Chapter 47: The Eve

The evening sky was a tranquil, hazy yellow, the floating clouds on the distant horizon edged with a faint golden light. The evening sea breeze blew gently. The Fengcheng sailed steadily. The weather in the Qiongzhou Strait was excellent, with waves less than 1.5 meters high. Even those with little experience on boats did not feel seasick.

The huge bow cut through the waves, riding the wind. The transmigrators, who had boarded as backpackers, were sitting or standing on the deck in small groups, gazing at the scenery on both sides of the strait. The Qiongzhou Strait is a very narrow waterway; from the ship, one could see the coastlines of the Leizhou Peninsula to the north and Hainan Island to the south.

Less than 20 cable lengths to the side of the ship, a squat, flat-deck barge followed closely, its deck fully loaded with containers and various vehicles and machinery. Both ships were proceeding at a speed of 10 knots. They were scheduled to rendezvous at 6:00 PM Beijing time with four fishing boats that had set out from another port.

After more than half a month of hard work by Meng De, the complex loading process was finally completed. Coastal freighters were used to carrying all sorts of cargo, so it didn’t arouse any suspicion from the port authorities. The only thing the fuel company found incredible was that both ships were using diesel fuel instead of the cheaper heavy fuel oil for ships.

The hired crew were Filipinos. Their strange English, apart from Meng De who often hung around the port for work, was incomprehensible to everyone else. The advantage was that they were completely indifferent to what was loaded on the ship, or why there were so many backpackers in green training uniforms—two-thirds of the transmigrators were concentrated on this ship. Only a few professionals were assigned to the other vessels.

There wasn’t much space left for the transmigrators on the freighter. All five cargo holds were filled with goods, and even the deck was strapped with several containers. A few animal containers constantly emitted a foul stench. Except for the women and children who were assigned to the crew’s cabins, most people could only sit on the deck, waiting for the destined moment to arrive.

Fortunately, everyone was still in a state of excitement about creating a new era and didn’t feel too much inconvenience. Some people hadn’t slept well the previous night and were now catching up on sleep in their sleeping bags on the deck. Others stood against the wind, gazing at the faint coastline of Hainan Island. They were born and raised in this time-space, and they were originally supposed to grow old and die here. It held countless loves and hates, disappointments and satisfactions, and countless firsts in their lives. They were about to leave this place, never to return, a farewell as permanent as death.

The members of the Executive Committee standing on the sterncastle had no such leisure to feel sentimental about this historic moment. According to the plan, the fishing boats and landing craft from the fishing port, as well as the legendary yacht from the North American branch, were supposed to rendezvous with them at 17:00. At this moment, they were constantly scanning the sea with binoculars, but all they saw were a few coastal fishing boats returning to port.

The North American branch’s yacht was the first to arrive, ten minutes early. Its blue and white hull, with full white triangular sails, glided gracefully across the sea, drawing a round of cheers and whistles from the transmigrators. Through the Executive Committee’s binoculars, they could see Shi Niaoren waving his hands on the deck. From a hatch below the sail, a foreign woman with large, bewildered eyes climbed out—she clearly had no idea what was going on.

“This chick has a nice figure,” Wang Luobin muttered to himself, holding the binoculars.

“Chestnut-colored long hair, not a blonde Westerner.”

“What do you know? She’s Latina. Not only blondes can be called Western chicks.”

A dozen or so binoculars were fixed on the newly appeared beauty, completely ignoring the men from the North American branch who were waving from the deck.

The fishing boats and landing craft were still nowhere to be seen, but fortunately, they maintained radio contact. The four fishing boats were responsible for towing several large floating rafts—a task no one had ever done before. Just adjusting the length of the tow cables had wasted several hours. They finally rendezvoused with the waiting ships at 17:20.

This strange fleet thus proceeded at low speed along the coastline of Hainan Island. Bopu Port was close at hand. As night approached, the lights in the harbor were faintly discernible. The ships on the shipping route had also turned on their navigation lights.

“GPS shows we are now 3 nautical miles northeast of Bopu Port.”

