Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

Zhang Haiyan soon got an answer.

There were about eight hundred people on the ship. If four people shared a room, then that meant that there were about two hundred rooms. In the event of an emergency, the captain of the ship had the right to impose a curfew and require all passengers to stay in their cabins in order to control the situation.

As the ship began to broadcast the news non-stop, Zhang Haiyan could already feel that this matter had become very troublesome.

Everyone rushed to their rooms, and Zhang Haiyan mixed in with the crowd and walked out. He saw Warner directing Hudson to check the fourth floor of the first-class cabin.

This meant that they were going to check Steven’s room, which He Jianxi and Steven were still in. During the ship-wide curfew, everyone had to stay in their own rooms. Otherwise, they would be arrested and possibly shot on the spot, whether they were suspects or not. (It was war time after all.)

Everyone had to have a legal room to stay in. Even if he immediately brought He Jianxi and Steven back to his own room, Warner would definitely come to check. All he could do now was break Steven’s neck and throw him into the sea. He Jianxi had to return to the third-class cabin immediately, or they would all suffer.

But Warner and the others moved very fast, and he didn’t dare run for fear of arousing suspicion. There might not be any way to do it so seamlessly.

He Jianxi, ah, He Jianxi. If it were Zhang Haixia, he would definitely react and do something. But He Jianxi can’t be counted on.

As Zhang Haiyan followed the crowd, he passed by a killer who was disguised as a waiter. They both looked at each other, but neither took action.

When Zhang Haiyan made it to the corridor, he suddenly realized something. He looked back and saw Miss Dong walking out of the ballroom with the gunmen. They had submachine guns in their hands and were pulling the bolts back.

Warner followed her. “If Miss Dong can’t find what I’ve lost, we might not go to Xiamen. Miss Dong, your father will have to pay more to get the boat back to shore.”

“You used the Egyptian Museum’s collection to make a deal with me. You’re such a scoundrel. Do they know you’re doing this?”

“To exchange one Central Asian national treasure for the smuggling rights to China’s ten national treasures is certainly a suitable deal. But it’s not appropriate if the jade is lost.”

“Then you can’t go to Central Asia anymore. You’ll be a wanted criminal in the United States. Your academic status will be destroyed,” Miss Dong said. “Which means you’re doomed if you lose the jade.”

“We will be doomed, Miss Dong.”

Miss Dong took out a stack of notes from her clothes, which turned out to be the notes Zhang Haiyan had given her. She looked at them and said, “Well, since we’ll have the same fate, Mr. Warner, please give me the right to command the gunmen. I’ll help you get the jade back tonight and we’ll talk about our new deal afterwards.”

When Warner looked at the people behind them and nodded, Miss Dong said to the gunmen, “Gentlemen, there are no rules. Whether they are children, adults, old people, or women, as long as I give the command, you will shoot immediately. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee your safety.”

The gunmen looked at each other and Miss Down moved forward quickly. Zhang Haiyan decided to take a break and lit a cigarette. He noticed that all the killers were looking at him from among the crowd, but they didn’t dare attack him.

This was a truly interesting situation.

Zhang Haiyan had confirmed a few things after this most recent series of events. First, Miss Dong had been in a state of house arrest before tonight, but she gained control of the gunmen because of his actions. Second, she knew a lot of things that happened on this ship. Third—and most importantly—was that whether he wanted to cooperate with her or abduct her to control the ship, he didn’t want to hurt her. But Miss Dong was the complete opposite. For her, Zhang Haiyan and all those who might kill her needed to be eradicated tonight.

There was nothing wrong with her line of thinking. He would do the same if it were him.

But he didn’t know why Miss Dong would think someone on the ship wanted to kill her. She had taken advantage of the gunmen’s strong firepower and the killers’ weakness to make this move. It was very risky, but also very clever.

If the killers assembled and fought against the gunmen on the deck, they would be wiped out by a barrage of bullets in an instant.

That was why the gunmen hadn’t separated since they got on the ship. It had always been a fixed concentrated firepower advantage. Until now, this group of people still had all their guns together.

As a result, separating the gunmen and slowly consuming their firepower wouldn’t work.

Since they couldn’t do it the hard way, the killers now had two options.

One was to stay outside and get caught because of the ship-wide curfew. If they resisted, they would be shot on the spot.

The other was to go back to their rooms, where they would be divided into groups of two or three because of the room limitations. With the firepower of dozens of submachine guns, they were basically waiting for Miss Dong to go from room to room and kill them.

The second one will work as long as she knows who the killers are, and she knows who they are because I told her.

Zhang Haiyan felt very conflicted about this. His plan of abducting Miss Dong and using her to deal with the killers couldn’t be executed anymore because she was already on it. Her plan was more well-rounded than his, and with her skills, it would be very difficult for the killers to fight back. They would definitely be killed this time.

Another problem was that Zhang Haiyan was also seen as a killer. And based on the direction they were walking in, he was likely to be the first one killed.

Zhang Haiyan rushed back to his own room. He had already figured out a general plan. Steven. I have to deal with Steven first.

He didn’t want to kill Steven, but if he didn’t, the three of them would have to go on an adventure and stay away from the ship for several hours.

“Cousin, pack your things. We’ve got to jump into the sea.” Zhang Haiyan walked into the room and found that Steven and He Jianxi were gone.

He froze for a moment and discovered that the lamp chord that had been wrapped around Steven had been cut by a knife.

He recalled that when he left the room, He Jianxi didn’t say much but Steven kept talking. He didn’t think there was a problem at the time, but now that he thought about it carefully…

He Jianxi, this idiot. Is it possible that he was fooled by Steven and let him go?

Zhang Haiyan suddenly felt like he was Wu Dalang (1). These two adulterers.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard He Jianxi’s screams coming from the balcony. He went up to the window, looked around, and saw Steven and He Jianxi.

The both of them had been knocked to the ground and Warner was tugging on Steven’s face. Off to the side, Hudson drew his gun and put it to the back of He Jianxi’s head.

****

TN Notes:

(1) Wu Dalang, also translated as Wu the Elder, is a major character in the classic Chinese novel “The Plum in the Golden Vase”, and a minor character in the “Water Margin”, another classic. In both novels, he is murdered by his adulterous wife Pan Jinlian. Wiki link on him here