Chapter 146 - 138: The Puzzle of the Third Rebirth is Complete

Chapter 146: Chapter 138: The Puzzle of the Third Rebirth is Complete

"Lower, lower, lower... good!"

Under the dispatcher’s command, three gantry cranes at A Port’s entrance moved six shipping containers into position, just as Yu Dong had requested.

The containers were arranged in three pairs, with each pair facing the other across a roughly two-meter gap.

The three pairs were laid out in parallel, spread evenly along the 500-meter defensive line Yu Dong and his team had envisioned.

Yu Dong patted the dispatcher on the shoulder.

"You did a good job, buddy. Tell those crane operators to stay in their control rooms and not come out. There’s more work for them at 7:00..."

"Okay... okay. Can you put the knife down first? I think my neck is bleeding..."

"I did it on purpose. Just to make sure you didn’t think I wouldn’t dare to kill you. It makes things easier for us this way."

Yu Dong explained with a chuckle.

The dispatcher at the checkpoint broke out in a cold sweat. In his eyes... Yu Dong was nothing short of a madman operating outside the law!

’It’s over, I’m screwed! I’m tangled up in something huge!’

’I saw his face... Am I going to get out of here alive?’

Despair!

Yu Dong glanced at his watch. It was already 6:20.

Most of the people at the port had been evacuated. He dialed Sun Shan’s number.

"Time for you to move in."

RUMBLE RUMBLE~~~

Two large excavators rumbled down the street to the entrance of A Port, their buckets filled with piles of wooden planks.

Three grimy vans followed close behind.

Sun Shan jumped out of one of the vans, followed by fifty workers disembarking from the excavators and other vans.

"It’s an urgent job at the port! A thousand bucks for the day, cash on completion! Let’s get a move on, everyone!"

"Alright!"

These were all construction and renovation workers who had worked with Sun Shan before—excavator operators, electricians, as well as some general laborers and masons...

When they heard Sun Shan had a gig that paid a thousand for a day’s work, they immediately dropped what they were doing and rushed over to get in on it.

For these workers, taking jobs was like celebrities rushing between gigs. Even in the middle of a big project, they’d take a day off to secretly take on a smaller job that paid more for less work.

A thousand bucks for one day was equal to two or three days of their usual wages, and for less work. Only a fool would pass it up.

Sun Shan looked at the thick smoke rising from inside the port, and his eyelid twitched violently.

’Holy crap... What the hell is this Hacker-bro trying to pull?’

’Ah, forget it. I don’t know anything. I’ll just finish the job and run.’

’I’m just a lowly hired hand. This has nothing to do with me.’

To this day, Sun Shan still couldn’t figure out what Yu Dong and his people were really after. They were always talking about ’the team,’ ’comrades,’ ’surviving together’...

’Sounds like a bunch of cringe from an anime.’

Sun Shan shook his head and began directing the workers according to Yu Dong’s instructions.

By now, the thick smoke had started to die down. The wind was blowing it toward the cruise ship, so it didn’t affect the entrance where they were at all.

Most of the personnel at A Port had fled, and a large crowd of local residents gathered outside to watch as Sun Shan and his crew entered the scene.

"Wow, the authorities are responding pretty fast!"

"They’ve already sent in a work crew."

"But... shouldn’t they be sending in fire trucks? Why the excavators?"

Sun Shan directed two of his men to drive the two newly rented large excavators further into the port and unload the wooden planks from their buckets onto the ground.

"Half of you, build a wooden ramp! The other half, go to the warehouse and haul out all the barricades!"

The workers quickly assembled the planks against one end of the three containers on the north side of A Port, creating a makeshift wooden ramp that people could use to easily climb atop the 2.5-meter-high containers.

The other group of workers opened a nearby warehouse, dragged out rows of metal barricades, and began setting up a defensive line around the three containers on the south side.

After quickly dragging them into position, they wheeled out carts loaded with pre-filled sandbags. They placed the bags behind the barricades, using them in conjunction with the barricades’ own locking mechanisms to anchor them firmly to the ground.

Without heavy machinery, it would be impossible to push them from the outside.

With fifty skilled workers on the job, the 500-meter-long makeshift barricade was finished in just twenty minutes.

"Done!"

"Brother Sun, we have a problem... How are we supposed to get out later? Climbing over those things looks pretty dangerous."

At that, thirty of the workers looked toward Sun Shan.

The front of the barricades was covered in spikes!

They weren’t sharp, but getting poked in a sensitive area by one of those... was no laughing matter.

"What’s the rush! We’re not done yet. You think you’re getting a thousand bucks for this little bit of work? Would you even feel right taking that money?"

Meanwhile, Yu Dong had tied up the dispatcher and locked him in a room. The other two staff members he had knocked out were also bound and locked in separate rooms.

The smoke Zhou had set off had mostly dissipated by now.

Yu Dong walked out of the dispatch office. Seeing A Port completely sealed off by the barricades and shipping containers, the tension in his chest finally eased.

"Hey! Brother Dong! Brother Dong!"

"How do we get in?"

Two people were shouting from within the crowd gathered outside.

Yan Yikai and Zhao Wenjie had arrived.

"Climb onto the outer container first, then... jump across!"

The six containers were arranged in three pairs.

The containers on the north side stood outside the barricades, while the containers on the south side were flush against them, forming a part of the defensive line.

The two climbed the wooden ramp onto the northern container and ran to the other end. A two-meter gap separated them from the southern container.

Zhao Wenjie’s scalp tingled. "It’s too far. I can’t make it across."

Yan Yikai sized up the distance for a moment before saying, "It’s doable. As long as you really go for it, you can make it. Watch me..."

He took a few steps back, got a running start, and easily cleared the two-meter gap to land on the southern container.

