YM778.TV Chapter 156 The Explosion Method
Chapter 156 The Explosion Method
"Kermit, pass my message on to the 11 fleet marshals. Tell them that from today onwards, all of them are not go near Cruiser-01 to 05 at the Gulf of Eden." Abadi sat on an armchair with ivory handles, his gaze intense.
"Leader, didn’t he mention that, as long as we discover them once, he will pay us 50,000 US Dollars?" Kermit stood at the side with a puzzled expression.
"50,000 US Dollars? Do you think that 50,000 US Dollars is beneficial to us? Is it worth the oil used to venture out into the ocean?" Abadi asked, as he turned his head and gave a condescending smile. Soon after this, he began to stroke his beard.
"This person must have an influential background. He either has connections with one of the elite families or holds a large amount of political power. Since we cannot harm him, we might as well curry favor with him."
Although Abadi was not familiar with the proverb "a barefoot person is not afraid of one with shoes," it did not stop him from understanding its meaning. If he were to go against the opposing party, it’s highly likely that he would be fighting a losing battle.
Since his base was here, the opposing party could simply send out submarines to attack them at anytime. As for his ships, perhaps the moment they reached the Somalian sea, what awaited them would only be the wrath of navies from various countries.
"Yes, sir!" Kermit saluted him.
...
However, the influential person whom Abadi spoke of was currently lazing on the couch, watching television.
"Yun Meng, how are your studies coming along? Can you understand what the teachers are teaching?"
"Most subjects are alright, but Mathematics is slightly more difficult." Yun Meng sat beside Chen Fan, using a fruit knife to skillfully peel a crystal honey pear. "Big Brother Chen Fan, can I major in English in the future?"
"Major in English?" Chen Fan sat up straight on the couch. "Other than translating for people, there’s no other use for that, right?"
"I wish to become your translator in the future!" Yun Meng tore strips of fruit skin off the pear, then fed the crystal-like fruit to Chen Fan before, nestling in his arms.
"No worries. Once I am rich, I will ask those foreigners to bring a Chinese translator with them for me." Chen Fan laughed loudly, subsequently causing him to choke on a piece of pear.
Extending his arms around Yun Meng’s waist, Chen Fan pulled her body closer into his embrace. Yun Meng always had this faint milk-like smell on her. It was a comforting scent.
"The following is the broadcasting stations’ latest news. At 10 o’clock this morning, there was a robbery in a gold shop at Xinhua Street. There were two hoodlums involved. After injuring two staff with a chopper and a sledgehammer, they smashed the counters and stole gold accessories worth over 200,000 Chinese Yuan."
The broadcaster pointed at the wrecked door of the gold shop, while reporting emotionally. "These two hoodlums were very vicious. One of the staff, who suffered a head injury, has yet to recover from the life-threatening wound. These are the body features and heights of the two hoodlums. If any citizens spot suspects with similar characteristics, please contact the police immediately. Those who provide important clues will be rewarded RMB 30,000..."
"Xinhua Street... Isn’t that near the place where I encountered a bear?" Chen Fan patted Yun Meng’s shoulders. "It is already 20 minutes past one o’clock, time for you to go to school."
Yun Meng, who was lying on Chen Fan’s shoulders, gently agreed. After about 10 seconds, she said, "Big Brother Chen Fan, I will go to school now!"
"Okay, go ahead."
Muah...
Yun Meng hastily kissed Chen Fan on his cheek, then ran away in a panic, like a kid who has just done something wrong.
"Wait for a moment!" Chen Fan’s voice stopped Yun Meng at the corner of the staircase.
"Let me send you to school. I can’t feel at ease after that news broadcast."
"Okay..." Yun Meng gently nodded her head, her small face blushing. She did not dare look at Chen Fan, so she intertwined her fingers and looked at her feet instead.