“Reduce speed, turn on all lights!”

“Take over the ship!”

“All ships, approach the flagship!”

“Prepare for wormhole!”

With a series of commands, Meng De, in his capacity as the shipowner, first gathered all the crew members on the deck. Then, members of the military group revealed their five-shot shotguns. Without any argument, the 20-odd crew members very cooperatively boarded a specially prepared lifeboat and rowed towards the shore.

At this time, all the lights on every ship were turned on. The searchlights on the freighter illuminated the deck as bright as day. The transmigrators realized that the historic moment was about to arrive. They all stood up, their eyes wide, staring at the sterncastle.

The high-powered speakers crackled with a test sound, and then a high-pitched, almost excessive male voice came through:

“Attention, five minutes to transmigration! All personnel, put on life jackets and get inside the cabins!”

Anticipating that the wormhole would oscillate due to intense energy fluctuations during the transit, to prevent anyone from falling overboard, all personnel except for essential deck crew, who were secured with safety ropes, squeezed into the cabins. Then, the watertight doors were sealed.

“Director Wen, let’s begin!” Meng De said, standing nervously at the helm.

“Alright, begin.”

As the wormhole, suspended at the bow of the ship, was slowly pushed open by the ship’s prow, the huge mirror-like surface shimmered with an unprecedented brilliance, illuminating a large area of the surrounding sea. The edges of the wormhole scattered a firework-like glow of energy.

“Hold on,” Wen Desi muttered, secretly praying that this thing wouldn’t suddenly explode. Failing to get to the other time-space was a small matter; if there was a massive energy explosion, the power probably wouldn’t be much less than an atomic bomb.

“All ships, attention!” Meng De roared. “Shorten the distance, full speed through the wormhole! All hands, prepare for impact!”

The transmigrators in the cabins had no idea what was happening outside. They all gripped nearby fixed objects with serious expressions, waiting for the legendary transmigration shockwave. Suddenly, the lights flickered wildly. Everyone’s face and hands felt a slight tingle of static electricity. A strange wave of dizziness washed over them.

“We’re through!” someone shouted.

No one responded. Many had closed their eyes the moment the lights flickered.

Not long after the last fishing boat passed through the wormhole, the portal, which had been reflecting the lights of the freighter like a mirror, suddenly began to glow. In just a few seconds, it expanded from a flat plane into a blindingly bright sphere, and then… it vanished! Seawater rushed back into the 50-meter-diameter void left by the wormhole. The cascading water crashed together and shot up more than 10 meters into the air with a sound like a giant drum. The last fishing boat in the fleet, over a hundred meters away from the wormhole, was mercilessly washed over by a 4-5 meter high wave. Fortunately, the preparations were thorough, and there were no losses.

“All ships, report status!” Meng De shouted into the radio.

“Barge, normal!”

“Landing craft, normal!”

“Fishing 1, normal!”

“Fishing 2, normal!”

“Fishing 3, normal!”

“Fishing 4, normal!”

“North America, normal… ah, there’s a motorboat approaching my vessel at high speed!”

The hearts of the Executive Committee members sank. A motorboat? Where would a motorboat come from in the 17th century?

Before Wen Desi could speak, Xi Yazhou was already calling Wu De, the leader of the fishing boat fleet, on the communicator.

“Old Wu, take your men to the North American boat to provide support, quickly.”

“Understood!”

Subsequently, the Fengcheng turned on its two large searchlights. The bright beams instantly illuminated the sea, which was now under the cover of night. Two of the boats from Wu De’s fishing fleet broke away from the formation, their bows cutting through the waves, and moved at full speed to flank the sailboat from the south and north.

The lights illuminated the entire area. In his binoculars, Wen Desi saw the motorboat approaching the North American sailboat. It was just a small, 8-passenger recreational motorboat. Did they come through with us, or did we not transmigrate at all?

He glanced at the people around him and saw that every member of the Executive Committee had a grim expression. Clearly, they were all thinking the same thing.

