Chapter 174 - 150: Magpie Hanjin, All Idiots

Chapter 174: Chapter 150: Magpie Hanjin, All Idiots

Hearing Lu Jiamei’s words, Qin Haonan froze for a moment before his expression twisted in anger. "Sister Mei, are you saying this fleet is coming for our base?"

"It’s very likely!" Lu Jiamei nodded slightly. "Ships like these wouldn’t form an alliance so easily. They must be targeting us, Peach Blossom Base, for our food!"

"I get it now!" Qin Haonan’s face lit with realization before twisting into a sneer. "When the Lvzhi Country was slaughtering our compatriots, you didn’t see them uniting against a foreign enemy. But now that Lvzhi Country has been driven off, they turn green with envy and gang up the second they see their own countrymen have some food?"

"Too bad for them, they picked the wrong opponent," Lu Jiamei said with a cold laugh.

"So what’s the plan? Do we just stay here and watch them fight?" Qin Haonan asked, frowning.

Lu Jiamei pondered for a moment. "We’ll complete our primary mission first. Then, we can sit back and watch them tear each other apart."

"Right!" Qin Haonan nodded, then steered the speedboat to continue their approach toward the five large ships.

Suspecting other large ships might be approaching, Lu Jiamei scanned the surrounding sea with intense focus.

"This distance should be about right."

Ten minutes later, Lu Jiamei called for them to stop the speedboat.

Qin Haonan immediately cut the engine. From this distance, he could only make out the vague silhouettes of the large ships.

He shook his head in resignation and began scanning in other directions.

Lu Jiamei, however, concentrated on the five large ships, trying to find any markings that could reveal their identity.

After watching for a good while, Lu Jiamei finally spotted three capital letters on the hull of one of the ships: "HJS." There was smaller text next to it, but she was too far away to make it out.

"Sister Mei, I think I hear a speedboat to our right!" Qin Haonan suddenly warned.

Lu Jiamei whipped her head to the right and saw a speedboat rapidly closing in on them.

"Let’s get out of here!" Lu Jiamei ordered in a low voice.

Qin Haonan immediately started the engine and veered left. They had just started moving and hadn’t picked up full speed yet, so the distance between them kept shrinking.

Lu Jiamei carefully watched the approaching speedboat and noticed some strange-looking symbols painted on its side.

’Is that some kind of script?’ Lu Jiamei wondered, her brow furrowed.

As Qin Haonan pushed the engine to maximum speed, they stopped losing ground. However, the other boat only pursued them for a short time before turning back.

"They’re giving up?" Qin Haonan asked in surprise.

"They must be worried we have an ambush waiting," Lu Jiamei replied.

Qin Haonan paused, then nodded. "So, should we go back for another look? They obviously don’t have the guts to chase us too far."

"Not right now." Lu Jiamei shook her head. "First, I’ll report the situation to the Leader." She immediately initiated a video call with Ren Yuanyang.

"Leader, I spotted the letters ’HJS’ on the hull of one of their ships," Lu Jiamei reported concisely. "I also saw some symbols on the speedboat that pursued us. It looked like some kind of writing. I’ll sketch it out and send it to you."

"You were spotted?" Ren Yuanyang’s brow furrowed. "Be careful out there. How fast was their boat?"

"We were, but don’t worry, Leader," Lu Jiamei replied with a smile. "They didn’t dare chase us far. They gave up after a short pursuit and went back."

Ren Yuanyang was surprised. "Why?"

"We spotted other large ships nearby..." Lu Jiamei went on to explain their discovery and her theory. "So, they were probably afraid we had an ambush waiting for them. That’s why they didn’t dare to pursue us too far."

Ren Yuanyang nodded. "I see. Go ahead and draw those symbols from their speedboat."

"Okay." Lu Jiamei quickly sketched out the symbols.

When Ren Yuanyang saw the symbols, he froze. "You don’t recognize this script?"

Lu Jiamei looked confused. "Should I?"

"Uh, have you seriously never watched any of Magpie Country’s romance soap operas?" Ren Yuanyang was rendered speechless.

Lu Jiamei shook her head. "Can’t say I have. Are you saying this is the language of Magpie Country?"

"It is." While Ren Yuanyang didn’t watch those romance soap operas either, he’d had his fair share of exposure to it from Magpie Country’s adult films.

"Why would a fleet from Magpie Country be all the way over here?" Lu Jiamei asked, surprised.

"They’re not that far from Dragon Country to begin with," Ren Yuanyang said. "Well, this just got interesting. Let’s hope the ships from Dragon Country actually manage to unite and take out this Magpie Country fleet. It’d be a service to our country!"

Lu Jiamei nodded. "Then what’s our move?"

"Just come back directly," Ren Yuanyang said after a moment’s thought. "You can’t get too close to a fight between large ships. You’ll just get caught in the crossfire. And if you’re too far away, you won’t see anything useful."

"Understood." Lu Jiamei acknowledged the order and signaled for Qin Haonan to head back.

Ren Yuanyang mulled it over for a moment, then sent the three letters to Wang Jun.

"Captain Wang, what does ’HJS’ mean in the context of Magpie Country?"

Wang Jun seemed surprised by the question. "That’s Hanjin Shipping from Magpie Country," he explained. "It’s their largest shipping company. Why the sudden interest?"

"Oh, it’s nothing. I just saw the letters on TV and got curious," Ren Yuanyang replied, pulling an excuse out of thin air.

He didn’t want to reveal that the five large ships belonged to Magpie Country just yet. If that information leaked, the groups that were banding together to target Peach Blossom Base would instantly collapse, and they might not even launch an attack.

He had already warned the average survivors to stay away. If some of them still insisted on going over there to get themselves killed, there was nothing he could do about it.