After sending Yun Meng to school, Chen Fan went to his office to validate and sign for the most recent delivery. The large ship that he owned had just returned from Korea with goods. It was prepared to leave head onward to Indonesia after three days of rest.
The two 5,000-ton small boats were disposed of by Chen Fan, which he replaced with two 10,000-ton bulk carriers that were launched in the year 2008.
The owner was a Hokkien. With the combination of the amount Chen Fan got from the sale of those two small boats, together with all the Renminbi savings he had, he was barely able to scrounge up the required purchase amount.
In other words, Chen Fan was only left with 260 million US Dollars...
Of course, the three company-owned 10,000 ton cargo ships that had just come back from Korea would bring in a net profit of 3 million Renminbi after the deduction of oil costs, labor costs, and ship maintenance fees. Thus, Chen Fan was not worried at all about having sufficient funds.
"Three million..." If this was a year ago, Chen Fan would have even agreed to run around naked for such an amount!
After cross-checking the company’s accounts, Chen Fan went back home to continue the electric eel’s excavation work.
The big mysterious hole that had been excavated by the electric eel now had a depth of at least 70 meters. According to the current speed of digging, it would only require another month for the hole to be completely excavated. One month was neither too long nor too short, in Chen Fan’s opinion.
However, this time, Chen Fan wanted to try using the explosion method to excavate the big hole. If it worked, the speed would undoubtedly improve drastically. The explosion method was not necessarily a new method. First, the point of explosion was calculated and marked on the wall. Next, explosives were filled, and after hearing the "Boom" sound, the task would be complete!
Of course, the aforementioned method was the normal technical way of implementing the explosion method. However, the electric eel did not have drills to make holes, nor did it possess TNT explosives to make an explosion. Thus, it could only use an unorthodox method. Besides, whether the explosion method worked or not could only be determined after its execution.
The explosion occurs when substances undergo chemical or physical reactions at a high speed. During that process, it will rapidly release an enormous amount of heat and gas. At this moment, due to the fact that the gas was abruptly confined within a limited space, the intensity of that pressure would produce an overwhelming force on the objects surrounding the point of explosion. When the gas expands rapidly, due to the high pressure, an explosion occurs.
For easily flammable objects that are placed within a cramped area, as long as they are allowed to burn within that area, it would also trigger an explosion effect. The only varying difference would be the degree of impact.
Ever since it swallowed a large amount of ghost moon incense, the electric eel had been able to spit out clear green liquid that was highly flammable. This type of liquid burned rapidly, like gasoline with added phosphorus. Previously, at the seabed, which was nearly 4,000 meters deep, the electric eel used the water pressure, which could squash a tightly sealed tank into flat chunks of metal, as the outer shell in order to blast a big white fish to death.
Although this place only had a depth of around 300 meters, with such weak pressure, it would not form a conducive environment for an explosion. However, Chen Fan could use something else as the outer pressure shell. For example, the walls of the big hole...
After controlling the electric eel to gently remove the long spear, which was nailed into the walls of the big hole for about 10 meters deep, the electric eel quickly compressed the poisonous sac in its stomach in order to pour a stream of clear green liquid into the hole.
The clear green liquid dissolved slower in water. Thus, when the seawater was squeezed out from the hole, there was no green color to be seen at all.
The electric eel would definitely not be able to completely fill up a hole of 10 meters deep with a diameter of 0.5 meters. In fact, the electric eel had only filled to roughly 0.5 meters deep, before it plunged the long spear in again.
Generally speaking, the force of an explosion depends greatly on the pressure body’s level of endurance. For example, a firecracker wrapped with paper versus another with iron sheets would have different degrees of explosive force, despite their having the same amount of gunpowder.
The electric eel reinserted the long spear back into the hole. Following the same logic, the higher the degree of compactness around the liquid, the greater the destructive power.
Looking at the long spear, which was exposed for 20 meters out from the hole, the electric eel swam 50 meters downwards by swinging its tail. Then, using its claw, it held on to the soil. Meanwhile,its whole body, which was filled with black scales, suddenly shone with bright blue sparks!
