Chapter 88: Everyday Life Aboard Ship
Ten minutes before departure, Li Changsheng finally arrived, dragging an inflatable lifeboat behind him.
Shan had been waiting on the pier for a long time. Seeing him sauntering over at such an unhurried pace, she could not help frowning, clearly displeased.
“Why are you only just getting here?”
Her tone was edged with unmistakable irritation, her arms folded across her chest.
Yet Li Changsheng remained remarkably calm. He smiled faintly, glanced at his watch, and replied with complete indifference, “There are still ten minutes before departure. I’m right on time.”
Bill was waiting onshore as well, and he spotted Li Changsheng at once. Hearing Shan’s sharp tone, he immediately said, “Hey, hey, lady, is that any way to speak to my VIP client? Be polite!”
As he spoke, he hurried over to help Li Changsheng with his luggage.
Shan rolled her eyes and raised her middle finger at him.
Then, still grumbling, she helped Li Changsheng with his things. “Hurry up. Since you’re here, let’s get ready to leave. Stop wasting time.”
They boarded the boat.
Bill led Li Changsheng to the front section of the vessel.
What had once been the deck had been transformed by Bill into a luxurious bedroom.
Shan pointed at the lavish cabin, then at her own shabby little room that could barely fit a bed. “Why does he get to live somewhere so nice?”
Bill shrugged and answered as if it were only natural, “Because he paid for it.”
Li Changsheng arched a brow. “With such a hospitable captain, I really had no choice.”
Those two bastards!
Shan shot Bill an unhappy glare, then turned a scathing look on Li Changsheng as well. “You two really are a perfect match!”
The propeller spun rapidly, driving the hull forward as the boat broke through the water and headed upriver.
At the stern, Bill’s boat was about twenty meters long and divided into three sections: bow, midship, and stern.
The bow had been converted into Li Changsheng’s private room, while the others were squeezed into the dormitory in the middle. The living area at the stern had become the place where everyone worked.
Jack spread a map across the stern table and marked their destination for this expedition: the birthplace of the blood orchid.
Li Changsheng stood nearby, his expression unreadable, though he memorized it in secret.
He did this chiefly so that if anything unexpected happened, he could go search for the blood orchid alone instead of being forced to stay behind the expedition team.
He even had a speedboat prepared in his spatial storage for that purpose.
Bill memorized the target location and began planning the route in his head.
Though he smoked, drank, and gambled, his seamanship was beyond question.
At the very least, he knew these waters well during the rainy season.
While Bill and Jack discussed the sailing route, the young Black man, Kerr, was also tapping away behind them on a laptop. Using satellite navigation and a great deal of reference material, he quickly plotted a route on the computer.
Unfortunately, the route would take far too long. The moment he brought it up, it was rejected. Its only effect was to let Kerr bask in self-satisfaction there for a while.
The members of the expedition continued clustering around the table to study the map, while Bill returned to the wheelhouse to confirm the next leg of the journey with A Chuan.
Just then, a woman’s scream rang out from the cabin. Everyone turned at once, staring in astonishment toward the sound.
Li Changsheng’s ears twitched. He heard not only Gail’s scream, but also the cry of a monkey.
No doubt Gail had been frightened by Captain Bill’s pet monkey, Little Steel.
In the film, that monkey was rather amusing; every time the giant snake appeared, it would screech warnings.
Li Changsheng was about to go inside to take a look when Gail burst out on her own.
He did not dodge, and with a thud, she barreled straight into him.
But she had clearly underestimated his physical strength. After colliding with him, Gail staggered and fell backward, landing hard on the wooden deck.
“There’s something attacking me! Something’s attacking me!”
She shouted while clutching at Li Changsheng’s trouser leg.
For someone who had always carried herself with hauteur, she did not even try to make trouble for him this time. She was clearly badly frightened.
Hearing Gail’s scream, Bill also came down from the wheelhouse. Seeing him, Shan quickly said, “Gail says there’s something in the cabin attacking her.”
Bill glanced at the two of them, said nothing, and strode straight into the cabin.
“No, no, no, don’t go in!” Gail shouted, reaching out to grab Bill in an attempt to stop him from entering.
Ignoring her protests, Bill went inside. When he emerged, a small monkey had appeared on his shoulder, its body black and white, its two little hands clinging tightly around his neck.
“What are you doing? You scared it just now.” Bill glanced at Gail and said calmly.
“I scared it?” Gail asked furiously.
Bill turned and said, “This is Little Steel. It’s lived here all along. You’re the guests, so watch your manners!”
With that, he turned and went back to the wheelhouse.
“Disgusting animal!” Gail cursed bitterly.
“Are you all right now?” Li Changsheng, whose trouser leg she had been clutching all this time, asked.
