Chapter 433: Smoking harms health and endangers life

A harsh rubbing and squeezing sound came.

An enforcement boat approached head-on from ahead, intending to ram the fishing boat's bow.

Fortunately, Lao Mao violently turned the rudder at the critical moment, barely shifting the course.

Nevertheless, the force of the scraping and squeezing still deformed the left side of the fishing boat; Xu Ce and the others on deck, just about to get up, were shaken and nearly fell over.

Lu Yang shouted at them: "Get inside the cabin, find something to secure your bodies, don't get swept overboard!"

Xu Ce and the others naturally knew they couldn't linger on deck, but as they started running toward the cabin, they were blown away by the high-pressure water cannon firing from above.

Many people fell straight to the ground and couldn't get up; Xu Ce and Jiang Dahai were directly flung off the ship by the huge force, plunging into the sea.

"Number Nine, Number Eleven have fallen overboard!"

Someone quickly spotted the two who had fallen behind.

Lao Mao glanced back, frantic.

By rights, this shouldn't have happened at all.

Special Operations personnel must draw up extremely detailed plans before carrying out a mission.

This evaluation had actually been in planning for over a month; during the process, they repeatedly had people pose as fishermen to probe, in order to grasp the full details and ensure the mission would be flawless.

Even before the operation, a dedicated team had assessed the mission's danger level, and all met the passing standard.

After all, these kids are all "raw melon seeds"—totally inexperienced; such a dangerous mission is clearly unsuitable for them.

Yet no one expected that the intrusion of two enemy enforcement vessels would plunge everyone into a desperate situation where calling to heaven brings no answer and calling to earth brings no help.

Without reinforcements, Lao Mao could think of no better plan; he could only try every possible way to engage the enemy, hoping to hold out until Bai Yuan and the others arrived with reinforcements.

Fortunately, it was dark and foggy; had it been broad daylight with clear visibility, he wouldn't have had any chance to maneuver.

"Oh no, Lao Mao, water is seeping in at the bottom of the cabin!"

"What?"

Lao Mao's face changed dramatically.

He quickly had someone else take the helm and rushed below deck to check the situation.

Sure enough, a crack appeared on the left side of the hull, with seawater intermittently seeping through the gap.

As long as the boat remains afloat, everything can be discussed; but if the gap widens and the hull starts to sink, they won't even have a last foothold left.

He hurriedly fetched waterproof tape and various materials to help plug the leak; although he knew it only treated the symptom and wouldn't be very effective, there was nothing better he could do now.

At that moment, Lu Yang was temporarily steering above; seeing Lao Mao return quickly, he asked: "How is it—how big is the gap?"

Lao Mao: "It's not big to call big, not small to call small; the problem is quite serious—if we get hit again, the fishing boat might well fall apart."

"When will reinforcements arrive?"

"Still a while yet—we need to find a way to buy time!"

"There isn't even a support team nearby responsible for liaison—are Special Forces missions usually this careless?"

"......"

Faced with Lu Yang's complaint, Lao Mao simply couldn't find words to rebut.

"It's not usually like this—I don't know why such an inconspicuous little task would end up messing up."

Lao Mao, throwing caution to the wind, said: "You stay in the cabin; I'll try to find a way to see if we can get a chance to board the enemy ship by force—if we can take control of one, we might turn danger into safety......"

Lu Yang shook his head: "I can't wait that long—the boat is drifting farther away; I need to go back and retrieve those two who fell behind first!"

"Hmm."

Lao Mao knew Lu Yang wasn't the type to show off.

When it comes to handling the boat, nobody else matches him, so he must stay in the cabin.

First, rescue people—pull Xu Ce and Jiang Dahai, who were knocked overboard, back up first; at the very least, we must ensure those two are safe.

Lu Yang grabbed a spear and a dagger, jumped into the water, and, propelled by the waves behind him, hurried toward Xu Ce and the other two.

About seven or eight meters behind, the two who had fallen in were also trying to swim back to the boat, unaware that the enforcement boat behind had silently drawn near.

The high-pressure water cannon on the boat came down like a pair of big hands, pressing hard on their heads and forcing them underwater.

"Gurgle!"

Xu Ce finally managed to surface, about to take a deep breath, when the water cannon struck him precisely.

He felt as if his head had been hit by a hammer, his whole body pinned beneath the surface, unable to move.

Struggling, he choked on several mouthfuls of water; this was also the first time since joining the Navy that he truly felt how terrifying drowning is.

Xu Ce repeatedly tried to escape the water cannon's range, but each time he lifted his head it was like whack-a-mole—he got smashed down again.

Unable to breathe, he kept struggling and thrashing in the water—like fish meat on a chopping board, with no room to resist.

But just as he was about to give out, someone underwater shoved him hard, propelling his whole body upward like a dolphin.

"Ha!!"

Xu Ce's will to survive instantly ignited.

The moment he touched air, he gulped a huge breath, filling his lungs completely.

Even while the water cannon struck his back and drove him under, he managed to exchange breaths quickly—such on-the-spot reaction and adaptability are absolutely beyond an ordinary person.

If it weren't for the long tempering on the island, and the repeated brutal torment by Bai Yuan and the others, Xu Ce wouldn't believe his body could possess such rapid reflexes.

When he entered the water again, Xu Ce opened his eyes and saw Lu Yang, who had previously pushed him.

Xu Ce gave a thumbs-up to show thanks; Lu Yang returned an OK sign, pointed toward the fishing boat, telling him to swim over quickly, while he himself headed for Jiang Dahai.