The electric current, which was up to 20,000 volts, followed along the long spear, before reaching the inner space of the wall. Like throwing a cigarette butt into a room filled with gunpowder, a vicious chain of reaction was set off within 0.001 seconds.
Rumble!
A large noise came from above the electric eel’s head. Its head felt like it was a bronze bell that had just been rung by a monk, buzzing non-stop.
As for the hole, it was also as if an earthquake measuring eight on the Richter scale had occurred, for it shook like a sieve for two seconds, before all the soil and rocks came crashing down on the electric eel. It was so densely compact, the electric eel could not find even a trace of a gap at all!
However, even these conditions did not constitute a true threat towards the electric eel at all. With a few swings of its tail, its body pierced through the layer of soil, just like a sharp sword piercing through paper.
"Pooh pooh pooh..." After spitting the soil in its mouth out a few times, the electric eel looked at his own masterpiece, the arc of its mouth spreading widely.
Looking at the previous location, a large hole of 15 meters deep and 10 meters wide had now appeared. That long spear had also been instantly sent flying, and was struck nearly 20 meters deep into the opposite soil, due to the influx of a huge instantaneous pressure.
"Now that’s awesome!" Chen Fan trembled with happiness. This was faster than any other excavation method by far. If it had not been for the limited amount of poisonous liquid, Chen Fan was confident that he could have settled this hole within three days.
Based on the explosion method used just now, the electric eel could only cause five similar explosions with a day’s worth of poisonous liquid. The only thing that caused Chen Fan to have a headache was the issue of the time needed to transport such a large amount of soil...
At six o’clock in the evening at Guangkai Road, near Catherine’s Love...
A sorrowful autumn wind blew at Wu Ruoyu’s hair, near her temples. Sitting underneath a Sycamore tree, which covered the ground with its golden leaves, she mused over an issue, while holding onto her phone with both hands.
She was hesitating to call a number. It was a number whose owner she had once said very harsh words to...
The wind blew a few pieces of leaves over, awakening her from her daydream. Brushing away the leaves that were now on her white trousers, Wu Ruoyu sighed and stood up from the bench.
"The weather is getting colder!" Wu Ruoyu tightened her coffee-coloured jacket around her body, before entering her car.
The call was prepared to be directed towards Chen Fan. She wanted to request a favor of Chen Fan, something that could only be done by him.
Leaning on her seat, Wu Ruoyu hesitated for another 10 minutes, before finally deciding to call him. Now, she could only pray that Chen Fan had already forgotten about what she had previously said! Otherwise, it would be very embarrassing for her, should he bring it up.
Pressing the numbers, Wu Ruoyu’s heart was thumping loudly, like a nervous daughter-in-law about to meet her future in-laws.
"Hello?" It did not take long before a lazy-sounding voice was heard from the other end of the call.
"Chen... Chen... Chen Fan, I am Wu Ruoyu. I... I... I want..." Wu Ruoyu felt her face burning as she stuttered into the phone. This was such a great embarrassment for her.
"Huh?" The voice at the other end answered with a surprised tone. "Do you need me for anything?"
Chen Fan had been busy fiddling with his electric eel when the phone started ringing, so he had not looked at the displayed caller ID.
"I need... I need you to do me a favor..." With her left hand holding the phone and her right hand touching her burning cheeks, Wu Ruoyu was hanging her head so low that it could have touched her stomach. "Can you come over to Catherine’s Love? It’s... It’s that same place that we came together previously."
"Okay, I will be there in half an hour!" To her great relief, there was no hesitation from his end of the call.
After hanging up, she returned her phone to her pocket. Wu Ruoyu then let out a long sigh of relief. When she looked into the rearview mirror, she was shocked by her appearance. Her cheeks looked as if a thick layer of rouge had been applied on them. Even her neck had turned red.
