Chapter 448: The Situation on the Cruise Ship

Chapter 448: Chapter 448: The Situation on the Cruise Ship

Zoe Sawyer didn’t dare to leave anything to chance. The warnings from the Door had almost never been wrong.

There must have been some kind of accident that threw their original plan off course.

A second after she finished speaking, it occurred to Zoe that, given their usual methods, they would definitely rely on the Door’s ability for the rescue. It was convenient and safe.

That way, if those people showed up, they could still get away in time.

"Go ahead and try, but don’t push yourself," Heath Hale instructed, his expression grave and his voice low. "We know what might happen now, so we can just find a chance to avoid it when the time comes."

The others all nodded in agreement. They told Zoe not to worry—they still had time. With this warning, they would just be more careful. A tragic outcome like that definitely wouldn’t happen.

Zoe let out a long breath and gripped the doorknob.

The premonitions were usually initiated by the Door; she had almost never been able to trigger one at will.

’Honestly, I’m a little worried about trying to force it now,’ Zoe thought.

More than ten minutes passed. Everyone’s attention was fixed on Zoe, their eyes filled with anticipation.

No one spoke. They were all waiting for good news.

Under the weight of everyone’s high expectations, Zoe finally felt that familiar sensation and opened the Door.

It was already dark on the other side of the Door. The cruise ship was fully lit up, a conspicuous sight in the open sea.

Before Zoe could get her bearings on the time, a squad of guards walked past.

When she got a clear look at their attire, Zoe’s pupils contracted. ’Their gear looks even more advanced than this morning’s, but... something about it feels off.’

This squad of guards was dressed casually in open-collared Hawaiian shirts and beach shorts. They held rifles, but their waists were haphazardly adorned with a few grenades and a machete.

The men were laughing and joking around as they walked by.

Zoe maneuvered the Door to follow them. Maybe she could figure out what was going on by listening to them.

They hadn’t gone far before she came across another squad of guards.

However, this squad’s gear was completely different from the last one.

They were also holding rifles, but their tactical gear was worn immaculately. Grenades were properly clipped to their tactical vests. They were silent and taciturn, and they looked like trouble.

These men were positioned in pairs, and the teams weren’t spaced far apart.

Zoe maneuvered the Door closer and realized that, based on their positions, they had the entire area under surveillance. There wasn’t a single blind spot!

’With such tight security, who could possibly be in there?’

"Stop. You’re not needed on this patrol route. Go to the other side."

Just as the Hawaiian-shirt squad was about to get closer, the leader in the tactical vest suddenly held out a hand to stop them.

The leader of that group quickly put on an apologetic smile. "Right, right, we’ll leave at once!"

After speaking, he quickly signaled for his companions to turn around and leave.

Once they were a safe distance away and sure the others couldn’t hear their muttering, one of the men in Hawaiian shirts finally spoke up. "Who the hell do those guys think they are? We’re all just hired guns. Why’s their gear so much better than ours? They get to stand guard while we have to keep walking these damn patrols!"

"And that guy’s attitude was so arrogant! Especially when our boss is the one who’s put in way more time and effort."

The man who spoke glanced cautiously at their leader in the Hawaiian shirt, his words clearly meant to voice the injustice on the boss’s behalf.

"Yeah, seriously! The boss puts in so much work, and as soon as these guys show up, they look at us like we’re dirt."

"If it weren’t for the big boss, we’d never let them act so high and mighty."

The men chimed in, one after another.

But the man they called their boss, the one in the Hawaiian shirt, stomped his foot hard and sneered. "They’re the elites. In their eyes, we’re just a bunch of low-rent thugs who can’t be seen in public."

"Don’t overthink it. No one knows what’s going to happen next. Maybe in some big explosion, they’ll be the ones charging to the front lines while we get to walk away in one piece."

Although his underlings didn’t quite grasp what he meant, their boss had spoken, so they didn’t dwell on it.

Their boss was smarter than them and knew more. If he said it, he must have a good reason!

The men may not have understood, but Zoe, who was eavesdropping, felt a jolt of alarm.

’Does that man know something?’

Time was short. Zoe couldn’t dwell on it; she just had to memorize the man’s face for now. When Heath Hale and the others made their move, they could grab him. Maybe they could get some information out of him.

The men in the Hawaiian shirts continued their patrol, chattering as they headed down to the next deck.

Zoe didn’t follow them. Instead, she returned to the room being guarded by the men in tactical vests.

They weren’t letting anyone else near. ’There has to be a big secret in here,’ she thought, ’or a very important person!’

Without hesitation, Zoe maneuvered the Door, shifting her viewpoint inside the room.

Soon, the scene inside the room unfolded before her.

Sure enough, just as she’d suspected, inside the room sat the female boss and that mysterious young man, along with two other people on the sofa.

The bed in the back was surrounded by medical supplies, and someone was lying on it.

"Patrick Miller, why call us here with so much fanfare? Don’t tell me you just wanted to kill some time."

"Unlike you, my time is precious. I have a pile of things waiting for my attention." The man sitting across from the female boss leaned back on the sofa, his fingers rapidly rolling a string of beads. His tone was measured, but his gaze held a hint of mockery.

But when his eyes brushed past the female boss sitting next to him, the man’s gaze faltered for a moment. He quickly looked away, pretending nothing had happened.

The man called Patrick Miller seemed not to notice his guest’s mood. In high spirits, he poured the female boss a glass of wine before replying, "Now, now. I invited you here to discuss business, of course. I have some territories that need to be offloaded, and so does our lady boss here."

"I remembered you two have an interest in these things, since you’re always sending people to poke around every so often. That’s why I organized this little get-together."

’He went to all this trouble and spent a fortune on this gathering. He must be after something.’

"To be perfectly honest," Patrick Miller continued, "the authorities are breathing down my neck. I even caught a few undercover agents not long ago."

"If I let them keep messing with my operations, I can kiss this business goodbye." His voice was laced with frustration as he laid out a part of his predicament for the two guests opposite him.

’But is that really the case?’

Patrick Miller saw the obvious interest in his guests’ eyes and the corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk.

’Someone’s finally here to take this mess off my hands. I couldn’t be happier!’

’Time to spin them a good story!’