Most of the Executive Committee members were over thirty, and they all prided themselves on their years of social experience, with composure being a basic quality. But at this moment, they were gradually losing their cool. The wormhole was gone. If they hadn’t transmigrated, it would be nothing short of a disaster.

Meng De desperately scanned the surroundings with his binoculars. The moon was not visible on the water’s surface. It was pitch black all around, except for the brilliantly lit area centered on the Fengcheng. This only made the surrounding darkness seem more bottomless.

“We should be over, right?” he muttered to himself. Suddenly remembering something, he quickly began to check the equipment.

“No GPS signal!” he shouted.

This action also reminded the others. Several people pulled out their mobile phones—”Searching for signal.” In the Qiongzhou Strait, mobile phone signals should be normal.

All the radio frequencies were also blank, with only the hiss of static.

“We succeeded!” The Executive Committee members threw their composure aside and cheered.

Since this was the 17th century, no matter who was on that motorboat, it wouldn’t affect the overall situation.

Wu De’s voice came over the radio: “We have control of the entire boat, four captives. They seem to be tourists.”

“Bring them all to the flagship.”

The night was still long, and approaching the coast in the dark was obviously a risky move. The Executive Committee decided that all ships would anchor where they were and wait for daylight before proceeding with the landing. This was the 17th century; no ship had the ability to collide with and damage them. For safety, the floodlights on all ships were turned on, illuminating the surroundings brightly. The military group had already retrieved a batch of firearms from the North American sailboat and distributed them to each ship. Now they had both weapons and men; they were afraid of nothing.

“What the hell are you doing! Bandits! Pirates! Hooligans! Bums!” The moment Xiao Zishan opened the door, he heard the full-throated roar of an old man.

“Dad, don’t shout. We can talk this out…” another male voice tried to dissuade him.

“This is the Qiongzhou Strait, not the Red Sea or Somalia! The People’s Navy is not to be trifled with!”

“Sirs, we can talk this out. We are ordinary people, not rich. We are just a family on vacation in Hainan…” This was the voice of a middle-aged woman.

Xiao Zishan subconsciously straightened his collar and adjusted his hat—he was not used to wearing a uniform. He pushed open the cabin door and walked in.

They quickly figured out the situation. The four people on the motorboat were a family: an elderly couple and their son and daughter-in-law. The family was on vacation in Hainan. The old man had served in the navy for many years and was familiar with the military units around Hainan. Instead of buying ferry tickets to cross the strait, he had borrowed an old motorboat from an old acquaintance in the military, hoping to relive his old sailing dreams. Unexpectedly, as they were approaching Bopu Port, they suddenly encountered a strange storm. When it subsided, it was pitch black all around. They saw the few ships in the distance and approached the sailboat purely to ask for information—the motorboat had no navigation equipment other than a compass. As a result, they were inexplicably captured by the people on the two fishing boats.

“Please rest for a while,” Xiao Zishan said, still smiling. “It’s dark outside now. We’ll talk when it’s light.” He thought to himself, How can I explain this? They’ll definitely think I escaped from a mental hospital.

“Will you let us go ashore at dawn?” asked the son, who looked like a civil servant. Xiao Zishan noticed that he kept looking at his beautiful wife throughout the conversation.

“Sir, we really are just ordinary people. What’s the use of holding us?” the old woman explained again. Although the situation was abrupt and there were several fierce-looking men holding five-shot shotguns, she remained calm and composed, her speech clear. She was clearly a person of experience.

“Look, you might laugh, but my old man used to be in the navy right here. My daughter-in-law is also in the police force. The ships of the maritime affairs, maritime surveillance, customs, maritime police, fisheries administration, and the navy are constantly patrolling this strait. Is there any point in you doing this? You are all still young; it’s not worth it. We are just ordinary people and don’t want to be heroes. Once we get off the boat, we’ll go our separate ways. We’ll consider our luggage lost…”

The old woman’s words were soft but firm. Not bad. Much better than her son and daughter-in-law. Xiao Zishan still nodded politely and said:

“We will discuss everything tomorrow.” He stood up. “You will see that this is a new world!”