"What should I do after he shows up?" Rubbing her burning cheeks, Wu Ruoyu found herself in a new dilemma.
Bang! Bang!
The sound of two car doors opening and closing woke her from her dilemma. The moment she turned around, she felt like a kitten that had gotten its tail stepped on by another person. She got goosebumps, and her red cheeks instantly turned a pale white.
"Big Brother, it’s a super beautiful foreign girl!" The guy who was speaking sat in the back row. With his black coat, sunglasses, and stubble on his chin, he looked eerily similar to Zhang Yaoyang from the series, Young and Dangerous.
"Hehe!" The guy sitting in the front row, who was wearing sunglasses and a grey jacket, raised his head. He had a gentle look about him. His skin was also extremely fair compared to other men. As Wang Bing would have said, this guy has a "pretty boy" face.
Just as Wu Ruoyu realized something was wrong and wanted to open the door to escape, a glistening knife was pointed to her back, which halted her movement.
"Little girl, do you understand Mandarin?" The guy in the front row grabbed the white handbag that was on the passenger seat, unzipped it, then started pouring out its contents.
Wallet, keys, mirror, phone, facial tissue, lipstick...
Everything was scattered between the legs of the man wearing a jacket. Perhaps it was because of Wu Ruoyu’s natural beauty, but she had no need for makeup. There was not much of women’s essentials to be seen, such as foundation, mascara, or the like!
"It appears that you do understand Mandarin!" The gentle looking guy in the grey jacket raised up the phone in his hand and said, "A mandarin operating system. You better not tell me that you only know how to read Mandarin characters, but do not know how to speak them!"
After he was done talking, he removed the phone’s battery and threw it in the trunk. As for the other items, such as her wallet, he swept them all under his feet.
"You... What are you guys trying to do?" Wu Ruoyu spoke with the typical slang that foreigners use when speaking Mandarin. "I am warning you two, according to China’s laws, robbing a foreigner would result in... the death penalty! Once this sort of case happens, it would at least... require the security bureau to carry out an investigation."
Once Wu Ruoyu said this, the expression of the two men’s faces changed. The veins, now visible on the forehead of the guy in the front row, started twitching non-stop.
"Big Brother, what should we do?" The guy in black clothes, who looked like Zhang Yaoyang, moved his head forward and gave a trusting look, without any hesitation, implying that he would follow whatever the other said.
The guy sitting in front looked at Wu Ruoyu’s foreign face, then looked back towards the front, before taking out a knife from his pocket. He then said with a sullen expression, "Fasten your seatbelt and start the car!"
"Two... Big... Big brothers. Where... Where are we going? I am not... not familiar with this area." Despite knowing that her wearing the safety belt would prevent any chances of her opening the door and escaping, she could only obey the orders given, as there was a cold blade pointed at her neck.
"Keep driving straight ahead!" The man stared motionlessly at the front, until Wu Ruoyu started the car’s engine. He then removed his glasses and said, "Lok Zai, keep your eyes on the rear, to see if there are any men chasing after us!"
"Understood, big brother!" Lok Zai also removed his glasses, revealing a cold expression and a wolf-like gaze.
"Shoot... I am a goner this time..." The gaze of the two men told her that she should not have told them that robbing a foreigner would result in the death penalty. She may have overdone it this time, and the consequences of her statement seemed like they would be very severe!
Wu Ruoyu began to question herself as to why she had to said that. Judging from their tones and actions, it was obvious to her what would happen next!
Wu Ruoyu... Wu Ruoyu... You’ve got to stay calm. Calm down and think of a way to get out of this predicament!
Wu Ruoyu tried to drive slowly, as her brain processed her thoughts at a high speed. Her current location was at the busy intersection of Zhongyun, Guangkai Road.