Only then did Gail come to herself. She quickly let go of his clothes, and to cover her embarrassment, even shoved him aside and said loudly, “I’m fine. Stay away from me!”
After speaking, she hurried back into the cabin.
Li Changsheng shook his head helplessly and exchanged a look with Shan.
“So we’re supposed to sail with this woman the whole way?”
Shan spread her hands with an expression that said he had brought this on himself.
The boat continued along the Men River for another day.
Early the next morning, everyone gathered in the living area at the stern.
“The S1 report has to be submitted today. We need the committee’s opinion.”
“Yes... yes... I’m working on it. The signal here is bad. Can you hear me? Hello? Hello?”
Gail and Mitch were speaking loudly into their phones as if no one else were there, sounding very much like they were in a company meeting.
A perfect portrait of office life.
Even in the primeval jungle, you still had to do your full quota of overtime if that was the way of things.
Otherwise, you could pack your bags and get lost.
But the closer they moved toward the jungle, the weaker the satellite phone signal became.
And once it disappeared entirely, the noisy voices finally fell silent.
Li Changsheng also felt the air around him grow a little quieter.
He was sitting at the very end of the stern.
There, a small table held a bottle of red wine and several harpoons, while beside it stood a brand-new vine-woven lounge chair.
Li Changsheng lounged sideways in it, his gaze resting on the water as he toyed with the machete in his hand.
If memory served him right, it would not be long before giant snakes appeared in the river.
In his previous life, he had always felt a little uneasy at the sight of snakes and the like.
But things were different now. Now, he rather wanted to test the mettle of these giant serpents.
On the other side—
Click.
A camera shutter sounded.
The ship’s doctor started making a scene, looking at Shan with exaggerated earnestness. “Shan, have you thought it over? We’re young, single, and we’re in Borneo. Why not give it a try? You’ve got nothing to lose.”
Good grief.
Li Changsheng heard it all and could only think: good grief. This ship’s doctor had practically written the words “looking for a hookup” across his face.
Shan looked utterly disgusted.
The doctor went on, “If you’re not satisfied, you can turn and walk away right now. No promises required.”
Shan gave a sneer. “No promises? How generous of you.”
The doctor said with feigned tenderness, “Did I say no promises? I meant you should marry me.”
Shan looked as though she had swallowed a fly. She turned to Jack and asked, “Do I really have to deal with him for the next two weeks?”
“That’s right.”
She clicked her tongue. “Then I’d rather stay with that stupid Chinese man.”
Li Changsheng: ...
Damn it.
The gossip had come circling back to him.
...
The doctor was still pestering her when Shan finally could not endure it any longer. Seeing Li Changsheng sitting nearby as if he were watching a play, she grew even more annoyed. Then, for some reason, she strode straight over to him.
“Hm? What are you doing with that knife?” Shan said, grasping at the first words she could find.
Li Changsheng looked at her as though she had never seen the world. “This is the primeval jungle. Everything here can be prey. You come all the way here and don’t even bring a weapon. I honestly have to wonder if there’s something wrong with your brain.”
Shan was so furious her mouth fell open. She had come seeking a little peace and quiet.
Never in her wildest dreams had she expected to be looked down on by the very person she considered an idiot.
The worst part was that she had no good way to argue back.
How was she supposed to reason with that?
“Yes, yes, everything you say is right.”
She replied in defeat, then turned away and ignored Li Changsheng.
Li Changsheng was perfectly content to enjoy the peace.
The doctor also wanted to come over, but Li Changsheng casually flicked out a harpoon.
With a sharp clang, the harpoon pierced the deck, landing just two steps in front of the doctor.
The iron shaft still trembled, as if warning others not to come closer.
Terrified, the doctor stopped dead in his tracks and cried out, “Hey, hey, how can you just throw a harpoon like that? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”
Li Changsheng glared at him. “Get lost. Go flirt somewhere else. Stay away from me and stop bothering me.”
Under that glare, the doctor suddenly felt a chill in his heart, as though some beast had locked eyes on him. He instinctively stumbled back several steps.
Trying to force a few more words out through sheer nerve, he was stopped by Jack, who grabbed him and said, “Calm down, doctor.” Then, lowering his voice, he whispered in the doctor’s ear, “His head’s not right. He might be a lunatic. And lunatics don’t get punished for murder!”
The doctor swallowed hard and said in lingering fear, “Why the hell didn’t you say so sooner?”
Shan felt a surge of satisfaction watching the doctor retreat, but she was still displeased by Li Changsheng’s abrupt show of force. “Thanks for standing up for me, but you can’t just do that. It’s too dangerous!”
“Who said I was standing up for you? You’re imagining things.”
“You!”
Shan’s face went red and white in turns. In the end, she could only stamp her foot and stew in silence beside him.
Even as she fumed, she kept glaring at Li Changsheng, as though she could carve a piece of flesh from him with her eyes.