Zhao Wenjie backed up even further, gritted his teeth, and mimicked Yan Yikai’s running start...

"Hah!"

And leaped across.

"See? Simple, right? As long as you can overcome your fear, you can make the jump."

Yan Yikai and Zhao Wenjie climbed down from the southern container and entered the area behind the barricades. Yu Dong told them to head to the cruise ship and wait for 7:00 to arrive.

Yu Dong glanced at the time. It was already 6:41.

’Where’s Officer Wang? He’s not going to bail on me, is he...’

He’s the only one left!

Sirens wailed outside.

Two fire trucks pulled up.

When they reached the entrance to A Port and saw the road sealed off by barricades, the fire captain’s face fell.

"Which bastard did this?! Tear it down!"

The firefighters jumped from their trucks, grabbed their tools, and prepared to dismantle the barricades so the fire trucks could drive in.

They were all holding breaching tools. Combined with the towing power of the fire trucks, they could easily tear through these simple defenses.

Inside the barricade, Sun Shan facepalmed.

’This makes us look like a bunch of clowns!’

He had them all rush to finish the job, and now it was about to be torn down immediately.

The other workers were completely bewildered. "Didn’t the port authorities tell us to do this? Why are we going up against the fire department?"

"Hey, Sun, what’s going on? I’m totally lost on this job."

"Do we still get paid if they tear it down?"

Sun Shan was already numb. He felt he had done what was asked of him. If Yu Dong decided to hold it against him... well, there was nothing he could do. It’s not like he could stop the firefighters, right?

"Let’s just leave it at that. Whatever happens, happens. Once they’re done tearing it down, we’ll leave. Don’t worry about the pay—it’s already been transferred to me. I’ll pay everyone when we get back."

Hearing this, the others stopped worrying.

The job the client wanted was idiotic, but a client who pays on time is the best kind of client there is.

Idiotically awesome!

The commotion drew an ever-larger crowd of onlookers onto the street outside!

Workers who had just left the port and were waiting to resume hauling cargo, nearby cyclists and pedestrians out for a stroll, and a large number of tourists who had traveled from all over for the cruise all came out of their nearby hotels and inns to see what the commotion was about.

Many of the cruise ship’s staff—chefs, waiters, receptionists, performers, beauticians, and so on—also lived in the area. The billowing smoke had drawn them over, anxious to see what had happened to the ship.

The crowd was packed three layers deep and then some. The area outside A Port was completely swarmed with people!

The air was thick with chatter and speculation.

Just as the firefighters were about to start breaching the barricade, a voice boomed from the numerous loudspeakers outside the port.

"Nobody move! I have explosives here! Come any closer and I’ll detonate them and blow up the entire port!"

The firefighters froze in shock!

Their captain immediately yelled, "Hold your positions!"

’Damn it, we’re dealing with a real pro!’

’Can’t be reckless with this. The port was on fire just now, and it smelled of chemicals. This is definitely not a simple fire...’

The fire captain took out a bullhorn and shouted toward the port, "Please don’t do anything rash! We won’t move! We can talk! We can negotiate anything! There’s no need for this!"

He stiffly tried his hand at playing the role of a negotiator.

The onlookers were startled and began to back away, but the gawkers further back couldn’t hear what was happening up front and kept pushing forward to get a better look.

One heckler who enjoyed the chaos shouted:

"Then do it! Stop bluffing!"

The scene was utter chaos.

Yu Dong saw the time was drawing near. Only twelve minutes until the virus outbreak!

He shouted into the microphone from inside the checkpoint:

"Get Wang Dingbei from Huangyang Port! I want to speak with him! Immediately! Or I’ll detonate! Don’t doubt my determination!"

Just then, a middle-aged man in a police uniform walked over from outside and climbed onto one of the containers.

Wang Dingbei listened to the shouts from inside and surveyed the scene outside, his face grim. He took the bullhorn from the fire captain’s hands.

"Yu Dong! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Get your ass out here right now!"

Hearing that familiar voice, Yu Dong smiled.

’Everyone’s here.’

’The puzzle of this new life... is finally complete.’

He had gathered everyone he needed at A Port in Huangyang Port.

He had done it!

With ten minutes left until the S-Virus outbreak, Yu Dong had one last thing to do...

...

Meanwhile, aboard the cruise ship, Zhao Youcai smiled as he observed the scene outside through a pair of binoculars.

"Everyone’s here. Dongzi is about to begin his speech."

"Dongzi’s last dance before the apocalypse."

Huang Zhiqiang found it all unbelievable. They were just ordinary college students, yet they had blackmailed the richest man in the city, taken down twelve thugs, arrested a stalker, stockpiled chemicals, hijacked a cruise ship, directed thousands of people, and sealed off a port...

One step after another, each part interlinked, every move carefully planned, all leading up to these last ten minutes before the apocalypse!

In Huang Zhiqiang’s mind, Yu Dong was practically a god!

These past seven days had been more exciting than the entire last year of his life.

Liu Ye’ye had gone below deck to meet up with Shen Xinyi and Wang Xiuying, leaving just the two of them watching from the captain’s office.

Just as the two were basking in the joy of their impending success... a knock sounded at the door.

"Chen? Chen, are you in there? Why aren’t you answering your phone?"

Zhao Youcai’s expression sharpened. He glanced at the bound Chen Guangzong, pressed a dagger to his throat, and raised a finger to his own lips.

"Shhh..."

Chen Guangzong blinked in terror, signaling that he understood.

After a few more knocks... CLICK!

Xu David used a key to unlock the door to the captain’s office.

He pushed the door open and came face-to-face with the astonished eyes of Zhao Youcai and Huang Zhiqiang.

The four people in the room: !!!