Chapter 8: Delivery

This time Zheng Hai brought over two motors, likely out of caution.

After all, just these two were worth nearly half a sedan; losing them would have made him ache.

The two underlings also had modification experience; after gesturing a bit, they pointed to the stern of the Duty-Free No. 1 boat and said:

"The stern has a movable interface, but we need to install a bracket. The space is completely sufficient.

Kid, where are your workers? Come quickly and modify it."

The second half of that sentence was spoken while looking at Tang Wen.

"They, they went into the town for the market. How about we try again tomorrow?"

Tang Wen could only bluff with a stiff neck; he had no workers at all, relying purely on the System's mighty power.

However, Zheng Hai was unsatisfied; pointing at the two underlings, he said:

"A Chang, Anan, aren't you two also skilled at modification? Go help quickly; it's not a big deal."

Seeing the situation, A Chang and Anan could only go find tools; fortunately, in this era, even underlings had to know a couple of tricks, and they knew a little.

Without Tang Wen needing to give much instruction, the two clanged and clattered for a short while before starting to try hoisting the motors onto the stern.

The process was not complicated; after the two motors were installed, they could pitch forward and backward and turn left and right; moving them around caused no problems.

The remaining tasks of connecting the oil lines and control levers were trivial matters, finished in a few moves.

Under Zheng Hai's intense gaze, the two underlings carried several oil drums from the van and poured nearly 80 liters of gasoline into the speedboat's fuel tank.

Immediately after, they began debugging the machines, preparing to start them on land for a test first.

At this moment, Zheng Hai suddenly grabbed Tang Wen's shoulder and said in a sinister tone:

"Handsome boy, do you want to make big money? Drive luxury cars?"

Tang Wen's heart tightened, and he hurriedly shook his head.

Zheng Hai suddenly laughed, pointing at the four large white characters on the side of the hull:

"You are not like your father; you are very smart. I like clever people."

Looking at the glaringly obvious four characters "Duty-Free No. 1," Tang Wen was also at a loss for tears; he had truly just done it as a random prank.

Fortunately, Zheng Hai did not try to recruit him again, but instead continued to urge his two subordinates.

As the oil was pumped into the pipes, a sharp sound rang out in the courtyard, and the powerful V8 engine immediately began to roar.

Both engines underwent simple tests, proving they had not been damaged during transport.

Zheng Hai became even more excited and impatiently commanded:

"Quick, install the propellers and test it in the water!"

After the propeller blades were installed, all four people worked together to push the speedboat from the open ground into the inlet a few dozen meters away; as soon as the speedboat entered the water, its bow immediately lifted.

The two underlings jumped down and bounced a bit, finding no problems; Zheng Hai directly pulled Tang Wen up and demanded they start the motors.

The hull, weighing just over two tons, was swaying in the inlet; fortunately, thanks to the inherited memories, Tang Wen quickly stabilized his stance, but he still carefully leaned to one side, gripping the boat's edge tightly as a handrail.

"Start the boat!"

With the roar of the motors, the Duty-Free No. 1 slowly moved along the inlet to the seaside, then Anan, who was steering, twisted the throttle hard; Tang Wen immediately felt as if he had been kicked, nearly flying off.

In reality, the combined 360 horsepower of the two engines was excessively abundant; even with four people plus the motors, the total was only three tons, with power surplus to the point of exploding.

A typical water patrol boat is about the same size; using 25 to 50 horsepower, it can reach over 20 knots, and the sensation for an ordinary passenger is already very fast.

But the 360-horsepower, completely unloaded Duty-Free No. 1 could only be described as terrifying.

The powerful thrust pushed the bottom of the boat right out of the water, flying over the sea surface at a pitch angle of 4 to 5 degrees!

Tang Wen's ears were filled with the noise of the engine and the waves breaking; he could only see the trees along the shore rushing backward at high speed.

Zheng Hai, however, was not nervous at all; instead, he grabbed the railing, stood up, and screamed wildly in the fierce wind.

"Haha, now that bunch of cops won't be able to catch me!

Anan, accelerate again!"

"Brother Hai, we didn't bring much fuel!"

"I don't care; push it to the fastest!"

The throttle was twisted all the way down; now the entire speedboat was pushed out of the water; as soon as it dropped, it was pushed up again immediately, speeding across the sea surface like skipping stones, leaving behind vast spreading patches of white foam.

Under the action of the two motors, the entire hull was vibrating violently, but Zheng Hai seemed unaware, instead cheering continuously.

Only when the fuel was nearly exhausted did Anan steer the speedboat back to the shore, but they ran out of gasoline even while entering the inlet, so they could only swim to the shore and push by hand.

Tang Wen, whose heart was still pounding, was still a bit unsteady on his feet; although Zheng Hai's legs were also trembling, he shouted excitedly:

"If two are this fast, won't four make it take off?

A Chang, tonight we'll go get the remaining two motors and install them; tomorrow night we'll pull off a job!"

At this moment, Tang Wen also wobbled off the boat; only after a few rounds of dizziness did he recover, his body already soaked by seawater.

He didn't know exactly how fast they had just gone, but it must have been at least forty knots, nearly 80 kilometers per hour.

This thing was far more thrilling than land transportation; the feeling was completely different.

Zheng Hai was actually no better off, but he was completely immersed in the excitement and couldn't perceive it.

As mainland supervision became stricter, the water transport business became harder to run; land routes and ordinary shipping were basically caught every single time they were checked.

The entire duty-free trade industry gathered problems and difficulties, dug deep for blue-ocean solutions, and pooled top-tier human resources; only then did they come up with the "Big Flying Boat" scheme of equipping multiple high-horsepower motors, allowing them to sprint at nearly 100 kilometers per hour even while carrying several tons of cargo, easily shaking off pursuit.

However, high-horsepower motors were very expensive and extremely hard to obtain.

Four motors per boat meant an investment of 200,000; two boats meant an investment of 400,000, which not only exhausted all funds but also required extra borrowing; failure to repay meant having one's hands chopped off.

Ordinary people borrowing from loan sharks would be chased for repayment, but Triad members borrowing from loan sharks was a chase for their lives.

Zheng Hai hurriedly left with his underlings; the next day he brought over two more motors and also a trailer specifically for hauling boats.

Once the motors were installed, both people and boat vanished into the night.

Only after finally temporarily shaking off Zheng Hai did Tang Wen have time to produce 25-horsepower diesel engines, producing another five.

Adding the three previously produced units, they now had exactly the full quantity needed for the last market day.

Because the quantity was so large, Tang Wen couldn't handle it alone, so he went to the village chief's house to borrow both a vehicle and people.

Chen Yonggui readily agreed to help, but Tang Wen held him back and asked in a hushed tone:

"A few days ago, that group of people drove to your workshop—weren't they there to sell diesel engines?"

Huh?

Tang Wen was stunned—he hadn't expected the village chief to harbor such a misunderstanding, but he simply nodded.

Chen Yonggui wore an expression of "I knew it," then lowered his voice:

"Little Tang, didn't you tell them you were from the northeast? I've kept that secret for you.

But the leader among them—I know him. He's come to your father's place many times before. I get the feeling he's not a good man. Don't go down the wrong path."

"Don't worry, Uncle. I know what I'm doing."

Seeing Tang Wen's promise, Chen Yonggui still felt uneasy, and when he saw the eight diesel engines—each worth tens of thousands—he sighed deeply.

He's already gone this far—it's likely he's taken a crooked road.