The time was 10 minutes past six o’clock in the evening. It would take an hour’s drive to reach the city’s outskirts. Based on the two men’s behavior, they probably just wanted to steal her car initially, but as a result of what she had said, they now possessed a killing motive.
The first thing that came to Wu Ruoyu’s mind was to call someone. Fortunately, she usually carried along two handphones: one for work and the other for personal use. The phone that got its battery removed earlier, was the one that she used for work purposes.
"Step on it!" The guy with the grey jacket said with a deep voice. "You better not try to pull any tricks, because the knife in my hand will surely be faster than you. Even if you purposely crash into a police car, we will still be able to react faster than the policemen and send you to see your maker."
"Big... Big brother... There is a red...red light ahead, so I gotta decelerate..." said Wu Ruoyu with a tone that sounded like she was about to cry. "If.. If I run through the red light, the... the police will come after us..."
"Hmph!" The man in the grey jacket gripped the knife tighter, which was his way of approving her request tacitly.
"The red light still has 60 seconds to go..." Wu Ruoyu’s face was as pale as a piece of white paper.
She did not dare to look at the two men. Instead, she silently analyzed ways that she could request for help, using the phone in her left pocket.
Call the police...
Wu Ruoyu was confident that she could unlock her phone and dial 110 without looking at the dial pad. However, these series of actions would require at least 10 seconds, and she would not be able to speak immediately. She could only hope that the operator who picked up the call would not treat it as a prank call and hang up on her.
Wu Ruoyu felt that the chances of the operator not hanging up on the call was almost similar to the two men letting her off kindly after her begging with a soft voice: slim to none! For the operator to not hang up on her call, she would need to use some method to hint at the operator within those initial 10 seconds.
She figured that there were two ways to give the hint. The first way was to shout loudly for help. The other method was to turn on the hands-free mode, which would allow her voice to reach the phone.
Hands-free mode was definitely out of the question, because a sentence of "Hi, this is the 110 police call center..." would only result in her death. It would also not work, even if she were to press the speaker after waiting for that sentence to end.
If the operator said "Hello? Please speak. Hello? Can you please speak? Otherwise, I am ending this call..." Wu Ruoyu would still end up dead!
How about shouting loudly for help?
Wu Ruoyu hesitated on this thought for a few seconds, before concluding that the risk was too big. So, excluding the police, Wu Ruoyu could only place her last hopes onto Chen Fan.
She guessed that it had been 10 minutes since she had invited Chen Fan to meet her at Catherine’s Love. Since he had said that he would be arriving in half an hour’s time, he would definitely give her a call once he realized that she was not there.
At the present, there were 30 more seconds for the red light. Wu Ruoyu slightly turned her head to peek at the man beside her. His knife was placed horizontally on his lap, as he looked between her and outside the window alternately.
Her phone was on vibrate mode. If Chen Fan called, she merely needed to put up a facade, and the person beside her should not be able to realize anything.
Putting her hand into her pocket to press on the accept call button would probably take two seconds, so she should not be exposed if she was careful. Even if she didn’t put it on speaker, and Chen Fan was unable to hear anything, he wouldn’t hang up the call so easily.
Then, even if he did hang up, he would definitely call again. Once this repeated for a few times, it would definitely raise his suspicions! Her job during this time was to ensure that Chen Fan understood the predicament she was in.
"Turn left in front," the guy with the grey jacket said, when the red light was left with only three more seconds.
The street lights had lit up now, and cars had turned on their xenon headlights. This gradually made Wu Ruoyu’s wishful thoughts turn hopeless. She understood that, even if Chen Fan lodged a police report and the police tracked her position based on her handphone signal, it would not be of much use, as the dark sky would inhibit the police from looking at the situation inside the car, not to mention rescuing her!
Wu Ruoyu held on to the steering wheel with both hands. She decided that, if they instruct her to step out of the car, she would just continue stepping on the accelerator.
Just then, the hidden phone in Wu Ruoyu’s left pocket suddenly vibrated.