extinguished cigarette butt, glared, and said, "None of those things seem to have anything to do with me. What we want is to save our skins. Don't forget, Chen, your problem has already been solved, but I shelled out one million US dollars. You aren't foolish enough to want to stay here and investigate what they plan to do with all these weapons, are you?"

Chen Cao shook his head. "Do you really think I have any reason to stay here? As if the scenery is so wonderful that I'd want to settle down and live here permanently!"

Flower Buddha chuckled. "Still, I have a rather crazy idea. I just don't know if it's feasible."

Hearing this, Chen Cao looked at Flower Buddha and said, "Mr. Flower Buddha, your ideas are always crazy anyway!" With that, the two exchanged a knowing smile.

The rain finally began to ease up a little. Having seemingly reached a tacit understanding, Chen Cao led Oogi and Lu Tianming back down into the hold, where they hauled up all the remaining weapons and ammunition. After that came rest; worn out from a night of tossing and turning, they closed their eyes and quickly slept until dawn.

Chen Cao and Oogi descended once more onto the raft to gather a large quantity of vines from the surrounding cliffs, bringing them aboard to weave into a makeshift fishing net. Under the present conditions, angling with a rod was entirely out of the question; they had to rely on this crude method to catch fish. Of course, it was also the most effective approach for now. Before long, a simple, large net was woven. Chen Cao cast it into the water. Though the outcome was uncertain, it at least offered a glimmer of hope to their starving stomachs.

Flower Buddha was not idle either. He taught the basics of weaponry to Stanny, Lu Tianming, Karissa, and even Oogi. However, Flower Buddha's temper was far from gentle, and watching the clumsy, inept movements of this bunch of fools inevitably provoked him into shouting and cursing fitfully.

"Fire! Pull the bolt, do you understand? Aim! Lu Tianming, you bastard, don't point the muzzle at your own people, got it?!" Leaning over the deck railing, the battle-hardened Stanny, who was preparing for his own shooting practice, snickered quietly as he watched Lu Tianming stand frozen with the gun, his face turning pale under the torrential stream of curses from Flower Buddha.

With great difficulty, Flower Buddha wrenched the muzzle of Lu Tianming's gun around, then turned his glare on the snickering Stanny. "What are you laughing at, Stanny? Fire!"

At these words, Stanny's body jerked. Confident as he had been while resting against the railing, he immediately raised his weapon to take aim at a target not far away, only to find himself completely unable to pull the trigger. A dark expression clouding his face, Flower Buddha strode up behind Stanny and planted a firm kick in his back. "I heard you used to be a small-time boss in the underworld. Could it be that you don't even know you have to release the safety before firing?"

Meanwhile, Karissa, taking aim through her sniper rifle with utmost composure, fired round after round at the target. After continuously discharging five bullets, she drew a long, deep breath. From morning until now, she had fired nearly five hundred rounds, and her once-tender shoulder sockets were already aching terribly. She couldn't help but steal a glance with her deep blue eyes toward Chen Cao. Yet Chen Cao stood like a wooden sculpture at the edge of the deck, gazing quietly at the surface of the water, unmoving. She let out a deep sigh. In truth, there were times when she preferred not to leave this ship—at least, then, she could still remain with this man. Even though he seemed completely indifferent to her, why was it that she found it so hard to let go?

Chen Cao stood quietly on the deck, staring fixedly at the swollen river water brought on by yesterday's rain. Since an ample food supply was now an absolute necessity, it appeared he had to prepare for a prolonged struggle here until they could find a means of escape. Yet, with Mei Mei's medical expenses temporarily settled, a great weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders. Now, his priority was to figure out a way to leave this place, return to Sanfu, and take Mei Mei to the Central Plains of Dacheng. Once there, with the protection of those uncles and elders, he could set his mind at ease and carry out his mission. At this thought, his mind suddenly shifted again. With so many weapons hidden here, and these fellows going to such great lengths to acquire a warship, they were clearly planning something major. What on earth could they be plotting? It seemed the geopolitical landscape was not merely defined by war as he had once imagined; he needed to investigate this thoroughly. Unfortunately, back in Husum, he had been forced to lose the communication device used to contact the academy, otherwise he could have reported the situation here to Duan Tianya. Just as these thoughts ran through his mind, the fishing net below gave a twitch. Chen Cao turned his head and called out to Oogi, who was fiddling with a handgun at the other end of the deck, "Oogi, something's hooked! Let's go down and haul in the net!"

Hearing this, Oogi poked his head over the deck and sure enough, saw the rope tied to the second level bobbing violently. It seemed they had caught a fair amount of fish. Excitedly, he shouted, "Chen, looks like we'll have a hearty meal today! Let's go pull it in right away!" With that, he shoved the handgun into a holster at his waist that looked absurdly mismatched with his build, grabbed his harpoon, and headed down to the second level.

Catching wind of food, the perpetually starved group instantly lost all enthusiasm for training and followed Oogi down to the second tier to help haul in the net.

Flower Buddha, however, held no hope whatsoever for such pleasant surprises, nor would he dream of wasting his precious physical energy on such a task. Crossing his arms, he lit a cigarette, leaned back against the deck, and smoked in silence. He was confident that without lifting a finger, this crowd who depended on him for survival would still share their food with him.

Chen Cao walked over to Flower Buddha, who offered him a cigarette. Taking it, Chen Cao asked, "How are the training results?"

With a wry smile, Flower Buddha waved his fingers, tracing circles with his cigarette, and said, "What do you think the results could possibly be with their abilities in such a short span of time?"

Chen Cao replied, "The plan must continue. We need to buy time and get them combat-ready as quickly as possible. We'll have to discuss the specific plan in a moment!" Just as they were talking, before Flower Buddha could reply, a scream rang out from Karissa below.

Flower Buddha, lips parting to speak, paused and looked at Chen Cao in a daze, but Chen Cao had already sprinted down toward the second level.

Chen Cao rushed to the far end of the second-tier corridor where the fishing net was secured, and blurted out, "What happened?!"

"Oo—Oogi fell in!" Karissa cried out in panic.

"What? What were you all doing?!" Chen Cao frowned, failing to notice that Karissa, who had just been reprimanded, had reddened eyes. He leaned over the edge and looked down. Oogi had already drifted quite a distance away, splashing about in the water. It appeared he knew how to swim, and within moments, he had paddled back close to the ship. A slight sense of relief washed over Chen Cao, and he called out, "Oogi... you... swim faster!"

Seeing that Oogi could swim, Chen Cao's tension had initially eased, but as he scanned the surrounding water more closely, a wave of anxiety abruptly seized him, for he spotted several shadowy, floating forms slowly lifting their heads not far from Oogi.