Compared to Jiang Dahai's ordeal, Xu Ce was fortunate—he only bore the pressure from the water cannon, whereas Jiang Dahai was currently facing a deadly threat.

"Whoosh!"

A tearing-through-the-air sound came.

A spear on the enforcement boat was thrust toward Jiang Dahai in the water.

Fortunately, the earlier wave pushed him away; otherwise he would already have been pierced through his body by the harpoon.

"Didn't hit?"

"Your aim was way off."

"Watch me, I'm coming!"

A burst of laughter came from the mast of the enforcement boat.

That group clearly treated the drowning Jiang Dahai like a fish in the sea, playing with him at will.

Even though Jiang Dahai swam desperately toward the side, the endless ocean gave him nowhere to escape, and at that moment a sharp pain struck his calf.

Jiang Dahai let out a howl, turned back, and saw his calf already pierced straight through by a harpoon; fresh blood gushed from the wound, instantly reddening a small patch of nearby seawater.

"Damn, why am I so unlucky, why am I so unlucky!"

Jiang Dahai kicked his leg in near desperation, trying to break free from the damned harpoon.

But the harder he kicked, the more he bled, and the leg wound hurt even more.

Worse still, the few on the enforcement boat let out victorious cheers, then began pulling the rope attached to the back of the harpoon.

Jiang Dahai's body was dragged backward at high speed, like a fish impaled by a harpoon, utterly powerless to resist, only able to be manipulated by the others.

"No, I can't be captured, I can't become a prisoner! Even in death I must not endanger others, I can't be a prisoner..."

Jiang Dahai struggled desperately, but the harpoon that pierced his calf gave him no chance to break free.

Fortunately, Lu Yang arrived in time and swiftly cut the rope behind the harpoon with his knife.

When the rope was pulled hard, it finally snapped, and Jiang Dahai was able to fall back into the water.

"Dammit, what's going on?"

"He actually managed to break free?"

"Split up and look, see where he went; the harpoon's still on his leg, he can't have swum far, right?"

A chaotic chorus of discontent rose again overhead.

It was night now, and fog lingered over the sea, reducing visibility.

Those guys quickly scattered, shining flashlights into the water, trying once more to locate Jiang Dahai.

At this moment, Lu Yang kept him hidden in a blind spot near the hull, treading water at a steady pace to keep them from being drawn into the propellers, while slapping his face.

"Wake up, wake up, are you okay, can you hold on, can you swim back to the boat?"

"I can..."

Jiang Dahai's lips had begun to turn pale from the cold and blood loss.

Despite his poor condition, he gritted his teeth and said he was fine.

A soldier doesn't shed tears when skin and flesh are torn, and he must not fall behind.

Moreover, he is an elite of the Marine Corps, a Special Operations trainee.

Lu Yang instructed: "You must get back on the boat quickly; the scent of blood will attract sharks. Take a deep breath and swim as far as you can underwater; unless absolutely necessary, don't surface for air!"

"What about you?"

"You don't need to worry about me, just take care of yourself!"

Jiang Dahai looked at Lu Yang's murderous expression and nodded forcefully.

He then inhaled a huge breath, plunged beneath the surface, and swam toward the fishing boat.

Lu Yang stayed in the water, using the swimming technique he had learned on the island to make a preliminary survey of the vessel.

According to the system readout, it was a century‑old enforcement boat from Feiliebin, its original markings completely painted over to masquerade as an ordinary civilian fishing vessel.

But Lu Yang wouldn't naively assume that the boat's origin dictated where the crew came from; no one would be foolish enough to cause trouble with their own vessel.

Lu Yang didn't know where these guys were from, nor did he concern himself with their true identities.

He only knew that these scoundrels not only fired the first shot, but also forced him and his teammates toward a dead end.

Those two facts alone were enough to sentence them to death!

"There's movement over there, over there?"

Jiang Dahai, surfacing for air, was spotted again.

Several on the enforcement boat rushed to the bow, shining powerful flashlights toward that spot.

Others, already excited, drew harpoon guns, ready to hunt him again.

Lu Yang seized the chance to move near the stern and spotted a guy perched on the rail, fishing and smoking.

Half of Lu Yang's head broke the surface; timing it, he raised his harpoon and, aiming at the enemy positioned at an eighty‑degree angle overhead, decisively pulled the trigger.

Whoosh!

The powerful kinetic force propelled the harpoon like an arrow.

Before the smoking man could react, the sharp harpoon had already pierced his abdomen.

"Ugh, ugh..."

A gush of fresh blood mixed with smoke spewed from his mouth as he stared in disbelief at the harpoon lodged in his belly.

Fresh blood quickly seeped from the wound, staining a large area of his clothes, and the guy, incredulous, collapsed onto the deck.

Before he could shout for help to his comrades ahead, a massive tug instantly dragged his whole body toward the deck's edge.

He could only cling his feet to the rail and grip the rope at the harpoon's end with both hands to avoid falling, and then he saw someone climbing up along that rope.

"Enemy, enemy, enemy incoming..."

The gravely wounded man's voice was like a mosquito's, drowned out by the roar of the waves.

Lu Yang vaulted over the rail, bent down and made a shushing gesture toward him, signaling him to stay quiet.

Then, one hand covered his mouth, the other pressed on the back of his head, and he gave a forceful twist without mercy.

As the sound of bone snapping echoed, the man's head tilted to the side like a wilted eggplant, his eyes wide open in death.

From this we can draw a conclusion: smoking is harmful to health, even endangering life...